Whale - Round Two

So, as you have heard in the previous blogs I tried muktuk and it did not go so well. Today we heard that the mayor was serving the whale that he and his crew landed a couple of days ago. So we drove over to his house where they were serving pre-packaged (meaning a variation of different parts of whale in a plastic grocery bag) whale out of a card board box. Then they give us this soupy fruit drink in a Dixie cup which is to go with the whale.

I brought my bag of goodies back to the college and opened it up. It contained unalik (cooked whale blubber), whale meat, tongue, intestine, and a piece of sourdough bread. With much hesitation I tried a bit of unalik. It did not taste any better than the muktuk I tried a couple weeks ago, but this time I did mange to swallow it.

Britt tried some of the whale and was much braver than I was. She ate the unalik, meat, and intestine. She liked everything except the intestine which I guess was a bit too chewy for her.

Below are some pictures recapturing the experience.










Staying whale free,

Cassandra

As we go on, we remember...

Yes I quoted the famous song "Graduation" by Vitamin C (thats a singer, not a nutrient). If you do not know it check out the video below. Play the song while you read this final Friday blog entry...

Today was the last day of school. It was the last day of student teaching for us here in Barrow, AK. And while yes I have been looking forward to this day for awhile ( no more waking up at ungodly hours, no more frustrating kids) I am having bittersweet emotions. Today at the middle school as I got ready to leave I looked around at my cooperating teachers packed up classroom and shed a few tears, no waterfall mind you but a couple of tears. My peers know this about me... I cry at the drop of a hat. It is usually something simple but powerful. I thought that when this day arrived I would be sitting around waiting for it to be over, now I find myself saying I wish I could do it all over again.

As I started making the rounds to the classrooms of people I have been working with the past 6 weeks to say goodbye I realized something. I wasn't saying goodbye to my co-workers I was saying goodbye to my family, I was saying goodbye to people who had so graciously opened their hearts and homes to me and accepted me as one of their own (needless to say a few more tears where shed). Emotions shock you when do not expect them and I was very shocked to see how attached I had become to a place with no trees or grass, never ending light in the spring and summer, and where it just broke freezing temperatures yesterday. Whatttttt!?!?! Its something you cannot explain until you get here and experience it for yourself, yes "you had to be here" kind of thing.

With the end of student teaching comes graduation. Yes in a couple of weeks we graduate from college. The past four years of our lives have been dedicated to Gustavus and it has helped shape us into the people we are today. While I am excited for graduation I am sad that college is ending, I am nervous about finding a job, and I am anxious to get out into the real world. How does a person handle all those emotions at once? I will tell you. Support. Support from friends and family. So at this time I would like to thank my supporters. I would like to thank my co-Barrowites and Ilisagvik peeps for making my time in Barrow stupendously wonderful and at times interesting. I would like to thank all my wonderful friends at home for still talking to me, even though I am 3,000 miles away. I would also like to thank my family for their support (emotional and financial...) whilst in Barrow, I know you sometimes think I am crazy for doing the things I do, but thanks for being there anyway. Oh, and thanks for installing Skype on your computers so I could talk to you!

While I am excited to get home and see my family I am also sad to leave. It is one of those many bittersweet moments that life presents to you, but I know that I will look back at my time spent here in Barrow and Eben Hopson Middle School as a time I treasured dearly, where I learned a lot and grew just as much.

I'll be seeing you,
Meredith

What a rose can say

Last night was the eighth grade promotion. A night where eighth graders celebrate the end of their elementary and junior high years and transition to high school with a "clean slate." Promotion is a big deal here. For some, it maybe the last time they 'graduate' from school. For others, it's just a stepping stone for what is to come. Tony Bissen, a former Gustie, was the guest speaker. His message: High school is a place to start over and become a new you. You can leave your educational frustrations behind and change your attitude. He stressed that high school takes up a sliver of life with approximately 670 days and that a person who would live to be 100 years of age would have lived approximately 27,000 days. That for the next 670 days, they would come to school and learn something.

The ceremony was filled with musical talents (the Star Spangled Banner would have cracked anyone up), speeches, Inupiat dances, smiles, a rap about Eben Hopson ("Education is the key to success!!") and awkwardness (it's adolescence, come on!). If there are a few things that I have notice about graduations on the North Slope, it's that a) leis of flower and candy are popular on a graduate's neck, b) be prepared for bi/trilingual speeches and Inupiat dances, and c) the segment in the middle of the ceremony called the Rose Ceremony.

Graduates spend a TON of money to buy roses and give them to people who have been special to them in their recent success and accomplishment (Sorry if you were thinking the rose ceremony on the Bachelor/Bachelorette). Some view the rose ceremony as a waste of time and money. The ceremony literally stops and can be delayed for long periods of time *cough cough High School Graduation* cough 25 minutes cough cough**. I saw a recent high school graduate recruit a younger sibling to help carry her roses...there must have been over 40 roses...with each rose costing $4.50 a pop...you do the math, but then again, they have money to spend. So besides roses 'saying' "I'm expensive and I die quickly", it says congrats, I love you, you mean a lot to me, thank you for being so kind, have a great day, I miss you, farewell....just think about all the things a rose can say.

Our friend at the college, Doria, has a little sister who is an eighth grader. I've gotten to known her little sister very well in the past few weeks. I've attended church with her, gone to a few bonfires, and have seen her randomly across town where we've struck up conversations. With that being said, I was surprised to receive a rose from her during the rose ceremony at the promotion. I was touched and if I wasn't so filled joy for she was dressed in a beautiful dress and hair nicely done, I would have shed a few tears. I wasn't expecting one. I went to a) see Doria's little sister get promoted, b) to see what a "promotion" looks like, and c) to become more involved in the community--not to be a recipient of a rose. Meredith also a got a few roses from her students, which was AWESOME!!! (MK "Oh no! The petals are falling off. BH "Kind of like Sleeping Beauty, right?" Awkward pause followed by MK's laughter and my realization of mixing up two Disney classics)

I made Doria's little sister a card for the occasion quoting my favorite all time quote by Marianne Williams.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?"

The quote has helped me overcome many life struggles and I hope it does the same for her, for I can't help but feel that we have shared and experienced similar family situations. I'll stop it right here for I could go on and write a novel about my experiences so here's the end of my last 'assigned' entry: To the Hopson Middle School Class of 2011, congrats!

Be Kind, Rewind.
Brit
10-4 over-and-out. kaahhhhsshhh (static sound)

Potholes

When we first arrived in Barrow six weeks ago, I did not even realize that all of the roads here were made of gravel. Instead, they looked like sheets of ice, sparkling in the long hours of sunlight. After weeks of the rising temperatures (it got up to around 20 degrees today) the ice roads began to melt, and the rocks beneath peeked their tiny heads out from their winter hibernating. For a week the gravel roads were okay. But after that they have now become a mess of potholes. Some of the worst potholes ever in the entire kingdom of potholes.

This leads to the obvious analogy to teaching. That teaching is like driving on a road filled with potholes. There will be ups and downs, and lots of bumps along the way, but even if it takes longer than usual you will eventually reach your destination. That is as deep as I'm feeling right now..... Until next time may you have more ups than downs and may your roads be as smooth as a sheet of ice!

Trevor

The Things You Take for Granted

I have done a pretty good job at annoying my peers by pointing out every bird that I see. They don't seem to find it quite as exciting as I do. Other than pet dogs and the guinea pigs we have in class, we have not seen a single animal up here until recently when the birds started to come back. Unless you really think about it, it is very odd not to see a single animal for a whole month. I think it's something that you really take for granted. I did not realize just how odd this was until I experienced it here. So I have been enjoying seeing all the birds coming back even if no one else is.

Another thing that is easy to take for granted is the dark. I am writing this right now at 2:45am and outside it looks like it is 6 or 7 at night. The constant light has really been messing with my sleeping patterns. It makes it very hard to fall asleep and remember to eat food. I have been to Alaska before during the summer but I was not affected as badly. I think it is because the other times I was here on vacation, where as this time I have an agenda and have to get up early. While the constant sunlight is pretty awesome, it definitely messes with your body.

This experience has of many things helped me to realize just how easy it is to take things for granted.

Later,
Cassandra

A Gustie Rap

Gusties:



In honor of Kristian finally posting on the blog, I have written a rap
for you. It was inspired by your blog.

Vanni

-----------------------------------------


New peeps arrived in time for the sunshine

That keeps you awake when you really wanna sleep.

The Royal Wedding in UK inspired fairy tale dreams

Of weddings on the tundra where the drifts are really deep.



A trip to "the Point" was the real fairy tale-

In a van with a tour guide, whom we now don't trust,

Told us we'd count animals, not electric poles.

'Cept for 1 dece pic, the ride wuz just a bust.



We've put that trip behind us and are taking in the sights;

Having a whale of a time but runnin' outta cash.

An experience of a lifetime with memories that are "rad,"

Let's just chalk it up to the "power of the stache."
---------------------------------



Watch out! Vanni "Beast" Prichard aka DJ Vanni P is in the house!

Slinky, Slinky, Everyone Loves a Slinky...

Good evening my dear loyal blog readers,

I want you to close your eyes and think of a slinky. Are you thinking of a slinky? I'm serious....well, I was just going to elaborate off some characteristics that a slinky possesses, but I just realized that you wouldn't be able to read it with your eyes closed.

Alright, think with your eyes open then....think of a long, silver, metal slinky in a physics lab. Your sending transverse and longitudinal waves....examining what happens when you send one wave down on one side and sending another wave on the opposite side or maybe sending waves on both sides...maybe one person on the other end is sending the wave and as it reaches your end, it bounces off you and goes back on a different side....OR maybe you possess a funny bone and are thinking of Jim Carrey's Ace Ventura: Pet Detective-When Nature Calls at the part where he slinks a slinky down from the monastery high in the mountains.

What's the point? Life is like a slinky.

Sound is sent through longitudinal waves. As teachers, we are projecting our voices of knowledge to our students and sharing our experiences. We start the ripple of pulses that alter pathways of students, hopefully in a positive way. We never stop and often have to present information in multiple waves..I mean ways.

Transverse waves are powerful and are easily visible. When you send one wave down one side and another wave on the same side, but on the opposite end, you will find that when they meet, the waves combine forming a giant wave and then pass on through as though they never met. It's like working with a person. You're combined efforts produce large results, but when you're finished, you carry on in your ways. Maybe the effort is an act of kindness where for a brief second, there's good in the world and it is evident.

There are times when waves heading for each other on opposite sides meet as well. When they meet, both waves are demolished producing a straight line for a brief moment until the waves pass through each other. I like to think of this as meeting someone with different views--both of you are stubborn and refuse to listen to each other.

There are times when only one wave is sent and it reaches the end only to bounce back on the opposite side. There are times when you are going to be by yourself and when you hit that wall, you WILL bounce back, but in a new direction. With the departure of Deb and Lois, we are recharged and are approaching things in a new direction.

And, there will be times when you will get tangled, knotted, and oxidized (yay chemistry!). Those knots and oxidization will be seen in your slinky because it will not compress as tightly as it once did when it was shiny and brand new.

Just in the four weeks I've been here, I can safely say that I have gone through all of these slinky experiences. I have collaborated with total strangers to do something nice/sweet/cool/amazing, I have met people that I don't share the same views or attitudes, I have fallen but have bounced back in a new direction *cough*chemistry*cough*, and I have been stretched and pulled beyond limits that I didn't think I could go beyond.

With two weeks left, I know that I will miss this place dearly. But like a slinky, I hope a wave will send me back up here in the near future.

GO, SLINKY GO!
Brit

Behold the Power of the 'Stache

For the first time in my life I am growing out my mustache.
Within a week, Osama bin Laden is killed and Twins pitcher Francisco Liriano throws a no-hitter.
You can thank me later.

And now for something completely different.
It's kind of funny trying explain to people why I am enjoying my time up here in Barrow. There is no movie theater, no clubs, no shows, no trees, no grass, and a gallon of milk costs $11 dollars. Sounds miserable, right? The reply that I always give people asking me why I like it here is this: it's not Minnesota.

I know that sounds odd but I think of it this way. I enjoy eating at Chipotle and eat there often. It's been one of my favorite places to eat since I was a kid. But then a new restaurant is opening up and it's serving Greek food. I decide that I'm going to check it out. Does that mean I don't like Chipotle anymore? Of course not. The new place might be good or it might be bad but I just want to find out.

When presented with the opportunity to go to Barrow, I jumped at the bit. Not because I knew it was going to be awesome (which it has) or that I'm trying to run away from Minnesota (Prince lives in Minnesota, come on!) but because I wanted to try something new and have myself an adventure, which is precisely what I have had. None of my previous experiences can compare to what I have seen and done in Barrow. And as I look into my future and start applying for jobs, I am looking for somewhere to bring me an adventure. That might be a school in the heart of Minneapolis or a remote school in Honduras. Whatever happens, I'm up for the challenge.

Hi Ho Silver, AWAY!

Kristian

Twins Win!

Sunshine!

As we may have mentioned before Barrow, Alaska is pretty much on the top of the world. Because of this fact, plus the fact that the earth rotates at a 23.4 degree angle and the time of year, it means that tonight we will have approximately 20 hours and 45 minutes of daylight. This may seem like a cool thing, but it gets tiring. I am having trouble adjusting to the change. My internal clock is telling me that because it is still light out it is okay to be awake... even though it is 1:30 in the morning and I have to be up to teach at 5:45, when it will be bright once again.

The sunshine also is difficult on our students. After the almost 24 hour darkness that the students experience in December the sunshine is a bright and welcome change. This means that they are up "playing out" on their snow machines until 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning every night. I have been working with my second graders on telling time. I asked them to show me on their individual clocks what time they went to bed. The times varied from 8:00 at night until 2:00 in the morning. No wonder some kids come to school looking tired!

The sun has never been a problem for me before. I've gone to bed when it's still been up, and I have seen it rise and set and not gone to bed... but this going to sleep when it is up and getting up again and it is still as bright is getting a little old. I wouldn't mind seeing a little less of the sun... it might help with the whole sleeping thing.

Until Next Time,
Quyanaq (thank you) for reading

Trevor

A 'dece' pic of us on our " Tundra Tour"

A Royal Wedding in the Tundra.

This entry was supposed to be created on Friday, so put on your time machine hats and take a little trip to the past.

As you all know there was an extraordinary awesome amazingly wonderful and fairy tale like wedding this Friday. Thats right Kate Middleton and Prince William got hitched at a little church you might know called Westminster Abbey. I LOVE weddings. I do not care who is getting hitched weddings are just all around wonderful. Its a time for friends, family, and sometimes the world to come together and celebrate the wonderful commitment that two people are making to one another. It is just so presh (short for precious).

This huge wedding made me ask the question how do the peoples of Alaska celebrate weddings. And this is what I found about Inuit wedding customs:

1. In the past marriages were often arranged by the parents.
2. In the past the most successful hunter could take on more than one wife, though this was uncommon.
3. Plumpness was considered a virtue, a sign of wealth and health.
4. Married couples would set up their home with the males parents for some time.
5. Temporary marriages were set up non-kin alliances for hunting and/or warfare alliances.

Those are just some interesting things I found out about the Inuit people and their marriage customs. Check out more cool facts about the Inuit culture here: CLICK ME.

Thanks for reading.
Meredith

P.S. Its almost 24 hour daylight.
We go to bed when the sun is up and we wake up when the sun is up.... very strange.

What a bust!

Deb and Lois arranged a tour of the 'tundra'. We all thought we were going to the point to search for wildlife at last! As the van arrived, a few of us had a bad feeling about this. It is impossible to get to the point via automobile. You have to either snowmachine, ATV it, ski it, walk it (with a gun), or sprinkle pixie dust on yourself in order to fly. The point lies approximately 2.6 miles north from where the road ends.

As we scampered into the van with "moi" as co-pilot, we began our "tour" of Barrow. We drove all over town and stopped at many points for a historical background lesson. We ventured west to the ice road (a temporary road that you must travel at your own risk to Atqasuk) for search of arctic fox. Instead, we saw massive storage bins for fuel, giant satellite dishes (Yay for AT&T..I get better service here than back home!) and the gravel pits. We took a break for lunch at Brower's Cafe, the oldest building in Barrow (built in the 1880s and it still stands). After a delicious meal, it was time for the tundra! We drove by the college and I got this knot-in-the-stomach feeling....we weren't going to the tundra...we're just going as far as you can get to the point. "This is were we are going to see polar bears," said our tour guide. We arrived at the end of the road, jumped out, lifted the binoculars to our eyes and saw...nothing. Nada, well except for a buried snowmachine. If I couldn't see a polar bear, I decided to climb a ginormous snow pile to see if I could see open water. Nope. Instead, I saw two snowmachines returning from the lead. One guy looked at me and waved, so I gladly waved back.

Then, we drove 17 miles south to middle of nowhere in search of wild animals. We saw a snowy owl and that's about it. One time, our tour guide said, "Caribou!" All of us with binoculars were glued to the window, but it was hard to see with our tour guide still driving. He finally stopped. Lois announced, "It's a box." "Here, let me look," said the tour guide. He confirmed it was a box. We went until the road ended and played in the snow. It's funny because on the drive were electrical lines and it finally ended at a gas checkpoint shed. I noticed that all of the electrical poles were numbered and it started at the shed. Many of us had trouble staying awake for the 17 mile drive because it was so bright, we had just eaten, and it was so barren. I tried to count electrical poles, but lost count at 219 as my eyes took a little cat nap.

I can't tell you how many of us were disappointed. All of us had high expectations and were expecting to actually go to the point. We had pretty much seen all of the sights so far on our tour some point beforehand (with the exception of Deb and Lois).

Overall, I'm sure Deb and Lois enjoyed their day. As a future note, never take the tour. Steve and friends from the college do a better job and it's easier on the pockets, if you know what I mean.

None of this tour was worthy of me to actually take pictures for I had seen all of it before. Sorry for being so blunt, but it's the truth. Hopefully some of the other Gusties post some pics.

Happy May Day!
Brit