Take it from the Top

Don't go out of the community today there are polar bears about .....

It's kinda cold today ....

This page contains various musings from people already working in the North. 

Please contact us at takeitfromthetop@hotmail.com with any musings you want to contribute.

Before I first moved North to teach I really thought I understood the concepts of cold and isolation.  Turns out they have completely different meanings in the North!

First of all when you are told it will be cold what they really mean is "It's going to be so cold you will not want to open your eyes for fear your eyeballs will freeze".  That was a shock for the first couple of times.  Then you acclimatise.

The other thing is that when you are told that it is isolated they actually mean it.  Not in the way that your grandmother's home was isolated.  This is really isolated.  Again a shock at first. 

The best advice I was given was by the Principal of the school who had been in the community for a couple of years.  "Don't make any decisions on staying when you first arrive.  Give it a couple of weeks."  This was advice I took with a pinch of salt prior to arriving but which I clung to once I arrived.  It was good advice as I really might have just wanted to get back on the plane once I landed. 

I love working in the North.  Yes, at times it can be frustrating but it is also very rewarding and where else in Canada would I get this?