crabbing & beluga whale watching

The week before last, the school was visited by our school counselor, Barnabas. One day after school, Adrienne, Barnabas, and I went out on a snow machine and drove around for awhile. I thought it was going to be a short excursion so I didn't bring my snow pants. Big mistake. We got adventurous and went off the beaten path, which resulted in the snow machine tipping over. I bruised my knee pretty badly, but no major injuries, thankfully. We tried pulling the snow machine backwards while it was in reverse, but to no avail. So, we pathetic inexperienced snow machine drivers were humbled when some men in the village came over and pulled the snow machine out onto open space with ease and smoothness. I'm glad they pulled our machine forward instead of backwards because it allowed us to have an amazing afternoon we would not have otherwise experienced. I felt like totally naive tourist, but hey, that's part of the fun. We got to see a few people digging crabbing holes and pulling fresh blue king crab out of the strait's icy waters. It was amazing! We also hung out with a couple of men for awhile as they were looking for beluga whales at the edge of the ice. Keep in mind: I had no snow pants. I was wearing flimsy jeans. I was dying. It was so cold, and I had to bail out a little early and hitch a ride back with one of my students. I tried to tough it out, but when you can't feel your feet or hands, it's probably a good idea to head on indoors.

I tried pulling a crab out, but he swam away. C'est la vie.

Watching for beluga.

I love this picture because it shows how big the islands are. They can be deceptively small from a satellite's view, but the cliffs really are sheer and steep.

Becky, one of the teacher's aides, was kind enough to boil a crab for us and let us eat it for dinner. We sauteed it in garlic and butter, and it was delicious!

I'm not sure of the proper procedures in taking the shell off of a crab, but we used scissors. Is this normal?

 Barnabas & the clean plate. The crab was too delicious!

I didn't bring my camera, so all the pictures you see were taken by Adrienne. Great pictures, huh?