More Pictures....Because I Can!

I love this picture!  This is Mickey who works in ECE.  He was one of the marshals for the Christmas Week games.  Next to him is his sister, Annie...mother of one of our ECE students, Luke.  Congrats to Annie and her honey, Jason.  They were married on January 21.

Mark (postmaster), Mat (works with us in ECE) and Jan (Mat's honey)

From the minute I got off the plane back in August, this man, Warren (maintenance man at school) began teasing me nonstop.  He's a hoot!  I drew his name for the staff gift exchange and I couldn't wait to give him his gift.  We'll just say that it has to do with what he tends to "dish out" to me....and there was a roll of toilet paper in that box!  His wife, Bessi, is looking on.  She's one of the bilingual teachers.  Great people!  Oh, I see Karen just to the left of Warren....and she teaches in the three year old program.

This is where I live now!

A caption is TOTALLY necessary here!  That's me heading around Mickey (one of the Christmas Week marshals).  This game involved the women holding a potato between their knees and running down the gym floor and back.  Right as I a rounded his chair, I said, "Mickey, I'm passing gas!"

Christmas Week games - Another Finger Pull game

Christmas Week - Little Finger Pull

Christmas Week games - Leg Flip!  My Dad would have loved this!

Celebrating with Lani (new housemate) and Mike at the school Christmas program.

You lose!  Serve me coffee, please!  The losing team in the men's Christmas Week football (or was it called soccer) game had to serve cookies, coffee, and juice to everyone in the gym that evening.  This is good-natured John Kokeok!   At least he didn't end up at the Health Clinic with injuries like some men did!

View from my kitchen window.....ok....there is a little shed out that window so the snow isn't really THAT deep!  However, as I post this blog this evening, we heard that back in Shishmaref (I'm currently in Stebbins....another village) there are 10 to 12 foot drifts!  That's the reason I'm still in Stebbins....our flight was cancelled due to the weather.

Cemetery at sunrise (which was still late in the morning)

Snack Shack!  It's not Marty's Cones and Carry-Out but it's still pretty decent!  Love the shrimp!  And they deliver!

From the lagoon looking back at the church on the first day of the Christmas Week games.  The dog mushers were about to begin out on the lagoon.  Unfortunately, it was so incredibly cold that day that I wasn't able to keep my gloves off long enough to use my camera.  My hands were numb so quickly....and my camera decided it was too cold to work.

Pictures....Because I Can!

During the Christmas Week games, one of the events was to eat a cracker and then whistle.  Wilsa is proving to Morris that she can do it!  It was worth a lot of laughs!

This was hilarious!  During the Christmas Week games and races, this little puppy decided he could run with the best of them!  I think the guys are very thankful the puppy didn't beat them!

The raven pictures are for my daughter!

Ravens!

The ravens up here are so big!

Thank you, Bob...for loading up the tank and filling it at the school and hauling it back to the house and pumping it in through the hose to our tank.  Bob, Lani, and I all share 165 gallons per fill.

The view from the tank in the bathroom looking back across the hallway through my bedroom...out the window to the water tank on the sled.

The water hose winds its way through the house to the tank.  Check out the big cardboard box propped in the window with the blue tub!  You have to make do with whatever you have to block out that cold north wind!!

This is Lani at my bedroom window breaking off the ice so we can get the water hose through...to the bathroom where the water tank is located.  This is what happens every time we need to fill the tank....about every two weeks or so.

Aalapaa, it's cold!  This is Steve...our principal!

Stebbins Eskimo dancers and drummers are practicing the movements for an upcoming potlatch.

Stebbins Eskimo Dancers and Drummers

Thank you, Stebbins villagers, for allowing us to watch you practice the traditional Eskimo dances and to hear the drumming and singing.  This was really impressive.

Frozen chunks of pond ice....folks go to a pond on the mainland to break out chunks for fresh drinking water.

Teachers being hauled out to the airstrip for a flight out!

Frozen snow-covered wires!

Addendum to Earlier Post!

If you are reading these posts in order, this is an addendum to the "Hurry Up...and Wait!...or HURRY UP!"  This just cracks me up....follow along now....

It's Saturday, January 21.  We were scheduled to fly back home today from Stebbins where we are at an inservice with four other village schools.  We were hearing questionable weather reports earlier in the day which is a typical thing here in Alaska.  Weather changes quickly and it can be quite dangerous.  The plane we were to be on was flying out of Nome.

In the mid afternoon, it was announced that "the Shishmaref folks would be leaving on time" and a cheer went up.  Now...."on time" meant....4:30 p.m. and it was now like 3:00.  We would plan to leave for the airstrip in one hour (4:00 p.m.).

Donna, Donna, Donna....listen to your own learned lessons!  Remember....this is Alaska and time is "different" up here....like everything else!

Fortunately, I was packed and my cot and mattress were folded up and placed out in the hallway and all was well.  I happily thought, "Ah, an hour to play around with my blog some more now that I know how to post pictures!"  I kid you not....honest to God!  We had been told the current information and I was just plugging in my power cord to my laptop....not even two minutes had passed.  KAZAAM!  Announcement over the loudspeaker:  "SHISHMAREF STAFF....YOU NEED TO BE AT THE NORTH ENTRANCE IN FIVE MINUTES.  YOUR PLANE IS ARRIVING EARLY."

Holy cow!  Quick!  Unplug the power cord and pack up the laptop.  Get the layers on....quick!  Get everything out front....hurry up!  The trucks are being loaded....NOW!  We all piled into the trucks and were driven the seven miles out to the St. Michael's airstrip....which is longer and can handle the charter plane we were to be on.  Are you still with me?  The story gets even...."better" (tongue in cheek).

We get out to the airstrip...and that's all it is up here....an airstrip.  There's a building where the snowplow is kept but it is locked.  It's not like you stand in a lobby waiting for your plane....in Nome or Unalakleet...yes....but not in the smaller village airstrips.  We get out there and the drivers (three trucks) inform us that they have to go back to Stebbins for the next plane load.  Our luggage and our bodies will now have to wait outside for the plane to arrive.  So we all pile out....in bitter cold.....with mounting wind....and relatively no protection....and we....wait....and wait.....and wait.  Hmmm....it begins to get a bit questionable.....the cold....waiting....and no airplane.  One of our staff members did not have warm enough boots on and was getting incredibly cold....to the point of worry.  Just as we were about to force her to take off her boots and make her wrap up her feet in a sleeping bag (which was also already cold but maybe better than what she was dealing with), a plane came into sight.  We were thinking good thoughts...until the plane came into view....it was green....ERA.  We were waiting for Bering Air.....a brown plane.

Just as the plane landed, the trucks arrived with another group of teachers who were flying back to Gambell on the St. Lawrence Island.  They immediately loaded up....and we were informed that our plane was NOT coming now.  They couldn't leave Nome.  We immediately loaded our stuff back on the trucks and headed back to Stebbins to the school to spend another night.  Hey, at least we are safe and sound.  We are scheduled to be on a flight tomorrow morning at 10:30.  However......(remember....I am in Alaska)....

One of our teachers just gave a report from her husband who is back in Shishmaref right now.  There are 10-12 foot drifts down one of our main roadways.

You got to love it!  What can I say?  I wasn't expecting life to be easy up here and I sure am learning that "time" has taken on a different meaning.

TTFN

I Appreciate the Help....or He'll Live to Regret It!

This is Ken!  I haven't decided if he's so bright the "rays" just naturally show....or (and this was the case) if I aimed the picture to incorporate the huge "mask" that was mounted on the wall behind him.  In any event....thank you, Ken, for helping me out with all the technical stuff.  I hope you check out his Facebook page
 because he always has some great photos and local information.

Ken has helped me out yet again in understanding how to post pictures on my blog.  I took a picture of him so you would have a visual with the written words....and now I'm going to post it....without Ken standing right next to me telling me what to do.  He'll probably....regret helping me!

Testing...1..2...3!

Slippers made by Gertie!  Lovely...and warm!

I am sitting next to Mr. Ken Stenek...who is my tutor in posting a picture on my blog.  So...if it doesn't work, he's a crappy teacher!  I'm kidding, Ken (because he's sitting right next to me).  Seriously, he's helped me out with lots of technical issues.  So, here goes....

IT WORKED!  Ken passes as a good teacher!!!

Thank You, Stebbins!

Ahhh....finally!  I got to see firsthand some traditional Eskimo dancing, drumming and singing.  Thank you, Stebbins folks, for inviting us (the teachers at the inservice) down to the Community Center to watch you practice for an upcoming potlatch.  I was quite impressed.  There were seven drummers/singers and several dancers with one main "leader/teacher" (an Elder woman).  Each dance would bring out a different group of dancers varying in age and gender.  Mesmerizing, to say the least!

I called Dan on the phone and just held it out for a couple of the songs so he could hear and appreciate what I was hearing.  I tried to reach Jess but, darn it, I didn't get through.

I wish I could have understood the language and the meaning of the dances and arm movements.  Sometimes the dancers held "fans" made of wooden bases and feathers.  Hopefully, I might be able to purchase a couple tomorrow as one of the cooks here in the school said she had some for sale.

On a related thought, last week, one of our bilingual teachers in Shishmaref, Bessie, visited with the ECE students.  She brought down a drum used in Eskimo dancing.  She explained that the drum surface would traditionally be made of stretched animal skin around a large wooden ring.  The drum surface is not struck during the drumming but rather the wooden rim with a stick.  I'm now curious about that tonight because the drummers I saw were using a thinner reed-like stick and they were hitting the surface of the drum.  Anyway, Bessie explained that even the striking of the rim is different depending on where the people live.  For example, the St. Lawrence Island folks (Siberian Yupik) in Gambell or Savoonga strike the upper side rim.  The drummers from Shishmaref (Inupiat Eskimo) strike the under side of the rim.

The more I see....the more questions I have!

Tidbits and AALAPAA!

I wanted to share a few tidbits...

Remember when I told you that Dennis from the Snack Shack had lost an envelope of money in the wind? I am happy to report that he eventually found it....not even near where it took flight in the wind.  He's a lucky man.

I received a "letter of intent" that I must sign and turn in by February 15 indicating whether or not I'll be returning next year.  I am pretty certain of my reply....you want to guess what it is?

AALAPAA! (or something like that)  It's COLD up here!  We had a couple of weeks of unbelievably cold temperatures.  We've had temps of -35 to -45.  Add just a little bit of wind and that can register -55.  Even the folks who have lived here all their lives were commenting on how unusual these temperatures have been.  The really cold weather usually comes in later in January and February.  In other words....it ain't over yet!!!  The trick is to layer up and not stay out too long.  Walking to school with a face mask is a must and if you could only see us up here once we arrive at our destinations.  Our masks are covered with frost and steam rolls out around our mouths and noses.  I do have to comment on Dennis again....hope he doesn't mind being featured in my blog.  He delivered some boxes recently to the ECE building that had arrived on one of the flights.  When I opened the door to him, I had to laugh (sorry, Dennis) because his face was covered with icicles wherever he had hair...eyebrows, eyelashes, beard, mustache....what a sight!

Geography lesson.....no, we were not inundated with snow recently as some of you were worried about!  That was down in the south-central area of Cordova and Valdez.  Shishmaref is looked many, many, many miles northwest....just below the Arctic Circle and on the shores of the Chukchi Sea just north of the Bering Strait.  We're north of Nome....where the Russian tanker recently was able to deliver a load of fuel to the city.  It was quite a difficult task. 

A few days ago, I was thinking about the snow-covered tundra here and what it looked like with the low rising sun out over the horizon.  The hazy pinkish, bluish colors in the sky....the still, cold terrain with no sign of life....almost like being on the surface of the moon.  It reminded me of when I was in Oklahoma several years ago visiting Charlie and Linda Tucker (Charlie the Sheriff).  They took me to dig hourglass crystals at the nearby salt flats one early evening just as the moon was coming up and it wasn't quite dark yet.  From inside the air-conditioned car, I looked out over the flat, white landscape....where nothing stirred.  Hmmm....it felt like we were on the surface of the moon.  What was really strange on that trip was when we stopped and got out of the car....the air was so....warm!  That's the BIG difference in what it's like here.  It sure isn't warm outside!  But they do remind me of each other.

I'll be headed to San Antonio, Texas soon....first week of February....for a school-related conference.  Sure am looking forward to that.  Dan (my son) will be driving down from Austin to meet up with me and Jess (my daughter) might fly down to join us.

I received several nice Christmas cards and letters from family and friends.  Thank you very much for thinking of me up here.  We're (as Diane and I often say) "fa, fa away" from each other but you are near to me in my heart and mind.

Take care!

Hurry Up...and Wait! No, HURRY UP!

Just a quick blog about how things work up here.....

Time can sometimes be referred to up here as...."Shishmaref Time".....meaning that it will happen....when it happens!  For me, coming from the Lower 48 and being very geared to timelines and written schedules....it's taken a bit of getting used to.  It doesn't happen all the time but it happens enough to make a person smile...and to just take a deep breath and not get your underwear in a bunch over something not happening when YOU THINK it should happen.  On the other hand, things can just as easily happen quicker than you thought so you always have to be on your toes and ready.

For example, I am at an inservice down in Stebbins.  We've been here since Wednesday night.  We were originally scheduled to be here from Thursday through Saturday.  Then we received notice from our building principal that plans had changed and we would now be adding an additional day of training and would be leaving on Wednesday.  Pack your bag a day sooner in order to haul it to school in the morning.  Ok...

On the day we were to leave, we were originally told we'd be flying out at 3:00 and would need to be at school by 2:40.  Ok....I had time to get to the post office.  It's a good thing there aren't restaurants in Shishmaref where I might have stopped off for a cup of coffee....because I no sooner return to the ECE building and a phone is being handed to me.  The flight is coming in sooner and we have to be at the airstrip.  Hurry up!  Get moving!  Ok....

Now we're in Stebbins and I'm excited about the training because I am going to have the chance to be with some of the other ECE teachers and our District Office "guru", Julie, during this inservice.  But....when we finally get together, we're told that we have to "tweak out" some time for us because Julie wasn't "officially" scheduled into the mix of presenters.  Seems we'll have to "wait" our turn.  Ok....

We manage to do that the best we can with FINALLY getting an afternoon of uninterrupted time on Friday to go over so many things we haven't been able to cover.  I am walking to our little corner room for our 1:00 session and I hear Julie's name being called over the loudspeaker.  Ok, I'll admit it....I didn't hear anymore than that so when I arrive in the room, Julie is frantically packing up her gear with the help of one of our other ECE teachers.  I casually say, "Are we moving to a different room?"  No, we weren't.  The loudspeaker announcement for Julie (had I listened to the rest of it) was summoning her to the office because her flight out of Stebbins was 14 minutes away from the airstrip.  Hurry up!  Get moving!  So much for our long-awaited ECE session.  Bye, Julie.....!  Ok....

There are so many things out of your control that can happen up here that will have an effect on when and how something else happens (or doesn't happen).  You might be expecting a delivery from Nome on some flight....only to have the flight cancelled due to the weather which can change quickly.  You might be in the middle of a video teleconferencing session with someone down in Unalakleet (or beyond)...and the equipment won't work....or the scheduled time has run out and the feed goes blank!  You might plan to make a batch of cookies and realize that you have no eggs in the house and there are none to be had from either of the village stores...for another week or so....depends on the weather.  You might have a sink load of dishes but you can't do them until the water tank is filled and you can't do that because it's too cold out to haul the tank which can freeze so quickly.  Oh, heck....you get the picture.

I'm learning to "hurry up and wait" but being ready to drop everything and run....now!

On a very sad note, how things happen up here can also depend on real life events.  Over Christmas, a villager had passed away.  The Christmas Week activities had to be delayed a day because of the funeral being held on the Monday after Christmas.  Had there been school, we would have had an early release from school that day, too, because funerals are attended by so many in this close-knit community.  Today, at our inservice, we received word of another death in the village.  Sad....so very sad.  Two of our staff members are waiting to fly out of Stebbins to return home to be with their families.  Life is so predictably unpredictable here.  My thoughts go out to the family and friends of the young man who passed away.  God be with you all.

Homesick!

It's just after midnight so it's January 2 now.  I am watching "The Weather Channel" and the big news is the blizzard hitting Northern Lower Michigan....and Charlevoix County was outlined with the white bands of snow covering it....right over EAST JORDAN.  Whoohoo!  SNOW DAY!  Should I call you in the morning, Mary?

No, I'm not really homesick but it did bring a smile to my face to see the weather map.  By the way, you Wisconsin folks....there's NO WAY your state looks like a mitten!  What are you thinking?  I can say that because my sister and her husband live in Wisconsin.  I should go bug Bob about that....he's one of our teachers and lives in the attached unit to the house I'm currently in....and he's from Wisconsin.

If anyone is interested in what's happening weather-wise right now in Shishmaref, Ken sent this report to me a few hours ago...."Airport weather station is reporting -33 with a -48 windchill."


I wanted to post last night's final events for Christmas Week...

What a different New Year's Eve celebration....one I've never experienced before.  We were all in the gym for the awards ceremony for that day's races.  Following that, thank you gifts were given to this year's marshals.  Wow!  They were given many wonderful gifts for a job well done.  Next, the losers of that day's Eskimo "football" game held outside on the lagoon had to serve cookies, coffee and punch to EVERYONE in the gym.  Then, the women participated in some fun games before the final men's event.  I have to say that if Dad was still alive and here (and young), he would have been right down on the floor trying out many of the men's "feats of strength" that I have seen the last few nights.  He would have loved it.  Last night was the "high kick" and I think the final winner jumped and kicked 76 inches.  A sealskin ball is suspended from the ceiling and as the participants compete, it is raised.  They must jump and kick the ball with both feet.  People in the bleachers donate money to the pot....I think it got up over $200 plus a pair of ivory earrings.

This went on and on for a long time.  Just before midnight, lots of people left to watch the fireworks out by the lagoon.  The jumping and kicking continued in the gym until midnight rolled around and the announcer wished everyone a "Happy New Year".  The game was put on hold while EVERYONE in the gym went around shaking everyone's hand and wishing them a "Happy New Year"....no kissing...just a jolly handshake and greeting.  Then the game continued until participants weeded themselves out and one was left.  Up went the cheers and everyone stood for him.  Then we all packed up and went home.

Silly me....I still stayed up though finishing yet another 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle and reading more of my Tess Gerritson book.  I finally turned the light off at 4:30 a.m.  I will definitely need to swing that around soon....school is back in session on Wednesday.

Once again, there are pictures posted on my Facebook page and that of Ken Stenek's.  The "high kick" is pretty impressive.  Check it out.

Take care....good luck, Northern Michigan!  Batten down the hatches and haul out the shovels!