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.