TWO WEEKS IN NON-ANGLOPHONIC CANADA
(1999-07-02)
19990702T0000
Me, walking in Iqaluit, midnight.
It is not north enough for the sun to be
up . . .
This afternoon Mike & I were
looking at the Environment
Canada arctic weather report, and noticed that for some town, the
forecast "tonight" was -- "sunny". Took pictures of the TV.
We were watching CBC News report tonight, and the
international news was about France, Northern Ireland, and the
Scottish Congress. That is what the Canadians care about.
T0004
I can't quite decide whether to go to sleep or to wait for the
natural midnight . . . T0005
The kids here wear about the same stuff as one would "in New
Jersey in the winter", says Mike, and I quite agree. the only thing
I don't see kids wearing are petits (tank tops for chicks with
strings). Kids dye their hair & stuff. T0006
"25 % of the Nunavut population are kids.'' (see later
for corrected stats) or something like that -- read Mike
(but incorrectly transcribed by me). And his (our) observation
is that there are packs of kids around, with or without
adults . . . . T0008
Statistics Canada is hiring a person (interviewer) for commodity
price observation in Iqaluit. I should get Mike to check the ad
out. Most foodstuff here they have here from the south is from
Québec, Montréal in particular. T0011
We are/I am to write Iqaluit restaurant reviews for the
little t.
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Kamotiq Restaurant (Igloo shaped outside, Hunter's lodge
inside)
Serves "country food", burgers, Italian & Mexican food.
The cheese pizza is as decent as you would from a mediocre/good
eatery in the South.
Only serves 2 kinds of beed of mediocre quality for a bit of a
hiked price: Blue/Bleue and Canadian. But since Nunavut is mostly
dry, this is probably one of the only few places you can get beer
legally in town (i.e. do not expect to pick up a 6-pack in the
Co-op (Arctic Ventures, I mean) or the Northern Store -- the
only 2 supermarkets in town) (Incidentally, it is illegal to bring
alcohol into Nunavut without a permit).
The house specialty, and something worth coming to town for, is
the local "country food".
The "arctic platter" is a must if you don't expect to have the
opportunity to try something similar for the rest of your life.
Served raw & frozen, the dish has a generous portion of caribou
meat, arctic char and whale blubber for 2 people. Other than the
fact that you can go down South and freak kids out every Christmas
saying "I ate Rudolph's friend", one of these might actually be
delicious to you.
Try the whale blubber with salt and pepper -- they give the
rubbery "delicacy" infinitely more flavor, and you'll need the fat
inside for the hike tomorrow up the "road to nowhere".
For the eastern palate, the arctic char is similar in type to
the sashimi of Japan, and comparable to that of the best in
quality. Let it melt (thaw) for a few minutes, if frozen
fish ain't really your thing.
The adventurous western tongue will surely enjoy the caribou
meat -- comparable to an excellent, rare steak. Cut into pieces
like sashimi, it may look unfamiliar, but -- what more can I say --
try it and see if you are "cool" enough to like it.
T0030 Personally, I'd make the dish a regular part of my
daily meal if it weren't so darned expensive and inaccessible from
where I live. T0031
expense -- 72 CAD (tax & tip incl.) for
2 people (cheese pizza, arctic platter, a Blue beer).
rate 3 out of 4 (only for the extremely adventurous)
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T0033
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Grind & Brew
Really homey style, with a hunter's lodge interior.
May seem a bit crowded, but it is a welcomed change from the
vast land outside.
A very comprehensive collection of coffee beans, considering its
location. Rusty, tough, nearly survivalist attitude. (The coffees
are served either in styrofoam cups, or in personal mugs on the
wall for the frequent.)
Ice cream, danishes and other goodies are flown in from
Montréal. Prices are probably more reasonable than many of
the coffeeplaces down South.
The people next table will be talking loud and sharing great
going-ons around town. Keep your ears and minds open, and be
friendly. T0040
prices -- some 5 CAD or so for a
danish & a coffee.
rating -- 2 out of 4 T0041
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La Belle Province
Centre-Ville, Montréal, Québec (with branches all
over Québec, probably)
Québécois style fast-food, a nice change from
full-fledged restos or "apostrophe-s", anglophonic
chain-stores.
The servers are bilingual in French & English, some even
trilingual in French, English & Spanish.
Nice "American diner" interior, with a twist of 1960s seedy
francophone Québécoism.
Check out one of their combos -- not your usual burger, but
heavy with mustard and lettuce pickles (I think?).
Or, try the constructive linguistic food hot-dog/chien
chaud.
Poutine, the Canadian specialty, should also be on your
list.
The food ain't the greatest you'll have of its kind, but it's a
"have been there" kind of place you can boast about upon
return.
price -- some 6 to 7 CAD for a combo(?),
Québec taxes like no one's business. Keep the receipt for
the tax refund.
rate -- 2 out of 4.
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T0049 All right. 10 minutes to natural midnight. I am
getting incoherent writing these resto reviews under fatigue. Gotta
go out, take some pix, and come back and sleep. T0051
Have to correct myself: there are streetlights here. I
just had not noticed . . . . Now I have.
Went out and took a couple of pictures of what the town looks
like at natural midnight -- a couple of cabs (of which tehre are
plenty, if not too many, in town).
You can't see the stars, not just because of the overcast of
clouds (duh), but also that it's just not dark enough, even if
there had been no overcast.
Anyway. Time to sleep. T0101
It was cold, but nice out. With a sweatshirt I was able to deal
with it OK. No need for jackets unless there is wind in area of
activity. T0103
Plan:
- laundry
- Bible dude
- Movies @ 2100
T1150 We walked around town a bit this morning before
everything opened at 10:00.
Went to the mall to get some postcards, and sent postcards to
Alan, Patrick James Drew and Dabney House. I also sent one for
Katy.
We decided to see a movie at 2100.
I went to do laundry at the laundromat.
The Inuk lady sold me a box of detergent for 2
CAD.
She was very punctual: when I came back for the dryer, all of
the dryers were occupied by her stuff. Within 30 seconds of the
dryers stopping, she came in to pick up everything.
T1158
Plan:
- laundry pick-up Qikiqtani laundromat and drycleaning
- Bible dude (Roger) call Roger in 30 minutes (now
T1203)
T1421 Sylvia Grinnell Park.
(photo copyright © 1999 Michael Drew Benedetti)
Breathtaking scenery in one of
the most accessible parks in
Nunavut.
left Discovery Lodge T1242
to sign (1 km to Park) T1306
Waterfall scenery (in the Park) T1323
No other tourists/people were there. T1423
T1635 Went to the museums: The Visitor's Ctr museum and
the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum.
There was the surreal substitution of animal roles: bear playing
accordions, bear & caribou testing strength (armwrestling),
bird sled teams, &c. T1643
Nothing (Freudian) about sex or reproduction.
The place I kept calling the Co-op is actually the "Arctic
Ventures" store, with a great bookstore, where I bought an
Inuktitut New Testament and a "1000-word" dictionary. There was
this great multi-dialectal dictionary published by the Nunatta
Campus of the Nunavut Arctic College, but costed 78
CAD. I decided not to buy now -- I can buy it later by
mail . . .
(We saw a caribou on the way to Grinnell
Park . . .) T1648
Plan for Montréal:
- Poulet Frit Kentucky
- Uygur Restaurant
- Tim Horton's
- Museums
- Québec, ville de
- Jazz festival
T1651
The Snack T1853
We went to the teen hangout in town, "The Snack". Opens 24
hours. Delivers in town. Mike wrote a review for it.
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The Snack: Iqaluit, Nunavut
One of the northern-most '50s-themed eateries in Canada. Enjoy a
medium pizza and two small, locally-bottled pops for
22 CAD, beneath a "Bat Out of Hell" gold record
and pictures of Elvis, Marilyn, and James Dean. You can watch the
activity on the beach of Frobisher Bay while listening to the
clientele chat in three languages and watch the proprietress kick
out loitering kids.
copyright © 1999, 2000 Michael Drew Benedetti
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(An Australian TV crew checked in to the hotel with us at the
same time we checked in.)
Kids trying to play around but the French-Canadian counterlady
was not exactly nice to them, if not actively hostile to them.
old French-speaking man's crazy hairstyle.
Came back to the room tired. Watched some TV. T1914
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police/Gendarmerie royaume du Canada
is nicknamed the "Mounties".
Canadian-themed stuff:
- Cartoon "Klondike Cat"
- Strange Brew
- Nelson Eddy
-- according to Mike Benedetti. T1917
Astro Cinema. We saw "Run Lola Run", a German film, in the
(probably) most northern private, permanent commercial cinema in
North America. T2311
We went into the cinema right before T2100. The ticket was
8.00 CAD. I bought a "slush puppy" slush thing
(strawberry). There are many flavors.
The cinema owner seemed to have quite decent taste in
movies.
The patrons of this particular film were white middle aged guy
and teenage Inuit kids.
Movie was OK, but I realized that Iqaluit is more like a movie
than Berlin to me.
We came out of the cinema circa T2200 and came out of the mall
from the back door, and found a bar "The #1 Nightspot of the East
Arctic". Still light out. T2316
Nunavut issues:
- population
- Iqaluit will easily have 10 000 people by 2020. And the
correct stats for the kids is "60 % of the population in
Nunavut is under 25."
- crime/sexuality
- Sexuality does not seem to be openly discussed, but there are a
significant number of sex crimes & sexual assault cases. Also,
the movies & the teen culture of the south seem to have a great
influence of the Iqaluit culture. I wonder when the first armed
robbery will occur. (Or has it already happened?)
- population
- How is Iqaluit going to accomodate 10 000 people? The
laundromat is too small . . . What about schools and
the employment market?
- media
- of course no community lives in a vacuum. They have ktla 5
here. But do modern conveniences always come with modern
problems?
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