Times of Sewing, Feasts, and Security

A few of us have been getting together on Saturday afternoons for a craft club of sorts.  After piecing together sewing machines from the sad array of parts and machines owned by the school, we have 2 that function well to share.  We've been learning how to sew the traditional garb qaspeg (pronounced kus-puck) using the method passed down from mother to daughter in native villages.  It is very interesting, and quite efficient.  No pattern, no cutting, no pinning.  You measure a garment that fits you to gauge the size, and rip the fabric instead of cutting.  I've been cheating and using pins, though!  Pleasant hours have been passed while sewing and chatting... I'm reminded of old fashion quilting bees.  

I had moose 3 times this week!  'Tis the season, I suppose.  We celebrated a birthday at a native family's home with Moose & Potatoes, Fried Halibut, Fry Bread, and a Crisco and berry dessert pronounced a-goo-duck.   Even the teachers who don't like fish gobbled it all up!

I was amused when they served pizza at the first year teachers' training and some of the teachers were groaning how long it had been since they had eaten a slice of pizza.  I've had more pizza than ever here in Toksook!  Our science teacher has some serious pizza skills, and regularly hosts pizza and game nights.  Last night I played 2 games that were a riot: Banana Grams & Balderdash.  I'd never played either of them before, and thoroughly enjoyed them!

There are a couple of sobering security issues looming here, though.  A judge ruled last week that a troubled young man would be allowed to return to the village, even though he fired shots at school personnel last spring.  We'll be practicing our lockdown procedure next week.  Unfortunately, my classroom doesn't have a wall or doorway, so we will be screened only by bookcase on wheels.  

The other issue involves vandalism... a large rock was hoisted through the window of a teacher's house.  Shattered glass and shattered emotions have been gathered, but a feeling of insecurity still lingers.

Ice Cave

I've been doing a bit of hiking, and a recent excursion took me down in a ravine where a stream flowed down from the top of the volcano.  Investigation of what appeared to be a small patch of snow turned out to be an entire cave carved out of snow.   Actually, it was a tunnel.  The snow had hardened into ice, and insulated by layer of natural mulch, it had survived the summer.  From above, the mulch camouflaged the existence of the tunnel. It was so interesting to discover this and see the tiny stream that had carved out the ice from below!

Staff Inservice

Today was a day off for the students, and an inservice day for teachers.  Since the district is made up of many remote villages, this is accomplished via VTC (video tele conferencing).

To get the day started in a timely fashion, a fun incentive was offered:  every school that emailed a staff photo to the District Office was entered into a drawing.  The prize was a big box of doughnuts sent on the next plane out to the winning village.  We didn't win, but here is our photo:

It's fun to see friends (& family!) on the monitor as different sites respond to questions during the training, but it is quite a long day of sitting!

PFD

Did you know that Alaska residents get paid to live here?  It's called the Permanent Fund Dividend, and each Alaskan gets it every year.  It's the way they share the oil revenue the state receives.

Today each person got just shy of $1200 deposited in their bank accounts.  This is quite a windfall for large families as each child is eligible, as well as adults.

I'm told that the rest of the month here is a challenge.  With a sudden influx of  spendable income, there is a flurry of visits to Bethel for shopping and/or the enjoyment of adult beverages.  So, our attendance may fluctuate wildly, and some who do show up are quite out of sorts, having been left in the care of older siblings or relatives, or even left to fend for themselves.

School can provide some structure and stability for these kids, I'm hoping to, at least!

The Rock People

I can now add the accomplishment of "climbed a volcano" to my list of new experiences!  The photo above is of some of the "rock people" that people for many years have built out of the loose rocks scattered about.  The purpose of these Jenga-like structures is not known to me, but one plausible explanation I've heard is that they were built up on the cliffs to create the appearance of a well-guarded coast to approaching ships.  Here are some more views of the top, isn't it lovely?

 Here's looking down over Toksook Bay with a pretty good view of the village Nightmute across in the distance.

The next photo is the village of Tununak in the distance, which is 7 miles away from Toksook, so I'm thinking we were almost halfway there!  

I enjoyed the interesting plant life up on the volcano, if you look closely you can see the berries growing that the natives call "blackberries".  I'll tell you more about the local berries soon.

God's creation is amazing!

Fire

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." Yeat

 

Off-duty educators + beach + driftwood + matches = fun!

On the edge of the Bering Sea, we had a bonfire on the beach.  Twisted and gnarled driftwood was collected and stacked to make a magnificent blaze that burned so hot we feared our eyebrows might be singed off.  It burned down to perfect roasting coals, and we enjoyed marshmallows and s'mores.  Curious and envious children out past curfew lurked in the tall grasses of the cliffs overlooking the beach while the staff's pets frolicked about, finding disgusting treasures such as old fish heads.

Beneath the starry skies, seated on the rocky beach,  I gazed at the fire and hoped that this year I would be able to generate some sparks of a love for learning amongst my students.  

What is there about a good fire on the beach that makes me feel like I've been on vacation?  

First Frost

I had the pleasure of having Anna's former roommate visit this week.  She is the math specialist for the district and came to bring us some math cheer.  She ran a family math night which the kids really enjoyed!  The hit of the evening was a math game called "Greedy".

As we headed out towards the school this morning before dawn, we caught sight of glistening on the boardwalk, and had to step carefully... the wooden walk way was covered in frost!  We decided to make our way along the road, which was surprisingly solid after so many days of wetness.  The slimy clay mud that lines the road dries out very quickly!

On that same note, I can breathe a little easier now... the mail brought my new snowpants from Land's End.  I had decided it made sense to order some when I got here, but I got a little nervous when it turned so cool so soon!

So, we are losing 6 minutes of daylight each day, and the weather is quite cool, especially with the strong winds coming off the bay.  What is the weather like in your corner of the world?

Fellowship

Scene 1
Setting: Before school began, at the new teacher training, in the lunch line

Mr. Science: "Janet, I don't know if you are a person of faith, but if you are interested, my pastor & his wife fly out from Bethel to Toksook every week for a Bible Study."

 ****

Scene 2
Setting: Second week of school, Parent-Teacher Conferences

Me: "Talk, talk, talk, student, test scores, etc. etc."
G's Father: "I will pray for you and your class."
Me: "Thank you!  Are you a believer?  Where do you fellowship?" (Knowing that the only church building in the village is the Catholic Church.)
G's Father: "Ah, this is the reason I came to this conference, to meet you.  I wasn't going to come, but I had a feeling that I should.  Please join us, we meet in a home on Sundays and Wednesdays."

****

I am once again surprised and amazed how the Lord's presence is here in this village!  Although neither the Catholic church nor the home gathering are my particular flavor of Christianity, I feel very blessed to find fellowship with real followers of Christ.

When I visited the Catholic church, it was an elder led service (the Priest travels a circuit of villages) and I sensed true worship in the service.   It was very crowded, all the pews were filled, and the songs were familiar.

This morning I battled the fierce winds blowing off the bay to trudge out to the home gathering, where I met with brothers and sisters in the Lord.  There were 5 guitars, a drum trap set, bongos, and a tambourine.  A lone couch up against the wall where a couple elders sat (the older people of the village, not the office) plus a few folding chairs, which were occupied by the musicians.  Everyone else was seated on the floor.  There were hymnbooks of sorts, folders containing the words of songs which were numbered... but not necessarily in numerical order.

Most of the songs were familiar, and the message was solid and practical.  I enjoyed the sweet fellowship, but I have to say that 3 hours on the floor was a challenge!  Let's just say that I came to realize that there are muscles that I haven't challenged in a l-o-n-g time.

I haven't met with the people from Bethel yet, but I am looking forward to another drink at the well.

God is good.

A Taste of Toksook

My friend, Caitlin is the cross country coach for Nunap, and she posted this great video of their team's trip for the cross country meet we hosted last weekend.  Enjoy this short peek into my world here... and yes, that is real beluga whale we are munching on! 

Wondering Why I Am Here...

“It's not what we eat but what we digest that makes us strong; 

not what we gain but what we save that makes us rich;

 not what we read but what we remember that makes us learned; 

and not what we profess but what we practice that gives us integrity.” Frances Bacon

I like this quote, and find myself really pondering it today. We had a teacher inservice today and I'm struggling with my core beliefs about education and how kids learn. My heart's desire is to truly educate, is that why I'm here?

Once again, I find myself looking around me for the answers when I should be looking up. I'm going to try and stop my thinking and start praying in earnest.

Here's a view from my window of a rainbow that caught my eye and reminded me of the hope that I have. Notice the white cross on the Catholic Church peeking over the rooftop? An amazing view to behold!

Blackberry Festival 2011

This weekend is the annual Blackberry Festival (or Feastival, as the t-shirts proclaimed one year!) in Toksook Bay.

Our school hosted a Cross Country Meet, which proved to be a lot of fun as it brought some familiar faces to the village... Anna, the newly minted cross country coach of the Good News Bears showed up with with 3 contenders in tow.  They stayed at my house with me, and were a pleasure!

It was fun to see a good friend from my weeks in Atmau, as well some of the other first year teachers met in training a few weeks ago.  The race itself was in very chilly rain, and the contestants braved lots of mud and obstacles along the 3 mile course through rugged terrain.  It was quite a challenge for the teams from the flat tundra that hadn't run on hills and through ravines before!

There was a sobering event at the onset of the weekend.  The plane that dropped off one of the teams had a mid-air collision with another plane on the return trip shortly after leaving here and their pilot was killed, the plane burned.  Quite chilling to realize how fortunate they were to be alive, as well as all the other teams that arrived safe & sound!

The Blackberry Festival has community events like fiddle dances every evening, and raffles to fundraise for the community.  It's been fun to be a part of the festivities!

I'll leave you with a photo taken by a friend flying in for the meet... I snagged it from her facebook!

I've Looked at Clouds from Both Sides Now

As I've been getting more experience flying in bush planes, or air taxis, I've learned some interesting things.

Bush planes come in various models, some can fly faster than others.  Bush pilots seem to each have their own style as to how they fly. As I've been flying in inclimate weather,  I've witnessed 3 approaches: to fly through the clouds, to fly above the clouds, and to fly under the clouds.

On the first trip out to the coast last week, the pilot took the pea soup approach.  We flew in heavy cloud cover all the way as I anxiously peered at the gps real time tracking screen.

Then, returning to Bethel,  I was on a smaller plane that adopted the cropduster style.  We flew the whole way underneath the cloud cover.  It was strange to me that we stayed so low to the ground, but the views were great.

So, I'm surprised at how comfortable I've gotten at hurdling through space in all kinds of wild weather and visibility!  But, the tragic crash of the teachers heading for Anvik was sobering to say the least.  (Plane encountered white out conditions and hit the side of a mountain, killing the pilot & a teacher.  The first year teachers and their children were injured, but survived.)

Lulled into a false sense of security by successful flights, I'm sure that I will be more thankful next time I fly for the journey mercies.

"No man can walk out of his own story." -Spirit of the West in "Rango"

Tonight some of the teachers had a girl's movie night and we watched the movie "Rango"... Netflix is great for those of us out in the middle of no-where! If you aren't familiar with the movie, it's an animated western, here's the blurb for it:

     "Rango is a sheltered chameleon living as an ordinary family pet, while facing a major identity crisis. After all, how high can you aim when your whole purpose in life is to blend in? When Rango accidentally winds up in the gritty, gun-slinging town of Dirt - a lawless outpost populated by the desert's most wily and whimsical creatures - the less-than-courageous lizard suddenly finds he stands out." 

Rango has a comfortable life living in a glass aquarium until that safe world is shattered on the highway, leaving him to navigate the dangerous and scary desert. When I saw that tank get bumped off the moving truck and shatter everywhere, leaving the chameleon lying stunned, I instantly thought what an apt metaphor that is for my life at the moment!

So, here I am, rather stunned at the endeavor before me this school year. I have 18 precious fifth graders with a wide range of needs entrusted to my care for this year. It is a daunting task, and at times I've found myself looking around, wild-eyed, hoping to somehow find a protected glass world. In lieu of that, I've crawled "under His wings" and am trusting that the Lord will equip me for this assignment.   It's a good place to be.

I'm sorry to be so scarce, hopefully my internet situation will improve! Oh, and fyi, although I enjoyed the movie, I wouldn't recommend it as family viewing, check it out online before renting it for kids.

Throw Off the Bowlines!

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

I've accepted a position to teach 5th grade in Toksook Bay next year!  A Yup'ik village located on Nelson Island, it has more than 500 people, quite a bit larger than the village that I subbed in.

More details to follow in the near future...

The Store

This is the store in Atmauthluak.  It is like an old fashioned general store.  It carries a wide variety of goods... things like motor oil, rope, coats, and food.   The prices are high because everything has to be flown in.  For instance, a medium bag of potato chips is $8.00.  What they carry varies from week to week, depending on the weather and what is able to be shipped in.  Oh, and some of the food is past it's expiration date.  I ate some crackers from there that had expired in 2008.

They also carry various and sundry toiletries and supplies, as well as native crafts by locals.  I bought a pretty knit hat while I was there, and other teachers bought beaded jewelry.

One of the best selling items are boxes of bullets!  Most in the village are subsistence hunters, which means they live off the land; hunting, fishing, and gathering.  Here is one of my students buying some bullets before heading out for a day of hunting when the migrating birds started showing up.

There is also another small store in the village, a family devoted a room in their house to house some groceries.  They are open in the evenings while the bigger store is closed.

So, that is a taste of shopping in the Alaskan bush!

Re-Entry

Those last days in Atmau were a frenzy of grades, packing and last visits!  I was also getting the classroom ready for the new math teacher to take over the reins in August.  I'm happy that the students are getting a teacher with a wealth of experience.  She is coming from another village, so should be able to step right into it.

My trip home was great!  The village airline agent picked me up on her four wheeler and I hopped on the short flight to Bethel... much more relaxed than I'd been 9 weeks ago on the trip out to the village.

I spent the weekend with Anna:

I enjoyed the service on Sunday.  It was Anna's last time singing with the worship team since she is moving to Good News Bay.  I took a couple of cute shots of Elizabeth & her, they are going to miss each other!

I still have things to share that I didn't have the time to blog about, so there will be some additional retro-postings...

How do you eat a whale?

...one bite at a time!  I changed my old favorite from elephant to whale so that my students could relate better, and it worked.

Now, I feel like I'm the one eating the whale.  This last week of school is whirlwind, so many details to take care of for my classes:  grades, records, organizing, packing, decisions for next year.

The last days I've spent making Yup'ik style dolls, modeled after a doll that one of the teachers here learned to make at a district workshop.  The students have done a great job, here are some of the finished products:

So, off to take another bite of that whale!

"Can't Talk Now, We're Cooking a Teacher"

she said into her cell phone.

Steams are the showers of this village.  Since the homes here don't have running water, many have steam houses as a method of cleaning.  The one that I went to today had 2 small rooms with enough space for the 3 of us in each one.  The ceilings were low, although I could stand up in the outer room if I stood where the roof peaked.

The outer room had nails around the perimeter, and we left our clothes there.  The inner room had an oil drum stove fired with wood and lava rocks (like you'd find in a gas grill) on top, and enough floor space for us and the basins of pond water and melting snow.

I really had no idea just how hot and intense the steam would be!  My skin felt like I had just touched an oven rack.  We held washcloths over our faces to keep the heat from searing our lungs.  Yeah, it was HOT.  I finally said, "That's it for me!' and dove out into the outer room, much to the amusement of my hostess.  I cooled down, and went back in for another round.

We steamed, sweated, cooled down, and then repeated the process.  The final step was to wash using the basins.  We scrubbed and rinsed, and then sat in the outer room for a final cool down.  My lobster red skin gradually faded.

I'm pretty sure that every single pore I have is completely clean now.

Not only an effective method of cleansing, but this rather lengthy process includes a valuable social aspect as well.  It was a time of bonding: we enjoyed small talk, giggles, confidences and talked about God.  There was even some singing!

I'm glad I had this opportunity. Now I am clean, incredibly relaxed, and have had a glimpse into another aspect of life in this village.

"We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance." -Japanese Proverb

Prom was a smashing success.  You would have never known that there had been all those eleventh-hour glitches... the gym looked great, the food arrived and was served, the music worked out fine, and all appropriate cords were found in time to pull it all off.  All the hard work by the middle school teacher, who sponsored the event, paid off, everyone had a great time!

 Prom had a rather slow start, but no worries, these two rocked it out and got the party started, got the party started, got the party started!

Too bad this isn't a video!

Everyone dressed in their finest duds!

An elementary teacher worked hard to set up a photo booth.  Teachers at all grade levels pitch in for the prom. Using a green screen and his MacBook Pro, people were able to get their pictures taken and then he dropped in the background of their choice.  It was great!  Here are some of the results:

You can see how the photos look with the backgrounds dropped in if you go to our school website.

The last dance of the night was called a broom dance, and it was a dance version of Musical Chairs, played with partners instead of chairs.  Lots of laughter!

Oh, and we didn't clean up the gym.  The custom is to leave it up for the children who were too young to come to prom and have a "Kiddie Prom" on Monday.  After having the lunchroom/gym closed off to them for a whole week, the kids will be invited into the grand ballroom and rock out to the music cranked, play with the balloons, and partake in leftover refreshments.  Should be a blast!

The Tassel is Worth the Hassle!

Well, 2 of the 4 seniors completed their phases in time to graduate.  Everyone finished up math in time (whew!), but two need another semester to get their writing and research presentations done.  Here is a very nervous Graduate presenting her Senior Project to the judges & community:

So the past week was spent decorating the gym for the impending festivities, which are held all on the same day: Graduation and Prom.  Miles of streamers festoon the gym, pillars were erected, lights strung, and festive posters made by talented staff and students adorn every wall.  The ordinary room where hot lunches are served on cardboard trays has been transformed into a tribute to the honored graduates.

We had graduation this afternoon, here are a few highlights for you:

 Miss M. is bound for college in Montana!

 Classmates since Kindergarten!

Thanking mom!

Sorry about the blurriness, I had my camera on the wrong setting for the gym.  Now, off to take a nap and go back to school for Prom.