Thanksgiving--Shishmaref Style

We celebrated Thanksgiving by attending the village feast. The main fare is reindeer stew. Early in the morning a sled of reindeer carcasses and several boxes of other ingredients were brought to the school kitchen. The unmarried men of the village spent the better part of the day butchering the reindeer and preparing the reindeer stew. Most of the village gathered in the Shishmaref High School gym about 5:30. A large plastic trash can had been filled with cherry KoolAid and everyone dipped out a cup or two. Each table was set with a roll of paper towel, 1/2 box of Pilot Bread, and a loaf of white bread. Families claimed their places by setting out their plates, bowls and spoons. Many also brought pots of stew. I brought a large pan of glazed sweet potatoes. A prayer was offered and serving began at a little after 6. 

The stew makers also did the serving.

Most of the village gathers for the feast.

Stew anyone?

Reindeer Stew

After we had our fill of the stew, which was absolutely delicious, desserts were brought out. The women take great pride in their Eskimo ice cream. We sampled everything. One kind of Eskimo ice cream was made with caribou fat, seal oil, salmon berries and blueberries. Another kind was made with caribou fat mixed with dried and flaked lincod (yes, fish!!) and was very delicious. We also had a scoop of mixed berries (salmonberries, blueberries, cranberries, and crowberries) and a piece of cake made by one of the young girls. Tea accompanied the dessert.

Eskimo Ice Cream: Caribou fat, seal oil,
salmonberries and blueberries

A real treat!!

After everyone had eaten their fill, the doxology was sung in Inupiaq and the clean-up began. High school kids do all the cleaning up. As soon as the gym was cleared, the Eskimo dancers and drummers took over and spent the next hour showing us a part of Inupiaq culture the early missionaries had tried, fortunately unsuccessfully, to eradicate. Many kids also came out to show what they had learned or were learning.The evenings entertainment continued until the wee hours of the morning with community basketball games.We felt privileged to experience a Thanksgiving with the Eskimos of Shishmaref, Alaska.

Reindeer fawn mukluks made for one of the native teachers
by her grandmother when she graduated high school. 

Beautiful fur ruffs--worn not for fashion but to protect a person's face.

Eskimo dancing--each dance tells a story to the drummers' beat.

Shishmaref drummers.
Traditional drums are made of thin caribou skin stretched over a frame.
 Some may also have been made of seal skin.

Mary leads the dancing in her red kuspuk and white mukluks.

The school parking lot.
No roads means no cars--just snowmachines, sled and/or ATVs

Fresh Fruit!!

Earlier this week we saw a line of people going to the store. When that happens, you know that the store has something special. In this case, the "something special" was fresh fruit: bananas and grapes!! Frest fruit is very rare in the bush. To make life even nicer, yesterday the store received several cases of eggs. 

Life is good!

Greta enjoys a banana in her (Angie's) classroom.

Chukchi Sea Ice

Sea ice. So what? 

It's a big deal here. 

Once the Chukchi Sea freezes, the shores of Shismaref 

will be protected from the storms that ravage her shore. 

So sea ice is a big deal here. 

In the two weeks that we've been here, 

we have watched the Chukchi go from open water to ice as far as one can see to open water with ice floes. 

No matter--it's always a beautiful view, and we can see it from our window!

CAMPING IN in Shishmaref

There is a shortage of teacher housing in Shishmaref, so when a substitute comes to town, one is expected to "camp in." Most itinerants "camp" in the main school building. They grab an available classroom, find a mattress and fluff their sleeping bags. I, on the other hand, being a 7-week substitute with a husband, have been given the royal treatment. We have a portable classroom all to ourselves--that is, between the hours of 10 p.m. until 7 a.m. During the other hours we share our space. It is a classroom during the day, so we must vacate the room. (Mike wanders aimlessly about the village--more about that in another post.) From 4 p.m. until around 10 p.m., other staff members come to the portable to use the washers and dryers and to take showers. Much of the teacher housing, as well as most of the village, have honeybuckets.

We do have a washer and dryer that others come in to use.
That gives us a chance to visit with other teachers.

There are two bathrooms, each with a shower.
We share these with the other teachers, as well.

Our bed.
We must roll them up and put them away during the day
as this is a classroom.

Michael uses our computer to read the papers.
We have no television.

We have no closet, so these "action packers"
serve as closet and dresser while we are here.
During the day we stow all our gear and lock them
and stack them out of the way.

Winter Magic

We recently experienced several days of high winds and blowing snow. 

It's amazing what a little snow and wind can do to a playground.  

The result reminded me of a scene from Dr. Zhivago.

Pilot Bread to the Rescue!

Shishmaref has two stores, 

but they often run out of staples like bread.

                                     When there is no bread, we have found a substite:
                                                          pilot bread.

It's like a large cracker, only softer and not salty.

Halloween Shishmaref Style

Shishmaref kids really got into the spirit of Halloween just like kids everywhere. 

The school had a costume parade, followed by a fun frolic. 

Later the kids (and many parents) knocked on doors and seemed to get quite a haul. 

Mike stood in the street (the packed sand trail called Seaview Lane) and handed out 

Charm blow-pops, one of the kids' favorite kind of candy.

The administrators get into the fun.