Spring Baseball

We've had some unusually warm weather and many of the elders in the village have been heard saying that spring has come early! Well that's just fine with us--and most of the kids as well. Our days are getting quite a bit longer here now. We're seeing sunrise around 8:18am and sunset somewhere around 9:22pm. It's been rather light out until around 10:15-30ish this weekend. We're pretty close to gaining about 5 minutes of sunlight per day. It's been absolutely lovely until you realize that it's 10:00 and you can still hear the neighbor kids, who happen to be in your class, outside playing. 

A few nights ago around 9:00 some junior high and high school students stopped by to invite us to come play bat with them. Simon thanked them for their invitation but then assured them that we are in fact old people and playing bat after 9pm didn't work for our bedtime. He suggested they invite us again when they chose to play earlier. Of course the next night around 6 we hear a whole gaggle of kids on the front porch wanting to know if we'd like to play bat. So--we had our first lesson in the village game of bat aka baseball.

Bat is played at what is known as the gravel pit.

Just a little pre game waiting for the ball to arrive.

The line up of batters waiting for their turn.

The outfield and only base.

Rocky even joined in on the game.

The game of bat is quite different from baseball. Their similarities are that they use a bat and ball and require running. It took us quite a few minutes to catch onto the rules and strategy of the game. The game doesn't have a true pitcher, the ball is simply tossed up from right in front of the batter. After hitting the ball you move to the right side of home plate and stand to wait for another batter to hit the ball far enough for you to make it to base safely. Sometimes there were 5-6 players waiting. We had a nice time playing with the kids and I'm sure we'll be back out there a few more times before the end of the year.

Spring Break

Spring break started off on a bit of the wrong foot with the weather. We were weathered in Goodnews for about a day and a half of our break, which caused us to reschedule our flight to Anchorage at least two times along with the two other teachers who were trying to get out. Thank goodness for Alaska Air and that they understand what the weather can be like in bush Alaska. Simon took this picture of what the ceiling looked like in Goodnews on Saturday morning.

We spent our Saturday morning packing extra books and DVDs for our move at the end of the year.

For those of you who don't often ride in bush planes: we quickly learned to check out the ceiling and determine if flights would be coming or going for the day. The ceiling is the space between land and where visibility essentially stops with fog. On Friday the official start day of spring break, the ceiling was pretty low. Finally, Saturday afternoon we were able to get on the only plane to Bethel for at least the next 2 days. Whew! When traveling by bush plane you are completely dependent on the weather.

Three very excited people to finally get on a plane!

We spent some time at the lovely airport in Bethel. In case you are wondering this airport only services Alaska Airlines. There are three flights a day, the morning flight, an afternoon flight and an evening flight. We were waiting for the evening flight which leaves at 9:12pm.

Yay! We're finally on the jet.

Watching bags come off the plane as we get settled into our seats.

We made a quick stop at the Silver Gulch in the Anchorage airport to grab some dinner with Ben and Rick before parting ways. They make a delicious oven fired pizza. Rick and Ben were both traveling down states for spring break, but we were planning to spend the next few days in Anchorage.

By the time we got our rental car and made it to the hotel it was well after midnight, so we settled in for the night. (This is way past our usual bed time!)

Our time in Anchorage went pretty fast because it was filled with things on our must do list. Among those things were a shopping trip to Sam's Club, registering at Target for that sweet June baby, Simon getting a haircut, and getting our taxes completed and filed. I get tired just thinking about all of those things we did.

Not to worry though; we had our fair share of fun too! Fur Rondy was just wrapping up on Saturday and Sunday, so we spent some time on Sunday at the arts and crafts festival, viewing snow sculptures and visiting the Ulu Store.

One night we even went to see a movie at one of the best movie theaters we've ever been to. This theater has personal recliners for each patron. When you purchase your ticket you also pick the location of your seat. It was an extremely comfortable way to watch a movie after walking all day--hello propped up feet!

We had LOTS of good food. We have a favorite Mexican restaurant that we try to get to anytime we're in Anchorage. We were savoring food and especially the fact that someone else made it--not to mention some varieties that we just don't have in the bush. 

Our favorite Mexican place in downtown Anchorage.

Mango bubble smoothie!

Fresh Strawberries, something we can never get in the village.

Simon's enjoying some oh-so-tasty salad another rare find in the bush. 

Steak and ribs!

Finally, it was time for us to head home. We left Anchorage early on Wednesday with plans for a short stop in Bethel for a prenatal appointment and then getting on the afternoon plan home. Of course, all good plans are interrupted. We discovered at the end of the appointment that we'd need to stay for a fasting blood test in the morning. Our options were to spend the night in Bethel or come back the following week. We begrudgingly opted to spend the night. 

While I was at the clinic on Thursday morning Simon made a trip across the street to Swanson's closing sale--everything in the store was 50% off! I don't have a picture of what he bought but here are a few pictures of what the inside of the store looked like. If you remember from previous posts this is a store we've done quite a bit of shopping at in the past. 

Cultural Week

While Christina is busy putting together a post about our Spring Break adventures, I thought I'd show you some of the events from our recent Cultural Week here at Rocky Mountain School. The kids have been talking about it all year, so I was really looking forward to spending some time immersed in Yup'ik culture. I think we both learned a lot about the culture and history of the people here that will help us better relate to and teach our students in the future. The Yup'ik people were the last Native group to be contacted by outsiders, less than 200 years ago, so their culture and language are much more intact and integral to their way of life than is the case for others native peoples of Alaska. Here's a look at some of the activities and events we were a part of last week:

Some of my students, preparing for the opening ceremonies.

Travis put together our Cultural Week events and activities. 

We were all very impressed with his leadership.

A shot of one of the dances for the opening ceremonies.

Our cultural week also included a wellness fair. Tobacco, alcohol, and drug awareness...

...as well as issues related to survival in the bush.

The kids (and some adults) playing an ice breaker game.

Our amazing resident storyteller, Jack Dalton. We were all enthralled, not only by his storytelling, but by his wisdom about the Yup'ik people. We've already invited him back next year to do a creative writing residency in September. Can't wait to work with Jack next year and have the students write stories of their own!

The boys and men went to my room for a talking circle. I was impressed that a couple of my boys spoke up during the circle- a real sign of maturity and leadership among the Yup'ik people.

The boys making dance fans in my room. They sanded, painted, and feathered(?) them.

The finished product.

They ordered boxes of fur for the skin sewing portion of cultural week. 

The closest I've come to a wolverine!

And a wolf!

Moose season is typically in September, but they applied for a special subsistence tag for cultural week. They drove out 15 miles, shot it, quartered it, and carried it back on their Hondas. 

One of my students helped some of the elders cut up the meat. When they were done they had bags of meat laid out to take to the elders of the village. I jokingly asked, "Hey, where's my bag?" One of the elders thought I was being serious, but when I demurred, she responded "You can't say 'Where's my bag?' to a Yup'ik!" and she got up, picked up one of the bags of meat, said "This guy lives alone, he doesn't need this much!" and grabbed a hunk of meat and put it in a bag for me. Now I know the magic word whenever I'm in the mood for moose meat!

Students and villagers sewing fur in the library. 

The day after I hung up my traps for the season, Gary called me saying he had a box of smelt guts if I wanted to use them to try and catch a wolf. I couldn't resist, so I put out a few sets over cultural week. While I didn't get a wolf, I did catch my 15th (and final) fox of the season. 

Displaying my season's catch outside. It was a thrilling first season trapping in Alaska!

We've been making a better effort to go for a walk every evening. Not hard to muster up the motivation with views like this.