Year 4, Down.

I’m wrapping up my 4th year in the bush! Thinking back to my first and second years, I could barely wait to go back to Texas. It was bad! As things have settled down and I’ve gotten more accustomed to life and work here, I’m not in as much desperation to leave, even though I am really, really, really looking forward to it. The snow is finally melting and it’s very slushy to walk through - you sink up to her knees or waist in some areas, and you have to crawl (or pull yourself) out of the heavy slush. So there isn’t much you can do outside this time of year. I was eating dinner one night at Paula’s house, and me and Kevin had a bright idea to race against the sun and get some exercise. So after a delicious pork roast meal, we decided to shovel a path from their front porch to the steps of the school. The sun sets around midnight, so we grabbed our shovels and started the process... digging for 2 straight hours through 6 feet of blinding snow. We would have made it but we didn’t have a snow pick, and our shovels are mere shovels, not spades. So when we hit the solid ice wall that was all we could do for the day. The next day it was melted enough to finish the job.

Betsy was in a plane crash, and thank goodness everyone was okay. It was a foggy day and the pilot never should have attempted to land. They crashed on the frozen river and fortunately it didn’t go through the ice. When Paula called and told me I ran out to see if I could help, and half way to the site the kids said they took them to the clinic. So I ran over to the clinic and they were pretty shaken up, to say the least. There were lots of bruises and blood, and one person had a broken wrist. But they were all alive. A couple of days later Betsy flew to Bethel to see a doctor and it was pretty quiet at the house, as she passed her dog off to her mom in Ohio. So Kevin came over and said I should have a sleepover with Thane (their 4 year old)... he loves sleepovers! So after I finished shoveling the rest of the path, I went over and we played some games, cooked some popcorn, watched a movie, and camped out on the air mattress in the living room. I don’t know what I would do without that family... they make Newtok home!

This past weekend we spent all of Thursday decorating for prom, building this giant castle. There are French reporters in the village and they have never been in America before. They didn’t know what a prom was and they were fascinated by our traditions. They are reporting on the erosion and upcoming move. Prom was Friday night, and we were all so tired that after the dance we just left the school and all it’s mess to come home and sleep. We came to clean it up 8am on Saturday and got ready for the graduation ceremony at 2:00. Phew, what a weekend. Saturday night we ended it by playing 5 hours of poker, in preparation for our upcoming Vegas trip. We fly out on Friday and will be in Vegas Saturday night; I’ll come to to Texas the following Thursday night. Won’t be long!