Wednesday in Kwethluk

Colorful homes in Kwethluk

We woke up at 7:50 A.M and had cereal for breakfast.  It was a nice change from the grits even. We started our school day with a visit to the 6th grade class and we played math game. 

Our first field trip of the day was to visit the washeteria.  We learned how most people in Kwethluk do not have running water so they have to go to the washeteria to do laundry and shower.  The washeteria is also like a community meeting hall.  There are important announcements posted all over the walls and when the people come to do their laundry they can get caught up on the local happenings.  

Vasila's steamhouse

Next we visited Vasila's house so we could see a steam house and a honeybucket.  Most people in Kwethluk prefer to steam rather than shower because they feel they can get cleaner.  They build a fire in the steam room and sit in it for an hour or so and scrub themselves clean.  Sometimes they heat the room up to 200 degrees!  It must feel good on a night when the temperatures are fifty below.  The honey bucket was really just a bucket with a toilet seat on top.  They dump it at the dump when it is full.  Many of the newer houses in Kwethluk have a toilet and a shower ready to go, now they are just waiting for the water pipe construction project to finish.  It has been years in the making and everyone is excited to see it completed.

Dorothy shows off her Yupik fish net.

Kristen is learning how to make a mosquito.

Jillian quickly learned how to tell Yupik string stories.

We returned to the school for Yupik language class with Dorothy.  She was teaching the class about Yupik string stories, which we call Cat's Cradle back at home.  You use a loop of string and make different shapes or symbols and use the shape to tell a story.  We learned how to make mosquitos and fishing nets.  If you make a good fishing net then you will have a good day fishing.  There are some taboos around the string stories, like you can't make them outside or else the weather will turn cold.  We want the kids back in Juneau to learn from the Kwethluk kids about the string stories when they come visit.

Kristen getting "booked" at the police station.

We were all apprehended at the Kwethluk police station.

In the afternoon William, one of the Kwethluk ambassadors, and our group went down to the police station. The building was name after Max Olick, who is the village police safety officer. He told us lot about history of Kwethluk safety and the police station. He also told us that Kwethluk is dry place. People can not sell, buy or drink alcohol. 

Personal Yupik dance lessons after school.

William is a only 12, but he is already a talented drummer.

After visiting, William and Andrew came with us to do the Yupik drumming and dancing. We had our own private dance and drumming lesson!  You can tell the Kwethluk kids are really proud of their dancing heritage.  No one danced in Kwethluk for many years because they Russian Orthodox church forbid the dancing.  It has only seen a revival in the last three years and now everyone, from kindergardeners to the elders are taking the time to learn the dances. 

Kyong is hiding in that helmet.  She and Mary are getting ready for the snow machine ride to Birch Hill.

Juneau kids and Kwethluk kids having fun on the sledding hill.

Zeke showing how tough Juneau kids can be.

We had a sledding trip planned in the afternoon for us and the RURE kids but by the time we got organized at least 20 other kids from all the other grades had joined us.  It seems like everyone does everything together.  Kwethluk is a very close community.  We took five snow machines and sleds to Birch Hill which is about 15 minutes from town.  It is a very tall and steep hill. I think it is taller then Porcupine Hill at Eaglecrest. Everyone had tons of fun. I think Zeke had the most fun because he was riding the sled like snowboard. He fell about ten times but just bounced back up like he was made of rubber.  Everyone was laughing hysterically. 

Rabbit for dinner.

We had a really nice dinner at Kristen's house with all of the Kwethluk RURE kids. We ate rabbit meat that another teacher had caught in his trap line. It tasted like steak! Franklin asked to keep the hide because he wants to make slippers out of it for his baby sister. We played Apples to Apples again, our favorite game here.  Curfew is at 9pm here and you can't be under 18 and wandering around the village so teacher Kristen gave us a ride on a snow machine back to school. I will never get tired of riding in a snow machine. We had tiring and busy day today. I hope tomorrow is as fun as today.

Write more soon,

-Kyong-