Another Fine Day to be Alive!

Since I can remember, I have been a subscriber of The Magazine for Practical Outdoorsmen: Fur – Fish – Game. In that magazine there is a section called “I Knew That!” In the September 2007 edition of Fur – Fish – Game (page 2) a reader named Randy Zink offered a suggestion that you can use the bottom of a ceramic cup – you know, a coffee cup—as a knife sharpening stone. Since I foolishly did not bring any of my own stones to Alaska with me, I tried it. Guess what, Randy was right, it works. It will take a little getting used to but I sharpened my favorite kitchen knife (the knife that gets abused) on it and I am pleased with the resulting edge. Thanks Randy and thanks Fur – Fish – Game magazine!

14 September 2007
Staying Busy
It has been quite a while since I last wrote anything. Between planning lessons and coaching cross country, I have not had time to do much of anything.

My recent trip to Goodnews Bay was very nice. They don’t have trees either, but the mountains and the Bering Sea were wonderful. I would love to live and teach there but the people who go there, stay there. Across the bay is the small village of Platinum. We have a school there but it’s closed. There was once a Platinum Mine there but it has been closed for quite a while. When the mine closed all but the heartiest of the citizens left too. Someone is building a fish processing plant there that will operate in the summer. If that brings in enough full time residents to warrant the reopening of the school, I’ll be first in line with my resume’ in hand.

Our mode of transportation to and from Goodnews Bay was in Cessna 207s. The weather was extremely rough. So rough that there was talk about us being “weathered – in” and staying until the storm passed. After seeing the first plane I was a little nervous anyhow. The ceiling panel was being help up by duct tape. I thought to myself “There’s no duct tape on the outside so we are going to be fine.” The thirty year old planes performed flawlessly and I decided that I want one of my own.

Our next trip is to Bethel for the Regional Cross Country Meet. The scenery will not be as pretty but at least it’ll be new.

I have been practicing with my team so that I can get into better physical condition and maybe even lose some weight. At yesterday’s practice we were in the gym because of the weather and part of the workout involved balls. Somehow, I twisted wrong and pulled a muscle in my lower back so today I’m gimping around like an old man. On the bright side, I hurt my back in Alaska and I’ll heal in Alaska and that’s all I need. If I had a few trees to look at, I would be in sore-back heaven.

This is interesting… There was a community feast last night. It was to celebrate someone’s birthday. They invite the whole community without exception. One of my runners invited me personally so I would be sure to show up. She remembered that I did not go to one last month because I am shy and I didn’t want to impose on folks that I did not know. (Yes, I am shy!)

When I arrived the house was packed full of people from two other villages and every kid in town. I was welcomed warmly by the family, many of whom I had met before at school functions. And a couple of my neighbors were there too. On the offering was swan (the turkey of the north), duck, and moose ribs; akutaq and other stuff that I had never seen before. I, somehow, ended up with a kid’s plate of Rice-A-Roni, jello, and cake. The lady who served me likes to kid around with me so I think she played on my ignorance of their etiquette so she could have a chuckle. I’m fine with that, because I got to spend some time with nice people outside of the school and I didn’t have to cook or wash dishes. Besides, the food she gave me tasted very good.

I couldn’t help but to notice how many religious icons and family photographs were on display. It seemed like certain walls were devoted to one subject or the other. It is well known that I don’t know much about the Yup’ik people so it shouldn’t be a shock that was amazed at some of the pictures. There were kids and grandkids and grandmas and so on. That’s not the shocking part. I saw pictures of people that I thought were from other families on the walls. Then it hit me. Grandparents, aunts and uncle, and distant relatives will adopt kids for various reasons and raise them as their own. In these small communities of a few hundred, most people are related somehow anyway, so why not take in kids if needed? However, it has changed the way I see my students.