Hello again, friends and family,

Saw my first real igloo on the trip to Avvajjaq, which I forgot to mention to you. Just riding along on the skidoo and there was an igloo. Old, abandoned, but an igloo nonetheless. It's funny, because it's really this almost mythical thing, and then one day, there it is in your path. I didn't actually go in it (we were getting cold and on our way home), but I'm hoping that at some point I will have the opportunity to do just that.

Today I spent the morning with the little ones at Headstart. They are great! And I got to sing "head & shoulders, knees & toes" in Inuktitut. (don't bother asking whether I remember the words for the different body parts, because I don't. I only know that eyes are "iji" - pronounced "ee-hee" - and that's close enough to english and spanish to remember, therefore I did.) The language barrier was minimal.

This afternoon I thought I'd go for a ski. Bad idea, unfortunately, as it was blowing like STINK out there. So I went out, with the gale force blowing behind me, actually pushing me along. Then I decided to do some zigging and zagging in order to avoid attempting to head back straight into it, which worked. Until I zagged right into a resting dogsled team. You see, most of the teams are left out in the bay on the ice, because it's easier and closer to get where you're going from out there. And I was under the impression, what with the ropes in clear view and all, that they were all tied up. As you may have picked up, these dogs are not exactly domesticated. They live outside on the ice, and do NOT go near them during feeding time... Not the type of dogs you pet and play with. So I see them there, about 20 feet away, and that makes me a little nervous, but I push on. Then I run into a little snowbank (I guess I was watching the dogs and not where I was going) so, fine, I start my mini-climb, and all of a sudden there's a big sled dog nearly nipping at my heels! Woo! Got me moving a tad quicker, now, didn't that?

Got away without a scratch, of course, but gave me a fright nonetheless.

A reason for my seemingly unreasonable fear of these canines: the day I was out on the dogsled with Michael, I saw a fight break out between the dogs, and that wasn't too pretty, even though Michael got it under control pretty quickly.

Tomorrow it's off to Avvajjaq again with the 5&6 class. All day, so I'd better bundle up! Kamiik and japa here I come! The dog fur (on the trim), it turns out, doesn't seem to bother me.

Lynn