First Week

Dear Family and Friends,

First, please allow me to apologize to everyone for my lack of communication. I can only say that between my classroom and adjusting to the culture I am very strectched thin. This may sound silly as I still live in the United States however the language, social norms and expectations of myself are so different than what I am used to in the 48.

I am teaching music this semester and the students love it. Everyone wants to participate and try new things. It is kind of funny to see some of the boys who are more macho fight to play the soprano part on the xylophone.  All students are willing to sing and want to learn about what the gaseqs (white people) learn in their schools.

I will also be the Speech coach for the Jr. High team this year. Obviously this is a love of mine after competing myself in high school and college so I am super excited about what the year holds. Our first meet is mid September so who knows what is going to happen. You should know the culturally polite thing to be here is extremely quiet and withdrawn so speech goes against all natural thought processes.

Finally I will be assisting the wrestling coach this year! YOOHOO! I cannot wait! 

Some random things that have made me smile:

à      “Visits” with children from the village. 

à      A student asked my housemate if gaseqs fart. Body functions are very free here and I am considered quite the prude for not spitting, farting and other things in public.

à      Learning that stinkhead is a rotting fish head buried in the ground for several days and is a village staple. It is supposed to be rather tastey.

à      I went to a beautiful wedding on my first weekend here at the Russian Orthodox Church and saw a gorgeous bride in a large white flowering dress.

à      Quspiq (sp?) is not “hello” but in fact a local hoodie-looking garment. Found this out after saying quspiq to everyone with a huge smile.

à      Seeing Daddy dancing with another elder. He is still asked about. HA!

à      Realizing I was staying in a beautiful, warm and in great condition house!

à     Watching boys gain new respect for the girl teacher because she knows wrestling and talked to them about the shift in weight classes this year.

à      Seeing about 50 kids on the cross-country team run through town.

à       Being asked what I mean when I say “when you go to college” only to have them then start telling everyone they are going to college and can be anything, except they don’t want to teach.

à      Making music with children. I love that smile they get when they accomplish “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” on the xylophone for the first time because they can play Mozart!

à      My favorite little girl is about 5 with literally one tooth who just gives me the biggest grin every morning.

à      Becoming the old woman who yells at kids to go home because it is 10 o’clock and decent people are trying to sleep =-)

0.

Love you all,

Heather

Look Before You Leap

Today I received my first Alaskan baptism. Getting out of the boat at "the beach" I decided to portray Superwoman and jump into the mud. Obviously it didn't work and I ended up soaked and freezing. I have never been so cold as when I was being driven home on the lake with soaked clothes. The worst part is my bruise is on my tukus so no one can even see how cool it was. Bummer.

Kwethluk, the final frontier

My house, the salmon colored building behind it is my school. I will actually teach in a unit next door to my house.
Chartered Flight to Kwethluk: $60; Flight to Bethel: $1500; One minute commute to the office: Priceless

Me on plane heading to Kwethluk. Longest five minutes of my life.

Kristin my roommate. Lovely woman who likes to cook and clean. Best roomy ever.

View from my house.

Final Goodbye!

Welcome to Alaska! This animal greeted dad and me at our hotel.

Home sweet home- with a view of the river!

I am safely in the tundra all nestled into bed blogging to you all. Up above you will see me and my house. The refrigerator in front is just decoration, I call him Franklin Fridge. No worries though about food storage: three freezers plus a fridge. I am able to freeze enough animals to feed a small country.

My first visitors came today and that was a real treat. I also got some of my boxes I shipped from Ohio. The best part of the trip so far has meeting so many great people and trying to learn Yup'ik, the primary language here. I still cannot say the name of my village correctly.

Just an FYI to friends and family: the cell reception and internet is spotty up here so calls will be dropped and lost and internet may not work properly. However I am happy in my home, love the school and now, thanks to the maintenance man, I have heat. Life is good.

So, here are some things I have learned:

1. I am horrible at all languages, including English.
2. I am easily thrown off my circadian rhythm by the sunlight which lasts until midnight currently.
3. Turns out my love of Dr. Pepper is shared with the buyer for the local store.
4. There is at least two local stores.
5. This is my favorite- time is a fluid thing in which there is no definite. Hakuna Matata my friends!