In and Around Iqaluit

I did some walking and some ATVing today - walking enabled me to see even more of the city (really it's a town but it refers to itself as a city) and being on the ATV allowed me to get a bit further outside of the city limits and further into the tundra.  Both wonderful.

I posted a picture yesterday of the view from my bedroom - and just in case you were wondering this is what the B&B where I'm staying looks like.

If I may bore my non-teacher friends for a minute I thought you might like to see a bit of what school life here in Iqaluit might be like.  Here in town I'm pretty sure there are three schools that are K-5, one middle school (Grades 6-8) and one high school.

If I was working here this is what my Board office would like:

This is what the Teacher's Association Office would look like:

And this is what a couple of the schools look like:

Aqsarniit Ilinniarvik School (Gr. 6-8)

Nakasuk School (K-5)

And even here the kids play soccer

Joamie Ilinniarvik School (K-5)

What I really loved about Joamie Ilinniarvik School though was the view from the playground.

Also here in Iqaluit is one of the campuses of Nunavut Arctic College, which has three campuses throughout Nunavut.

Another really interesting building in town is St. Jude's Anglican Cathedral.  The cathedral is the seat of the Diocese of the Arctic, which covers the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and the Nunavik region of Northern Quebec. It has the greatest area of any Anglican diocese in the world.

Iqaluit Square is a place for gathering, reflection and celebration, where paths cross through the seasons.  The opening of Iqaluit Square faces the Elder Centre to signify respect, and it is also directed towards the water to reinforce the Inuit connection to the sea.

There are some amazing carvings all over the town.  This one, which I haven't been able to find out anything about yet, is located at the main four-way stop in the centre of the city.

This area is known as the place where "our life history is carved in stone" - according to a local person I was talking to today.

Something else that I found amazing when I was walking around this morning was the tide!  You might remember a couple of photos in yesterday's blog post that had a couple of boats bravely in the water, and you could see ice chunks and the shoreline of Iqaluit in the background.

The tides of Frobisher Bay are said to be the second most active in the world ... second only to the Bay of Fundy.  Frobisher's tides can rise and fall more than 11 metres in the course of a 24-hour period - and here's what those little boats looked like this morning.

And these were at the water's edge when I walked by them last night

Jumping on an ATV took me out of the city and to two main destinations today.  Firstly I went back to Apex which also has a little Anglican Church of its own.  Apparently the first Anglican service was held in this area in 1578.

And lots of beautiful views of Frobisher Bay.

You can see the village of Apex on the left

Those are the old Hudson's Bay buildings

On the top of "Apex Hill" there is a little memorial to a local elder who died recently.

And then it was back out into the tundra for a little off-road driving.  One has to be careful in the arctic tundra - it can be a bit rough on those unprepared.

Thankfully though I made it back safely after seeing a few more beautiful vistas along the way.