Feast/throwing party

These pictures were taken at a fest this feast was to commemorate Josh and Melissa's wedding. Throwing party's can be done for weddings, new baby's or birthdays.

The first picture shows part of the counter that was laiden with food. The counter was full, there was food on the table and many many pots of food on the floor. some of the foods served included: ham, swan, fish strips, salmon, moose, caribou, lasagna, spaghetti, wedding cake, jello, bars, flat bread. Next is a picture of the people waiting outside to get in to eat. The line is very long--the entire community was invited. Inside the house, one long table is set up and people sit down at the table as soon as a person is done eating they move and another person sits down. It took about 2 hours for everyone to eat at this feast.

Kids entertain themselves while waiting for the throwing party to start.

A throwing party is traditionally just women and children, this was called a gussack throwing party and men were also included.

Berry Picking

I had the opportunity to go berry picking with some other teachers a few weeks ago. We went downriver a little ways. I learned that there are moss berries and green berries. Moss berries just lay kind of on the top of the ground while the green berries are still on the plants and are usually in clusters. When picking green berries, the berry picking goes faster as you can pick by the handful. There are different seasons for picking the berries. We picked primarily cranberries but found a few blackberries and some blueberries. It was interesting because everywhere we walked there were berries just laying on the ground.





These pictures should help give a little bit of a visual about what the tundra looks like. It is very spongy to walk on and is mossy. I have some tundra moss that I picked up and have dried. I wish once again that I could capture just a tiny bit of the atmosphere here to share with all of you. The rainbow pictures were taken in the pouring rain on our boatride home from berry picking. We have seen numerous rainbows, and the other night thought we caught a glimpse of the norhtern lights.

ROCKY

Flakes Rocky's Mom

Rocky--what a cute puppy :)

The two brothers :) Rocky and Koda (Nick and Dana's dog)

Kat holding Rocky before we got him

This is Tiger--Rocky's Dad

Friends

Ryan, Dana, Katy, Kat

The school from our porch

Ryan, Nick, Dana, Katy, Kat in our house

Well life in Alaska, continues to be great. Today I was to head to Bethel for a Sp. Ed. inservice but bush planes aren't flying due to weather. Hmmm...what have I done since I last wrote...

Last weekend we went out in the boat with some other teachers and went upriver where we berry picked on the tundra. We picked cranberries and blackberries. I learned a difference between green berries and moss berries. Moss berries, are already laying on the mossy tundra and the green berries are in clumps, which makes for a lot easier picking. We got poured on and the ride back upriver was a bit chilly. It was soooo much fun and a great opportunity to get out of the village.

We have had a lot of rainy days, though this week we had two sunny days. Today is rainy and very windy, i guess gusts up to 65 mph. were forcasted. Last week there was flooding and some of the kids couldn't get to school. A lot of the boardwalks broke or fell off stilts. The rain is nice as it keeps our water tank full. :) Our water tank holds 681 gallons of water, it disappears quickly without rain. The rain water is much nicer to use than the water from the school, which has arsenic in it. All water must be distilled before using in the kitchen.

Yesterday, for my birthday Katy and Dana made a huge sign to hang up in my classroom and it was very cute, they also made me a potato supper..many varieties of potatoes, it was a lot of fun and very thoughtful of them.

The new houses are progressing, it is very exciting to walk through and tour them. They have painted, have carpet in and have linoleum in. There is a glitch in the cabinets but they are shooting to be done by Oct. 13th.
It'll be weird not to live with Nick and Dana anymore. They are great roommates and a huge blessing.

Nick, Dana, Ryan, Katy and I continue to have church at Ryan and Katy's on Sunday mornings, it is nice to have multiple people who are on the same page. :)

Kids are great and staff is wonderful, can't think of much else for now.

Will write more soon.

The pictures that are currently shown on this site are of boardwalks in Bethel (taken at 10:30 p.m. in Aug). Our Incinolet toilet...this toilet burns the waste. My school is pictured and the house we are currently living in is posted. I will try to add more pictures soon.