11/12/13

I love today's date!!…….11 / 12 / 13………

People ask me if I really like Yellowknife….or how I’m feeling about my move so far…..and while I’m going to respond with an overwhelming “yes, I like Yellowknife” I want to make myself very clear in terms of a few other places I’d rather be……make no mistake, Hawaii and Fiji call my name as does many other tropical and warm destinations in the world….so while I like Yellowknife very much….it will not likely ever be my ‘dream’ destination in the winter.

But today I’m thinking about those things I really do appreciate about living here in the north:

• The snow doesn’t stick to your clothes, boots etc…….it doesn’t come into the buildings. I’m not brushing it off and there is no puddle or mess at the entrance way or mats that are sopping wet.

• Along the same lines, there is no salt to contend with either so while we typically like having clear sidewalks and streets the alternative seems to be working out rather well; while the packed snow eventually becomes ice on the sidewalks, they do have equipment to clear the snow before this happens, or they put (small) gravel to ensure tred. Overall, I’ve not found the ice on the sidewalk to be an issue

•  Little precipitation = little humidity = no frizzy hair; we love this fact and are ecstatic about not shovelling or clearing snow or walking through the snow banks we would typically experience in the snow belt area of Ontario; however, we do get 'hat' hair and are learning to contend with that 

• Pedestrians: being a pedestrian in Yellowknife is a real treat and does not involve taking risks with your own life; drivers here actually stop for you. I’m not kidding. There will be a whole line of cars going in both directions and it’s totally dark out at 8am and the drivers never hesitate to stop to allow me to cross – this was really unexpected behaviour – and so appreciated!

 

• Weaver & Devore Trading is a family-run, independent general store located in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. It was established in 1936 by Harry Weaver and Ellis "Bud" Devore, fur traders and watercraft men from Peace River, Alberta. Their first trade run to Yellowknife Bay in 1936 was in response to the increased mining activity that summer. The following year, the partners had erected a permanent log-cabin trading post and business boomed as Yellowknife grew into an important commercial centre. The store discontinued the fur trading business in the 1980s and now specializes in general merchandise, produce, bush orders, and outdoor clothing. The store expanded into its current premises, on the other side of Weaver Drive, in the 1960s. The store has been incredibly successful despite competition from big-box chain stores in modern-day Yellowknife and continues to serve the Old Town population of the community and bush camps. This is a true general store with product reaching as high as the rafters; it offers excellent customer service and has some very unique products……but NO, this is not what a typical store looks like in YK….and I “Like” it a lot and need to ask the Horvats what they remember about this store.

• 5% tax – ah……no explanation is required I’m sure…..

• People really acknowledge Christmas here: the department I work in is quite small and mostly male oriented – the only other female has been off sick for a couple of weeks and when she returned on Monday she said, ‘where’s all the Christmas decorations, did anyone show you our storage room in the basement.’ I responded with ‘you can put up Christmas decorations? They allow this in a government office?’ I was told we could and we do. Really??  How wonderful!! So I proceeded to have this discussion with her about it…..oh yes, the public schools don’t go so far as to formally acknowledge Christmas and abide by the ‘happy holiday’ routine along with allowing Red and Green decorations etc., but fortunately they seem to be the exception.

Today, I was in the building that houses the Tree of Peace Friendship Centre which is an organization that serves Aboriginal and First Nations persons. The meeting room was well decorated, ie there was no holding back. As well, I find people willingly expressing Christmas greetings to one another: example, I sat down at a table already occupied by someone else as the venue was quite full for lunch today and she not only invited me to join her but immediately wished me Christmas greetings……so maybe this seems pretty normal to others, but the behaviours and attitudes have struck me as those belonging to people who freely and confidently stand by their values – well done Yellowknife, well done.

• This one is really specific and very nostalgia related: the first radio station I tuned into and have stayed with is Aboriginally based…..many programs do not have English but luckily I’m not listening for the spoken part of the program……but I love tuning into it as one of the stations I enjoy on a daily basis. It plays songs I haven’t heard for many years and I realize that even those stations that play from the different decades tend to play and replay the same songs…so inevitably there are a lot of songs that tend to get missed. So, this station has a lot of older, less familiar songs that would have had some popularity, ‘back in the day.’ Actually it is a station that has a true mix of music including old country, new country, (I’m typically not a big country fan – right Caitlyn) some newer tunes too, but what is appealing is that the mix is not pre-packaged like we have in so many other stations that plays the same over and over and over. It would appear this station actually puts thought into what it delivers and I really like it. 

Currently there is a nice assortment of Christmas music mixed into the regular programs which seems to cater to their audience instead of assuming what we want to hear. Then, to boot, it plays a lot of ‘fiddle’ music which immediately takes me to thinking about my mom and dad, knowing how much they both would have loved this station and how much, by proxy, I’ve learned to appreciate it as well (alright I do love it too – in measured doses). The concept also tied in with some Cultural Awareness training I had recently, and whether this still applies to all, or some of the Aboriginal / First Nations’ populations I don’t know, but dancing ‘jig’ style has, or was popular and very evident. So you never know where the commonality among people will be found, but it’s always there somewhere, though often in surprising places.

So yes, Yellowknife, you’ve hooked me so far.