Manaqing: Take Two

I don't work 5-day workweeks. That would be much too stressful.

The past three weeks, each time Thursday rolled around, I was asked to chaperone the following day's manaqing trip. The first time they asked, I was flattered and excited. The second time, I started to wonder if they wanted me in the classroom at all, since they continued to send me either to district trainings or out with kids into the wilderness in subzero temperatures. Frozen and bruised after week two, I almost turned down week three, but am so glad that I didn't. I figure there are worse things than to be asked to hang out with kids. I even gave up an early release day to spend it fishing. What else would I do with my time off?

Week Two
I woke up to much colder temperatures than I thought I would. The trip to Horseshoe Lake is about 30 miles, so by snow-go, it can take at least an hour. It was below zero, and I assumed the trip would be cancelled. 

Nope. 

A parent lent me his snow-go so I could drive his daughter, but warned me that the fuel injector was acting up, the brakes didn't work, and it needed a quart of oil before it could go anywhere, and, oh, he didn't have cash, so could I take care of that real quick? [Sigh.]  

Well, between the principal, myself, and another teacher we got the thing running. I didn't have a great feeling about it, but the trip out was fairly uneventful. Chilly, but we made it. So far so good.

I caught my first three fish this day! I was super excited. I can barely feel my hands and feet in these photos, but I did learn a trick: briefly stick your hands in the freezing water and about 30 seconds later, they're perfectly warm! Counterintuitive, but it worked.

My first pike catch. I'm told they are decent
enough for fish tacos.

The lil' guy on the left I should have thrown back.

The trip back was, in fact, eventful. Our snow machine just stopped about halfway back to town. Just. Stopped. Going. My student and I waited for the others behind us to stop, and Jacob, the Yup'ik teacher, investigated it but thought it was a lost cause. Two other snow machines showed up, one with two of my high school seniors, and they troubleshot for a bit, getting the thing to roar to life once or twice, but eventually identified the necessary parts and took off to get them and take care of it. We rode back to the village in the sled pulled by Jacob, along with Math Teacher, another student, an ice auger, and an orange Gatorade cooler. We felt every pebble we went over and were coated in a nice layer of the snow by journey's end. Because of the jostling, I was sort of laying on my right shoulder, feet flopped over Math Teacher, holding my head up by my hood with my left arm. I pretty much served as a backrest for one of my students; I didn't mind because at least my right arm was warm. I returned with a bruise slightly smaller than the size of a checkbook on my shoulder blade. Mary took the following shot as we stumbled into the school around 6:00 pm. Around 8:00 or so, my toes and fingers began to regain feeling. By 10:00, they were completely returned to normal. See, Mom, I told ya - no worries!

Bruised and frozen, I was thoroughly unimpressed with
having my picture taken at this moment, but now I see
why Mary laughed hysterically upon our return.

Week Three
I almost said no, but I knew the temperature would be in the 30s and that we would have direct sunlight, so I knew I wouldn't freeze. Also, it was decided that there would be no more people riding in sleds. (Whew.) In fact, our greater worry was that we would hit open water and swamp with the snow machines. I drove the school's snow-go and towed the ice auger this time. This trip would turn out to be the most memorable, for a few reasons.

We went back to Suggarpak, the site of the first trip. It was quite warm and sunny, and brought absolute peace. With the beautiful scenery and opportunity to just sit and think, manaqing is a form of therapy. Also, another two firsts occured: along with catching another three fish, I ate fresh fish eggs right out of the fish and went across open water on a snow mobile. Never a dull moment, I tell you.

I never would have believed that this could work, but the students kept asking me to go across open water. One particular student persisted and eventually asked with such earnest innocence that I finally gave in, but on one condition only: I gave him the very serious warning that if he dumped me or killed me in the freezing water, I would most assuredly fail him. After a few seconds of terror on his face, he laughed. Of course, we made it across several times with no problems. I'm not generally a fan of jet-skiing, but this was similar to it and was actually pretty fun. We tore up the ice a little bit, but the river breakup is happening so quickly that we probably didn't do too much harm.

Here is Mount Pilcher from the back side again, but notice the bare tundra peeking through. I couldn't believe how much snow had melted in just two weeks. Driving this day was a bit interesting, as we tried to keep the snow machines on snow as much as possible. We took some roundabout ways in this endeavor. Below is just another shot from the snow-machine. 

I have no pictures of the fish eggs, but a teacher's husband gutted one of his catches and pulled out the "fish stomach," as they called it, and sliced it into chunks. He threw a little salt on there and offered me a piece. I surprised a couple students by asking for seconds. It really was good! I did, however, turn down the fish liver. Liver just weirds me out regardless of origin. 

I returned refreshed. I easily could get accustomed to this whole four-day workweek followed by Fishing Friday. I think it has made the kids more productive as well. We are well into April now and have survived state testing, which is no small feat. Thankfully, the remainder of the year should be fun and breezy. Thanks for reading!