Monday 29 September 2014

PHOTOS!

I have to keep the pictures to a minimum but here is a couple of highlights!
 Some early morning ice
 A very friendly husky
 New friends at the heritage center
 Cool photo of the Amundsen
 Some mountains in the Bellot strait
 Sunset
 Me and some more ice
The boiyz
 Lonesome Titanic
Sun mountain combo

Sunday 28 September 2014

Amundsen day 3-4

Day 3 was amazing! Yesterday night a few kids stayed up until 2:30 am so we could watch the boat hit ice and it was incredible! I have never seen so much ice, and in such large pieces. The coolest part of our late night adventure was that the wheelman, David, let a couple kids drive the boat… I GOT TO DRIVE AN ICEBREAKER! It was so cool and how many people in their life can say they have driven an icebreaker. It was great! After 5 hours of sleep we had a very interesting presentation from Jordan Grigor, a PhD student from Université Laval. His presentation was on Arctic marine ecosystems and arrow worms. I really enjoyed his presentation. We then had a great presentation from Masayo Ogi and Kensuke Komatsu on Arctic sea ice change and weather balloons. And Hannah is the most amazing person ever. It is now just a given that all our meals are great here. After our presentations we sewed mini gloves. A teacher and student, Beth and Alysha, led the activity from Cambridge Bay. Steve, from Dauphin MB, gave up after 5 minutes. The activity was interrupted by a fire drill. We then played werewolf as a group and it was hilariously fun.

Day 4! Today was a little slower but still fun. I started my day by releasing a weather balloon with Hannah, from Saltspring BC, guided by the scientists Masayo and Kensuke, who had presented to us yesterday. I had woken up earlier to see the Bellot straight which was awesome! Then the group started the day with our 9 o’clock meeting and then had a presentation from Robbie, Bob, and Robert. The first part of the presentation was on Changing sea levels in the Canadian arctic. One thing I learned was that melting sea ice doesn’t affect sea levels but it’s the land ice that melts and causes run off, and several communities in the arctic have already lost buildings and land to the rising sea levels. The second part was a technician who does Piston core sampling, which is essentially a 2000-pound tool to get a 20-foot tube of sediment out of the seabed. Then that tube is analyzed in a lab to determine what is in the ground and how stable it is and can also determine how old the area is. We also had a formal dinner tonight, which was fun; I also got to try escargot!
The area we are in right now is beautiful and I will snag some pictures before bed. Also the Internet is very poor and I will try to get photos up tomorrow.


-To be continued… Jaxon!

Friday 26 September 2014

Amundsen Days 1-2!

Due to Internet restrictions I have put two blog posts in one.

Amundsen day 1
Today we woke up 7:30 and had cereal and yogurt for breakfast. We were out at 8:30 and then walked around Kugluktuk, while walking we found an adorable husky that was very friendly and I fell in love with. At 10 we had a tour at a newly opened heritage center that cost 2.5 million to make.  It was an amazing tour with tons of traditional Inuit tools and clothing. I ended up buying a traditional Inuit tool called an ulu, which is a spherical type of knife. After that a group of us walked to the airport along the ocean. There we suited up in Immersion suits that were sealed suits that keep water out if you were to land in the water. I got to sit in the front of the helicopter and it was amazing. It felt like a ride at an amusement park. When we arrived on the ship we were given a brief tour and then helped deliver all our bags to our rooms. I was paired with a scientist, and I’ve had a lot of fun so far. For dinner we had mashed potatoes and asparagus quiche. We then just had a slow evening and went to bed early, even though we had switched to Montreal city time so we were two hours ahead.

Amundsen day 2
Waking up on the Amundsen is usually at 7 because breakfasts on board are from 7:30- 8:30. The other meal times are 11:30-12:30 for lunch, and dinner is from 5-6.  Today we had a safety briefing from Graham the 3rd Officer. He was really nice and showed us all the safety features of the boat. At one point during the presentation me and Ben (another participant) had to put on survival suits which was a rather difficult procedure. We then had an intro to climate change in the arctic from. Then went out and took group photos around the boat and hung around until dinner which was pasta with a cream sauce, which was amazing. All the food on board has been awesome. Tonight we are having a science meeting and then I will hopefully figure out the laundry system.

-To be continued… Jaxon!

Wednesday 24 September 2014

Kugluktuk day 2 - Bloody Falls!

Bloody Falls was breathtaking! We woke up at 7 and had pancakes for breakfast. Then we packed up for Bloody Falls with the class we met yesterday and left on jet boats down the Copper Mine river. The boat ride was 30 minutes long and the scenery was beautiful. When we got there we set up a base camp and just started walking around. We started off in a group but slowly broke off from each other as we went along. When I was on my own I came to a little cliff face with a ledge on the side, when I looked out from the ledge, I could see a massive flat area that stretched out miles in front of me. It was a cool feeling being around an area that has no visible signs of humans for such a long distance. Bloody Falls got it name when a rival group of natives snuck across the river and massacred the other tribe killing men, women, and children. the only survivor was an old woman who witnessed it all from far away and then hopped in a kayak and hurried down river and told the story. When we were there we had hotdogs and a variety of other snacks for lunch along with tea and hot chocolate throughout the day. One boy my age named Vern showed me a perfect spot to lie down on my stomach and drink water right out of the river. One of the food items I was persuaded to try was Klik (which is the equivalent of Spam) on tea biscuits which the local kids enjoyed, I although did not find it as alluring as they did. We left at 2 and I had throughly enjoy the trip and the ride back to Kugluktuk. Dinner is being prepared as I write and tonight we have plans to watch a movie.
-To be continued... Jaxon!
Here are some photos of our trip to Bloody Falls.





















Tuesday 23 September 2014

Kugluktuk!

Today was exhilarating and nonstop. We left our hotel at 5:30 and we flew from Edmonton to Yellowknife and from Yellowknife to Kugluktuk. Then we met a class and did some icebreaker games. We then took a tour of the community and went to the two supermarkets here. We then came back and played hockey with some local kids in the gym, needless to say we were humiliated by the high school students but were able to hold our own against the grade seven girls. We then broke up into groups for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I was part of the dinner group and we had a budget of $120 and we had pasta dinner for 15 including pasta, drinks, garlic bread, and dessert. The weather here was -1 most of the time. The groceries here in some cases are 1.5x the regular because of how remote it is here and groceries have to be shipped in. I'm very excited to go to Bloody falls. I have attached some pictures from today, enjoy!
Also I got to try an inuit sport today called high kick and apparently I did well for trying for the first time. I have also included that video!
-To be continued... Jaxon!















Monday 22 September 2014

First day!

The first day was awesome! My flights were all in time and it was great to meet everyone in Edmonton. Tomorrow at 5:30 we leave the hotel to fly to Kugluktuk where we will do some activity's with the community. Breaking the "ice" today was fun.
To be continued... Jaxon!

Sunday 21 September 2014

TOMORROW!

It all begins tomorrow! I fly out to Edmonton tomorrow and meet up with the group. Very excited (and a little nervous) as this all begins! :)
-To be continued... Jaxon!
Included is a picture of the Amundsen. Photo credits to Schools on Board.


Thursday 18 September 2014

New Blog!

I have decided to move my blog over to blogger because of service issues with my older blog. I Will move over the older posts to here but the dates may not be correct. In other news we are now 4 days away! My bags have been packed (just barely fit it all in) and I am have grabbed snacks for my travels.
-To be continued… Jaxon!