Tales of the First Day Back

I never understood the logic of fixing the “getting backwards” problem. And until recently, I didn’t quite realize that “being backwards” was just a northern expression.

Being backwards is the northern phenomena of staying up all night and sleeping all day; usually thanks to the 24-hour daylight in Spring and Summer.

Part of the charms of arctic living are the dark and light seasons. From around end of November until mid January there is no sun. That means the sun does not rise above the horizon line and it is dark all day. While around end of April until mid August, there’s the opposite; light season where there is only sun.

Thus came the phenomena of “getting backwards” where your body no longer understands time and sun /no sun, and so you are just AWAKE. (And usually also tired all the time.)

Now that you have some very important knowledge I shall tell you why you even need it.

I am a school teacher in a small Inuvialuit hamlet in Northwest Territories. We are just making our way out of the non-stop daylight season and back into school season. That means students now need to get back into a somewhat decent routine so they can get to school on time.

The issue here is… is that everyone is so tired and so backwards that they just don’t sleep.

The trick is to stay up all night and day until you are awake a full cycle and then go to sleep the next night.

Does that work? Pfft, No.

Do the students try that anyways? You bet.

And what does that mean everyone? You guessed it! Teaching zombies! Yay!

I had this one Grade 8 student last year, let’s call them Riley, and they were quite regularly backwards. They also loved to laugh at you (harmlessly) and give a lot of attitude (mostly harmlessly). Riley loved to hang around after school and tail teachers. This meant that sometimes I’d leave work a lot later than I planned because we’d just be chatting with other students and staff until we’d literally have to kick them out. Also they’re my neighbour. So if I was walking home, they’d have to go home too. They’re a real cool kid.

Last year, my middle school classes had some troubles and disagreements with their gym teacher (way too often). They didn’t always get along; ya know, teenagers clashing with older male figures of authority and all. Though Riley didn’t clash too often with him, they wouldn’t always listen and loved to joke at his expense. Anyhow, long story-short, the gym teacher didn’t return to the school this year as he retired.

Flash forward to the first day of school this year, Riley was hanging around all backwards and bragging about how they hadn’t slept. Their idea of getting “right-ways” was to stay up a whole day and a half so that they’d sleep at night time. Nonsense, I know.

Riley also kept their reputation going strong of having sass and not wanting to go home when school let out. Which meant that they were going from classroom to classroom and chatting with everybody. (I definitely got caught up on the summer gossip!)

But here’s the real kicker:

Riley suddenly let out that they MISSED THEIR OLD GYM TEACHER!

My jaw dropped. I could not believe what I had just heard. How sleep deprived do you have to be to miss a teacher you sassed all year??

I obviously had to call him on the spot to let him know. He had to hear this ridiculousness. So I dialed him. And he picked up. The whole time Riley was just dying of laughter.

“George? It’s Oneg in the Arctic (ha). I have Riley here who has something they need to tell you.”

“Oh? Well hello there Riley, what would that be?”

Riley was clutching their stomach, still laughing and having a harder time getting their breathing under control. But, after a few deep breaths… they very seriously said, “I miss you George.”

Then George burst out laughing. He was just as shocked as I was!

After all the trouble and nonsense, only two months later and suddenly Riley was missing him!

George said they missed them too, and that that made their day. It kind of made my day too! You don’t quite expect that on the first day back.

But I guess that’s what happens when you’re so backwards; sometimes you just end up missing the unexpected. I definitely missed these little moments over the summer vacation. And I can’t wait to see how the rest of the year will play out.

Happy First Day of School everyone!

Do you have any first day of school memories?

Are there any teachers that have stuck with you or you’ll never forget about?

I’d love to hear about them in the comments, so be sure to leave one!

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This article was originally posted on my Medium account under my pseudonym Poet in the Arctic here.