One year ago was Carrie and I's infamous Tremblant Laurentians random road trip.
It's amazing how much changes in a year, the places we find ourselves in, the people we meet, the people we lose.
I'm far overdue on a blog post of a substance, I know.
I was swamped juggling two jobs.
Now I'm swamped getting caught up in Job 1 and writing report cards for Job 2.
It's coming before (if) I leave for Thanxgiving, I swear!
I just ate fish eggs with blueberries mixed in. True story. and fish eggs mixed with fried fish guts. it turns out i like fish guts even more than fish. these dishes actually have a sort of couscous taste and feel to them.
and moose. omfg so good.
It's funny how quickly we abandon our habits and routines when we find ourselves far away from our normal "life". I wear jeans and sneakers everywhere and everyday for the first time since the 90s. I wear ponytails, and don't drink coffee (or red bull!) every day. (I am still somewhat addicted to farmville, though...)
In the space of a month it turns out, it is easy to get used to having to time what day of the week you buy certain grocery items, to get used to not understanding 99% of what is spoken around you, and to not having a car.
When a friend posted a status update on facebook about the price of gas, it struck me as to how foreign gas prices seemed. After 8 years of constantly being aware of such things... irrelevant. You get used to, it seems, very quickly, to the unavailability of things, and the foreign-ness of a culture.
We aren't just physically remote, we are also just.... removed from a lot of the western world, I guess. News is a bit of a foreign concept up here... To start with, due to the 2 times a week mail system, there are no newspapers brought in, and none are published here. No one seems very concerned about what is happening in the rest of the world. Terrorist threats, car crashes, and hurricanes all seem... not just far away, but like they belong to another world than this one.
News here takes the form of water shortages, class cancellations, bear and wolf shootings and sightings, and who is having a chinese food takeout at their home the next day. Hockey, however, remains part of the culture here.
The impossible has happened: I have gone over a week without drinking any coffee, except half a mug that someone passed me during last Saturday's excursion.
Caffeine-free Sam. I haven't had a Red Bull since... Nemaska, Labour Day weekend.
....
It's amazing how many things you realize are NOT necessities or things that you need when you are spending an extended period of time in a location where most things are simply not available, and those which are are triple their fair market price, at best.
I can live without a car, without fast food, without drive thrus and without Red Bull. As to whether this will stick when I get back down South, I have my doubts. Some changes that travel elicits are permanent, others are just a function of the environment.
When I say that a lot of "basics" are lacking in Waskaganish, I am not exaggerating. Actually, to-date, I think I've understated the remoteness and lack of .... stuff here. Fruit costs an astronomical amount, and very little is available, and is mostly already nearly rotten by the time it arrives. it takes 2+ weeks for mail to arrive and leave, as there are (count 'em!) 1 truck and 1 plane per week, that's it. Flintstone mail, to quote my dad. The main restaraunt tends to keep odd hours, and often is closed at 6. The dep has longer hours than the Northern, but they won't let you in, and the girls that work the window have a slim grasp of any items they need to go fetch for you that go beyond the realm of pop as its called here, gum, and chips. I could go on.
I have met a local who seems to enjoy offering me rides and then driving 3X the longer route home to show me random things, and places. Met some teachers, who seem game to get out of town on weekends, or to explore around. Saw a beluga today on the coast, am scheming to get out to Charlton Island in the Bay, which belongs to Nunavut. Am hoping some random weekend plans come up again, as I enjoyed my day out in the bush, in a teepee, and on a boat Saturday.
I am at the point where the new-ness and travel aspect have worn off, and this has become living. It's a frustrating, transition phase that I am hoping doesn't last too long. I'm forcing myself to be more sociable (shocker to anyone who knows me, but I've been maybe too solitary and introspective since the 65 hour work weeks began). There are so many things that I appreciate about the land and the culture, but some that are frustrating and maddening seem to take the forefront thanks to elevated stress levels.
