We are Out of Here!

These last 2 weeks have really flown by! We are on our way back to the lower forty-eight! I return for my third quarter trip in February. See you then!

Short Days

The one thing that has been hard to get used to is the amount of sunlight we have during the day. We finally see the sun about 10:30 every morning. By 4:30 each afternoon the sun is fading away! Here is a shot of my plane at 9:00 am! By the time the sun actually comes up, it feels like we have been up for hours!

More From Atmau

Here are some more pictures from my adventures in Atmau.
First of all- let me explain a few details about logistics:
There are 3 small airlines that make daily flights from Bethel into the outlying villages: they are Hageland Aviation, Yute Air, and Grant Aviation. Many people have opinions about which company is the safest, friendliest, promptest etc.- Let's just say I have had the most experience with Hageland, and they fly some of the largest planes, thus I feel safer.
So each airline has an "agent" in the villages. This is a local person who meets the plane to pick-up supplies, makes reservations for those of us traveling in and out, and provides transportation to and from the airstrip. In Atmau Hageland's agent is Buster- a friendly young Yup'ik man. Buster is an extremely important link in my getting in and out of the villages. There are generally 3 flights a day per village and even though they are "scheduled", you never know exactly what time they will arrive. Timing is quite important since there are no buildings on the airstrips to wait in. It is also Buster's responsibility to call the school and let me know how close the plane is, then pick me up and get me and all my stuff to the plane on time (the pilot's do not wait for anyone!)
Usually I am the only one on the village agent's 4-wheeler or snowmobile, but on this particular day in Atmau, Buster arrived at the school with a woman on the back of the snowmobile and was also pulling a sled holding a young boy and his grandmother. I got in the sled with the others (along with all our luggage) and off we went. Next we pulled up to a trailer where we picked up an elderly man. He stood on the back of the sled and held on. When I pulled out my camera, the boy was fascinated and asked me to take his picture - here are our pictures from the ride. Sorry for the blurry shot- we were moving at a pretty quick pace! I even let him take a photo of me (even though my eyes are closed, I had to post it for him!)

Stuck in Atmau

What was supposed to be a quick day trip to the village of Atmautluak, turned into an overnight adventure! Atmau is my closest village to Bethel- 10 minute flight or 30 minute snowmobile ride. I only serve 5 students at this school- so I thought I would arrive before lunch and be on my way by 4:00- WRONG! The flight into Atmau should have been my first clue! Although I was on a large cargo plane FULL of mail and supplies- we hit the runway sideways. Once we finally made it to a stop, the landing strip was too icy to taxi all the way to the end where the waiting snowmobile sat. As I stepped off the plane, the pilot commented on the serious crosswinds! I quickly jumped on the waiting snowmobile that would deliver me to the school. As we drove across the frozen river my only thoughts were these: 1- I hope I have eyebrows when I arrive and 2- I hope I don't fly off the back of this thing going 6o mph because that ice will feel mighty hard when I hit!
The rest of my day was pretty uneventful- until I tried to leave- all flights were cancelled for the night due to wind gusts- looks like I would be staying for the night!
I was pleasantly surprised NOT to have to sleep on the school floor. The principal put me in a small apartment- complete with a bed, stove, running water, heat, and a flushing toilet!
Notice in the pictures the sign on the girls bathroom door, the school parking lot (full of snowmobiles) and the Montana natives ( Polson residents Bruce and Mary Alice). Talk about a small world-what are the odds that one of my village assignments would include two of Dan's former teachers from Polson High School!

The lesson learned from this journey is that you can never have enough food in your backpack!

Bethel Moravian Church

Sunday morning Kathy and I took a cab to the local Moravian church to attend services. We decided we had better do some online research before we left. We discovered that Moravian missionaries visited the Bethel area in the late 1880's- and started the first church in Bethel (Bethel is named for Bethlehem). We also learned about the origins of the Moravian star (one of the most recognized symbols of the Moravian church). It began as a geometry lesson in Moravian run schools, and now is the symbol of the church's Christmas season. If you look closely in the picture of the church steeple, you can see one hanging in the round window.

Taste of Culture

Kathy and I felt like shopping today. What luck! There was an arts and crafts festival at the local VFW. We arrived to find a plethora of native crafts- hats, gloves, slippers, qaspeqs (native dress-like coats)furs, ivory carvings, jewelry, food and much more. (They were even selling frozen McDonald's cheeseburgers. Locals were buying them by the bag full!)
We were able to taste the Yup'ik version of ice cream called Akutaq (berry ice cream). It is made from tundra berries, salmon berries, sugar, mashed potatoes and fat rendered from seal blubber. To modernize it, they now use "Crisco" to take the place of seal fat! Although it was tasty, I couldn't get past the fact that I was eating shortening. Sorry to say we do not have any photos of the frozen treat- Kathy intended to take one, but she got too distracted and ate it all!
The picture above shows a Yup'ik woman showing off her seal and beaver hats.

Our Fearless Leader ?!?

Let me introduce you to our fearless leader- the woman in the center is the director of special education for LKSD. (For those of you who know him, she replaced Dennis Clarkson- formerly SPED director in Polson). Kathy (our director) is from Hawaii- and no joke- she wears sandals and flips flops all year! I did see boots and socks in her office the other day so she must at least wear sensible shoes outdoors!