Racing

Our cross country (running) team is traveling to Chevak this weekend. Last week they didn’t travel because of the funeral, so the kids are ready to go. When we went to Nightmute it was beautiful! On the plane ride we flew over the new site, Mertarvik, and saw the preliminary houses. The only way I can describe it is like we were looking at the Promised Land. From the muddy, puddles everywhere, sinking, trashy and infected place we are now, the joke of western Alaska (even though it’s beautiful in it’s own way), flying over that island was amazing. There was solid ground, green rolling hills that I saw myself hiking, fresh springs of water coming right out of those hills, and game of muskoxen, caribou, and moose.

The pilot doing some swoops and stalls over Mertarvik,
where Newtok will relocate.

The pilot flew us around a bit for some site seeing and did some impressive, stomach wrenching stalls and turns in the Cessna. It reminded me of Laura Ingalls’ times, when families looked for good land to live off of. It’s the same situation with the Natives. So we arrived in Nightmute, which is a smaller village than Newtok – around 180 villagers, and settled in our classrooms where we camp out. I was toting around this box that Newtok’s site tech wanted to pass off, so I hunted down someone named Bev at the school. Cheaper and much faster than mailing it… you do what you have to do. Then we walked to the store, which is one of our traditions after we drop our bags off at the hosting school.

The kids shot some hoops in the smallest gym I’ve ever seen. The entire length was the length of the typical 3 point line. Then we did a walk-through of the course the kids were to run the next day. It was so beautiful! We wound up hiking off the trail and exploring. There were countless fresh water springs coming out of the hills. There’s something about the sound of running water in the wilderness that is just amazing. So we climbed some steep hills, followed the springs’ source, had a rock throwing contest, and inevitably sat and took in the breath-taking beauty of the place. There was this huge hole in the ground with big rocks lining the walls that was a lot of fun to walk around.

Abu taking in the beauty

This is weird: Eskimos of course have their own kind of food, but lots of kids eat Crisco sandwiches. I mean, not just a little Crisco smeared on some bread, but huge piles of Crisco! Nasty. Their main use of Crisco is for Eskimo ice cream though.

I wandered in one of the Yupik classes the other day and they were making seal oil lamps. They explained how useful they are, how they burn much longer than a candle, and easy to make, seeing how seal oil is a common supply in every cabin! All you need is the oil, a glass dish, a piece of cloth, and a match to light it. Still learning cool stuff about the Yupik culture! 

Life is Simple.

From my experience in living in Alaska, even when I was student-teaching in Glennallen, I learned a lot from all the people who welcomed me into their homes, fed me, helped me out when I needed it… if I had to describe the Alaskans in one word, I would say they are practical. Helpful, yes, but what needs to be done, they do it. If someone needs a place to stay, I’ve found it’s not out of the ordinary to call up someone you don’t know and ask to crash at his or her place. And I’ve never known anyone to turn them down.

I mean, there’s definitely lots of… how shall I say… criminal activity around, but in general, the people are generous. I suppose there are many people, outside the bush, who are not practical in the sense of putting someone up for a few nights, perhaps because they never think they would be in that person’s position. But in Alaska, especially in the bush, it’s almost a guarantee you will need something someday … whether that be food because the plane can’t fly it in, or a place to stay when going to another village, since there are no hotels!

So you don’t think twice about giving someone a place to sleep when they come to the village, or feeding them while they’re here. I’ve been in situations like that when the district’s doors are locked and I needed a place to stay. Also, not always having enough food last year, my fellow teachers were very generous! When the teams travel to other villages, the hosting school staff, and villagers in general, make them welcome, and everyone pitches in to cook for the visitors.

There was a funeral in the village today and 2 former Newtok teachers called to ask if they could stay at our house. I’ve known them for a year, but the first time I met them both was when they stayed here, having no other place to stay. I was just thinking how cool it is that life can be that simple, just doing the right thing when you’re given an option. That’s all it takes! God takes care of the rest, all we have to do is trust Him and do the right thing. :) Why do we have to make things more complicated!? (preaching to myself here, too.)

But anyway, like I said before, you will eventually be in their shoes. Practicality. Simple yet efficient.

So yeah, the funeral was for a sweet lady named Joann. Her husband, Abba, is the school’s maintenance man. She had cancer and the last few months were pretty rough on her. I remember when I first arrived in Newtok, it was this family that met me at the airport with their 4 wheeler to take me to my house. They had 3 little kids who were really curious, and I remember them making a ridiculous amount of disgusting body noises, but since then I’ve gotten use to it. It’s so common, in fact, that it’s like the entire village is one big family (almost the case!) and they don’t even bother saying “excuse me!” So anyway… a few days after I got here I went to Abba’s house and Joann was really bubbly and asked me if I was looking for a boyfriend. I was caught off guard because I definitely was not! I told her no, but she said, “I’ll find you someone.” The more I got to know her I realized she enjoyed fixing people up, and was actually quite the matchmaker. But needless to say, I was never set up!

Joann picking berries with her daughter

This definitely only happens in the bush: we were in our weekly staff meeting, talking about who knows what, when Abba rushes in with another maintenance man, and starts speaking in Yupik to the site administrator. Grant points back to the kitchen and says something in Yupik, and the men run off in that direction. All the English-only speakers were wondering what the heck was going on, so Grant says “They’re having trouble keeping the body cool.” I didn’t want to hear any details and thankfully no one asked. Like I’ve said before, Yupiks don’t explain much. Again, they’re practical.

We went to pay our respects at the open house. They had the open coffin in the living room and the feast on the other side of the living room. The Yupiks put the food on the floor and sit there in a circle. Dried fish, agudaq, moose stew, all kinds of good eating. The funeral, which took place in the school gym, had to be moved up from 2 to 10 because of the high tide. Some people are planning on leaving by boat after the funeral so they had to consider that.

I have lots more to write about but this blog is long enough. I’ll save it for next week. I’m doing my darndest to post a blog every week!   …usually on the weekend. So thanks for reading and come again! ;-) 

Newtok Nonsense

There’s a legend among the Eskimos that I find funny. Actually, to them it isn’t a legend, it’s for real! There are these “little people” (otherwise known as leprechauns) that live out in the tundra who are very sneaky, and if something goes missing, it is common knowledge that one of the little people took it. If you want it back, cut a lock of hair off and leave it on your doorstep and they may (or may not…) exchange it for your lock of hair. At one of our staff meetings our site administrator (a native) was telling us about these tundra people and the several occasions where the missing objects were found after they left their hair for the little people. I didn’t know whether to laugh or not. They were so serious about it. Apparently, years ago a man kept hearing things in the school kitchen and actually slept in the gym, next to the kitchen, to catch them and he woke up and saw 2 little people rummaging around. I’ve heard several kids tell me stories about these characters and they were dead serious, saying “They’re REAL!” I didn’t know Yupiks of all ages believed it, though.

There are lots of absences from school during this time of year since students’ need to help hunt for their families to have food for the winter. They’re gone several days, or longer if they haven’t had any luck. One of our Yupik teachers, too, took a sick to go berry picking. Yum!

I always enjoy walking through the village and seeing cool Yupik things. One cabin has a whale vertebrae in front of it. I’ve yet to remember my camera to snap a shot of this. Living here definitely has its cool qualities. :) …and not so cool qualities. But you get use to it and it becomes a way of life. For instance, most of the $8 bags of chips in our little store have been pressure popped on the flight over and taped shut for selling. So on the one hand, you don’t have to pay the full $11, but on the other hand, the chips are stale. So all in all it works out! I’ve learned to like stale chips.

It’s customary to give your first portions of hunted food away, so that later you will have more luck hunting. I was honored when a friend gave me 5 pounds of fresh moose meat. I mean, it hadn’t even been frozen – it actually still had grass and hair stuck to it! I can’t tell you how good it is.

There have been polar bear sightings on Nelson Island, only 17 miles from Newtok! I don’t know what’s causing them to come south but it’s pretty exciting. Nelson Island is where we’re relocating in 3 or 4 years. And for those who were wondering, we won’t be called Newtok anymore – it will be known as Mertarvik. Here’s a link to a site if you want to know more about the move: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2009/08/mil-090828-nns04.htm

I hope yall have a nice, relaxing weekend! Let's remember all those who serve our country and allow us to live in the land of the free! woohoo!

Within the last 3 weeks our small village has had 3 suicide attempts. Students have been taken out of school and put in a room, watched around the clock. They send the students to Bethel for more treatment if necessary. How do you convince young people that everything is going to be okay when their friends and relatives are giving up on life? How can you encourage them to persevere when they have little to no chance of building a life outside this dark and gloomy village? What do you say to a 14 year old when her older brother tries to kill her? What do you say when a student confides in you and tells you her parents are alcoholics, they’ve been gone for 2 weeks and she doesn’t know when they’re coming back? CPS isn’t exactly an option here. By the way… these are not rhetorical questions. If you have suggestions, I’d love to hear some.

Prayer is powerful and I do talk to God daily. I’m asking you to PLEASE pray with me. The natives are angry, hurt, many are lonely and scared… it’s times like these when I feel inept. I know this is where God wants me and I trust Him. But I’m only human and I don’t want to let these people down. I am definitely not a talker and therefore feel even more negligent. But I know too that it’s not always good to talk. :) What God has already demonstrated to me in His ability to equip the called proves I’m not going to freak out and fall apart, but that doesn’t mean at the moment I have no idea what I’m doing. Just typing through my thoughts here…

The truth is, I’m useless on my own. When I feel like breaking, it’s GOD’s strength that allows me to keep going. The truth is I don’t know how to do what I’m meant to do. I don’t know what to say to these broken people. I don’t know how to comfort them or ease their pain, or heal their broken hearts. I don’t know. I just know God wants me here and I know he equips the called whenever HE is ready. Trust and patience. I can’t make it without Him so my only option is to trust and be patient.