More Southwest

I returned to the Southwest region last week for work. This time I visited three different villages: Koliganek, Manokotak, Aleknagik. I was overwhelmed by everyone's hospitality and kindness. I spent two nights in a teacher bunk house and then stayed with one of the teachers and her family for several nights. It was great experiencing three new places. 

I met some really interesting people over the course of the week. I did a lot of traveling between the villages, so I spent a lot of time waiting. The small bush planes are on "schedules" but really they are on "Alaska time". When the plane is supposed to land at 4:00 that means it will probably be there an hour or more later. So, as  a result I spent a lot of time waiting for planes with strangers. My escort in Koliganek was a recent high school graduate who was so proud to tell me that he had just brought home a bull moose and it was the largest in the village. He was given $3,000 for the antlers! Many of the women in the village had been cutting and preparing the meat for two days. The moose will provide meat for several families for the entire winter. I took a picture of the picture he showed me (not the best picture, but you get the idea :)

Cross country practice in Koliganek

I spent three full days in Manokotak. The family I stayed with was wonderful. This was their "garden", which I thought was a great idea! They will have fresh vegetables the whole year. Fresh anything is extremely rare out in the villages.

 Sunset over Manokotak

The most unique of the three villages was Aleknagik. The village is split on two sides of a lake. The school is accessed only by boat. Every morning, half of the kids in the school ride the boat across the lake. In the winter, they ride snow machines across the ice on the lake. 

The lake was breathtaking!

The school has a wrap around porch overlooking the water and the mountains.

 The sunset in the morning was incredible!

This afternoon I am off on another trip to Adak Island. It is my first trip out to the Aleutian Islands! Pictures to come when I get back!

Tanana

I went on a 3 day trip to Tanana at the beginning of the week. Tanana is a village of about 250 people that sits right on the Yukon River. It is also the location for the show Yukon Men on Discovery Channel. Have any of you guys seen it?! I just watched it for the first time yesterday and it was really cool to recognize the places and people on the show. 

I really enjoyed my visit. The fall colors were unbelievable!! I had never seen colors like that here in Alaska. 

I was lucky enough to stay with the principal/superintendent in her house (no gym floor this time :). You could see the river right out her front window. We went for long walks each night and it was beautiful. I'm looking forward to hopefully bringing my snowshoes when I'm there in the winter!

 Yukon River

Town church- outhouse on the right. Some of the houses and buildings in Tanana do not have any running water. 

The school was small, around 50 kids. The kids were hilarious and couldn't get over the fact that I had red hair and I'm tall. One of the little girls said to me, "you're the one everyone is talking about. They keep saying you're tall with red hair". Not a lot of redheads in Tanana :)

Just like the other villages I visited, the people in Tanana live a subsistence way of life. They survive off fishing, hunting and trapping.

My flight from Tanana to Fairbanks was my first slightly frightening flight. I have a feeling I might have several more of those in my future. Once we were in the air there was ZERO visibility and it was a rough ride. I was happy to land in Fairbanks!

Here is another picture from my first trip out, which I meant to post last week. It gives you an idea of how small the planes are and how packed with stuff they are! Each plane usually has several boxes of foods and supplies which are being shipped out to the village.

On Sunday I head back to the Southwest Region to go to three different villages.  More pictures to come!

Southwest Region

My first trip out to the villages was a great experience. I met amazing people who shared their stories with me and welcomed me into their schools and their culture. I flew into Dillingham, AK where I then took a small plane out to the village of New Stuyahok.

New Stuyahok is a village of about 500 people. I was so impressed by the school. It is beautiful!

We set up for the night in the special education classroom.

I spent each night writing reports, while sitting at the table or on the floor. One morning I had a lovely surprise. As I was sitting on the floor I felt a little tickle on the bottom of my foot. It was a MOUSE! (a shrew actually). Anyone who knows me knows how much I despise mice. I seem to attract them ever since I was little, and of course this one little mouse had to find me in the classroom. EEkkkkk!!

Everyone was very friendly and welcoming in the village. 

Very few people have cars and most everyone traveled on 4 wheelers.

Next time I visit New Stuyahok one of the school workers is going to take me fishing! (maybe ice fishing if it's winter!)

From New Stuyahok I traveled to the village of Togiak...of course on a small plane.

Togiak sits on the Togiak Bay and is surrounded by mountains. It was breathtaking flying in! Togiak was the largest of the three villages I traveled to. The main source of income in the village is fishing, during the summer months. The village families live a subsistence way of life, hunting and gathering for their food sources. Boys start hunting at the age of 6. They go hunting for caribou, moose, seagulls, and ptarmigan. They fish for salmon and white fish, and also catch seals and walruses. I was surprised to find out that they also go looking for seagull eggs out on the tundra, which they boil and eat. While I was there, the majority of the mothers and grandmothers were out berry picking. The men were preparing for moose hunting season. 

The principal brought me down to the store. I was amazed at the prices- $7.99 for a box of cereal!

After Togiak I flew right across the bay to the small village of Twin Hills. This was my favorite of the villages. 

Togiak School

The school only has 18 students and 2 teachers. It is adorable. This was my room for the night:

All of the schools have a Yupik teacher and a Yupik class, where they learn their Native language. 

I went for a walk around the village with one of the teachers. The village was so small and intimate. Along the walk I saw this walrus head soaking!   

I also had my first ride on a 4 wheeler- several firsts this trip!

There were so many individuals I met throughout the week who left lasting impressions....A principal who went out of his way to make me feel comfortable and brought me a frozen silver salmon at the end of the week....middle school and teenage boys who were initially very quiet and reserved but opened up when I asked them questions about their village and their way of life....children who used limited verbal communication, but communicated mainly with their bodies and their eyebrows. So many experiences in just one week!

Next week I head out to the village of Tanana for a few days.

For now, I am enjoying being home for the week and spending some time relaxing, hiking, and hopefully camping!