March Madness

Every year, in March, Alaskans are driven to madness - hahaha!!!!!  Iditarod, high school state basketball championships, and something else...I can't remember are all happening in the same week.  Alaska Airlines boost their fares into Anchorage for the mayhem and then leave them up for the summer season (big shock there) the days start getting noticeably longer and the snow in Anchorage and points south starts to melt and bears consider leaving their dens to look for food.

This past March (2011), both the boys' and the girls' basketball teams from Golovin went to the state Championship tournament in Anchorage.  THIS is the reason why you don't see any Iditarod pictures on my blog.... yet!  I went as a chaperone, money manager, van driver, gopher, and pack horse.  I also was listed as "statistician" on the team roster in case I wanted to sit down on the court - but I was terrified the ball would hit me - HAHA, and sat in the bleachers!!!!  I enjoyed every minute of it!!  Well, maybe not every minute of it - I got tired of spending so much time in malls; you have to let the kids have some free time (and time to shop for clothes and supplies).

Back in Golovin, Nick was taking care of four dogs!  He had Edelweiss (his dachshund), Merlynne (because Amanda was the girl's coach and the Activities Director), Strider (because I went as stated above), and Zena (because I was caring for her while Jill was dealing with medical issues and now I was going to be gone).  Luckily, he only had 2 1/2 days of school that week!!

Another bit of craziness (but good craziness) was all the support from the village we had.  With every single high schooler, 1/2 the middle schoolers (8th graders), 3 coaches, plus me in Anchorage, we already had about 1/5 of the villagers gone.  Then we had many siblings between the two teams, so it is no surprise that we had parents come also.  All in total, we had more than 1/2 of Golovin staying in Anchorage that week and watching the games!!

Both teams played well in situations where they were usually outnumbered, younger, and less experienced.  Their behavior off the court was also quite good.  I was pleased to be part of that experience!!

 Mighty Boys!

 Mighty Girls!

 Boys playing in white.

 Teamwork

 Girls playing in purple

 Traveling from school to airport sitting on luggage

 Riding shotgun on the way into Anchorage

 Strider and Zena

 Merlynne and Edel

 I flew in with the boys on the district plane.  Pilot Doug had to fly two back to back flights to get both teams to Anchorage.  Good thing the weather was good!!!

 Practicing at a high school in Anchorage - WOW... 3 full courts side by side!

 Girls release their craziness before boarding "Air Doug"

 Send off and blessings upon the kids and coaches.  Almost the entire town showed up for the pep rally and send off!!!!  As it should be - the store closed, city offices took a late lunch, and only one person remained at the clinic as a precautionary measure.

Girls demonstrate teamwork!

Christmas Games

OK, so this is way out of order - but since I am on a roll......

Starting December 25 and ending December 31, Golovin has Christmas Games.  Other villages have them too, but I don't know anything about those! Some people will travel to other villages as they visit family and play in their games and likewise, there were lots of new faces in town during the games!  It was funny because I was still learning everyone's name in Golovin and new people kept showing up - ugh.  Luckily, most everyone is friendly and tolerant.   Last year, they ran from 7 pm until about 10 pm, maybe later if there was a good turnout and participation. Games are held for different age groups, including adults and elders!!  They are lots of fun and the winners receive prizes.  I worked each night of the games and enjoyed it so much, I hope to do it again this year.  They draw door prizes for all age groups from infant to adult each night.

 Adult balloon stomp

 Child balloon stomp

Adult musical chairs

After the blizzard

Snow blindness is a crazy thing, especially when if stays so white!!!  The wind is also an amazing aspect of nature.  Even after those two days of heavy snowfall, there were still a few places where the snow was so thin you could see the dirt underneath - and at the same time 8 foot snow banks and snow up to rooftops dotted the village.  It was so incredibly beautiful.  These pictures are not all in order, but they are all following the blizzard.

 An 8-ft high snow bank - in later weeks, the kids would make tunnels through them that were quite impressive and fun! I wish I had taken a picture or two of them.

 Adult labor - a neighbor helps dig out the door more.  This was about 3 weeks after the blizzard.  Notice the snow sliding down the roof.

 The front of the school the day after the blizzard.

 This is 4-6 weeks after the blizzard.  The snow has packed down several feet and it is still pretty high in many places.

 This bank lasted a good 6 weeks since it is in the shade!  This was the week after the blizzard though.

 Child labor - HEY!  Everyone pitches in around here so that the principal doesn't have to keep climbing up just to get out of her house!  Notice the yellow spots everywhere?  This is clearly the downside of having dogs in Alaska - hahaha!!!

 After a snow like this, the whole world's a playground -at least for some!

 OK, so this is like 2 months after the blizzard and the last of the snow was starting to melt and slide off the roof in big sheets.  Sort of annoying - so what do you do????

 Climb up there and get busy!!!!

 The snow dachshund!!!

 This was the first day after the blizzard - and the snow tasted so fresh!!

 I was house, dog, and child sitting for a coworker who was stuck in Anchorage during this time.  This is the view during the blizzard.  That house is just 15 feet away and you can barely see it!

 Ever had a dog pee on YOUR roof???  It's a whole new territory up there!!!!

 Over the next few weeks, the dogs would climb up there and sunbathe!!!  So funny!

 Snow machine pulling kids on a sled!  Sure looks like fun!

Finally.... after 8 weeks (first week of May), you can walk straight in to the door!  What this doesn't show is that the ground is 4 steps down from the door - haha!!!!  I think we finally saw those the beginning of the third week in May.

 The swings....

 The rest of the playground.

 When you were a kid, how often did you want to swing from the top bar of the swings??

 Enough said.

 Good thing this family was out of town!

 The angle of the wind blew this channel along the side of my building.  Neat, huh?

 Another example of the wind creating paths.

Still trying to dig out the principal and her husband!

Blizzard - February 2011

Back last February, we had a true blizzard.  Nearly steady 55-60 mph winds blowing for two days and dumping LOTS of snow!!!!  OK, so the second day, the wind was maybe only 50-55 - can you tell the difference!!  It was truly awesome!!!  I understand "white-out" conditions on a whole new level!!  School was actually closed for the first day and delayed for the second day.  It was the first time in 12-15 years that school was closed for snow.  I was one of the lucky ones - I could get out of my house with very little work.  The way my house faces, the wind blows through, only dropping a little snow.  So, I had maybe 2 feet in front of my door compared to 1/2 the villages , who had snow nearly or completely to the roof.  For several reasons, I had to get up to my classroom both days - that was truly adventurous!  Walking was slow and very thought-out, to keep from dropping into a drift.  I learned that if you feel yourself walking uphill, that the other side of the drift is usually a drop off.  I learned the hard way to inch your foot in front of you and feel for semi-solid or solidness before marching on (since I couldn't see much of where I was going.  OH.... and if you start to fall off the drift, loosen up and bend your knees so they don't lock up.  I walked into the backside of a few drifts - that was a funny experience.  OK, so walking off of a drift was fun - but I suspect it is only because I landed safely!  Snow machines don't do well in large amounts of fresh snow and neither do 4-wheelers. 

 

  This video is from the second day of the blizzard, taken from the top step of the EDA building -where my classroom is.  I was still under the roof and bracing myself against the side of the building trying to hold the camera still.

 Amanda about 10 feet in front of me preparing to try and dig out our principal's door.

 The inside of my shed - not what you would call weatherproof - but I like that my trash freezes so I can throw smelly stuff away!!!!

 Amanda again, when the wind briefly died down.  That faint blue line?  That is the eaves of our principal's roof!!  No wonder school was cancelled.

How it goes....

UGG!!!!  OK.... so I am lousy at keeping up this blog.  I have hopes of getting better, we will see.  In the meantime, I am going to TRY to backtrack and share my life from where I left off, or maybe earlier.  Hopefully, it won't be too confusing!  So, here I go!!

Getting supplies in Bush Alaska

Groceries online - who knew?  

All supplies (with the exception of wild game meat and skins, local berries, and firewood) have to come by boat or plane.  Golovin has a very small store that sells mostly groceries and occasionally you can find towels, microwaves, gloves, coffee makers and other assorted things.  You never know what they will have in stock and if the weather has been bad, they may not have much of anything, so it is not a good idea to count on the local store for necessities.  Also, the only milk they sell is canned, powdered, and the long life milk and I am not a big fan of that.  The larger the village, the larger the store and sometimes there is even an AC store, like in Unalakleet.  In Nome, there is an AC store, a Hanson's, and Nome Traders.  Hanson's is part of the Safeway group and AC stands for Alaska Commercial.  Nome Traders is locally owned and operated.  All three stores sell groceries, clothes, household items, and other assorted odds and ends.  AC has the most clothes as it is basically rural Alaska's main grocery and department store.  Nome traders is mostly groceries and has more touristy stuff than the other two, while Hanson's is mostly groceries with assorted odds and ends.

Most of my groceries come through the mail... however, I also took several trips to Nome throughout the fall and would use that time to stock up on fresh foods from the local stores there.  I also occasionally purchase random food items at our local store - especially eggs which are fragile or junk food which I keep thinking I will stop eating.  I think it is also good to support the local store and community.  There are actually several online grocery stores, but I used Fred Meyer's this past fall.  Just go online and put in your order.  They ship your food freight (meaning it does not go through the postal service) and separate everything into either "freeze", "chill", or nothing for dry goods and other stuff.  It takes anywhere from 2-5 days to receive -so some produce just isn't worth ordering from them.  The prices from Fred Meyer's are close to a large city in the lower 48, though some items are more expensive and then there is shipping - which is about 1/3 of the total purchase.

The stores in Nome are more expensive than anywhere I've been in the lower 48 or even Anchorage -but they too have to ship everything in using boats or planes, so of course they will pass on the cost to the customer.  Generally, the items with the greatest cost increase (compared to grocery stores in the lower 48) are the items that are either heavy, fragile, or perishable.  In Nome, a quart of milk is around $4.30 and an 18 pack of AA large eggs is around $6.  It is strange that the only eggs available are grade AA - you almost never see those in supermarkets on the east coast.  When buying from Nome, of course, I have to really pay attention to how I pack the groceries!  The weather and where your boxes are put on the plane can really affect the condition they are in when I get them back to Golovin.  One of the stores in Nome -Nome Traders- takes phone orders!  I call them up and give them my order and my credit card number and they buy my groceries, box them up, and take them to the airline of my choice (Era or Bering Air).  I then call the airline and give them my credit card number and they charge about $.60 a pound and ship it straight to Golovin.  For produce, milk, and yogurt -this is a great deal!!

All household items, toiletries, and pet supplies are best bought online -though some common things can be found at the stores in Nome -if you are going there anyway.  My two main sources for most non-food items are Amazon and Drugstore.com.  I have been blessed in finding most of the things I need from Amazon and eligible for "free supersaver shipping"!!!!  Otherwise, shipping costs can get crazy!!

Pizza delivery in the bush?  Really?!?!  I heard about it and just had to try it!  There is a pizza place in Nome that makes pretty good pizza - though it isn't cheap - that has free delivery to the villages!!  You call them up, order your pizza, pay for it, and tell them what flight you want it on.  Meet the plane and you have a pizza!!  Of course, if you want it hot, you have to put it in the oven but I never expected to be able to order a pizza living up here.  The subway and one of the Chinese restaurants will also prepare a to-go order and get it to the airlines for you (for the price of the food and a $6 cab ride) - but if you really don't want to cook, you don't have to.

Pizza with a packing slip!!!!  Once we pulled it out of the oven, it was delicious!!