A few days we’ve gotten snow, but now we’re just waiting for it to stick. Audrey is getting antsy for it and so am I! Life has been great... the Eskimos have been really good about giving us lots of moose, which we really enjoy. It’s the only meat we have. It’s getting pretty cold... it drops below freezing most nights but not cold enough during the day for the weather we want. It’s been raining a lot lately and I’m ready for winter! 

I haven’t traveled this year yet for NYO or cross country and I’m pretty thankful. It was fun in the beginning because it was a new experience, but now I want to stay in my own village! I still like traveling some, but I think I’ve served my time. I remember my first year I went someone every weekend it seemed!

Brandi, Kevin, and the kids will come back in just under a couple of weeks. We are all so excited to see them! Halloween carnival and red ribbon week is coming up and they are pretty fun. Naomi is filling in as student council sponsor while Brandi is gone, and they are in Anchorage right now doing some kind of leadership conference. So me and Audrey have the house to ourselves, and it’s been sweet! :) 

Next week we have a teacher work day on Saturday. We always have Saturday school with the kids for a couple of hours, but next time we’re working 8-4, and each teacher is suppose to give a 15 minute presentation on some kind of educational article. I’m planning on interviewing Paula and doing some fun games for mine, because otherwise I imagine it will be extremely boring!

Because I don’t have cable or internet at the house, I usually come to the school to read the play-by-play for the Rangers games. I’m pretty excited about this year, and when they get deeper into the playoffs, Paula will have the games on and I’ll go watch at her house. Today they will be on the TV, though, so Paula invited me over for that. I’m pretty excited about it! Go Rangers!

Lately

Sorry for taking so long to post an update! Life is super busy but incredibly awesome. I’m more comfortable than ever before, and I’m loving every second of it. I’m sure having Audrey here contributes to that, but even still, it’s just home now.

Here’s some of what I’ve been up to in the past few weeks:

Audrey celebrated her 23rd birthday on Wednesday. Early that morning, soon after midnight, Grant called and said the Northern Lights were out! So we stumbled out of bed, into our boots, grabbed our jackets, and took off into the freezing night.

They were beautiful! A white light ran all the way across the sky, and the bright lights in the distance danced for us. It couldn’t have been a better start to her birthday. The sky was so clear we could see every star. Consumed by the moment, we plopped down on the boardwalk and just gazed up in the Last Frontier’s massive expanse. It was incredible. :)

My cross country team went to district - no one placed, but they did really well. Immediately after that ended, speech began, and we have practices 3 times a week for that. Last week the school hosted a market (like a garage sell without the garage), and me, Audrey, and Paula ran that. The teachers gather whatever they don’t want or need from their houses and bring them to the school, and the villagers come and shop. We sold every bit of it! You can see the appeal, I guess, seeing as there isn’t a “goody” store here. We raised over $1100 dollars, including concession stand profit.

Every now and then I go out on hikes, but recently I’ve had back problems so I haven’t had lots of opportunity for physical activity. When I did, though, I would inevitably push my limits too far and find myself facedown in a waist-deep pond, stumbling through tundra grass, crawling through mud, wading through swamps, and trying unsuccessfully to walk through what I call “Alaskan quicksand.” I cherish my adventures outside - there’s never a dull moment! 

Academically, things couldn’t be going better. There is now a reason for kids to do their work, and do it well. If they don’t, they can’t graduate. In the past they knew they could just come to school, take a few tests, and phase up. But with our new reading program, everything they do counts. Even though I have tons more papers to grade now, it’s all worth it and things are just plain easier. 

This is the first year that Brandi, Kevin, and Thane haven’t started with us. Brandi just had her new baby girl so they are all still in Louisiana. They will come back the end of October, and I can’t wait to see them. We’ve missed them so much! 

We’re expecting snow this weekend, and I’m so ready for it. More snow means frozen tundra, which means I can hike further and go anywhere I want to. 

Hope yall aren’t burning up too bad. :)

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.

Busy Busy

Life is so busy these days! I’m loving every minute of it though, and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else than my little village out in the middle of nowhere. 

Work-wise, I’m so thankful that we have a plan that I can work with - the kids are finally started to get the picture that everything they do counts for a grade. I’ve mentioned the phase system we’ve had in the past - all they really “had” to do to phase up was pass a few tests, and they knew that - so they were understandably not concerned with any of the work leading up to those tests. Now, though, it’s like most schools anywhere else. Everything will go in the grade book, so if they don’t do it or just guess the answers, it will affect their grade, which might cause them to fail the class, and get further and further behind from graduating, and that’s their ultimate goal. So to say the least, everything is easier on my behalf - they listen more because they care more, and of course they are learning more.

This year we decided to keep the sixth graders down in the lower wing, so the four teachers we have in the upper wing share the subjects to teach the 7th - 12th graders. Cross country just finished their second week and it’s going smoothly, except for the fact that we don’t have any decent ground to run on. It’s either the bumpy, muddy, and sinking tundra or the boardwalks with broken, missing, and cracked boards. We warm-up in the school gym but there’s only so much you can prepare for indoors, especially when you’re going to be competing outside. 

I’m glad Audrey is experiencing the Eskimo way of life. We’ve had several people share their first hunt of the season, so our freezer is full of moose. Now we have dried halibut, herring, pike, and seal too. They eat a lot of dried fish that have been left out in the sun, and I can stomach the fish, but when I put a hunk of seal in my mouth and blood gushes out, it’s not very pleasant. I have to cook that! But I guess if you were hungry enough you’d eat it, or in the Eskimo’s case, if that’s all you’ve ever known, there’s nothing wrong with it. 

Year 3 in the Bush

If you didn’t know already, I brought my sister back to the bush with me! I’m so happy she gets to experience this crazy way of life I’ve lived for the past 2 years. You can’t really understand it until you experience it. She’s going to do some subbing and helping out with after school activities, which works out wonderfully for everyone because we all wear so many hats as it is. The very first day of school we didn’t have a cook, so the teachers had to pull together and cook breakfast at the last minute, so Audrey has been a lifesaver!

Kevin and Brandi are still in Louisiana and will come back around the end of October when they have their new baby girl. I miss them already! It’s definitely not the same without them!

We spent a few days in Anchorage so Audrey could get some cold weather gear, then headed to Bethel for a couple of days of inservice. We have a HUGE difference in our reading program this year: we actually HAVE a reading program now! In the past I just had to scrounge up anything I could to use for books, resources, worksheets, everything. So I’ve extremely pleased that I actually have something to work off of now.

We came back to Newtok a week ago and was greeted by a couple of kids at the airport. I don’t think Audrey knew exactly what she was getting into, but she soon found out: they tore the boards off our front door and a horrible smell of rotting meat wafted out on the porch. Our freezer had gone out, and so all our food was gone. Our heat wasn’t working, so our house was freezing. Our incinolet was out, so we had no restroom, and of course our water was out too. She knew we didn’t have running water or plumbing, but it’s a hassle when everything gives out at once. All I could tell her was “welcome to the bush!”

We had some fun though. We hiked through the swampy tundra, went fishing, and picked berries. I’ve been very busy getting my classroom in order, organizing the new reading program, and preparing for that. Cross country began the first day of school and have gradually worked the kids up from running in the gym, to the boardwalks, to the tundra. We actually got caught out on the tundra when it started raining once, but it was pretty fun. 

As always with the Eskimos, they have been generous with their hunting rewards. We have plenty of moose stored up and some halibut too. Audrey loves the freshness of the meat here - I mean, it can’t get much fresher! It’s pretty great. 

As much as I hate it for people down south in that horrible heat, I’m glad to be back in 40 degree weather. The sun is up at 5:45 and sets around midnight, and basically, life is great. 

Five Months of Bushin' It

Well, I’m grateful to have survived another year in Alaska’s bush. It’s been a wild ride and I wouldn’t change a thing - and I’m looking forward to many more adventures in the years to come. 

Last weekend was prom and graduation. We didn’t plan on having both of these big events on the same weekend - especially because there are only 4 teachers that usually stay and help with extra events - but we didn’t have a choice. The prom decorations weren’t able to get here sooner because of weather conditions, and as you know, when planes don’t fly, our village is cut off from everything! We had the senior class (a whopping 6 kids) around to help too.

Friday afternoon we built the prom set in the gym - the theme was “A Night in France.” We built a 17 foot Eiffel Tower completely out of cardboard and Christmas lights, along with benches, trees, lamp posts, etc. It turned out nice, but we were exhausted! I guess we got done around 10:30, but we were back at the school the next morning at 9:00 to start cooking for prom that night. The next morning we cleaned the gym up and began it all over again for the graduation ceremony, which was just in a few hours. Everything went smoothly and we had fun - one of the things I enjoy about teaching in such a small village is I get to be involved in everything. The school isn’t just a place I work - It’s just as much a home to me as where I sleep. I spend just as much time here - if not more - than I do at home.

One day last week our staff of 8 got a surprise for Teacher Appreciation Day - the district had flown in pizza from Anchorage for us! It was a take and bake pizza joint, so it had to be cooked - it was no Pizza Hut, but just knowing it was flown over 400 miles on 2 planes just to get to us made it special. :) I can’t even remember the last time I ate pizza. 

I’ve been in the bush for 5 straight months and I’ve loved it. Yeah, sometimes I miss stores and restaurants, and I definitely miss fresh food like veggies, fruit, and milk, and my mama’s cooking! - but I know I can do without. You don’t really know what you can do unless you try yourself, and living up here in such an isolated place definitely is one way to get that challenge. I’ve loved it, and now I’m looking forward to eating Mexican food and diet dr. pepper!

We had our annual whacky olympics day yesterday. Me and Naomi were in charge, coming up with games for the whole school that lasts all day. For lunch, Kevin and Grant grilled hot dogs and burgers for all the kids and teachers, plus the elders in the village. We’re flying out today on the afternoon charter, spending the night in Bethel, and flying out tomorrow morning. I’ll arrive close to midnight Saturday, and summer begins!

Irrcinraq

Break-Up

Alaska skips over spring time. Instead we have break-up, when the ice breaks and everything thaws. It’s that time of the year again, like in the fall, when kids have several days of excused absences due to hunting demands on their subsistence lifestyles. Ptarmigan, crane, and geese are the talk of break-up season, and when you walk through the village, you’ll see birds strung out and hung up on cabins to dry in the sun before they eat them. Since most of the houses are still heated the old fashioned way - by wood - they use the sun to cook most of their food. 

Kids using a sled as a boat for all the melted snow

When I first moved here someone told me if I ever have empty cardboard boxes I don’t need, to put them out on the porch, and they’ll be gone the next morning. It’s sad that they have to use any and everything they can to keep their houses warm during these brutal Alaskan winters. But they’ve lived this way for centuries, and I’ve never heard them complain about it.

Just a few miles from the village, where the river runs into the Bering Sea, there were some beluga whale sightings. Several men from the village took off in that direction to try and harpoon one - can you imagine how long that food would last!? They asked if I wanted some and I said yes! I can now say I’m a fan of eating whale. 

The snow is finally started to melt, which creates small ponds everywhere. It’s fun to watch the kids create their own kind of fun with the ponds - teenagers will risk snow-machining across the water - you have to keep it at 30 mph or you’ll sink - and several have sunk! Kids take the family sled out, find some sticks to use as paddles, and kayak through the water. 

One of the many sets of snow steps in the village.
This was taken back in April.

So there are ponds now, but there are still snow drifts - actually, now it’s slush. It’s a hassle to walk anywhere in it because you sink down to your waist with every step. I can manage, but I felt bad for the other teachers who don’t like to roll around in the snow like me :) So I’ve spent a lot of time shoveling paths from their house to the school, which is quite enjoyable. I’ll make curvy walkways, ramps, and steps in the snow, with walls of snow on either side of you. It’s pretty cool to walk them - even though it will probably all be gone in a few days. 

The sun sets around midnight now, and stays up longer every day. You can see how one might never go to bed, because who wants to feel old, going to sleep when the sun is still out? The kids who are not out hunting are in school trying to stay awake. Or rather, we’re trying to make them stay awake - they don’t mind the least bit crawling up in a corner and sleeping. 

The pre-school had their graduation ceremony yesterday. It was absolutely adorable to see them walk in with their little robes on, holding a fake rose and trying to stay in line. As each of them walked by, Grant announced what each kid wanted to be when they grew up. Here are a few that stuck in my mind: strong, a princess, spider man, barbie, a bingo caller like her mom, and a pilot.

Speaking of graduations, here’s a shout out to my sister Audrey who’s graduating from Baylor University this Saturday! Proud of you Auj! 

One more week here and I’ll be back home in Texas. Thanks for reading-and I hope you have a safe weekend.

esKIMo