the Diomede clinic

From Sunday through half of Friday, the island was without Internet service, phone service, and transportation. We haven't had mail since the 21st. Life here can be pretty inconvenient and claustrophobic at times. Adrienne and I spent a lot of time looking out the window. We baked and cooked a lot -- praline yams (an out-of-season dessert), Parmesan tilapia, and chocolate chip cookies. But throughout the week, I kept thinking of all the things I wanted to tell my friends and family, but then I realized I couldn't. I tried to be positive, but I really, really like talking to friends and family. I don't ask for a lot. Just communication. Five days without communication = not so fun.

But service is restored, although it is in and out at times. Yesterday evening was spent catching up with friends and family.

In other news, Adrienne and I visited Julie at the clinic. Diomede has one health clinic -- no doctor, no nurse. Julie is an excellent health aide and amazing woman who loves helping people.

Here are some pics of the Diomede clinic:

island living. valentine's day. oogruk!

Well, I wasn't able to go to Brevig Mission. Weather wasn't good on Friday, so the flight was canceled. Adrienne was supposed to return to the island yesterday with eight students, but we had bad weather again. And it doesn't look so good today either. Something I am learning about traveling in Alaska: don't plan on traveling unless you are in the plane and up in the air.

Mail is so slow even though we have plane service now. I am still waiting on stuff to arrive that I ordered a month ago. Speaking of plane service, we've had some strong south winds which have pushed the northern ice even farther north. I wonder if our ice runway will last long, if we keep getting these south winds. Apparently, a few years ago the ice runway floated away. And how appropriate -- I read this verse this morning: "Around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns" (Ecclesiastes 1:6).

This semester is going to fly by. February is already almost over, and I can't believe it! During March, I will be going to Nome as a middle-school chaperone for a week at NACTEC. We will also have a visiting teacher come give lessons in geography and art to the students. And if the sun shines, the school will go crabbing one Saturday, which I am really excited about. In April we will have state testing and then our big student trip to Anchorage and Fairbanks. Once we come back from the student trip, we'll only have 5 weeks until the end of the semester. Of course, on all of these activities, there is a big fat label that says "weather permitting" stamped on them.

 In January our school had its annual Island Living celebration.

 Writing a story.

 The students were able to make their own monster pillows, which they had a lot of fun doing.

 Dance contest!

 

We also had a few races and competitions.

 You can see the road that leads out to the ice runway.

 Polar bear meat! Yum.

 Going to school early one morning.

 Snow...so...much...snow...

 At religious education class, we made Valentine's Day cards.

 Speak from the heart.

Roses are red. Violets are blue. U are sweet like hard candy.

One of the teenagers caught an oogruk -- bearded seal.

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!

Я знаю что такое любовь.

It's hard to believe that two years ago today I was in Kazan, Russia. I explored Russian Orthodox churches, visited the Qolşärif mosque, bought a kilo of dried apricots at an open market, took pictures of metro art, and visited Tolstoy's alma mater.

February 14th, 2009, is one of my favorite memories. Several university students were celebrating St. Valentine's Day with balloons and candy, while encouraging passersby to sign their names to this poster in the square.

"Я знаю что такое любовь. да? нет?"

 

I know what love is. Yes? No?

да. Yes.

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins." - 1 John 4:10

"Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends." - 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

polar bears, snowmachining, quinoa

 Finally! A polar bear. He was beautiful, and he was exploring the village garbage dump. Not quite as picturesque as a polar bear nuzzling cubs or standing on hind legs, but still amazing nonetheless.

We think this is the trash bag from the school kitchen. Leftover salmon. The bear's got good taste.

I watched him at a safe distance, as you can tell.

 Two of our lovely eighth-graders.

 Icicles on our house.

 This is the snow drift next to our house.

 Snowmachining on the strait!!! Heck Yeahhh!!!!

 

A couple of the students snowmachining. I love watching the dogs chase snowmachines. I want a dog so badly!

Roommate & I, right before snowmachining. I kind of felt like Randy from A Christmas Story. It was "I can't move my arms now!" kind of weather. Never was I more glad to have my polar bear and beaver fur ruff. Keeps my head nice & toasty.

Adrienne and I are attempting to do the Eastern Orthodox fast for this semester, which means we are Vegan and oil-less on Wednesdays and Fridays and then for the months of March and April. It's going to be hard, especially in Alaska. On Wednesday we had quinoa (keen-wah) for dinner, and it was yummy. 

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.

from Nome to Wales, from Wales to Diomede

 Nome. My friend Amber said this looks like a spirograph.

 I'm trying to take at least one picture a day, so this was on the Sunday we were in Nome. We went to the Nazarene church, and the people there are amazing. They were so friendly and welcoming, and they fed us lunch and gave us two boxes of fresh produce. So encouraged by their kindness.

 One of the days while we were stuck in Nome, we ate lunch at Subway right on the Bering Sea. Crazy.

 It was my birthday while in Nome. Adrienne got me a kids' "You're turning 4!" card, and Katie gave me a brownie. :)

 We spent the night in Wales and got to see our awesome friend Laura who teaches pre-k there.

Lovely Wales.

 You can see the Diomede Islands from Wales too. See 'em?

 I'm told that this snow drift was 3 feet higher the week before. I have a similar one building up outside my house on Diomede now.

 The greatest thing... their store! Not just that they have a store, but there is actually food inside the store!

 That's right, they have potatoes in Wales!

 And onions too!

Here's the frozen food aisle.

 My suitcase next to the inflatable raft should the helicopter plummet into the Bering Sea. My responsibility was to pull the inflating stringymabobjigger should that happen. Too much responsibility for me.

 When we took off, Willis' guitar was sent flying away due to the wind.

 

 Fairway Rock. Last time I saw the rock I was climbing up top of the island in September. Before that we floated by it on the crab boat in August. The natives on Diomede often visit Fairway Rock in the summer to hunt for birds.

 From what we hear, there are two polar bear dens on the north side of the island. I haven't seen any bears yet, but they men did shoot one the week before we got here. There was one climbing up the island on the south side.

 The smooth part is where we anticipate the ice runway to be. They're working on it! We should be getting a runway in the next few weeks.

 There's the village! See it?

 See those black specks? Snow machines.

 I can't believe I live here.

 Thanks to Nome Nazarene Church, I had an amazing salad for dinner. Not many Diomeders get to say that.

 We've had the most amazing moonlit mornings lately.

 One thing I do love is how often I get to eat apples. Thank God for apples. Seriously.

 The view from my classroom window.

 The view from my classroom window. I still haven't taken my Christmas lights down, and I'm not really sure I'm going to.

 Look at them being so studious and smart! We are reading The House of Dies Drear by Virginia Hamilton, which was one of my favorite books when I was a kid. They love it so far.

 Manning the scoreboard.

Our principal is teaching a few of the girls how to sew.

 The humble abode.

Maybe it will help? Gotta say something.