I just returned from my second community training trip, this time to Wekweti, NT (the first syllable is stressed). My first training trip was to Fort Providence in January, which was positively huge compared to Wekweti. The official population is about 130, I think, but I heard that the number currently estimated to be in the community (as opposed to away at school or whatever) is about 90. I had five students, four from Wekweti and one from Gameti a.k.a. Rae Lakes, which lies a piece to the west.
What Wekweti lacked in size it made up in spirit. I really enjoyed the people here, all of whom were friendly and welcoming. People I never met would smile and say hi when I passed them walking around the community. This friendliness extended to the dogs as well - Jasmine and I could generally expect to be greeted by at least one and usually more dogs every time we went out. I didn't get quite as much attention from the canine community when Jasmine was inside, but there were still one or two who would walk me partway to work in the mornings.
Since my last postings about the dog derby had so much dog focus, I'll try not to focus on them so much here. However, I'll probably sprinkle a few dog shots in because they made my stay even better. But let's start at the beginning...
I flew to Wekweti on Sunday, April 27, on a nine-passenger plane owned by Air Tindi. I don't know my airplanes, so don't ask me what type of plane it was. All I can say is that it was the smallest commercial plane I've been on. There are four flights to Wekweti each week (unless there's either too much or not enough people and goods for transport, but four is the scheduled amount). During the warmer months, planes are the only way to get to Wekweti, although there is an ice road in the winter. The ice road is by no means direct - from Yellowknife, you would go northwest to Rae, then further northwest toward Rae Lakes/Gameti, then east to Wekweti. Therese, my student from Rae Lakes, says it's about 6 hours of long driving. I don't know if that's to Yellowknife or just between Rae Lakes and Wekweti, but it sounds long no matter what.
My first experience with Wekweti said much about the place. When I got off the plane, one stranger handed me keys to the learning center and another one introduced herself as Joyce. It took me a moment to remember who Joyce was, then I remembered I had talked to her about the hotel.
I watched as the baggage was unloaded and all of my stuff was loaded on to the back of a truck along with the baggage of anyone else who didn't get picked up my friends or family. I wasn't quite sure of the routine, but everyone else was so familiar with it that nobody thought to explain anything to me, so I just tried to go with the flow. After making sure that my bags and my dog were safely on the truck (Jasmine was still in her crate), I started to get into the truck too - it made sense to me. A bunch of other people were in a nearby van, but I didn't know what that was for. However, I was soon directed to the van as well.
I climbed into the large passenger van and took one of the remaining empty seats, then off we all went. The drive to town was longer than I expected - I thought it would be right beside it, but it turns out it's about 6 kilometers between Wekweti and the airport.
Nobody said much as we drove to Wekweti, but shortly after we passed the first few houses someone said "Tracy." Nothing else was said, and then someone said Tracy again when nothing happened immediately. Then the word registered with the driver, who stopped and backed up several houses. A girl disembarked. Forward we went again. I don't think I've ever been anywhere that everyone knew where everyone else lived - I've never been in a place that was small enough.
Shortly after, we pulled up in front of a larger - but unmarked - building. I looked at the other passengers. Nobody moved. Well, I guess this must be my stop, huh? I got off and nobody stopped me, so I figured I was on the right track. It seems they must not get a lot of newcomers here, since everyone assumed that I would know what I was supposed to do at each step. I actually didn't mind - I figure it's part of the experience and I really didn't think the people would let me get too far off track.
Here's the Wekweti hotel:
Just kidding. That's the old hotel, which is still used for overflow when needed, as I understand it. Here's the one I really stayed in (complete with local dog on porch):
It was not fancy, but it was certainly nice enough for me. It was also a rather unique experience to add to my general lodging experiences. Once I registered, the staff left. The one staff person left, that is. I had the place to myself... I wandered around to see what I could see, hoping I would find something along the way that would tell me meal times, since meals were included in the $175 cost of the hotel. I found a chack board in the dining room that told me I would be eating at 8am, noon, and 5pm each day. Okay, that's what I needed to know. I also found northern magazines and binoculars on the window ledge of the dining room. That's a nice bonus, in my opinion.
Here's the dining room and the view from the wall of windows in the dining room.
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The first couple of days I took Jasmine for run/walks. By run/walks I mean that Jasmine ran the whole time and I ran and walked intermittently since I have just started running for the season. I took her out the road toward the airport, which is about 6 km from town although we only went a couple of kilometers ourselves. She had a great run, I got some exercise without worrying about how she'd get along off-leash with the community dogs, and we were happy.
Then on Monday, one of the other hotel guests told me his co-worker saw a wolverine out on the airport road that day. Hmm. I started sticking a bit closer to town and keeping a closer eye on Jasmine.
So we started having shorter walks and spending more time with a leash, but I still wasn't too worried. Half the reason I stopped running is because the temperature dropped again and I really think it should be above zero to go running (or else my asthma bothers me, which is almost a relief since it gives me a good excuse not to freeze).
Wednesday night, Jasmine and I were awakened in our room by all the local dogs barking frantically. I didn't leave the room or even look out the window but instead focused on keeping Jasmine quiet so she wouldn't wake the other hotel guests. Then I asked around the next day to see if anyone knew what the fuss was about. Johnny Arrowmaker, one of my students, told me someone had seen a grizzly going up the lake last night.
A grizzly? I thought it was mostly black bears around here! I asked around some more and learned that it *is* mostly blacks, but there are some barren ground grizzlies that sometimes end up here since we're not that far from the tree line. I see. Well, let's just shorten those walks a little more, huh? Oh yes, and haven't I heard the wolves around town? No, I guess I'd missed that.
Actually, I've always been interested in wolves and the thought of crossing paths with one intrigues me more than it frightens me - at least in theory. However, my dog is another story. I don't think she would know the difference between a wolf and a dog and I'm not sure how wolves feel about domestic dogs. Some people think the wolves got one of the community dogs last year, but there are also dogs in the community that are suspected to be part wolf, so who knows what the deal is.
This is one of the dogs that may be part wolf. I can believe it. He was actually pretty friendly... he kept his distance from us for the first day or two, then came to check us out. Jasmine's speedy playstyle was a bit freakish to him and he tended to move out of reach when she got to frisky, but he never showed any sign of aggression. I wish you could see his eyes, which are an icy blue, but I didn't get any good pictures of them.
I was fortunate in that most of the local dogs were friendly to both me and Jasmine. I was told that there's a significant dog problem in some northern communities, both with population and with aggression. I didn't have any issues in Wekweti - these are more typical scenes.
The amount of activity outside was much enjoyed by Jasmine, as were the low window ledges in our hotel room. I put her coat on the ledge to protect the paint from her nails, plus I kept the blinds closed during the day so she wouldn't bark at dogs through the window. Still, it was great having a well-lit room and Jasmine liked the knee-high window ledges whenever I made them available to her.
Oh, and when I say well-lit? That also means long-lit - I'm not sure it got completely dark while I was there, even with almost two months left until the summer solstice. It certainly wasn't completely dark whenever I took Jasmine out late in the evening.
During the day, Jasmine mostly slept while I taught at the community learning centre, which was a 5-10 minute walk from the hotel. It shared a building with the post office and the outreach office. Here's a couple of pictures from the walk to work, followed by the classroom itself. (Yes, I know I'm providing less detail and more pictures as this goes on, but they do say a picture is worth a thousand words, right? Actually, I just want to get this finished and online because I've been trying to squeeze it in between other things like learning bookkeeping for work. If/when I publish a book about my first year in the north, which I hope to do, you can get all the detail you want.)
It was trying to melt and dry up most of the time I was there, but it didn't try hard enough because this is the learning centre on May 1st. I console myself that it's been rather crappy and cold in other parts of Canada as well...
After work each day, I usually took Jasmine for a walk - sometimes on leash, sometimes off leash depending where we were going, what the local dogs were up to, etc. Some of the things we saw along the way included some colourful and well-kept graves, the local golf course (I hope you have more imagination than me because I have trouble seeing it), and a larger beach. There's also a shot of Jasmine plunging through the snow and another looking back toward the hotel and the community from the point that allegedly hosts the golf course.
It's too bad I don't like my dog, isn't it? Yes, I really should include more about her in my little stories...
I didn't have very many students, which is probably not surprising in such a small community. Most of the people who would have most benefited from learning more about computers for their jobs were, of course, tied up with their jobs. Half of my students worked for the band office, which was organizing the training from Wekweti's end. In any case, they all worked very hard and got through all the courses, which is impressive since most of them don't speak English as their first language (Wekweti is a Dogrib community) and we had a pretty aggressive training schedule. Some of my students came in evenings and weekends to put in extra time. At the end of the course, Diavik Diamond Mines - the main sponsor for the computer training - organized a BBQ with the help of the people at the band office. Diavik provided the spare ribs - lots and lots of spare ribs - and the chefs while the community provided salads, BBQ grills, and people. It was open to the whole community, which was neat, and after the BBQ there was a brief ceremony of sorts to wrap up the training. There were a few speeches in both English and Dogrib and Diavik presented the students, myself, and a few others from the community with Diavik shirts. In all, I found the people of Wekweti and also those who flew in from Diavik to be very warm, friendly, and open. I had a wonderful time in Wekweti.
My students were great. Here are four of the five students with two people from the community standing behind them. From left to right, there is Juanita, Johnny, Therese, and Patti. They were all interesting, but I found Johnny's story most interesting of all - and most surprising. He recently became a father - with his Philippino wife, Emily. He found Emily when he read an ad in the paper - Edmonton paper, I think he said - for Philippino brides. They wrote back and forth for several years before he decided to take the plunge and marry her. I think that was six years ago - Johnny's been to the Philippines with Emily six times. Now, is that a story you expected to hear in a small and remote northern community? Ahh, the north, it's full of surprises!
Okay, these next few are mostly for my grandmother, who says I don't send enough pictures of me. I found a bench on a hill overlooking town - actually, it was pointed out to me - and I went up there with Jasmine after the BBQ to take a few pictures of town and of me with Wekweti in the background. My first attempt wasn't so great - I didn't realize how crooked the bench was! (Note the shorts - it was about 15 degrees that afternoon, which was absolutely lovely.)
I used the camera case as a wedge for my next few attempts, which gave me better results. I also made Jasmine get in the picture with me, but - as you can probably tell - she was more interested in running and exploring.
Okay, only two more pictures - a panorama of Wekweti from the hill with the bench, which I spliced together from pictures I took while standing in one spot. It's not seamless, but I think it gives a pretty good idea of what's there, especially with my little markers added in.
And finally, me back at work in Yellowknife. I had to take a picture of me for something with Skills Canada NWT/NU, so I figured I might as well throw it on here too - I hope Nan will appreciate it. :-) This is the front desk at the school - I asked Ingo if I could borrow it because my desk was too messy to have in a picture and I figured it would take too long to work my way down to the surface, especially after being away for two weeks. (That's my story - don't ask how my desk looks when I've been in town for months, because it's really not much better. Something about lots to do and not enough time to do it...)
That's all for now... I'm going back to Wekweti in June, plus there's lots of festivals and events coming up in June and July, so I should have more in a few weeks!
Jan