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.