Flat Stanley's Final Adventures

Flat Stanley had to return to his home in North Ogden, Utah. He enjoyed a Priority trip via the USPS. (Hey Post Office! Thanks for getting him there safely!) In his honor, I thought we would do a showcase of Flat Stanley's final adventures in Shishmaref.





FS made lots of new friends. Some of his friends were even cute girls! Wahoo!!!





One of FS's new friends even shared a candy bar with him! (Don't worry, no germs were spread.)





FS made cinnamon rolls. He was a little disappointed that he didn't get to learn how to butcher seals or walrus, but the school was having a little water shortage problem. No water = no way to clean up marine mammal guts = gross.





The older girls gave FS a lesson on scissor safety and let him help make kuspuks (traditional Inupiaq shirts). FS was going to make his own, but he didn't like the flowery material.





There was more sewing action in the elementary wing.





FS couldn't thread his own needle, but his stitches were nice and even.





FS was super excited when we let him paint. I guess he doesn't get to do that very often at home.





His finished product turned out pretty good. Way to go FS! (You'll notice he labeled the paper underneath his lantern so he could tell it apart from all the other ones.





FS even got to help the eighth graders make cotton candy for a fundraiser. That could have been a drag, but he got to eat some of the extra cotton candy, so it was all good.





FS watched some kids coloring Tlingit headbands.





The kids were especially cute and friendly.





They invited him to join in, and he got to show off his mad skills with a red crayon.





The finished products turned out pretty good.





This is FS with Peggy. Peggy came to Shishmaref from Fairbanks to teach art for Inupiaq Days.





FS took advantage of Peggy's expertise by creating a Zen Tangle under her direction.





FS also learned what happens when you have high cholesterol. Your blood is supposed to flow through your arteries like the tube on the left, but if you have high cholesterol your little blood beads get blocked like the tube on the right. Very sad.





I heart Flat Stanley.





Thanks for staying with us.

Fun Fact: Ice Fishing Hooks

Ice fishing is a popular past time and subsistence activity in Shishmaref during the winter.

Note to readers: I've never actually gone ice fishing in Shishmaref. I've only, so this post might lack the usual VFN expertise. My apologies.

Other note to readers: This picture was taken decades ago in Shishmaref. I got it from our librarian Bill Nayokpuk.

You will notice that the "fishing rod" is a small piece of wood. That piece of wood is usually referred to as an ice fishing hook, even though a hook is only a small part of the apparatus.





My kiddos got to make ice fishing hooks during Inupiaq Days, and Flat Stanley joined in on the fun. They started by using a file to make an indentation down the length of the wood. FS did a great job filing, even though the file was as tall as him.






I got to give the filing a shot too. My kids totally cracked up. Let's just say it's harder than it looks. Hence the look of extreme concentration.






The next step is to sand the wood so that it's nice and smooth. FS got to master the use of sandpaper and, uh, the clampy things.





Once the wood is smooth, you have to drill a hole to tie the fishing line through.




My high school boys made sure FS was instructed on proper use of the drill. Power tools can be fun!

FS wasn't able to take his finished hook fishing, but he can rest assured that his efforts helped secure a yummy dinner for somebody.

Note to readers: one more Flat Stanley post coming up (in time for the due date). Stay tuned!

Fun Fact: The Inupiaq Alphabet

In the early seventies, linguists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks partnered with local experts to create a standardized written version of the Inupiaq language. Shishmaref is extremely lucky to have one of the local experts in our village. John Sinnok was instrumental in creating the written version of Inupiaq and preserving our local dialect. He taught a basic Inupiaq Writing class during Inupiaq Days, and Flat Stanley and I attended.

The Inupiaq Alphabet has 23 letters. Some you probably recognize. Some you probably don't. (Wow, that was profound. Get ready for the Pulitzer nomination...)




This is the "belted l." You begin pronouncing it like you would a regular English "l," but then you make a sound kind of like you're clearing your throat.

(Note to readers: Stay with me. The descriptions will get better from here on out. I promise.)



This is the dotted g. It's pronounced kind of like the belted l. You begin pronouncing it like an English g and end with a sound like you're clearing your throat.

(Note to readers: Just kidding about the improved descriptions thing...)





This is the "n" with a tail. It is pronounced like the "ng" in "song."

Fun facts about Inupiaq consonants:

-you will never have three consonants together in an Inupiaq word

-the letter "v" makes a "b" sound if it precedes the letters "l" or "z"

-zr together sounds like "sh"

-the Shishmaref dialect of Inupiaq has five consonants that are not used in other Inupiaq dialects

-four of the consonants in the other dialects are not used in the Shishmaref dialect (they are represented in the top picture with a squiggly line underneath them)





Inupiaq only has three vowels: a, i, and u, but they can be combined in nine different ways, each with its own pronunciation.

a = uh
aa= aahhh (like a doctor is checking your throat)
ai= long a (like ape, ate, or angelic)
au = oh (like oat, only, or ode)

i= short i (like is, if, or iridescent)
ia= ee-uh
ii= eeeeeeeeeeeee (like something started you)
iu= eee-oo

u= oo (said in a short syllable, like you're shouting "Boo!" at someone (you wouldn't say, "Booooooooooooooo!"))
ua = oo-uh
ui= oo-ee
uu= ooooooooo (like booing a bad ref at a basketball game, "Boooooooooooooooooooooooo!")





After learning the basic phonics of Inupiaq, John gave us a series of quizzes. He would say words or letter combinations, and we had to write them down, spelling them according to Inupiaq phonics. Flat Stanley and I did AWESOME on the quizzes until John got to the six- and seven-letter words. Then we started tanking it.

I guess we need a little more practice. Maybe we should check out the following sites:

Alaskool's Inupiaq Text Dictionary

BSSD Inupiaq Dictionary With Pictures and Sound Recordings

How to Survive: Keep Warm

Subtitle: Flat Stanley Arrives in Shishmaref






VFN would like to extend a warm welcome to our newest cast member: Flat Stanley. Flat Stanley hails from North Odgen, Utah. He was sent first class to Shishmaref by my cousin Ben. (Hey Ben! Thanks for sending us Flat Stanley! We're taking good care of him, I promise!)

One look at Flat Stanley told me that he was not going to survive in Shishmaref unless he got some warmer clothes.





This is a parka. It's the traditional Inupiaq winter coat. The student in this picture is making a silly face because he's wearing a woman's parka. A man's parka wouldn't typically be purple and pink. Or have flowers on it.

Note to readers: In Shishmaref, parka is pronounced "park-ee."






This is a pretty common man's parka. It's called a hunting parka. They are all white, thus camouflaging the hunters amid the winterscape.






This isn't really the best picture of a parka, but I thought it was too adorable not to include. Ahhhhhhhh!!! Cuteness attack!!!






I took FS over to visit my friend Kate. She hooked us some supplies to make a parka. FS wasn't sure what size he was, so I had to trace him. He wiggled a little bit, but we managed to get a pretty decent outline.





We made the parka out of blue material so there would be no doubt about FS's masculinity.






Much better. The fur ruff is Tuscany lamb. FS now has a chance to make it in Shishmaref without freezing.





FS should consider himself pretty lucky. Neither Steve or I have a parka. We brought our Rexburg coats up to Shishmaref. (Hey BYU-Idaho! Thanks for preparing us a little bit for the cold!) They lasted for about 3.5 years before we upgraded. We both went with The North Face jackets. Steve got a coat in rust, and I got one in black.

Note to Readers: In the above picture, Steve is demonstrating a very UNwise way to dress around Shishmaref. Shorts are a no-no, unless you don't mind sacrificing your knees to frostbite. However, he is wearing the boots that are very typical for life in Shishmaref. We both have a pair. Thank you.




The latest addition to my cold weather ensemble is my gloves. They are made out of seal skin and lined with beaver fur. I received them as a gift in the staff Christmas gift exchange. Steve took this picture of me right after I opened them. I might have been a little bit excited about them. They are super warm and super comfy. I recommend them to anybody that in need of warm fingers.

Easter Thoughts and the Saga of Grandma Plant- Part II

VFN interrupts our usual coverage of life in Alaska to bring you our annual Easter photo:

This is the Shishmaref graveyard.

I had a lot of fun editing this picture. So much fun, in fact, that I couldn't decide which one I wanted to share. So, I decided to share them all...

I liked the colors in this one. Steve thought it looked like it was taken in the seventies. I told him that was kind of the point.

This one was fun too. It looks really old, like maybe I found it in an old book about Shishmaref.

This one was almost my favorite. I loved the purple tones and the warm colors. Mmmmmmmm...

All of these pictures could be considered sad pictures, but I like thinking of the hope of a next life.

And I can't think about hope without thinking of Grandma Plant.

The original story of Grandma Plant was published last Easter, but here's a quick recap:

-After my beloved Grandma Busch passed away, my dad adopted her houseplants.
-Dad gave me a cutting of one plant to try to grow in Alaska.
-A series of traumatic events threatened the livelihood of Grandma Plant.
-The little plant pulled through.

I thought I would post an update for this Easter.

Grandma Plant is doing great. The old plastic cup has been upgraded to a ceramic pot. The four leaves have turned into twenty. Grandma Plant has not resisted my attempts to guide its growth in an aesthetically pleasing shape. (Hey little wooden stick! Thanks for helping me shape Grandma Plant!)

Once again, I am amazed at the resilience of this little plant and ever grateful for the memories it preserves. Life triumphs over death. The Grandma Plant thrives, and Grandma will live again.

Field Trip: Serpentine Hot Springs

This is perhaps the coolest field trip that VFN will ever provide its readers.

It begins by being the farthest VFN field trip (my adventures in Morocco are a completely different category). The editorial board at VFN generally prefers to remain indoors in Shishmaref for the following reasons: it's cold outside, polar bears are scary, and it's cold outside.

This is a satellite image of Serpentine Hot Springs. (Hey Google! Thanks for creating Google Earth! I heart it!) You will notice that the area surrounding the hot springs is green. That is NOT what it looked like when we were there.

This picture, also from Google Earth, shows the basic path we took from Shishmaref to Serpentine. As you can imagine, we did not actually travel in a perfectly straight line.

This is a picture of the land we traveled over to get to the hot springs. If you look closely, you can see little yellow tri-pods. Those are trail markers.

Here's a close up of one of the trail markers. It is right outside of the hot springs. You can see that it marks Shishmaref as being 52 miles away. The trip took us about three hours on snow machine. Yes, that's right three hours. In descending order, here is a ranking of my coldest body parts during the trip:

-hips
-toes
-fingers

The rest of me stayed relatively warm, but my hips were COLD. I thought that was kind of odd, given that they're more generously padded than, say, my elbows or nose. I was wearing underclothing, Cabela's thermal long johns, warm-up pants, and snow pants, and that still wasn't enough. It got so bad that I was pounding my hips with my fists and not feeling anything. The only thing that kept me from freaking out was the fact that I've never heard of anyone having their hips amputated. (On the way home I added a pair of jeans and flannel pants to the layers. I was still cold.)

(Note to readers: Apparently, we passed a herd of about forty moose on our way to the hot springs. That's the most anybody's ever seen out there. Unfortunately, I didn't see anything because my goggles had iced over. I felt pretty stupid when everybody kept asking me if I'd seen the moose.)

Serpentine Hot Springs is in a little valley. As you get close, you can see the steam rising from the warm water.

Ta-dah! Serpentine Hot Springs in all its glory. The small building on the left is the bath house. It's built directly over the springs. The large building on the right is the cabin. It has a largish room on each side that each house sixish twin beds, a camp stove, a heating stove, and assorted dishes that have been left for people to use.

You can't see it, but just to the right of the picture is a wooden outhouse. It is approximately 4,392 miles from the cabin. It is also the first outhouse I've used where everything inside was frozen. It was so cold that one of the moms in the group set up a bucket behind a tarp in the cabin. We used the bucket for our, uh, human waste removal.

This is a close up of the bath house. In case you're wondering, we walked from the cabin to the bath house wearing our bathing suits. I still get the chills thinking about it.

Here is the front door of the bath house. You can see that the steam has created a coating of ice everywhere. Just wait, it gets worse.

Walking through the qanitaq, we were immediately assaulted by the dense steam-filled air.

This is the stairway leading into the tub. You will notice that the area around the stairs is completely covered in ice. And yes, I walked over that ice in my bare feet to get into the tub. I didn't really notice how cold it was because I was too busy worrying about slipping and cracking my skull or coccyx.

One of the most bizzarro things about the pool was how warm it was. Even with the entire bath house covered in ice, the water stayed nice toasty.

It was extremely relaxing to be able to soak and rest in the warm water. Sometimes the steam would condense and freeze on our hair. I don't have any pictures of it, but it looked kind of like the window in the above picture.

There was a stream of hot water running into/nearby/underneath the bath house (I'm really not sure how everything worked, and my geothermal understanding is pretty weak. Sorry). I thought this picture illustrated the interesting juxtaposition of such warmth in the midst of the freezing cold.

This little bridge went over the stream. It was very important to use it instead of trying to leap over the stream. I was smart enough to not even attempt leaping, but others in the group were not so fortunate. :)

The primary activity at Serpentine Hot Springs is lounging. There's even a journal of Serpentine adventures.

When you're all relaxed out, you can go explore the rocks in the area.

Apparently, this rock formation looks like an eskimo drummer. Apparently, I am too stupid to take a picture of it from right direction so that you could see the resemblance.

The kiddos had fun sliding and snowboarding.

Animal tracks = major excitement. I think these are fox tracks, but I have absolutely no expertise or experience to back that claim up. I saw a few foxes on our snow machine ride back home, but I didn't see any foxes while we were at the hot springs.

Not seeing foxes when I'm not on a motor vehicle = major comfort.

We also spent a lot of time eating.

Mary brought her own sourdough starter to use for pancakes.

The yumminess of the pancakes was rivaled only by...

the adorable Eskimo boy eating the pancakes. (Looking at this picture right now makes me want to kiss the little Eskimo boy. I'm serious.)

He also showed me the Eskimo way to eat pancakes. Apparently, you're supposed to roll up the pancakes and dip them in syrup. I was not cool enough to eat my pancakes like an Eskimo. (Maybe coolness wasn't actually a factor. I was more afraid of sticky fingers.)

My Moroccan Fulbright partner also got to enjoy the sourdough pancakes.

(VFN, meet Brahim. Brahim, meet VFN.)

(Hey Mary! You rock at making pancakes! You also look really cute in the background of this picture!)

Brahim also tried caribou (Hey Glenn! Thanks for shooting the caribou! It was yummy!) and seal oil. He liked the seal oil so much that he started dipping bread in it.

It's almost impossible to leave Serpentine Hot Springs without adding your name to collection of signatures on the walls and ceilings. There were several groups of names of kids on their senior trip.

Apparently, it is also a place for political statements.

(Question to readers: Who are the Teds? And why do we want to tight them?)

Brahim left his mark in several places around the cabin in English and Arabic.

And I left my own signature on the ceiling. I like to think that a little piece of me will remain at the hot springs forever.

Creative Cooking: Just Another Sunday Dinner

It's been a while since I've shared our culinary adventures with the VFN readership. I don't really have anything exotic or exciting to share, but this is a pretty typical Sunday dinner for us.

It started with some cauliflower. I know, I know, cauliflower is one of those unglamorous vegetables with a fairly high yuck-factor, but I've been in love with roasted vegetable recipes ever since I found an earth-shattering broccoli recipe. (I'll take pictures and share it next time I make it. It will make your heart flutter.) Roasted broccoli with garlic was so good that when I came across a recipe for roasted cauliflower, and the store had fresh cauliflower THE EXACT SAME WEEK, I knew I was destined to make it.

I poured some olive oil over the cauliflower.

Note to readers: Steve and I have gone through over two liters of olive oil this school year. Is this unhealthy?

I added whole garlic cloves. (They're kind of hard to see, but they're there, I promise.)

As far as Steve is concerned, this is the secret ingredient: bacon. (Or, more accurately, bacon bits. You know, the real kind. The hefty chunks of bacon in a ziploc bag you buy at warehouse stores.)

Sprinkle it all with kosher salt, throw it in the oven, and out comes...

this. And, yup, it tastes as good as it looks (unless you think it looks nasty, in which case it tastes much better than it looks). Steve and I polished off an entire bunch of cauliflower. By ourselves.

But, the cauliflower was only a supporting character to the porkchops. I have a really good recipe for pork chops with a creamed herb sauce, but I wanted to try something sans sauce. One of my favorite food blogs posted a simple pork chop recipe, I got right on it (this was kind of a week of food blog providence).

I started the pork chops with rosemary...

brown sugar...

cumin and pepper.

Then mixed it all up on a paper plate because I was too lazy to wash a real dish.

I coated the pork chop with the mixture and threw it in a hot frying pan with some olive oil (see, I use it in everything).

A few minutes on each side, and it was done. I was kind of embarrassed by the blackened parts, but they tasted really good, so now I display this picture with pride.

Tossed a quick salad with dried cranberries, pistachios, and blue cheese. Mmmmm, mmmmmm, mmmmm.

I love Sundays...