Keepin' It Real

With my six month anniversary of living in the glorious metropolis of YK coming quickly up, I thought I would reflect upon this experience of living in the most isolated community of my life. The happy surprise that I like it here and think the next 1642.5 days should pass along just fine. Not that I am counting. One of the reasons I started blogging about my views on living here is for people who do not live here and are considering the move, “An Outsider’s Views on the North”. And to keep in touch with family and friends.

Here it goes. I have always lived in largely populated areas, or urban centres. Being from Nova Scotia, I am very used to having the ability to hop into my car, drive for say, half an hour to arrive in the next community. It was a HUGE shock to my system to be plunked down in the middle of this huge, sparsely populated landmass. Read ALL you want about the North, but until one actually gets up and moves here, one cannot imagine what it is like to be so isolated, at least I for sure as hell could not. It’s true; my Southern Brain just couldn’t handle such a concept. Hum. After six months here, the overwhelming claustrophobia I first felt has subsided! This is as shocking for me as it is for those who know me well.

To clarify in case there is any confusion, I am city girl, hear me roar. To further clarify, I did not choose to move here... I AGREED to move here for the love of my life. Cause I lurve my hubby who is the one who WANTED to move here. There it is the cold hard truth of the matter. Sometimes is this crazy ol’ thing called life we have to make hard decisions and then live with them.

I have said it before, I will say it again. YK contains all the major amenities of the South. I despise the terms “the South” and “Southerners”, they make my skin crawl. I don’t really know why. For the sake of clarity, I use them under slight to moderate distress. If you are in the position I was a mere few months ago, sitting in front of your computer in the South and browsing various NWT websites and blogs, wondering and questioning if you in fact could make it in the North, let me reassure you, if you are headed to YK, you can do it. In YK, there are grocery stores, Wal-Mart, a Staples store, the Crappiest Tire of them all and a cute, teeny weenie mall. We also have amazing boutiques, they are great. There are a few nice restaurants and a couple good pubs.

I am now cooking more than ever and am constantly trying new recipes and baking new things. In my other life it was so easy to just go out to a restaurant or order takeout. Here, that gets real boring real quick. I have even taken up a few new hobbies, which before I would never had bothered to do.

If you have a shopping addiction like me (yes Dad, I admit this), losing your ability to buy whatever you need/want, whenever you want will be tough. Random example: King sized pillows. Clearly a necessity when you first purchase a king sized bed. CLEARLY. Sweet Lord, I checked all the stores and shops in town, but I couldn’t find them. The happy news is costco dot ca is a lifesaver, I have ordered my pillows and much, much more off that blessed website. Do it. You won’t regret it. Unless you do end up regretting it and then I will not be held responsible. I personally have saved a crap load of cold hard cash living here. That’s a good thing. You also pay much for certain things. And I came from the Okanagan, an incredibly expensive area and I still get the odd jolt of sticker shock. I’m just saying.

Online shopping is great, I find my impulse buying has been slashed to zero. Bath and Bodyworks now ships to Canada, this is groundbreaking news for my fellow Shopaholics. I just received my first shipment and holy moly macaroni it was almost a surreal experience opening up a box of Bath & Bodyworks goodies from the mail! Even though some stuff was frozen. It thawed and everything works fine.

You will get used to or “acclimate*” to the cold climate. It’s still kinda shocking, but I am used to my nostrils freezing shut on me in the cold, so it is all good! When one has not grown up in -30C, -40C, -50C winter weather, one certainly will not be used to this weather therefore you may in fact find such coldness shocking. No one in the North wants to hear it. Just acclimate in silence because people up here get edgy when you start talking about the cold. When I moved to the Okanagan from Nouvelle-Écosse, I found the Okanagan incredibly, unbearably warm. Oh yeah, there was sweat in places I didn’t know could sweat. Now swallow the vomit back down your throat and I will continue. Swallow. I did it too. I needed to acclimate and I did. Oh yeah baby, this chick moved from 20C summers to frigging 40C summers and sometimes warmer. So when this chicken moved from the warm, dry, arid Okanagan to the bitterly cold, dry Arctic... I was MOTHER FU*%#ING FREEZING MY BLESSED ASS OFF. How do you safeguard yourself from the cold? You buy a warm parka. Canada Goose is one company that makes warm parkas, one plus one equals two. Volià! C’est simple comme bonjour!

I am so very proud of myself at this moment. Momma will be proud; my five years of post secondary education are FINALLY paying off.

Yeah, so that’s my review of the past six months of my life. Review turned rant. Tee hee! Any Urbanite will have some culture shock moving here, that is for sure. If you are from a small town, maybe you will think YK is a town just like any other. I cannot speak for you people and today is all about Keepin’ It Real. Nwtnatalie offers her two cents. When I first got up here, I was stunned even by all the fur wearing folks around town. You just don’t see that in the South. But, the North is for the most part a warm and welcoming place, I am happy to have already made some pretty great friends. Attitude also goes a long way, you gotta stay positive. It is so easy to fall into a slump here and develop negative thinking, especially when you barely see Mr. Golden Sun. Damn you Seasonal Affective Disorder! I found that pretty tough, going from one of the sunniest year round places in Canada to a dark Northern winter. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be here, and with some vitamin D supplements, we made out just fine.

Woo hoo! I finally wrote an edgy blog posting, this is a big day in the life of nwtnatalie. And I didn’t once mention the evilness that is the EF grocery store. Until now. I can now get back to blogging about sushi, cute chihuahuas and babies and such, the important things in life.

*to adapt to a new temperature, altitude, climate, environment, or situation (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acclimate)