Let me just say I love my life! I love this little village out in the middle of nowhere, our own world apart from everything and the rest of civilization. It's hard to adjust to in the beginning, but now I can't imagine it any other way. And now that my sister is here with me, it's like my life is complete. I know it won't last forever, and that's fine, but at least now someone in my family can witness this radically different way of doing life. I absolutely love having Audrey here - for one, she's an awesome cook. I always have a good amount of moose meat to work with, but the other ingredients can get pretty sparse. I am use to having the same thing, usually cooked the same way, for a while, and it's pretty austere. But Audrey is more creative. So far we've had moose fajitas, moose sandwiches, moose casseroles, fried moose, baked moose, moose with pilot bread, moose stew...
But really she's just a great person to have around. I'm stoked she's here. :)
Friday there was a plane crash over on Nelson Island, near the village of Nightmute. A bush passenger plane (thankfully just after a drop off) collided with a freight plane. The bush plane hit the tundra nose-first and caught on fire, killing the 24 year old pilot. Thankfully the other pilot survived. My cross country team was on it's way back from Chevak when it happened, and I didn't go this time because of health issues, but when Grant told me about the collision that just happened my heart sank. I was glad my kids were not involved, I don't know what I would have done.
I was out on a walk during the collision, fighting the sinking clay-mud and knee-high swamps 2 miles out on the tundra. I heard a plane coming, and wanted to meet my runners at the airport to see how the trip was and how they did. So I started running back to the airport when I ran into a really sinking swampy area, and I lost my boot while trying to walk in it. I consequently fell forward in the waist-high waters, had to retrieve my boot, and swim about 50 feet to get out of the freezing cold water. Needless to say, I didn't make it to the airport on time. I figured I might as well keep going (I was feeling pretty happy due to our 4 day weekend) and so I trekked on. About an hour later I started coming back and met 3 of my students hiking out, hoisting rifles over their shoulders and carrying amo. They were out hunting geese and I told them where there was a flock eating a dead animal about a 1/2 away. I know someone had goose soup yesterday!
There's a barge that goes back and forth from Newtok to the New site every now and then to transport things to the new site on the island. It's been floating out in the river for a few days now, and then it finally pulled up on the barge landing and got stuck there. I don't know what they were thinking or how they are going to get it back out in the water as heavy as the thing is, I have to admit it's kind of funny how big a problem can be when you're out in the middle of nowhere and no easy way to fix it. You can tell I'm use to setbacks now!
There was a death in the village, an older brother of 2 of my students. They plan on having the funeral at the school some time next week, so school will be on hold. Please pray with me for the well-being of the people.
