Cultural Heritage Week

Every year we have a cultural heritage week here in Kongiganak. This is a time when students can spend the week working on various cultural projects. Elders come in and work with each group to teach the students. Last year we held it in the spring and this year in the fall so the students get a variety of cultural experiences. Students work on projects in the school or are excused to go hunting/fishing/camping etc. It's an awesome experience and I hope you enjoy all the pictures :)

Working with tools

Blackfish Net Boys

Beading

They even made a sled!

More nets!

I think he was stuck in the net???

Working on her mittens...

One of the girls with her hat-- almost finished!

ESKIMO DANCING!

We had visitors from Tununak come to dance. Winnie, the elder on the left, was in my group and taught me how to make a hat. She was so sweet!

Slippers!

Ice Picks! The men go out and chip ice off of lakes and use that for fresh water in the winter.

Fur Mittens

Older boys made black fish nets. Later in the week they went by boat to set the nets/traps and hours later checked and had caught lots of fish!

Younger boys made wooden boats

Older girls made mittens

Girls sewed purses and sewing kits to take home.

Girls used beads to make bracelets, necklaces and earings.

Older girls made Headdresses for their Eskimo Dancing.


Older boys made knives... even Mr. Wright! He doesn't mess around! (can you imagine this in the Lower 48?!?!?!)

Happy Halloween!

Moose dressed up as Indiana Jones for Halloween this year. I'll try to post better pictures of this later but here is one :) He loves to dress up!

Tommy Phillip NYO Meet + other pics

In Mid-October we had the 2nd annual Tommy Phillip Native Youth Olymics Meet here in Kong.

Tommy Phillip is the elder in the middle of this picture. He is very well known throughout the state of Alaska for his NYO skills and still holds records from what I understand. He teaches Yup'ik classes to the younger kids here and coaches NYO. If you ever fly into Kong he is also the Grant agent and greets you at the airport with a big smile every time.

Below is the Indian Stick Pull event. This even tests grasp... two people pull on a stick covered in crisco/grease.

A few of our girls participated in the Seal Hop. The boys have to hop on their knuckles but the girls' hands can be flat on the ground.

This is one of our boys doing the Wrist Carry event. They literally hold onto the bar with theirs wrists and are timed for how long they can stay in the air while being carried around the gym.

If you want more info on other NYO events check out this link...
http://www.anchorage.net/764.cfm

Now I just have a random assortment of other pictures I never blogged about earlier...
Moose can be cute and calm sometimes...

Moose and midnight are BFFs.

In September we had a Salmonberry festival in Kong. They held kayak races across the lake which is between the housing and the new school. It was a beautiful fun filled day.

Moose soaks up all of the love an attention he can get... as you can see, the kids gladly share their love :)

Home Sweet Home

THIS IS OUR HOME (and our 4 wheeler!)!!!

This is the 'new teacher housing' area. There are 3 buildings. Each building has 2 'homes' inside. Each home has 3 bedrooms.

Below is the view we have walking out the front door... NOT the greatest but I'm ok with it :) It's a view of the back of the school.

SO I realize the outside may seem like nothing special... BUT it is GREAT here!
When you walk into the house there is a storage/coat room- very convenient! I forgot to take pictures of the 'arctic entry' BUT it's basically a big wooden room with dog kennels and stand up freezers.

Here are some pictures I took of the living room, dining room and kitchen at different angles just to show it off :) As you can see, the doggies have a lot of space and everyone is happy!


can't you see how happy they are?!



My new room! I have 2 twin beds which I pushed together to make into a King Size bed and of course I had to buy new bedding for a new house! There is even a closet... with doors in my room! It's simply amazing :)



Can you believe that in bush Alaska, we have our own washer and dryer?!

(I decided not to take pictures of Rachel's room... she MAY not appreciate that so I guess if you really want the rest of the tour you need to come check it out yourself) :)

The bathroom has a flush toilet. Enough said.


Over the summer I found a table cloth at Cabit Design which I purchased for the house. (You all should check out Cabit Design-- it's got some pretty sweet stuff!) The kitchen table it probably visually my favorite part of the house. Rachel's salt and pepper shakers matched the tablecloth perfectly!

I absolutely LOVE our kitchen. We have a lot of cabinets and counter space and we EVEN have a dishwasher! Unbelievable!


We even have a spare bedroom in this house which means we are dying to have company! The spare bedroom is also known as the workout room where we have a bike and an ab rocket. HOPEFULLY those get put to use this year. Doesn't Moose look so happy in this picture?!

Below is the view looking out of our kitchen window. TUNDRA! Endless tundra as well as the boardwalk to the tower.