Sunday, September 2, 2007

The Northern Lights have seen...



After a shower, I decided at around 9:00 last night to settle in and read. That was until a knock came at the door. Lyndon, me neighbor and fellow teacher, was at the door with Francois. They told me that they were entertaining next door and that I had to come. So I quickly changed and went next door to find several of the Naskapi teachers from Kawawa (cow-wa). They wanted to show us the town as they knew it. So we jumped into a truck and drove into the middle of the woods in this middle of nowhere town. It was the caribou bar. A pub like establishment build to keep the hunting parties entertained. On the closest wall was the head of a stuffed caribou, the first I have ever seen, I resisted the peculiar urge to reach out and touch it.

The topic arose on how little information we are given about the region before me arrive. I asked (on a hunch) if we would get dark and light periods. The answer was yes. They said that sometimes it ill be dark when we come home from school (4:20pm) and that the sun has been known to rise at 2:00am. I was advised to cover my bedroom windows with tin foil (which must be why there is tape residue on all of my windows). We sat on the patio which overlooked a dark lake. One the lake were about a dozen water aircraft, tied to the dock like one expects to see ships. And we sat and had a drink, my single rum and coke cost $8.50. I was then told to turn around. It was strange, like waves of translucent silk, similar to the light green light given off by Christmas lights. The northern lights came upon the ski. It was beautiful and mesmerizing like a lava lamp. This is a beautiful part of the country. I’ve been told that it is still early in the season, and that the lights will get brighter. I will try to take a picture to post, but my cameras night ability is limited.

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