There is a feeling of déjà vu within me as I write this introductory blog post. Around this time last year, I was blogging about my latest trip to the Down Under, officially known as the country of Australia. Now I find myself in the driver's seat once again, ready and eager to catalogue my latest adventure in another corner of the globe. And this corner is quite isolated, only accessible by sea and air.
The year of 2011 was dedicated to volunteering & occasionally teaching in several adult high schools, and applying to many teaching positions in & outside of Canada. I was glad to be gaining classroom experience and earning some money but it wasn't enough. What I needed was long term teaching employment. All the applications I sent out came back rejected, either explaining that the position had already been filled or that I lacked experience. The latter put me into a Catch 22 scenario: to get a job, I need teaching experience, but to get the experience, I need the job. Nevertheless, my persistence would eventually pay off in the new year.
In early January 2012, I came across a teaching ad on the Education Canada website, advertising a year-long high school music teacher position in the town of Iqaluit. The current music teacher was going on maternity leave and the school was looking for someone to fill in. With nothing to lose, I sent in an application. Iqaluit, formally known as Frobisher's Bay, is the capital city of the Canadian territory of Nunavut, and is located on the southern tip of Baffin Island, the fifth largest island in the world. The territory was created on April 1, 1999, the result of decades of negotiations between the Inuit Natives and the Canadian federal government. The Northwest Territories, the largest territory at the time, agreed to secede 1,932,255 km2 of its land to form the new territory. The current population is around 33,000, 83% of which are Inuit. The population of Iqaluit is around 6,200.
Near the end of the month, I was interviewed for the position and surprisingly, I was offered the job. To be honest, I wasn't expecting it. After thinking it over for several hours, I decided to accept and move to the far northern town and teach beginner guitar and instrumental band for a year. The main challenge was to move to my new destination in just 10 days. The plane ticket would be paid for by the school and they would also help me find suitable accommodation.
Once off the phone with the principal of Inuksuk High School, I sent out a lot of emails to family, friends, and both school boards in Ottawa, letting them know that I was moving very shortly. They congratulated me on finding employment and wondered about my feelings? I explained that I was excited and a little nervous, but determined to get the job done. I also agreed to blog about my time up north.
The next hurdle was organizing and packing all the clothing and resources I would need. Since I would be arriving in the middle of winter, where temperatures drop to around -30 degrees Celsius, I packed as much warm clothing as possible, including my heavy skiing parka, face masks, ski gloves, and snow pants. I also bought new winter boots and thermal underwear. As for teaching resources, I packed my laptop, markers & pens, drumsticks, and many books on teaching guitar, theory, and orchestration. I decided to leave my guitar behind and borrow one at the high school and as for my drum set . . . I didn't even bother.
With the Big Move inching closer with every passing day, I wondered what to expect? The only northern territory I had visited was Yukon back in the summer of 1997. But I was very young back then and becoming a teacher wasn't even on my career radar. My time in Christchurch, New Zealand would be a great help because I learned music pedagogy and taught music during my teaching practices. But Christchurch wasn't Iqaluit; they were both on opposite sides of the world, and their cultures are very different. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I was going to feel exactly the same way as I did back in 2008 when I boarded a plane to New Zealand. I was heading into the unknown . . . again.
