This is my mother and I!
These are my babies Nickie and Daisy!
Me being downtown.
These are my coworkers and myself!
About Me
My name is Tia'Rashell, but I go by Tia for short! I go to WHS as a senior and for this semester I only have three classes. I love to spend time with my family and friends. Lately I've been changing my hair color and styles lately, so I look different in every picture. Also right now I'm working in a shoe store near my house. I'm very easy to get along with and I am very excited for this experience!
About My Family
My father's name is Jerome but everyone calls him Pete. He works on the slopes doing several different jobs. My beautiful mother's name is Regina and she is a stay home parent. I have a brother named Ambrose but we all call him AJ for short. I also count my pets as my family, which I have three cats, two dogs, and a parakeet!
Daily Blog
04/20/2010
So it took me awhile to do my final blog. When I first got back to Anchorage I got so caught up with my family, then I worked Sunday, and I was sick Monday! I had such a great experience in Shishmaref, I could of never even imagined how sweet everyone there could be! I learned so much on this trip and everything about it was so memorable. I never thought I would actually cry when we left, I just got so attached to everyone there. I believe I actually made friends for a lifetime. That week felt like a dream, it was just so perfect. I'm so happy I got the opportunity to actually go, learn about them and their culture, and be able to enjoy myself there! Hopefully someday I'll actually be able to go back and see how everything is.
04/17/2010
So today is the last real day we have here in Shishmaref. A couple things we did today was go to school, watch some eskimo dancing, and observe some eskimo food cooking. I learned that the eskimo dances actually tell stories, they aren't just random dancing like I used to think it was. We also had a guest speaker named Albert today. From him I learned that Shishmaref was started in 1918 and parents moved their children here so they could get an education. Another thing I learned was that the post office was started in the 1930's where they shipped the mail and then had it fly by air. More things I learned about the post office was that they received mail every Thursday and to actually get your mail you had to wait outside until you heard your name. Also years ago since people had to pay fifty cents to make a statewide call and then had to make twenty-five cents to actually receive a call. Since there was only like, one phone whenever someone got a phone call they had to send someone to get them. Some more things I learned was that the air port was completed in 1987 and the old airway was made in 1950. Although, they had to move the airway so they could make a bigger one so they could get bigger planes to fly in. Another thing I learned was that they had television come to Shishmaref around the 1980's and that everyone was taught not to make fun of people or strangers. And overall I learned that Shishmaref has always been advancing their ways!
04/16/2010
It's the 15th and we did a lot today! We finished our fish hooks which I learned that they were hard to make. You have to have a lot of muscle to make them too. After making fish hooks some of us went to the library for a little were I learned that they have facebook blocked until 3:45, but they don't have games blocked. We soon went out to the portable to watch people make their kuspuks and then went to eat. After lunch we attempted to go sliding, which is like sledding here. We weren't able to go out all the way because it wasn't safe, but we had a lot of fun just hanging out and riding on the snowmachine. One thing I kind of learned that even if the weather is nice, it can still be really slushy and dangerous out. Today was pretty laid back so I didn't learn much, but I had so much fun when we were just out of the village for a little bit!
04/15/2010
I forgot to add what I learned and how I felt about last night so here's a second blog to add onto it! I also learned that making fish hooks during the morning is a total workout. My arm cramped up so bad and it hurt a lot. When I watched the NYO practice I learned some of the moves even though I would never be able to do them myself learned how to make kuspuks and during the whole experience I couldn't help but feel frustrated because they are so hard to make! But towards the end of it I was so happy to finally get it done. Randomly around 10 pm we decided to go to the Snack Shack for ice cream since we were told they were still open. I was so excited and we all pretty much ran there it felt like, only to be let down about how there weren't going to make us ice cream! I was so pleased with last night because we all were actually laughing nonstop and having so much fun. I learned that even when were so far from home, with people we barely even know, you can still have a lot of fun!
04/15/2010
Well, I didn't really have time to blog yesterday because I was having so much fun! We got up and went to school where we fish hooks, which is like a small fishing stick. I was able to witness a seal getting carved too. There was NYO practice too so I watched some little kids learn how to do things. We had had lunch and after we started making our kuspuks. The basketball games started so I went and watched one that my host sister Frieda was playing in. After I had dinner with my host family and relaxed for awhile. Kuspuk sewing was at 7:30 so we all met up and continued ours. Which, I was able to finish mine! We were at the relo making kuspuks until after midnight! We had so much fun and finally bonded more so this trip is starting to become nothing but nice memories!
04/14/2010
Today's April 13th and we've been here for three days now. We had to go to the school by 8:45 where we started to work on our kuspuks. We cut out our patterns, ironed them, and even pinned some parts of on the hood and pocket. After working on the kuspuks for awhile we went to one of the stores today to talk to Piercy about food in the village and the history of it all. We made a totally great video but the flipviedo froze and deleted it, so we had to talk about it on another video to review it. We then had lunch at 12:30 and saw the little parade since it was Nerd Day for the SS. After lunch we were able to go to the Bilingual room where we were able to carve and sew if we really wanted to try. After being there a while we were dismissed where we got to see a dead seal in the boy's locker room! Then after that little surprise we went back to our host family for awhile until we had to meet up with the group again at Angie's portable. Today was pretty fun too!
04/13/2010
So today is our second day in Shishmaref where the computers don't like me at all because this is my third time writing this blog! I woke up today at 8:15 which is early for the students here since they don't have school until about 10:30. We had breakfast at Clifford's at 9:30 were we had some 92 year old sourdough hot cakes which were actually really good! After breakfast I went with Rene'e to her morning classes which were Student Government, English, and Science. I learned in her classes that 15 students in one room were a lot while for our school it would be a really little class. After classes we went to the cafeteria for lunch where the food was actually pretty good compared to our cafeteria, plus it was free. Soon after lunch we say the little parade which showed the kids who dressed up for the spirit day today which was their school colors that are white and green. Then we all got bundled up and snow machined out to the lagoon to go ice fishing. There we learned the traditional way how to ice fish and then we learned the easy way to ice fish. Out there we also learned how to play the game Muna Muna Ma which was really fun. After a couple hours out there we all returned home to our host families. Molly, my host mom is a really good cook and made a very delicious dinner for Sophie and I too. Besides everything I listed, our day was actually pretty laid back since yesterday was just so busy!