Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Joey's LiveJournal:

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Sunday, November 25th, 2007
9:22 pm	Back to Winnipeg! I have now returned to Winnipeg. I got home Thursday morning. I took the train from Churchill to Thompson and from Thompson to Winnipeg I rode the Greyhound bus. The trip to Thompson was really great. I am starting to fall in love with riding the train. We traveled through the night, and what a night it was. The sky was so clear and the moon was so bright that you could see everything outside. The northern lights danced above us as the train swayed silently along the tracks. The train was packed with people, so I wasn’t able to sprawl across the seats like I had when going to Churchill. My housemate accompanied me all the way home so I did have someone to talk to. Also, two women who are sisters with one of the people that I was working with were in front of us. All of us had a good conversation in the dining car during breakfast and a couple more people joined into our talk. When Jessica (my housemate) and I got to Thompson, it was around 1:30, and our bus would leave at 10:00, so we had a bit of time to kill. Since I had been to Thompson, I thought that I would show Jessica around a bit. I asked a girl in the train station how far the bus station was and she said far. She offered us a ride which was really awesome. Her name is Candace of the North and she said that her grandfather always did nice deeds like this, so she just wants to continue tradition. We dropped our stuff off at the bus station and headed out. We ended up going to the library near the city mall. I knew of one couple that lives in Thompson, so I decided to check if they were around. It was very short notice and I probably should have emailed them a head of time. I ended up going to the church where my friend Ted does his ministry, and he was there. He told Jessica and I to come over for supper, which we did. Both Jessica and I weren’t feeling too great, so after supper we were able to take a little rest, which was great since neither of us slept on the train. We were up on the train talking and eating chips and sweets in the dining car at 4 in the morning. Not a great idea. Later that night we finally left to the bus station. We jumped on the bus and were off, half an hour after we were to leave, and after a lot of confusion, difficulty and yelling passengers. I will skip how uncomfortable and irritating that ride was because I’m sure I could fill pages of uninteresting feelings I had towards the bus ride. Anyways, after a small car crash on the way home, I finally made it back. All in all, I am glad that I went to Churchill for a couple of months and very glad to be back home. I feel that I have learnt a lot, and that I have developed a thicker skin. I love how small town’s function. I love that everyone knows each other or is related somehow. One image that sticks out in my mind is the very first day when a couple of people from my work and I went cruising around town. We went down to the flats by the river and passed a house where a man was passed out drunk on a sofa outside with his head pointing up to the sky. Above his head was a large ax positioned awkwardly in a window frame looking very unbalanced. It was quite the scene and I wish that I had my camera on me. Oh Churchill… You are guaranteed to come back with stories even if you only spend a day there! (Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 14th, 2007
11:11 am	Coming to an End As always God answers prayer. The mysterious Jenny turns out to be our cooks girl friend who is actually from Arviat, an Inuit community along the Hudson’s Bay at the bottom of Nunavut (A dry community, I might add). She has been in Churchill for about 2 or 3 months and has been drunk pretty well every single day since she came here. Every time I would see her, she would be slurring or yelling or getting really violent. It was getting so bad that our cook had to get her out of Churchill. It was absolutely destroying her. Our cook ended up buying a plane ticket for her, and sending her back home on the next flight. A couple of days later, Jenny phones, asking for her boyfriend. I barley recognized her voice. Instead of the deep voiced slurring gibberish that is usually spoken from her, I hear a sweet, polite, kind voice come out of the phone. She sounded so different than when she is drunk. Could this really be the same person I saw outside a couple of weeks before throwing handfuls of rocks, screaming and yelling outside our hotel? I am just so glad that she is where she belongs now. I find that people from the outside often get sucked into this drinking lifestyle when they come here. (I got sucked into drinking too much that one time before I even reached Churchill!) Perhaps its because it is so socially accepted here to get “hammered”. There seems to be a fine line between going out for drinks, and drinking. Churchill is just one of those places that changes people. Yesterday morning, Jessica and I went to Gypsy Bakery and Restaurant for some hot chocolate before work. We just got up and were walking towards the door when one of the group leaders from GCTC (Great Canadian Travel Company) who uses our hotel for the bear season, comes into the restaurant looking for some people from her group. Apparently the wildlife people were airlifting out some polar bears from the bear jail near the airport, just outside of town. Because she couldn’t find anyone else from her group, she asked us if we wanted to come along. Before we knew it, we were racing towards the bear jail, following the helicopter far in front of us. We arrived shortly after the helicopter landed and got out. We couldn’t get to close so we watched from a distance half a dozen wildlife management people haul out a drugged baby cub and a mother towards the nets lying on the ground. They then secured the nets to the helicopter and began to take off the ground with a cub in the top net, and the mother fetal positioned in the bottom net. They then drop these bears off somewhere where they will probably find their way back in a couple of days. All the bears come to Churchill because it is this location of the Hudson’s Bay that freezes first. The bears then go onto the sea ice to hunt seals and build up body fat for the winter. The bay has begun to freeze already. I have gone down to the shoreline and seen that there is a lot of ice buildup already. In the past week I have heard tones of gunshots from the bay to scare the bears away from town. The sled dogs just down our street are always barking and it’s almost always because there is a bear around. The polar bear season is almost finished. Once the bay freezes completely, the bears are gone, and so are the tourists, and so am I. I hope to be home in the next two weeks or so. I am planning to come back in the summer though. That is when the beluga whales come into town. This year, there were killer whales spotted in the Churchill River, which hasn’t been seen before. This crazy little town of Churchill is very interesting. It is a combination of the south and the north. It is the sub arctic, which means that you have two biomes overlapping each other. You have the boreal forest just outside of town, and hardly any trees when you come into town. You have polar bears and grizzlies found in the same place. Caribou and moose found in the same place. You have the fresh water of the Churchill River meeting the very salty Hudson’s Bay. There is actually a line in the water which is created by salt-water meeting the fresh water. This is where the belugas will come every summer between July and August. It’s just a really interesting place with a lot of pre-colonial and post-colonial history and a lot of interesting geography and geology. This is a nice over lap for me as well taking geography and native studies. It will be nice getting back to my studies, but I know that by the end of June, I will be ready to return to Churchill once again. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, November 3rd, 2007
10:19 am	Trapped As you start to settle into any new place, you start to observe the things and people around you. You start to except the things around you, and slowly fall into the norm of the place in which you are living in. Many people who move to a new place will get caught up in the norms and begin to melt these ideas and actions into their daily life. In some cases, the norm is something which is unhealthy and creates more problems than it should. Depending on the individual, one can unconsciously fall into these sorts of habits, and make it a daily ritual. This is usually very gradual. This, from my observations, will happen more often than not in a small isolated community. It seems that if the individual leaves the community in question and goes to another community, they will adapt to the new place and see the previous one from an outsiders view. Those who were born in the first community and never leave, find it difficult to understand anything outside their own community. They have only seen the outside world on T.V. or though stories, or the tourists. They will fall into the norm more easily than those coming into the community for the first time, because it’s all they know. Their parents live like this, their friends live like this, so why not also live like this. We all want to be accepted, and we all crave community and relationship, even if the norm is slowly killing us. Is their any simple answer to help those who cannot see how harmful the norm can be? How can one help them, when they can’t or won’t even help themselves? Is it to late? I believe that God will help those who ask for it. It always seems to be a matter of time. About two weeks ago, I found a note on the floor of our restaurant. Actually it was a prayer. It said: Dear Jesus I love you. I need you. Please help me to be the kind of a person you want me to be. I know I am a sinner. Take a look at me now and I really do need your help. Help me to stop drinking because it’s killing me slowly. Forgive me Lord. Jenny Thank you. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 31st, 2007
10:43 am	An Eventful Day Today was a very interesting and eventful day. It started off with me waking up at 4:30am for work. Doreen (our supervisor) and Jessica (another server) whom I both live with, drove to work. This morning was very cold, and the wind was amazingly strong, coming from the West. As Doreen drove us to work, we all noticed a bright flashing light two doors down from our hotel. Turns out the hotel two doors down from us, was on fire! Imagine that. Doreen honked the horn to get the peoples insides attention, pressed on the accelerator, drove to our hotel, got out, and ran inside to phone the fire department and tell Doug (our boss, and her brother) what was going on. Jessica and I jumped out of the truck, and ran towards the fire. The owner of the hotel went outside with a pail of water in one hand, took one look at the fire, and tossed the bucket hopelessly aside. I asked him if there was anyone in the hotel, and he said that they were all notified. Turns out no one had been notified. Jessica and I ran back to our hotel, Doug zoomed out past us, got into his truck, and sped off. Doug went to the hotel, kicked down a couple of doors and led around 30 people out of the hotel. We later find out that a shed in the back had caught on fire and had been burning the side of the hotel and the Tundra Buggy Tours building next door (A log building). If the wind was coming from the east, I guarantee that the Tundra Buggy Tours would be gone. There was a lot of smoke in the building, but everyone was ok. It could have been so much worse, especially with the very strong wind today. You see these things on the movies yet seeing it in real life is really scary. You feel so useless when the fire gets out of control like that. The whole day was very long. Jessica and I had to work 3 split shifts. 5:30am-9:30am, 11:00am-2:00pm, 4:30-9:30pm. During my last split shift, a couple from my church (Jake and Agatha) who are very good friends of my family, came into Churchill on a day trip. They came that day, and left in the evening, but they had a bit of time to come to my work to see me which was really nice, even though it was 2 minutes, and it was so busy in the restaurant that it was impossible to really talk with them. At the end of the night, a got a phone call from my friend who works at the Tundra Buggy Tours gift shop. She said, “I don’t care what your boss says, you need to go outside right now.” So I run outside to join the dozen other tourists standing outside our hotel, looked up, and saw some of the best northern lights I’ve seen in a long time. Two green ribbons of curious light dancing in the sky above the small town of Churchill. It was such a nice way to end a very long, and busy, but interesting and great day. (Comment on this)
10:42 am	Settling In Last week Sherryl, our family friend and travel agent, came up to Churchill to work for three weeks at Northern Images, which sells Inuit Artifacts from all around Northern Canada, especially from the Eastern Canadian Arctic. Sherryl is actually the reason I am up here. I had wanted to go to Churchill, but needed an excuse to come up, so she gave me one. It’s so great to see a familiar face and talk about all the funny things in Churchill. It’s also good to have someone to back up each other’s stories when back in Winnipeg. The other day we were discussing what our living quarters are like. It went something like this: Sherryl: “Joey, it’s a very nice house. Get this. We have a stainless steel fridge that dispenses ice and cold water.” Joey” “Um…Our fridge humms loudly and smells like old Chicken Parmesan.” Sherryl “We have a nice new TV with cable.” Joey” “We have a TV from the 1980’s which has no cable and possibly no color.” Sherryl “A girl is living with us for a while, and she’s a massage therapist!” Joey “We have a guy staying the night… I think he’s a tax adjuster?” Sherryl “The house is well furnished and the beds are brand new.” Joey “We have 2 couches which smell really bad, and our beds which have been sitting in our bosses cold storage all winter are in rough condition.” Sherryl “We have strange mugs with weird naked pictures on them!” Joey “Ummm…. No comment.” I feel a lot more comfortable living here. Things are going a lot better I feel (Despite the disorganized days at work). There are always good days and bad days, yet that’s anywhere you go. Life is good. I have no complaints. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 16th, 2007
4:16 pm	A Good Day A Good Day October 14th/07 Today was a really good day. I was scheduled to work at 4:00 in the afternoon, so I decided to go to Church again, which starts at 11:00 o’clock. This church is an Anglican church, so it was very much like last week. In the row in front of me was a man by the name of David Hatch, one of the main tour guides in Churchill, and one of the nicest people you could ever meet. I had quite a bit of time before I had to work, so we went cursing around Churchill. Mr. Hatch is 65 years old, and is a biologist by profession. He gave me a tour around the area, which was really great. We then went out for lunch to my favorite bakery/restaurant in Churchill, Gypsies. It was really great to meet Mr. Hatch. We talked a lot about life in Churchill and what I have been doing here, and what my intentions for the future were. He gave me such encouragement today, which I have been lacking for the past month. I have been feeling not too happy with life lately and with being here, yet after today, I feel that God has laid his hand on me again and taken charge. What’s even more awesome is that Mr. Hatch offered me a job if for some reason I had to quit the restaurant. He may also have a job for me when I get back to the city. Despite the last couple of days or what ever happens after this, today was a really great day, and it’s exactly what I have been praying for. Oh, Mondays October 15th/07 I find that Mondays are some of the craziest days of the week. Everything seems to happen on a Monday, and no one is ready for it. This Monday the school bus broke down. This probably wouldn’t affect me as a waiter, yet because my boss is for some reason in charge of the school bus pick up in the mornings, and because I work for him and am one of the few people in Churchill that actually have a license, clearly it was my responsibility to leave 3 hours into my shift , take one of the tour busses, go to the broken down school bus, pick up the children and remaining children from their homes, and droop them off at school (That has to be the worlds longest run-on sentence!). It was awesome. Later on that day, we had a tour group from Natural Habitat come to our restaurant for lunch. Prior to their arrival, our coordinator Doreen told us to make sure this group in particular is very happy and well treated and for there not to be any screw ups because they are one of our biggest customers. Well, naturally when you say that, something is bound to happen. As the group began to settle in, one older woman from the group was walking from the bathroom, which is right beside the kitchen, to her seat. One of my co-workers emerged from the kitchen just as the woman was passing. The woman tripped, stumbled about a meter and a half, and did a sort of face plant on the leg of one of the chairs in front of her. She let out a cry of pain, and was in absolute shock. Everyone was looking at my co-worker thinking that he/she had done this. My co-worker was absolutely mortified for the rest of the day. I love how you plan to have a good day with not to many mistakes made, yet that never seems to work. If God made everything the way we planned, life wouldn’t have any surprises to it. (Comment on this)
4:16 pm	Home Sweet Home I just moved into my rooming house on Monday along with one of the servers from Winnipeg named Jessica and my bosses three sisters. I helped move all their stuff that they brought to Churchill from the hotel they were staying at. I can’t believe the amount of stuff they all brought. About 4-5 pieces of luggage each, and not just a couple of light duffel bags. These things were monstrous bags, suit cases, and bulk bins full of who knows what. After a day of work, we came home and the luggage began to discharge. The bathroom went from a plain characterless place where you would merely use the toilet and shower, to a fiesta of amenities that takes you beyond your regular bathroom experience. The counter is beset with matching flowery porcelain toothbrush holder, porcelain tweezers dispenser, and small flowery paper Dixie cups, and who could forget, the fragile gold trimmed Q-tips jar, with painted blue daisy. To co-ordinate all this, we have the matching flowery floor mat and flowery shower curtain. Oh, and just incase our shower becomes a mess; we have a shower organizer, with 9 pouches (How can you tell this is a woman’s house). My favorite thing that they brought from home is a magnetic message board on our fridge in the shape of a cow! I just started to laugh when I walked into that bathroom this morning. I feel that I’m pretty lucky to be living with these people given all the horror stories I’ve heard about rooming houses. The one disadvantage about this setup is that one of the women smokes, and they smoke inside the house. I asked her to do it outside, and she told me to get lost! These people are pretty all right though. They all have a sense of humor, and are fairly understanding people. What I really like is that they have stood up to my boss (their brother) for me at work, which is awesome. Quite rapidly the tourists are flooding into Churchill, filling up all the hotels and restaurants. It is really nice to talk to people from outside of Canada. Living in a small town even for a little while, I begin to forget that there is another world out there. I think many of the people who live here year round forget this also, which may be a reason for some of their poor habits. This town is all about the people who live here and come here. Its one of those places that you are guaranteed a good story, even if you spend just a day here. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 10th, 2007
2:59 pm	Starting to Wait I’ve now begun my waiter duties at the Churchill Motel. This is my first time ever to serve in a restaurant, so I don’t know what to expect. Churchill gets people from all over the world who come to see the polar bears from about the beginning of October till the end of November. After the polar bears leave, and the tourists leave, I will go back home to Winnipeg. A couple of days ago, I had my first group come in. There were seven people from England staying several days in Churchill. This was the first group I’ve ever waited on (that sounds weird!) and I wasn’t 100% smooth in what I was doing; yet in spite of that, these people loved me! They were all happy and laughing, and every time I would come back, they would say something like, “Oh! Hello again” in the cheery voice. My boss’s sisters also helped me quite a bit in organizing myself. I am still learning and still making lots of mistakes. Yesterday, we had two tour groups come in. One group of 37 people came to our restaurant strictly for the buffet, which was easy for us servers. The second group of 35 people, ordered off the menu. I thought this went quite well overall. That evening though, I had about 5 tables at once by myself, which isn’t too bad because they were small groups, yet one of those was my bosses table, along with his three sisters, sister in law, and brother. It seemed that every time I passed them they would be analyzing me or laughing at me which really didn’t help my nerves. At one point, I was so preoccupied with the other people, that I forgot to bring out his meal. By the time I brought his food to the table I found a twisted broken fork bitten in half, lying on the table. Opps! I am still getting used to my responsibilities as a waiter, but I have to catch on faster or else I might be next! On Monday, one of the girls I work with named Jessica, (26) and I moved into the staff house. My bosses three sisters are supposed to be living here also yet haven’t had the time to move in yet. It’s fun having Jessica around. All we do is laugh. We could just sit and laugh at anything for hours. I am afraid she might leave though. For the past month, she had been working down the street at the Seaport Hotel, yet she wasn’t treated too well by some of the people there, so she came to our hotel and restaurant to work. She plans on buying a train ticket this week just incase things don’t work out at this restaurant either. It’s cheaper buying a train ticket a week in advance, rather than the day of. I really hope she doesn’t go. In any case, I plan to stick out the next seven or eight weeks regardless. I really need to push myself a little harder cus we are running out of cutlery fast! (Comment on this)
Monday, October 1st, 2007
8:28 am	A new side of life Life is definitely different from what I thought it might be like in Churchill. I don’t assume anything about a place before I go there in order to formulate my own impressions, opinions and ideas about the place without the influence of other people’s opinions. I of course try to take others advice and warnings based on what they have experienced or know. Experiences in a place will vary from person to person. My experience here has been more then I could have anticipated. I feel that I have been given more responsibility then I had asked for when I had applied to be a waiter in a restaurant. For the past two weeks I’ve been living in the hotel that I have been working in. My boss has generously allowed me to stay here and make use of the facilities. This has helped a lot especially in the food department. He has had me working non stop since he came back from Winnipeg on the 20th. Working here has been really good, with the exception of this Friday. I went around doing gopher jobs like cleaning up my bosses garage, hauling garbage, and attempting to lift 200 pound nitrogen tanks (I told my boss about my back after the fact, and he wasn’t too impressed). I am still learning what is required of me here. I feel that I should be able to adapt to any place or situation, taking an easy going and assertive approach, yet to constantly be on guard; You have to when you go to a new place unfamiliar from that of your own. People pick up on your weak spots right away, and will take advantage of you so fast. I was even told that by someone here last week. What I am trying to learn here is to find a balance between what is appropriate and what isn’t. This can vary from person to person to an extend, yet in regards to my boss, I am still trying to figure that one out. On Friday he gave me a 45-minute lecture on thinking for myself, and not to second guess him. It seemed like anything I said or suggested about how to improve something was second-guessing him. Perhaps this is just my boss. He is not that well liked in this town, and I can partly see why. He is very generous and you can have really good conversations with him, but he doesn’t take any crap. He is a workaholic and a perfectionist… The hardest bosses to satisfy. He has helped me understand a bit of the lifestyle that people are living within Churchill and the situations that they are in on a daily basis (Though the opinions sound very one-sided). Its crazy what goes on here. It is not that different from Winnipeg, yet the crazy behavior that goes on here is seen more often then not, perhaps because of the small population. I feel that with some of my friends in Winnipeg, drinking is something to do on a Friday night, where as here, its an addiction that people have, and it doesn’t seem to matter if your drunk on a Tuesday afternoon. Every morning you see people stumbling around the streets, or smell the alcohol on people’s breath that you work with every day. It seems that most of the people in Churchill drink a lot. My boss claims that the reason he is not well liked in town is because he doesn’t drink that much (I think there’s other reasons, yet we’ll leave that for another journal). I am also amazed at the amount of people that are going to court tomorrow. I know of 3 that have to go to court, incidents all related to alcohol. One of them is a guy that I’ve been working with named Curtis, who is my age. This afternoon, I “borrowed” my boss’s truck to help my co-worker Molly, find her 4-wheeler. We drove around town looking for Curtis, who had taken it for some reason. She needed to get it back I think because he was still drunk from yesterday. He was actually in jail last night from too much drinking. We found him driving it behind the town at the flats. Molly got out, gave him heck, took the 4-wheeler, Curtis got in the truck, I drove him to Molly’s, he gets a huge case of bear, and gets me to drive him down to the flats again. I don’t even know what’s going on. How do I get into these messes anyways? I was just walking casually down the road before Molly asked me to help her. This evening around 7oclock, a cabinetmaker named Dave from Winnipeg came into the hotel drunk and yelling. My boss was out, and I was in my room. I go out of my room, and find him sitting on the leather couch by the check in counter. He asks me for a room, so I tell him that he will have to wait for my boss, Doug. He tells me he’s an old friend of his (ya right) and is starting to get really upset. He had actually stayed for lunch this afternoon, and my boss Doug didn’t seem too impressed with him. The last time he stayed at this hotel he had peed in the recycling box in the hotel room. Doug wasn’t around and I know what he would say (and said afterwards). All I could do was give him a room until I found Doug, so I get a room key and let him in room 10. I finally find Doug working in the back of the hotel, and tell him the situation. He goes over to the room, knocks once and walks into the guys room. Dave was pretty wasted already. He was also staying at another hotel, yet came to this one for some reason? I don’t know how to act in these sorts of situations. I haven’t dealt with alcohol that much and with those under the influence. I have definitely stepped outside of my box by coming here. People become so violent and angry about everything when they are drunk it’s frightening. I’m afraid to say no and get knocked in the jaw. I might have to take the risk soon. My want for avoiding confrontation is not easily avoidable, especially when alcohol is involved. It is good for me to be exposed to this. (Comment on this)
Thursday, September 27th, 2007
12:40 pm	Human Behavior Human behavior is fascinating. Perhaps I have never paid attention to other peoples conversations until now, but I have never realized how much people love to gossip. Living in a small town like Churchill, almost everyone is bound to know each other and each other’s spouses, and each other’s activities. Everyone is bound to know that such and such broke up by noon the very same day. Perhaps the half dozen game shows or late night comedy shows broadcasted here don’t provide people with enough entertainment. The main form of entertainment in Churchill, aside from playing the slots or sucking back half a dozen bears on a Thursday night at the Seaport, is town gossip. This evening, my boss Doug, two women originally from Winnipeg and I went out for dinner across the street from the Churchill motel. We ate, sat and talked for about 2 and a half hours. What about you may ask? Pretty well everyone permanently living in Churchill. Many of the gossip stories sounded very embellished and on a matter of opinion, but the things that were fact amazed me. The amount of people in Churchill that have lost family members due to alcohol and drugs is astounding. One story that I cannot get passed is about one guy I am working with who is my age. About 15 years ago or so, his father had been beaten to death with a baseball bat while he was under the influence of alcohol. What a frightening way to go! There were so many more stories similar to this that were passed around the table. What I don’t care for is people’s opinions of each other. When people start asking my opinion about someone, I become very cautious. Rumors about people can start very quickly, and jealously I have found, is a big thing in Churchill. I am trying to be very cautious not to make a bad reputation for myself or to get on anyone’s bad side. I choose to avoid conflict for as long as I can. Just don’t talk bad about my mama! (Comment on this)
Monday, September 24th, 2007
6:37 pm	Alcohol is a poison! Alcohol is a poison! It destroys people, relationships, families, and cultures. There are no benefits to drinking, other than forgetting momentarily life’s hardships. I knew that Churchill, like so many northern communities have problems with Alcohol, yet seeing it and dealing with it face to face with those you work with and those you don’t, shakes you into reality. I have seen people drunk before, and have had to deal with it, yet for the most part, I felt removed from the whole scene. I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to drink and make themselves sick with something that tasted so awful anyways. When taking the train from Thompson to Churchill, I sat with two Aboriginal guys from Churchill. They had easily snuck a large bottle of vodka on the train wrapped in the typical long brown paper bag. They offered me some, mixed with Pepsi, and at the first offer, I said no. Eventually I took a glass and slowly finished the stuff off. Before I knew it, my cup was full to the brim. Generally I don’t drink. I will occasionally take a bear when at a party or new years celebration, yet I never drink enough to feel any side effects. Yet after five glasses of that stuff, I could really feel the effects. I can remember everything I was doing, and still can, so I did not go far enough to loose control; yet I did have enough to know that I was not myself. I felt more relaxed, and would say the first thing that came into my head. I found things to be funnier than they actually are, and noticed that things were blurrier than normal. (If you know how badly my eyesight is already, you would be impressed that I was able to see anything at all). In the morning, my mouth had become very dry, and my breath reeked of stale alcohol. A smell which I’ve learned, cannot be taken away by simply brushing your teeth, or eating a sandwich. I did not drink enough to make myself sick, but I drank enough to assure myself that I don’t want to do that too often. Obviously many people drink a lot more than I had, and have had more serious side effects from too much Alcohol, so this is nothing new. The reason I am writing about this is to show that I have had a glimpse into the lifestyle that many people in Churchill are in. So many people drink here do not know when to stop. One person I work with came back Tuesday afternoon, already having had too much to drink. This Saturday I had to do a bit of carpentry with a guy who had a really bad hangover that morning. It might just be me, but a band saw would be the last thing I would want to here the morning after drinking far too much. Right now, I am reading a book called Night Spirits by Ila Bussidor and Ustun Bilgen-Reinart, which is about the Sayisi Dene being moved by the Federal Government from Northern Manitoban communities such as Duck Lake, to Churchill in the 1950’s. The book is composed of several people’s testimonies of what life was like before and after the move. They talk of a life where things were simple, and people would subsist off the land. After the move, the Dene didn’t know how to survive, and were forced to depend on the Churchill dump for food and metal scraps that they could scrounge for trade. The people in this book talk about their childhood memories, remembering how their father was a great hunter and trapper, and their mother was a loving and compassionate woman. After their parents started to drink they changed dramatically. Their parents became abusive and no longer became loving. Several people say a darkness was dropped on their household. Numerous people have died in fires caused under the influence of alcohol. It’s incredibly sad to see the next generation doing the same thing. They become depressed or bored, and use alcohol as an outlet. My boss is one of the few people who have not followed in the wake of their parents mistakes. He was born and grew up in Churchill. He told me that both of his parents where serious alcoholics and he already knew at a young age that there was something wrong with that. So rather than being sucked into that mentality, he jumped on a train at 14 years, and started working in Gillim, MB. When he was 16 years old he began working for the Army, and he’s never looked back. That’s a very rare thing for someone being exposed to that lifestyle, and breaking away from it. How do you get out of the depressing lifestyle where you feel the need to drink alcohol on a regular basis, and what do you do to stop the next generation from making the same mistakes? (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 19th, 2007
1:11 pm	First impressions September 15th/07 Our train pulled into Churchill at 3:30 in the afternoon. A nice 20-hour ride from Thompson. I sat with two guys named Wally and Anthony who told me some good polar bear stories. It turns to that Wally works at a day care with Miriam Rempel, one of the girls I had lived with for a year in Indonesia. We had a lot to talk about. After getting off the train, I walked a block with my luggage to the Churchill Motel. This is the restaurant/motel that I will be working at for the season. Two of the women that work their, Helen and Molly, showed me to my room where I will be staying temporarily until my employer, Doug, returns from Winnipeg on Tuesday. Molly, Helen and her sister, took me for a ride in the company van around Churchill. We did a little bit of polar bear searching and were fortunate enough to see two polar bears. They are massive animals. Prior to our drive around Churchill, I did a bit of walking around the town by myself, and felt slightly paranoid about bears hiding around a corner somewhere. I told Helen this, and she says that everyone is like this. That’s comforting I suppose. This evening, after Helen and her sister took me out for supper, Molly took me out to the Seaport bar across the street. This bar reminds me of the western blue-collar bars that you see in the movies. It’s not like Winnipeg’s obnoxious clubs where you can barely talk to your neighbor, yet it was still loud. The music was a combination of country and pop. I was constantly introduced to people who happened to be in the bar. I can guarantee that I have less than half the names memorized. This is probably because I had less than half a goods nights sleep from the night before. What I found interesting, and perhaps not unique to Churchill, is peoples approach on meeting a newcomer. Over all I found the people to be very friendly and some more open that others (though this may be under the influence of too much alcohol). What was interesting is how the people want to befriend you and look out for you. The way that many did this (and I was warned about this before I left) is people telling me who I should associate with, and who I shouldn’t bother hanging around with. I also felt that others were immediately observing and analyzing me, perhaps so that they could classify what type of person I am. This is understandable because almost everyone does this, but I found it to be a lot stronger here. Perhaps this is because Churchill is such a small community and new characters need to be processed so people know what they can say to that person, or if they want to hang around that person. I could be way off on this, but this is how it seemed. Overall, the people of Churchill love to have fun, love to laugh and love to tell stories. Everyone that I’ve met so far has been really friendly, really generous, and very easygoing. In regards to the landscape and town itself, Churchill sits on a peninsula with the Hudson Bay on one side, and the Churchill River on the other. There are no trees in Churchill itself yet instead, many shrubs and colorful tundra which is starting to turn to an iron reddish color. Although Manitoba continues further north, I feel as if I have reached the end of our humbling province. Churchill is only around 1000 people, yet it seems much larger. Perhaps that’s because it is more spread out, or because the buildings are really big (Compared to an Arctic community like Pang). These are my first impressions of the people here and will probably change and develop in the three months of my being here. I don’t know what to expect in the coming months, but this is again a really good place to grow. Im looking forward to all the stories I will rake up over the next three moths. I have no expectations; and perhaps this is the best approach to take in order to avoid any disappointment. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 31st, 2007
5:01 pm	A New Approach July 31st Today we had an Images Workshop with Kristine. (Our coordinator) We talked about what we will take down south after this program is finished. What are we going to tell people when they will ask us, “What was it like in the North?” “What are the Inuit like?” Mainly this workshop was about how we will go home and try to explain to people what the “North” is really about. This particular journal is for my own reflection as well as for those interested in trying to find out how to approach people after a trip to another place. First off, you must understand that I have only been here for 5 weeks, and anything that I write about referring to the Inuit people is based on my own experiences and perception. Other people in my group could have a completely different view. To give an example, the other day one of my classmates was talking about how the Inuit never seem to use sarcasm. I thought that was really funny because I see the Inuit using sarcasm in everything. I personally think the Inuit people (at least in this community) are the funniest people I’ve ever met. Another thing that one must remember is that I have only been to Pang for Northern communities. This is only one community of Baffin Island, not Baffin Island, not Nunavut as a whole, and not the entire arctic. People may act very different in Pond Inlet (North Baffin Island) then they do in Pang. The first thing that the second person should do is dismiss any stereotypes or assumptions about any culture. You must understand that every place is different and has had many different influences. Some of the southern influences here in Pang have been the Whaling industry. Another is the different missions that have changed the culture. To say this is exactly what it’s like in the North everywhere in the North, would be ignorant. This experience in living here and learning here, has honestly taught me how to approach another culture. I am beginning to learn how to approach people back home as a sort of representative of the places I’ve been to. If I could re-due the presentation that I had done in my Church of Indonesia after having lived there for a year, I would. I hope that people don’t take me the wrong way. I absolutely love discussing and talking about different places and experiences I’ve had or other people have had. It is just not fair to sugar coat any culture. There is good and bad in every culture no matter what. I still have so much to learn, an am beginning to understand what I need to be questioning and telling people. (Comment on this)
4:26 pm	July 30th I have a tendency to generalize and over generalize. Many times I will to this for me to better understand things. I have to admit that I have over generalized in many of my previous journals and made “blanket statements”, especially when referring to the younger Inuit generation. I am still very much in love with the “Noble Savage” image, that it is difficult for me to accept that all cultures including the Inuit, is prone to change. One of my good friends from Winnipeg had reviewed my journals that I had written and posted on the web, and helped me better understand me trying to understand the Inuit. Many of my previous journals have focused around the juxtaposition of the younger generation V.S. the elder generation; technologically advanced vs. traditional knowledge. I completely agree that all cultures progress and adapt to survive. I agree that cultures will take things from other cultures out of interest, and I don’t think that this is wrong by any means. We all do it on a macro society level, or a micro individual level. One thing that I continue to struggle with is the younger generation’s interest in drug intake and as a business. One of my Inuit friends in Pang was talking to me today about how he will be going to Iqualuit this Friday to make something like $100 every 5 minutes. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what he’s doing. Another one of my friends, only 13 years old, is always seen with a cigarette in his mouth. I don’t care for smoking, but I am fine with people making their own decisions, but 13 years old… it’s far too young. I’ve seen some kids 8 years old smoking which is even more horrifying. Perhaps some of these adaptations should not be seen as a loss of culture, but rather a possible one moment in a series of moments; perhaps people’s interests in drugs will change. Perhaps people will find an alternative to hurting their bodies in the future… perhaps not. Colonialism has obviously had many negative affects on Inuit culture, but I don’t think that I should be so quick to judge the one side. Perhaps historically, there have been things in the Inuit culture to make people turn to drugs and commit suicide. It is a reality that cultures do in fact change for good and for bad. I believe that it can take one good person to turn people’s lives around. Perhaps the future of the younger generation in Pang will be a dark one. Perhaps not… (Comment on this)
Saturday, July 28th, 2007
5:16 pm	Baffin Island Summer School Joeys Journals Intro: For those of you who dont know, I am camping up on Baffin island for 6 weeks studying the way of the Inuit as well has how people of the south have had great impacts on the north since colonization. I will be taking Inuktitut classes a native studies class that focus's more on the people here, as well as 2 environmental studies courses. These journals are written in order for me to better understand what is happening in the north, and the people that I am living with here in the small community of Pang. Pang is a small Hamlet just off of Cumberland sound, South East Baffin island. It is about a 1 hour plane ride from Iqaluit, Nunavut’s capital. There are 100s if not 1000's of spelling errors in these journals, so please bear (that was intended) with me. This just gives people an idea of what I am doing up here. July 2nd/07 First Impressions? Most of us arrived yesterday afternoon. It was very amazing plane ride to Pang. One that was almost scary due to the vastness of the landscape we were going over. I can’t even comprehend the immense size of this country. Before arriving to Pang, I had created many ideas for myself as to what it would be like, what the landscape would be like and what the people would be like. Yesterday afternoon all my preconceived notions seemed to be fulfilled. I allowed everything to fall into my narrow minded perspective. To be honest, I assumed the people to be a people quite similar to the Aboriginal people of America. And to many other places I’ve traveled to. Part of me thought “Is that it?” as if expecting something more. Today I have begun to change my perspective on tins. Firstly, I hardly know anything about these people, and cannot make preconceived notions based on books and films, and second, I need to start seeing things from the Inuit perspective in order to understand them. I need to start paying attention! This afternoon was the Canada day celebration. It was pretty cool to see the people in this small community get all excited and dressed up for today. The celebration went on until some time after 7:00? Everything still fell within my boxed idea of who the Inuit are, until the evening feast. There we had seal meat, caribou, narwhale, and beluga. It was really awesome to see the elders out with their ulu’s cutting away at intestines. I began eating the blood soaked seal and realized it wasn’t had raw. I thought I would be a lot more discouraged to eat it with all the blood on it and simply slicing chunks off an animal. I actually really enjoyed it, and not in a morbid way. I asked one woman if I could take a photo, and she bluntly replied, “Only if I can come to your home and take a picture of you eating your supper.” This experience has humbled me in the way that I am beginning to understand that there is a respect that needs to be given to people as well as the animals not just here, but anywhere. Later on, while walking back to the school, two girls that I was walking with began practicing throat singing. I was amazed! I have never heard anything like this before. Some of my preconceived thoughts consisted of the younger generation having no interest in their traditions. A couple of other things that surprised me was how even the younger generation uses the facial expressions to say “yes” or “no”. I assumed that only the older generation to do these jesters, so when I asked a kid something, and I didn’t get a verbal response, I kept asking the same question assuming they didn’t understand. I realize many or all of these kids use these expressions. I also failed on some of the one jolt hand shakes. I began to master it by the end of the day. One other thing that I didn’t expect is how funny the Inuit people are. They always seem to joke and use sarcasm and farce in their conversations. I love how they play on popular culture and stereotypes such as calling themselves “The Eskimo”. I have decided to take my previous thoughts and ideas of the Inuit, and throw them away into the Sound. I am starting a fresh perspective. I know one thing is for sure… The Inuit know more about their culture then anyone else, and it would be impossible to assume you can learn about them and understand them simply through books and videos. These people definitely have something to offer. I am so interested in getting to know them. Perhaps the best way is to observe, rather ten to assume. I will start out with a clean canvas and work from there. I know these classes will be able to help me a lot, but the interaction with the people will be invaluable for me to understand the Inuit and their home. July 3rd/07 Down with Hierarchy! Cleaning duty, cooking duty, study duty… Today was a day of work. A very nice contrast with yesterday. (Even in the weather) This afternoon my group (group 1) for cooking duties sat down and attempted to discuss what to prepare for dinner this evening. Already I knew that there was going to be tension even before we started. One person wanted to make tortillas, and another person wanted to make soup, another curry, and the rest of us ether just sat there as a passive spectator, or discussed as to how we would make any of this stuff. By the end of it, we had 3 courses, which thankfully everyone enjoyed. If there is one thing that I have learned through this cooking experience, it’s that even the smallest things that we take for granted, like a single meal, will come with a price. In the case of this meal, it was each other patients. I feel that over all, I am pretty easy going, but I have a certain tolerance for people who would rather yell rather than ask, joke, rather than help, and show insensitivity rather than sensitivity. Now, I haven’t done that much cooking before, so I do need a bit of help, which I told my group. Perhaps it was a mistake to say this, or perhaps it was quite evident in itself that I was a bad cook. In any case, an obvious hierarchy had been created then and there. Based on what I’ve just written one can easily imagine where I had fallen on this hierarchy. It’s actually interesting because one person in our group perhaps consciously or unconsciously suggested that we create some sort of leadership system where one person tells everyone else what to do. What’s ironic about his is that is exactly what we have been learning about in class. That is, how the Kalunaak work on systems of power where people are ranked and given higher status’. We have learnt hat historically the Inuit have not used a hierarchal system. Perhaps because they are a hunter gather society rather than an economic or industrial society, which thrives on power. Perhaps the Inuit have learned something that we have not yet learned or have forgotten which is how to live with one another using a balanced approach of respect. I think that for most of us, non-Inuit, domination over one another is imbedded in us. I do not see it or have not seen it from the Inuit. There is a respect and a certain equality given to each other, even children and animals. This astounds me coming from a power hungry society that thrives on progress and power. Have we forgotten how to live? If anyone dares to say that “we” are the civilized and “They” are the savage, there going to be a serious talk on perspectives July 5th/07 Choose your battles Today was a very good day. We all had the opportunity to try Inuit food again. This has been our second time on our first week of being here. The occasion was based on the coming of several western Canadian premiers including Manitoba and Nunavut own. It was really great to see Pang get ready for this event. People were picking up garbage Wearing traditional cloths and throat singing. We have all seen and experienced so much in such a little time. The artic is really beginning to grow on me. The plane ride into Page was quite amazing, yet what astounds me is the people’s generosity and trust. Perhaps there are many that are not trust worthy, but based on my experiences here so far, I would say that people are over all trusting. Kids are pulling off my hat and jacket, and running off with my camera, yet I always seem to get it back. Before the premiers came we had a lengthy discussion about whether or not some of us should protest or bring up the issues of global warming. Some of us had mentioned holding up picket signs protesting the extrusion of oil and tar sands and how these things are effecting the north in communities like Pang. Yesterday we had a very lengthy discussion on global warming and some of the issues that need to be publicly addressed and how it is our duty to change the world, mainly because most of us are Environmental students. Many of us (the students) are incredibly passionate about this earth, and how we can make a positive difference. Ian mentioned that there are of course no easy answers to these problems. I find it slightly ironic that after that discussion that people are still thinking to hold up picket signs thinking that it can make something of an impact on these people. I give them credit for trying, but obviously these issues are nothing new. The people that would be seeing these signs would hardly be affected by them because they hear about these issues all the time. My problem with people in our group being a voice for the North is that they are doing it in a community in which we have only been in for less than a week. We are guests here and have no right to be a voice for the people we just met. Obviously many people here are aware that their land is changing. They don’t need the media to tell them that. A couple of hours before the primers flew into Pang, one of us (the students) brought up the issue of us protesting to the Primers. The end of the discussion ended with the wisest suggestion that could have been applied to the situation. “Stand along side the Inuit in what they choose to do.” From what I saw of the Inuit people that afternoon was actually quite humbling. Instead of getting in an uproar about the issues that the North faces, they did what they have always done. They were inviting to their guests. They took them with open arms and showed them their traditions through throat singing and traditional high jumping. They dressed up for them in traditional animal skins and cleaned up the roads for their arrival. They even gave the visitors the opportunity to eat with them, giving them some of the best parts of the animal, such as the seal liver. The Inuit have shown such courtesy to people that have not been entirely kind to them in the past or even present. The people here know more than any of us, the sort of “courteously” the Kalunaak have shown them. We must learn something from the Inuit in how they treat others. We must “Stand along side the Inuit.” July 7th/07 The Relentless Inuit Insurance and tolerance is something the Inuit defiantly have. They are a people that have always learned to live in some of the harshest conditions and situations God can provide. They struggle through cold dark winters, a lack of food due to changes of animal migration patterns, and more admirably, the government. The government has created so many silly laws, extracted ridiculous amounts of natural resources from the north, and has shown a huge lack of consideration or acknowledgement for the Init. The fact that Inuktitut is not considered a national language in Canada tells you something. One thing we talked about yesterday in Ian’s class is whaling in the Artic. Whaling was a huge industry for hundreds of years, for the Southerners. In 1979, the Canadian federal government made a law which banned Inuit and other people from hunting the bowhead whale. This was due to a large depletion of the whale population. The depletion was cased by the greed of the ¨civilized¨ societies. In 1995, the NWMB (Nunavut, Wildlife, Management established an allowable harvest of only one bowhead whale for 1996. I think Helle Heigh says it best in his article, Bowhead whale hunting in Nunavut; a symbol of self government, ¨The legal whale relief’s both the politics of culture and the political culture which have characterized the ethno-national photonic and demands of Inuit for more than 20 years. It is really pathetic to see Colonialism first took over the artic, attempt to assimilate it (in many ways, they have succeeded) take all the natural resources, and then make a law for no one to hunt the bowhead because of a lack of them due to greed. In the mean time, the Inuit are getting trampled on. This is nothing new, colonialism is an unstoppable force, in which nothing can get in the way of ¨progress¨ and ¨development¨. In spite of all this the Inuit are strong. They are still alive, although many things have been taken from them, they continue to live in one of, if not the most extreme climates the earth has to offer. July 8-9/07 Spoiled Rotten This land is very curious. The people are curious and the topography is curious. I have seen in the past week how the people are so highly affected by this land. The Inuit have obviously become more dependent on the government, yet they still depend on the land in keeping their culture alive. The topography still affects their everyday lives. Weather obviously plays a huge factor in the Inuit’s activities. Yesterday most of us hiked Mt. Duvalt which was a very humbling experience. Being so high up and looking down at Pang makes all life’s problems seam insignificant. Unfortunately when you come down the mountain, life’s problems find their course again. A problem that I have really been having is understanding the Inuit people. I seriously believe that the Inuit culture still thrives here despite the problems and issues they have had in the past with the south. For the last week, I have been hanging out with the younger generation, kids ages 7-23. I have been asking lots of questions and observing like mad trying to get a better perspective of the people. Through the many conversations I have had with the young Inuit, I see an assimilated people with the South. The younger generation seems so interested in martial arts, world wrestling, TV, shopping for “stuff” and rap. I understand that these things have not been forced on the Inuit, but rather an adoption of new ideas out of interest. Unfortunately when you adopt many of these things, your interests techniques, and skills change. Things are forgotten and replaced. Actual fishing is replaced with virtual fishing on X-Box. My dilemma lies in the young generation not giving a pennies worth for their culture This is my general interpretation of the people, but does not confine everyone to thinking or acting the same. I have net many young kids who love living in Pang. They love living here, love hunting, and love showing others like the Kalunaat what sorts of things they have learned, or observed from the “outside world” on T.V. or traveling. I love talking and attempting to get answers out of the Inuit, but I am starting to feel as if I am getting nowhere. Many of the younger kids don’t seem to pay as close attention to the land as the older generation. The people here have become so spoiled. They have enormous feasts where if you run a small race or participate in so event (what some of us” southerners” may consider to be trivial) you receive huge prizes like 40-50 dollars if you win. Money does not sound like a huge issue here, and it looks as though most people are doing quite well financially. Obviously this isn’t everyone, but overall, Pang is doing pretty alright. The other day, some kids were talking about wanting to go to Iqualuit. I asked them why, and they said that Pang is boring and that you can get most stuff in Iqualuit. I am disappointed that they are not entirely satisfied with living in Pang. July 10th/07 Capitalism rules Today in class, Peter indirectly helped me put a perspective on some questions and concerns I had yesterday. I was annoyed at how demanding some of the people (especially kids) have become in wanting lots of stuff. In class today, Peter talked about capitalism and its effects on the world. It is evident that capitalism has made its way into pang. Capitalism involves making things the same. To mass produce the same thing, and to make things standard. A result of this is assimilation. Same systems, same terminology, Capitalism strips places and people of their culture and customs. They strip the identity away from anything unique. For example, people in any huge airport have to act a certain way and abide by rules that everyone everywhere else abides by. In a Safeway for example, people are taught how to act and what to say. Everything is standardized, and will look the same in another Safeway you go to. The problem that I have with the capitalist ideas is that there is no real one on one interaction with the producers of a product, for example. I like smaller market places where you can buy directly from the farmers, and occasionally barter the price. The capitalist ideas encourage people to buy and want more, and therefore they create more. They create a standard for customer demand, and many people become victims of the materialistic capitalist world. It is very evident in Pang. These people could easily survive without this stuff. They can hunt and live off the land, but people like the Hudson Bay Company come into places like Pang, set up shop, and people see these things and want to buy them. The only way for them to buy these things is to get money and to get money, you need a job, and a job usually revolves around a time frame which restricts what you do. The problem that I have with this is that the younger generation starts to fall away from the customs and ways of life that their grandparents and parents had. They no longer have a true appreciation for their food or land, because they don’t depend on it as much anymore. When people stop caring about life, taking things for granted, they get depressed and some commit suicide. Obviously suicide and drugs were not huge issues before the coming of these “southerners”. The people who sell these things to the Inuit obviously don’t care about them; rather, they care about making a couple of bucks off them. The best example of this is that drugs that are sold to people in Pang. Not only does this destroy the peoples way of life, it destroys people. It seems impossible to fight against and capitalist ideas. Its become too powerful. July 11th/07 A huge waste I have learned that people will try taking shortcuts whenever they can. People would rather take the short ravel road, then the long paved highways. In the south, many of us consume so much stuff and waist so much stuff. We have an abundance of food and water and gas, which we use up so quickly. I used to work at a Safeway, and people would come through my till with $250 worth of groceries every week. I was amazed at how much they would buy, but even more surprised at how much crap they would buy; pop, microwave dinners, chips, candy. I would see these same people drive away in huge gas guzzling trucks. I have been more conscious of what I consume, and what I do with the garbage I’ve made. I have become aware of how much water I use for dishes and the shower, and debating whether I should flush or not after going to the bathroom. Back home I act like most people and consume as much as I can without a care. Here in Pang, I can’t do that. This evening, I went for a walk after our class talk with the elders. I began walking down the “Road to Nowhere”. While walking down the road, I past the septic factory. Outside were sandbags full of human waste. I walked a little further past gutters full of pop cans and plastic bags until I reached the dump which was on fire. The smoke from the garbage fire could be seen going all the way across the fjord. You could smell it in the air all the way to the end of the road. Seeing this garbage pile makes me sad. We talk about how we can make difference on this earth in our classes, yet we still create so much garbage. Its almost impossible not to create garbage. It makes me even more sad thinking about Pang being such a small community, and a place like Toronto which consumes and waists a lot more things as a whole. It makes me really sad that we have become so dependent on taking short cuts in life, like throwing a candy rapper away in the street rather than finding a garbage can. Another thing that struck me today was our guest speaker who is a nurse in Pang. She talked a lot about food consumption in Pang and how much junk food people here eat on a yearly basis. She showed us a picture of how much sugar is in a pop drink and how much of this people, especially kids, consume daily and yearly. She also talked quite a bit about the side effects like diabetes, and obesity. Things that were not common up here 50 years ago. This talk gets me thinking about how I can start changing my eating patterns. Some of the food that is terrible for our bodies is so delicious, and can be difficult to give up so I understand how it would be hard to change ones eating patterns, even though it can be damaging. It takes some dedication to eat properly and I admire people who can. July 12th/07 Today we left for Sangirut island. We took 3 boats with all of our supplies. (food, tents, stoves, and anything else that cold fit onto the boats) The boat ride there was amazing, yet unfortunately one of the motors on the boat wasn’t working properly for half the trip. Its funny how dependent we have become on these machines. It is as though we are not in control of them, but that they are in control of us. They decide if we make it to the island or not. When we got to the island we set up camp, ate supper, and went for an amazing walk up the hill behind our camp. The view of all the islands were amazing. We all watched the sun go down below the hills and listened to the ice attached toe he shoreline fall off the sides into the low tide. I started to think about the things we learnt in our classes. About how our world has become a capitalist, time driven world. I thought about how humans continual destroy this world with their consumption of resources and garbage. I look out into the sea and observe the massive expanse of the artic and think about how huge the world is, and how insignificant we are, yet how we have still damaged this earth and have had such negative effects even as far as the artic. I question why anyone would want to harm such a beautiful place (I should bite my tongue. I had a fun time throwing some huge rocks off some of the high cliffs yesterday) I continually observe the different plants on the tundra , becoming more aware of the plant life (and plant project due date) I am continually blown away by how lush and beautiful the artic is. July 13th/07 Today has been one of the most fun days I’ve had in a long time. Today I felt like a kid again. Having no schedule and no priorities and having no idea what time it is here on Sundago island gives me a chance to act very casual and real. (There has been quite a bit of farting here the first couple of days) At the talking circle, one person had mentioned that being out on the land will bring out peoples true characters. I believe it has. This afternoon, we had a bit of a wind storm and a bit of rain. We put tarps over the tents twice (First time the wind blew the tarps off) Later on, most of us helped in setting up a washroom in between the rocks, which looks pretty luxurious. What amazed me about all of this is how well we have worked together as a team. I’ve usually had a lot of trouble working in groups, but everyone here had been working together compromising, and adopting each other ideas. This evening after supper, half a dozen of us created a semi coordinated orchestra of pots and pans, forks and spoons, by smashing pieces of mettle until we go a beat. This day has been great for getting back to the simplicities of life. I have been stripped from all my luxuries and I have never been happier. I think more people would be happy if they went back to this way of life. Where has our society gone wrong where money and more things are supposed to make us happy? I have found trough personal experience that more things don’t make me happy, but rather, it weighs me down. July 15th/07 What defines a person? Does a person need to be defined? Should a person be defined? Is there one right way to live? There are question that have been haunted me for a long time. Many people view life and its challenges in different ways. These views are usually connected with personal experience and environment; family, setting etc. I had gotten some interesting advice from one young individual as to what it means to be a man. The metaphor he used was a roller coaster with its ups and downs, and eventually ending up with the woman of me dreams. Some of the points he used made sense, but most of it seemed unnecessarily painful. Many other people in Pang have emphasized on the important of hunting. Perhaps this defines the individual? Today has been a day of deep thought. I went on a good long and challenging hike with Pangs activities coordinator, Levi. We went up and down some of the most difficult parts of the mountains. Perhaps he wanted to toughen me up, or perhaps he just wanted to take the quickest routes. At one point, he took his rifle and fired several rounds at a near by lake. I have never heard a real rifle rife before so the first shot really made me jump. This is good practice for tomorrow because I will be going hunting, and I expect there will be a lot of gun shots. July 16th/07 This morning I got up bright and early for hunting. We ended up leaving at around 11:00, so I really could have slept in. I have to admit, I had a hard time trying to sleep knowing what I had to look forward to, the following day. I was actually really nerves as we were pulling away from the shore. I didn’t know how I would react to seeing a living creature getting shot. I have never hunted before, and had heard my first gun fire yesterday. I felt really childish being afraid especially when there was a 13 year old boy with us that has killed more animals then I ever will. About half an hour into our boat ride, I felt a little better. We passed herds/families of harp seals, which was really interesting. We searched a couple of hours for a Natsiq (ring seal) until we saw one wading in the water by a huge piece of flow ice. Both Noah and his son Gordon shot the seal in the head. I flinched a bit when I saw the blood of the seal rise with the water made by the gun shots. Our boat quickly raced over to the half dead seal, with Noah extending a long hooked stick into the water. As he lifted the seal out of the water, blood from the creatures head began to gush out like dark Kool-Aid. I actually wasn’t as shocked as I should have been and it actually worries me slightly. I thought I would have reacted more strongly to something so real. Have I been so desensitized through television and books that the death of this seal had no impact on me? It did in fact have an impact on me. This experience has reminded me how fragile life is. It also reminds me that I should live life to the fullest before the big man with the gun pulls the trigger. The weather conditions have always played a huge role in hunting. Obviously the weather is changing due to global warming, so the Inuit are forced to change some of their hunting techniques. The yare smart people, and have survived through what us “Southerners” would consider very harsh conditions. The Inuit can handle change. Being out here on this island has provided me with a small window to the past. This morning for example, many of the women worked on seal skins while many of the men went out hunting. The fact that I am able to experience this old way of life even for a week, is incredible. It feels that many people, especially the “first world” rich city folk have forgotten this way of life. Their focus has changed to money and assets, rather then family and basic survival. Perhaps that’s a generalization in the extreme, but it seems that there is a definite contrast from where I’m from and where I am now. Why has our society progressed into a way of life where we constantly want more? Is this human nature? I don’t believe it is. I think our society has forgotten to behave. We are so caught up in comfortable living conditions, we forget that even comfort itself comes at a price. We forget that our luxuries like cars, electricity, garbage disposal, are harming the environment and people. I don’t know if I ever want to go back. July 17th, 18th, 19th A couple of days ago, Shinsaku (classmate) and I were sitting in the cooking shack on Sangarut Island. I was eating, while Shin was tending to his wounds after falling off a high rock face on Saturday. One of the elders, Joannasse and Shin got to talking about some of the traditional medicines and their uses. One which I overheard and found quite interesting is a technique for deep cuts. What you do is take the membrane of the caribou and wrap it around the cut, which helps in the mending of the cut. Another technique for healing cuts is to take a plant which looks like a puff ball found on the tundra and rub the pollen or spores on the skin and put a bandage or something over it, which also helps in the mending process. This evening, Uvi (our interpreter for the elders) Was helping me wash the seal skin which I bought off of Noah. This was the same seal that we had shot the other day which is pretty cool. We needed to use one of the big metal bowls used or the fish we ate for lunch so Uvi and I dumped the fish into a smaller bowl. Uvi showed me a really good technique for washing the bowl. Rather than wash with soap and water, we used a bit of sand and moss. Not only was it clean and degreased, it smelt pretty good too. This technique is a lot better than any neon detergent I’ve ever used. Later on, Carlos (student) spilled something in the cooking shack, and instead of getting a dry cloth, he went outside and used a clump of long grass to wipe up the mess, which worked surprisingly well. I think that many people in the south ether underestimate these natural and practical methods or doubt the effectiveness of such techniques. People would rather use factory made toilet paper costing $15.99 for 24 rolls then use a handful of leaves. (Perhaps its not the best example, but you get the idea) It is not just medicine and cleaning techniques that are being underestimated and forgotten but more basic survival skills. The southern ideas act as if they are superior to anything else, because countries like the U.S. who have so much power especially over the media, tell people so. Im not saying that people don’t adopt other cultures and people ideas and methods, but rather these traditions get lost in translation or forgotten. A good example of this is the Inukshuk used as the symbol for the 2008 winter Olympics. Many people use and see this symbol, but have no idea of its actual mean or use. My hope is that cultures and people like the Inuit will keep their traditions and techniques alive because some of these ancient ideas could become ery valuable in later years. July 20-21 Yesterday (July 20th) was a really great day. Joanasee took us to a near by island about 20 minutes boat ride from Sangirut. There he showed us some of the old ruins of the Tulik. The Tulik are a people (Pre-Dorset) that are ancestors of the Inuit. A culture older than that of the Inuit. As we stepped onto the island, I could feel a presence as if people much older than anyone alive today were watching us step foot onto this strange land. Joanasee pointed out a couple of places where the Tulik had built their houses. All that was left was small depressing in the ground filled with large boulders and whale bones. Near by was a grave sight which I wasn’t able to see. Levi told me that when people die, rather than trying to burry the bodies in the solid permafrost they put rocks over the bodies. It was so interesting but also very sad to see the remains of a once strong people. Today (July 21st) We made our way back to Pang. We took everything we had brought, including garbage, and left back to Pang. All that was left from our being “on the land” was the depressions of our foot prints and the rock circles used to hold down our tents. As we left the shores of Sangirut Island, I couldn’t help but think that the Tulik and our small group have something in common. It is as though we are like the Tulik in that we came, lived off the land (somewhat) survived, and disappeared. I fear for the Inuit in that they will become like the Tulik. I fear that they will be forgotten. I think it’s very important to remember the people of the past. If we forget about them, we are bound to make the same mistakes over again. I can’t help but think what will happen to our cultures society. Will we die out and be forgotten? Who will remember us and what will we be remembered for? We humans act as if we know everything, yet there is so much we will never understand. July 22-23 Yesterday and today we had some lengthy discussions of our experiences on the land and who we need to view these experiences. It is nice discussing the different experiences we have had on the land. Many of our experiences are similar yet there are different things that stick out in each others minds. For me, the idea of finding an animal, killing it, bringing it back, cutting it up and eating it right then and there still really astounds me. Our class discussion had several main topics. Ian, Chris and Peter all taught the class and had something to say about being on the land. Some things they agreed on, yet others they did not. We talked about our interacting and closeness to nature and what that meant. One professor says that you cant get any closer to nature then you are right now. Another says that being on the land away from building and cities allows one to interact with nature more easily then being in a city. Another topic we had in this discussion is cultural roles we play. We got onto a lengthy discussion of how one person hot a loon while being on the land for what could be considered no reason. Some said that this one individual was using it as target practice and wasn’t a waste. Some say that as an Inuit, this individual was taught to do this, and so it is in his blood. (interbred if you will) He also said that non of us southerners were brought up to do this and would never shoot the bird as the Inuit man did. This, I thought, was a huge generalization and judgment on his part. All this discussion of being on the land is very good, and its interesting to hear other thoughts and ideas. One problem that I have is (perhaps this is lack of a better word) the ego this group can have with some of the issues we talk about. Everyone will have different views and idea and are so sure of themselves. Who are we anyways to come into a place like Pang, and talk about some of these real issues and topics? I am starting to feel like a typical anthropologist, where I come into a culture, get a taste of it, analyze what I have leaned to death, assume its right, and write papers and journals, like this about it. I don’t mean to be cynical by any means, but merely trying to question some of the motives that we as a group have. We have some great opportunities to interact with people and the land here and I don’t feel comfortable discussing the motives of Inuit individuals when we have only been here for 3 weeks and barely (Blanket statement) know this culture. Again its very good to get a perspective and understanding of how places like Pang have come to be as they are today and what has changed since the influence the white man. I think that we must be very careful in what we discuss and how we discuss these things. I believe it was Uvi that told me that the problem with Anthropologists is that they will talk short cuts to find their answers. There are no shortcuts when trying to understand an entire culture. I refuse to believe that. July 25th, 26, 27th/07 The last couple of days have been quite good. On the 25th, Uvi came and gave us a talk on Inuit women and the traditional lifestyle. I always find it so interesting to hear about the old way of life before the coming of the whites. On the 26th, a lot of us went on a plant walk with two elders. This was actually a lot of fun. We looked at the different plants, and the women that came with us were very informative about what each plant is called and what it is used for. I usually don’t care for this sort casual slow pace walk, but I actually really enjoyed it. This is one chance for me to actually take time to stop and smell the flowers. We walked along the Duvall River until we came to a clearing where we stopped and made a couple of pots of traditional tea with some of the plants that we picked. We used Heather to start the fire, and used 3 rocks to hold up a metal kettle for the tea. There was an opening in the rocks facing the wind in order for the flame to be more exposed to open air. We were also given a couple of different plants such as Bistort which has a little nut inside the root. Before coming here, I had no idea that any of these plants had any use at all. Back home, we have a ton of plants in which I have never heard anyone make any use out of. Perhaps some of the plants we have at home have lots of uses, but I have never heard of them. I am so impressed with how the Inuit have actually found uses with these plants. Some are used for the wick of the qulliq, others for tea, some for nose bleeds, some for cuts or warts. I am so impressed with how anyone could ever discover that. No wonder the Inuit have survived. They have paid attention to their land and used anything and everything they have. It seams that now a days, many people here in Pang don’t care about these plants and their uses because they have become more reliant on other things, and other southern innovations. I suppose its mealy adapting other techniques of survival. (more coming...) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, June 25th, 2006
4:41 pm	The eye of the beholder As I lay in bed, I watch from the window the fimiliar things go by. The street vendor passes by selling bread, our neighbor working away in his garden. I look a little further and see hundreds of kids. Some are raising their hands to answer a question they think they know, others talking when they shouldn't be. Some of them are shoving each other off a bamboo raft, while others are picking coral from the ocean floor. I look into the distance and see a young boy climbing the highest coconut palm with a machete in his mouth, while several young children await eagerly at the bottom. I begin to feel tired, so I close my eyes. I now see a young man, nearly twenty. He is walking down a narrow path. He doesn't know where he is going, but he continues to walk down the path. On his way, he passes many things. Past ancient temples, over mountains with the highest peak, through thick jungles with many unknown creatures and animals, across rickety bridges, down rough waters. He meets people from many villages and tribes with a different history, language and culture, yet none of them seem to hesitate in helping point the young man in the right direction. The path is long and does not end soon, yet somewhere along the way, the young man has learned patience, perseverance, and understanding. Although the road ahead is long and traitorous, the young man is willing to go the extra miles in seeing what new things he can face. And though it would seem that he was alone, he knows that there is always someone there to point him in the right direction. But before the young man goes any further to see what he can find, he decides to sit down for a quick lunch break. ...And so concludes this adventure.... (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, June 24th, 2006
4:08 pm	The final week! I am now back in Jakarta finishing up my last week. I will be flying tomorrow night (Sunday) and arrive in Winnipeg at midnight on Monday. This last week has been quite good. I have been saying good bye to the people that I have been teaching with or working with, people that I often see on my weekly bike rides, my friends that I had met in the beginning, and several others that I had just met now. More recently, half a dozen kids in my neighborhood. It may suprise you, but I had never really talked to anyone in my neighborhood aside from the formal daytime greetings. Several days ago I had a pack of kids randomly chasing me down on bikes. They are around 8-12 years old. They had introduced me to some of their parents today, and want to have a sort of picnic tomorrow with me. I dont know how these things happen, I really don't. Kyla just came home from Bali yesterday night. We went to our market for the last time and bought every tropical fruit we could find. We got coconut, pineapple, mini bananas, papaya, lyches, Jack fruit, snake fruit, guavas, and sursak. Unfortunately mangoes aren't in season until next month! Later on, we went out for pizza with our friends from work. In the evening our friend Vandi took us out for frog legs. I'm so full! I am really starting to miss life here already. There are so many things that I love about living here. There are other things that I'm glad to be rid of. (our neighbors dogs) I have now been here exactly a year. I left to Indonesia on June 25th (my birthday) one year age. I had come here searously not knowing anything about this country, its language or its people, and I leave with more of an understanding then I could have thought. I have seen so much here. I have met so mnay people and seen such incomprehensible beauty. I have developed something of a passion in living here, to understand these people and their way of life. This country has inspired me in persueing more of a searious interest in the world. I hope to come back here someday. Hopefully before it changes too much. We will see what God has in mind. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 20th, 2006
10:58 pm	Indonesian Idol Jayapura is an interesting city. I don’t know what it is or what I do, but somehow I have had about 80 strangers introduce themselves to me. I am just walking down the street, then suddenly I am playing soccer with 2 dozen street kids, some of which are break dancing. Next I am eating Nasi Champur outside peacefully, suddenly I have 20 kids around me laughing and chanting “Buleh Masuk Kampung!” (Foreigner enters village) I have 4 different people’s numbers. One person was even bold enough to call my hotel asking if I wanted to go for a walk. People are bringing their children to me and having them shake my hand like I am some sort of Saint. I didn’t think that I could find a city more insane than Jakarta, but I was wrong. It will be nice to go home and not be a celebrity, though I may miss it a bit. (Comment on this)
Monday, June 19th, 2006
10:51 pm	Hotel De Crap! Today, I left the small village of Kablanusu, and headed to Jayapura (capital of Papua) to meet Pa Nyoman. I arrived this morning about 10 o’clock. I tried phoning him but his father in law said that he wasn’t there. Something about him being there yesterday. So that was that. I came all that way, and he’s not here. A part of me knew this would happen but oh well. So I wandered around trying to figure out what I was going to do. Dehydrated, underfed, extremely hot, no where to go, and a heavy bag rubbing against a horrible sunburn. I decided to take a taxi just up the hill to Hamadi where there’s supposed to be a good market, and a hotel. The name of the hotel is “Hotel Asia”, and its one of the most, if not the most discussing hotel I have ever been to. There is absolutely no hygiene. At first glance, it’s fine. All I need is a bed and a fan. As I was sitting on my bed reading, something began to vibrate behind my head inside the wall. I know exactly what it was. Thinking it shouldn’t be a huge problem, I went for a walk. When I came back to the hotel, a huge rat came bounding towards me from out of a garbage can in the hall. I opened my door and heard another scamper into a hole in the wall under my bed. I looked under the bed and saw tones of bottles and wrappers left by the previous people. As soon as you walk into the bathroom, you get caught by large spider webs. I went to get something from my bag and there was a nice fresh hole made in the zipper and crackers all over the bed. I told the person who works here about this and asked him for a new room. He wanted to charge me extra and I just laughed. By the end, I got a new room with a T.V. this time. Its kid of pointless though because there is no electricity until midnight. I would love to call this an upgrade, but after waking up and having 50 anonymous itchy bites all over my body, I really beg to differ. Why I am still here is beyond my understanding. The lesson learnt from this… Spend more money on a decent hotel or you will be making up for it in tetanus shots. (Comment on this)
Sunday, June 18th, 2006
10:29 pm	The children of Kablanusu Yesterday I left my friends in Wamena. I spent the night in a moderately nice hotel, the Ratna. The next morning, I took a small public taxi East of Santani, Depapre. Depapre is a small town right on the ocean. I was hoping to do some snorkeling. I went around looking to rent a snorkeling mask, before a man by the name of Philipus had come to me with a mask and a dugout motor canoe. I was in the mood for taking a risk, so I jumped on the boat, and away we went. I really had no idea where we were going, but I didn’t care. We went past several small rocky islands and around the mountain. He asked me if I would like to go to his village, Kablanusu. Apparently there is really good snorkeling there, so I agreed. As we came around the mountain, we saw a dozen Papuan children jumping and playing on a bamboo raft just off shore. I went and joined them. At first they were a little shy, but after a while, we were shoving each other off, and mock punching each other under water. A bunch of the kids had gone to the bottom of the sea and brought up large pieces of coral, and little tropical fish. Pa Philipus wasn’t kidding. The coral here is amazing! I haven’t had this much fun since I went to Bunaken in Sulawesi. It’s so unreal here. So unspoiled, and absolutely no tourists! There are coconut palms all over the beach, and the water is so refreshing. The village is hidden between the mountains, and I have the worst sun burn ever. I really like this village. There is only one man in this village who can speak English. I am using any and every bit of Indonesian I know. It’s gotten me this far anyways. Pa Philipus has been nice enough in offering me a place to sleep for the night. The house here consists of 15 people, not including me. Right now, we are sitting on the floor (Indo Style) waiting for supper. It’s interesting. Papua really feels like a different country. There are big similarities with the rest of Indonesia, yet they seem quite distinct in character. All the kids here call me Om, which is Indonesian for Uncle. It’s to show respect to people older than you. Some parents that I am friends with in Jakarta have their children call me this. It’s up there with the honorary title “Mr. Joey”. I really like this village. Tomorrow I will go back to Depapre and find another public taxi going to Jayapura. Pa Nyoman is planning to visit relatives there so he will fly from Wamena to Jayapura today. I will see if I can meet him. Again, I love the way God works. I never expected anything like this, and everyone has been so helpful. One thing I will really miss about Indonesia is the people. My writing does no justice to the hospitality, and insanity of the Indonesian people. (Comment on this)