Eating My Way Out of Town

Tomorrow is my last day of work in the office so I am in the 'eat your way out of here' mode and my diet has thusly not been very balanced this week. It's not as if you're going on vacation and just eating up the perishables then throwing the rest in the freezer. It's either going to be eaten, given or thrown away by the time my flight on Sunday comes. What a quick four weeks this has been - just whizzed by - can't believe I'm already talking about packing.

Amautis are a Nunavut way to travel

In Nunavut when you're talking about packing, you're not necessarily referring to a suitcase - you are likely talking about carrying a child. This might mean in a parka with an amauti, or a packing shirt or vest under a large parka with a cord tied around the waist. I've included a picture taken in Clyde River, Nunavut to show you how they're worn. The method is to lift the baby up under the arms and slide them down with their front facing your back, over your shoulders feet first, then you reach around and pull their feet so their legs wrap around above your waist and they pop their head out or nestle next to your back while you tie the belt underneath them around you or tie a knot in the bottom of the packing shirt or vest and put your parka on. And they are carried this way until they are quite large - a three year old that's half the size of his mother at times emerges from a parka.  Babies usually only wear a diaper next to Mom and a hat for popping out to the weather. They don't usually have snowsuits until they're walking. Little ones aren't carried in the hood even though it sort of looks that way, the hood is for Mom to pull up over her own and the baby's head. I've seen smaller babies carried on the front in snuglis but apparently they can be carried on the back by wrapping them snugly and facing outwards to support their neck and back next to the Moms. 

Gotta love those hats

Pang hat

Sealskin mitts with moosehide palms

And to profile another means of transportation here on the right is a family photo taken through my office window as they were setting off.  I do so wish I had one of these hats. I have a Pang (short for Pangnirtung - in the Baffin region of Nunavut) crocheted hat which is too warm to wear in the Maritimes and really only needed these past few days here so was left at home this initial trip. My Pang hat is black white and brown and looks something like the one on the left. It will accompany me on my next trip up in January for sure and will look great with my new mitts as well as being warm. Mitts you say? What mitts? Well...... these ones on the right. I bought them from a local lady, Monica who sews - they're sealskin with moosehide palms. Very warm as well as pretty and they will come in handy for 'real winter'.

Don't stick your tongue here

How cold has it been this week? Well, it's been -20 c for the past few mornings and it's only going to get colder. Can't you just see the frost coming out of that railing on the left? This is one place you wouldn't try that 'put your tongue on the metal' stunt. Folks here leave their caribou meat or char in a wooden box on the outside of their house starting in October - a big outdoor freezer. It will be like going to the tropics to head home to fall weather. And speaking of the tropics...in this small health centre there are three different staff members who are going to Haiti to do mission work within the next month. One is an ultrasound/xray tech going to set up some new xray equipment for a clinic working for an orphanage that rescues street kids freethekids.org , one is a midwife heading down to manage a  birthing centre for an organization called mamababyhaiti.org and the third is a nurse who has done several trips to Hait for Medical Teams International medicalteams.org so you can check out the groups through the hyperlinks.

I haven't learned much of the local language except koana - pronounced quana (meaning thank you) but I have a list I'm studying. What I have learned is that no is signified by wrinkling up the nose (as if something smelled really bad) which I'm relieved to find out because I thought lots of patients were making faces at me while I was questioning them. And yes is signified by raising the eyebrows (as if something had really surprised you). So you can see it's important to look at the person when you ask them a question. It finally dawned on me last week what was happening when a mother said to me pointedly - after I'd asked her preschooler a couple of times if his ear hurt (without receiving an answer or so I thought) "look - he's telling you no".

5:15 pm

5 p.m.

 It's getting dark quite early now as you can see from the photos taken after work today. The sun hangs low in the sky for quite a while before actually disappearing. I almost got taken out by a skidoo heading down the edge of the street as I snapped the first one.

Well, since I'm second on call and I've already been over once to the Health Centre for a laceration call, I should get this old body to bed. Am I tired or managing? Managing quite well. Even after a long night on call and working the next day I don't feel any worse than at the end of a 12 hour shift so it's all doable for this old nurse. I leave you with the quote of the day:

"Maybe you are here on earth to learn that life is what you make of it, and it's to be enjoyed."

— Dick Sutphen