Building an Igloo

I am actually in Montreal now. But now that I have access to high speed Internet, I will catch you up on the 10 week contract I just finished!

On March 1st, the doctor in our clinic: Francois Prevost, who has been working up North for some time, decided to show the nurses how to build an igloo. It was actually much easier than I had anticipated. First you cut blocks of snow out of the ground with a saw. Since the snow is so hard and packed together, the blocks life right up and stay intact. Then you draw a circle of the ground and start laying the blocks of snow on the circle. When you place a new block next to an existing block, you tap 3 times on the side of the block and on the top of the block to make it stick to the blocks next to it. You keep doing this till you reach the top. Then you fill the cracks with snow, and the person on the inside of the igloo who was placing the blocks, cuts a hole for the door.

It took a little over 3 hours for us to finish the igloo. They told me about the igloo making competitions that are held every year in Inukjuak, and how there is a man named charlie who can build his igloo in 25 minutes!!

Apparently the temp inside the igloo at night is about minus 5. Too cold for me, so I slept at home........that and I am scared of the wolves and polar bears!!!!!