September 2, 2006

Today the sun came out so beautiful and bright and within an hour the fog had rolled in and obscured everything. Now it is just overcast. I hope to take a birding hike later this afternoon. Someone told me that a polar bear had been killed near here. Nanook should have stayed farther up north. He wouldn’t have had much chance there either as anytime is hunting season.

We just completed our third week of school. I am enjoying the children and also learning more about how to survive here. Ordering all supplies is not something that I am used to. But I am learning the hoops one mistake at a time. Everything has to be flown in and that takes time. They tell me that nothing liquid can be mailed during the cold months, so I must really plan ahead. There are two large storage tanks for water. They hold about 4 1/2 million gallons of water. That must do the village for the winter as the source will be frozen.

Winter in the Arctic starts early and ends late. We have had frost most mornings and several snow storms; however, the snow did not stick. I guess the lake does not thaw until July so they have about six weeks to get enough water for the entire community to last all winter.

This village has come a long way in the last three years. Prior to that if was honey buckets and no water. I don’t know how that all worked. The timing is right for me. It is now served by a state of the art water and sewage system. Even with these improvements life is very different here and small things become huge. It is not easy to get the supplies you are used to having. I can see why many yards are surrounded by what looks like garbage to an outsider. That old oil drum may become a sled or be needed to hold something. Any piece of material may be needed later. I now save all empty containers, who knows when I may need an extra bowl or waste basket.

I was invited to a locals' for dinner last Sunday night. Lois from the Fairbanks church was here and took me with her. We had an Eskimo dish called Aluttagaaq. It is caribou in a gravy sauce. Actually it was very good. There was also homemade bread, rice and tea. A local airline, Haagland, is bringing me an order from Barrow.

I am having trouble drinking my lattes with powdered milk. There is a store here, but it has very little, and what is does have is very expensive. Example 3# coffee is $16.00. I thought that I needed vinegar but a small bottle was $8.00 so I decided to make due without and mixed my salad dressing with balsamic vinegar that I had brought.