Okay, I'm a sucker for the sun

I know I already wrote about the sun, but seriously, have you guys seen it?! It's really cool! In 6 days, we went from 0 hrs of daylight to 3 HOURS. In SIX DAYS! Some places don't have a 3 hour difference in daylength for the entire YEAR!

The increase is slowing down. The first day that we had sun, it was above the horizon for an hour. So in 1 day, we went from nothing to a full hour. Now, it's about 15 minutes more per day. That is fast! So bizarre. I can't help but be fascinated. And, it's so big all the time because it's still so low on the horizon. In that first week, it went from not being fully above the horizon to now, when I look at it, there is about 2 inches of sky below it!

The Return of the Sun big celebration was cancelled because the city was suffering some tragedy. A family suffered the loss of one family member with natural/health causes and then the deceased person's nephew took his own life later that night. Since the town is so small, things like affect everyone and having a celebration would be inappropriate given the circumstances. And, this bears mentioning. Nunavut's suicide rate is unbelievable. Since the territory was established in 1999, the number of suicides mean that every single person of the territories ~35,000 people have been directly touched by suicide. I took this from an article I'm going to link here. "Canada's average annual suicide rate is 11 per 100,000 people, but Nunavut's rate is 117. For Inuit males between 15 and 29, the rate is almost 40 times the national figure." Let that sink in. Think about the suicides you know.....that have affected you or been someone you knew, however remotely or removed. Now, multiply that by TEN! That is the pain Nunavummiat carry here. Since November, Igloolik has had 2 suicides. In three months. In a town of 1500-2000 people. Both suicides were young people. Here are the two (Short, I promise) articles about suicide in Nunavut.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/nunavut-sui…

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/nunavut-sui…

I hate to be a downer, but that is life here and it is something that touches everyone. My coworkers have left several times from work to go to funerals. You can see in their faces the sadness. We all know sadness, but suicide sadness has that added layer, like I suspect murder has, of sheer pointlessness and powerlessness.

Anyhow, if you've made it this far, then I'll reward you with stories of happier things...like the elementary school's Return of the Sun assembly. My coworker told me about it so I walked down to the school to check it out. I worried that they wouldn't let me come in because I was a stranger and probably a pedophile. But, nope. Just walked straight in and followed the lines of children to the auditorium. No signing in or locked doors here. lol. The ceremony was perfect---short and sweet. The emcee explained that the return of the sun was a period of celebration because although the coldest, most difficult part of the winter lays ahead of us (February), the sun promises warmer temps and return of some animal----couldn't hear what he was saying. A stone lamp is lit using traditional methods of seal fat, cotton grass and flint. Like the Olympic torch kind of. Then, there was drum dancing, a little throat singing (for those of you that know I went to Mongolia and became fascinated with the throat singers there, you know this was really cool for me!! ---two different cultures' throat singing!), a few performances by the kids and then we were donzo!

The sun is bringing back all sorts of things I forgot....like shadows. Did you ever think about the fact that in order to have shadows, you have to have sun? It's like we've all been vampires here for months....casting no shadows! Today, I found myself staring at the wall in my house as I write this because the sun is SHINING on my walls! At 9:30 this morning, it was already way brighter than any of the days without sun and the sun wasn't actually rising for another 2ish hours! But, it doesn't mean that it's warmer. Still hangin in the -30s C with windchills staying at the -42 to -45 point. So far, no frostbite for me. I see quite a few people with frostbitten cheeks----they are dark red/black patches on their faces. They have literally frozen their skin cells and killed them. The skin will slough off, but what grows back is apparently more sensitive to the cold for a long time. And, you'll be more prone to getting frostbitten if you've actually killed your cells. I've actually had to start wearing my goggles to/from work because my eyes have been exhibiting some pretty strong dry eye symptoms. Last week, it was so bad, I took some Scotch tape and taped one of my eyes shut at work to alleviate the pain. Turns out that's not a great solution. So, I ordered a better, bigger humidifier for my house---the one I bought is small and only lasts a couple of hours so my mucus membranes are sad. Then, drops in my eyes, wearing glasses, and goggles to prevent the wind drying them out. It's been better and I'm snug as a bug in a rug in my goggles, gaiter, and hat. I can hang my head off the back of the snowmobile like a dog out the window with that gear. It's all good.Read more