Expedition Day 1 (last Wednesday)

Journal Entry- Hunting Expedition Day 1.

Wednesday- today is a waiting day, J* and L* are anxiously watching the weather. I am told to prepare, we don’t know when we will return. Noon, and word goes out that we leave soon. Buzzing activity, we meet on the beach with a small army of little ikajuqti (helpers). We leave to cheers, over to the lake to fill huge bottles with drinking water. 3 hours on the water, a stop for a tea break. We practice grammar, today the 'najaq/kisiani' forms (if/then), it’s so hard! We are 10 on the trip, in 2 boats. C* the leader calls a stop for a tea break, we disembark, A* the little baby inuk girl is so cute in parka, teenaged girls M* and I* see an arctic hare, I run up clumsily to film it, they look at the big qablunaat disdainfully and whisper behind cupped hands. Little brother IO* fishes, gets his lure stuck in a rock, cool older brother helps him get the lure out. Tea is delicious, Bannick bread even better, we speak Inuktitut over tea, the wind is whipping, raining a bit, it’s very cold.
After another hour we pull into a small inlet, grandparent’s house ☺ they have a nice boat, they meet us at the beach, toothless grins, Inuktitut only, I tell them I want to catch many arctic char (iqaluqpiq) they double over laughing for a good 2-3 minutes at the qablunaat, everyone smiling, they like this funny qablunaat…some other hunters arrive at this waypoint after their expedition, they are fully equipped with hip-waders, they have much meat.
We depart for the next leg of the voyage, we are moving north along the Hudson coast, we travel another hour at least. We set nets before arriving, rocks on both ends, blocking off an inlet, hoping for char. we finally arrive at the campsite, we disembark but it’s getting dark we must work fast. I have never seen a camp set so quickly, wood is cut and my first view of ‘tupiq’ inuit tents: the first word I learned but I never thought they would be like this, semi-rigid structures, wood beams inside and outside, supported by rocks, ultra heavy duty canvas and skin, these are nomadic moveable houses, they are 100% stable in the heaviest winds and very warm on the inside. They are nailed through the canvas onto the wood for extra support. There is no dinner, we have not caught anything yet. We have some bannick waybread but this is important and we have to save it. The tupiq is warm, we are exhausted after the rough open water travel, we sleep quickly and deep.