:-)

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

Over the Weekend

Howdy!

Hmm, where did I leave off… right. This past weekend the new teachers in the district went to an in-service in Bethel. We arrived there Friday afternoon and it was so nice to do whatever you wanted and not rush. This was the first time in Bethel where we had extra time to shop and not worry about time. I got together with some friends I made at the last in-service and we hung out at one of the teachers’ apartment, then walked around Bethel enjoying the “city” scenes.
I also met a second year teacher, Mike, who teaches in a village (sorry, can’t pronounce or spell it..) He is a new Christian and we had some good discussions about faith and how it plays out in living. It was encouraging to meet another believer! Interesting story about Mike – last year he went out on a snow machine, got lost in the blizzard, and a search team had to go out to find him. It took a full day, but they found him – how he managed not to freeze to death, I don’t know!

When you get to go to Bethel it’s best to take an empty bag to load up on groceries while you’re there. So when we arrived at the District Office they gave us an air mattress and were told to find a place in the end lounge rooms or hallway. We set up camp and headed off with our empty bags to the store, about a miles walk. Saturday after the in service we went out to a restaurant (first time in over 2 months!) and splurged on a $12 burger with fries. We’re going to try and get together over Thanksgiving, either at someone’s village house or in Bethel. Hopefully that will fall in to place. My roommate is going to Anchorage so it’ll be just me. But I would find some Newtokers or something!

On the plane ride back the pilot took us on a detour to Nelson Island, the place Newtok will be moving to in a few years, and we saw lots of muscox and beautiful mountains, springs of water and tundra without puddles of water everywhere. It will probably change years from now, as the permafrost will melt, but it is a beautiful land!

So I got back to Newtok Sunday afternoon and learned the swine flu made it’s way to the village. It’s been bouncing around village to village as people are traveling. So hopefully it won’t spread too far and people will get better soon. There are some kids in the hospital and attendance is low. If we have the attendance numbers we had today we’re gonna close the school for the rest of the week and make it up Saturdays.

Guess that’s it for now. Have a great week! :-)

Kim

Cross Country Team

Our cross country team traveled to Bethel Friday to compete in a district-wide meet. Of course, the only way we could get there was to fly, so the 7 students, the other chaperone and I waited around the school until we hear to pilot on the VHF tell us he was 5 minutes from Newtok. The electricity was out at the school again, so there was not much we could do indoors. They shut the generator down every few days of so for an hour or 2, and all the village is without electricity.

So anyway, we walked up to the airport with our backpacks and sleeping bags. The kids were so excited – on average, they go to Bethel a couple times a year. Some have only ever been a couple times in their lives. They visit other villages every so often on snow machines during winter, but they are all similar. Bethel has roads and cars, stores and restaurants! The population is around 5,000. We loaded our luggage underneath the 10 seater bush plane and took off. It takes around 40 minutes to fly from Newtok to Bethel. It felt good to walk on solid ground – actual dirt instead of mud, and pavement instead of boardwalks.

We arrived in Bethel around 5:00 and someone from the district office drove us to the high school, where all the village teams would stay the night. We got our room assignments (a health classroom) and laid our sleeping bags around the desks. There is only one girl on the Newtok team so it was her and I rooming with the team from Tunuk, the village on a nearby island where Newtok will actually be moving to in a few years.  

After we got settled in we walked to the store before supper. It was a mile’s walk and a beautiful day! 
I saw some friends I made at the new teacher inservice and it was great to get to hear all about their own adventures. The next morning we had to put all our luggage in trashbags because they expected rain. There were no shelters at the course. But it never did rain, thankfully.

It was a beautiful place, foggy when we arrived but it cleared up by the time the races began. It was a weaving course, all in sand, up and down hills. We walked it together when we first got there so students would know exactly where to run. There were flags, but still, it helped to know beforehand. The sunrise was breathtaking! My batteries didn't last very long, but I did get some good shots of cool stuff - we saw bear tracks in the path! But our team did pretty good, we're not sure if anyone is going to the next level or not. I posted some great pictures on facebook... you should check them out.

If you go to www.adn.com our team made the front page a few weeks ago - they have pictures of our kids training on the boardwalks.

(((((You)))))

Nutty in Newtok

For those of yall who have missed him, I posted some pictures on facebook of my good friend and travel companion.


http://www.facebook.com/kimcary?ref=nf#/album.php?aid=2017937&id=159100597

P.S. Thank yall SO much for the comments. I love hearing from everyone :-) and I appreciate the advice and prayers. They have both helped... I love you all!

Kim Possible (my new nickname :-) )