Aurora Borealis

We have seen fluttering traces of the Northern Lights from time to time, but tonight we got our first real look at them in action. Its been bitterly cold here for several days and is -53 right now with a clear sky, perfect conditions for seeing the Aurora Borealis. Our power has been going off and on and the heater is running non-stop to keep our house at probably 60. I was up late reading Harry Potter and happened to check out the window just to see at about 12:45.
It looked like the Northern Lights had descended upon our house. Christina and I went outside and the sight was incredible. The Lights were green and looked the world like a low-hanging fog. I remember seeing them up high in the sky at the U.P. a few years back, but it seemed we were right in the midst of them. The "green fog" came from back over our house and extended to our right and left and in front of us. They were shimmering, too, cascading back and forth in the sky, looking like a snake coiling itself around, or a tornado descending upon our community hall 300 yards away. At times there were even tints of red and orange at the very ends of the lights. A spectacular show. They were waning but had not gone away when my fingers forced me to go inside. Even in jeans, two shirts, a down vest, Carhartt's Goose-lined down overalls, 1000-gram insulated Wolverine boots, and a Cabella's heavy down jacket, with Carhartt gloves, a beanie, a baclava, and a rabbit-fur mad bomber hat, yeah, it was still flippin' cold at -53.
We'd love to post some pictures, but our camera failed to take any shots, so the Aurora Borealis Fantastically Freezing Light Spectacular remains our own private, cherished memory.
Check that off the bucket list.

PFFT!

Ok I lied... the power was back on long enough for me to post the last post... it seems it will stay on now... (2:43am) dang what a night :)

Help help our house is alive!!!

It is late here (1:58 am) but I haven't been able to sleep until 3-4am since Joe got off work for vacation. It is really starting to drive me crazy but that's not the only thing! Let me tell you what else is driving me crazy! For one, our house is alive. Yep that's what I said... ALIVE! Every few seconds the lights dim really low and there is a deep humming noise.... then they are on and then they are dimmed to the dimmest they can go without turning off. And while this is happening our heat does the same thing.... on, almost off, on, almost off so the temp in here is going chilly, chillier, freaking cold! UG! This house needs a good kick in the doopa (butt)! I think it had a little too much of that holiday "spirit" that I'm sure is going around! And then there's this thing called winter... it's crazy! I went into the laundry room that connects our house to the Stathis' house before you go outside and as soon as I walked in I swear my toes went numb! OUCH! I will see just how cold it is when I go out tomorrow. I have to get the mail! It is the only thing that gets me out of the house anymore :( I plan on posting pictures soon (Joe forgot to add pictures to his blog about volleyball and such) and I haven't resized any for th.... and there goes the electricity! HOLY CRAP NO WAY!!!! THIS IS RIDICULOUS! I BET I CAN'T POST THIS NOW! Manuel Manuel HELP HELP! SO THERE ISN'T ANY HEAT, THERE ISN'T ANY ELECTRICITY, THERE ISN'T ANY WATER AND THERE ISN'T ANY INTERNET! oh this life is making the hairs on my head go grey.... but hey if I look as good as my Grandma with grey hair then I say BRING IT ON LIFE!

It is 2:16 now... no manuel and no heat.... the temp is dropping fast! I will post this when the lights come back on or first thin..... YAY! THEY ARE BACK... JUST LIKE THAT... let's pray they stay that way!
It is 2:19!
goodnight.

Volleyball, Christmas, and the Satellite War

Well, the volleyball tournament was a smash success! I took an eager bunch of kids and turned them into Champions! Ok, well, 2nd place out of 7, but it was still a big deal for Venetie (I think they didn't place in the top three last year). There was SO much volleyball! The tourney started on Wednesday and we played 6 games that day alone, best out of three series, then there was the double-elimination the next day. We only went to the third game one time and finished 5-1 on Wednesday and got 2nd place on Thurs as well. For those of you who know how competitive I am, it will come as no surprise that I was incredibly animated on the "sideline," although I think the most stressful parts were being the line-judge. I think I bombed one call that was pretty important, but I felt good when the team I thought I erred against won...
There were about 60 kids all running around John Fredson School during the three day tourney and it was pretty crazy! I was glad to go home during the day and let the chaperones from the other Yukon Flats schools deal with it...my kids were fairly calm, although they would not stop loading up on pop and candy during games. The team had a lot of internal turmoil, that was for sure, but I handled it like any good coach (yelling at them to act like a team)!
Christmas was interesting as well; we were (sob sob) here for the holidays and NOT at Green Lake, but we made the most of it and went to the Christmas play on Christmas Eve. It was fun to watch the kids from school do the play and there was a bit of singing as well before SANTA stopped by (he's practically next door) to hand out gifts to all the kids. Our kids were mildly excited (we're those horrible parents who don't tell their kids that Santa is real) and they got decent presents! There were signs posted all around the village saying that a potlatch would follow the play and THEN the late-night Christ's Mass Eve service, but apparently word got around to the rest of the town (and not us) that this would be switched, so we ended up waiting at the community hall for 2 HOURS since we didn't want to bundle the kids up and go back to church (Baby, it was cold outside). I had to run Macy back to the house 4 times to go to the bathroom, though...we finally ate, went home, watched the Grinch, got up and had Christmas before heading back to the community hall for Breakfast (we were early again...I guess they're serious about "Indian Time") and then had dinner at the community hall that night! There were dances both nights, but were too late for the kids so we've missed out.
Right now its -45 degrees and will be this way for a few days; our heat is running non-stop, and while its probably 65 degrees indoors, there is a lingering cold feeling that has almost a biting feel to it, just to remind you that, holy crap, its cold enough to kill you outside...I was outside for a bit shoveling snow to help Manuel get at our propane tank for the gas stove and my hands about froze off from INSIDE my Carhartt gloves.
Speaking of freezing my hands, I've been participating in an ongoing war with our satellite dish that will probably never work, and the last time I was working on it, I made the mistake of taking off my gloves to get at a bolt; its hard as hell to screw a bolt off without feeling it, but holy crap it felt like I was putting my hand on a burning hot stove; I had a blister for a week!
Last thought, our staff Christmas party was an interesting clash of cultures (we have Gwich'in Athabascan, Hindu, German-raised half American-Indian half German and adopted, American Midwest, Southern (I guess we are), and New Yorkerian); I made the mistake of putting away the food after everyone was done (Mom's fault!), forgetting that the Venetie locals always take a full plate home from a potlatch (Christina made me get it back out). Our "Dirty Santa" gift exchange stealing game was a hoot and a holler (Southern Yankee talk) and I ended up with "The Dirty Dozen" on DVD!
One more week of vacation for me, this is probably the longest I've had in a long, long time (17 days!) Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

The things I'm thankful for...

I am sitting here with the kids (who should be sleeping) drinking a pop (A Mt. Dew to be exact) and thanking God I got one before they were gone. Your probably wondering what the heck I am talking about so let me explain. I love pop but drink it in moderation (especially Mt. Dew because the brominated vegetable oil in it is like pouring poison over your brain!) and at times I crave the taste and the caffeine as anyone else would. But that anyone else would just open the fridge and get one, drive to the nearest gas station, or go to their favorite restaurant and drink one with dinner. I can not. So when I am in the mood for this "drink o death" I wait until the kids are down for a nap bundle up and trek up to the Native Store where generally there is a good stock of pop but not lately. Lately there hasn't been a thing in that store. There is the $7 bag of chips, the $13 frozen pizza, and the cans of odd flavored meat that have been on the shelf for months or even years but there hasn't been any pop. This has been going on for well over a week (I think closer to 2 weeks) and everyday I make the journey only to be disappointed in the end. But not today! Today there was Mt. Dew and Sunkist (also with brominated vegetable oil) and only a few boxes. So I grabbed one as quick as I could get my gloves off (thanks for the gloves pops!) and felt as if I had won the lottery! YES! So as I drink my pop I think about how wonderful it is that I got one before they were gone (they will be by the end of the day!) and how thankful I am for the things we generally take for granted. If fact I think I will list some:
-POP
-running water (most people here don't have it... the post master was talking to the chief today about there only being 3 washing machines in the washeteria)
-a mostly heated home
-frozen dinners... man I miss those!
-my hands and arms...(even though one is better than the other) I can not imagine trying to knead dough for bread (I make it when we are out of the sliced stuff) with only one arm or one hand
-my feet (even though one is by far better than the other)... how would I get around here? I wouldn't be able to get that ol' wheel chair through this stuff
-my health... although I have had my scares I am pretty healthy and good thing because sometimes (most times) there is no one in the clinic
-my family... I miss EVERYONE terribly! My family has taught me a lot and I am especially grateful to all the crafty ones who taught me what I should do when stuck in doors and I am thankful to the others that taught me how to smile through the rough times... we need those laughs and smiles now more than ever. THANK YOU!
-board games and wii
-The United States Postal Service! I do not know what I would do without that walk to the post office each weekday. It is such a wonderful thing to get mail from family and friends too. (one of the highlights of my day!... that's sad) :)
-my husband... just for being who he is and for doing all the things he does for this family. I can't imagine the burdens he carries at times being the head of this household.
-God and his son Jesus. Those were obvious ones. They = heaven! I would be lost without him. And he is the one who got us here where we are today and the only reason I am writing this.
-sunlight! When that big round sun comes back I am throwing a party!
-crayons... those little things can entertain cranky kids for HOURS! I can't even do that! ;)

I am sure there is more but I have a ton to do still today. I have just found out that I am for sure taking the school pictures.... TOMORROW! So nice of them to let me know in advance. Oh well it should be fun and besides it is a paying job and those are always nice especially during the holidays!
AND I have to finish up a few wash clothes I knitted and sold on etsy! (If you are reading this THANK YOU!)
We miss everyone terribly and wish we were coming home for the holidays but it just won't happen this year. So sad. But as I sad before I was taught that there is good in all things that seem bad I just have to look for it... I am really looking forward to more of these Jigs... the last one was pretty amazing. And there is a Christmas show at the school tomorrow which will be exciting. And who can forget the kids?! Being able to teach our children the most important thing they will ever learn (the story of Jesus Christ) will never cease to make me proud... and hey opening presents on Christmas morning isn't all that bad either!
;)
Merry Christmas everyone!

The pictures are of Joe and the kids being goofy and the last one is a picture I took of my house of the way back from the post office... I didn't adjust the dark color because I wanted you to see how bright it gets. It was a cloudy day so it does get a bit brighter but not much.

Yep so we're up again!

It is 7:30 as I am starting to write this and an hour ago I woke up shivering and tried to ignore it but wouldn't you know I had to pee (I think God knew this was the ONLY thing that was going to get me out of bed in that cold)! I got out of bed and a pain shot through me and woke me completely! OH MY IT"S C-C-C-COOOOLD!!! I know some of you are thinking well isn't it always cold in Alaska? And the answer is yes it is cold OUTSIDE but I am INSIDE and I should be WARM. Sorry I'm yelling again... I hope I didn't frighten you! LOL!!! Anyway I made Joe get up and check it and he did the same thing men ALWAYS DO and tinkered with it like he was going to fix it or that it would fix itself so he didn't have to call and ask for help! And finally he called Tim and Tim I think did the same thing and FINALLY called Manuel who should have been called in the first place and he has come to fix it (I think)... Next time I will wake no one up and call Manuel myself. So we are all sitting in the kitchen with the stove on and open trying to get warm and we are all wearing our winter (down) jackets and hats! It is quite a funny site but not a funny feeling. The temp inside was in the 50's and it is -40 outside.... if we don't get this fixed soon the temp will keep dropping and soon it will be an icy wonderland in here like it was in the post office the other day! I swear it was colder inside than outside there! So I will add this to the list of memories and experiences but I do wish this list would stop getting sooooo long sooooo fast! ;)
Good morning to you all and I hope you all have a fantastically warm day!

WAHOOOW WAHOOOW!!!!!!

So it's 6am here and I"M UP! Sorry for yelling but dang someone has to tell the town alarm to shut-up! I'm serious I woke up to this...
wahoooow wahoooow wahoooow wahoooow wahoooow wahoooow wahoooow wahoooow wahoooow wahoooow wahoooow
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggggg
wahoooow wahoooow wahoooow wahoooow wahoooow wahoooow wahoooow wahoooow wahoooow wahoooow wahoooow
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggggggg...

And that was only 2 lines of wailing and ringing at the same time. If that annoyed you come here for 30 seconds! I have been up since 5:50ish and it is 6:20 now... someone shut it off! What does it mean? Is there a fire? Is there a madman on the loose? A killer? Is there a tornado (like in Tn)? The wind is blowing harder than it ever has (since we've been here). Is that why? What the heck is going on?!!!! It would be nice if someone had told us these things before we woke up early one morning scared, bewildered, and pissed. I finally convinced Joe to call Tim (our neighbor, friend, and the schools principal) and see if the school had an alarm and why it would be going off?! Tim called Manuel (who knows everything) and said he thinks it's coming from the pump house. Ok now someone tell me what that means!! Should we not be using our water? Can it be turned off? It's still going off! And now my husband is bundling up to go to the school with Tim to see if it might be the schools alarm after all because I'll tell you unless the pump house is right next to the school it's coming from that direction and there isn't anything over there! Crap. Joe take your gun just in case!!! I'll keep you posted...

Joe hasn't even left... Tim was too fast. It's not the school it's coming from the washeteria (where everyone gets their water and takes their showers and such). Great! Ug! TURN IT OFF! I'm going to try to ignore it and get some sleep.

Here Comes the Sun...

Ok, no, there goes the sun. A glimmer around 9, a "sunrise" around 10, 10:30, breaks the surface clear for a few minutes and heads back down. I can easily say I'm in school working from before the sun goes up until after it comes back down. And I miss that big orange ball. I never thought I was that crazy about the sun, rather liked the dark, but (going deep here) the dark doesn't mean much when there isn't any light. I'm not all into that yin/yang stuff, but I'd appreciate the dark quite a bit more if it wasn't so... prevalent. I'm downing Vitamin D, but I literally am feeling physically sick because of the lack of sun; like the feeling after you just spent an entire day inside playing video games, drinking a 12-pack of Pepsi and throwing candy wrappers on the floor, that feeling, constantly.
Of course, I am a spoiled American, as I've come to find out. I get pissed if I can't have my whole milk (screw that dry crap), run out of juice, can't take a shower because the water is too hot (yep, too hot, not cold)...I sat and read all sorts of sad stories of how kids live all around the world in garbage dumps and infested with diseases and pulled into gang life, yet I can't seem to let go of all the simple things that God has blessed America with. Well, this "adventure" has certainly made me grateful for all of those things, something that is impossible to do unless those things are taken away. I wonder what sort of eye-opener living in a Peruvian village would be...probably an adventure I wouldn't be willing to take. I used to fault America for basically being rich while the rest of the world is poor...I wonder if the greater fault is that it's so natural to us we can't help it but to take it for granted; instead, we trample people to death to get things, and not even things we need, not even things we can't afford. The "rich" wouldn't harm us as much if we were humble and grateful for it.
Life was starting to slip into a bit of a monotony, but the nice thing here is that there is always something to break the monotony. The volleyball tournament begins tomorrow (I am the coach), and I'm excited to see how my team will do. The Venetie Wolfpack came a long way in just one month, learning how to come together as a team, and I'm excited for the kids to have an opportunity to have some fun on the court (and win!). I've had a blast teaching them, and have turned into a decent volleyball player myself (never touched the stuff before)! I'd rather be playing basketball, though...
This is an adventure, and something I knew, having read many adventures stories, is that the adventure is always coupled hand-in-hand with simultaneous good/bad pairs; its the constant up and down extremes, the beauty of seeing the golden sun break over an absolutely white earth, seeing trees that are actually white (I always wondered why they made fake white trees, now I've actually seen real trees that are 100% white b/c of the snow and ice), feeling the cold of -30 degrees which, in itself, is an amazing thing, knowing you are living somewhere where human beings have no business living, that coupled with missing the sun, being "trapped" inside by the bitter cold, not having quick access to Juicy Juice Fruit Punch (don't laugh unless you've been there) along with missing other things...Adventure is something that's fully appreciated afterwards, or by people who didn't have to go through the suffering or the loss or the trials. But it changes the people on the adventure, and perhaps I'll feel the changes for the better when this adventure ends. And the adventure is always, always better than staying at home, its always better to experience brand new things and see sights that you never would have gotten to see from your front porch; and, I think, adventure is best, especially when it leads back home in the end.