Day 3 - Ottawa

The students have arrived!!! Well, most of them. We’re still missing two… er, not really MISSING them – we know there they are, but they aren’t here at Encounters With Canada. But the rest are here, and what a vibrant, unique bunch they are. Just like Arctic ’09, I sensed a close bond forming between the students almost immediately. Some met on the plane trip here, others while waiting in the airport (a story I will tell later), but no matter how they first came across one another, already the connections were immediate.

There’s still a gap between the northern students and the ones from “the south”. It will take a day or two or maybe even more before that gap closes entirely. I felt it while doing bed checks tonight – the Inuit students who arrived last night were very overwhelmed by the noise and rambunctiousness of the new arrivals. But since many had been traveling for hours, it didn’t take long before the sawing of logs prevailed in the boys’ dorm.

As mentioned, there was a lot of waiting in the airport. I arrived there shortly after noon to greet arriving students. The first couple of hours went smoothly, with all flights arriving nearly on time. Then, the storms hit. This happened last year, causing delays all across the board. And this year was even worse. Flight were diverted and canceled. Luggage was lost. Chaos reigned.

OK, maybe it wasn’t that bad. It just seemed that way. I was supposed to be shuttled back with the last students at 5:30pm, but instead it was 9:30pm before I slothed my way back to EWC. As a result, I missed dinner (lasagna, which anyone who knows me, knows I loathe anyways) AND the all-important meet and greet of all the students. Oh well, I’ll get to know them better in the coming days.

So, my loyal blog followers, if there are any, this is a very boring daily report, and I apologize. In the coming days, I hope to have more substantive stuff to say about this grand adventure. Tomorrow is a trip to the Canadian Museum of Nature for our official launch and media event. If it rains, we get to tour this newly-refurbished facility (which I dearly want to do!) but if not, we’re off to the Parliament Buildings.

With that, I bid you all a good night. If there are any questions that anyone has about the excursion, things you want to know or just general comments, please feel free to do so. I believe that option is located somewhere just below this entry. I’d love to hear from anyone who might be reading along…