When packing for this trip, I opted to not carry my winter
jacket across the continent. What a silly Southerner I am. Since last weekend
the temperature hasn’t broken 10°C. It is currently -1°C in Whitehorse with an
overnight low of -3°C and snow in the forecast. If you look closely, you can
see the snow swirling off the snow capped mountains just waiting to rip through
your clothing and send shivers to your bones.
This is not what I am accustomed to calling spring, but the
people here are outside cleaning up their yards (they sweep their lawns with
brooms to remove a mold that builds up this time of year, strange) and gardens in
anticipation of warmer weather. I’m not cut out for the cold and am wishing that
I had packed mittens, a toque and my warm winter jacket.
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| Walking into town |
Besides the weather, I am in constant and complete awe of
the beauty of this place. There’s a reason that they call Whitehorse the Wilderness
City. A myriad of trails exist here that take you into pristine nature within
minutes of leaving your door. I am somewhat surprised, though, of the amount of
trash that you encounter but I am of the opinion that it’s because the snow just
melted and folks haven’t had a chance to go out and do their annual trash pick-up.
This awareness and appreciate for nature from the people is something
I really love about it here; there is a connectedness to the land that doesn’t exist
in the same way in Southern Ontario. I suppose when more than half your life is
subject to surviving the frigid elements, you feel a certain appreciation for
the land.
I keep telling the kids that I work with to be thankful that
they get to live with mountains. Most of them seem to shrug off my words, until
I show them a few pictures I have from a hot air balloon ride I was fortunate
to take a few days before coming North. It’s only then that their eyes widen in
awe of how far the eye can see. Southern Ontario is beautiful in it’s own right, but mountains, gosh I just love them.
In other news, I have moved from living with the family I
originally got set up with here, and am now staying with my friend who set me up
with the gig at the Boys and Girls Club and his girlfriend. I am beyond
grateful to have folks open their home to me. People really do make a place. They
also have an awesome dog, Pearl, which is making separation from my pup more
bearable and oddly more painful.
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