Don't blink!

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted on here. I've been busy, well maybe not "so busy" but it seems that way! Before I know it, it'll be time to go home. Of course I'm ready to see my family and friends and I do miss home - which is expected - but I'm not ready to leave here, yet!

I've gotten really lucky to be placed here in Port Heiden and thinking back over the past two and a half months is crazy. I've seen so many awesome things and have had such great adventures and experiences in school and outside of school.

My most recent adventure, which seems like a while ago now, since I haven't updated, was out on the hondas. That's become my favorite thing to do and I think I need to invest in one. : )

We've had some awesome weather recently - beautiful sunny days! And with the time change, the sun stays out until about 9 pm. It's been chilly because of the sky being so clear but I'll take that with the sun anytime. During carnival - right after our spring break trip - it was nasty outside. I was told by one of my neighbors that the winds got up to about 110 mph and that was the strongest they've been in years. The Yurts (the tiny circle "houses" that I've posted a picture of before) got destroyed, there was this huge silver quanzik (I don't think I spelled that right) that was about a football field away from where it was origonally and it was smashed up. Luckily, things were fine at the house I'm staying at and considering those winds, nothing else was wrong besides some minor things. After those few days of that wind and rain, we all needed to get out of the houses and the first sign of sun, we did!

Kasie and I crashed the "man ride" that Jerik, Derek and Jeff were going on and we all went down the beach to North River! It was a gorgeous night and it was low tide so it was nothing but wide open beaches. Kasie and I were on one honda and then the guys each were on theirs. We crossed North River which was pretty high already and then headed down the beach about 20 minutes to a spot where the glass floats are just laying around! It was crazy, they were all over the place. Total, we found 96 and that was after our intense ride back - so we lost a lot. We got our glass floats and tried to make it back down the beach to North River before the tide got to high. Well, long story short, Kasie and I were behind the guys because we had stopped to switch drivers a time or two and we pulled up to North River to see Derek in the middle of it, almost under water. We were trying to cross it because we had to cross that river to get home and so he went first. Needless to say, it didn't work. He got out and pulled the four wheeler out which was obviously water logged at this point. But we were just glad he got out safely. Then we figured we'd have to walk back from North River and leave our four wheelers there and come get them the next day... there was no way we were crossing that river right there. We ended up trying to go up to the top of the bluffs and parking our four wheelers there, but while doing that, Derek found a shallow part in the river for us to wade across - we ended up even getting our four wheelers across that area, too. Which was MUCH better than walking back because we would of been walking for hours and it was already starting to get dark, plus we would have been soaked from crossing the river by foot. After we got across the river, it started our not so enjoyable ride back through tundra, snow banks and some occasional streams. I think we were off of the hondas pushing them and getting them out of holes, more than we were on them. The tundra is not the best place to ride, there are huge holes that are covered in snow and then the bumps that stick up. We made it home, low on fuel, energy and we lost a few floats along the way... I was even bruised from hitting the four wheeler so hard on the bumps! BUT it was quite an adventure that I won't forget and it could have ended a lot worse. Like Derek said, thank gosh for good friends and quick thinking.

 P.S. That's my dinner on the last night of carnival... there's caribou roast, caribous ribs, ham, crab salad, mashed potatoes and gravy and that furry stuff is caribou stomach. And yeah, I ate it all. It's actually pretty good if you can get past the fact that it's chewy and furry at the same time. : )

I haven't been out on the hondas since then because I had some visitors from PA! Well, they were visiting the village and the school and they just happened to be staying with me. It was pretty neat - Kutztown is involved with quite a few things within LPSD and so Dr. Bazley who has been stuck with me as a student and an advisee for the past four and a half years at KU, brought four of her current students up here to see the schools and work with the kinds in three of the villages - Port Heiden happened to be the first stop! We had dinner for them one night and Kasie and I took them exploring down on the beach and by old Meshik, we taught them how to bead glass floats and they got to take a few home with them. It was a crazy few days but it was fun to have some visitors. Who would have thought that I would be living in Alaska and have my old professor and advisor stay with me? We even laughed about that at one point. : )

It's been a low week here at school - there's a lot of people out sick! So about half the school has been out at some points. Even though it's been a low week, it's been a long one and I'm looking forward to the weekend. I'm hoping this beautiful weather that we've been having, hangs around for a few more days so that we can get out. Maybe even have a bonfire... we shall see!

One thing that I wish I could capture in a picture would be the stars. The night sky up here is insane - full of stars and if it was warmer, I would go sit out there! It's pretty amazing.

Oh and an update on my thumb because I've heard that some of you were very worried about it, it's doing just fine. Super glue is working it's magic and it hasn't broken open in a few days! Looks like I'll survive! ; )

 

 

I have a video of all of us crossing North River that night but it won't load for some reason. So I will upload that eventually... for now, that's all!