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.