Blizzards

The weather has been crazy! We’ve already had five blizzards, and it’s not even December yet. There are snow drifts that are ten feet tall, dispersed all through the village, and it’s quite an adventure to go anywhere. It’s like a big obstacle course, and you have no choice but to finish, because what else can you do? Even coming and going from the school is a workout - without walking a long distance to avoid snow drifts, we have to climb up a 10 foot tall drift, jump off of it to a 7 foot tall drift, walk around a series of smaller drifts, and finally jump off a 4 foot snow wall. This is how I get to and from work everyday. It sure beats driving a car! :) It’s rough, though, when you’re packing 5 gallons of water or toting a laundry bag. The weather has dropped down to -20 with wind chills of -40. That wind is deadly - it’ll get much colder, but these first few exposures are what toughens me up for the extremely deadly weather. When you’re in that kind of weather with no face mask, it’s just painful - the cold pierces you to the bone, your eyes constantly water then immediately freezes the water on your face, and you can barely open your mouth simply because your teeth ache so bad. The wind is capable of bypassing every layer you’re wearing, and the wind either pushes you to a jog when you’re walking with it, or it causes you to hunch over or crawl when walking against it, fighting with all your might just to take the next step. Yeah, it’s a crazy life out here, and I love every second of it! I love the adventure, the challenge, the agony, the uncertainty, the risks, the startling fact that we are 400 miles away from “normal” civilization.

Me and Audrey spent 2 hours in one of the blizzards, digging a tunnel through a particularly huge snow drift. It was pretty darn awesome! I crawled through it and it was great protection from the storm outside - Audrey had a snow cave as well, which was impressive! You could fit your whole body inside of it and still have room to roll around. We had our own little world there, a white out blizzard raging right in front of us, and there we were enjoying it from our snow world.

During another blizzard we decided to hike up to the airport - it started off good, but the weather got even nastier. You couldn’t see 20 feet in front of you, and there we were, away from the village, it getting dark and not having a clue where we were. I wasn’t worried because I’ve been in this situation more than a few times before - I came prepared this time, with the GPS, lights, survival necessities, etc. Mainly I was enjoying it - having to roll down hills because of deep snow, crawl up hills, and basically act like we were in boot camp. We made it home safely, completely plastered in snow, beaten by the wind, and thankful that we were finally safe. Audrey was a trooper for a first-timer! 

I’m excited to see what winter will look like - if we continue to have this same kind of weather, we will have to build steps DOWN to our front doors, like the Eskimos have had to do in the past. I can’t wait!

Beluga

About a week ago, a day after Brandi and Kevin’s family returned, an Eskimo came to our house and told me “Kevin wants you to go take pictures of him at the school!” Not having a clue what was going on or why, I recognized the urgency in his voice, so I grabbed my camera, threw on some slippers, and jogged over to the school. Before I reached it Kevin was outside shouting at me: “They got a whale! They got a whale! Go get pictures!” I understood.. Kevin had to work open gym and there’s usually a miscommunication when urgent matters arise between Eskimos and Gusuqs. So my heart started pounding and my head was going too fast for my comprehension – run home, get Audrey, get winter gear on, get knives, etc. I was planning it all out while I sprinted home, and consequently tripped over a hunk of ice and flew forward, losing my shoe in the process. I frantically got up, tried but failed to locate the lost shoe, and just abandoned the search, running home without it.

Here they come

“Someone caught a whale! They’re on the river bank somewhere!” The excitement on Audrey’s face was priceless – the Eskimos’ culture is intense stuff, but even she knew that this occurrence was pretty rare. I was so glad she got to witness it. We threw some warm clothes on, grabbed my adventure-ready backpack, and hurtled out the door and down the steps. Realizing we hadn’t a clue where the heck we were headed, we looked out at the river, only about 70 yards from the house, trying to find the commotion, but we didn’t see anything. “Lets split up – you go that way, I’ll go this way!” we started running off in separate directions, but before we get too far, I notice a man riding a 4-wheeler down toward the river, and I call out to him – “Are you going to see the whale?” He answers yes, so I call Audrey back, and ask the guy if he wouldn’t mind taking us with him. So we hop on the rear and take the bumpy ride down to the river and along its bank.

Beluga Whale = lots of food for the winter!

The whale wasn’t actually there yet, but a group of Eskimos were waiting for the little boat to get there. The scene was quite breathtaking – the huge sun was getting ready to set along the horizon, and just to the left of that, you could see the boat slowly coming up the river. I was surprised that little boat could pull a grown beluga. Thankfully the tide was low, so the men who helped pull the whale to land hopped off the eroded land down on the beach and started the process of tying rope to the whale, attaching it to 4-wheelers, and using their own strength to pull the beautifully white whale to land. As they stopped to periodically to figure out the best way of going about it, the spectators got a chance to get better acquainted with the creature. Me and Audrey ran our hands down the whale, amazed how Eskimos still live subsistence lifestyles and thankful that this whale would go to feed the whole village. We’ve tasted whale before, but what we really wanted was a few teeth from the creature. I was thinking about the shark tooth necklace I have, and how cool it would be to have a whale tooth necklace – where I actually pulled the teeth out of the whale’s head. That night the chance didn’t come up, but a few nights after that me and Audrey went out on a mission under cover of darkness to extract the teeth. It was a success! 

Seal, another popular Eskimo food

After several tries of pulling the whale up on the tundra, and after broken ropes and worn muscles, they finally were able to roll the whale up the land and begin the butchering process. The next day, the Yupik class at school went out and distributed the whale meat to all the houses in the village, pulling it in a sled they made by hand.

So what else has been going on? We had our first blizzard! It was almost a white out, with 55 mph winds and lasting all night. I took Audrey out to see if she could stand up in it, and we both could, but I love trying to get around in blizzards. She was happy about the deep snow, how you take a step and sink down to your knees. It makes me remember my giddiness 2 years ago, and now it’s all new again. She makes me smile. J I know how the crazy weather makes you feel crazy too, and all my close calls with dying returned when I saw Audrey run and dive in the snow, so when I had to go to work, my big sister protection duty sprouted up and I asked her not wander off too far. But we’ve sure had some fun in this really awesome winter wonderland!

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.