Postcards from the Edge Episode XI Part V

Greetings from the "Diamond Capital of North America" - Yellowknife: Population approx 20,000! I am here for basically the summer, which is good, as I really dislike sticky, hot humid weather; in its place, I just get very warm, moderate weather with 22+ hours of sunlight every day (I think I have the better deal in weather).
I've been super-duper sick for the past week, so all I've been doing since I've been here is drag myself to work, and drag home and then sleep. I'm getting better, thanks to this routine, but it's been a bit draining (mainly from my nose, but physically draining otherwise – har har har).
So far this week I’ve learned: Tin foil is bad for your windows. I am not entirely sure why, but this is true. One of the first things I noted when I moved into my apartment up here is that, among the instructions left for me was a note in bold: DO NOT PUT TIN FOIL ON YOUR WINDOWS. I thought that that was a bit of a strange instruction amongst when garbage day pick-up was and where the laundry facilities are. Why? Am I not allowed to make foil stars and hang them up? Am I trying to convection-heat some of my food via sunlight? Is it a ban against hydroponics at home? It didn’t really make sense to me, but I learned that night why you might be tempted to do so…. I hadn’t really noticed the time passing as I was unpacking that night and when I finally looked up, realized it was already 11:30pm (1:30 am at home)!!!! Wayyyy past my bedtime, but I got thrown off b/c of all the light coming in through the window… I could’ve sworn it was still 7pm outside (which also didn’t make sense as my plane had landed at 9pm). So, I figured it was probably a good time to sleep. Except I couldn’t. Cause it was broad daylight outside my window. Then I woke up at 3am, and it was still light out (or maybe the sun had kind of gone down, and I had just missed it), and I thought I was late for work since it was BROAD DAYLIGHT outside. Realized it was 3am, tried going back to bed. This repeated itself at 4am and at 5am until I finally gave up because it looked like lunchtime outside. It always looks like it’s lunchtime outside; the shadows are moving, but I think it’s quite deceptive… I haven’t yet had the chance to stay up long enough to see if the sun actually sets or not, but once I feel better then I plan to do so….
Incidentally, I’m enclosing my mailing address and phone number up here. I know some of you had mentioned coming up this summer, so I’d be most glad for you to come! They’ve given me a little white Ford Focus (which is big compared to my regular car, but certainly is dwarfed by all the –legitimate- trucks up here), so I think of her as my little polar bear car….
My mailing address is:
Dr. Julia
Family Medical Clinic
Tundra Building
Box 1559
Yellowknife NWT
X1A 2P2
The phone number at my apartment is 867-669-7016. Note this is NOT a toll free number (I found that out the hard way…. I had assumed 867 was like 866…. It’s NOT!)
Thinking of you all fondly,
julia