Saturday in Kwethluk

Modeling our kuspuks with Cindy, one of the wonderful women that helped us.

Today is our last full day in Kwethluk:( We slept in till about 10 am and then ate a GIGANTIC brunch consisting of pancakes, sausage, cinnamon rolls and orange juice fresh from powder. Oh YUM!!!

We all had some last minute school work for our classes back in Juneau so we worked on math, L.A, and social studies. Kristin was done with her homework so she worked on putting together our Area of Exploration videos.  We choose to do Yupik dance, Ice Fishing and Water and Sewer.  We all learned a ton about each area and everyone we interviewed about the areas was super nice.  Cindy and Mrs. Hinkey stopped by and helped us with the finishing touches on our kuspuks.  We could never have done them without their help.  They all look great and we are excited to wear them for kuspuk Wednesday in Juneau.

The basketball tournament that started on Friday night was continuing all day today.  I played in the games and represented Juneau while my fellow companions finished up on their homework.  My team of 6th graders lost every game we played but it was to raise money for the school so it was still worth it to play in three games.

Kyong and Amber at Birch Hill.

Kyong and Kristen in the back of the sled.

Transportation to the sliding hill.

Ms. G brought her cross country skis.

Juneau and Kwethluk hanging out with our new snow buddy.

After my last game it was time to go sledding.  We made it to Birch Hill on a snow machine that was pulled 5 of us in a hard, wooden sled.  My butt still hurts from all the bumps from the sleds. The snow was much faster and felt icier today.  Franklin and I had some huge crashes.  It was fun to hang out with the Kwethluk kids outside.

Very few trees grow out here.

The sparse tundra.

Ptarmigan hunting from the back of a snow machine.

When we were done sledding Frankllin, Ms. G and I tagged along with the ptarmigan hunters. The surroundings were amazing with the sun shining brightly on the snow.  We snow machined out onto the tundra and looked for the birds in the brown patches of melting snow, or along sloughs with alder trees.  You could snow machine right up to the ptarmigan and shoot them.  Then you drive right up to them and pick them up and through them in your sled.  You never even had to get off of the snow machine.  One person shot 10 birds and another person shot 5 birds.  They wanted to keep going but we had already been out for three hours and when the sun goes down it gets really cold.  It was the best way to spend our last night in Kwethluk. When we were heading back to town Franklin and his driver's snow machine flipped over and landed on them.  They were both fine because the soft snow cushioned the fall but it was scary to watch.  They were quickly able to flip the snow machine back up and get going again.

When we got to the school the student/mentor party had already started.  The students who brought a mentor to school that week, like someone who has a job they are interested in or an elder, could come to the party.  It was from 6 to midnight and there was pizza, Pepsi and ice cream sundaes.  You could play Just Dance 3 on the xbox 360, and play basketball or volleyball.  There was also some Yupik dancing with electric guitar.  A bunch of us end up watching Glee until it was time for bed.  It was a super fun night hanging out with all of the friends we made over the week.

last log from Zeke byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!