Trip 3 - Day 21, flowing with the river

Monday

Week 4. The beginning of the middle has begun. And the middle is always good, right? I began my day by getting out and about and going and knocking on the doors of some elders who were clearly inside but did not answer the door. I remember in Hawaii my phonetics teacher telling us a story about how when two of her consultants in Australia saw her walking down the road they ran and hid in a ditch behind the house. My experience is not as amusing.

So I walked over to the Alaska Company Store and talked to an elder's daughter. While there I learned about how Bingo works here and heard a couple of new names. I then went to the Administration to see if an elder's daughter could give me a ride across the river to talk to her Father who I very much want to talk to, but she's gone for the week. I discovered though that there were some construction guys working across the river and if they weren't finished already they would be headed back across at 1. So short notice and I'm not a fan of not having plans (maybe that's why I'm having trouble, J says to just go with the flow). Anyways I found out where a different new elder lived and walked back that way, and after knocking on the wrong door first I found a very grandmotherly lady and talked to her about what I was doing and after some discussion, she agreed to work with me on Wednesday morning! I then went to the store, and saw some cute, tiny, couple of week old puppies chasing each other and jumping on each other in the tall grass. When they noticed me watching they all stopped and stared back so I went on my way home. It was almost 1 so I said to hell with it and grabbed my gear and ran to the Admin office to see if the construction guys were there. And they were.

Thus, I called the elder across the way and said “I can come over now, is that okay with you?” And he said okay. So we jumped into the boat, crossed the current, rammed into the ice which overflowed the banks last night, and tied up to a ramshackle dock which creeks and groans and is falling apart and missing pieces from the already hodgepodge of materials making it up. Basically if you fall off, you fall through a thin sheet of ice and into a turbulent freezing river. Which is exciting, but when I have a backpack full of expensive gear and I'm balancing on an inclined log, well I do love adventure!

So, I headed over to the house. This side of the river has no plumbing, or running water so its all rain and ice water and honey buckets. There is some electricity though. I knocked on the door and went in. It was a fairly sized house with a wood oven, and a huge wolf skin hanging down one wall, which was pretty Awesome. There were two elderly elders in the house, though she doesn't speak the language. His skin was sun and wind scorched, his teeth missing, the tips of all his fingers missing, he is hunched in a wheel chair, though he maintains some mobility without. He's dressed in a jumpsuit. Basically, you can tell he has lived a long and full life. He definitely is someone with stories to tell and knowledge to share. So he asked what the community would get out of my work, and once he seemed satisfied he said okay I'm willing to do whatever you need. So we went over to the dinning room table and I set up the audio recorder, and I should have set up the video camera, but we live and learn. I ask him to introduce himself in Yup'ik and to tell me his name and where he is from. He clarifies “in the Yup'ik way?”. “Yep.” He begins. I expect to ask another prompt in two or three minutes max to encourage narrative and story-telling. I look over and the recorder says: 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes. Assirpaa! 30 minutes later he finishes telling me his life story all in Yup'ik. Not what I expected by far, better than I could have hoped for by far. I try talking to him a bit more but he will only speak English and its clear he tired himself out and he says Everything I will need to know is in the recording. He agrees to work with me again if I can find another ride or once the river freezes over and I can walk across (soon hopefully). But I suspect I shouldn't go back until I have this all translated and have questions I ask about it. So I walk around this side of the river a bit and explore and then catch a ride back across.

Back home, I back up the recording and input all of the meta-data and listen to it a bit with a big smile. I head over to use the internet and tell J the good news and let him listen a bit because somehow he is also a geek. Then I head home and finished a chapter, played a video game, ate dinner, and went to bed happy and hopeful for the week and next 5.

So go with the flow of the river and life is good.

Tengerciqamken!