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| Elementary Cross Country Racers |
Another week has come and gone. The frost covers the grass in the wee hours and the tundra is donning its fall colors. As if that weren’t enough excitement, Kwethluk hosted a Cross Country meet last Friday. There were three races – elementary, junior high, and high school – with schools flying in from Akiak, Akiachuk, Oscarville, and Bethel. The races were from one to three miles long and there was even a community-wide Fun Run that evening. And, yes, the rain even abated for us. That brought out droves of people – it was quite an event!
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| High School Cross Country Racers |
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| Ashley (Science Teacher) with one of the village pups |
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| Anya's Birthday Flight |
It was a beautiful flight – fall colors and clear skies. The four of us squeezed into exactly four seats on the plane, but not before announcing our weight to the pilot. This is certainly an anomaly in Alaska. Every time I fly anywhere, the pilot asks for everyone’s weight and documents it in a logbook of sorts. There is no room for vanity out here, that’s for sure! I’ve even had the guy at the ticket counter in Bethel call to me across the room before, “Hey, how much do you weigh?” No matter that there is 15 feet between us, I simply yell back, “One-eighty.” Everybody does it. Nobody cares.
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| Ashley and Anya departing the aircraft |
When we arrived at the Yute airport terminal, baggage claim is a bit of a myth. Boxes and bags are just stacked and taken away – no security, no problem. Heck, there’s no boarding passes or seat assignments – what do they need security for?
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| Our "luggage" (coolers, boxes, backpacks) |
Once we collected our bags and called the LKSD (Lower Kuskokwim School District) DO (District Office) to come pick us up, we collected our bags and headed out to the curb (actually, there are no curbs). Our chariot (named Desire, no doubt) arrived with Ross at the wheel. He seems to be the DO chauffer these days and he drove us the few miles into town.
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| It truly was a streetcar named Desire! (or maybe a vanbus full of desirable ladies?!) |
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| Our Bethel Chariot |
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| The inside of our Bethel Chariot. |
It was a quick trip, arriving in Bethel at 7:30pm Friday night and then attending the inservice 8am-3pm on Saturday. We had time for a quick trip to the grocery store before heading back to the airport for our 5pm flight back to Kwethluk. However, once at the airport, we were told that Yute had overbooked all the charters and so they were running late. We were 3rd in line for our plane that had to take a group to one village, come back and take another group to another village, and then come back and take us to our village. Those planes must log millions of miles! We finally got back to Kwethluk a little after 7pm Saturday evening.
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| Fireweed cotton |
I spent five hours Sunday (morning until afternoon) working in my classroom. It was beautiful outside and Sarah and I took Nali for a long walk in the late afternoon. We made the loop through Uptown (we live uptown, upriver, as opposed to downtown, downriver) and then headed out Airport Road. On our walk, we noticed that the Fireweed has turned to cotton – a sure sign that summer is over. We walked far enough out toward the airport to see the Kuskokwim Mountains in the distance. That was my goal… to see the mountains.
I miss the mountains terribly. I knew I would, but it’s still hard. It wouldn’t be so bad if we had a 4-wheeler to get out on the tundra, to get out into nature. But, we don’t. All we have is our two feet and those don’t work well in this rain-soaked marshy land. I dream about having a snowmobile (aka snowmachine or snowgo) this winter so that we can have some freedom. There’s not very far one can walk around here and we’re feeling a little penned in. No endless beach to walk. No water taxi to take us across the bay to the mountains. Not even a 4-wheeler to take us to where the berries are, or were… we missed out on that. (sigh)
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