I'm not sure who even reads my blogs anymore but it doesn't matter. I can't believe that this will be my last blog. My 43rd post for the school year. I have come a long way and it sure did fly by! I wanted to say thank you to all of you who supported me throughout this journey. It takes a lot to move away from home. From your friends, your family and your loved ones. I took a leap of faith, ok.. a HUGE leap of faith, and it all worked out so wonderfully. This adventure has been one that I will never forget. I will be leaving this beautiful village but with me, I will be taking so much more. All of the experiences I have had will guide me through life, through my career and in my future relationships with new and diverse groups of people. The advice I was given here, the language I learned and the beauties I have seen will continue to be great memories for me as the years go on. So, thank you for following me on this journey.. it's almost like you were here with me all along.
My last weekend in Elim could not have been any better. On Friday we had a pizza party for the tutoring teachers and students from the year. Pizzas got flown in from Nome from Airport Pizza restaurant. Doesn't even faze me anymore that food has to get flown in if you want to eat out haha. If I want to order chinese I just ask them to put it on the next plane to Elim. Oh the glory! Anyway, we had our pizza party, Rachel and I went to bed early after painting some little girls' nails.
On Saturday we had a crazy, busy day! Cheryl came over to get her hair and makeup done for graduation day. We went to graduation, ate some cake, said our congratulations and then cleaned up so that we could set up for prom. We strung balloons together, hung decorations, set up our DJ table and chairs for the kids. Rachel and I made the crowns for King and Queen and Prince and Princess, then we went on to do 7 girls' hair and makeup for prom. By the time we were done, we just had a matter of minutes before we had to be up at school to get prom started. Prom here is a big deal because nothing like this every happens here. We tried to make it as special as possible. In order to get the kids to dance we had to dance too. Rachel, John, Richelle and I danced the night away leading songs like the cha cha slide and Gagnam style. The slow songs were hard to get the kids to do since they get so embarrassed... so we made a rule that when it was the girls turn to pick the boys or to ask them to dance the girls could not say no. And when it was the boys turn to ask the girls to dance the girls could not say not. It made the situation a lot lighter and brought more kids on the dance floor. Rachel and I slow danced with a few boys as well .. since there are a serious lack of middle/high school girls. It was all very sweet and nice. We had a ton of fun.. but HOLY EXHAUSTED!
After sleeping in until noon today .. hahah, I finally crawled my butt out of bed and ate some "breakfast". Then, Mark messaged me to ask if i wanted to go ice fishing and of course I could not turn that opportunity down .. it is my last weekend after all. So.. I geared up and hopped on the snow machine with Mark. We drove across the sea ice over to Moses Point (maybe 15 or so miles out) and out onto a river to ice fish. The way there was really rough. The ice was very bumpy and I felt like I was going to fly right off the machine haha, but we made it! As we were riding I kept thinking how amazing it is. How lucky am I to be able to do these things? Looking around I had this deep sense of happiness, true happiness. The mountains in the distance, the Bering Sea under our feet, the seals we saw out in the distance on the way and the freshness of Alaskan air. How amazing that I was able to spend a year in a place as beautiful as this and experience such wonders.
While we we out I caught about 10 tiny little trout. They are called Dolly Varden Trout or "aqmawouks" meaning baby trout. I caught more fish then Mark even though I didn't keep any of them! We had fun out there until we both started getting really chilly. The wind was so strong today that we were both cold. The ice out there is still 5 ft deep... and it's May 12th! CRAZY!
Rachel and I spent the rest of the evening making dinner for Mark and cleaning out the laundry room. Fun stuff I know! I'm doing some laundry now and then hitting the hay!
Well folks, enjoy my last pictures. I will be home in 7 days!
Xoxox
Sammy
Thank you for sharing your lifes wonderful alaskan experience.
ReplyDeletei have read your blogs!