Hot and Cold

It is a cold day up here in the Web, but a group of (extremely dedicated) community members are doing a 50km walk-a-thon today OUTSIDE in order to raise money and awareness for the search for missing teen Jordan Wabasse. Other Northern communities have recently done similar events in the past week or so. Right now the temperature is -31, practically mild by Webequie standards. It occurred to me that when Canadians in general brag about how people from other places "can't handle the cold" they really have no idea what they are talking about. Even Winnipeg doesn't regularly rival the temperatures of Northern Ontario and just imagine those in Northern Canada! I have come to the conclusion that nobody can brave the cold with fewer complaints than First Nations people. They will tell you it's gorgeous out when it's -40 and overcast.

In other community news, the infant that passed away a few weeks ago was laid to rest yesterday in the community. I didn't go to the funeral as I did not know the family and other teachers weren't attending. Also, it would have been entirely in OjiCree. Hopefully that will give some people some closure.

In happier news, I finally saw some Northern lights! In case you missed it on facebook..here is a picture.

I was actually in bed early that night (March 1) and my friend called me and left a message on my machine saying there were Northern lights going on. So I jumped out of bed and ran around my house looking for my winter gear. It was reaaaaaallllly cold on that night and even though I bundled up I felt like my face was going to fall off after about 10 minutes outside. I came back in and got three more calls telling me there were Northern lights (good friends up here!) so I went back out and they were even stronger. It was a good time to see them since it will start to warm up a tiny bit soon (come April) and you are far less likely to see them when it's warm.

Speaking of warm!!!!! it's now 5 sleeps till March Break and 6 till Jamaica. I prepared yesterday by packing my 3 cans of 60 SPF sunscreen and my big bottle of aloe vera gel. It's my goal to not get completely scorched, but it's good to be prepared! This week will either crawl by or it will be Friday before I know it. I'm hoping for the latter. Most of my students seem to already believe March Break started a week ago.