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!

One fish, two fish. Akutak.

I am progressively getting better at cooking things.  I don't know when it happened, but I am actually capable of cooking things that resembles the food normal human beings eat!

It all started when my principal gave me a salmon to take home.  I decided that I was going to cook it last night, and so I did.  However, I forgot to take it out of the freezer.  So I decide that I'm going to soak it in a warm water bath while I wash the dishes and make rice krispie treats.

The rice krispie treats went really well.  I had zero troubles making those.  Although, I didn't have baking pans to put them in, I had to press them in to ziplock containers.

I had a little bit of nutella left, so I thought I would put that on top.

That did not go as well as I planned.  I put it in my already hot saucepan, thinking it would thin it out so I could drizzle it on top.

It worked for about a minute, and then it just got really thick and it didn't really spread the way I thought it would.  Whatever, it was good.

So by this time, I had soaked the salmon for about an hour.  And it was mostly thawed, except that it wasn't all the way thawed.  I decided whatever, I'm cooking it anyway.

I seasoned it with some all purpose seasoning, salt, pepper and oil.  I baked it at 350 for about 20 minutes (since it wasn't all the way thawed.) 

Then I served it over rice.

It was really good.

Then! Yesterday, some of my students stopped by and they brought me this.

It's called akutak and it's made with berries, crisco, sugar and trout. 

Now, I sort of know what you're thinking.  Trout?  Yes, trout.  It doesn't really taste like fish at all, it just tastes really sweet.  It almost tastes like sherbet.  It has the same consistency, anyway.

Sheralyn is the one who made it for me!

It's been a good week.  This weekend is carnival.  They'll be hundreds of people here in the village for all the festivites.  There's a craft fair, talent show, they'll have races, dances, and goodies to buy and sell and EAT!  This week at school we've been cooking up all kinds of things to sell to help sponsor our class trip.

Look for a post this weekend which will detail carnival.  Should be very exciting! :)