Down to work in Grise Fiord...
The morning was beautiful and sunny when we awoke and headed off to school. At the Grise Fiord Lodge, we fend for ourselves at breakfast time. We have to make due with cereal and toast which is a big change after the fabulous cooked breakfasts that Marj and Donna made for us in Eureka.
We met with Avalon just before recess to plan out what we will be doing for the next few days. We will be doing our presentations and workshops in the mornings following recess to make sure that there will be more kids in class. This morning is the Senior class (Grades 9-12), then Monday will be the general talk on SCISAT and Eureka to the whole school, Tuesday we will have the Junior class (Grades 5, 6, 7, and 8) and Wednesday we will work with the Grade 3-4 class in the morning and the K-2’s in the early afternoon.
We had just enough time after recess, to set up and get ready for our workshop with the Senior class. We talked about ozone science and how to use spectroscopy for remote sensing experiments. We also got them to act out how ozone is formed and destroyed by UV light in the atmosphere. They were almost too cool for this but they played along with us. Then we did an analysis exercise looking at 40 years of monthly mean ozone column data (from the ECMWF Reanalysis) for three different places (Grise Fiord, Ottawa and Mauna Loa). The students had to characterize the annual variation in the ozone column (when was it highest and when was it lowest) then describe how the monthly mean column changed over the 40-year time period. Each group presented their work and then we compared how the ozone columns over the three places were similar and how they differed. This exercise went well and the students seemed to really get into it. Thanks to Jackie and Laura for teacher support during the class and feedback afterwards.
After lunch, we came back to school to observe the cultural and traditional skills classes. First, we met with the Primary girls who were learning to make beaded hair ties. Peepeelee (the K-2 and Inuktitut teacher) taught us how to write our names in Inuktitut. Jeff (jaa-v) and Kaley (ga-e-li) are much easier to write than Dejian (ti-e-ja-n) and Tobias (tu-pi-a-s) because all of the necessary syllables are available in the syllabic alphabet. The Primary girls also let us taste some of the bannock that they had just made for afternoon snack. The Junior girls were making wall hangings with traditional symbols and themes. The Senior boys showed us the komatik that they had just completed (in record time). A komatik is a sled used for hunting and travel that is tied together rather than nailed. The Junior boys were working on a website for the school that included some of the cultural activities and they were very proud to show us what they were doing. I think the highlight of the afternoon was visiting the Senior girls who were making parkas and canvas backpacks. It was interesting to see how they put together the different layers of the parka and adjusted it to fit perfectly. Each one was decorated just so by each of the girls. Jeff was floored by the sewing skills they demonstrated. I think that he was just having horrible flashbacks to the time he had to take sewing in Grade 7 and 8. We really enjoyed learning about all of these traditional skills and thank the students, teachers and elders who patiently answered our many questions.
We got back to the hotel and dropped off our bags. Since it was such a beautiful day, Tobias, Dejian and Jeff decided to go for a walk to one of the far icebergs. I spent the two hours that they were gone talking on the phone and catching up with things down South. Three weeks is a long time to be away and we have another week plus to go. I got some work done and they came back exhausted but happy from their long walk. After dinner, we decided to have a bit of a relaxing night in and watch a DVD. We are looking forward to finding the optimum balance of work and play over the weekend.
Best regards,
Kaley.