Eskimo Dance, Goose Hunt, and a bunch of salmon!!

Every year the Alakanuk village puts on a dance for all the new teachers. This is a way for the village to show their appreciation and also to show us a little about their culture and tradition. They usually have a starting time around 5-6ish but nobody gets there til 7 or 8. This is the way all time works in the village--usually a couple hours later then what was said. We got to the community center(there is another word for it, but I forgot) and there were a few blue mats laying on the floor and chairs lined up behind them for the native drummers. People started to slowly find their way into the building and soon men were sitting in their designated drum chairs. Soon after, all in unison, all the men start beating on their drums and chanting and the women make their way out to the blue mat that was set out. The first dance looked like this:

All the men seated in their seat, ready to drum and chant

This is video of the first dance. The men usually sit down in front and if their wife is dancing also, she stands behind him.

Not sure what these are called, but they are made out of moose hair. You must have these in your hands while dancing, and if you don't have any, your hands must have gloves on them.

Tucker, the Eskimo. 

Now, onto some salmon!!!

Every year Alaska Game and Fish come and count all the salmon...and to count them, they catch them and cut them open to see if they are male or female. Then, after they catch them they put them in a big blue tub right by the river and whoever wants to come and get them can! Greg and I made a trip down there a few days ago because we heard they had put some more salmon in there and here is what we found...

 This is the blue tub that Game and Fish put the salmon in..

 These were our 18 gallon tubs we brought to take the fish back

 I wish I got pictures of us all gutting the fish...there is a table set up outside the teacher housing and usually if you bring fish, somehow...a lot of the teachers show up to help you gut them....its kind of a take what you want thing. Some teachers take some, some take none. Its a fun way to hang out with everyone too!

 This is a smokehouse for drying the fish. This belongs to a native- I just peeked my head in there and wanted to see what it looked like inside, pretty cool huh? They also have some "salt fish" which is laying on a rack in the middle of the picture. This is just another way to preserve the fish.

 I got this picture just because I thought it was cool. I was trying to be artistic for Terri.....what you think, Terri??

Lastly, our goose hunt!!!

I've been so proud of Greg lately, I mean, I'm proud of him always...but since we have been up here he has really been trying to be more social(those of you who know him, know what I'm talking about). Up here, we(white people) have to have guides(native people) to take us on hunts because they have boats and know all the good spots, and its the law around here....so Greg has been super friendly to all the native people at school. I think he started out doing it because he really wanted to get us some good hunts, but now, he has really developed a good friendship with most of the guys. They all really like Greg because he is a big hunter and he is always inviting them to come back to Arkansas and stay with us. But, anyway, we got a call and Morris, a native, asked Greg if he wanted to go goose hunting...and Greg being the sweet, kind, and considerate husband that he is, asked if his wife could tag along....Morris agreed so off we went! 

We traveled about an hour down the Yukon River, into the Bering Sea Slough and on some island where we were literally out in the middle of nowhere. Here are some of the pics..

 This was our walk down the bank of this island-- the island wasn't very big...maybe 3 or 4 football fields...

 The Bering Sea Slough

 This picture was taken about 830...it was so incredibly peaceful...and beautiful. Like no place I've ever been. I kept thinking how BIG God actually is...and what a wonderful place He has given us to enjoy...and to kill things..haha.

 Greg waiting for some geese to fly...another artistic picture...Terri, how am I doing?

This was our goose that we killed...I say "we" because we both shot at it and I was the one who actually hit it and I didn't want Greg to feel bad.

Happy, happy, happy!!

Still NO coffee pot...

Its been almost 2 full weeks since we've been here. In some ways its flown by and in some its crawled....We've already made tons of friends and feel like we have known them forever. It also sometimes feels like I never cook dinner anymore because everyone always invites us over for dinner! And I wish I would have been taking pictures of all the awesome things we've been eating...like...moose burritos, moose ribs(my favorite), moose meatloaf(ok, maybe this one was my favorite), and lots of boxed mashed potatoes which come to find out aren't all that bad. In my previous post, I posted pics of our trips grocery shopping...and so far that's all I've enjoyed of those groceries...is the pictures. Our groceries STILL haven't arrived. Do they know we are still out here? We are anxiously awaiting that order because certain things are in there we really need like...pillows, shower curtains, lotion(its extremely dry climate here), milk, vegetables(I can't remember the last time I had a green veggie), and many other grocery items that will keep us going all semester.
Other than waiting on the groceries to get here we've been keeping ourselves occupies by working out, walking around town, and talking about who is going to kill the bigger moose(me).

 This is where Greg and I workout everyday after he gets off work at 3:30, this is the basketball gym. They are called the Alakanuk Braves.

 Mom and Tucker after a workout.

Getting creative because we don't have any weights yet.

Down by the river!!!

Well, our Wal-Mart groceries STILL are not in yet from when we went shopping in Anchorage. Luckily, everyone here is very hospitable and have been inviting us for dinner atleast every other night. We've had moose meatloaf, moose burritos, and moose ribs. It's all been very delicious!! Also, last night we were over at Paul and Melanie's house eating moose meatloaf and a native friend of theirs came by with 8 huge salmon and asked if anyone wanted them! Of course, Greg and I jumped on that really quickly. We took 4 home with us and filet and gutted them and gave the other 4 to Jim and Debbie(a couple from Arkansas).

We have been settling in nicely. Greg is getting into the swing of things at work and I am taking care of River(3 years) and Story(almost 1). Tucker loves to play with them both and it has been fun to watch her make friends. She also has another little friend named Emma.

We also had the opportunity to go out last weekend to the Lower Yukon River and have a cookout with all the teachers and their kids. The river was beautiful! It is fed from the Bering Sea and there sometimes are whales and seals out swimming around in the river. We looked for them but think we just saw seals mainly and no whales.

 This is Melanie, River, and Story(she is on the front of Mel) and their dog, Cornelius.

 The dump. You have to walk past the dump to get the river.

 Moose skin.

 Ahhh...the dump..

 Finally made it!! The river!

 Tucker loved it. She went out and waded in the river and was throwing rocks.

She actually got stuck after this picture and stepped right out of her shoe. If you're not careful you can fall about a foot in the sand!

Alakanuk Crossfit!

Alakanuk so far...

When we arrived in Alakanuk, Paul (the assistant principal at the school) came and picked us up in the school van and took us to our new house. It was rainy and felt just like being in Portland.

 Our house, the one in the middle.

 Walking the boardwalk to the house

 The Principal, Cheryl and Tucker.

 Our front door...walk straight into a mudroom then you enter the actual house.

 A quick tour

 Since we didn't have any cookware or most important...our coffee maker...we improvised. Instant coffee and a borrowed sauce pan

 Our brief walk around Alakanuk. Muddy and rainy.

 These how all the fire hydrants look. Their fire truck got washed away in the flood last year.

 Some scenery

 Where the village elders meet.

 These were some of the prices we saw at one of the three stores in the village. Holy moley look how expensive everything is!

 We did buy Tucker some milk..not this milk though, since it was expired. Also, you must always check the expiration date on all food just to make sure.

 The Catholic church

 The one and only restaurant

 That same day a bunch of our totes came in! It was like Christmas. I started crying when I opened our stuff from Arkansas. It just smelled like home.

This was for Terri. The PD.

Well, we finally arrived in Alaska! We first got to Anchorage around midnight on the 3rd. I had previously booked a hotel room for one night before we were able to check in to the hotel that the school paid for. We had someone from the hotel come and pick us up in really ghetto minivan...super scary already....then we get to our hotel....woah was it in the WRONG part of town. I wish I had taken pictures for everyone to understand how scary this place was...but I was just trying to keep one hand on Tucker and the other on our bags so no one jacked them. We would have gotten another hotel, but it was SO late by the time we got our bags and finally got to the hotel that we just decided to tough it out. Greg took first watch... We woke up that morning and got ready to go to church at the Anchorage C of C and checked out of the hotel!!! Woo Hoo! Called a cab to get to church and went to service....service was good...ended up meeting an old friend who went to Cascade College while I was at Columbia. It was good to see her, and she even offered us a place to stay during Christmas break! Super nice of her. But all the people at church were very nice and wished us well out in the bush...
We checked into our hotel that the school provided after getting a ride back in the church van. The hotel was so nice!! We dropped all 85 of our bags off at the hotel and went to work! We started off our shopping extravaganza at Wal-Mart. I went alone and Greg and Tucker stayed at the hotel to sleep. I didn't take any pictures because I was in beast-shopping mode. BUT, I will say I definitely spent A LOT of money. Shopping in Wal-Mart in Alaska is different because they have what is called a "bush" order spot in the back of the store. You can literally push your entire cart full of all your stuff to the back, fill out a piece of paper, put it in your cart and walk away. They pack it up and ship it for you, I love America..home of lazy humans. The next day we all went to Sam's club to buy our bulk stuff. Here's a few pics from that...

We left Anchorage the day after...not too many tourist things...but I did get a few pics of our plane rides...or should I say our "stick of gum" rides because the planes were SO small!!!!

Flight from Anchorage to St. Mary's. This flight had a bathroom!

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 Tucker cruising the aisles

 I thought it was cool that there was a girl pilot-- so we needed a picture with her!

 St. Mary's runway...looks like Portland!

 Tucker making friends with a lady who is going to Marshall with her husband who is a teacher. They are from around Highland, AR!!

 Tucker making more friends..

 Ok, here is the huge plane we rode on to Alakanuk...Mom was a little nervous.

 Here we all are! Almost to Alakanuk!

 Landed!

Safe and sound.