Settling In

Happily realizing we've completely lost our minds

How life has changed in the span of a month!  After several weeks of preparations, one night sleeping on the floor of our apartment in Red Deer after all of our furniture was sold, and one night in Edmonton near the airport, we were finally on our way.

Our three-legged flight from Edmonton to South Indian Lake on November 1^st was basically uneventful, although our stopover in Winnipeg was brief and Calm Air had to page us to get our rear ends on the plane so it could take off.  The planes got smaller as the trip progressed, and somewhere between Winnipeg and Thompson autumn turned to 

Somewhere over Manitoba

 winter.  As we climbed onto the 10-seater propeller plane in Thompson for the final hop to our destination, we began to realize that this was real – we were heading into the unknown and there was no turning back!  As we broke through the clouds on our descent  the young woman sitting behind me tapped me on the shoulder and pointed out South Indian Lake as we circled around to land.

Arriving

Scott, the manager of the Northern store that is to be our workplace for the next several months, met us at the airport.  We threw our luggage onto in his mud-coated red pickup, along with several boxes that we had mailed to ourselves from Red Deer.  It seemed odd to see them so soon; the addresses written in my own handwriting somehow looked out of place.  Scott was full of information, chatting away about the store, the village and the culture we were about to be immersed in.

We were soon taken to our house, a mobile home just a few feet from Scott and Esther’s, and just a two-minute walk from the store.  It’s a large, two-bedroom, two-bathroom trailer, nicely furnished and, happily, warm!  After taking us to the store to pick up some groceries, Scott left us with some paperwork and computer training modules to complete over the weekend, while we acclimatized to our new environment.

Our cozy home

Work started on Monday.  The store has the feel of an old-fashioned general store, selling groceries, camping supplies, toys, kitchenware, jackets... as well as furniture, appliances and snowmobiles on order.    Dave has been training in the grocery department while I’m training in administration – financial services (there is no bank in South Indian Lake) and post office mainly.  We’ll likely both be receiving some cross-training so we’ll be of use in other parts of the store as the need arises.  The business is made more complicated because of its remote location and associated logistical challenges.  As a rule, if something breaks (such as the store freezing units) someone has to be brought in from Thompson or elsewhere for repairs.  Bad weather may prevent the arrival of the planes and trucks that bring the goods and mail.  Some things are, not surprisingly, expensive:  nearly $10 for four litres of milk.  We are adjusting our eating habits accordingly!

Handsome Rye,
the dog next door

A word about technology:  it took two weeks before our telephone and internet were hooked up, and we were extremely grateful to be reconnected with the rest of the world!  Our internet is via satellite, which is slow on a good day and impossible on a bad day.  We are adjusting our expectations

Livin' in the woods

accordingly.

South Indian Lake (O-Pipon-Na-Piwin), Manitoba, is a Cree First Nations reservation community of about 1000 people, approximately 150 km NW of Thompson.  The Northern store is the only retail outlet and there are no restaurants, hairdressers, or dentists  No Timmies, no Canadian Tire.  A person has to be self-sufficient here.  The people are friendly, the weather is harsh, the landscape is beautiful.  There are lots of dogs.  And wolves.  And probably other critters we’d rather not think too much about.