Looking out from Woronzoff Point.
A spiderweb.
A curious, not-camera-shy squirrel.
About Me
I'm a senior at West High School. I've traveled to both coasts of the states, and I've been to Canada and Mexico, but I've never been anywhere that I would consider
About My Family
My mother, Rosyland, works for the University of Alaska, Anchorage, as a researcher and consultant. My father, Eddie, is a shipping logistics manager for Horizon Lines, LLC. If it's in a grocery store up here, chances are he had a hand in getting it there. besides them, almost all of my family lives in southern California.
Deep Thoughts
I hope all my common college apps make it in intact...which is more than I can say for the USC app. Need to get that fixed...figures, the one time they decide to lose something in the mail, it's a guy's college application.
Daily Blog
04/17/2010
Day 6, reporting in. Our final full day in Shishmaref, a day heavy with despair spawned from this fact. Although we've all known each other a total of less than two weeks, it feels like we've all known each other for far longer. Like, a factor of 7 longer at least. The day started off with a sort of pre-Carnival dance session, where we saw and partook in various dances. In the process, I learned the story and meaning behind the movements of the dances, where I previously merely looked on in infantile wonder. All of the movements correspond to a specific motion in the process of carrying out the duty specified in the dance. After this experience, everyone but Davide and I went to go see Eskimo food cooked, while we went to take delivery of our kuspuks. Long story short, his was done, mine wasn't; as of now, it's stuck in a sewing machine, sides about to be sewn (Thanks again Mary!!), and I now have an aversion to sewing not likely to dissipate for a very long time. We came back to Angie's portable to finish some final videography, and partook in the Carnival. Carnival games galore greeted us upon entering the gym, where the basketball shootoff proved most popular. After Carnival, we met back in Angie's portable for an info session with Albert Ningooluk (sic), the local historian on all hthings Shishmaref, to talk about the issue of erosion and its affect on the community, and our Closing Circle, to share what we learned, what we were thankful for on this exchange, and one thing each of us will never forget (Three words: Jordan the cheerleader. That is all.) So, on this note, I part with one final thought: Purple dodgeball.
04/16/2010
Day 5, reporting in. Today was marked by a somewhat impromptu sledding trip out to 5 Mile, a ridge of low hills 5 mils out of town. However, after riding the distance (and acting as a human windscreen all the way there), we ran into a slush pocket that would have submerged our sleds and snowmachines, and so we had to turn back and head for home. Elsewhere on the agenda were working on the quspuq (still not done! AIEE!), watching more basketball (this including the closest game over the past three days), and in general just chillin' like villains. I'm signing off early, so as to run tech support between the two Wiis running right now. Until next time
04/15/2010
Oh! I almost forgot. That dead seal that was kicking it in the boys' locker room yesterday? It's skinned now. Its pelt is sitting outside on a ledge drying, and we got to watch people skin it and strip the fat from the sealhide (a process called qupsruking, pronounced kup-chucking). The stripped carcass is lying outside of the bilingual room, wrapped, soon to be butchered and fed to the dogs.
04/15/2010
Day...4? Shishmaref Excursion Log, reporting in. Today didn't involve much running around, which proved a good thing as the day went on, as it proved laborious regardless. We started with making our own ice fishing hooks, a process that proved much slower and tedious than initially assessed. Apart from a few drillings and a hacksaw pass or three, making the de facto pole for the hook mainly involved sandpaper, an assortment of files and scrapers, and brute force. It took about three hours just to ready what started as a small plank of hickory into an adequate fishing pole...and my line channels STILL didn't line up properly. Ahh well. After the line was threaded, tied, and the sinker and hook were added, the finished product looked sturdy enough, and it was the second one completed out of the class. I'm not sure I'd trust it with catching anything bigger than a foot or so, though...
The afternoon could be summed up rather aptly by way of one word: Kuspuk. Until school let out, we were collectively working on our garments. I finished cutting out the shapes I needed, pinned in the edges on the hood and pockets, and began neurotically ironing the living daylights out of the fabric, making use of a pitcher of water and switching irons at one point because the other leaked out the foot plate. It took about an hour to finish ironing everything up to par, and by the time I was done, it was time to go. At which point, BASKETBALL!!!
The three games seen were marked by what looked like a blown knee (Heal up soon, Frieda!), a charlie horse (Never a fun thing to experience), and another blowout game ending 59-104. Aside from that, concession snacks were consumed, stories exchanged, and a relaxing time had. Now I'm back in Portable #2, getting set to actually sew my kuspuk together. Thusly ends the extent of this post, so...until next time.
04/14/2010
Day 3, Shishmaref Exchange Excursion reporting in. Quite the day behind us, as this currently marks the halfway point of our exchange. Today, we started on our kuspuks (lightweight all weather garments, whose construction proved fraught with pitfalls and peril), an interview with Percy Nayakpuk, the manager of the General Store here (an exceptionally informative interview ganked from us by a power-starved camera), a first-time experience in carving from bone, specifically deer antler (a process proving almost chokingly laborious), and watching the first game of the Spring Carnival Basketball Series. For lack of computer battery power (and there's no way I'm letting this netbook gank me out of my blog post), I must cut this transmission short. So, until next time!
04/13/2010
Day 2, Shishmaref excursion, reporting in. Quite the day today, bringing with it yet another slew of firsts: First time ice-fishing, first time riding in a sled for an extended snow-go trip, first time eating historical sourdough pancakes, first time playing Manamanama (sic), which is basically Capture the Flag without a flag and with safe zones instead of sides. It proved oodles of fun, with my patented turtling technique able to retrieve one of our captured comrades...but I digress. PANCAKES!
The day started with me being retrieved by Henry the Small to join the rest of the crew in partaking in breakfast. Tang, bacon bits (not literal bacon bits, but segments of strips of DELICIOUS bacon), and an egg dish were available, but center stage (table) was held by a novel delight: Sourdough pancakes! Now, normally I'm not a fan of sourdough anything, but for these I'm making a huge exception. Why? They were DELICIOUS!I thought I'd have one, found this out, and kept eating them. 'Tis a breakfast I will not soon forget. Afterwards, we got a de facto tour of the school with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd hours with our local counterparts. After that, ICE FISHING!
Oh em gee, packing all of the warm clothing paid off BIG TIME with regard to staying comfortable out there. Riding out to where there would be lucrative fishing proved interesting, as what would have normally (I think) been a straight shot out to the fields was instead a giant hook path to dodge overflowing water...the same water that thwarted our excursion to the hot springs! GAAAAAHHHHH! But I digress again. Once at the fields, we were greeted with a grand view of...white. With the exception of the town and airport behind us, all that could be seen for miles around was an all-encompassing field of white, too brilliant to look at for any real stretch of time.
Snow-gos parked, equipment readied, we set to boring holes in the ice...a fitting turn of phrase, because that's pretty much what making the holes was. Using what was essentially a large chisel bolted to a stick, we had to manually chip through several feet of ice, thus alleviating any fears of us falling through thin ice but still providing oodles of extra work for us...not that it wasn't worth it, of course. Flowery expository dialogue aside, four fish were caught (two by Henry the Small, one by Maegan, and one undetermined), wind gusts were weathered by snow-gos and upturned sleds alike, and riding back in driving wind felt like shards of glass pinging off my face.
All in all, a good day.
04/12/2010
This post nearly concludes our first day in Shishmaref. The flights proved uneventful enough, no turbulence or anything, but having to reenter security fresh off the plane in Kotzebue proved a novel experience. The plane to take us from Nome to Shishmaref proved larger than anticipated, and the flight was smooth as could be. As it turns out, most if not all travel around Shish is done via snowmachine, as evidenced by there being machines EVERYWHERE. Sure, there were a few quads scattered about, but snowmachines here are like taxicabs in New York, in terms of utility and quantity. That being said, my hopes of piloting one of these iron steeds across the frozen tundra were dashed somewhat, as overflowing water is blocking the 50 mile path out to the hot springs. Ahh well...c'est la vie, no?
The photo scavenger hunt proved a highlight of the day, as our quest for photos of knick knacks found only in the area of residence continued in the second part. Probably the best part of this venture was hitching a ride out to the trash dump a couple miles out of town, where I found that the numbness in one's face from riding shotgun on a snow-go (as is their local designation) actually isn't that bad a trade off for riding what feels like a cross between a motorbike on skis and a tank. That, and the dump smelled of a barbecue pit. I don't know why. I guess I was hungry.