Pearl on a slippery slider.. phtos for sale on ebay

Today we are going to the mountain to play. The Gods do not favour me as it is a lovely day here. I was hoping for bad weather. I suppose I should not even whisper the words "bad weather" with our flight scheduled for tomorrow. The mountain is right behind my house so I don't have far to go once I am chilled to the bone. I have a new coat that no one knows about for this day. I shall sneak back to my house once I have made an appearance. If I wore my normal green coat people would say: "There goes Pearl sneaking away early."

Actually the games on the hill are like going to the dentist. I dislike the idea of going but it never seems to be as bad as I think it will be. Once out there, playing with the kids it is great fun. We use skidoos to take us up the hill and then slide down. Most of us will use cardboard but the snow pants will give you a great ride. Some fools use tubes to slide on. They go as fast as the wind.

Keeping the speed down is a major problem. Once I get in drive, I can't find the brakes. I am always terrified that I will break a leg when I try to use my feet to slow down. If nothing else it provides lots of laughter for those watching.

It is in the minus 20's today. No wind so I should last an hour. Sunset is at 2:33 today so we won't be out there long.

From the sounds of the weather reports from NS I could be doing a bit of shoveling when I get home. There is not much snow on the ground here... only a few inches. Nothing like the snow that PEI is getting.. and poor Newfoundland.

Have fun today... and think of me out on the hill.

A Star is Born

Actually several stars were discoverd last night. Our number in the Christmas concert went off without a hitch. The teacher was a bit nervy but the kids were cool as cucumbers... nothing to be nervous about when you are that cute.

When they left school at 2;30 yesterday afternoon I suggested baths and shampoos. I have all those little soaps from motels ect that they just love. They came back to school all dolled up. The Inuit don't do dress-up clothing. Outfits serve one purpose... to stay warm and dry. It is actually very freeing not to have to worry about having a new dress for an event. My little scamps came back smelling like roses, shiny as new pennies. Then some fool was selling popsicles to raise money for a school trip. Wonderful.

Our song went very well. They sang their little tonsils out. And their signing was right on. People were very impressed as Lissie has only been teaching them about 6 weeks. You can't imagine how proud I was of them. It would be difficult to say who was proudest, the little performer, the parents or the teacher? It felt great when it was over though. I don't realize how much self induced pressure there is on me until something is over. I celebrated with Captain Morgan and watched William Shattner on that silly legal show. He makes me laugh out loud. Perhaps it is not the show that is silly but me watching it.

Most of my girls are in CGIT and also sang several hymns. We were major disappointed that the uniforms did not arrive in time but it has already been decided to do some sort of show in late Feb.

So.. two more days and then I shall hitch a ride with Santa and head south.
Have a great day.

Cold, very cold

The deep freeze cold is now with us in Salluit. Sunday morning it was in the -20 C. The Bay is almost frozen over. There is a skim of ice over the entire bay but the tide may break it up a few more times. The ice will have to become thick and stable so that the Inuit can play their Christmas games out on the ice. All the ski-doos will line up, driving thru every street of the village in convoy, then out on to the ice. Once the ice is solid, the bay will be the main transportation route to the camps.

Last year when the dog sled races were held on the bay the entire school went down on the Bay to watch. I rode down on the school bus but as soon as the bus started out on the Bay, I asked to be let off. I walked. All the Inuit laughed at me but I spent my life around the Basin in Digby.. it never froze over . I don't completly trust the ice. The idea of drving in a multi ton bus out on the ice does not sit well with me.

Several times I have started to walk across but always chicken out. I have driven across on a skidoo, praying all the time, but I can't make myself walk it. Perhaps this year.

The concert is tomorrow so we are busy with the finishing touches. I'll be glad when this is over. Some fool has organized a day on the mountain for all the kids on Thursday. Walking up that mountain in all my gear is not easy. All that for a 30 second ride down. Cold, you can't begin to imagine it. It is easier when I play soccer as I at least get warm. But the chances for a heart attack go up.

Every part of you body gets cold. It seems like I get cold from the inside out. I have great gear... the best, but nothing keeps you warm in minus 20 degree weather after an hour or so. I guess I don't eat enough seal meat. I soon sneak off the hill to my house to prepare hot choc for the kids. It takes hours to prepare my receipe.
Think of us tomorrow night singing our little hearts out.
Pearl

Some days are diamond

We are still being challenged my our weather. Very cold and very windy. The air is so dry here. I have two humidifers going in the house at all times. I keep a pan bubbling on the stove too. I can keep crackers out on the counter for days that get dusty before they get soggy. It is hard for a girl from Nova Scotia to get over something like that. Soggy crackers are a way of life down East.

Today I had a formal practise for the Christmas concert. I asked the parents and friends of my students to come up to our classroom to listen and several did show up. I am being challenged by my tape recorder, getting our song to play when I need it. To-night I am going to try to make a copy of the tape with just our song. Now that ought to be fun. I should be rather cross with myself after several attempts.

The students did fairly well. Lots of giggles from the younger boys. Often the boldest children become shy when others are in the classroom. We did have lots of laughs but most of the time they sailed right thru their performance. I had them do it several times which meant I had to keep rewinding the tape... that was worth several laulghs.

The parents were so proud of their children. I could tell they loved seeing them. The girls had spent 15 minutes in the washroom making themselves tidy. The parents were impressed with the learning of American sign language. Trudy's Mum was over the moon and told her daughter that she could never do that. What a wonderful thing for a child to hear. Charlie Kadjulik actually had new clean clothes on. Both his parents came and were so proud. The classsroom is a much more intimate place for the parents to see and hear their children perform. I am going to find a reason to get them back in Feb to see their little darlings. We took lots of photos and I am hoping over the holidays I can beg Aran, Sara or Leslie to show me how to put some on the blog.

Since I had so many parents I gave a little speech about Inuit parents, speaking to their Inuit Education Commissioner about cutbacks in Inuit education. I had a member of the local Education committee here so I was shameless in begging for more resources for the children of Salluit. Have audience... give speech. I learned that at a very early age. So many decisons about Inuit education are made in Montreal and Quebec City by people who fly into the north, but do not live here. Many have not taught in the North either. The are well meaning people but are not well informed. My principal laughed when she heard me start. She has heard my little speech before when I wanted dictionaries.

The date of our Christmas concert is Tuesday, Dec. 13th. I hope all goes well.

So how many pies can Pearl bake?

I wish I had kept a record of the pies I have baked since I came to Salluit. I certainly have made more than the national average for women who live alone. Every time there is a fund raiser in Sallulit some fool says : "Pearl can make pies". That fool is usually me. They are easy to make if you keep the numbers under a hundred for a day... slight exaggeration. When I was teaching high school we had major sales several times a year to raise money for the seniors to go out of the village. Because of the cost of ingredients they are expensive to make and expensive to sell. Luckily my parents subsidize these sales by sending most of what we need. I am a pure profit person when it comes to charity. Pecan pies go for $16.00 while apple, cherry and blueberry go for $12.00. Lemon goes somewhere in between because the Inuit love lemon pies so the market can handle a high price.

This past weekend the CGIT girls were raising money to buy their uniforms and register their group. I told Gladys that I would HELP. She wanted me to teach the 12 year old girls how to roll out the crust. I said" Frig that". Not exactly a CGIT phrase. But teaching someone to roll out pie crust and making pies for a sale are two different things. I had 2 girls are my home. I could roll out crusts as fast as they could fill them, crimp them and dust with cinnamon sugar. We had 9 beauties done in 45 minutes. We were doing blueberry.

Blueberry are dead easy: roll out the crust, dump in berries and sugar , flip the top on and on to the next. We wanted 20 pies at the end of the day. I also did two cherry pies as a donation to the cause from my own supplies. We had people lined up at the door before the pies were out of the oven.

Then yesterday I had a little electrial accident with my sewing machine. When I went to unplug the machine a flame 2 feet long shot out of the outlet. I had to tell the maintenance men who deal with problems in our homes. When they went to check the outlet, they replaced the plug on my machine without asking. What a treat. They could see the mountain of sewing I have yet to finish for Christmas. True wisemen.. it is the season. So when I came home from school I set to work making lemon pies for them.

Last year this time 4 of us gals made mincemeat for pies. We had a caribou roast to use. My mother always made her mincemeat with deer or moose. My parents sent up dried apples, as fresh would weigh too much and therefore be expensive. They also sent up everything else we needed ,including the liquide refreshment that made us rather jolly ole elves.

Speaking of old... older.... what ever the politically correct phrase is these days... one of my students asked me today how old I am. They are fascinated by my white hair. One of the boys yelled out "16". Then the entire class laughed like they were watching a Steve Martin routine. They had a real giggle fit.

We are doing a great deal of laughing these days. We are all so tired. The practising of the hymn for the concert goes well. Charlie Okituk is the loudest and of course he can't carry a tune in a bucket. His voice is so flat but he is so keen and is really trying. He is leading all the others off key..not that they were firmly on key. To-day it struck me as funny and I started to laugh. Then my helper Lissie started to laugh... then all the kids. Soon Charlie was singing alone. The laughing helps right now. We all need a break from school, the kids as well as the teachers. If any of you have a child in a concert soon , give the teacher credit for trying to do something that he or she may have no talent for at all. Concert technique is never part of an Education degree. Now if they wanted me to bake pies to sell at the concert............

Another short northern day is over.