Pro: Absolutely Adorable Children

In a tribute to my friend and fellow blogger Jaz (I'm hesitant to post a link to her blog here because it's so much cooler and more witty than mine that you will immediately abandon my blog forever without looking back. However, I feel like withholding the link would be denying my gentle readers the glee and excitement I feel every time Jaz posts a new entry. So, here's the link: Jaz's Amazing Blog) I decided to start a running pro and con list of living in Shishmaref (Jaz has a similar running list of living in Germany).

My first pro: Absolutely Adorable Children. I am not kidding. Eskimo kids are some of the best looking kids in the world. There's something about those chubby cheeks, the black hair, and the dark brown eyes that completely melts my heart.



Don't you just want to pick this little guy up and put him in your pocket? I do!!! He doesn't actually fit in my pocket, so I have to settle for picking him up and smothering him with kisses every time I see him.




I invite this little guy to live with us every time I see him. He always tells me no. :( I even offered to buy him Heelys, but he told me he already has Heelys. :( He is too fast for me to pick up and smother with kisses, so I have to settle with waving really enthusiastically every time I see him and cheering really loudly for him during elementary school basketball games (oooooooohhhhh, that should be another pro, but I'll save it for another post...)



Doesn't this just make you wanna slide across the ice on your belly? I would have if I hadn't been holding my new camera (Steve says I don't have to be careful because it's fully insured, but it feels wrong to treat it poorly). This girl and her friends were sliding across an ice patch and giggling and laughing. So fun! These kiddos love to have fun.




This happy little pumpkin belongs to the math teacher. He is one of the funniest little kids EVER. He always says the silliest stuff, and he sometimes uses very grown up words. He loves to be tickled and chased. I took this picture while he was trying to play peekaboo with my camera.

I heart Eskimo kids. I heart heart HEART Eskimo kids. I tell everybody that I want an Eskimo baby. The ladies laugh and tell me that I married the wrong man (Steve is as pale as I am with red hair). If somebody in Shishmaref walked up to me and said, "Hey, do you want my baby?" I would say yes without even thinking about it. Then I would take the baby home and make Steve start cleaning out our storage room so we could use it as a nursery. I'm serious.

Another great thing about kids in Shishmaref is that most of them are super friendly and comfortable with lots of different people. I think its because they grow up around so many aunties, cousins, and grandparents all in one place. They're use to being passed around. Countless kids will come up to Steve and me at any community or school event and sit on our laps, crawl on our backs, or wrap themselves around our legs. I've had kids fall asleep on me (one little girl incidentally wet her pants after falling asleep on me).








Despite the occasional bladder control problem, I love interacting with these kids. They make me feel like a part of the village.

Adventures in Waxing Skis

When I volunteered to be the Cross Country Ski Coach, I knew I was volunteering to face several scary experiences. Among them:

• having to teach a sport I had never participated in and know nothing about, thus setting myself up for major embarrassment and ridicule
• being responsible to keep kids from getting frostbite in -30 weather.
• keeping watch to ensure that none of my skiers are eaten by polar bears (this is a legitimate danger in Shishmaref; during our long practices outside of the immediate village we have to be accompanied by armed escorts)

One of the experiences I was particularly not looking forward to was the waxing of the skis. Because I've never before participated in cross country skiing, I had no idea how to wax skis. All I knew was that it would involve blocks of wax like this:





and irons hot enough to produce lots of steam like this:




The idea of mixing scalding hot irons, melted wax, and a bunch of junior high kids did not sound like a good idea to me... But, tomorrow the kiddos have their regional championship meet, so we couldn't put it off any longer.

We had to delay our waxing because I had a test proctors meeting after school. I had to attend a video conference teaching me how to avoid the evils of unauthorized bathroom breaks and inadvertent "coaching" during standardized testing. The meeting went long, and my ski team was bouncing around the hallway waiting for me to finish. I still had some things to finish in the school, so I gave the kids my keys and told them to get started.

This wasn't exactly the most responsible thing I've ever done, and I had visions of crippled kids and liability lawsuits in my head when I finally made it to my classroom. I walked in and found my team systematically waxing their skis without a hint of chaos. They had even lined the tables with butcher paper so they didn't get wax on them!!!!! You may not appreciate the sheer amazement of that act. These are the same kids that I have to remind to please spit IN the garbage can and ask nicely to stop walking on top of the tables with their wet shoes.

So, it turns out that waxing skis is actually the easiest part of being the Cross Country Ski Coach. My skiers made it through with all of their fingers and appendages intact, and we didn't start any fires. Bonus.

If any of you are curious. Here is the process for waxing skis Shishmaref style.


Melt a bunch of wax so that it drips across the bottom surface of your skis:




Run a very hot iron across the dripped wax so that it smoothes the wax across the ski:




Scrape off the excess wax with a thin plastic scraper.




Use a stiff brush to buff the wax coating to a smooth finish.




I hope that comes in handy next time you need to help a group of kids wax their cross country skis. Hey, I never thought I'd be doing it either...