The Festivities of the Iñupiat

For the past four months, my co-worker Nancy and I have been sponsoring a student-led video project that will be submitted to an international contest hosted by ENI, an Italian energy company that operates throughout the world. 

Twelve students from my school participated in the contest. They spent their afternoons and Saturdays at school researching history, writing essays, interviewing people, and documenting two main festivities of the Iñupiat people -- Nalukataq and Kivgiq.  Needless to say, it was a ton of work, but the final product turned out wonderful.

The video is almost 19 minutes long, and I hope you get a chance to watch it. My students did such a great job, and I'm so proud of them.

May 27th is the day ENI reveals the grand prize winner. The students who win will receive a free two-week trip to Italy in the fall.

I'll keep you posted!

And here's a funny blooper from my students...

School Trip - Part 1 (Anchorage Zoo)

Seven students, my principal, and I are currently on the school trip, which is taken every year as a reward for students with good attendance and good behavior. This year, we are doing several things, which I will share with you as the trip unfolds, time-permitting. So far, we spent a few days in Anchorage for shopping where the students were able to go to Old Navy, Wal-Mart, GAP, and other places. Most bought clothing for themselves, although some chose to spend their money on video games and movies. Regardless, Anchorage certainly has a lot more clothing-shopping options than Nome and especially more than Diomede. It was cute to see the girls all pick out purses, shoes, and make-up. The students also went to H2Oasis, an indoor water park, which they loved. It's not very often that native Alaskan kids get to play in the water in the villages - too dangerous and cold.

We also visited the Anchorage Zoo. It was rather chilly, but it was great for the student to see the animals up close.

When the students saw the seals, they instantly knew what kind of seals they were: ring seals. The student you see above jokingly said to everyone, "Anybody hungry?" It cracked me up because seal is certainly a favorite food of Diomeders.

Although we've seen polar bears near the trash dump by the school, we were amazed to see these bears up close. They were lazy and sleepy, and understandably so. I turned to one of my students and said, "I bet we're the only people here that have eaten polar bear before." I'm pretty sure that's a safe bet too.

 Moose.

 Wolverine.

 "Arctic" turkey. Well, just a white turkey. I had never seen one before.

 Magpie.

 The students had never seen so many of these animals before!

 Check out the claws on this grizzly!

 How cute is this otter!

The wolves were rather frightening -- pacing back and forth in their individual cages.

week in Nome

We've had beautiful weather for almost two weeks. This is a picture of the plane we took to Nome. It seats about nine or ten people.

On the way to Nome...

Funny girl.

The ice can be blinding.

I sat behind the pilots.

On Sunday night we went to St. Joseph Catholic Church to watch eskimo dancing, and there were several Diomeders there participating. It was really fun! I only danced during one song and very badly.

Diomeders.

These two were very impressive!

The girls were addicted to the smoothies at Airport Pizza. Ain't no smoothies out on Diomede...

This is the beautiful NACTEC house where the students from the district's villages stay during their sessions.

The middle schoolers from Diomede, Shaktoolik, and Gambell.

Homework time!

I should work so hard. :)

The simulators in the NACTEC house. Pretty cool!

I love the art in the NACTEC house!

At NACTEC, the students have to make their own meals.

This is me and one of my students getting the lettuce ready for tacos!

YUM!

Signing each other's T-Shirts. It was cute...like it was camp!

 I love this picture. This was somewhere in between Nome and Diomede.

 And finally, Little and Big Diomede.

 The north side of Little Diomede.

Little and Big Diomede.

i'll be glad

I am behind on updates. There are a lot of things I haven't told you about. I will make it my goal to get caught up, but today I am leaving for Brevig Mission, weather permitting. There are going to be some Little Dribbler (elementary basketball) games, and I'm chaperoning for the trip. We should return on Saturday evening, weather permitting (as always).

Until then... You can watch this video of my drive to Seward back in December. So beautiful!

Snowmachining on the Bering Strait

After school yesterday the Diomede School staff and a few students went snowmachining and cross-country skiing on the Bering Strait. Some of the men in the village have been working hard to smooth down our ice runway. It won't be long before planes will be landing.

Did you see any tauntauns in my video? My sister is convinced that she saw one.
If you don't know what a tauntaun is, shame on you.

education is a mission of love

"Loving someone does not simply mean doing things for them; it is much more profound. To love someone is to show to them their beauty, their worth and their importance; it is to understand them, understand their cries and their body language; it is to rejoice in their presence, spend time in their company and communicate with them." - Jean Vanier, Seeing Beyond Depression
(Thanks for the book, Tacy & Stephen!)