Will Somebody Please Turn the Lights On?

I swear I will stop commenting on how late in the day the sun rises here sometime soon but that time is not now. Seriously. I get up in the morning, run from my bed to my shower in the freezing cold to turn on the hot water, run back to bed and dive under the covers, wait ten minutes, shower, dress, make some coffee, eat some brekkie, greet the roomies, lay out all my school stuff...

The "school stuff"

...and then we all head out the door around 8am to head to class. 

8am. The view from our front driveway.

To all of you who send me emails asking me to promise me to stay safe, don't fret, I wear blinky bikes lights on my backpack when it's this dark outside. But it does make it kind of difficult to feel really awake in the morning. But enough about the sunrise (for now). Let's talk about the Ka'ay Centre. Ka'ay is the Haida word for sea lion and part of one of the older Haida names for the area around Skidegate. Our classroom is just to the right of the main atrium, for those who've been there in the past, and the view from my chair of choice straight out the windows and into the bay.

I don't know what that little guy signifies but I like him.

We tend to spend our lunch hours out on the beach as much as possible (it's bloody cold)

The bay, looking across to Moresby Island on the right.

The beach is all rocks, no sand, so the waves make an incredible sound washing in and out.

One of the five longhouses that make up the Centre. Each one has a house pole that signifies one of the five major Haida settlements on the islands.

The oldest of the poles at the Centre. This one stood in the village that used to be here.

The obligatory raven atop pole shot.

My bike is being dropped off tonight by the wonderful girl who so kindly drove it up here. Really excited to get a bit more mobile and have a toodle along the highway (helmet and lights in tow!).

The days are starting to go a lot faster now, with class during the day and homework and workwork in the evenings (must. write. abstracts!) and I'm finally starting to feel less homesick. Em, one of the amazing folks who runs our program, is going to start letting us know about community events so we can get a bit more involved with what's happening around town, which we're all really excited about. It's tough to just jump into the community here as so much happens by word of mouth and in people's homes, rather than at more public areas. But I'll figure out how to worm my way in there and make some friends :)