christmas in july

so, we havent actually celebrated christmas in july yet, but the weather sure feels like december. the temps have been averaging in the 40/50s with windchills bringing it down to the 30s. i mean, that's what i think of when i think of july. never fear, i will return to the east coast heat waves in 3 short weeks. i cannot believe that it has been a year- until i hear peter twitchell on radio saying that "fall is coming"

in the meantime, nancy and ken came to visit. fresh from the vegas strip, where they did not gamble a single cent- but did go to the liberace museum. and on their way to san francisco and napa valley. bethel was definitely the dirtiest (as noted by ken), coldest (as noted by nancy) and most culturally rich (as noted by myself). we did the bethel museum circuit- including the catholic church, the library, and the staircases of the hospital administrative building. yup. that's right. where do we keep all of our art? in the staircases- right next to the dental clinic. duh. if that wasnt enough excitement for them- they took part in the bethel 4th of july parade- hopping on the "peace train" float- which, unfortunately, did not win any awards- but, i think, was a crowd favorite. we spent the rest of the day at the town carnival featuring lots of food, music, softball, and grease poll- basically a telephone pole covered in crisco- people pay for a chance to climb up it and reach the $100 on top of the pole. nancy won! .....nope. just a hop, skip, and bird watching tour later- they were off to anchorage and then on to the city by the bay (not the chesapeake). proof that they visited can be found in the background of these photos.




good to have them visit and feels good to be going home in a short while. recently life has been a series of goodbyes, before a round of hellos, with many of our friends leaving town- graduate school, new jobs, or end/beginning of jesuit volunteer years. bridget just left on thursday- but she is moving to dc- so i will make an east coaster out of her yet. packing and throwing a lot of stuff away- and getting ready to head east. philadelphia here i come (back).

the moose, the myth, the legend

common misconceptions or things that i have in fact, not done while living in alaska- not to say that they will not occur in the remaining month and a half:

-live in an igloo: we do not in fact live in a igloo. however, we have stayed in one while housesitting. our neighbors, dorothy and james, have an igloo shaped house- excellent for effective heating- but it's made of wood & insulation- not ice & snow
-have a polar bear or moose for a pet: while both are great, we are not far enough north to enjoy the newest endangered species and moose are far more prolific in anchorage (where we have actually seen moose)
-been to russia: even though bethel is closer to russia than it is to anchorage, it is shockingly difficult to get there- well, it's hard to get there when you have no money, and no boat. and no, you do not need a passport to get into alaska. it's a state. and not even the most recent one. what's up with you, hawaii?
-eaten alaskan king crab: in the land of the deadliest catch, i have actually never seen alaskan crab while in alaska. shocking. refer to early post about complete inability to have my favorite crustacean, even on maryland day. blasphemy.

in contrast, we have been able to do some great things- some of which i have been able to blog about on these hallowed (web)pages. we just finished up with our last retreat with jvc on the kenai peninsula outside the town of seward. 4 days of camping by a lake, good food, and good friends. below a picture with all of the alaska jvs from 07-08 and our area director, sarah, with houses in bethel, anchorage, juneau & sitka.



and another performance of the band with no name in our qaspeqs (traditional yup'ik wear). our admin assistant, lucy, gave me mine that she made in secret during our cultural week.

local flavor

during my last meal in philadelphia (breakfast at delancy street), lauren said to me- why are you eating salmon (referring to my lox) that's all you're going to be eating for the next year! no way, i said, there will be lots of food. well, i was partially wrong- we eat A LOT of salmon- but we're spoiled because it is literally the freshest food ive ever ate- taking it out of the river and having it for dinner that night. oh the joys of subsistence living. after attending russian orthodox service this weekend bridget, chelsea, jesse & i were invited to a feast for first catch. first catch is when a child shoots their first wild animal-traditionally, they have a feast to give all of it away- the family has a feast to celebrate- this feast celebrated two of their kids- one that got a moose in the fall and their younger son that shot his first ptarmigan. as we were eating a spread of entirely native foods (with the exception of jello)i was thinking about all of the "interesting" foods that we've had a chance to enjoy this year...including but not limited to (in alphabetical order):

-akutaq aka eskimo ice cream (crisco, sugar, berries- mix 'em up)
-akutaq II (made with pike eggs instead of crisco)
-ayuq (tundra tea- made with incense like plants from the tundra)
-beaver
-berries picked right from the tundra
-caribou
-dried pike dipped in seal oil
-duck
-fish skins
-fish eggs
-moose
-ptarmigan
-salmon (cooked about a million different ways)
-salmon strips (like, salmon beef jerky)
-seal fat- that hangs out in the seal oil- eaten like you take a tequila shot- lick salt on your hand and down the hatch- but make sure you have a chaser...)
-seal oil
-seal soup
-smelts (small fish- they come before the kings start running)
-stink heads (take a salmon head, bury it in the ground for a few weeks, dig it up, chew & swallow)
-walrus
-whale
-wild goose eggs

going to the grocery store will probably be more of a shock to my system than any of these foods...nancy says that she's going to eat before she comes to visit. where is her sense of adventure??

hanging smelts to dry with our neighbor, martha:

break up to make up

spring has arrived on the kuskokwim- after a particularly long and brutal winter- the river finally broke several weeks ago. the much anticipated event is cause for a pool- and a celebration. the ice classic refers to pool created- everyone in town is eligible to buy tickets to bet on the date and exact time that the river will break. to determine the actual break- a large tripod with a string attached to a clock is put in the middle of the frozen river. when the ice breaks and shifts enough- the string pulls and stops the clock- spring arrives, ceremoniously- with the "break up bash." the ice chunks and flows out to the sea- makes for some awesome sounds and views.



enter the jvs, a flat bed truck, and hundreds of hot dogs. when not slinging dogs & defrosting frozen hot dog buns- we jvs take the stage for our first ever performance- outside of our living room. with the cheerleading of glacial erratics alum martha scott-stey, our adoring fans aka friends, we performed a short set of wagon wheel, boil them cabbage down, and yukon women. well received.



a close up:



our neighbors, josie & martha arrived too late to the bash to get their free hot dog- so we had them over to our house for break up bash part deux- with free hot dogs and i had a chance to hang out with my 3 year old boyfriend, christian.

masquerading

yesterday, my boss said "i need a picture of you." i said "ok, no problem." she countered "i need a picture of you in normal clothes- no costumes." i said "ok, we need to take one then." recently krissy commented that "all you need to do to get sarah to dance is put her in a costume and give her a blow up parrot" (that comment will make sense shortly) also, when talking to adrienne about people thinking that i "dress up a lot" she said- "they probably mean because you love to wear costumes" wow, three statements like that in a short period of time made me think- do i love costumes too much? i blame theme parties & alpha gamma delta for my dedication to costuming. nevertheless, i do masquerade quite often in a variety of attires. the proof is in the pudding- or at least in my iphoto library. i should mention that i have never purchased a part of any of these costumes, i credit my success to an eclectic wardrobe and an excellent rummage inventory at my disposal.
nerd day @ BABS...


as the devil, give me a break, it was halloween...


as tundra women, complete with honey bucket at our fall jvc retreat in anchorage:


gilligan & the skipper during our "3-hour tour" tri-birthday celebration


no explanation, except, it was our friend oz's birthday, and no one felt like wearing real clothes to his birthday party. it inspired krissy's above quote...


wearing our winter coats & wigs was a favorite past time- until it actually got cold...


as a snowboarder during sports day...


red, white & blue day, nothing new...

manly deeds, womanly words

march 25th is a big day. well, it's a big day if you live in maryland. well, it's a big day if you live in maryland and your mom teaches state history to 9 year olds and impresses upon you the importance of maryland day. obviously, i fit in the above category, thanks to nancy. so, when my day to cook fell on the blessed day of maryland heritage, i knew just what to do. celebrate the calverts, the ripkens, frederick douglass and thurgood marshall.



i made crab soup- recipe & old bay care of ken jones. a small snag in the plan however, when i went to buy crab at the grocery store. i mean, living in alaska- the land of king crabs & the deadliest catch- you would assume that crab meat is always readily available. not so as i came to find out- so we had to settle for imitation crab. so it wasnt perfect- but anything other than md blue crab is just not going to be the same anyways.



so, i decorated the house- well, the kitchen- in full maryland regalia....



without maryland day, how would my midwestern roommates know that maryland is the wealthiest state per capita? just eclipsing new jersey in august of '07. or that the old line state is the size of belgium. thank goodness for google...


bridget was dressed in maryland colors and she didnt even know it

luck of the irish

ive been waiting for inspiration to strike- a great idea about the next exciting edition of the hype....nothing has come...except for a holiday.


i finally got kaela to go in the boat with me

if you, like we do, pay attention attention to hard hitting news from ireland or vatican city- you would know that ireland petitioned the vatican to move the feast day of st. patrick to saturday, march 15th so the holiday would not occur during holy week. chelsea, who lived in ireland for a year told us that they also petitioned one year so st. patty's wouldnt be on good friday- because everyone wanted to eat corned beef.


chelsea & jesse preparing some of the food

i mean, who doesnt love corned beef? even our house of "selective meat eaters" and vegetarians aren't immune to the lure of a good piece of cured meat. and cured it was. about two weeks ago, kaela and jesse decided that wanted to make corned beef, from scratch, for st. patrick's day. they looked up a recipe- and wow- it takes 2 weeks to make corned beef. with a strict timeline they set out for two weeks of brine making, meat massaging, and crock pot preparing.



kaela under our house in one of our summer "adirondak" chairs made from pallets


robin geshcke, mary & matt gulling, and nanc and ken supplied us with some great green decorations and celtic jams and we were all set for a great celebration of our heritage- well 4 out of 6 of us were ready to celebrate our heritage. krissy maintained staunch support of her polish pride by reading the paper as we prepared rye bread, shepard's pie, and corned beef & cabbage.



my friend arrow, in the holiday spirit

when the day was done- it was declared a success. so much so, that i forgot to wear green on the actual st. patrick's day on monday and was pinched by teenagers all day.


chelsea had the best costume