This beautiful sunset was the end to this wonderful day. It did not start auspicously. The "Severe wind chill warning" was over. Mind you, as I checked the weather before work this morning, it was -38 degrees Celsius, with a wind chill of -52. I think that maybe it has to be more than -55 to be severe!!
I was up early so had time to check the weather. Our Supervisor, Chris, arrived back from New Zealand yesterday, and we had signed her, and ourselves, up for a day long workshop called "Coaching Practices on Tackling High Workload". It sounded very good when we registered for it, and it was suggested that as many of us as possible take it.
At 8am I used the remote starter to start the car. It tried hard to turn over, but could not. (Yesterday I had plugged it in at work, with one of the electrical cables there, and the one in the back of the car "disappeared", so last night had plugged it into a cable that works, but that the car plug did not plug into well. Usually attached the shorter one to the longer one, and knew it worked.) So, went outside and tried to start the car with the key. That also did not work. Luckily Chris lives very close to Diane and I, so she would take us to work.
We arrived to lovely Christmas gifts that Chris had brought us from New Zealand. For me a pen with sheep on the end was the greatest. She also brought Kiwi candy for all of us to share.
At 9:00 we went to the workshop. Although we were the first people registered, they had none of our names. However, they made the best of it as there were four midwives, one support staff, and one maternity care worker. They made us nametags, for the tables, and adapted well. Then the workshop started. Must say it was amazing. If anyone gets a chance to take it...DO. It was put on by the Canadian School of Public Service, and content was really good.
The best exercise was each person taking a complaint they would like to make, and a second person, who was an interviewer, asking questions, so that the complaint turned into a request. The most amazing thing was that the anger we had at our complaints dissipated with the questions, and became a much more energized and positive request. Although not surprised by this, it was really fun to feel and see it happening.
At lunch I tried to call Huka, the mechanics here, and see if they could jump start the Vitara, which we, somewhat affectionately, call the Shitara. Like most cars here it is missing pieces, due to weather losses, and as needed a lot of repairs recently.
Had already decided that we needed to get to Umingmak to get a new electric cable and also a dowl, to hang my new wall hanging today. Did not want to risk the car not starting again tomorrow.
Call came from Huka at 4ish to say that they had needed to tow the car in, heat it up for 45 minutes, and then start it. It was plugged in, and they would leave it going until I got there. Workshop did not end until 16:30, so knew that it should be warm when I got there. It was. I drove to Umingmak and left the car going while I went inside. This is normal, and two trucks were outside the store also running, although Umingmak really looks like a big warehouse, with a tiny door, and no windows, rather than a southern store. Was able to get both the dowl and the cable. Decided that I needed to drive a lot further to keep the car going and ended up seeing this beautiful sunset.
Was near the aeroport...well really everything is near the aeroport, since it is at the top of the town, and Rankin Inlet is only a mile from side to side, with aeroport atthe south of town, and ocean, or at this time of year sea ice, at the north. Took two lovely pictures of the sunset.
Realized that one really needs to be careful when taking pictures at -38 degrees. I did not have on my hat or mitts when I took the first, and the 30 seconds was quite unbearable. Hands did not move well when I returned to the car. Second photo I had my hat on, and it was still VERY cold on the hands. It took about 20-30 seconds only.
You are problably wondering what made this day special. The coaches at the workshop commented on waking up this morning and seeing the light and the space. It is something that we need to be reminded of, although it is here every day now. At 7 the sun is not up, but it is light and beautiful colours abound. There are no trees, and the horizon is white, with colours reflected from it. Sunset, as you can tell, at 17:00 ish is also very beautiful. The other amazing thing, for me, today was the workshop. It is one where you take your thoughts of, why am I managing, and how am I managing, and what am I doing, and leave with a much better idea of how to handle situations, and also where you are going.
Sometimes it is surprising how an inauspicous day can turn so quickly into a day of wonderment, beauty and self learning.
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