Hi, my name is Alaasua Audlaluk and I am from Grise Fiord, Nunavut.

I am 16 years old and this is my first year as a participant with Northern Youth Abroad. I volunteer at the St. John’s Native Friendship Centre with my buddy Jaylene Ukpatiku and she is from Baker Lake, Nunavut. We help set up and take down with programs, go to the parks with the youth, and generally check in with our supervisor to see what tasks needs to be completed on that day. I love my co-workers because I like how humorous and enthusiastic they are.

The host family I am staying with for 5 weeks is very kind and welcoming. They do not have any children, but my host mom does have a niece and nephew that come visit her that we haven’t met yet. They have a cat named Bartleby, which I was nervous to be around at first, but now I am comfortable around her. I even cuddle with her sometimes.

My buddy and I have done a lot of activities, like camping with our host mom the first weekend we arrived to St. John’s and we also got the chance to go to a powwow. It was our first time at a powwow! We also went for a nature park and some animals I saw for the first time were a snowy owl, strigidae owl, bald eagle, frog, and a moose. We went shopping and we got our nails done and on our way back home. We went to an indoor trampoline park with Kira (NYA staff) and it was both mine and Jaylene’s first time at a trampoline park. We also went up to Signal Hill and got to see all of St. John’s. It was raining the time we went up but it was still a beautiful view.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Alaasua