Inukjuaq 3

It’s Wednesday morning, I have taken to writing these entries in the mornings, I have been sleeping very well, and deeply, but feel very tired at the end of the days, there is a lot going on, but slowly ☺ Yesterday morning I woke up to a nice smell, it was naqitsajaq, unleavened flour cakes, delicious. Older sister J* is making a hat for my son, with his name in syllabics. I gave her a colored scarf from Montréal, she twirled around, a true Inuk runway model ☺ we worked on Inuktitut pleasantries and conversations, as when I meet the grandparent-elders on the land, they understand no English at all. We talked about the difference between “Inuktitut” and ‘inuttitut”, she told me that when talking about language, it’s Inuktitut, and when something is ‘like inuit’ (for example, an object), it’s better to use Inuttitut. Some say that the Nunavik dialect is known as Inuttitut and other dialects as Inuktitut, however I think that I will use the ‘Inuktitut’ when referring to language from now on, that’s what everyone recommends here.
The seal meat that I ate raw yesterday was ready for the next stage, so into the pot it went, it’s time for boiling. It will be ready for lunch. Brother stood next to the window for a long time. He is watching the winds, judging when we can go hunting. His verdict for today is that the winds are too strong. Today will be a waiting day. I really like him, he is a very quiet person, but when he speaks there is always a sense of humor and intelligence. This morning we went over some pronunciation, he smiled a lot, happy to help, I’m glad that he’s my Inuit brother ☺ (I am not using names on purpose for their privacy).
It’s cold out today, time for many layers, and after breakfast I went over to the public library that Andy Moorehouse and Donat Savoie made. As I approached a young boy came up with a big smile, not saying anything, he wanted to slap hands, we did high-fives and slapped hands, then spoke in Inuktitut, it went well, learned his name, age, and that he was going biking, but his bike was gone, he had to wait? (I think he shared his bike). He was happy. I went on into the library and was very impressed! A beautiful, large building, light shining inside, lots of books, and many computers.
I met B*, he is assisting in the library, but was happy to see me, all eyes went over to the qablunaat, (ie, me) ☺ I noticed that the room was relatively full of computers, there are about 20 modern Dell computers in the room, with a large router to handle all of the internet connections. No one was reading books, everyone was online. Most of the computer users were young, no one was over 20, and many were under about 12 years old or so. As I walked past the screens, I could see the “BEBO” logo almost everywhere. Music was playing, everyone was typing furiously away. No one was reading books, only a few magazines. The books in the library are for the most part in English, after that there is an extensive French section, and the Inuktitut section is very small, mostly academic texts and journal publications. There are no books on Inuktitut grammar (I looked for a long time). The English books contain a mix of literature and popular books, there is a good selection, French books seem to be literature-based. The connection was painfully slow, due to the demands on the server.
I spoke with B* about the system, he feels that the systems are infected with spyware and because of this have become very slow. I will check out the virus protection on the computers tomorrow.
I was able to get a few emails out, but there wasn’t enough bandwidth for any kind of image upload. I will try again from another server if I can find one.
I need to investigate Bebo, and find out why it is so much more popular than Myspace and Facebook here. Also I would very much like to see what people are putting on their Inuit Bebo sites. I will keep my eyes and ears open. I wonder how much Inuktitut is really being used on the sites…and whether a localized Inuktitut social networking site would assist with language retention.
After leaving the public library I proceeded to the Northern store, I wanted to see what they had, I was attacked by blackflies, they were very persistent, taking chunks out of my head (bald), I couldn’t shoo them away, they were very skilled at their work. I made it to the Northern store. Inside I was stupefied by the prices, I don’t think that I have ever seen prices to beat them, 7.50 for a jug of milk, juice at 6.50, bottles of water for 3.75, boxes of cereal for 6.50…what I was really interested in were boots, when the weather clears (maybe tomorrow), I will be in the boats and wading in the waters, fishing, working nets, moving in mud/slush, I have been checking out the Inuit boots, they are long waders, waterproof, with sub-zero insulation and reinforced soles and toes. My boots will not cut it in this environment. I am happily surprised to find an excellent selection of beautiful Canadian boots, Kamik and Baffin brands, exactly what I need, and the prices are very low! I think that the necessities are cheap but any imported luxuries are taxes and priced to match. I bought the Kamik Hunter boots with insulated thermal socks (Kodiak). I feel much better knowing that my feet will be warm, cold feet can lead to sickness, and it’s hard to dry socks and feet once they get wet. I was very happy to have these boots. I saw Andy Moorehouse briefly outside the co-op.

Upon returning home we ate boiled seal with blubber…the blubber is really good, so tender and juicy, I was taught not to eat too much, but to match the meat with a small amount of fat, it was really lovely, the seal meat next to the bone is just amazing. There is caribou in the community freezer, we will have that tomorrow if we don’t go camping. There was also immakpalijuq, fish cakes, like Japanese kamaboko but nicer, using white river fish, and frying with flour, it was amazing. We spent time on syllabics after dinner, and wrote out our names, and went over the standard introductions again, I was tired when the sun went down finally but it was already after 1030, I slept around midnight.

Today the weather is fantastic and J* says that we can go hunting ☺ this is very exciting, I am glad that I have my boots, I showed them to Jimisi, he said they are good, they are the same boots that he uses ☺ this morning I read over my vocabulary, many of the meanings are different, when I said “ aakkuluk” everybody roared with laughter, it’s supposed to mean “what a sweet little thing” in my book but it turns out I just declared by undying love…hmmm… ☺