Unpacking

Again probably due to let lag, I couldn't sleep well and I was awake quite early in the morning. It seemed everyone was the same. However nobody was able to get up at 8:00, a scheduled time. So instead we met at 9:00 in the dining room.

After breakfast waiting for us was today's biggest job: opening of 38 boxes shipped beforehand by air with the corporation of Nippon Express. When we went to the garage, what we saw was cardboard boxes piled up high. The garage was spacious and well air-conditioned, so it was an ideal environment in which to work. Resolute Bay is one of the coldest places, so it is no surprising that they have good facilities against cold weather. Now I started to open up the boxes with the recollection of days when I worked with the people of Nippon Express packing goods into the boxes.

The cardboard boxes and cushioning materials that protected the equipment finished their duties and now turned into a large volume of garbage. I wondered how garbage was disposed here in Resolute, a northerly town of around 200 peoples. When I looked at a garbage box, I saw a mixture of plastics, papers, raw garbage, aluminums, etc. Lucas told me that the garbage would be taken to a place bit far from here and burned. Now it is covered with the snow, but I reckon once the snow melts, garbage will appear.

It is ideal for any expedition who brings in a large quantity of garbage to have budget for proper garbage disposal. More precisely, it is advisable to take the garbage to communities who have the ability to dispose the garbage in a proper way.

I supposed Stepan and Håvard felt secure by watching all the equipment which they didn't get to see until they came here.

In the afternoon, we had a phone meeting with Parks Canada. The entry fee, emergency handling, location of emergency huts, etc. were discussed. Håvard, a good English speaker, mainly did the talks. Mr. Denis Haché of Parks Canada also told us that sometime early next month he would come to Resolute and have a talk with us.

In the evening, Lucas took me to CO-OP and a town office. In a small community like here, people knows each other very well. I suppose many are relatives or friends. CO-OP takes care of many things: postal service, currency exchange, sewing service, etc. There were many people gathered around CO-OP. The café of the hotel we are staying is also a gathering place for town's people. I think it is natural thing in a town where there are not many places to go.

In front of a cash desk at CO-OP From left to right: Håvard (Norway), myself, and Stepan (Russia)