Why I am in Iqaluit

I thought it would be a good time to explain what brought me here to Iqaluit. Several weeks ago I won a plane ticket. The Ticket was part of a draw held by the Reconstruction committee for St. Jude’s Cathedral, hence the attention I give to it in the blog. Five years ago a fire devastated the “Igloo” Cathedral and made it unstable so it was demolished. Currently there is a campaign to raise funds to rebuild the Cathedral. They have raised around 4 million so far and another 2 million is needed. The second "Igloo" will be larger but is based on the earlier one. This website contains relevant external links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Jude%27s_Cathedral
Here is the churches website itself: http://www.arcticnet.org/~igloocathedral/
When I won the ticket I wasn’t attracted to the idea of coming for a week, rather I thought the best thing to do would be to by fly up as soon as possible (two weeks) and find a place to live and work. So far housing has been awkward, Brian Burrows the interim rector took me in for a week and half after I camped out in the the local parc, I have had one excellent house sitting gig, and I slept on a Friends’ couch for four nights. Today I do not have a place, yet. My next house sitting gig begins this Friday and ends 3 August. My house sitting ads have garnered some response but not enough. They go something like this “Meet Ted Williams the friendly house sitter. His previous experience includes pet care, dusting and yardwork. He is a non-smoker and a non-drinker”. Then I had my number and email address (friendlyhousesitter@gmail.com) along the bottom for people to rip off. These posters were placed in the grocery stores, government buildings, coffee shops, and quite a few people have said to me that they have seen them, yet the friendly house sitter has no house.
This is no surprise, the housing in Iqaluit is critically short of the demand. A single room in a shared apartment can cost upwards $1000. Though government employees are provided with housing as well as employees of some businesses. If you are big and rich enough you can give your employees more then enough housing and food allowances. Northmart, where I work, is one of these companies so I will try make a deal with them, the person responsible for housing returns from vacation tomorrow. There is a rumour I heard that the government is planning to crack down on their employees who host more people. It is said that Construction costs are twice as much in Iqaluit as in the South. So you must have a stable income to build a house, but first you have to buy land. There is also the Iqaluit housing authority which has a 3-4 year waiting list for a house to rent. I am glad I am not looking for a permanent place to stay but I hope I can find a place where I don’t have to move every couple of days!
Speaking of Northmart, I quite enjoy being a cashier. It is always busy and it requires concentration to complete each transaction quickly while being polite and making small talk. So far I enjoy the challenge. It is also good to have full time hours because I do need to earn money for school while here. Lastly, it is a good place to observe what life is like in Iqaluit including its people.