First 24 hours in Salluit!

Hello! Bonjour!WE HAVE ARRIVED! We flew into the Salluit airport yesterday after overcoming the fear of over weight bags, but we did it! (Our carry-ons may or may not have been placed in cargo...) anyways it was a great trip and its amazing how things change so quickly without even going too far! Due to our plane delay leaving Montreal, we arrived about 45 min late into the airport which created some confusion for the pick up that we had arranged! After sitting in the airport looking excited yet very lost (cue the cricket sounds), we called Monique (the woman we are staying with!) and she arranged for Jean Louis (special ed teacher in Ikusik) to come get us! He is un doubtably one of the nicest men around! We settled into Monique's house, and immediatly felt an overwhelming sense of home! Monique is very french, and does not speak English! It is great practice for us!After we got settled in, Monique cooked us a great dinner of fresh fish and rice! She is very generous, and already refers to us as "mes filles" (my girls). We finished off the day with a huge walk through the community with Monique, and we learned a lot! We were so amazed by how light it was at 9pm, which had Monique laughing.Today (April 29th) we had a VERY successful day! We met Bernard who introduced us to all of the other teachers! They are all incredibly welcoming, and excited to have us! We had a meeting with him about what his thoughts were as well as our ideas! We planned a staff meeting with teachers to discuss scheduling, and what material and topics they think we should focus on for primary and secondary students in Ikusik! (They had some very useful input and great ideas!) We thought the collaboration with the teachers was very important and helpful for us to create a system that worked for everyone! We also spoke with Jean Louis who was very keen on getting us into Breakfast Club two mornings a week and we are so excited!We introduced ourselves to Hipita who is the new principle at Pigurivik (primary school). She wasnt familiar with QHO, so it was great to explain to her what we were doing! She was so excited and welcoming, and said we were welcome any time! We arranged a schedule with her, and brainstormed some topics that we will be covering!WE WERE THEN BLOWN AWAY (literally) on the walk to the nursing station! The wind today was worse then usual apparently, and we could tell!!! Insane! We must have looked like we were struggling because we ended up getting a drive (may have been a 30 second drive...) to the nursing station by Emmanuel and Eva (VERY nice of them to pick up two struggling girls with hair flying everywhere and tears from wind and laughter whom they have never seen before). They are the youth protection workers, and after we explained who we were they invited us to a dinner get-together for Ikusik teachers! **excited beyond words**At the nursing station we met the head nurse Martin and talked with him about possible collaboration opportunities and resources we could use and he was more than happy! He also got us up to date with the current health concerns in the community, which is great to know! We are very excited to hopefully work with some of the people from the nursing station in our lessons!Lastly, we went to Quannaq (Adult Educaiton Centre) with Jean Louis (who lost his hat in the wind! But dont worry, after some chasing he got it back!) At Quannaq we met Linda and Elena who both teach there! They were the nicest and sat down with us to talk about some teaching opportunities! They wanted us to come in right away! They asked us to cover some specific topics that they thought were very necessary and that the adults would like, so we scheduled teaching for Friday morning! So soon, but can't wait!So, we think that we had a very productive day, and have lots to do! But before bed...walk up the mountain with Bernard? Mussel fishing with Jean Louis? More French life chats with Monique? (explaining QHO, what a Major and Minor is, and our parents professions in French is a lot harder than we thought!) Lesson plan for Quannaq?  Who knows!Love from Salluit!Lauren and Kendraᓗᖑᒥᑭᕿᓴ and ᓄᕿᓴᖁᑭᖑPs that spelling may not be accurate, but that is what the English slash French slash Inuktitut key board is saying!PPs we are writing "slash" because we can not find the actual symbolPPPs we can not find most of the punctuation (may take some getting used to!), so sorry for the inconveniencePPPPs PICTURES COMING SOON!