The forever winter

Safety first

The things you see in Nome...

The Iditarod crowds are long gone, and I found myself back at school welcoming our first junior high students in nearly 3 months.  I always appreciate the enthusiasm and pure energy this age group brings; it’s a much different program with the younger kids.  I worked the evening shift, which allowed me to see the kids in a more social light.  The first night I took the group to the swimming pool, and I witnessed pure jubilation as students took to the water, some for the very first time in their lives.  Even those that were initially tentative were hard to drag out of the pool at the end of open swim.  As an added surprise, two students that have previously attended snuck in their applications and were back for another round!  As a rule, junior high students are only able to attend once per year, but the low enrollment permitted reacceptance and I relished in the familiar faces and their prior knowledge of the routine.

Small, but delightful group!

Quick on-the-spot challenge while dinner finished cooking

Pool for the first time!

My two repeat students

Last evening t-shirt signing - it's like summer camp!

Junior high sessions are fast and furious– they fly in Tuesday and are out on Friday.  Except of course, if Mother Nature has other plans.  We typically experience a storm once per session, but it usually occurs at the beginning of the session delaying arrivals, or in the middle causing some wicked walks over to the pool.  For the first time this year the storm rushed in on Friday morning, cancelling all departing flights.  Thankfully this group was a great bunch, and having teacher chaperones from each of the three schools lessened the load on our teaching staff.

My favorite part of the session came while waiting to hear whether the “on hold” flights would depart.  Students always go shopping on the Thursday before they leave, and all of their goodies (usually candy and pop) are locked up in the closet overnight to prevent snacking messes and extreme sugar binges.  I handed back all of the purchases Friday morning so that students could pack them to enjoy back in their villages, however the delayed and subsequently cancelled flights pushed some over the edge of temptation.  Needless to say, I caught one student frantically eating all of his candy, wrappers strewn about him like fallen leaves.  As a natural consequence, I assigned him the most dreaded cleaning chore of all – bathroom duty!  Him and a friend grabbed the cleaning totes, and had so much fun donning rubber gloves, polishing mirrors, cleaning the sinks and toilets that they begged to clean all four of the bathrooms!  Yes, begged.  Only during a junior high session!

Mopping is the favorite chore!

Moving furniture - an impressive amount of dust bunnies collect daily

Chop to it!

Dishwasher duty includes heavy lifting

Despite the new energy and vigor, this was a difficult week for me.  I watched an independent movie made in Barrow (very similar to Nome) starring, filmed and produced by an all Alaskan Native cast and crew.  This movie depicted a tragedy involving high school students, and the gut wrenching impacts on the families and larger community.  On the Ice was an incredible and accurate movie that I’m glad I saw, however I was steamrolled into an existential crisis involving my purpose and value to this region, my profession, and my life.

A still from On the Ice

I am still worshiping the continually increasing hours of daylight, but the unrelenting cold and snow is taking its toll on my psyche.  Seeing pictures from home is an exercise is enduring torture; the grass is green, the sky is blue, the sun is shining, and it’s 70 degrees and higher.  In Nome, the ground has been locked under snow and ice since October, and I haven’t experienced a week with temperatures that all range above zero since November.  I’m ready to go back to wearing my warmer weather attire.  I’m ready to see any color besides white again.  I’m ready for the snow and ice to melt to allow for safe jogging outside.  I’m ready to be done with winter, but I’ve got a couple more months of it coming my way.

Hard to tell the sky from the ground, 3/23/12

Picture from a park near where I grew up, 3/23/12

A coworker came back from Hawaii (so jealous) and brought these!

March madness

Yep, I agree.

Iditarod week hit Nome like a polar cyclone, actually tripling our total population.  Out-of-towners were wandering the streets and I found myself joining their ranks as I finally enjoyed a week off from work.  It was so nice to have time to do the things I've been wanting to do since I got here in August; I reverted back to being a tourist myself!

Ubiquitous orange-capped Baptists seen every time I left my apartment

A sled dog team of children?

The Russian Store that I've wanted to visit since August

Inside, filled to the gills with beautiful items!

Front Street, closed for mushers

The famous burled arch finish!

Dumping and plowing snow ON the road, finishing the course

I got the chance to compete in the annual snow sculpting contest, held in Anvil City Square.  A huge, 4'x4'x4' block of snow served as our sculpting medium, and our only tools included scissors, a butter knife, a hunting knife, and a bayonet from a friend’s gun.  It was a "bring your own tools" affair, and most teams were more prepared with various saws, shovels, and carving instruments.  By sheer enthusiasm we created a masterpiece entitled “You had me at oogruk”.  The entrance fee was $20, and after a community wide vote, our piece won second place, winning $40!  It was three hours of the coldest, most creative fun I've had.  It was also pretty funny to watch tourists take pictures of my work throughout the week.

Our block

Planning and starting to chip away

Our nameplate

Our finished masterpiece and tools

Team oogruk

The winning design

Third place, palm tree

They used real hot cocoa to decorate

Spot on bunny boots!

One woman did this solo

Some real ICE cream

Lucky in love

After being judged in a competition, I was able to act as a judge in another.  Every year folks decorate plain pine birdhouses and enter them in an auction, with all of the resulting funds going to support a local cause that relies on grants.  This year all of the money raised went to the NEST shelter, which is the emergency homeless shelter in Nome.  The winning birdhouse went for $450, with a total of $1,800 raised!  Pretty impressive.

The Fourth Kind (an alien abduction movie) was set in Nome

Genuine qiviut and musk ox hide!

Rolled fabric made this beachy birdhouse

Dry fish hut and a toadstool

Lots of educational events took place all week long, and I was able to fill my days attending presentations and speakers of all sorts.  I learned all about musk oxen, snow birds (did you know chickadees lower their body temperature to 50 degrees each night, and if they don't eat immediately upon waking up, they will die?), eskimo beading, and aguduk, also known as eskimo ice cream.  It was a nice change of pace being the student this week.

A musk ox's nostrils are spiral to warm inhalations and remove moisture from exhalations

Interesting creatures for sure!

A woman from Savoonga, adding seal oil to her traditional aguduk recipe

Frozen and chopped reindeer fat, a main ingredient

Finished product - lots of tundra berries and no dairy!

The best part of my week by far was greeting the mushers as they arrived at the finish.  Of course I was ready and waiting hours ahead of time for the winner's arrival, but the thrill never wore off.  I felt like a firefighter - each time the musher reached the 2-miles from town point, the fire siren would sound (even at 2am).  I hurried to get my gear on and ran to Front Street to meet the teams.  I couldn't believe how the masses dwindled after the first musher made it in, but my excitement lasted through on until the red lantern, which is the last musher.  It's a tradition to have the final musher in blow out the lantern, that's been glowing the for the duration of the race.

The crowds waiting the arrival of the winner

Dallas Seavey, youngest Iditarod champion in history!

Recipient of $50,400 and a new truck

Aliy Zirkle, arriving second after leading most of the race

She made it into town only an hour after Dallas

Ramey Smyth in third; his daughter gave me one of the dog booties!

Lance Mackey - he wished me good morning on his way to the finish

Coming off the sea ice

Where the ice meets the road

I left my snow pants stuffed in my boots for quicker "suiting up"

After the first five finishers made it to Nome, security lessened, and anyone was able to join the officials and family members in the ring.  I was able to talk to the mushers, and pet their dogs (which are a lot smaller and more solid feeling than you'd imagine!).  I also got to spend time with mushing legend Sebastion Sschnuelle and his dog tender Gert, who stayed at the KNOM house.  They traveled the trail by snowmachine this year to report with an insider's knowledge of the Iditardod, having mushed in the past.  As well as entering this race in the past, he won the Yukon Quest in 2009, which is actually longer than the Iditarod. It was so much fun sitting and chatting with him (he sounds like cookie monster); he talked about his stupid dog Banana that he keeps trying to give away, getting frostbite on his fingers, and the extensive costs of dog mushing resulting in a negative retirement fund.

Sebastion and Gert

It was nice having an inside connection to the Iditarod, as my closest friends in town work for KNOM.  Iditarod updates aired at the station at 9am, 12 noon, 5pm and 8pm, and I was selected to voice an underwriting spot thanking Telalaska as a sponsor.  It's still a trip hearing my voice on the radio.  A friend from KNOM and I also chose a musher to follow before the race began, promising the be his biggest fan by greeting him on the sea ice, making signs, and interviewing him when he finishes regardless of his position.  Traditionally KNOM only interviews the first 30 finishers, so when our favorite came in 48th place this really was a special treat for him.

At the chute, ready for a personal interview

At the station, tracking the race progress

KNOM reporting at the finish!

Making our signs at the station

Biggest fan ever

Welcome to Nome!

Our in-depth interview (not actually aired...)

In addition to voicing a sponsor advertisement, I spent two hours on the air at KNOM co-hosting the evening college radio show.  The regular DJ and I took turns choosing songs to play, bantering about who's music selection was superior.  Around 10:30pm a call came into the station from a village, with a woman on the line saying that she wanted to hear more "Emily music".  Clearly, I have the better taste in tunes.

Co-hosting KNOM college radio

The last highlight of my week was pretty significant; I got up the gumption to perform at the annual Iditarod open mic night.  The place was packed and I was called up earlier than expected, but I played through my nerves and sang in front of a group for the first time since high school.  A few people have come up to me since then, and it's fun being recognized by the locals for my singing and ukulele efforts.  Can't wait until next time!

Rockin' Adele

Dallas's little brother - the whole Seavey gang was there to support him