Trip 3: Days 29-33 Adventures in Rescheduling

Aipiritmi

aipirin-mi

tuesday-LOC(on)

On tuesday, I woke up early ready to go elicit some demonstratives and LOCatives and what not from my consultants but then got a last minute call saying they had to reschedule for the next day. So I decided to go talk to some people I hadn't heard back from yet. I started with the younger guy. I stopped by his house and just as I was about to leave he opened the door and invited me in. We ate some king salmon and I listened to him talk for a while. He went back and forth between some English and the Yukon dialect and the general dialect. He was born on the Yukon, but spent his high school years on the Kuskokwim and then removed back here. So he speaks both dialects and discussed how they differ a bit. He also talked about some of his life growing up and about subsistence. Unfortunately, I wasn't recording but towards the end he called his brother and mother and talked to them on speaker phone in Yup'ik and I was able to make out a few bits here and there. So we have arranged to talk again and do some recording later on, so that will be exciting! The rest of the day, I'm sure you can figure out.

Pingasiritmi

pingasirin-mi

wednesday-LOC(on)

Once again on Wednesday I woke up early, but having received no call, I headed out to see my elders. The boardwalks are in a constant state of slippery frost now and takes forever for me to get anywhere. Getting to their house I set up and pulled out a house schematic and some doll house props and set up a house. Sadly, it was an off day and they kept saying “we forget how to say that.” It must be strange to forget your native language, I've lost fluency in my Italian but I was never native-like in my fluency to begin with. To lose your own native language, and to have someone ask you things and you just can't remember, I just can't imagine losing a part of myself like that. Which is why language endangerment and documentation is so important. Much of the problem was clearly that the props just were not culturally relevant, for instance a refrigerator is “thing that keeps things cold” or Cabinet is “seal skin” and the word 'milk' comes from Russian. But there was also things I asked like “Stop that!” or “Go that way!” or “Don't do that!” and they just couldn't remember those things. But I got a lot of good work done to and learned a lot none the less.

After working with them I went over to three elder's houses I had been pointed to and talked to them. The first guy doesn't speak natively but as a second language but supposedly he knows all of the stories. He said yes he'll work with me, but he'll only speak English...so we'll see. The second elder I went to talk to liked to tease me but ultimately I got him to agree to work with me, but he said no recording, which doesn't work for me because I'm not fast enough nor do I have a good enough ear for the difference between the sounds: r, rr, g, gg, ur, ug, urr, ugg, k, q, kw, qw to just take notes without some thing to go back to and double check my work later, so we'll see how it goes. The I went over to talk to the Tribal Chief (?) which is somehow different from the Tribal Administrator and the Tribal Council President I guess even though no one told me that. And He works for the Tribal corporation which is part of the regional corporation both of which are different for the federally recognized Kotlik tribe. Basically I filled in some major gaps in my political knowledge today! He agreed to work with me, no conditions. So I'll be working with them all next week. Then I quickly headed back and packed up all of my stuff and moved it over to the new place, because while I could have stayed there comfortably much longer I've grown tired of the late night music and morning tip-toeing around. I then spent some time talking to my new host and then went across the board walk to the school (I'm much closer now because I'm in teacher housing.) I talked to J, then went back and watched some TV and then went to bed.

Citamiritmi

citamirin-mi

Thursday-LOC(on)

OMG, a real bed. A soft bed, I am no longer sleeping on a half inch of foam atop a piece of plywood. Wow did it feel amazing. There is also a board over the window for some reason. So I basically just slept and woke up quite late. Good thing, I had nothing going on in the morning. So I woke up and took a shower, in a shower that didn't begin squeaking 30 seconds in, and actually got hot. Then I sat down and wrote some things and watched some TV, because I can. Then I got all prepared to go do some recordings of nursery rhymes in the school with a few elders. Then I got a last minute call saying “I heard school is out early tomorrow, can we reschedule and you call me to tell me when.” Joy. School was out early today too. So I went over and talked to the principal again and he said sure, so then I called back my elder and let her know the new time. Then I went to into the library and connected my computer since every other room was either locked or being used and talked to J. Went home and made dinner and started reading a silly free book off of amazon.

Tallimiritmi

tillimirin-mi

Friday-LOC(on)

So again, I slept in because a dark room with a door and no light and a soft bed is not good for my waking hours. But eventually I got up and prepped for the day and made sure everything was still ready. Then I just chilled and read some more. At 2:15 I headed over to the school and met all of the execs. Basically the entire school board and the district execs are in town today and today only to have a meeting. So I met a few of them. Then I went and talked to the Yup'ik teacher and told her I was meeting elders in the library if she wanted to come join us and then I went and started to get set up. The elders arrived and started to talk in Yup'ik while I finished setting up :( and then we got going. For a bit they talked to each other in Yup'ik then the elder elder who was my principal consultant the past two years and who I really like started directing everything to me and talking in English. I learned a lot of ethnography and history. The Yup'ik teacher showed up and joined them, so I checked the recording levels and made an excuse of going to get more water. And ran around a bit trying to find a jug for the water because the elders showed up earlier than expected. When I got back I heard them all talking Yup'ik to each other so I brought them water and once again my elder transitioned to English (Its polite but not what I'm hear for) so I sneakily ducked out and hit behind some book shelves and just listened to them code-switch between English and Yup'ik but mostly talking in Yup'ik for about 25 minutes before I went to make sure everything was still good and one of them had to leave. Se we talked for a bit and I asked if they'd want to do it again, and they said yes and they'd see if other people would want to join them and they would call and let me know when. So... YAAY! I know I got at least one nursery rhyme in there and a bunch of conversation but until I watch (and translate) the full video and audio recordings I won't know exactly what I have gotten. I then talked to J for a bit. Then I went back and put a load of laundry in and met just the cutest little puppy ever!

So.. Puppy Update: one of the teachers found this little guy out by the school and after about a week of him just coming back she adopted him and now he is hers. His name is Baxter, he is a puppy, he is in his teething stage and thus I have puppy tooth marks all over my hands and arms now. He looks part golden lab (he probably is here in Kotlik) and part German Sheppard/husky. He is a bundle of energy and joy and we played together for a long time. I need a puppy.

And then I ate, and read and went to bed.

Maqinermi

maqineq-mi

Saturday-LOC(on)

After staying up late and reading. I slept in, but I have no big plans for today. I put in the rest of my laundry, so clean clothes again, finally! I worked out. I checked the laundry and played with Baxter :)

We played keep Nik's arms away from the puppy teeth and then with his new rope we played tug-of-war and he won every single game! The he got tired and he curled up in my lap and we played more tug-of-war. Then he got energetic again and we jumped around and then he attacked a loose rope in the carpet. The carpet was not as nice and did not let him win. Then we cuddled some more. Then I had to go :(. And after a week of not updating my blog, I wrote all of these. The rest of my day will be pretty typical. I have to talk to J. I have to meta-data and back-up yesterday's awesome recordings and see what I have gotten. Then I have to get back to my academic reading which I have truly fallen behind on unfortunately. And eat dinner, and maybe play with Baxter again.

And that is all!

Tengerciqamken ataam!

P.S.

You should now be very good at Yup'ik days of the week and farewells and so I expect to hear them from now on... “Waqaa” means 'hello' or “cama-i” on the Kuskokwim. “Cangaacit?” means “how are you?”