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. 

The new teacher and I have a mentor that the state of Alaska assigns us. She visited Newtok but has never been to the bush. It was funny watching her stepping into our world. She spent 3 days camping on the school floor, hiking on the tundra with us, searching for internet connection, and in wonder at the lack of plumbing. “Welcome to Newtok!” is all I could say.

I’ve only been here 2 weeks, and so far we’ve been with no restroom for a week and no water for 3 days, and a stove that still doesn’t work. It was funny watching our mentor run around trying to find a honey bucket. She ran over to our house and I gave a crash course on using the incinolet: “after you’re done you have to step on that pedal, push that button, kick the side of it, then put more paper in.” Our incinolet had been broken for a week but thankfully it’s working again.

We walked to the store to show my mentor where it is and what they have. When we have visitors, they bring their food and cook it in the school’s kitchen. But she is thinking she can do without hauling around all her food and just grab something at the store. It was a nice walk and she was impressed with the business of the village. Here’s a picture of what you might see when walking the boardwalks of Newtok: kids riding bikes, people hanging fish, chopping wood, pulling a 4 wheeler with a skinned moose in the back, doors open while ladies gut seal, fish, or cut up moose, muskoxen, or caribou on their floor… for such a small, isolated place there is lots to do.

I’ve been on hikes and it’s really muddy out there! You will be walking along and all of a sudden sink in this tricky green grass and it’s like quick sand! Then there is the muddy clay that I got stuck in, sunk down to my knees, and had to take my feet out of the boots and crawl out, then dig the boots out. Then, of course, I wasn’t able to shower or do laundry. But I actually find those setbacks a joy simply because I’ve learned to adapt and overcome them, which gives me confidence and strength. You might find that crazy but I’m okay with being different. :)

Little things we take for granted are intensified when you have no choice but to do without. For some unknown reason, all the staplers the school has that worked in May are now broken. We only have one stapler between 5 teachers that only works when you open it, arrange the staplers a certain way, then close it. You have to repeat that every time you want to staple something. We just have to be patient while our new ones are flown here.

Today we had an assembly for grades 6-12 to talk about the suicide we had in the summer. Peter, the boys’ father, came in and spoke to the students, along with a district councilor, and the principal. It was a solemn event. Peter had 2 brothers and a sister, all in high school grades. They had all the students put their heads down and close their eyes, asking who is hurting, then who thought it was their fault. It was pretty intense. The dad kept saying that Peter will be punished in hell forever, which is part of their Catholic teaching when one commits suicide. My heart ached for their aching hearts.

When we left for our classes I didn’t have the courage to follow through with my lesson plans that said we were to read “The Devil and Daniel Webster.” I mean, what are the odds that I would teach a story this day about a guy selling his soul to the devil, and people coming up from hell? So instead we just read silently, which went over well. They needed quiet time to think things over, and so did I.

Please pray that I will have wisdom in knowing what to say.

drying fish

Senator Mark Begich, representative Bob Herron, and another Senator from Michigan and their entourage came to Newtok yesterday in a black helicopter. They came to get an onsite update on the erosion of the banks of the the Ninglick River and the status of the impending move of our community to Mertarvik, the new site. They all came into the school and were very polite, shaking hands with everyone they saw, and we all went to the gym for the “ceremony.” The middle-aged generation translated for the elders who didn’t speak English. Villagers brought food for a potluck, and the visitors brought bananas, which went fast! It was funny seeing the photographers snapping shots with their fancy cameras and journalists scribbling notes on their notepads. The villagers were taking pictures of the “gusuks” (white people) and the gusuks were taking pictures of the Natives. The natives talked about their concerns and hopes for the move, and the Senators were genuinely concerned and supportive. I knew when Senator Begich brought along the Senator from Michigan, he was helping the move along. The one from Michigan was completely shocked as to where she was. It really is a different world up here and everyone who’s new experiences the culture shock.

During the fall we have a longer walk to school than during winter because of the permafrost melting. The ground is muddy and if you step into the wrong spot you could sink like you’re in quick sand! Plus, you do NOT want to get the mud on you because of the e.coli. There are still people who dump their honey buckets in the wrong place. More land is falling off into the sea and it’s noticeable since last May. The move should happen within 4 or 5 years, I hope.

Our incinolet is finally working again. I can’t count the number of times it’s gone out and we’ve had to use bedpans and/or walk up to the school. Not cool. So it’s fixed…for now. We just have to kick the side of it to begin the burning.

Since I’ve been back in Newtok I got some sad news. “Girl,” the husky that went on every hike with me, was shot over the summer. Her owners did not take care of her and she was going hungry. I hate that! I fed her every day last year but I couldn’t take her home for the summer. When dogs are not put on chains, if they are caught when there is a visitor in town, they are taken to the edge of the village and shot. Now I have to find another dog to feed all these dog biscuits I mailed to myself. :(

The wind blows constantly and last night it was so fierce our house was shaking. It’s difficult to get some sleep when your bed is wobbling.

There are not as many mosquitoes as last year and our fly problem is 95% better now that we moved the trashcan to the arctic room. The arctic room is what southerners would call a mud room. It’s where you take your snow boots off and it’s a barrier between inside your house and the outside. It keeps snow from falling into the house – after a blizzard you would open your door and the snow goes in the arctic room instead of piling into the living room. It also helps keep the house warmer by having an extra room between you and the cold. The arctic room is also where the deep freezer is, which we share with the school. Right now it’s packed with food and they will eventually move it to the school.

At our first staff meeting Grant used me as an example for warning about the harsh environment: “If you’re adventurous like Kim…” everyone had to laugh because there’s a little too much truth in that. Anyway, he told of my adventures out on the tundra… snowmachines, foxes, stranded in -60 degrees weather, etc. And he ended with “but she got the fox!” I hope the new teacher will heed the advice but I also hope she has fun!

Hope yall are having a good weekend. Let’s go out and love with the heart of Christ!

Back in Action!

Beautiful sunset in Newtok

Breathtaking beauty in Anchorage! (the background, anyway!)

I’m back in Alaska! I had a nice summer but it feels good to be back in the land of cool weather! It’s 50 degrees right now! I spent some time in Anchorage before I flew out to the bush – mailing some groceries to myself and soaking up the beauty of Alaska. I stayed with my room mate’s relatives and we met up with some other teachers from Newtok. I took a bike ride down a beautiful trail, beside a river and down to the coast. A guy riding the opposite way warned me there was a moose up ahead and sure enough one was right next to the trail. I stopped a short ways off to take some pictures. There were also a few bear sightings! I never saw them but there was a mother bear with her 3 cubs only about a quarter of a mile from where I was staying, and another bear was actually breaking in to someone’s window in another part of Anchorage! Not sure when this happened but it was some time this summer. There was also a polar bear in Hooper Bay, which is a village out here in western Alaska! Not too far from Newtok! I’d love to see a bear.

Monday evening I flew on the smaller jet to Bethel (the bush hub, 300 miles from the road system) and caught a cab to the school district office, which is where I spend almost every night I stay in Bethel. It’s a lot of fun catching up with other teachers in different villages. So we find a place on the floor and blow up an air mattress if there are enough, and it’s pretty cozy! Only in the bush do you have teachers sleeping in the office and you wake up to the “district mama” coming in to make coffee.  

We had 2 days of in-service in Bethel and it was great being able to collaborate with other reading teachers. Wednesday evening we were scheduled to hop on the bush plane and fly out to our villages and I could hardly wait to get back! We took our luggage to the gym at the Bethel school to wait till our flight time, and when we were loading the shuttle van they shove a pizza box in your hand and send you off out into the wilderness!

I understand how those new teachers feel right out of college because I was there last year! I feel for them because I know what it’s like to thrust yourself into an uncertain world, out of your comofort zone, cut off from everything and everyone, broke and not knowing how I was going to do this unique job. So needless to say I feel much more confident having survived this crazy life in the bush! Of the 8 teachers in Newtok, we  have 1 new this year. Her name is Betsy and she will teach the 2T class, which is when they transition into English instruction. Betsy is 24 years old so I’m excited about having someone close to my age. It would be nice to say I’m no longer the youngest teacher in Newtok but my day will come!

On the 45 minute flight out to Newtok I could barely contain my excitement! God has His ways of letting you know you’re where you’re supposed to be, and I know He was pressing that point, because I literally couldn’t sit still from excitement.  We landed and I jumped down on the rocky ground and had to jog off that eager sensation. It sounds funny, but seriously, I am glad to be here – even with our incinolet not working, our stove not working, the dodgy boardwalks, packing water, the e.coli infested land, and back to the busy busy teaching schedule. Teaching in the bush is not just a job, it’s a lifestyle. From the time you get up in the morning until (many days) you go to bed at night, you’re with students or doing work or doing something that there is not enough people to do. And even though it drained me completely last year, I’m happy to be here. How GREAT is God that He allows you to persevere, to overcome, and to glorify HIM in the process!?!? All I can do is give this year to Him and I know He will do great things.

I was walking to the school yesterday and a little girl asked me when school started. I told her Monday, and she replied, “in three more sleeps?” Instead of saying 3 more days, they measure time in sleeps.  The sun sets at 11:30 and last night it was so beautiful I couldn’t even try to describe it. The colors were so vibrant, so vast and so bold, that all I could do was stand there and bask in the beauty of God’s handiwork. The picture at the top doesn’t even do it justice.

Over the summer Newtok had a tragedy – a 14 year old took his own life. My heart aches and of course I wonder if there is something I could have done differently, if maybe I was part of the reason it happened, as he was in my home class. We had several suicide threats that almost happened last year. I’ll never forget the times I spoke with those students, completely moved by the Spirit, and I absolutely know God is in complete control, because I wouldn’t have a clue what to say, but He spoke through me. Not every situation ends up happy, though. Eskimos have some of the highest rates of suicide in the world. This summer alone there were 8 suicides in southwestern Alaska. Here’s an article about suicide in Alaska, and it talks about 2 suicides that happened in Bethel: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/14/us/14alaska.html

So with that, I’ll ask for your prayers again for the people of Newtok and all over Alaska, that they will find the peace that comes with salvation that God offers through Christ.

In Him,

Kim