Hello all,

We are very pleased to announce that the two Jo(h)ns have arrived on top of the world. We were so happy to see some familiar faces in the airport on Saturday evening. Our good friend Steve Culbertson guided John and Jon on an Arctic tour of the city. At dinner, we met Jay, a biologist studying the impact of oil on copepods and fish, specifically cod. Jay was so kind to ask them out on the ice for some scientific research (STAY OFF THE ICE). You are only on the coast of the Arctic Ocean once, right?

Anyway, we are very glad to have the GAC company here.

A lot has been going on. Sam and Jenny went dog sledding, which we will go into further detail the next post. We are experiencing a heat wave...36 degrees! That may sound strange, but it is hot for this area. The ice is melting on the roads and the snow is turning black.

Emily, Carol, and I were invited to the KBRW Radio Station by Hayden, a dorm parent and a DJ for the station. I had my radio debut during this time. Hayden recorded me playing two of my songs the night before and they were played at 3:00 in the afternoon. The songs were "The Pirate Song" and "My Sister's Dream." All three of us said a few things about our experience on air on top of the world. 'Twas really exciting.

Well...I bid ye all farewell. Keep posting. We are glad to read your responses. Stay warm down in the lower 48. It is safe to say that we are adapting to this weather. I was outside in shorts and a fleece yesterday and I was comfortable. Ta-ta.

Tony JoLo :)

School and Food

Hello Everyone!!

An update from Jenny, here. Things have been going great here in Barrow. This last week, I started teaching 3 different Geometry classes. One of them is 9th grade and the other two are 10th grade. In all of the classes I am beginning a unit with Trigonometry and was excited to teach a lesson called "Whaling Trigonometry." Since the Spring Whaling season is underway here, it was a perfect medium for the students to connect with and see the application of trigonometry. Lots of times, trig uses examples about finding the heights of trees or mountains, but they don't have that here! It truly is such a unique place where kids do not necessarily have a grasp of what we might call "normal." Who can imagine living in a world where you never see trees?

This week, they had a traditional Inupiat lunch at the high school for the whaling captains and some teachers. I got to go to it and try all of the traditional foods that they eat here. They served kiniqtaq (sun-dried jerky-like seal meat), maktaaq (beluga skin and blubber), maktak (bowhead skin and blubber), aluutagaaq (caribou with gravy and rice), boiled smelt, frozen raw whale meat, eskimo donuts (fried bread) and aqpik pie (salmon berry jello/whip cream pie). Some things were great, some things okay, and some things I am fine that I live without.


















On Thursday I spent the morning observing in the middle school in a seventh grade classroom. It was so much fun! The teacher I was working with let me help with the lessons and shared lots of good ideas with me. She is retiring after this year, but was eager to pass on all of her math teaching knowledge! I am hoping to get back there again, but we will have to see, since I am teaching more at the high school.

FYI

The cold weather has not bothered me at all here in Barrow. What has bothered me is the DRY!!!ness. In just the past 2 days, I have had 3 bloody noses (including one while I was teaching my first graders about the difference between are, is, and am). My skin is also not liking this dry weather. I put on lotion and chapstick but it doesn't really make a difference. Advice for those who are prone to bloody noses and dry skin: Barrow would not be an ideal vacation spot.

Other than that, we're having a great time! We'll try to update later on how our weekend was!

~Emily

What we've been up to

We're in our third week here in Barrow and in the schools. Most of us started teaching some classes this week so we've been busy planning lessons and getting ready for each day.

This past weekend we spent a lot of time at the high school at a basketball tournament. Tony and Sam played on the high school team and Rachael represented the college. Both teams did really well and made it far, which was great, but it also meant more time away from our beds and our homework. We did have a lot of chances to get to know more of the locals here and it was nice to be involved in something that is so important to the people here. It seems like everyone either plays basketball or has a family member who does! We were even able to watch a lot of our students play basketball. It was fun to see them in a different environment.

We also made an important discovery this weekend: "30 Days of Night" a movie that is supposed to take place in Barrow is nothing like the real Barrow. Whenever we told anyone that we had watched the movie they laughed.

This will be another busy week for us and then on Saturday John Clementson and John Grinell will be joining us. It will be fun to show them around!!

Muktuk and (raw) Tuttu

We had quite an interesting dessert this evening. After supper we were heading back to our rooms and we found our good friend Ruth cutting up some Muktuk. Muktuk is the skin and blubber of a whale. We each tried some and let's just say we won't be in a hurry to try it again any time soon. Once the Muktuk was mostly gone (with very little help from any of us) Ruth got out some raw, frozen Tuttu--caribou. We're told it is especially good dipped in seal oil. Here are some highlights of our special treats:

Emily and Rachael right before trying the Muktuk
Jenny's first ever taste of whale
Sam and Carol: Before and After

Close up of the Muktuk

More on Barrow Life...

Hey friends, family and followers!

Here are 4 links that relate to Barrow what we are doing here. They might help you get a better idea of what we are up to:

(1) This is a link to a National Geographic video on whaling in Barrow. The Spring whaling season is just beginning here. It is vital to the culture and problematic for schooling. Our dorm parent Ruth showed us the full length film, but this is a quick 3 minute version. We recommend the full length if you can get it.
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/inside/3479/Overview#tab-Videos/06298_00

(2) This is the link to the school district we are working in. The North Slope Borough School District serves the entire North Slope of Alaska, including several small, rural villages. Check out the picture below for the villages.
www.nsbsd.org

(3) The place where we sleep and eat and study is Ilisagvik College in Barrow, the one and only tribal college. Take virtual tour, read what we are eating, check for polar bear alerts and more with this link.
www.ilisagvik.cc

(4) Athletics are huge here in Barrow (guess there isn't much else to do). ESPN has an article and video special that they did on the Barrow Whalers football team. Details on the travel and the million dollar stadium that was just built can be found in this article and video.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=tundra

Basketball Madness

Last week, Rachael was asked to join a community league basketball team by the P.E. teacher at the elementary. Rachael played her first game in Barrow, Alaska on Friday night. Her team name is call the Tiipaks which is translated to mean "girly girly." The Tiipaks won their game on Friday night which sent them into the Championship game on Saturday. Rachael soon found out that these Alaskan girls are rough and physical playing basketball. She has several bruises throughout her body (with two bruises on her legs each about the size of a softball). The Championship game was a very exciting game with Rachael playing quite well. In the first half, she had three points, but in the second half she came out ready to score. She was three for three from behind the three point arch (with one being an NBA three). It was really neat how the crowd was cheering for the new girl that no one knew because she was from Minnesota. The Tiipaks ended up winning the Championship by two points and Rachael ended the game with fifteen points!

As the Champions, each player on the Tiipaks team received a t-shirt. A Most Valuable Player (MVP) award was also given to out and Rachael was the recipient of that! For being the MVP, she received a MVP windbreaker jacket. In Barrow, they have weekend basketball tournaments often and it will be exciting to go to another one soon!