Leaving :(

So I've been doing a lot to get ready to leave Kokhanok.

My flight leaves the village at 12:30PM tomorrow (Saturday).  My flight leaves Anchorage Saturday at 11:00 PM and I get in to Newark airport at noon on Sunday (after a stop in Chicago).

Before I leave Kokhanok, I had to get my house cleaned up and put back together.  I enlisted the help of some of my students who helped me clean my counter tops, clean my fridge, sweep the floor and pack up my food (can I just mention that they volunteered to do this?).  In return, they got granola bars and chocolates and candies.

I ended up just putting all this food (and clothes and supplies which are not pictured) in the main entrance to my school and just letting people take what they want.  As of today, they only thing left was some cheese, a shirt, and a pair of pants.  I ended up giving away, 4 totes, 3 boxes, and two bags full of stuff.  The community was very thankful for it, and I was just glad to be rid of it.

Then on Thursday, some of my students had me over for dinner.  They even took me on a Honda ride out to fish camp.  (A place in the village where fish are hung and smoked in the summer).  I didn't get pictures of the smokehouses, but I did manage to get some of the landscape.

One of my students came up and said to me, "Look, do you know what this is?  It's wheat!"  And I said, "You know, we have wheat in Pennsylvania?"
But I took a picture with the wheat anyway.

Then she held up a pair of rib bones, and I actually didn't have any idea what animal those could be from.

We took them home with us and their mom told us those are caribou rib bones.
The kids even taught me how to ride a Honda on the way home.

Then, after a delicious meal of moose, rice and applesauce, we played outside for a little bit, then the kids took me home.

The amazing thing about living in AK right now is the sun doesn't start going down until 9.  So I had time after dinner to hike up a hill to go watch the sun set.

Tonight, my principal is having a bonfire and all the teachers are going to get together.  It's the perfect weather for it, and it'll be a lovely way to say goodbye to the people who have been so good to me for the past few months.

Easter Salmon

I'm just going to start by telling you that I had an amazing weekend.  I mean, it was unbelievably good.

On Friday, the elementary teacher invited me over for her sons' birthday party.  There was great food and excellent company.  They even took all the kids outside and taught them how to shoot.  I even got a turn. (Yes, that's a pink .22)

Then on Saturday we went out for a ride to go watch the sunset.  We stopped real quick at the airport so I could get a picture:

Then we kept going up the mountain to get a better view.

The mountain in front of you is called "Big Mountain" if you keep going, essentially through the mountain, you will eventually get to the village of Igiugig.

Here's (sort of) panoramic shots from where I was standing.

As always, we had Russell standing guard.

Then, Easter Sunday was a big day!

I'm sad to say that I don't have a ton of pictures, I was just having such a great time that I often forgot to take pictures.

10:30- arrive at my principals house for crepes.  Helped making syrup from frozen berries.  Very delicious.

12- start packing for fun adventures! Pack food stuffs.

Pack water bottles and water bladders.

Hitch up trailer. (And sharpen ice pik)

Russell had been ready to go for like an hour at this point.

Then, with the Honda's packed with food and water for the day, fishing pole, auger, bait and tackle, we were ready to set off.

When we got to our spot, we decided to walk down the river until we got to where it outlet in to the lake.

It was very beautiful here.

But we had worked really hard to get down here and it was a beautiful day.  If I had to guess I'd say it was about 45.  So we had to take off a ton of layers, like Ms. Jenny, our high school teacher, did.

Then we hiked back up the stream where we got started ice fishing!  (Ice fishing was one of the things I wanted to try before I left Alaska.)

Step 1: Get a stick

Step 2: Tie fishing line to the stick

Step 3: Tie hook to the fishing line.

Step 4: Drill a hole in the ice. (That thing is called an auger.  It's actually incredibly difficult to drill a hole in the ice.  The ice was about 14 inches thick.  I managed about 2 inches and could do no more.  If I had to ice fish for my dinner, we would not be eating.)

The boys had a much better time of it.

Ice fishing should actually be called waiting.  Because that's all you do.  You drop your line down the hole and you wait.  And you wait.  And maybe if you're really lucky something will bite, but all five of us were apparently unlucky because we caught nothing.  I didn't even see a fish the whole time.

Here's the next part that I have absolutely no pictures of because I completely forgot.

We packed up our ice fishing stuff and went over to a small cabin in the woods.  We hauled up water from the lake, set out some ice fishing poles and started a fire.  We grilled some salmon over the fire and we got some sticks and roasted marinated deer meat over the fire (and it was tender and salty and delicious).  And we just spent the night talking and laughing and having an incredible time.  We watched the sun set over the mountains and then we went inside to play some cards and some dominoes.  Then, after we had packed up and cleaned up, we started to head back home, and the northern lights were out again!  We stopped for a few minutes to observe them.  It was amazing because there was no light for miles and miles.  The stars were the most vibrant I have ever seen them.

I was really sad when we came back home because I didn't want that day to end, but it had to (I did have school today and all!).  In case they read this, I want to thank Jenny and Colter again for an absolutely amazing weekend!  Easily the best Easter I have ever had.

Things my Students Tell Me

In no particular order:

• "What does Pennsylvania money look like?"
• [We were talking about what words start with o and, naturally, we picked octopus].  "Hey, that's like Octopus Prime."  [In reference to Optimus Prime, of Transformers fame.]
• We were reading a story that showed a picture of Abraham Lincoln.  And a little girl told me "Hey, I saw that movie where he was killing the vampirates"  VAMPIRATES.  [There was a movie that came out recently called Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.]
• For my talent show performance I sang a song by Adele.  After the performance a student came up to me and told me "Hey I know Adele, he used to live here!" [Adele is a famous contemporary singer.  She's also a woman.  I know for certain she has never lived in Kokhanok.]

In other news, we had a 'school board' meeting the other day.  Now, when you say school board meeting to me, I think that we're talking about making decisions for the entire district.  But, out here, to try and get everyone together for that would be insane.  So they have what is called the LSAC, or Local School Advisory Committee.  It's comprised of women from the community.  I think the main reason for the LSAC is to bridge the gap between the school and the community. 

In attendance we had the elementary teacher, the middle school teacher, the high school teacher, one of the aides at the school, the VPSO, the Yupik teacher, two high school students, and, like I said, several very well respected members of the community.

It's a chance for it to be made public what's been going on in school.  Each of the teachers gives a report about what's been going on in school and I even got to make a report on what I've been doing!

I talked about music lessons, including my students that were able to perform at the talent show.  

I also told them about the radio station and told them to tune in to hear student produced work!

Then there was talk about things like the budget for next year, the school trip they're planning to take and the fundraising that needs to happen, and then we talked about the fuel crisis here in Kokhanok.  Basically, they have not been able to get fuel, or enough fuel, in to the village and if this keeps up, there is the possibility that they may run out.  

So I went to the KVC (Kokhanok Village Council) meeting where I knew the fuel situation would be discussed more.  And it basically comes down to this.  They didn't get as much fuel from the barge this summer as they would have wanted.  Then, it's been a tough winter and they couldn't get planes to bring fuel in.  If it's too warm, the snow melts and it makes the runway too soft and planes can't land.  Or if it's too snowy, planes won't fly in.  So the weather conditions have to be ideal.  They have even called the Department of Homeland Security.  We'll see what happens.

Here's a picture from the outside of the KVC building.

I always feel like I have to be careful when taking pictures of things because I don't want someone to think I'm gawking at them or at their lifestyle?  Does that make sense?

Anyway.

Here are some beautiful pictures of the sunsets here in Kokhanok.  I love to walk around as the sun is setting because it's just so beautiful.

Then yesterday I went out for a walk where I hadn't walked before and I caught another really beautiful sunset photo.

I even happened upon a horse!

Now, some of you may have heard that I saw the Northern Lights, and I did.  It wasn't with all the colors like you see in the movies, it was just a green haze over the sky, but it was still really cool.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures because my camera wouldn't capture them, all my pictures just came out black.  There's a website that will predict when you can see them, and you'll find it here.  For me to see them, it has to be at least a 4.  If you notice that it's at a four send me an email because sometimes I forget to check.  It's looking like I might be able to see them again tomorrow night though!

I think that's all I have for this week.  But I'm almost done here in Kokhanok, I fly home April 7th!

Carnival! (and earthquakes)

This weekend was Carnival! It was really cool.  Let's start off with some carnival preparations.  All this week in school, the kids have been making food to sell at the dances this weekend.  I spent most of the week helping to make pizza rolls, but on Friday we made aqutak!

Here's a video of the kids making the 'icing' part of aqutak.  It's crisco, sugar, and water.  You have to stir it in the middle, then pick it up and flop it back down.  Why you have to do this, I have no idea, but apparently that's what you have to do.

Also, on Friday morning we took the kids down to breakfast at the old preschool.  

There they got to eat pancakes and talk with the elders.

After school there was an adult basketball tournament.  Basketball is taken really serious around here.

Then, that evening there was a bonfire and woodchopping contest.  It wasn't so much a contest as it was men chopping wood.

I was amazed at how many people were suddenly in Kokhanok.  Most people were able to get in despite two days of really intense wind here in Kokhanok. There was even a small plane that landed on the shore of the bay.

The next day, I started the day by eating moose chili and frybread for breakfast.

There was a dance Friday night, and Saturday night and Sunday night with live music every time.  And we also sold the pizza rolls and cotton candy and aqutak and everything we had made this week.

I also went to afternoon bingo.  

AND GUESS WHO WON!?!?!

Then that night I, and some of my students, performed in the talent show.

In order to get the piano in to the gym for the talent show was quite the adventure.

We had to put plywood boards over the wooden beams and roll it over from the end of the ramp in to the gym.  It took me and two grown men to move it from the building in the top left of the screen to the gym which was just behind me when I took this photo.

But talent show went really well too.  Some of my students won!  And I came in first in the adult category!!

On Sunday morning, I blearily opened a eye because I swear my bed was shaking!  I could not figure out what was going on.  I thought my water bottle was shaking too.  It only lasted about 3 minutes and then everything stopped.  So I go back to sleep and wonder if that really happened or if I just imagined it.  I wake up a couple hours later and think back to that incident and I still have no idea whether that really happened.  So I go about the rest of my day as if nothing happened.  Then, I was talking to one of my students and she says "Did you feel the earthquake this morning?" And all I could think was "Oh my god, that really did happen!"  So, now I can say I've been through an earthquake.

On Sunday, we had a banquet in the gym.  For $5 I could eat as much food as I wanted, and it was all delicious.

Then we had the raffles.  Here's everything I bought tickets for.

An adorable fox fur teddy bear that the high schoolers made in Yupik class.

Some North Face jackets.

Beaver fur and reindeer skin mittens.

Seal and beaver fur mittens.

I feel like there was more things I bid on too, but I didn't take pictures.  It doesn't matter anyway, because I didn't win anything.  I think my luck had run out by that point.

Anyway, it was a great weekend.  I had a great time.  And I got Monday and Tuesday off of school!