Village Life

Since I arrived there have been a select group of young ladies who have befriended me and taken me under their wing here in Koyuk. The girls have been looking forward to this weekend so they can share with me all Koyuk has to offer. The girls took me down to the beach tonight-- actually hoping that there would be a baseball game, but it turned out that the summer heat has already set in and the players chose to lounge/4-wheel on the low tide instead of play. We entertained ourselves wading in the water and sinking mud.

Snack Shack/Movie Rental/Game Room

After the beach we headed up to the local snack-shack/movie rental hut. This is VERY unique for villages. One of the local teachers who has been in Koyuk for 20 years renovated a trailer to create a hang out spot for the youngsters and teens of Koyuk. I just had to sit in their for 20 minutes and I literally met virtually half of the village children/teens/young adults. The young girls and I played a couple board games, and upon the insistence of the the kids in the shop-- I got a slush puppy. This is very special that they have slushies out in such a rural setting and for them is a true summer treat. So I bought slushies for my tour-guides and we walked around town before heading back to the school.

Mud, mud, mud...

Reflections

Beginning the Collage Process

Learning to collage!

I get the pleasure to introduce these student to collage! A word that up until today, none of them had ever heard of, but by the time I'm gone they will know the concept well. Yesterday the students created watercolor "color fields" as I call them, or prepared paper-- which today was ripped up according to color family (warm and cool). Students used acrylic paints today-- paints I found in the mystery paper closet-- to create even more painted paper to collage with. They also got a chance to print their hands, because I have always been fond of hand prints, no matter how cheesy they are... it's just fun to paint your hands. Plain and simple. Needless to say, we made a little mess in the bathroom sink... which I had to clean up later. In the photos you'll see their working on a large paper collage using the blue papers. That will eventually become the background to the world map-- the oceans of course! And just to add a little academics in, I quizzed the 3/4 graders on their oceans. They got all, except one girl said, "The Indiana Ocean!" My response, "Close enough!"

Tomorrow is the last day on my first week. Summer school is a four-day week-- but for me that means a VERY long weekend. We also have Monday off for Memorial day... so I'm wishing I brought a couple more books. Skype anyone?

A young lady using watercolor paper to collage the ocean.

Preparing collage paper...

Bees and Beach Time

It's summa time! The 3rd and 4th graders got extra outside recess time this afternoon-- meaning we not only got time on the playground, but also got to walk down to the beach. The girls were very excited to share about their summer pastimes of swimming, building fires on the beach... and bee hunting. I was explaining to Travis this evening on the phone that the kids love to "bee hunt" as they call it: picking off the wings and stinger of the bee so all that's left is a fuzzy bug (a bug that will unfortunately die soon). The pictures below are from recess/beach time today and the kids playing with their bees.

I am thankful for the opportunity to spend time on the beach with the kids-- such a wonderful gift of peacefulness (although others might not think of it in such a way). Lots of time to think and enjoy seeing the students explore with paints, drawing and photography.

70 degrees today-- Summer in AK!

 Took some photos this morning in the sun and these two boys were already playing on the playground-- the younger one was very excited to do wheelies for me on his tricycle.

At lunch it was 70 degrees outside. I definitely did not bring clothing for 70 degrees-- I was told it would still be cold. I ate my lunch outside and was too hot (very unusual). Maybe I won't need to worry about being too white for Alicia's wedding. I should get a significant amount of sun this coming weekend.

mmm... sunshine.

I could get used to this whole waking up at 9:30am and still having an hour and a half to get ready for school. Thankfully I have no windows in my classroom (where I sleep), otherwise I would need to having sleeping pills or something to knock me out for a couple hours. But it sure is nice to walk out the door in the morning and have the sun already up high in the sky.

Monday

I knew once I got here I would be happy-- I love the village children and the slowed down pace of life. It reminds me of being in Tenakee, except instead of little dread-headed hippy children it's multiple generation Alaska Natives (specifically of the Bering Straight area). The children are so curious and so social. This morning before class, a group of 6 kids found me prepping for the day and introduced themselves to me. They always ask first, "What's your name?" They're not afraid to ask as all. The school day began at 11am- lunch at 2:30 and then the second group finished at 7pm. The timeline is very different for summer school because the sun is up all day and kids stay out very late.

After school I took my first trip to the village store. On the way walking down the road, several children followed me on their bikes and asked, "What's your name?" I had one young girl actually offer to lead me to the store (only a short minute walk down the dirt road). I purchased traditional village food: top ramen, canned soup, more coffee, and spaghetti-O's. Yes-- spaghetti-O's, which I'm pretty sure I haven't eaten since I was at least 6-years old. On the way back from the store several young woman on a smoke-break stopped me and started chatting. I was so thankful for them initiating conversation-- it makes the experience of walking down the road significantly less awkward. I mean, a very white girl walking down the road in a skirt--- yeah... screams teacher. They women new I was teaching summer school and they even asked if they could come and watch my art class! I don't think Shayn (the general summer school teacher) would appreciate a bunch of adults coming into his room, but I was flattered and excited at their interest.

In other exciting news- Lady Gaga's new album came out today: verdict... a little raunchy and sacrilegious, but significantly better than her first album (except not Bad Romance... that's at the top).

Also-- I'm finally reading The Shack. I bought it three years ago and haven't opened it until I was in the Nome Era airport. Everyone should read that book-- I know I'm a little late with that message. I remember hearing about it at church in high school and a little buzz about it the first year I was at Whitworth.

More soon---

First Day in Koyuk...

After feeling a little nervous about spending two weeks up north, especially after just returning to Juneau, I have much more excitement for this experience now that I'm here-- the hard part for me is always leaving Juneau (leaving the comfort zone: literal and figurative). I flew to Nome on AK air this morning and had a full afternoon layover. After asking a couple of airport workers where the best lunch spot in Nome was, I walked into town and explored. My mother reminded me that I was the first decedent of the Hudert line to return to Nome after my Grandma Maureen's family lived there in the 40's, and I honestly think I saw the exact same building that were there in when my great-grandparents left with kids in tow in 1949. The building, all wood, were very old, many falling apart. I love walking through places that time hasn't touched. Nome felt like such a place.

I finally made it to Koyuk after a 30-minute flight on a 7-seater south of Nome. Koyuk, on the ocean's edge, is very beautiful. It has trees!! That's a big deal. I was picked up by one of the Koyuk teachers and brought to the school, where I will be living for the next two weeks. Shayn (the teacher I will be working with at the school) gave me a quick tour of the village: lots of parked snow machines, old wooden boats, wooden huts on the beach and 4-wheelers. After our tour I took it upon myself to take my camera out and explore a bit. I met several kids-- of course they're curious, "Who are you?" one middle-school aged boy asked me on the road. I told him I was going to be the art teacher for summer school.

I was surprised to find that ATT has service out here! Apparently they got it about a year ago. St. Mary's didn't have any, so I wasn't expecting to be able to use my phone, but I can.
Tomorrow I start with the kids. I'm just going to be a teacher's aid when Shayn is teaching, and then I'll have an hour with each group of students a day to drawing and paint. Looking forward to meeting the little ones!

Hope you enjoy my first few photos of Koyuk-- gives you a little glimpse of what I saw today.

Next to the road-- notice the washing machine.

I just like the color of that crate-- and Babel.

After the snow and ice melts all the lost basketballs from the school yard are found! I thought it was such a telling photo. It is by far my favorite photo I took today.

Beach home.

10-year old school-- still very nice.

Boats.