10-20-2012

I guess I missed a week. But, I have a good excuse. I was in Anchorage attending training for our after school program that I will be teaching. Ok,teaching isn’t a good verb here; I think juggling would describe it better. Either way, I have found a way to spend an additional six hours a week at school/work.

Swan Lake and our School.

The truly bad part of flying out of the village to Anchorage is that there are a lot of people there. Not New York City crowded, but more-than- 4-people-ahead-of-you-at-a-Walmart-checkout-stand crowded. And to answer your next question: yes. People in Anchorage Walmarts act exactly like people in Walmarts across our country. I did indeed stand behind the man with the full shopping cart and a handful of cash, telling the clerk to stop scanning when she hit $100. When that event happened, he then had the clerk take back some of the item that were deemed by him as unimportant, so he could add the important items. He did have the decency to scowl at me and say that this would take a while. I have seen this man in other incarnations at other Walmarts. Once as a drunk woman in Grove, OK and another as a confused, older woman with a tiny coin purse, a wad of coupons, and bad eyesight in Wenatchee, WA.

Even though I was in Anchorage only 4 days, I was ready to get back to Nunam Iqua. And in those four days things sure changed. Looking down from the plane as we flew over the tundra, I could see how much the ponds and lakes have frozen over. The small lake here in the village, Swan Lake, was 75% frozen over. It is not ready for me to walk on, but children and several rocks have found it sturdy enough to support them. Looking back at my time-dated photos for the previous years, it seems that the freeze is right on schedule. The Yukon is already starting to form ice, so that means the road will soon be reopened for traffic.

This weekend our school will be holding a community dance, featuring fiddlers from Emmonak. Communities up here have dances where they feature fiddlers regularly. Our village, sadly, has not had one in a couple of years, so people are really excited about this. It is difficult to imagine, but our village has only one event each year where the people gather, and that is our annual potlatch. Other than that, there are literally no community gatherings for the next 364 days. No places where people can just sit to share coffee, stories, and jokes. The post office is the only place where people are likely to bump into each other.  I believe that this event can help this community after a couple of rough months. 

Our whole school playing volleyball.

Now that I’ve had a couple of trips to the big city this past month, I think I’ll be hunkering down here until May. And I really don’t mind at all. I like being able to walk to work everyday. Not having to stand in line to buy Spam. And not seeing a car or pickup for another seven months. My daily arguments with the village dogs on my walk to work everyday gives me my anger-outlet. Plus, I think they are beginning to agree with my point about the upcoming election.