we're going home

Turtle cheesecake

Two of my favourite things all rolled up into one. with whipped cream. yummmm. It followed a very nice meal downstairs in the restaurant. And now I'm pleasantly full.

The course is good, I'm learning lots of cool and useful things, and we even finished early today, so I was able to come back to my room and get some work done. I actually wish I'd brought more work, because I'm almost done the stuff I brought. I was feeling a bit guilty yesterday because I bought a Peter Robinson book I hadn't read at the Northern in the morning, then went hiking, and came back to the hotel room at about 3pm and spent the rest of the day reading. It's not often I get to sit down with a book and read it from cover to cover with no interruptions. (well, other than to get more Pringles and cheese...)

Tomorrow is the end of the course, and the exam. Then on Friday I head home. Via Yellowknife so I can buy some clothes.

Iqaluit

So on Sunday night we invited people over for dinner - I think the final total came to 20 - (well, most of them were kids - 6 adults besides Miguel and I and a whole bunch of kids).

At 5:30, half an hour before everyone was supposed to arrive, I was just finishing up the Alu Gobi I was making (cauliflower-and-potato curry for the grownups) and the phone rang. It was Canadian North, to say that the direct flight to Iqaluit that I was supposed to be taking at 6:45 Monday morning was cancelled. The guy I was talking to told me that I wouldn't make it to Iqaluit before Wednesday afternoon. Which was of no earthly use, given that the two-day course I was going for would be half over by then.

As I was stirring the Gobi and glumly wondering if walking might have been a better idea, Patti came in, and when I told her what Canadian had said, she suggested I call First Air and see if they could fly me out that night so that I could catch the Canadian flight from Yellowknife in the morning.

So Miguel kindly called for me, First Air kindly obliged, and then I gobbled some Gobi, packed willy-nilly and rushed off to the airport. By 11 PM I was sitting at the Super Eight in YK.

So although I did all the cooking, I effectively missed the dinner party (and the dishes, which Miguel was left with) but I hear it was fun.

And now I'm in Iqaluit. I will be there in the morning tomorrow for the start of the course, which is one I've been hoping to take for a long time.

I went hiking down by the river at lunchtime.