Week 27 - Ivakkak Race

I haven't have a chance to post lately since these last couple of weeks have been extremely busy for me.  Our end of term was March 2 so I had to finish up all my marking so I would have grades for all my classes.  In addition to this I had to create some extra lessons since some of my students were taking off on March 1 to go to the Arctic Winter Games until March 11.  Finally, The AQ I'm working on only had a 2 week period for the module instead of 3 weeks (because of March Break) which made all of that work due on March 9.  Lets just say I've definitely been working my 60 hour week lately.

That is all in the past now! Next week should be much more simple for me and the rest of the teachers.  On Monday we have the 2012 Ivakkak Dog Race departing from here on their way up the coast to Kangirsuk.  Tuesday all Secondary teachers have Smartboard training, Thursday we all have First Aid training and Friday is a holiday.  I'm thankful for the break since it will let me plan some advanced lessons.  Since I'm getting very close to the end of my material for one of my math classes I am really looking forward to teaching whatever I want! I find it very interesting as I sit back and reflect on all the knowledge I have on different subjects.  Given the chance I could probably design several math and science courses based on topics that I find interesting and useful.  Too bad that's not the way things work.

Anywho, this weekend I decided to go for a nice walk out onto the bay to check out the doggies that will be participating in the race.  I think it's interesting that there is such a variety of different looking dogs on all of the teams.  It's a good thing I wore my snowboarding gloves since it let me take pictures with my hands covered.  Let's just say that even though winter is gone, it is still extremely cold.  Here's a picture I took of myself.  It was cold enough that the moisture from my breath was frosting up on the fur ruff of my parka.

I find that the best way to make your way out onto the ice is to just follow the snowmobile trails.  In this case, you definitely want to follow the well beaten path.  Stepping off that path can be hazardous as you can easily step into a soft snow covering and end up hip deep in snow.

I made my way to the dogs and got some interesting shots.  I feel bad for them though being tied up on the snow on such a cold day.  Windchill was -32 yesterday.

As I made my way back I saw these interesting areas that looked like they had actually melted.  Considering the fact that it was still -20C outside I knew that was impossible so I decided to check it out.  As I got closer I noticed that there were these fragile looking formations on the ice.  They sort of looked like very large snowflakes but I'm fairly certain they were made of ice, so I shall call them ice flakes!

The North is a wondrous place! some people may think of it as just cold and desolate, but if you take the time to explore on a cold sunny day you can see that there is beauty everywhere.