On my way

These are traditional Eskimo moccasins that one of my students made for her nephew. They are made out of seal skin, caribou, muscox, and some other things that I can't remember!

 

Well, I made it through my first semester as a teacher. Through all the ups and downs, God walked with me all the way! I learned so much, and I’m hopeful that next semester will go smoother.
Today is the last day of class. We’re staying in our homerooms and having parties. Yesterday me and my roommate got a little too excited about Christmas vacation and decided to stay up all night celebrating. :-) We watched Christmas movies, turned up some loud tunes, and… well… did dishes. But it was fun. We also baked cookies, fudge, and brownies, and make suckers for our students. At three in the morning we decided to go to the school and start getting ready for the last day and brought some of our luggage. Most of the teachers are sharing a charter to Bethel after classes today. There’s no exact time when the plane will come – it’s the midday flight, so we just brought all our luggage to the school in case in comes early. That’s one thing that’s different in the Yupik culture. Time is not terribly important – people show up late, and no one thinks much about it. Our flight time depends on what stops the pilot makes in other villages. That’s where the VHF comes in handy – you’ll hear the pilot say “Newtok, Newtok, Hagland Air 8 minutes out.” Then you’ll know to start walking up to the airstrip. They may bring mail, in which case someone from the Tribal Council will ride up on a snow machine and bring all the mail to the school or post office.
So anyway, last night on our way to and from the school we walked on the frozen pond of sewage that seeped from the school. I won’t go into details about what it looks like, for your sake, but we came back home and the suckers we made (without food coloring) and they looked, no kidding, exactly like the frozen sewage. So we called them sewage suckers … of course we wouldn’t let the kids know that :-) …but it was too funny, especially when you stayed up all night. I guess you had to be there. Only in Newtok could you have sewage suckers!
When it was time to start getting ready for school we made espressos (my roommate has all kinds of cool cooking stuff), and because I wanted to see what it felt like, I downed the whole cup. Needless to say, I was jumping around all over the place and so caffeinated I was shaking for a couple of hours. Well, now I know that happens. :-) I thought I was immune to the effects of caffeine, but I obviously overdid it.
This morning a little boy from 2T (a grade between 2nd and 3rd that is a transitional class from Yupik to English) brought me a present. It was 5 white socks :-) So I need to find out who else has an odd number of socks. It was cute.
We had our Christmas program yesterday. My homeroom was singing Dashing through the snow… with all the verses, and I played the guitar. We had fun practicing but of course they had stage fright. Half the village showed up – 150 people. But it went well!
We had a crazy streak of weather a few weeks ago where the ice melted and there was a flood. They say that’s never happened before. But it’s back to being cold and snowy again. The temperatures are getting to -20s. I carried a big box home in this weather with no gloves on, and my fingers literally hurt for 10 minutes! But Grant, the principal, came into my reading class and announced “Who wants to go help the village men save boats?” The wind was so intense they were being blown away. They weren’t able to save most of them.
Tonight we’re going to stay at a friend’s house in Bethel. Rooms are crazy expensive, so she was nice enough to let us crash at her place. I’m sure we’ll sleep well!
Ok, I’ll let you go now :-) I’ll see yall soon enough, I can’t wait!

Almost There

“Jesus said ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

This is one of my favorite verses. It makes me think about school and sports in my past, and how I became a better person for pushing through, leaning on God, and getting stronger for it. I treasure those memories, and I get confidence from those experiences, knowing that God will again be glorified in work I do for Him, and even though it may be hard and the end result is unknown, I’ve learned how to persevere. And when it seems I can’t stand, but only kneel at Christ’s feet, that’s enough for me to be close to Him and know that He never leaves my side. (Analogy learned from Dr. Teel, thank you!)

We had a good Thanksgiving here. Even though my roommate went to Anchorage to visit family, a previous Newtok teacher came and stayed at the house for a couple of days. I was so glad she did, because we became good friends. We met at the inservice in August and talked a short while, but learned that we’re both believers. And the lack of Christian fellowship was getting to me, but God came through for both of us, and we had a good time talking and encouraging each other over Thanksgiving.

We went to another teacher’s house for Thanksgiving dinner. They have one channel on their TV and the Cowboys game was on, so I was pretty excited, but didn’t watch most of it because I went to another teacher’s house for desert. Thanksgiving night we went to an Eskimo Dance and that was lots of fun. I actually did a few dances, but it’s hard when you don’t speak Yupik! Their dances tell stories, and they act out the stories using hand gestures. The elders sing and drum, but it’s fun to follow along, and they appreciate the “gusuks” willingness to try.

The next day I was ready for Christmas! I don’t have many decorations… just a strand of lights and Nutty, but the Christmas movies began early that morning! :-) My roommate ordered a Christmas tree from Anchorage and it should be here any day.

We had our first blizzard a couple of days ago! It didn’t last but a couple of hours but it was intense! We had a community basketball tournament that the student council was working, so I was going back and forth from the gym to home, and it was so windy I could barely walk. I came in the house and the back door had been blown open, but get this: There is the back door, which is boarded up, that leads to the “inside” back door, which was open! I don’t doubt some of the smaller and less sturdy houses were damaged. It wasn’t a white-out blizzard but cold and intense nonetheless! My parka came in a couple days before so that came in handy, but I’m anxious to see some really crazy Alaska weather.

Basketball has started up and I’m coaching the high school girls team. With so much going on after school we only get an hour of practice, but it’s working out pretty good right now. We just have to get in shape before games start up! Our first game is towards the end of January, but it’s never too soon to begin training.

There are 2 more weeks of school before the break. I am oh-so-ready ( :-) ) for a vacation, and I can hardly wait to see yall! Our last day is Dec. 18th and I’ll fly to Bethel after ;-school that day. The next day I’ll start flying to Texas, and will arrive in Dallas the 20th. I simply can’t wait!

So with that exciting news I’ll sign off, and I hope yall have a great week ahead!
Lots of love,
Kim

Hello down there!

I hope everyone reading this is doing great! My world in Alaska has been crazy busy, way fun, extremely cold, completely draining at times, and amazingly blessed.
Every weekend (and sometimes weekdays) for the past month I’ve traveled either for NYO or speech, and these long days are getting to me. The trips are fun, just lots of makeup work to do. I’ve learned to keep my backpack packed and the sleeping bag ready because sometimes I don’t know I’m leaving until the day before. When we go to another village it’s not so bad because even though we sleep on the floor in a classroom we can keep our stuff there. When we’re in Bethel we get up early in the morning, pack and walk with all our stuff to the district office in freezing weather (this morning it was -10 ! ), to a place where there is barely enough room to sit on the floor, and wait for speeches to be given. It may sound rough but I really do enjoy the trips. It’s really nice being able to bond more with the students.
On a more exciting note, I’ve unleashed the kid within me and have had some serious fun outside in the snow. (pictures on facebook!) The kids took me up to the airport and we went sledding, SO much fun! There are some pretty steep slopes that are fun to ride down, but of course I had to go too fast, fall out of the sled, and flip down the rest of the slope. It was fun, I just won’t recommend that piece of land to younger ones in the future. :-)
Me and my roommate like to go out and take pictures… well, she likes to take pictures and I like to play. She’s lived up here for 10 years and is use to the snow, so she takes pictures of me messing around. I think I told yall about the VHF, which is like a CB radio in the house. All the houses have one, so people are always saying something on it, most of the time in Yupik. They tell their kids to come home, pilots announcing their arrival, wish someone a happy birthday, give weather updates, announcing open gym times, make “scary” noises on Halloween, etc. It took some getting use to but they are pretty cool to have. But the point I was going to make was that one morning a special weather update announced the bad weather we would have. It was nearly a blizzard! The wind was so strong I couldn’t even walk in a straight line. It was snowing and you couldn’t look up because the strength with which it hit you in the face. So it wasn’t quite a blizzard, but definitely the closest thing I’ve ever seen to one.
I’m the student council sponsor and we made a haunted house for Halloween in the elementary wing. It was lots of fun but tons of work, and then we had a dance afterwards. That seems like ages ago… sorry I haven’t posted something sooner!
We had a special treat at the last NYO meet… some of the village Eskimos made Yupik food for us… Eskimo ice cream, goose stew, salmon jerky, salmon fillets, moose casserole…. It was quite a treat! All tasty.
You know, God is always here for us. I mean, no matter what happens, good or bad, whatever we do, no matter what obstacles are in the way, He NEVER leaves. And not only that, He raises me up, makes anything possible, proves the doubting wrong. He opens doors, pushes me, guides me, and walks beside me. What I’ve seen, what I’ve experienced, what I’ve witnessed here, I know my calling is confirmed. And I am awed, simply awed by God’s plan and what He has used me for. I keep thinking, who the heck am I that I would be able to do this? To say that? To be that kind of person? And God says, “you will do it, because MY hand is on you, and I can do anything!” So I won’t go into details here, but will one day. Thanks again for your prayers. I love yall and hope your Thanksgiving is blessed!

:-)

Good news! We now have a washing machine. We've been without for about a month because it was broken, so I can do some laundry when my time slot rolls around. We did get our well fixed, so we're not on water watch anymore. Not any more than usual, anyway... showers are always limited to 2 a week. But it was quite an experience, fun at times! Instead of hauling our water from the school like normal, we actully did our dishes in the rain once! It was pretty funny.
Seal hunting is taking off! Boats come back with 7 or 8 seals, throw them on their 4 wheelers, and dump them in their front yards where they slice them up... or whatever it is they do to them. :-) Our neighbor, who is the principal, and his 11 year old daughter were outside cutting up their seals today. I had seal oil when I first came but haven't had the meat.

It's so nice to be able to step off the boardwalks now and not have to wear rubber boots. The tundra is frozen so you can walk on it. I've really enjoyed my evening walks out by the coast, watching sunsets. I never want to turn my back on them and go home!

My days are so packed it's hard to believe I'm able eat and sleep. Which makes me think... what am doing here writing this blog!?!? :-) No, I enjoy keeping yall updated.

I've been working with student council kids, trying to get ready for Halloween. We're doing a haunted house in the hallway in school and a dance later on. I'll be glad when I don't have to worry about this anymore. All this behind the scenes business is crazier than I thought! But it's gonna be fun tomorrow. We built a maze where you have to crawl through parts of it with semi-scarry stuff. That part I'm not too creative on, but there are little kids who come, so I guess it'll be fine!

Parent teacher conferences were yesterday and I was a bit rattled by the conversations I imagined would take place. Many Eskimos are still very guarded and resentful of white people, since it is now a requirement that kids go to school.
We have open gym once a week for the women in the village, and I go about every other week. When I first started going I could feel the tension with many of the ladies, and the looks they would give along with Yupik conversation directed at me wasn't really welcoming. But I knew I was there to be kind no matter what, to show the love of Christ, and I just smiled and shot around. When the game started I was taking the tip off, and one particular lady that seemed be resentful was opposite me taking the tip-off. I felt the Spirit moving me, and I looked in her eyes and offered a friendly handshake to show my respects, and you could honestly see her wall come down. Right then she was rid of her bitterness and smiled at me and shook my hand. It was a brief, seemingly unsignificant event, but I knew the Holy Spirit was doing its work, and I was so blessed to witness that result of Jesus' love!!! It was very exciting!

So the conferences when pretty good. A few students had low citizenship grades and most students are not studying and doing their work, which is pretty normal here! So of course I have to doubt my effectivness and wonder what the heck am I doing standing in the front of the classroom!? It'll get better. I want to be more creative and resourceful - it's better than it was in the beginning, but I have ideas of what great lessons look like, there are just not enough hours in the day to be completely thourough like I would like. The principal, who is a native, told us that parents are not really concerned about their kids' grades, they are mainly concerned about how they are behaving.

Thanks again for yalls prayers, and I do have a request this time, that you'll pray for the people here. Even a small village of 300 people has its conflicts. There is a gang that is causing problems, many students are persecutors, many are victims... one student wrote a suicide letter this week.

So we are all informed, we all need to pray. Seriously! We cannot underestimate the power of prayer, and the Holy Spirit is aching to act on the people of Newtok.

NYO Meet

Hey yall!

I traveled to Tununak Friday, a village over on Nelson Island, as a chaperone for Newtok’s NYO team. NYO (Native Youth Olympics) has different events - it’s really quite extraordinary how some of those students can stretch and contort their bodies! A few events include the seal hop, kneel jump, Alaskan, Eskimo Stick Pull, Indian Stick Pull, one arm reach (they balance their bodies on one hand, and reach up to touch a ball)... I took some pictures and videos that I’ll post on facebook, but I couldn’t get one of every event since my batteries died (arg!)
We left Friday afternoon - we rode up to the airport on a 4 wheeler and waited around for about 30 minutes in 20 degrees weather, and finally came back to the school where I  decided I should get a heavier coat! We finally heard our plane flying in so we all hopped back on the 4 wheelers and started back, but ran out of gas. So we grabbed all our bags and started sprinting across the village up to the airport. It only takes about 15 minutes by plane to get to Tununak. The pilot did some fun swoops and turns for us, and I have a video of that too! (check facebook, it will be posted soon!)
They had the 4 wheeler and trailer waiting on us... just throw in your bags and hop in the back... it was funny when I first got up here but I’m use to it now! We didn’t ride on the boardwalks so it was really muddy... we and our bags were splashed pretty good. Anyway... they began the events pretty soon. At the beginning of the year I met some of the other teachers at Tununak, Heidi and Monica. Monica is the NYO coach who was running the tournament. She didn’t have enough help, so I wound up helping with judging, scoring, awards, and serving meals.
We stopped for supper then kept going until about 10:00. Then we (Newtok) went over to Heidi’s apartment (she used to teach in Newtok)... which was great fun. The kids played guitar hero and I was able to get a shower, FINALLY! It was a hot shower, too, not luke warm or cold! (Newtok was still on water watch when we left so I hadn’t had a shower in a while, but the water is back on now). She baked cookies for us and had koolaid... what a treat! (Sarilyn, I thought of you! :-) )
It was nearly midnight when we went back up to the school. The wind was so fierce and cold I couldn’t even walk in a straight line! The teacher housing in Tununak is down a steep hill to the school. There are new steps now, but during winter the steps are completely burried, so they just have to trudge up the hill... and I guess slide down it to get home! Pretty sweet!
So we got back to the school, in a classroom with our sleeping bags, but it was so dang cold I could barely get any sleep. Next time I travel I will bring blankets, and it’s time to get the wool socks out!
In the morning they had pancakes and orange juice! I miss orange juice! Then we swept and mopped the gym floor and began the last couple of events ... the seal hop: the kids  lay of the ground and move like a seal. Then the Indian Stick pull - they grease a stick and try to pull it away from each other. Alot of these events are things the natives’ elders use to do to get ready for leaving on a hunting trip. I don’t know about the stick pull or seal hop... but some of the events helped them prepare for the physical challenges.
After the award ceremony we hung out in the gym and library waiting for the planes. They had an old guitar and piano so we had a good time jamming. :-)
Tununak is a village down in a valley, with beautiful mountains (or at least really big hills...) around it. They live RIGHT on the coast of the Bering Sea, and we rode on the beach to and from the school. It is beautiful! I can’t tell you how much I wanted to go hiking and fishing!
I’m coaching speech and the jr. high team is competing this week. So Tuesday we’re flying to Bethel and won’t be back till Thursday. We’ve been having lots of practice, and I they are excited!
Monday we’re having a ceremony for them to practice saying their speeches in front of the school. My high school reading class is also going to perform an Eskimo dance and song to a poem we are working on - they translated it into Yupik and have been practicing with the traditional Eskimo drums, so I’ll make sure to get a video of that!
I miss going to church and having fellowship with other believers, but I must say, where God guides, God provides, and I have been SO blessed that He allows me to continue to praise Him and learn more about Him, to be able to dig into His Word and lean completely on Him through good times and bad. On Sundays I have my own little church service ( :-) ) ... playing praise songs on my guitar. Today I actually had some kiddos over, and we even had a little lesson! (One of the kids tried to steal some of Naomi’s money on a shelf). But God is good, and I’m just awed daily by His incredible love and grace.
So on that note, I’ll sign off. I miss yall, but am having too much fun to come home now! :-)
Love yall!
Kim

Howdy Folks

Moose hunting season ended a couple of weeks ago. When they go to hunt they take a boat to the island, about 7 miles away. My house is right on the edge of the village, where people park their boats, so we see the people walking by with their guns and carrying hunks of moose meat. One of my students walked by with a huge hunk of meat. I asked him whose moose it was, and he didn’t know. The Eskimos share their first hunted animal of the season so they will have more luck in the future.

We’ve been having a water problem. Something about the well is messed up, and they are in the process of fixing it. So we are trying to conserve water as much as possible to keep school open. Toilets aren’t to be flushed unless absolutely necessary and drinking water is scarce in the filters. Some of the students think it’s funny to vandalize the restrooms by messing with the toilets, and we keep having to let school out early due to flooding problems. I really hope they stop, because they are the only flushing toilets in the village and if we keep having problems we will change to honey buckets. Not good!

I had great plans before I got up here, thinking I would have lots time to workout and have plenty of down time. Boy, was I mistaken! Speech is taking off, student council is planning for a Halloween carnival, and open gym, computer lab, and study hall are consuming my afternoons, not to mention planning for classes! But I’m having a good time, and I feel much better about teaching and feel a bit more organized, which always helps.

The showers are nothing great – there are 2 that the certified and classified female teachers share (there are about 10 of us). For some reason the water is salty. Not as bad as ocean water but still salty! It takes a while to get hot, and sometimes you just have to take a cold shower. Eesh… but a shower is a shower. We can only take 2 showers a week in order to have enough through the winter and year, so I’m thankful for those 2 showers.

It’s getting COLD! To me, anyway – every time I say it’s cold the Natives just laugh. It’s in the 20s and frost covers everything in the mornings. They love this weather, but assure me this is nowhere near cold. They tell me stories of the snow getting up to the roofs, of how the wind chill will make it -90 degrees, how sometimes it’s so windy you have to crawl home from school (good thing it’s only a 3 minute walk). Last year a guy got snowed out of his house and had to crawl through his window. I’m really excited – I love physical challenges – we’ll see about having to crawl through a blizzard though!

Kids are getting better and the ones that were in the hospital with swine flu are making their way back to Newtok. Our neighbor had the swine flu and everyone at school has had colds. I’m finally getting over mine, I’m just thankful I didn’t get the flu.
That’s about it for now. Hope everyone reading this is having a great day! Happy fall :-)

Love from Alaska,
Kim

Pictures

I put some new pictures on my facebook page if you feel like looking! They are pics of some kids here and a few other things, like purple carrots! :-)

Have a terrific day, take time to serve someone.

Kim