Russian Mission is in Alaska

not Russia. And they aren't Russians who live here, but the Y'upik people. Look here for more on the demographics, location, etc. This site contains the most accurate information, thanks to the 2010 census.

For some reason I didn't realize what a small plane we were taking. 5 passengers plus the (very friendly and enthusiastic) pilot. We arrived, were picked up by some man in a truck who didn't speak but knew where to take us, which was straight up the hill to "mid-town" to Russian Mission School (see, mom, I told you).

The school here is brand new and beautiful. Today, however, we are without water. A water line broke or something, so there are garbage cans full of water in the bathrooms, with smaller buckets bobbing around, for when the toilet really needs to be flushed. I have been supplied with "Emergency Drinking Water" which comes in a totally cool flask-like bottle, and school was let out 3 hours early.

The school looks out over "downtown" (named such due to it's location at the bottom of the hill) and the Yukon river, which is still solid enough to snow machine on and drill holes in to manaq, or ice fish. I caught a pike that, despite being beat over the head about 15 times and being out of water for 2 hours, still wouldn't die. We finally had to whack it with a frying pan when it wouldn't stop flopping around on the counter, spraying blood everywhere. A local woman, Delores, taught me how to fillet it and let me use her uluaq, which is extremely sentimental to her. She even brought me some akutaq, or Eskimo ice-cream.

It has been beautiful, sunny, and warm since Friday, and I am definitely sunburned, but only in that raccoon kind of way. I think it makes me look hardcore.

I traveled here with another student teacher, Ruben. We are staying in the school, in a really beautiful room, but on the floor. We brought a box of food with us and Ruben padded it with his sleeping bag. It is now covered in raw egg. I grabbed a sleeping bag from a closet last minute, not bothering to check the zipper. It doesn't work. They keep it pretty warm in here, so it's not too bad.

Last night we went to shower in the locker rooms at around 10:30. We strolled down there, talking and then met back up in the gym to stroll on back to our room. But the doors to the hallway which led to our room were locked. Ruben was in his towel and I was in my pajamas and bare-feet. Uh...? We found some shoes in the gym and trudged through the snow over to a teacher's house to get a key from him. It was totally embarrassing and hilarious. Ruben kept post-holing in the snow (he was wearing some shorts he found) and was stuck behind the guys house when we finally rose him from his sleep. He answered the door in his underwear and a big smile. We got back to the room. Oops.

Hm... what else? There have already been a lot of very sweet moments, fun experiences and unusual circumstances. I am going to borrow a snowboard and hike up the road to "uptown" and snowboard through the slush. I wish I had some sunscreen.