Arrival in the bush

Week Three - I love saying Artic Tundra

July 1st, 

Susan here.  

 

Amy and I spent a soggy weekend doing wash, running errands and going for a very long and fairly unpleasant tundra hike. We wanted to get out to the 'real tundra' which is well similar to the tundra in our beloved Pinky's Park. Unfortunately every time we decide to hike it starts to rain and every time we don't the sun comes out but we were determined. We slogged through a path that one of the local artists at the market told us was where all the wildlife was. This is afterall part of the Kuskokwim Deltla Wildlife Refuge so there should be something out here. We walked the crooked boardwalk which runs through Pinky's Park, the Central Park of Bethel. It's quite pleasant as it goes over the tundra without having to actually step in it. Once we got to the end of the town it was all slogging through the spongy tundra. It 's kind of fun as it's bouncy and made up of grasses, mosses, small flowers and lakes. Unfotunately on this rainy cold Sunday it was also made up deep sections of mud. At one point we saw a small lake with some openings in the hill beside it and surmised that it must be  a bear den. Up and down we went in the 48 degree rain certain that over the next hill some large mammal would pop up but alas none was to be found./ After two hours of this, with a swarm of mosquitos surrounding our hoods we began to feel a bit foolish, picked up some ten dollar milk on

the way home and watched a movie.

 

July 4th

 

Finally the sun came out and it 'warmed' up to about 60 degrees. Amy  and I took about 25 kids to march in the parade here which is really big here. It was great at first with kids riding decorated bikes and walking with a banner but then the people on the side started throwing candy - apparently a tradition here- and the kids started running all over the place to eat it. Amy and I spent the whole time running after four small ones who didn't listen to anything we said. But the local children are really cute here. They are Yupik eskimos and the small kids have round chubby faces, asian eyes and great laughs. They love to tease us as we do them.

After the parade we worked at the fair which had carnival games, burgers and agutak which is eskimo ice cream. They make it with crisco, salmon berries that they pick on the tundra and lots of sugar. Sometimes they even put fish in it. One of the guys gave us smoked salmon that he caught in the river here. The Yupik people have jobs but they also are subsistence fishers. Salmon is the most popular and it is running now so after work they take their boats out and fish. Then they bring it to fish camp where they hang it up to dry. They then put it in a smoke house to dry it and give it more flavor. Amy had it last night but I was too chicken to try it. It didn't look very appetizing but she said it tasted good.

 

July 6th

 Our last night in Bethel and already missing the kids. We went on a last Tundra walk and had a final dance party with the kids. Yesterday we did swimming and went to the US Fish and Wildlife office where we found maps of the Delta region. The kids showed us their home villages, I lost the bus keys again and managed to get the truck stuck in a ditch. Yes, in addition to a dilapated school bus I now drive a pick up. Cool

 

We had movie night at the house where we made macaroni and cheese. Little Nanci came and sat at the kitchen table whistling and teasing Amy and I. She is such a joy to be around.,well most of the time.

 

We had awards for the kids who helped us the most and they seemed to feel good. One was respect - that was James who talked with the elders, Donald a 12 year old who was great to be around and Nina and Daniele who showed to be the most helpful. They are Nanci's adopted sisters and have been through so much and have really shown maturity.We watched them walk home from the rec center and felt sad.

 

Amy as usual organized everything - boxes, clothes,food, packing, paperwork= while I did mot of the drinking coffee and talking. Sometimes I wish I could be as efficient as her! She doesn't seem to hate me yet so I'm hoping she doesn't figure out how useless I really am.

 

Tomorrow Rhonda takes us to the airport and on to our next adventure. Rhonda has been great - laid back and supporitive to work with while her husband John is full of energy. Her threes kids are amazing.

 

Goodbye Bethel. We love you.

 

Week Two- The Tundra made me do it.

Week Two

Monday, 6/25

Susan here. Have been really busy here and finding there is not enough time in the day to do everything I want to do. The kids are fun but it is chaotic. I am driving a small ancient school bus around that doesn't always start when you turn it on. Today we took some of the kids for a walk on the 'real tundra' meaning a bit outside of town. I told them they were going to be like Indiana Jones looking for animals. They loved it. It is more green then I thought with lots of different types of grasses and small flowers - purple and pink and yellow. They have pussy willow type things but they are more like white fur on it then cotton. They also do have a type of cotton and short small forestsl. We sat on a hill and used the binoculars to look over to a lake in the distance. We saw ...well not much... but a plane on a lake and a beaver dam. There were also ravens, mallards, loons. Oh and then it was great because we saw a sandpiper mother with two babies cross in front of the bus. Long, long beek with brownish red feathers.

I did a little lesson before we went to tell them about how back where I live the artic tundra is a cool place and that my friends will be jealous that I get to go there, that it's good for the planet how it absorbs alot of carbon dioxide, that we have to take care of it, that it's a special ecosystem.

The tundra is a spongy layer of soil with little hills of grasses and plants. It's a weird, bouncy kind of feeling. Underneath is permafrost. Not many animals live here except for lots of birds at the lakes and river, muskox, caribou, some grizzly and moose. There is lots of moose hunting which is weird to me. We have moose burgers in the freeezer - eww. The kids had a great time gathering flowers and plants in a bag to take home which they quickly lost. Then the girls played nature bingo - finding things that smell sweet, things with claws etc. The highlight of the day was finding some feathers and a dead fox. The boys rolled down the hills over and over so we did too and then I almost lost the key for the ancient bus.  Amy took some of the older girls on a short walk with her. The walk included two Yupik girls and two white missionary girls from Kansas. They are reserved but I think so interested in participating. They even rolled down the hills in their long dresses. Afterwards we looked at paw prints in the dirt and tried to decide what animal it was. The highlight for the boys was finding a dead fox.

Two kids and their dad took me to a 'swimming hole' nothing like huckfinns - apparently some frozen ice that is melting surrounded by sand. They ran in with all their clothes on and screamed from the cold. This dog had followed us - something between a lab and a malamut, all golden and was overjoyed when the boys started throwing in a stick for him to chase. I don't know where he came from but he had a collar. When we left in the car he looked forlorn.

 The kids love swimming and when we went we were in really shallow water at the river and they were screamingn, "I'm swimming, I'm swimming". It's seems as if they hardly get to go. The town is barren - colored houses on platforms and stilts over dusty roads, grasses and ponds. It's starting to grow on me though. I'm already officially in love with the kids especially a seven year boy named Tomar, and a hyper active seven year old named Ray.

Tomorrow our boss Emily comes and we are having an elder come for story telling, making pilot bread pizza in the afternoon and at night having a dance party. I'm tired!!!!

June 27th,

Susan:

Me Again.

There seems to be so many trouble kids here. We have arond 45 of them and they range from 5 to 14. They drink in any attention you give them. Many of them are living in foster homes or with relatives because their parents are alcoholics or gave them up. It's really sad but we are trying to do our best for them.

Last night we had a dance party which was a blast. Emily, one of our bosses flew in and we decorated this room we have in our cabin. We hooked up this old stereo to some of the boys ipods. The older boys - mostly tweens- were excited to work as the d.j. s while the younger ones went crazy dancing. It was so fun. Amy and I joined in as well and some of the shy girls we taught how to disco dance. We even had a "so you think you can dance, Bethel Alaska" show which we filmed and so many of them lined up to compete. I introduced them like an emcee. They really got into it. We have this one boy name Sudula who is a chubby little kid but with so much energy. He went up there and danced his heart out. Then two boys named Zane and Daniel - one white and one Yupik went up and did a kind of break dancing including something called the worm.

It was so fun.

We also did limbo and musical chairs. We had baloon fights, popcorn and smores. At the end I walked a little boy named Jacob home because his mom didn't pick him up. They let the kids run around everywhere and it's very strange to Amy and I. I guess it's a culutural thing as well as that it's light out all the time.

Today we visited a nursing home and talked with some of the elders. While the kids weren't excited to be there they were respectful which is part of the culture. In the afternoon I picked up a man named John Active who is an elder here. He works at the radio station and does the local news in Yupik. He is also a story teller. He came down to the rec center and we were able to get about 20 kids and around 6 adults to sit and listen to him. He was amazing speaking in both Yupik and English. The children were rapt listening to his voice describing stories of animals on the tundra all with messages about sharing what  

 The children were rapt listening to his voice describing stories of animals on the tundra all with messages about sharing what you have with others, not wasting food, paying attention. They sat for a whole hour. IN the middle of it came a camera crew from Anchorage who had happened to be in town for something else and came in to film him. That was exciting and we all sat around listening to him talking and being filmed. It will be on the news in July.

So Bethel has an ancient small school bus that I'm driving the kids around in or dirty trucks, rusted out cars and containers, endless clouds of mosquitos adn it's 48 degrees today. But they also have:

- a radio station that has a John broadcasting Yupik out into the villages and who tells traditional stories.

- Janet tought talking director here, nra and Palin supporter who made us steaks on Sunday, arranged for us to have a boatride to a fish camp, and who has managed to get multiple grants here for the kids, including a $23 million dollar one for a pool.

Tomar - sweetest ever seven year ol Eskimo boy who is always running around and loves to tell stories

Nanci - eskimo girl five always laughing and sits with us.

Sudula - awkward eight year old who loves to dance

and so many others.

While I do miss seeing the sea lions another group is seeing, or the pretty towns on the coast, I wouldn't want to have missed these kids. Many have adhd, or fetal alcohol syndrome. They're difficult but so special and giving so much back to me.

Week 1- Two East Coast girls on the Tundra

June 18th-

Day two in Bethel

Susan here. Amy and I were feeling a bit down as we are not in a tiny village as we wanted but in a small 'city' of 6000. Twenty miles of paved road no less and it even has a museum. What would Indiana Jones think! When we arrived yesterday we'd only had a few hours sleep after staying up packing. As the other people went off to smaller planes we were picked up by our contact here. Everyone is nice and the rec center which we work out of is great but we became down when we learned that this dusty old town had a supermarket and a movie theater. It's not the Hollywood idea we had in our heads. It sort of looks like some place out in a dusty corner of Okalhoma. Me being an endless New York cynic kept siting the negatives but we learned at Campfire to come up with three positives for every negative so here they are:

1. We have our own bathrooms;

2. We are no longer living in a house with 23 people;

3. We have enough starch items to survive for the next year.

Flew over the Alaska mountain range which was miles of snow capped mountains which then went into tundra which is grasslands or marsh. The town itself is dusty looking like what a remote town in the west would appear to be. The hourses are colorful on stilts so as not to sink into the tundra, they look sort of icelandic. We are staying in a community center which is plain but clean. We set up a room as our office and storage room. We have a kitchen and then we are sleeping in the community room which has no beds but carpeting. While it is on a street the other side is Pinky's park which is marsh with small lakes and boardwalks running through it. People here walk there at night, although there really is no night here with sun going down around 1:00 am. Right now it is 10:30 pm and looks like 6:00 pm. It is disorienting and gives an energy surge at night. The birds come in and fly around at night and tweet and the wind comes up. Last night I went for a little walk and it was very peaceful.

Today we made Tundra Teriyaki, yes I am learning to cook. It comprised of brown rice, cranberries, almonds, canned corn and beans fried . On top was beef teriyaki jerky. Hmmmn declicious. We sat out on the boardwalk watching the birds and wondered how the other teams were doing. Some people we miss, some we don't. We took a long walk out of town and the tundra got more hilly there, with small trees, lakes and lots of marsh. Lots of ducks and birds and think we saw an eagle. It was peacful.We are near the Yukon Delta Wildlife refuge which is the largest ? refuge in Alaska. Hopefully we see some animals althought there are not many trees out there. 

The good news is Rhonda is very helpful, we will work with her to run the program which will be a good learning tool for our next village. Amy is great and we get along really well. There are puppies everywhere in town. The next village we go to is supposed to be really small and prettier. Three weeks here, three weeks there.

Thursday, June 21, 2012 12:02 AM

Day Five

Most children here are at least part Yupik Eskimo and the accent is hard to understand. People are very soft spoken and they speak from the back of their throats. It is lovely and much more pleasant to listen to then my New York nasal twang.

We have kids from 4 - 13 here and some - like Tody or a little girl named Sammy are sooooo cute.  On the other spectrum is two 13 year old boys who keep punching each other, one other guy name Ayuk who doesn't listern to anything and keeps running off. Kids here seem to stay out very late since the sun doesn't go down until midnight. There are problems with alcoholism which makes for difficult family life. Children seem to thrive with attention. 

Wow, working with kids is hard!!! Tried to take them on a nature hike and trying to keep them all in one place was virtually impossible. Some kids really go into the hike and loved the binoculars. They were bird spotting and we saw quite a few - sandpiper, loon, seagull, and some others that I don't recognize. I'm trying to keep a journal of them with the kids. The tundra is beatiful - lush grasses and mosses and lichen but there are also rusted cars and containers all around. Pinky's Park has these amazing boardwalks above the tundra that are sinking and curving to the side and up and down. It's pretty when the sun goes down and these white puff balls are shivering in the wind. 

Friday, June 22, 2012 8:23 PM

My first experience driving a school bus. It holds 14 children, is a bit dilapadated but gets the job done. Amy and I took the kids swimming yesterday and they were so excited just to be in the cold muddy water. They were laughing and saying, "look at me, I'm swimming". I drove the small bus and as it shook and shuttered I was a bit worried. Climbed the sandy hill and it made it down to the shore although we were a bit worried it would make it back. Amy stood with her life buoy while I put on rubber waders and a large sun hat. I promptly sank in the mud and couldn't get out. The kids did love it so we were happy although our feet froze as we kept them from floating out into the current. The beach is along the Kuskokwim Rive here next to where the villages fishing boats come in. Down the way are large ships which bring in goods from Anchorage and Seattle to be distributed up river on barges.

Last night we had them staying at the building we are staying in. Six boys age 6 to 13. So much fun. The first two were Tody and Rob both around seven years old. Tody is Yupik eskimo with a round chubby face. Rob is half Yupik, half white and hyperactive but so fun. For some reason they saw us washing dishes and wanted to clean. They spent the next hour fascinated by the scrubbing brush and washed the whole counter, sink, stove etc. Rob then became obsessed with getting up on a chair and putting his glass of gatorade into the freezer. This went on all night. He would drink some, get up on the chair put it in, leave it and come back to see if it was frozen. I think he was making a slushy.

After the other boys came and they laid out their sleeping bags they went crazy in the big room. Running around hitting each other with pillows, cushions, anything they could get their hands on. Climbing on everything that was available. It was crazy! What energy, We made s'mores in the oven which came out good and then played music. Finally to calm them down Amy showed them an album of pictures from home. They all sat around her intrigued. They were asking her so many questions about home and when she showed them a pix of an alligator. We then played the story game where each one of us said a sentence. I turned off all the lights and held a flashlight to my face and began. They loved that. The story devolved into lines like "hairy butt" and "poop" but they were laughing so I didn't care.

We put in a movie to get them to sleep which worked and most were snoozing by the time it went off. Everyone was scratching from mosquitos which are terrible here. Tody woke up in the middle of the night crying after he had been moving around a lot in his sleeping bag. He had pain in his legs and wouldn't go back to sleep and wanted his mom. We did call her as she said he might want to come home but she didn't answer. We didn't know what to do. We rubbed his leg and held him. He got cold and we put him back in his sleeping bag wanting one of us on each side of him. He was still awake and looking like he was going to cry again so I had my head next to him and we whisperd a rhyming game - "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, I'm alive", He seemed to like that and we kept going up in numbers and rhyming ever so quietly. Then he started to tell me how is saw an owl once with her babies, and that it was cool, told me about caribou and hunting with his dad, and that he saw a grizzy bear and shot it (apparently not true) but he was telling me how he sometimes pretends to be sleeping and showed me his face for that. He said my leg feels better. We laid there side by side while he whispered until he fell back to sleep and slept till morning. Amy and I then laid there listening to the boys sleeping. It was wonderful. .

In the morning Amy made tie dye pancakes while I took pictures. The girls came by and the chaos began again. I've got to go now. So tired. Amy and I are going to the crafts market tomorrow and out on a fishing trip on Sunday.