 |
| Frosty eye lashes - I was outside for 5 minutes! |
My first travel week since October! This time I was sent out to Brevig Mission to recruit, which is located right across the water from Teller. My morning started with a phone call from the airline agent, telling me that my flight had been pushed up an hour to beat the impending un-flyable weather (meaning that they would like to take off in 5 minutes), and that they would hold the plane for me. Not wanting to risk a frozen truck again, I decided to leave it plugged in and take a taxi to the airport. Bad call. I was picked up promptly, but spent more than 30 minutes picking up and dropping off other town folk, waiting for the loading and unloading of luggage. I’ve rarely taken cabs, but I generally expect them to go from point A (my residence) to point B (my desired location) without too many other side stops. Now I know!
Fortunately the plane was still waiting for me by the time I got to the airport, and with only one other passenger I didn’t have to feel too bad for holding up the works. So here’s some background about flying to Brevig; all of the plane crashes that I’ve heard people experience have been travelling to or around this area, due to the constant heavy gusting winds. That being said, I was preset with a little anxiety about this flight. Our first stop was Teller to drop off and pick up other passengers, and besides a few turbulent dips and climbs it wasn’t too bad. It’s only 10 miles from Teller to Brevig’s airport, so the plane could not reach an altitude where the air currents are smoother. Not to mention that Brevig was in the midst of a winter storm.
As per usual, I seemed to be the only person freaking out as we approached the landing strip, just to suddenly get pulled back into the air, circling around as the pilot decided to go for a second, and third try at landing. The pilot kept looking out the window at the wings, and at one point it looked as if they nearly brushed the ground. Approaching the runway head on clearly wasn’t going to work, so the pilot decided to face the plane into the wind with the wings facing the runway, essentially landing us sideways. Of course my panic was rising as we hovered closer to the ground (when the wheels touch we’ll flip for sure!), but at the last moment the pilot twisted the plane around so that the landing gear would push us down the runway in the right direction. Holy moly. I kept telling myself to breathe and that it would all be over soon (whether I lived or died), but as I looked at the other passengers I was dumbfounded. All of them were calm as ever, with one man sound asleep.
I was the only passenger getting off in Brevig, with the rest of the crew flying to Shishmareff. My flight was almost an hour early, so the kind folks at the school planning to pick me up had no idea I was here. So here I sat, against the hangar building, in a white out. I knew that the school had to be within walking distance, but it’s very dangerous to set out in a blizzard. Within the past weeks a few unlucky souls have lost their lives wandering through the blinding snow (one man was just going to get some water, and another was picking up his kids from school). It’s quite disorienting! Earlier in the week I was driving to work and conditions got so bad that I didn’t know whether I was on the road or not, or whether I had driven past the school altogether. But back to Brevig! I sat on my suitcase, grasping my pillow against my face, waiting for someone to rescue me. My cell phone doesn’t work in remote villages, but I knew the longest I would probably have to wait was an hour when hopefully the school would come looking for me.
Oh the thoughts that went through my head. Thankfully a man came by with a snowmachine to save the day! He looked at me through his ski goggles and yelled “Where are you supposed to be?”, and when I exclaimed “The school!” he tossed my suitcase onto the sled he was dragging and told me to hop on. My very first ride on a snowmachine (or snowmobile as they say in NY)! I was grasping onto this stranger for dear, dear life, the poor guy. The snow was blinding so I held my mittens against my face the whole time, and I let out a little yelp each time he hit a bump or went down a particularly steep hill. One thing I vividly remember through all of this is that I would break into uncontrolled, short bursts of laughter. Sitting alone in a white-out? Hopping on the back of a snowmachine for the first time to be rescued by a kind stranger? What else could I do but laugh!
 |
| The snowmachine that saved me, later that day |
 |
| A quick walk around Brevig Mission in -40 degrees! |
Walking into the school I must have looked like the abominable snowman; all of my belongings and the front of my body was plastered in wind-blown snow. It’s hard to describe what this type of snow is like, but it’s extremely dense, and it’s packed on solid. After a few raised eyebrows, I was welcomed warmly and shown to my bed. I could hardly believe my eyes when I was shown to an actual room (well, remodeled closet of sorts) with an actual bed with pillows and blankets to boot! Not to mention a mini-fridge, lamp, and television! Had I somehow made reservations for a room at the Ritz?! Definitely an upgrade from a foam mattress in the library. Once I got situated I ate lunch with the students. No matter the age, their first question to me is always the same; “What’s your name?”. Even if they’ve just heard their friend ask me the very same thing just seconds ago, they will ask me again. And again. It’s actually pretty cute.
 |
| It may say "storage", but what's behind door #1?! |
 |
| Awesome room I got to stay in! |
 |
| It even had a poster on the wall! |
As students were filling out my sign-in sheet, I learned something new. One boy’s last name is Ahnangnatoguk. Yes, you read that correctly. A friend of his was signing him in, and instead of writing his whole last name wrote “A-k”. I asked him about it and he said “We call him A through K, nobody can actually spell his real name”. Too funny! While most of my students have first names that are quite familiar to me, their last names are completely exotic and delightful! So fun to say! Here’s a random sampling of my favorites: Toktoo, Kakoona, Amaktoolik, Paniptchuk, Pikonganna, Ongtowasruk, and the award for longest goes to Nowpakahok-Noongwook. I’m also getting good at guessing where students come from based on their last names, as they’re usually tied to specific villages. Way more interesting than the Smiths’ and Jones’ that I’m used to.
 |
| Each school displays photos and names of elders in the village |
 |
| Native Youth Olympics, bunny style! |
 |
| Artwork in the library |
 |
| More taxidermy and artwork in the cafeteria |
It was a short stay, and I was on my way home once again. My flight back to Nome was less like a brush with death, and more like a brush with fame. My pilot for this leg is known as Hollywood, as he used to star as a doctor on a daytime soap opera. He is also a personality from the reality show Flying Wild Alaska. I’m sure that I made a bit of a fool out of myself as I admitted to being a little star struck, but he wasn’t sure whether I was being serious or making fun of him. He explained that this was the first time anyone had commented on his involvement in these shows, and was quite flattered. It was funny; he said that he couldn’t wait to tell his friends that I recognized him. Shouldn’t it be my job to tell everyone I met him? I loaded onto the plane, and was surprised to find it completely full! My first time flying with a full-to-capacity bush plane, which is still only 8 people when you include the pilot. The ride was bumpy, but I can honestly say I did not fear for my life. I remember getting scared as a kid with the little bumps and hiccups of a jet, and now I’m comfortable with a decent amount of tossing in our little planes. Still not used to the rollercoaster level falls and assents, nor the sideways landings, but hey. I’m getting there.
 |
| Sunrise from a bush plane! |
 |
| Hollywood! Yep, we were both a little tired |
I arrived back in Nome just in time to see history in the making. For the second time this year, Nome has been in the national news, with a few of my friends providing sound clips for CNN and photos for the New York Times. Big deal! The hubbub surrounds our fuel shortage and the decision to use the Coast Guard cutter Healy (the only operative polar ice breaker) to tow the 370-foot Renda, a Russian barge filled with 1.3 million gallons of fuel. Our last planned barge delivery did not make it due to shipping delays and nasty weather, and after much political and commercial business drama our rescue vessels set sail over a month ago. The Renda first traveled to South Korea to be filled with fuel, then with the help of the Healy was pulled to Dutch Harbor for a refill, then all the way to Nome.
 |
| Healy tugging the Renda to Nome |
 |
| Here at last! |
 |
| Anchors ahoy! About a mile from shore |
The mission was by no means easy; ice was freezing behind the ships faster than they could break forward (at some points they were breaking through 10 feet of ice), they had to be re-routed so they would not interfere with the habitats of the spectacled eiders (a type of waterfowl) and other marine creatures, and the limited daylight and extremely cold temperatures made transporting the fuel onto the land through a mile-long hose more complicated. I for one am glad to see this delivery, but there are many folks steadfastly against this whole shebang, primarily due to expenditures. One figure that was discussed was that the cost to operate these vessels for just one hour was estimated at $17,000. Now multiply that by over a month of continual work. Am I thankful that I will most likely not have to pay $10 per gallon of gas this winter? Yes. But I am also curious to see the final ramifications of this mess.
 |
| Weird treaded National Guard vehicle, later parked outside my hockey game! |
 |
| Fuel tanks in Nome |
