Last week, I went on a village trip.  It was Tuesday morning and the sun was peaking in through the window in the clinic in Chefornak, Alaska.  Since we are past the vernal equinox, it the sun peaks its head over the horizon before 8:00am and stays up until around 10:00pm.  Daylight just makes you feel good.

Chefornak is 93 air miles from Bethel and 5 miles from the Bering Sea.  I was told that the village was moved at some point in the recent past because of flooding.  It’s a tiny village in the shape of a “U” plunked down in the middle of the open desolate tundra.  Most of the homes do not have running water so people collect rain water or ice to drink and haul their honey bucket to the lagoon.  The clinic has running water (but it’s not hot!!), but it’s not potable.  50 percent of the people living in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (not including Bethel) have running water in their homes.  This is the first time that half the population has had indoor plumbing.  I don’t think I need to remind people that it is 2018, we live in the United States, and half of the population of 30,000 people have to poo in a bucket.  It’s unconscionable.  

I went to Chefornak with a colleague who is new to the health aide training program.  We  evaluated two health aides, and enjoyed the village.  We went to a Yup’ik dance one night in the community hall.  They were practicing for a dance festival that is coming up in a neighboring village.  We walked in and felt quite out of place, but an elder waved at us and told us we could sit in an empty spot on the floor.  There were people of all ages dancing the traditional dance.  A boy was about 3 and trying to learn the motions.  An elder woman must have been 80 and she was dancing with the rest of the women.  The men chant and beat drums.  Some men dance with upper bodies only kneeling on the floor and the women dance stationary with beautiful dance fans made with grass and fur.  I don’t know what words are, but they are stories about life.  The motions look like they are hunting or gathering food.  

This is a video, not sure if it will play

The school was pretty new and absolutely beautiful.  I think it was about 20 feet up in the air.

It was actually a moving experience to watch the people of Chefornak dance.  They laughed and looked like they were celebrating.  We frequently hear about young people who end up in jail because of alcohol or substance abuse or who commit suicide, which is just sad and unfortunate.  Watching the multi-generations dancing together in a small, hot community center was just amazing.

Someone got a muskox . . .

Drying seal meat

Theresa, Sophie, Martha, Barb, me, Patrice, Natalie

This truck belongs to Theresa's dad.  He drove it all the way to Bethel on the tundra.

Who's not following the rules?

The Yup’ik language is slowly fading because people don’t speak it anymore.  The coastal villages of the YK Delta are more traditional and most people speak more Yup’ik than English, which is interesting to hear (Yup-lish, the combination of Yup’ik and English).  But I’ve been told that the language is dying.  I recently read a book that talked about how the Moravian missionaries did not allow the Native Alaskans to dance or speak their language.  The Jesuits, however, did allow the dancing and sometimes even learned the language.  It’s sad to think of strangers taking away someone’s culture.

I recently had to travel back to the Midwest to say good bye to my Gramma.  Violet Haight was 92 when she died and I think for all intents and purposes, she had a good life.  I believe she was ready to go and she was looking forward to being with my Grampa Lloyd and Uncle Jim.  Alex stayed in Bethel, so Brad and I made the trip alone.  Driving along I43 north of Milwaukee got me to thinking about home and family.  

Violet Dorthy Haight  1925-2018

Since moving to Bethel, we have tried to call this “home”.  We have moved here and we have become residents of the state of Alaska.  We have tried to become involved in the community.  But driving on familiar roads with the rolling hills and trees and the occasional glimpse of Lake Michigan made me wonder about home.  I miss the Midwest; my family is there, all my memories prior to May 31, 2016 are there, my son was born there.  But Alaska is where I live.  I look forward to the hour long flight from Anchorage and flying in over the dusty and dirty Eskimo village. 

Brad and I were “weathered out” of getting home for two days due to fog in Bethel.  Apparently thick fog with visibility of less than a quarter mile is not conducive to landing a plane.  We stayed in Anchorage and explored the city. We attempted to visit the musk ox farm in Palmer, but it’s closed for the winter.  That would have been a good thing to research before driving all the way there.  Anyway, we went to the museum and there was this great exhibit with art from around the state.  There was a huge painting of a bear’s face on the wall with the words “everything I love is here” written on it.  What I didn’t realize until my husband pointed it out was that we have a copy of that bear’s face hanging on our wall.  The quote resonated with me.  I guess home is where love is.

Being at a funeral also brings families together.  People come together to celebrate the life of the one who has died.  I was quite surprised at how many people came to my Gramma’s funeral—she was a special woman who laughed a lot and who was deeply rooted in her community. (I was also surprised that there were quite a few local people there considering the population is about 42.) She would have never left her home of Nadeau, MI.  That was where her family was from, that was where she grew up, and that is where she raised her kids.  It was her love. 

Alex and I recently did one of those mail in DNA analysis things.  He’s mostly English and Irish.  Never would have guessed that with the dark hair and eyes.  I, on the other hand, am mostly French and German (40%) followed by British and Irish.  I have great-grandparents that came to the United States from Italy and I am only 0.2% Italian. Now I firmly believe that my dad is really my father, (my grandmother was French Canadian so I know my mom is my mother), and I’m not sure what to think about my results.  I guess it means that even way back when, people were all muddled and does it really matter?

Mr. Brad is wrestling again.  This time it’s club wrestling and a little more laid back.  He will be going to Wasilla (no you CANNOT see Russia from there) in early May to wrestle at state.  It’s a big deal around here.  Kids wrestle in competitions year round.  I think there are so many things for kids to be involved in to keep them out of trouble.  Who has time to screw around when you’re in school all day and then have practice every night?  I was recently introduced to a You Tube video about a young man from Toksook Bay (https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=i+am+yup%27ik).  He wasn’t a wrestler, he was a basketball player.  I think playing ball is a bigger deal here than wrestling, but they’re both very important to kids a communities.  Kids play ball when it’s below zero outside.  Kids that barely come up to my knee are proficient ball handlers.  Basketball is part of the community and the whole village supports the team.

My wonderful husband dragged us camping Easter weekend.  It wasn’t too cold (maybe 20 degrees) so we packed up the snowmachines and drove about 20 miles out of Bethel to the Gweek River.  I hoped to see a moose or fox or something else alive besides the three of us, but all I saw was a bug.  We pitched the Arctic Oven and had a warm place to sleep.  It was warm as long as the stove was lit.  I got cold, which prompted a laugh from Alex.  I was in a sleeping bag rated to -20 and a down rated to about the same.  And Alex had brought an air mattress, so I wasn’t even sleeping on the ground.  I even had toe warmers in my socks.  I guess I should have done some jumping jacks at 3am to get the blood flowing.

The snow is almost gone and the river isn’t safe to drive on.  I never thought it was too safe this winter because it was so warm.  The annual Ice Classic tickets have been sold and the person to guess the correct date and time of the official river break up will get $12,500.  I’m hoping to win it.  I’ll invest is some warmer clothes.  Our yard is starting to show, but there is no grass.  We didn’t have time to seed it last fall, so soon it’ll be just mud slop.  Gross mud.  There is a guy who hydroseeds and there is the possibility of a nice green lawn, but we have to get him here at the right time.

Time seems to pass so quickly.  We are almost ready to celebrate our two year anniversary in Alaska.  I think life is pretty ordinary, but when I look out at the tundra stretching forever or visit a village where people have no flushing toilet, I know that I am in a different world.  And anyone is welcome to visit at any time.

Alex skiing on the tundra right before the ice fog rolled in.

Blogging.  Something that I seem to not do very often anymore.  Who has time?  As I started to write this, I was sitting in a café in the Nordstrom store in Anchorage.  I had been there last week attending meetings, while Alex kept down the fort at home.  I could say that I forgot what he looked like, but in our technological age, I received pictures from him via text.  I even Face Timed him and Brad from the Apple store (on a new iPhone 10, which is pretty cool but didn't buy).  As I finish this, I am back in Bethel.

I have come to the conclusion that we as humans are too busy doing unimportant things and don’t spend enough time on the good stuff, like vacation.  We spend so much time away from family and fun, slaving away making money, but what for?  We don’t have the time to spend it.  Well, that’s not true because the Internet is open all night.  I’m not sure I had a conscious thought about time management when we moved here, but I can say that I didn’t think I would be as busy as I am.

Part of being busy is home maintenance.  Alex needed to clean out the chimney.  Our roof is metal, and thus is slippery in addition to being steep.  Luckily he has climbing rope and a harness that he wore to keep him alive if he decided to fall.  He has also put new valves on the boiler and built another set of shelves to hold our increasing collection of stuff.

Brad has joined another sport, and now wakes up at 5:40 am to get to basketball practice.  We only have the high school and elementary school gyms and everyone is fighting for time.  There is a petition at the fitness center to build a facility that has a gym (a.k.a basketball court) because so many people would use one.  There was another school that had one, but it burned down just before we moved here.  Basketball is hugely popular, along with wrestling, and the kids start early.  So Brad, the tall gangly kid, is at a disadvantage.  He said that this is his favorite sport so far and I think he has the potential to be good.  

Wrestling season has come and gone, but don’t worry because more wrestling is coming up.  The freestyle season is after basketball.  Brad showed a lot of improvement as a grappler and was very proud when he took home a ribbon for 5^th place.  He’s getting stronger and learning a little each time.  As parents, Alex and I now know that you can earn points for various moves and those points can make you win.  Brad was able to travel one weekend for a wrestling tournament in Napaskiak, which is about 10 miles down river.  He went in a boat.  I wasn’t able to drive to the river to watch him take off and I think I am thankful for that.  It is unsettling to know your child is in an open boat wearing a snowmobile suit (that of course would become like a lead weight once wet) and a life jacket.  I wasn’t sure if I was more worried he’d drown or freeze to death.  Like most mothers, I worried for naught and he had a good trip.

Elf on the Shelf sending good luck

And he gets the win!!!

5th place in his weight category

We are now into February and are gaining about 6 minutes of sunlight each day.  It’s wonderful to have light on the horizon at 8pm.  Alex had dreams of winter camping this time of year and bought me a new snow machine so we would be safe if we were all out together.  Being 40 miles away from people and having only machine could mean big trouble if it broke.  The one thing he didn't predict was that Bethel wouldn't have any snow.  As in, we have bare tundra.  There is a fair amount of precipitation here, but it typically comes down in the form of rain.  It’s all ice and mud.  Makes for 50 Shades of Brown.

Scruffy man not included with the machine

For those that are “friends” with me on Facebook, I shared a story that ran in the Anchorage Dispatch News about Bethel.  It was written by a reporter that lived in Bethel for 3 years until her post was no longer thought to be necessary.  She wrote many stories about this town and often brought out the good side of living here.  Not all days are good days as I have mentioned before; many tragic things  happen to the people that live here.  But Bethel is special in a way a lot of places can’t be.  You need to survive here.  You need to rely on neighbors and friends or you don’t make it.  You need to get involved in something in the community or you don’t stay.  https://www.adn.com/alaska-life/2018/02/10/life-in-bethel-richness-and-despair-sometimes-all-in-a-single-day/

The homeless shelter, known as the Winter House or Uksumi Uqisvik, is open and running full force.  It relies on people from the community to make a hot meal each night.  They average 20 people per night, but can have more.  We have made supper for them and I always worry we didn't make enough food.  There was a large house that served as the homeless shelter last year, but I think the rent increased so this year, one of the churches serves as the shelter.  There is also a food bank here and we were told yesterday that it's pretty much empty.  The school kids have free breakfast and lunch and I'm sure that many are hungry at home.

So, I often think of myself as an old person.  I remember record players and tape decks.  I remember using a landline with a cord.  I remember having to be the kid that goes up to change the TV channel (and sometimes lost my place on the couch).  I remember when MTV actually showed music videos most of the time (I watched “Thriller” and “Walk this Way” and was hooked).  So being old, I am still completely fascinated by the fact that I can connect with people living 3500+ miles away almost instantly.  Skype and Face Time, in my opinion, are pretty awe-inspiring.  I say that because being in Bethel, so far away from family and friends is not easy.  I missed my parents’ 45^th wedding anniversary celebration in December because I was here and couldn’t get in the car and drive there.  Being able to connect to people and see them is a joy and it truly makes living so far away not so hard.  So when my mom asked me if we were moving back when our two years were up, my answer was no.

I am getting adventuresome when it comes to eating native foods.  I have obviously eaten berries, moose, and fish.  I've also had herring eggs on seaweed, Eskimo ice cream(Crisco mixed with blueberries, sugar and fish), and I've even eaten whale (muktuk--bowhead).  Can't say I think it's a delicacy like a lot of people here.  It was rubbery, saltly, and tasted like the sea.  I am not sure what kind of whale it was either.  I'm conflicted about the killing of whales, but people here harvest the whole thing and an entire village can get food.

 

The K300 dog sled race did happen this year, and it wasn't a good time.  The route was changed because the river had not frozen by mid January.  The mushers ran overland on a ribbon of ice through the tundra. They ran from Bethel to Bogus Creek (ya'll know where that is, right?) then back to Bethel and made the loop again.  They didn't go to Kalskag and Aniak like they always do, and the race had never had the mushers doubling back.  The K300 has always been a very hard mid-distance race, but it was described as the hardest race ever run by many of the mushers.  Jessie Holmes came back and stayed with us again.  He brought 15 dogs, ran with 12, and loaned 3 to another musher. He had high hopes of winning or coming in higher than the 5^th place finish he had last year.  But sadly, that didn’t happen because he decided just over halfway through the race to turn around.  He said he was very concerned for his dogs and couldn’t watch them slip and fall on the ice anymore.  Of the 18 mushers that started, 6 scratched.  

Dogs came in on the cargo plane

Despite the awful conditions, Jessie Holmes had the following and support of  3^rd and 4^th grade classes in Appleton, Wisconsin.  My nephew has been learning about the Iditarod and he asked for some pictures of sled dogs; it’s a common thing to see a team on the tundra or pulling a 4 wheeler down the road.  I was able to get Jessie and Ryan’s teacher, Ms. Blattner, to agree to a Skype call and Jessie talked to the kids.  He answered a lot of questions (no, he’s not related to Sherlock Holmes) and showed the kids his dogs.  I’m not sure who had more fun, the adults or the kids.  I got a call from Ryan and my brother as they were watching Jessie’s GPS tracker.  See, technology!

We couldn’t have predicted the way the race was going to turn out, so Alex and I were in the thick of it again.  Jessie had no handler this year, so we picked him and the dogs up at the airport.  The freight flight was delayed twice, so he didn’t get to Bethel until the night before the race started.  We got him to the start line and helped him with the doggies too.  The dogs are so excited to get going that they pull a snow machine for the first few miles to keep them from taking off too fast.  Alex was on the machine as I let the dogs to the start line.  I didn’t know I’d be running up to the start—I would have made a more graceful entrance.  The dogs ran faster than I did, some went on the wrong side of the start gate, I thought I was going to get trampled!  The dogs ran well and Jessie was in the lead base on time at the halfway mark.  He would have had a good finish too, but put the welfare of the pups first.

Alex getting ready to slow the dogs down

We took the snowmachines (notice the lack of snow?) to cheer Jessie as he came into the halfway point

Spring is around the corner and I hope for snow.  We have a winter tent and need to go out and use it.  The one day we put it up we drove 3 miles from home and our house was never out of sight.  Alex took a trip to the Yukon River and came home with a moose.  I think that was the highlight of his 19 months in Alaska.  It was a big cow, with ample fat, and we have about 300 pounds of meat in the freezer.  If you’re hungry for steaks, ribs, stew, burger, or sausage, we’re just a flight or two away and will let you eat until your heart’s content.  We do have hopes of going back up that way to camp one weekend.  We can’t do it in the summer because of all the lakes on the tundra.  And no snow in the winter makes it a rough ride on the snow machine.

Alex's emergency beacon can tell me his GPS coordinates, and I can find him on Google maps.  The red circle is the location where he got the moose.

Weight after half the meet was already cut

I can't fail to mention that Brad is also an archer.  He does hit the target and can hit the bull's eye too.  He is much better at 10 meters than 15.  Some of the kids in Bethel have been shooting for 8 years and some go on to Nationals.  Kids of all ages, sizes, and colors all line up to shoot the targets.  It's interesting to watch.  They partner up and one person adds up the points of the other and the scoring is really based on the honor system.  Bethel competes virtually with kids in the lower 48. 

There is a house being built next to ours.  We are not happy about it, but we didn't buy the lot and can't control what other people do.  I think it's an ugly box, but it'll make a nice home for someone.  We enjoy watching the process of the build.  It was interesting to see the pads for the stilts put down and then the house go up on top of them.  We look out our window and watch the guys peeing outside because they obviously haven't put a functioning toilet in yet.  They are clueless that they are being watched because as they stand next to the house or the forklift or the truck, they look around to see if anyone is watching.  I think I'm gonna open the window and clap then next time I see it.  One Saturday, they needed to work on the back side of the house (facing the tundra) and must have been too lazy to carry the supplies they needed.  They drove the three quarter ton pick up out on the tundra and promptly got stuck.  The tires spun and spun and sank deeper into the snow.  Eventually, they drove a smaller truck out and were able to pull the first one to freedom.  I was hoping both trucks would have ended up stuck.

 

Today is February 15.  I really like the 15th because that means Valentine's Day has passed.  I have never liked that "holiday", and I don't like stuffed animals, especially teddy bears with hearts.  Each year I boycott it by wearing black.  Brad wished me a happy VD with "Happy Valentine's Day, mom!  Your favorite holiday of the year!"  My wonderful husband can't understand my aversion to a day that makes single people feel worthless.  In his hopes of swaying my opinion, each Feb 14 I get a stuffed animal.  I've gotten a lion, a monkey, a wolf, and various other awful furry things.  He really outdid himself this year.  And, he got someone else to do his dirty work.  I walked down the steps yesterday to a 4 foot white teddy with hearts sitting at the dining room table.  Alex's sweetness and persistence is slowly wearing down my resolve.

As we finish our second year in the 49^th state, I am still looking at Bethel with newbie eyes.  There are days when I want to pick up and move, but I have to think long and hard about where I’d go.  I like to tell people I live in the bush and that no one can drive to see me.  It’s rewarding to travel to villages and learn about how people live in more remote places than Bethel.  Brad was the only white kid playing in his basketball game last weekend.  Not just the only white kid on his team, but the only one on either team.  Being a part of a small community with such diversity is a wonderful thing.  People don’t see a color or ethnicity, they see another person.  Now, is life perfect?  Never.  It’s always interesting though. 

Severe weather alert: It's gonna be cold so wear a hat and gloves.  What about pants and a coat?