Some events to share

 One of the parts of my job is to work with my students in their own classrooms. That can be great, or not, depending on what kind of a cooperative mood my student may be in. These students were having a lot of fun working together.

 We don't have an aide for every classroom, but there is a schedule that allows each classroom some aide time.

 Almost each Friday we have an assembly. Students are recognized for different achievements. Announcements are made. Then, we try to have some kind of game. Here, is a paper airplane contest that two high school students came up with and are coordinating...

 Then the teachers get into the act....

 This is a project that one of my students did in his history class. He was to design a new colony. It was important for him to defend it, so the battle scars are clearly seen with the ship in the back on fire, and people from the boat in front in the water with the sharks....

 His cannons have been used as cannon balls are all about. His sign says, "No bad people allowed". 

Our concern with this student is the amount of bullying he has had to endure....This year he has done very well, and feels much safer.

The Settlers on one side, the Natives on the other.

 We had a mini basketball tournament in school. The teams were cross-aged matched and four games were played daily for the four days. At the Friday assembly of that week, we had that championship play off. All champion teams received a pop and snack of their choice from the Student Government Store.

Last trip to Bethel-Ducks Unlimited

Any more?? This is fun!

 Friend, Ross, needed help with the banquet for Ducks Unlimited. So, we offered to do what we could, and that turned out to be cleaning up the Lion's Club kitchen after they cut up 300 pounds of prime rib! That's a lot of meat!

 We helped a bit before hand, and were treated to a fabulous meal and were able to watch the variety of auctions that took place. I had never seen so many guns in one place!

Spotless!

The boss!

Old friends!

 The next day was extremely foggy so we waited awhile hoping it would clear. It came and went, and we decided we best give it a try as the trail was very well marked. But first we needed some groceries at AC. I'm wolfing down a doughnut....

 Doesn't the new coat go well with the matching gas can? Getting around Bethel can be tricky. We needed to get gas for the ride back, and it is much less expensive than in the village. So we left AC.
Some parts of Bethel you leave the road and there are trails through backyards, across ponds and parks.

 Other places you need to ride on the road. This trip we had to cross several streets and many were already bare pavement. This street here we could navigate fairly well keeping off to the side. There are several collisions between snowmobile and cars as once you apply brakes there is some sliding action....

 Crowley is a big name in Bethel. I understand they own quite a bit, including those large tanks in the background.

The biggest ah ha moment for me up here has been the dependence on fuel. I could say that too for the "outside", but up and out here it is everything.

In our village we are now being rationed 5 gallons per day per family because our one large tank has about two feet of fuel left. No one can deliver the fuel with everything (the river) getting soft. This fuel is also for heating.

Many in the village are heading upriver to the spruce forests to get wood for heating (and steam baths).

 

 Trying to hold another doughnut while I gas up....

We had a bit of an adventure going home. It was very foggy still and when we finally found the trail if was straight forward. But, we could not find the trail out of Bethel. We would play leap frog, one goes ahead and spots a marker, and waves the other on. It was humbling.

Off to Nunapitchuk

 We'd heard about a tiny restaurant on the tundra and decided we needed to check it out. One day after school it seemed like the perfect opportunity. It had been a rough time for a whole bunch of reasons and I knew I needed to blast out of town to somewhere. So, with thoughts of burger and fries, we headed out.

In 20 minutes we had gone across two large lakes following the usual shrub trail markers, and across some tundra. If we had continued taking a left down a-ways, the trail would taken us to Kasigluk Akiuk, but continuing straight on, we would have gone to Kasigluk Akula.

 Nunapitchuk is one of the four tundra villages. It is located on a river with about 600 people, twice as big as Atmau.  They have twice as many teachers also, but several are leaving this year.


 Here some boys are shooting hoops while someone else is shoveling away snow from the platform.

 During break up and freeze up most travel is halted as their airstrip is located on the other side of the river. As the school year wraps up, those teachers have to be wondering if they will get out on time....

Bingo and Pull Tabs are big money makers out in the bush.

 



 Dorothy and I were admiring the steps as we needed better ones to get up and down over our drift.

 The "twenty-somethings" being good sports and letting me tag along.  For $15 I could have a bacon cheeseburger with tomato and lettuce, french fries AND a milkshake (strawberry this time) with REAL ice cream.


We've been back and forth four times now....

 Brad showed up and thought he could get the burgers out faster if he worked the grill. The owner just laughed, then got on him for putting patties in the wrong spot on the grill.

 

Dogs again!

We have two large dog lots in town, but more puppies are on the way. Walking through town there are several litters here and there. As was stated earlier, pups have a hard go of it. Parvo is a big puppy killer out here and getting shots is not a guarantee that the dog won't get it.

Racing dogs come in all colors, shapes and sizes.

James has a wall of trophies that he earned in his racing career.

Melvin getting ready to go.

And he's off!

Race fans!

The winner! Actually it was best time overall for the two day race.