The Chief Operating Officer of Air North, Allan Moore (he's the one who gave us the inspirational speech on day one of training) kindly took this photo of me and JLB, affectionately referred to as "jailbird" today.
A few weeks ago I probably would not have thought a Hawker Siddeley 748 being towed out of a hangar was nearly as fascinating as it is now. Maybe it's because we are starting to get to know the "personalities" of the Hawker fleet at Air North, maybe it's because I've been walking past a Hawker in the hangar every day the last week or maybe it's because I'm turning into an aircraft geek, but honestly it was pretty cool.
The "Dishes" and "Pots and Pans" sections of the Mile Nine Dump Free Store.
The Free Store now has... well, I guess you would call them departments. Some artistic soul hand painted signs for the various sections of the two structures. They seem to have very little to do with what is actually on the shelves but the intention is there. Baby steps, people, baby steps.
I didn't find anything for us this time but I did notice a few gems.
The cockpit (or flight deck) of a Hawker Siddeley 748, one of five at Air North. As part of our training we got to sit in the pilot's seat, fasten the harness, adjust the seat... but NOT touch anything else for obvious reasons despite all the tempting red buttons.
This is me, Christa, on the wing of an Air North B737 during my window exit drills. Photo by Susan Gregory Allen.
I'm in my second week of training to be an FA. FA means flight attendant. (Aviation professionals are like teenagers texting, why waste time when you can abbreviate.) In my two weeks of FA training I've learned some other things that may surprise you.
1. The course is intense. Your flight attendant is not just a service professional, they've gone though extensive training in safety and emergency procedures. We're talking late nights, early mornings, a five-inch-thick manual of information to learn, study sessions, pressure, stress, drills and exams. In my case, tears have been involved two or three times. Okay, four times.
FA trainee Susan Gregory Allen studies the FAM (Flight Attendant Manual) onboard a B737.
2. Flight attendant trainees get wet. Today we all inflated life vests and jumped in the pool. If we weren't close before, we are now.
Instructor Michael Sofko supervises Sonja retracting the airstairs on a B737. Photo by Christa Galloway.
3. Passenger comfort is not a flight attendant's first priority. In fact, safety is the highest priority for a flight attendant. Out of the five weeks of training, only two days are dedicated to service training, the rest basically split between classes, drills and exams related to safety and emergency equipment and procedures. Don't worry though, you'll still get great service.
Today, we removed the window exit on a B737. Photo by Christa Galloway.
4. Training is very hands on. We spend a good portion of our course on an actual airplane. (This is specific to Air North, many other airlines aren't able to do this.) We have given each other first aid oxygen. We have removed window emergency exits from two types of aircraft. We've all sat in the flight deck (cockpit). We will be putting out a live fire, learning first aid and jumping down an emergency slide.
5. Flight Attendants are all "A" students. You need to score 85% to pass exams. And there are seven exams. And there is a very thick book of drills to pass. Passing is by no means guaranteed. In fact, from what I've heard, many people do not make it through training.
I did not fully appreciate flight attendants before now. Not only do they get you your water, blankets and food (well, there's food on Air North anyway) but they are trained to deal with just about any situation that could arise.
All and all, it's not the interesting summer job I had pictured before I started. It's so much more than that. It's one of the hardest things I've ever done. I've discovered I want this job more and more every day even though most of it is miles outside my comfort zone.
No time to write - study, eat, sleep and train.... that's all I do. Passed another exam, studying for an exam on Friday, passed all my drills so far, jumping down an emergency slide in a pool tomorrow, can't remember what free time feels like, hope my instructor don't read this and realise that I'm not studying this exact second, hope my friends and family don't think I'm ignoring them, hope Oscar remembers his mummy.
Sunrise over Mount Lorne, Yukon. Photo by Christa Galloway.
It's another beautiful morning here at our cabin in the mountains.
Snowshoeing with Oscar. Photo by Richard Galloway.
Rich insisted we go for a family snowshoe today, and I'm very glad he did. I needed it. I've been so obsessed with studying for my flight attendant training, I've had trouble talking about anything else.
I'm pretty sure Rich knows the passenger safety briefing by heart from practise sessions. Oscar has been running around asking us if we want a pillow or a blanket after he spent a considerable amount of time pretending to be a passenger with an infant this morning. When I practised the same briefing with Rich later, he ran over and gave Rich his "baby" (a hot water bottle.)
I've been dreaming about safety procedures, stressing about exams and I actually had a mini breakdown while waiting for my test scores yesterday, sure I'd failed. The more the girls were nice to me, the more I blubbered. When we got back into the exam room, I sat and stared the back of my test until they finished whatever they were saying and we were allowed to check our mark. We need to score 85% percent to pass exams and thankfully I passed. The relief was palpable.
I don't even think I realized how much I wanted to be a flight attendant before I thought I'd screwed it all up by failing an exam.
Funnily enough, every question I got wrong was a number question. Thank goodness I'm not training to be an accountant.
After a few hours walking in the woods my thoughts drifted from safety procedures and the alphabet soup of aviation training (ABP, CAR, CASS, ICAO, ATAC, IATA, TC, IC, FA, FAM, CT, WX, COM, IR.OP, COB, SPAX and PIC to name a few) to blissful silence.
Ozzie and I took some time to lie in the snow and catch snowflakes with our tongues. Maggie raced around like she was on crack. Poor thing hasn't had a walk in a week. We came back and had a hot chocolate with marshmallows.
From now on, I'm going to continue to do my best in training, but I'm going to try to keep some perspective. The most important thing is my family. I'm going to take the stress and pressure for what it is, a learning experience and an absolutely wonderful weight loss tool.
I just finished day three of my Air North flight attendant training. So far, so good! All of my fellow trainees are genuine, nice and friendly people. I would happily work with any one of them. The training is intense and thorough. The ice breakers are unsurprisingly painful - I had to tell a story for a minute about "the time (I) had a ride on Santa's sleigh" and it was the longest 60 seconds in recent memory. The real surprise for me has been how approachable everyone is. We've been visited by or visited almost everyone, other flight attendants, the president, a pilot, the catering department, the safety department, people from marketing and everyone in between.
Yesterday, the Chief Operating Officer, Allan Moore, came into our training room and spoke to us about how we were hired not for our good looks (thank goodness) but for our heart, how Air North wants the Yukon to start when a passenger boards an Air North plane with Yukon hospitality (this is definitely a thing, I've experienced it) and how Air North is still providing meals and service while other airlines are cutting back. It may be lame, but I actually had tears welling up during his talk, he was so sincere, and I felt proud to be referred to as a Yukoner. He gleefully ran to his office and came back with a huge stack of comment cards and started reading them to us. Comment after comment were complimentary about the service and the food. I was glowing with pride for "my airline" but at the same time there was quite a lot of pressure to keep up the standard. Time will tell I suppose.
The biggest thing I've noticed about the people in this company is that they care, and you can tell.
We have an exam on Friday, here hoping I pass (a pass is 85%) Wish me luck!
Last year at about this time, I went to WPPI, a conference for photographers in Las Vegas. WPPI was flush with life-changing opportunities and inspiring speakers, not to mention an epic visit to the Grand Canyon.
What was the most life changing thing about the trip to Vegas? It was a snippet of a program on PBS, watched by chance, while channel surfing in the hotel.
The program was a talk by neuroscientist Rudolph E. Tanzi about something called the Super Brain. Tanzi spoke about many interesting facets of the brain and how to use knowledge of the brain to achieve happiness.
One piece of advice Tanzi gave, and the only one I remember, was something like "regard others with affection."
Since then I have used this little gem over and over. I used it in stressful situations, while working, shooting weddings, with family and on countless other occasions. For me this mindset does two wonderful things. One, it mentally connects me to people in a positive way so I can see the best in them, and two it stops me from judging others while at the same time removing the worry about people judging me.
For a chronic over thinker like me, this view of people changes everything. It's no longer me against the world. I feel like we're all in it together.
As I was giving myself a "pep talk" on the drive to my first day of training at Air North, I realized I was just psyching myself out. My stomach was in knots. I was sure everyone would be more prepared than me, would be more comfortable than me, be better dressed than me. Then I remembered that one piece of advice, "regard others with affection." The knots began to unwind.
The day involved many things that would normally make me uncomfortable, meeting new people, trying on uniforms, getting my hair done, being the model for a cosmetic make-over (yes, that happened) and touring the labyrinth of hangars, offices and buildings.
Normally I'd think the make-up artist was judging my hairy face, the uniform co-ordinator thought I was fat, the trainers were rolling their eyes at me and the hair stylist was wondering how many years it had been since my last haircut. But I didn't think that. I thought they were all trying to help me. And I do think they were.
Old me would think my fellow trainees were judging me for being socially awkward and dull/overbearing/shy/arrogant/bossy/mousy/condescending. I know, right. No one could possibly be that bad. But this time I didn't think that. In fact, I think they are a stellar group of people with whom I have a lot in common. I actually do feel real affection for every single one of them.
And as for what they think of me.... well, that's none of my business.
Maggie and Ozzie, out for a walk.
I took advantage of the warm weather today and went for a walk with Ozzie and Mags. The "warm weather" is a bit relative at -10C but after a week of -30C it felt warm to us. Oscar stayed out after our walk and played with Maggie in the snow and sunshine for another hour while I sat on the deck with a hot chocolate and thought about studying. I still can't used to all the sunshine up here. Today is another day without a cloud in the sky.
We made it out to the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous, a carnival tradition with a history going back to 1945. We picked today to experience the festivities because we saw Bobs and LoLo were performing Sunday morning. When this morning rolled around we braved the -30C weather to pile into a nice pre-heated car, but the car seat wasn't in right so we piled into the ice cold 4Runner. At the Carcross Cutoff, we almost turned around due to the complaints about the cold from the back but we soldiered on. The mention of Toopy and Binoo's friendship with Bobs and Lolo inspired Ozzie to suck it up.
At the concert Ozzie started off with his traditional "game face" but eventually got into the groove and did the moves with the other kids. He kept coming back and yelling a question at me over the noise. I eventually worked out he was asking where Toopy and Binoo were.
Bobs & LoLo performing at the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous on February 23rd, 2014. Photo by Christa Galloway.
Ozzie's "game face"
I suppose if Toopy and Binoo were ever coming to Whitehorse we would have to go, but honestly, they are the most annoying pair in the cartoon universe. Well, Binoo is okay, but Toopy, not so much. I think that's part of the reason we opted not to get cable out here. You can only listen to Toopy for so long before you start getting homicidal thoughts towards cartoon mice.
I do like Bobs and LoLo though. They did a great set with fun songs and got all the kids moving. Props to them for managing to maintain their cheerful performance, in a tent, in the Yukon, in February. This was their second year here. The first year they must have been either desperate for work or they thought their agent said White House. The second time I guess they were just plain 'ol Canadian crazy.
We then headed to the ice sculptures, most of which were pretty amazing. Team Alaska's bear invasion sculpture had two first place ribbons.
Team Alaska's winning entry to the Whitehorse International Snow Sculpture Challenge. Photo by Christa Galloway.
The sugar shack where they do maple taffy was unfortunately closed. Because that's logical when about 100 kids pass by your stand after a concert. That's sarcasm by the way.
The sugar shack. Photo by Christa Galloway.
It was a quick visit because of the cold. We missed human bowling, the aurora colour war, a truck pull, and the chainsaw chuck among other equally interesting events on Sunday. Hopefully if we're still here next year it will either be warmer or we'll be tougher. Also, next year Oscar will be old enough for the free kids dog sled rides.
One of a set of three easels from the free store.
In all the excitement of cool skies, northern lights and car purchasing, I have neglected to post this weeks free store photos. We got to the free store late Sunday after the dog sled race and it was pretty picked over, but I did manage to snag a set of three easels.
I absolutely love when people put notes on their donations to the store. The train table which is now our coffee table had a cute note. The fact that people will put in the effort for the benefit of other when they get nothing in return, warms the cockles of my heart.
I wasn't sure if "cockles of my heart" was a real saying so I just looked it up and there is a theory it comes from the resemblance of a cockle to the heart. Cockles were the bivalve mulluscs that sweet Molly Malone pedalled and were a staple of British diet at the time the saying originated.
This week there was a great note selling a toilet, one of three choices including a rare vintage green commode.
Adam. Photo by Christa Galloway.
I travelled 5477 kms to get to Whitehorse and the dude renting the cabin near our place pops over, and get this, he's from Nottawa, five kms away from Collingwood. He went to the same school as my cousin. Crazy.
Northern lights near Whitehorse, Yukon. Photo by Christa Galloway.
Our new neighbour, Adam, very kindly dropped by tonight to let us know there was a spectacular light show outside our window. This photo is from about 15 minutes ago. We're going to keep an eye out to see what else tonight's sky brings.
Dude, we live here!
Today I got up at 6:30am, packed snacks, drove Rich to work, did banking, scouted and signed Oscar up for daycare, arranged an emergency contact, bought a car, had our 4Runner repaired, got licence plates, got a driver's licence, arranged for Richard to be picked up, went grocery shopping, went clothes shopping, made lunch, cleaned the kitchen, made dinner, fed Maggie, made Richard's lunch and stitched a panorama together in Photoshop and did a blog post (all with a three-year-old). I can't wait to start work, I'm exhausted!
Dusk in the Hamlet of Mount Lorne. Photo by Christa Galloway.
I was enjoying a lovely dinner the other night, cooked by my lovely husband, and I saw this out the window, had to go shoot it.
A screen grab from rusticnorthfurniture.wordpress.com
I have a very distinct memory of my cousin, Jesse, from when we were both young children. While most kids were just mastering Lego, he had built a small model home with working lights. Since then, through hard work and help from his extraordinary dad, he has only gotten more talented, from renovating a house (actually, make that two houses) to building an airplane.
I always admire people who can not only dream it, but build it. For those of us who do not have such skill, there is a way to get that dream nonetheless. Jesse and his artistic wife have joined forces to start a new business building custom made furniture, Rustic North Furniture.
The main downside is that we are now 6000 kms away from them, so shipping might be more than a little costly, but if you live in Ontario, check them out. They are based in Wasaga Beach.
On their website rusticnorthfurniture.wordpress.com you can see an ingenious airplane rocking chair, one of those things you wonder how no one has thought of this before, but you're glad someone has. I can't wait to see what they have in store next.
This race was held in our own backyard, literally. A couple racers even turned up at my front door looking for registration and coffee. Rich did a great job as timer despite multiple stopwatch malfunctions. The weather was perfect for me, another warm sunny day, but a bit slushy for the racers. Again, it was lots of fun to photograph.
