Welcome to Pond!

Hello Again!Well, let's just say we have had quite the adventure already - we have already fallen in love with Nunavut! :)Yesterday, our day began at the Ottawa airport.By some miracle, none of our bags were overweight (and trust us this was VERY surprising). We left the 10 degree weather in Ottawa for the -15 degree tundra in Iqaluit. Needless to say, we were rocking some heavy winter boots, jackets and sweaters in preparation.The further north we went the colder it got..........Upon our arrival in Iqaluit,  we got hungry....However, we had unfortunately left behind the land of Tim Hortons and easy snacking. Luckily, a kind man at the airport pointed us in the direction of "Yummy Shawarma and Pizza" right down the road.So there we were, thirty minutes until our second flight, rushing to grab something to eat... We of course made time for a quick photo op with the Iqaluit sign. After eating our delicious shawarma (we do recommend "Yummy Shawarma and Pizza" if you are ever in the Iqaluit area), we headed back to the airport to board our second flight to Clyde River.  When we arrived in Clyde River, we finally began to realize just how far north we were going!The flight in to Pond Inlet was nothing short of breathtaking! The pilots took us on a special "scenic route"  through two large mountain passes. That was when we got our first glimpse of our new home- Pond Inlet!The pilots of the plane were even kind enough to let us take a few pictures in the cockpit!Our hosts while in Pond Inlet, Pat and Juana, kindly picked us up in the airport and we spent the evening getting settled in. We especially enjoyed meeting their dog- Dino! After a busy day of travelling, we headed to bed. We both woke up a few times during the night thinking it was morning.. But really we were just being tricked by the 24 hours of sunlight!Today was spent getting ourselves oriented to the community. We met with Rachel, the vice principal at the high school, Nasivvik, and Anne, our main teaching contact at Nasivvik. This was a great opportunity to see all of the fun teaching supplies left behind by past QHO peer educators (THANKS GUYS!).We also met Shelly, another QHO contact in the community, at the Arctic College. We were lucky enough to also meet with some Nasivvik grads to give us an idea of what health topics they think are relevant for us to be teaching this year. Our day ended with a tour of Pond and a chance to watch a part of the hockey game between Igloolik and Arctic Bay. What a game!Tonight we plan on getting started on planning some lessons to teach at the end of this week - we can't wait to get started and meet all of our classes !Lots of LoveErin & Kelsey