Theme Verse

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."
-Joshua 1:9 (NIV)

"Ya te lo he ordenado: ¡Sé fuerte y valiente! ¡No tengas miedo ni te desanimes! Porque el SEÑOR tu Dios te acompañará dondequiera que vayas."
-Josué 1:9 (NVI)


Saturday, January 10, 2015

Basketball

All right, so my goal of writing 10 blogs in 10 days didn't quite work out, but that's okay. I missed the last two days because our school has been hosting a basketball tournament called Kickoff Klassic.

We had boys and girls from 6 different schools arrive on Wednesday and games have been playing since noon that day. There were two games this afternoon, and the championship games are this evening.

Basketball is HUGE around here (and that's an understatement). Every day after lunch the students have free gym time where you can find nearly every student involved in some sort of pick-up game. The gym fills up quickly when Scammon Bay is playing, and things can get intense.

So how does hosting a tournament go in a small village? Well first of all, the other teams have to come from different towns (this is true not just of tournaments, but in regular season games as well), and since there aren't any hotels in Scammon Bay, all the teams and their coaches and chaperones sleep in the school. So right after school I have to clear out so the team that's staying in my room has a place to go.

The whole staff gets involved: some are helping with hospitality, others with keeping stats or making name tags or welcome signs, and almost everyone has to work at least twice during the games, taking entry fees or working crowd control (a.k.a., making sure little kids aren't running around). The city adult basketball teams got involved too, helping with stats and crowd control in the gym. Student council runs the student store, selling food and drinks and Scammon gear. And of course, we all love cheering on our students.

During the school day it's hard to get the kids to focus on work when they know there is basketball to watch, so we did some basketball-themed readings and activities, and used going to the game later as an incentive. Of course, we definitely went down to cheer when our own teams were playing. The games lasted until school ended, and then there was a two-hour-or-so break until the evening games started. The past couple days I was home for maybe an hour or two and then was back up at school until 10 or later. (You can see why blogging didn't take top priority.)

Both our girls and boys varsity teams are in the championship games tonight, so we'll head up there pretty soon to cheer them on. Hopefully they will be good games--most of the games these teams have played have been won by between ten and thirty points. Good for us, but not terribly exciting to watch. I think there's a dance tonight too, and then the teams will head home tomorrow (weather permitting).

And then life should settle down, a little. Or at least until the next basketball game.
 The varsity boys tip off against Bethel Thursday night.

Scammon Bay girls varsity playing Hooper Bay on Friday.
 
 The crowd in the commons during half time.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Daylight

Another question I get asked a lot is about the amount of sun (and lack thereof). Right now the days are pretty short. And this summer, especially those first few weeks of August, the days were super long. Needless to say, my internal clock is pretty much useless.

When I first arrived in August, it was really hard to go to bed at night, because it was still so bright out. In fact, I didn't actually see the town in darkness for close to a week, when I got up in the middle of the night and found that it actually did get dark!
 10:15 pm on Aug. 7

Then for a while the days were pretty "normal" length, or normal for winter down-states. But for a couple months now I've walked to school in the dark and walked home in dusk.

The weather app on my phone shows sunrise and sunset. On the solstice, they just barely fit on the same screen! (11:24 and 4:36)

When school is going, I have to get up early anyway, so it's not too strange to wake up in the dark. But over the break, when I didn't have to get up for anything, it was really hard not to just sleep all morning. Even if my clock said 10, or even 11 or 12, it was dark enough that my brain thought, "Nah, it's still early. Go back to sleep!"

11:30 am on Jan. 1
The picture above is about what it looks like most days here (it maybe gets a little brighter). We don't live far enough north for complete darkness, but because of how the town is situated on the side of the mountain, we haven't had direct sunlight in well over a month. There's daylight, but we can't actually see the sun, even if it's a clear day.

Still there is such beauty here, sunlight or no. I love looking out across the tundra: it's like a watercolor of rosy pink, blue, and white, stretching out forever. I have a great view from my classroom, actually, and some days it's hard not join my students in just staring out the window!

The good thing is, we add several minutes of daylight each day now, so by the end of the month we may actually see the sun. Woohoo!



Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Our Goose is Cooked!

....but first, it's shot, plucked, and gutted.

One of the benefits of living in rural Alaska is the food all around. And fall means bird hunting season. Drew got to go out a few times with some local men who took him goose hunting, and he came back with several! Some were a gift, some he shot. His first one he shot we took to an elder, as is the custom.

As excited as I was to try goose, imagine my surprise and disgust when I was sitting at home one evening, doing some school work or watching tv or something, and Drew comes home and says, "Here, take these."
He then hands me several dead geese, which he expects me to carry to the kitchen by their dead, muddy necks.
(Some shivering and face making ensued, but I did carry them.)

Then came the adventure in cleaning them. We talked to several people to get some advice, and after trying a few different methods our favorite was skinning. Most people don't like it because it takes all the fat (and thus, some of the flavor) off too, but it's by far easier than plucking (in my very inexperienced opinion, of course).  Then the fun part begins: when you have to make their entrails...their extrails. I'll skip the gory details, but after the first time it wasn't so bad. I even did a couple birds all by myself when Drew was out of town, thank you very much! Just turn on some tv, spread out the cardboard, and I'm good to go.

As it turns out, goose is quite delicious!

As an added bonus, I consider this excellent revenge on those annoying Canadian Geese that spent time at North Park.

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Wind, Snow, and Ice

A lot of people have asked about the weather here: Is it cold? How much snow do you have? Is it windy?

Yes, Some, and Yes.

I joke. (More village vernacular for you!)

It started snowing in October, and we've had snow off-and-on since then. We had a warm spell in November, I think, about when it started to get really cold down-States. But "cold" has taken on a whole new meaning, in more ways than one.

First off, people here really, really like the cold and snow, mainly because it's easier to travel. Ironic, right? But when you're surrounded by rivers, lakes, and marshy tundra, it's much easier to travel when they're all frozen over. Snow machines, or "snow-go"s, are the preferred method of travel, and people got super excited when there was finally snow enough to use them. Kids love sliding on the icy streets and hills, riding in sleds pulled by snow machine or four wheeler, and in general just playing out in the snow. When we had a little warm spell (it got up into the 30s) the snow melted just enough to make everything covered in slippery, wet, ice. Not fun.

Secondly, even though it's cold and has been cold longer, I feel like I'm less cold here than I usually am in Kansas during the winter. In Kansas, when I went somewhere, I would generally wear jeans, shoes or boots, and a coat. I would sit in the car and freeze until it warmed up, then get out again and go into a building that may or may not be warm. Here, if I'm going up to school or am going to be out for a while, I might put on my snow pants, heavy coat, hat, mittens, boots, and since I'm walking I'm usually sweating by the time I get to school. And if I get a ride with someone, it's cold (the wind is awful when you're riding a four-wheeler), but I'm there in just a couple minutes. Plus, our house and the school, at least, are usually plenty warm.

And finally, you really do just get used to it. When it warmed up to the mid-30s I was amazed by how warm it actually felt!

The wind is a different story. It's not always windy, but it can get super windy. Back in October I walked to school one morning and it was so windy the snow was blowing horizontally and I almost got knocked over several times (it doesn't help when you're trying to walk in slippery snow). The school is up the hill a ways, so part of the way is blocked by the mountain, but when I got into the open I had to stop and catch my breath before plowing my way across the yard. The whole time I kept thinking, "This is insane. I can't believe I'm really walking to school in this. This is really happening." And they tell me that wasn't even a big storm! The last couple days we had really strong winds that blew snow drifts around the front of our house. It's hard to tell how much snow we actually have because the wind blows it around. The planes couldn't get in while it was blowing so hard, but it's finally calmed down today so a couple planes just landed.

Tomorrow school starts up again, and I'm back to walking in the snow in the early morning. We bought a snow machine though, and it should be on its way soon, so I have that to look forward to. Soon Drew and I might get to see what all the fuss is about!


Saturday, January 3, 2015

Winston Churchill

For the longest time now, Drew has wanted a dog. I've been hesitant, first of all because we lived in small apartments, and second of all because pets are a lot of work. When we moved to Alaska, Drew was even more insistent about getting a dog, and after a while I couldn't really come up with a good excuse.
There are dogs everywhere in the village; a lot of families own one or two, and then there are a lot of stray dogs that just wander around. (No vet in town=not much population control, if you know what I mean.) In September I found out another teacher's dog had had 9 puppies and she was trying to get rid of them, so Drew and I went over and picked one out.
Drew and 4-week-old Churchill

He was super tiny then, but very noisy. We had to wait a few more weeks until he was weaned, and we got him about a week before Halloween. His name is Winston Churchill--we call him Churchill or Church.
Church and his moose toy.

Now he weighs over 30 pounds and he'll get a little bigger still. He's a true "village mutt". We're working on training him, but he's mischief, as they say here. He likes to try to steal things off the table or Drew's desk, and he still hasn't quite figured out how to only use the bathroom outside. But he loves to play and cuddle and he's not quite as bitey as he was when he was little. He's part of our little family now and we love him.
Curled up on the couch for a nap.

Friday, January 2, 2015

Holidays in Scammon Bay

There are a lot of events, stories, and people I could write about, but since we're still on Christmas break, I thought I'd share what Drew and I have done over the past couple weeks. If this is too long to read, here's a summary: Christmas in Hawaii school program, church services, spending time with neighbors, video calling family, and a quick trip to Anchorage.

On Tuesday evening of the last week of school we had our school Christmas program. The theme was "Christmas in Hawaii" and students made palm trees and other decorations to make the gym look fun and festive. Each elementary grade performed a song/dance/skit, and I had a group of 8th graders do a little reading skit, and then the high school guitar and choir classes performed a couple songs. To top of the night, Santa (who looks a lot like Drew for no apparent reason) showed up! The little kids were super excited, and Santa was a good sport as he had over 100 kids come and sit on his lap for a picture.

On Christmas Eve afternoon we skyped--sorry Google hang-out-ed--with Drew's family in Washington and California and opened our gifts. It was really fun to talk with them, and especially to see our little niece and nephew.

In the evening we had Christmas Eve service at church, which was filled to the brim! I played the viola and we had several guitarists as well. Drew had been taking the youth through Advent the previous four weeks, lighting candles and talking about the message each represents, so during the service he got up several times to read just a little bit about each candle as one of our youth came up to light it. They haven't really done Advent candles here, or at least in a long time, but it went over really well. A lot of families or groups of people sang special songs, and Pastor Jason preached. It was different from many Christmas Eve services I've been to, but just as warm and joyful.

After service Drew and I continued our tradition of Christmas Eve Chinese food with frozen egg rolls we bought at the store (no Chinese restaurants in Scammon Bay!) and some home made steamed rolls. Our neighbors invited us over to hang out with them and their family, so we spent some time over there eating treats and tracking Santa online with their little grandkids. It was really wonderful to be with a family on Christmas Eve, even if it wasn't our families.

Christmas morning we skyped with my family to open presents and talked with them. The wonders of modern technology, where you can see people's reactions to your gifts hundreds of miles away!

Some other neighbors invited us over for Christmas dinner so we went over there about 5. We brought some of our own culture: Swedish meatballs, rice pudding, and peppakaker. They really enjoyed it all.

The day after Christmas we flew out to Anchorage to do some shopping and take a mini vacation. We got stuck in Bethel overnight, but fortunately the associate pastor of the Covenant church there let us stay with him and his family. We eventually made it to Anchorage and a had a great time relaxing, seeing movies, and stocking up for the next few months.

We got back to Scammon on New Year's Eve, and it was good to be home. We had a late church service and at midnight the town shot off fireworks down at the airport, and everyone went outside to shoot their guns in the air.

Now these last few days of break are just working on projects around here and getting ready for school on Monday! It's been a well-needed break, and a nice relaxing one too. Here's to the next semester!