Snow, Snow, Snow

Playing in the snow

We finally got some snow here! It came down all day and by the time it stopped, we had some snow drifts that were close to four feet tall! Of course, other places hardly had any snow on the ground, it's kind of funny like that. The wind blowing and the snow piling made it quite a funny picture out there. I guess I thought that when it finally snowed it would be an even mound all along everything, but I was very much wrong. 

Yukon Cafe sign buried in snow

There was enough snow that finally everyone could get their snow machines out again. It seems like all I ever here now is people riding by on their skidoos. I like the sound of them. Some of the other teachers got their machines out and decided that a trip to the cafe was just what we needed. As our food cook, we drove the skidoos out to the airport to see more of the snow drifts, but then on our way we began to notice how the road out there hadn't been covered by snow at all. We decided the best thing would be to get off the road so that the machine wouldn't get hurt. That was our mistake. We ended up getting the snow machine stuck in the snow because of how deep it was on the sides. The hills of the road were too steep as well to get it out. It took a lot of work, but the three teachers who had experience with this kind of thing dug the machine out. One of the other new teachers out here and I weren't exactly sure how to help, so we stood by and watched. Unfortunately, our journey was not over. After we had an amazing meal at the cafe, we went out to find that one of the two skidoos we had wouldn't start. We weren't exactly sure what was wrong with it, but since there were five of us, we needed to come up with a plan. Since one teacher had ridden in a sled on the back of the working skidoo to the restaurant without any problems, we decided to have three of us try and hop on the sled, while two people rode the actual snow machine. It was actually really fun. The sun had completely set, so all the stars were shining magnificently and even though it was cold we thoroughly enjoyed the beauty of the night sky.

skidoos!

One other fun event that happened this week was a birthday party for one of my students. She turned fourteen and had a big celebration at her house. It was a really good time. One of my coworkers and I sat for quite a while talking to the student's mother about a lot of things going on in the village. There house was so welcoming and beautiful and inviting. It felt like being at family's house. When we departed to go back home, we had to give our machine a little time to warm up, which gave us time to have a small snowball fight with a bunch of the children from the village. It was so much fun, it was all of them against us! We were outnumbered and inexperienced, but it was definitely a fun night!

Icy afternoon

Of all the experiences I've had, places I've been, things I've seen, I don't think anything compares to this place when the snow finally comes. People's eyes light up more. Unlike other places in the world, there are more things to do when the snow comes than when there is no snow. They all are so much more used to the snow that it's like they feel complete. I love this village and its snow.