March 16, 2014

Today marks the last day of Spring Break vacation. It's been such a relaxing break! It was nice to stay around the village for a change. The time off seems so much longer with less airplanes involved. I had my neighbor Amy's mentor, her husband, and their longtime friend stay with me for a few days as the Iditarod was passing through White Mountain. The mushers have an eight-hour mandatory stop in town so we are a popular destination for people wanting to catch the action. There was one day we counted twenty tourists hanging around the city office! Even international ones. It's such a strange thing to think people pay hundreds or more to come and experience it, when all I do is watch out my front window free of charge. :) My house guests were so wonderful. We visited the mushers together, had dinner parties, and shared some great stories. Overall just some good old-fashioned fun! Amy even brought over her father's strumstick, and her mentor's husband went to town on some folk music. Doesn't get much better than that.

One night we joined forces and cranked out eight varieties of pizza for a small gathering. There was a greek pizza with garlic and olive oil for sauce, olives, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and feta cheese. We opened up a can of asiago alfredo sauce for some white sauce pizzas. Chopped fresh green onion, zucchini, basil leaves, green pepper, and lots of awesomeness. Lots of pizza varieties, even some with pepperoni for more carnivorous souls and a hawaiian pizza with Canadian bacon and pineapple. It was loads of fun. We took the leftovers down to the mushers and volunteers at the city office. That and some chili that our counselor's boyfriend from Golovin had made. Everyone was so grateful! I walked over sporting my UNI hoodie and a volunteer recognized the logo, asked if I graduated from the university. I said I had, and lo and behold the gentleman was from Cedar Falls, my college town! He was visiting as a volunteer veterinarian. "It's a small world, after all!" Even in Alaska.

It was eye-opening to see the mushers so close and see how incredibly tiring an effect the race has on people. The winners usually get by with such little sleep. It is highly competitive. I enjoyed listening to the stories of people passing through, keeping tabs on certain mushers and talking about the history behind the races. A lot of people scratched, or dropped out, of the race this year. The trails didn't have nearly enough snow so it was pretty rough riding most of the way. And then some storms hit with wind gusts of 50 plus miles per hour. A lot of racers bunkered down in towns for longer than their required stay if they were lucky enough to make it to a checkpoint. Some of them stayed out along the trail wherever it was that they decided to call it quits for a time. If they were to accept assistance from anyone not assigned as a helper of sorts I was told they get disqualified from the race. So the mushers tend to perform rather independently. It's a shame really, because from what I heard, when the Iditarod first began, it was a gathering of like-minded individuals with a shared goal to make it to Nome by dogsled. They cared about their team of dogs and cared about each other. It was supposedly just for fun, at least that's what someone told me this week. They would travel in groups and experience the trail together. Over the years people began taking the race more seriously and were driven to do some pretty wild things to win. One person told me the author Gary Paulson, the one who wrote Hatchet, rode the Iditarod trail one year and wrote about the experience. He said that he saw a musher beat their dog to death on the trail. Nowadays, mushers AND their dogs check in at all the checkpoints, and veterinarians are around. I choose to believe the people who race today really do care about their dogs. One guy by the last name of King would have been the winner, but he scratched just miles from the finish out of fear for his dogs' lives.

I've learned so much about the Iditarod. This race was kind of intense! The person that was expected to win scratched, and then the next in line stopped for a time because of the storms, so the guy that was more than four hours behind came in first, but he didn't even know he had won when he crossed the finish line in Nome. He had already had a record for the youngest to win in years past and now he set a new record for fastest time. Despite the weather, people still made it into Nome in record time. The last couple days were rough because of snow and winds, but we were all so happy to see the snow, and the last person made it to Nome safely. I met a guy all the way from Sweden racing and there was a Jamaican guy, too! It was a lot more interesting to be around than I expected. I enjoyed it.

I am SO happy it has been snowing for the past few days. Just in time for the regional cross-country ski meet in town. This week is going to be rather busy, as the textnician will be staying with me, and people begin arriving for the meet on Thursday. We have early outs the last two days of the week to encourage everyone to attend the meet. I am excited to get to see the races first-hand and to help out in any way I can.

I am going to take up cross-country skiing next year. :) I would also like to teach a pottery class at the city office and start doing book readings of culturally-relevent stories with the younger kids at the library on the weekends. Then we can do crafts along with the stories, because that would be simply awesome! I am excited for all the plans I am beginning to develop for next year and am stunned by how quickly this year has flown by. Only nine weeks left until summer vacation! I feel so much more confidence in what I am doing and can't wait to start fresh again at the beginning of the next year. We all found out yesterday that our principal is staying around, so we will have all returning staff next year, with the exclusion of our ECE program eliminating a position and our K-1 teacher leaving to accommodate. White Mountain is a great place to be!


As I was perusing Facebook the other day, I stumbled upon a post from a friend who was revisiting some feelings about the passing of a friend some years ago. 

"I realized it doesn't matter what job you have or your degree or title. It doesn't matter what car you drive, or your material belongings. It doesn't matter if you are deemed socially acceptable or meet society's standards. That's all [irrelevant stuff] to keep you distracted from the things that truly make life worth living. What matters is the connections you make. The relationships you create. The bridges between people that you build to connect these relationships. The hugs, and the smiles, and the times you laugh until you cry. The conversations, the debates, and mindful interactions with others. The emotions, the love, the highs and the lows. When it all comes down to it and in reflection, these are the things that matter most once your time here is up." ---Shelly Adelmund

This was part of her post that really touched on what I am all about and what I strive for, so I thought I would share it with you all. Hopefully it will inspire you. :) Don't forget it all boils down to human relations! How do I relate to other people? Help them to uplift themselves? Encourage them to tackle their demons and live a life filled with beauty and light? What am I doing each day to contribute to the betterment of others? Helping them to feel more fulfilled? Satisfied? Like they live a life that is meaningful? I meditate on these ideas all the time, and it seems to help me to ground myself and provides a sense of duty and purpose. 

Well, I certainly owe you all some photos so here goes nothing! 

Here is a view of my house (red, center) and surroundings from a little further up the slope. 

A student snapped this shot after some fresh snowfall. What a beautiful picture!

Another student shot. Interesting perspective!

This is one from the balcony of my mentor's home in Chugiak. We stayed there for a night during the Special Education Conference in Anchorage. 

Another from my mentor's home.

Isn't that view just spectacular?!

Here's a wide-angle view from the deck. Her husband designed the house when he was still in high school!

Here are the mountains we passed on the way to Chugiak to stay over at my mentor's house during the special education conference.

I had a lot more photos but haven't had much luck with uploading so I think I'll end there and add more to my next post. Thanks for dropping by the blog! :)


Namaste,

Kelly Rae

February 23, 2014

Time is flying by as per usual. If I stop for a moment to think about how much time has passed since I moved into the village it feels like it has been so long yet not long at all. My Iowa roots are engrained pretty deep. Going home over winter break I expected to find that a lot had changed, that things would feel somewhat alien to me after living in isolation for months, but surprisingly it didn't. I slipped back into Iowan life so seamlessly it startled me.

However, there was something very different about it. The experiences I have had up here are so fresh on my mind I found myself talking about them frequently. I am always trying to relate things to my life in the bush. Even some of my vocabulary changed. I never used to call my grandmother "Grams", but it was the first thing that slipped off my tongue when talking about her. Just goes to show how adaptive I am as an individual, how we all are as human beings. We soak in so much of what is around us. Brings to light the necessity of surrounding yourself with stuff worth taking in. :)

Speaking of things worth taking in, here is a video a fellow teacher shared with me that was put together by some kids at her school not far from here last year. How incredible is that?!!!! Makes me feel so fortunate to be where I am and be surrounded by so many people who care about what they do.

The Special Education conference in Anchorage was awesome! I learned way more stuff than I could possibly remember, but I was very happy to be there and get more expertise in my field. The following weekend was our Valentine's Day basketball tournament. We had people here from all over the region to watch and play on the adult teams. I've never seen so many people in White Mountain. So much excitement for three days!

If I haven't already shared, I signed another contract with the district so I will be back in Alaska again next year. :) Very content with my decision! Most of the staff in White Mountain are hanging around, so we will hit the ground running next fall.


In retrospect, I suppose I haven't expressed much about the life I have left behind in Iowa this past year. I had a lot of conflicting feelings about leaving home. I love my family and friends to a fault, but I thought some space to evolve would do me good. There are some things you can't learn by staying in your comfort zone all your days. I think it's appropriate to give yourself some distance when the direction your going in life becomes unclear. Although, I am not so sure I needed to go all the way to Alaska to accomplish this end. ;) But I an happy I did. It is just like making a piece of artwork; looking at it from a distance helps you to see the bigger picture. Sometimes it takes removing oneself from familiarity to discover new things to be passionate about. And who knows, these new passions may help you to evolve into a more fulfilled, satisfied soul. It's the journey that matters anyways.

Keep that Positive.Mind.Set y'all!

Namaste,

Kelly Rae

Still taboo to talk about the weather?

I am in nothing but awe at the weather not only here in Alaska, but throughout the nation and other parts of the world. Here in White Mountain our temperatures have been fluctuating above and below freezing all month, causing our precious bed of snow that is required for safe travels by snowmachine and cross country skiing to rapidly depart. Only a week or so ago, a group of three travelers on snowmachines had to be rescued between here and Golovin because of slush and unfavorable conditions rendering them helplessly stuck en route between the two villages. One machine wound up at the bottom of a body of water, with its rider lucky enough to have survived. The trails are slick from compressed snow and repeated rains. Thank goodness for my cleats!

The weather of my native state has been more severe than here! I can’t help but laugh at the irony of moving to this state and excitedly preparing for the most extreme winter weather I have ever experienced, and then discovering the weather was rather dumped to the south where I had vacated.  What a twist of events. This causes me to give a length of contemplation to what perhaps the summer will have to bring...

With the dawn of a new year, an incredibly helpful mentor that I am now in frequent contact with, and all the support I receive from my friends here in White Mountain, I have been feeling more at ease these past couple of weeks. I resolved that for the sake of my sanity, I ought allow myself to indulge in some acts of selfishness now and then, and have rebirthed my desire to read for pleasure with a visit to the city’s library- which is a place I had yet been! They have a surprisingly large collection of books for such a small population they serve, and I eagerly checked quite a few out and have begun reading. Since the beginning of the year, I have read four books already. This pleases me. ^_^

And as always, I must indulge in photography now and then, because it is such a beautiful world out there when you open your mind to all the possibilities. :) Here are some that were taken mostly this year, I believe. Enjoy!

A view from my living room window. 

I stroll out on the river while the ice is still frozen and snow blankets it. It feels unfamiliar and exciting to look at your city from a new perspective.

Another view from my home on a bright, sunny day, when the snow was still relatively fresh-fallen.

Hard not to think what a wonderful world it can be when you get to experience true peace on it. I wish the same for every being.

The moon, low over the trees very near the school building. I love to observe how the snow collects on the pines in thick blankets after a snowfall.

I could not convince myself I had ever posted a view from my window out the school and thought some of you may be interested. With the sun shining I can see much of the town as well as the brilliancy that marks the trees from the orange glow. Any clear day allows a view of the mountains.

Our school has a lot of artwork adorning it, mostly from collaborations with visiting artists, but also from the native people volunteering their own collections to be put on display. The cafeteria has displays cases with some of these items, as well as a kayak on display up high on the wall made with a wood frame and animal hide. These are paper mache geese flying through the halls. There are also king salmon as well.

Here are some of the boats put to rest for the winter. There are many boats that have been abandoned, if not permanently, until their owners are able to complete repairs that are needed or sell them.

This house I imagine is one that was built long ago. It is typical that the earliest houses in the area were made in the style of log cabins and were one room. It appears abandoned just at the tree line of the area known as "the meadow", where I pass every day to get to the school and where the cross country skiing regional meet begins each year. I worry what the weather will hold for the tournament this year, and if we will be able to have it...

A woman in town is helping me to make my very first kuspuk, and it has been coming along nicely since the beginning of the year now that we are meeting more regularly to work on them. Here I have laid out about what it will look like when it is finished, although many of the seams have yet to be sewn. I didn't realize how much I truly enjoy sewing until now! Cannot wait until it is finally finished. I was so excited, I already purchased fabric for another one. =D

Village sunset. :)

Here is a view looking out of the bay from Golovin, after the storms had caused some flooding. We went there for a district training in November.

This is the mural painted in our school cafeteria! Go White Mountain Wolves!!!!!!

Here is the finished project that the artist-in-resdience from back in October helped the students to create. There is at least one ceramic tile from every student at the school bordering our lunch window.

This is one of my tiles, depicting a mountainous landscape and skies above. The artist brought lots of tools for us to use to add texture and underglazes for painting them.

And here is another of the main entrance to the school.

This stained glass mosaic adorns the main entrance of our building. There are some beautiful ones with regional themes in Unalakleet that were done by an Alaska native, but I don't recall if ours were done by the same artist.

The mosaic completed in the lunchroom was planned by the same artist that did our welcome sign outside our school with the students several years ago. 

Walking up to White Mountain hill at sunset.

Beautiful hazy sunset.

True to life colors!

The white of my hair is where the moisture in my breath froze in the cold.

A view of the village covered in snow. Home, sweet home!

Hope you are all finding beauty one place or another. ;)

Namaste,

Kelly Rae

And I'm not done yet!

I have some more photos to share! Much to everyone's benefit I accidentally began time-stamping some of my photographs, giving a clearer idea of when they were taken. 

 Here is the feast I prepared for Thanksgiving dinner. I shared food with the ECE teacher and her family, who happen to live next door. I made vegetarian stuffing, scalloped corn, fresh dinner rolls, baked butternut squash, sweet potato casserole and mini-cheesecakes topped with fruit. What a delicious meal!!! I don't know what I would do without Full Circle farm, out of Washington, to get my fruits and vegetables each week. :)

 Here is a view on a sunny day looking over the river. By this point, the ice was frozen solid enough and snow had accumulated on top so people could travel safely on it. You can see the tracks where people will take their snow machines or ATVs out to go ice-fishing, caribou hunting, or other miscellaneous recreation.

 Here are people gathered around the water hole out in the middle of the ice where a hole has been forged that will remain open during the winter for those who rely on the river's water supply. 

 The river had froze solid by this point, but it was late this year. If you look closely, you can see the snow-capped mountains in the distance.

This was taken just outside my house. Colors are pretty true to real-life. Just a beautiful dusk. 

Another gorgeously colored horizon in White Mountain following the sunset.

Here is a wide angle view with the river frozen. 

Just another beautiful day in the neighborhood! 

To the right is my house. It was so icy out! Strange weather for WMO. Should have been lots more snow by now, but it kept getting too warm and vanishing each time it fell. 

That house nearest to me on the left is rather old, from back when people first settled at this location. Where we currently stay has been called home to people for less than two centuries, I was told. The village had to relocate when foreign people brought diphtheria (or another unfamiliar disease) to the people and wiped out the majority of their population. 

When I went on my boat ride in September, we actually traveled to where the village was located before. The natives had lived in sod houses dug underground, for the most part. You can still see the indentations in the landscape.

Walking around town. What I see everyday. Maybe minus the sun. That varies a bit more. ;)

The small blue/gray building is our post office. 

Couldn't resist a photo of this poor pinecone, frozen in place. Soooo very icy! I was lucky my co-worker bought me some cleats to put on my boots. The hills were quite the challenge even with the extra traction.

I think this picture pretty much speaks for itself! Taken out my dining room window, sometime in August/September.

On a hike out past the airport on a bright day. Likely in August. I couldn't get over how incredibly bright it was when I first moved here. The sun seemed to never fully set. 

This photo is from late September when the White Mountain Eskimo Dancers traveled as a group to Teller for their annual Cultural Festival. We drove from Nome in a rental van to save money, and it was well worth it for other reasons, too. Not only were the views gorgeous, but we got to see a herd of muskox and small, abandoned buildings that were once an active part of the gold rush. 

Again, WOW! How lucky am I?

Fall colors had just come to show and the tundra was erupting with reds and oranges, a perfect complement to the bright blue skies. 

The gravel road wound through vast, open tundra and hilly landscapes, skirted along parallel to tall mountain ranges whose peaks were enveloped by drifting clouds, and crossed over small rivers and streams once frequented by people searching for gold. More than 60 miles of uninterrupted wilderness, lest you count the road. :)

A view of the mountain ranges out the window of the bush plane, from Nome to White Mountain.

Here you can see a river wandering along the landscape. (Another view from the same flight.)

And another on the way home from the Cultural Festival, looking east toward the Bering Sea. The planes often follow the coast for a time when leaving Nome.

For your viewing pleasure, here is also a link to some of our performance at the festival. :) 

Hope you've enjoyed these additions to the blog! I have a dream, that one day, I will be posting pictures that occurred recently. As in, within a week's time. :P Until that day....

Namaste,

Kelly Rae