Stuck in Bethel and Tununak

Jimmy and I had a busy week and then weekend. On Thursday I was busy at school until around 8:00. I had the after school program with the high school and then I had a family night. Family night is a night that the 3T-5th grade puts on and we have family members and their children come up to it. We ended up putting on a valentine card making session where the parents could have their picture taken with their child and put it on the card. It turned out to be a bigger hit than we had planned and a lot of community members showed up which was really nice to see.

This weekend Jimmy and I both went our separate ways to chaperone the middle school basketball teams. I went to Tununak, which is on Nelson Island just up and down the large hill (mountain) that we can see in Toksook. We left on Friday around 12:00 on snowmobile. It was quite the trip. You really have to bundle up when you travel in Alaska in the wintertime. I had on 6 different layers and my coat, a hat, mittens, snow goggles, -30 degree boots, wool socks, 3 pant layers, and my snow bibs. I felt like I weighed 15 more pounds and had a hard time walking. The trip over to Tununak was very rocky. I was taken over by one of the maintenance guys that works in our school. We also had to tow a sled of equipment behind us. There was more than one time that I thought I might fall off and die and then the sled would run over me. I thought that the half hour trip would never end! The thing that surprised me was that they don’t wear helmets on their sleds up here in Alaska. It’s something that I have gotten used to in Michigan, and I felt so much safer with one than without one!

When we arrived we had to play in less than 20 minutes so the coach and I got the girls to put their things away and quickly get ready for their game. Their first game went really well and the girls won. The rest of the night was spent watching the other 3 teams compete against one another and we also had another game that night. I had forgotten what it is like to be in middle school, and probably for a good reason. The girls were very nice but hyper for most of the time. They spent their free time in the gym and couldn’t get enough basketball. They played until 11:00 PM when we kicked them out! Then they didn’t want to settle down and I was still yelling at some at 1:30AM! I was sure exhausted come Saturday morning when we got up for breakfast at 8:00 AM. We then were supposed to play one game and be home by 2:00 PM. Unfortunately two bad things happened. We lost our last game and then the weather was horrible. We weren’t able to leave until around 8:30 PM. I was just thankful that we were able to get out. The other two schools were snowed in for another night. The coach and I were jumping up and down ready to leave and head back to Toksook.

Jimmy had similar issues. He went to Bethel with the boys. The boys won all 3 games but they also got snowed in. They were supposed to arrive on Saturday afternoon but didn’t return until Sunday afternoon. Thankfully Jimmy spent his morning calling the airport otherwise he would have been stuck for another night. The small window (1 hour) of good weather only lasted the time he was in the air. The weather is horrible again here with the wind blowing really strong.

Needless to say we are both exhausted but look forward to another week. I can’t believe there are only 14 more weeks left. Hopefully winter won’t be for the rest of them. I am ready for the snow to melt and to start enjoying positive temperatures again.

The pictures you see are ones that I took in Tununak of the school and village. The painting is one that is hanging up in the school that I thought was really cool. The village reminded me a lot of Toksook besides that it is a lot smaller, they have a smaller basketball court, and that the large mountain we see was on the opposite side than it is in Toksook.

We also added some pictures to an older post we called Berry festival. They were pictures form Jimmy't trip to Umkimuit and of the cross country course that we have in Toksook. It's nothing like the one in Newberry or the other towns that I used to run in, thats for sure!