Seal Butchering Pictures

Here are the long-awaited photos from the seal butchering event.

Above is Buster, our wiry go-to handy man and general source of mischief. He has the heartiest laugh I've ever heard for a man who is no more than 110 pounds soaking wet. He has one speed: turbo. Often, he comes into my class in the morning with his giant coffee thermos and sparks some great conversation with his own questions about the topic of the day. It's almost as if I planted him there at times. Each day, we have the following conversation at some point. It goes like something like this:

Buster: "HELLOSISTERHOWAREWETODAY!?"
Me:      "I am doing well, my brother, and how are you?"
Buster: "I am well, my sister. YOUGOTENOUGHBLOWTISSUE?"
Me:      "Yes, I do. Thanks, Buster!"
Buster: "GOODBYESUNSHINE!"

As I have said, Buster also has one volume: LOUD. He cracks me up daily. Every school should have a Buster.

Buster carefully butchers the seal, separating the precious blubber into a bucket to divvy up amongst the villagers. I tried some as a dipping oil for dry fish, and it was delicious. He also cut off the flippers and gave them to me for class. It was perfect, as I was discussing animal adaptations with three of my sections. I then finished dissecting the flippers for my oldest group, which they found pretty cool. One of them said he found it disturbing that I enjoyed doing that as much as I did, and that he hoped I wouldn't dissect him. He's a great kid; he was the one who first requested better reading books for high schoolers. An advanced student, he hopes to be a pilot.

The Kindergarten teacher brought some of her kids to the Yup'ik room to witness the event. It was an exciting day all around. What you see above is exactly how these kids learn best. The Yup'ik culture is strongly rooted in oral histories and demonstrations (not that that should be a huge surprise...), which explains why these kiddos are so engaged. Put them in a classroom, and that kindergarten teacher has to restrain them from leap-frogging from desk to desk. (I'm not joking about that. She is a certifiable saint, as are all elementary teachers.)

Also, I did get the chance to try eel, and it tastes just like tuna - just a bit stronger.

Hope you enjoyed the quick update. We have just one and a half days left this week! Our Christmas program is Wednesday evening, during which my group will perform "The Twelve Yup'ik Days of Christmas." There will be a community feed Thursday at school, and then we teachers will take off on a chartered plane to come home for Christmas! I am so excited!

This first half of the year has flown by, and I'm sure it will continue to do just that. See some of you soon...cheers!