Alert-120

About two months before leaving Ontario for the High Arctic, I had a dream.

I was sitting in the back of a truck at night with two people who I couldn’t identify sitting in the front, having a conversation about something that I knew nothing about. Looking to my left out the window, I could only see the snowy ground stretch into the darkness with snowflakes glinting off the light of the passing headlights.

It was a pretty bumpy ride, but it was comfortable. I was swaddled in a parka with layers upon layers and with the rise and fall of the truck, I was having trouble staying awake. I drifted off to the white noise of the tracks crushing the packed snow and miscellaneous conversation.

When I woke up from that dream, I thought it was incredibly odd. I had no context and threw the whole memory away until I was sat in the back of the very same truck. Two Environment Canada staff in the front who had offered to take me out on their ice survey sat in the front talking about people I didn’t know. The night surrounded us on our lone road towards the next surveying site.

I have dreams like that every so often, however, it can take months or years to live them in the flesh. It feels like an overwhelming sense of déjà vu or nostalgia for something you’ve lived before but can’t quite place where or when, except if the dreams were vivid enough.  I can’t help but feel like those dreams are a sign I am still on the right path, that being here was meant to be.

***

It’s been just over a month since stepping off the plane and being surrounded by a flurry of faces all welcoming me to Alert. It’s passed by quickly, though it feels like that version of me, deer in headlights, is so far away now that I have gained my footing.

I have adapted incredibly well, better than I thought I would. My friends and family check in often, asking how I am, and I feel a little embarrassed having nothing to report other than winning at bingo. I think it might be fun to do a little statistics for some key events here as a way of sharing the highlights (and possibly lowlights) of January.

TIMES HIT IN THE FACE DURING SPORTS: 7

Being a good foot shorter than most of the people playing volleyball makes you a pretty good target for accidentally taking a spike or serve to the face. The main sports we rotate through over the week is volleyball, badminton, and soccer. There are usually two sport periods a week, an hour or two on Tues/Thurs and Sat/Sun depending on who is available. I have gone to just about every single one, despite the magnet that feels like it’s attached to my face. There’s only been one really good hit and that was in soccer, which me getting brutalized seemed to be the theme for that game as I took another punted ball to the gut and knee. I remember only being this bruised when I was 8 and in the peewee soccer league. Despite this, I have a reputation in soccer for being a force to be reckoned with, so I think it evens out 🙂

PRIZE MONEY RECEIVED: $105

The amount of money you can make here by just showing up and trying the odds is astronomical. It all started with Casino Night, where I didn’t even win any of the games and still managed to get $25 in prize money from the ticket raffle at the end. Another easy way to make a bit of cash to cover your drinks is playing cards and bingo a few times a week. Euchre, Crib, Poker, and Bingo run weekly. One of my friends in the EC office next to ours taught me how to play Crib on a slow morning. 5 days later, I had beat him out of the top four bracket of the Crib tournament and placed second with my Crib partner who has also been my CrossFit partner a few times a week. The student becomes the master.

Bingo was a complete stroke of luck and I just so happened to get the full card bingo for the last round first, but goes to show, you can win $30 with only luck in your pocket.

TIP MONEY RECEIVED: $215

We can thank the good people of Alert for their generous donations to my merchandise fund. After my first solo shift bartending, I bought a nice ash-blue zip-up sweater that says ALERT EST.1958 and the coordinates across the front. I’ve been eyeing a pair of ‘Frozen Chosen’ sweatpants for my next investment. So far, I haven’t spent a dime of my own money and I intend to keep it that way. I love bartending and seeing the drinks other people order makes me more inclined to try new things. Here is an Alert Classic created by the GAW Operator, Hannah:

GRANNY SMITH
-Apple Crown Royal
-Gingerale
-Lemon juice (lime for more sour taste)

That is one of the best drinks to make. Here is one that absolutely disgusted me:

ONE GLASS OF OCEAN WATER [I came up with the name for the colour it creates]
-Empress 1908 Gin
-Tap water

As a Gin and Tonic lover, having someone order an Empress Gin and Tonic with no Tonic, Lime, or ice and instead filling the glass the rest of the way with tap water made me shudder. As far as I know, both me and another patron whose regular order was of course an Empress Gin and Tonic shamed him enough he has yet to order it again.

AMOUNT OF PLANE DELAYS: 8

There has only been (or supposed to have been) 4 planes this month, including the one that I arrived on. Turns out landing a plane in the arctic in the dead of winter is pretty tough and usually the plane stays an extra day in Thule. There is also the very common issue of mechanical problems which I also experienced. The plane that was supposed to come last week was delayed until today, which has now been delayed until tomorrow (but it will probably end up going back to Trenton). The plane was that supposed to come today as regular was grounded in Iqaluit and will try again tomorrow, picking up the people who have stayed a week in Thule. If the plane does not come tomorrow, either they will spend ANOTHER week in Thule or go back to Trenton to try again NEXT week with another plane full of people so who knows how many people will be on the next. Oh yeah and there is no cargo on either of the planes, so I am awaiting the day that the salad bar remains empty with no fresh produce and the milk dispensers run dry.

***

As one month comes to an end and another begins. January was the month of finding my footing and learning as much as I can, and while I won’t stop learning, I am feeling comfortable with all my tasks on the job side of things. February, I plan to get out to the wood hobby shop and start tinkering on some woodworking projects like personalized crib boards and wood whittling.

As per the regulations of my co-op program, I have to write a scientific report related to my job or at least the area. Previous students I have talked to have written research reports on specific topics related to the arctic e.g., microplastics in sea ice, however, the last student was able to use some of the data collected at the lab to write his report. I am not too sure what I want to write about yet, but thinking of a topic and creating an outline will be my main goal for this month.

But hey, I completely glossed over something really cool that happened literally a week ago. I went ice surveying!

There is a total of 4 Environment Canada staff at Alert. 2 that manage the GAW Lab and 2 from the Upper Air Department that release weather balloons twice daily and perform other related tasks.

It is a weird feeling standing in a dark bay off the coast of the Lincoln Sea. Obviously where else would the ice be if not on a body of water, but honestly, I wouldn’t have been able to tell if not told. The snow covering the landscape looked exactly the same as it did on solid ground.

^This was not over the sea ice, but the landscape looks exactly the same. This was taken at the lab. Flat and snowy.

We drilled into the ice under the full moon, and once through, a small metal probe attached to wire and a measuring tape is led through the hole to catch on the bottom to measure the depth (approx. 2m).

Did you know sea ice is much easier to drill through than lake ice? The salt in the water makes the ice soft, but lake water is not so forgiving. My wrist can attest to that. The drill would snap forward as my hold on it broke, twisting my wrist around with it. I put it in reverse to pull it out of whatever it was stuck on and tried again. No dice. I passed it off to one of the EC people, a little embarrassed. Turns out I was not even two inches away from breaking through to the fresh water below.

PHOTO DUMP:

^The full moon over the lab

^Arctic Fox prints. I’ll have to start bringing a quarter out with me to get the scale because they are pretty tiny! Smaller than the Arctic Hare tracks for sure.

^This has been my favourite photo taken yet because it looks like I am on another planet, which I think accurately sums up how it feels to be out here sometimes.

^The sun has been getting brighter by the day.