(Ed: Karin’s first post on her experiences in Nunavut in the Arctic north may be found here.)

Tuesday, September 12, 2000.

Well isn’t this the perfect page to begin my journals? A compass and I am heading DUE NORTH … It’s 10:45AM right now. I am in the airport—Pearson International … I guess it hasn’t hit me yet that I won’t be returning in a few days or a week or even two weeks…it’s like going off to university or something. Three months is not a long time [I ended up staying nine months] and I will be doing things—teaching, writing… But I know this is a great experience and I am excited about it…

Well, airports. Personally I love to fly. The actual take off and landing is incredibly fun for me… Airports are interesting places for writers. You see a whole lot of different people and you have opportunity to sit and observe. Like, right now there is a Japanese tour group or something. I’ve been hearing the very cool Japanese language since we sat down, and once again I wish I understood. There was a pretty woman dressed in a powder blue skirt suit who was seeing everybody off and saying “Kudesai!” Arigato, etc. Just another country I’d love to visit. Right now a flight to Calgary is about to leave and a couple stragglers have arrived. It’s going to be a long flight north. We are stopping over in Winnipeg for an hour or so. Winnipeg is a very small airport…

11:15PM

I’m in my new home! It’s a very nice apartment, indistinguishable for any nice apartment in Toronto… The flight from Winnipeg to Rankin was on a small plane—around 40+ passengers but no more than 60—where I sat [next to] a sweet Inuit lady who was deaf. The flight took 2 hrs. The Air Canada flight from Toronto to Winnipeg was about 2 hrs, on a half-filled plane… met a girl—not much older than me, if at all—who is a midwife here and a neighbour… Her name is Joanna and she rooms with another midwife, Sam. They seem like nice, cool girls…

Flying into Rankin, we were so far above the clouds that when I looked below the clouds looked like snowcaps. When we descended we saw Hudson’s Bay. Dark blue waters rippling with little bits of land trickling in. The land increased until the rocky shores and terrain were there. Rankin is a desolate looking place. No green trees and grass. The buildings look prefab and temporary. The sky is wide open. The children are all sweet looking. It is a strange place because it’s so unfamiliar and the terrain wild and mostly untouched. The seemingly lack of “designedness” is sharp contrast to…suburban planning. But I am looking forward to exploring.