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| Wrong holiday, but I met Santa Claus and his ride (and his real last name is Claus...!) |
Halloween fell on a Monday this year, and the lucky students of Nome Public Schools had the day off to celebrate. I started getting trick or treaters the minute I got home from work, but there were some marked differences from what I’m used to. Many of the kids that knocked on my door had no costume, mask, or make-up; just bundled up in parkas and snow pants. I also had repeat customers, coming back for a second round because they didn’t get enough candy on their first run through the neighborhood. Nome also put on a community wide “Halloween Happening”, complete with a haunted house, pumpkin carving contest, and reflector tape to sew onto winter coats. I was introduced to my first “cake walk”, where contestants walk around in a circle on stepping-stones, and when the music stops, the stones are flipped and if you’re standing on the right stone you win a whole cake!
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| Our next junior high group! |
Our next group of 23 junior high students arrived on Tuesday from Stebbins, St. Michaels, Savoonga, and Elim. I worked the night shift again this session, so I started my week with 3 full carts of groceries to haul, a $975 grocery bill, and a $350 bill from Subway. It’s a NACTEC tradition that the first dinner of every session consists of sandwiches and cookies from Subway, and it never ceases to amaze me just how much these kids can eat. They may look small, but two boys put away three entire footlongs individually (which are actually $8 in Nome instead of $5...). Usually these kids are so hungry that after eating lunch at the Nome high school, we all go back to the house to have a second lunch. Microwaves are surprisingly rare in Nome and the surrounding villages, so many kids just don’t know how to use them. One little boy went to reheat a hot dog without poking any holes in it, and the resulting explosion caused him to exclaim, “Help! My hot dog blew a piston!”. Pretty darn cute.
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| Learned a new card game involving push-ups resulting from each hand! |
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| Our grocery stores may be small, but they all have 4-wheelers! |
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| Many students buy goods for their families, like this cookware |
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| The boys made cookies! |
Working evenings also allowed me to interact with students in a more personal and casual way. I always love getting to know all that I can about students, and this session was no exception. Three girls even gave me a new Eskimo name; Piitsighaq (pronounced beat-say-huh-yuk), meaning beautiful flower. We went thrift shopping one night, and I taught the students how to roll up clothes into tight bundles so that they could fit more into the bag. By the end of our shopping trip, every student had a few items crammed into our two garbage bags, making the grand total $14, with no student paying more than $1. Certain items are always free at the thrift store, namely pants and stuffed animals, so we filled up a few bags of those as well. All our new swag had to be cleaned before use, so we went back to the house for a laundry party. Washers and dryers are also thrilling appliances that some students aren’t accustomed to, and it’s fun watching them get excited over things I tend to view as mundane tasks. Each night we do nightly chores, and it’s fascinating to watch the kids barter over who gets the privilege of mopping, whose turn it is to vacuum, with others running up to me asking if they could please clean the windows.
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| Thriftin' it! |
I’m an early bird so working nights is always an adjustment, but it does come with the benefit of being able to get things done while businesses are open. I was able to get to the post office before vehicles are double and triple parked out into Front Street, and I was able to get to the gym with less competition for treadmills. I was able to begin my in-pool training as a lifeguard, having the entire community pool (located at the high school) to myself. I was bracing myself for the cold, but this pool is heated to a comfortable 85 degrees. It’s also salt water, using salination to sanitize rather than harsh chlorine and other hazardous chemicals. Although it was a little spooky doing laps in the silent dark; it didn’t make sense to light up the whole place for one lonely swimmer. Who would’ve thought that I’d pick my swimming back up in Alaska!
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| The Nome Community Pool, all to myself! |
Being at home during the day also allowed me to re-up my celebrity status. Every Thursday from 10-11am is the local “Sounding Board” on KNOM radio. The hosts present a topic, and folks from all over Western Alaska can email or call in to voice their opinions. This week’s topic was time zones and Daylight Saving Time (there’s actually no “s” in Saving!). Despite the immense size of Alaska, it is all one time zone. This means that in Nome, the sun will be highest in the sky around 3-4pm rather than noontime. I was the first caller, and I’ve got to admit it was pretty fun hearing myself on the radio. A couple people in town actually stopped me later in the week to say “I heard you on sounding board!”. Fun.
Although my bit was only a couple minutes, I listened to the whole show and learned quite a bit. Alaska used to be broken up into 4 time zones, and when it was originally set to switch to just one, the people of Little Diomede (with a population just hovering over 100) decided that they were going to rebel and keep the time zone they were used to. It’s illegal, but they knew no one was going to come and enforce it. This 3-hour difference from the standard time made it complicated for coordinating travel with the rest of Alaska, so after a year they decided to go follow suit. But way to band together and stand up for something! There were lots of strong opinions (one caller had even written a protest song about Daylight Saving!), but the last caller, and elder from St. Michael, said something quite profound. He believes that falling back and springing forward is a spiritual reminder of accepting change gracefully, and being resilient in the face of change. He insisted that switching the clocks is not only a reminder to be flexible (bend like a willow branch rather than resisting to the point of snapping right in half), but a chance to evaluate and appreciate all of the things you have today. You cannot stop change, whether it’s related to age, ability level, or modernization; the days are long but the years are short, so go with the flow and appreciate it!
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| Walking along the beach, in the snow! |
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| Sun set in town, much earlier now |
This line of thinking was quite appropriate, because while the show was going on Nome welcomed its first winter storm combining snow and 40mph winds. I had to remind myself to bend with the wind, and not break! When students are here for a session, snow days are simply not an option. I must get to work. The snow has been very dry, so navigating the Nome-Teller Highway into work was surreal; it was snowing sideways, and the few moments it calmed down it looked like my truck was engulfed in rolling smoke. One minute an area would be covered in snow, and the next the wind would pick it all up, blowing it into huge drifts. It was a bit disconcerting to pass not one, but two snowplows that had slipped over into the ditch on the sides of the road (roads are raised up off the tundra, and pitched quite steeply), but I made it. Thank you 4-wheel drive! Throughout the entire storm I couldn’t help but stare out the windows. Huge ravens and sea gulls (they’re both much bigger in Alaska) were out flying in the melee, giving new meaning to the term “tough bird”. Most surprising of all, was as quickly as the storm rolled it, it was on its way out and the skies couldn’t be clearer the next day.
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| This dump truck is filled with snow loaded from an excavator, hauled out of town |
This weekend was the eagerly anticipated health fair at the Rec Center, and many out-of-towners came from the villages to partake. Booths were set up to educate the public about all sorts of population and location specific health topics, and free or very low priced health screening tests were provided (flu shots, BMI readings, blood pressure and glucose level tests, as well as other blood tests). Villages don’t have doctors, relying instead on itinerant health aides that visit once a month, so the offer of these tests was a huge draw. During my time at the fair I learned that Alaskan blueberries, while smaller and more intensely flavored contain more antioxidants than those from the lower-48. I got a vision-screening test where instead of covering one eye and reading letters, a smiling radar gun (literally) was held up to my face and instantly read my eyesight abilities. I got to eat popcorn while strolling down the enormous hallways of “Nolan the Colon”, and watch the local drug-sniffing dog perform her daily workout routine. Two other friends and I were even selected as the lucky contestants for the hourly health challenge, minute-to-win-it style! In each hand we held crepe paper streamers, and by doing a windmill motion with our arms we had to be the first to unravel both of our rolls. I was clearly the most enthusiastic (I guess I have no shame!) and won the gold metal, walking away with a brand spankin’ new yoga mat! I’m always impressed by the quality and quantity of valuable resources and events available in Nome.
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| A cancerous lesion on Nolan the Colon |
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| Our health challenge! |
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| View of the whole fair |
I also delved into unchartered territory this weekend, by attending a sauna party, which are pretty common in Alaska. A friend and her husband-to-be just closed on a house in Banner Creek, so to celebrate I was invited for a rousing game of Apples to Apples, and gender separated, “bring-your-own-towel”, naked sauna time. Getting buck around a bunch of strangers didn’t have me raring to go, but I threw a towel and bathing suit in my truck just in case. I’d only been in a sauna once before, and it was co-ed with co-workers, so we all wore bathing suits. When the time came I followed the host’s lead, dropped trou (made easier by the fact that it was so dark), and sauna-ed it up. It was actually quite liberating. The thermometer inside the hut was reading the temperature at 185 degrees(?!) but it felt incredible. The hot cedar panels scented the air, and we each brought in an ice-cold orange juice complete with a pinstriped straw to fortify us. The very best part was walking back into the house from the sauna, an instant drop in temperature down to 15 degrees. I’m converted; having a sauna in Northwestern Alaska is a necessity!
