Trip 3: Days 53-55 - The sad end

Well, this will be the last blog post from Alaska. I am sitting in Anchorage waiting for my flight to Seattle after 8 weeks in the bush. This morning began with a beautiful sunrise, though the sun doesn't truly rise until 11am in Kotlik the first sun rays burst over the horizon at around 9am. The sunrise is a dark golden orange streak in the sky which fades to dull yellow into light blue, navy blue and then high above the horizon line this fades into a dark starry night. Overtime these colors slowly fade to pastel pink and blue before the sun peeks over the hills.

I spent my morning saying goodbye to my elders, the teachers, and the tribal administrators. I brought maple syrup with me and gave a little maple leaf syrup jar to each elder who worked with me, to each elder whom I want to work with me, and to the administrators and tribal council president. They now all know that I plan to return in April. Overall the response is positive. One of my favorite elders told me to call anytime and whenever I have questions. The Tribal administrator told me she would talk to the council but overall it seemed to go well and she asked about what was going to happen as the project progresses. She also said I'm now part of Kotik and to let her know my plans so, fantastic!

I then boarded a tiny plane, though it was the largest plane I've seen in Kotlik and flew over the stark white tundra, the frozen, ice blue Bering Sea, and pristinely white rivers and lakes to Bethel. Bethel gave me a lot of trouble and thank god I made my travel arrangements with a flight agency. After about an hour and a half they had everything cleared up though and I was able to catch my flight to anchorage on a slightly larger plane. This took us over the tundra and a few pockets of snowy hills and then a few pockets (literally little pockets surrounded by flat tundra) of mountains. We eventually flew into the mountains proper and over snow covered (making them look like flat ground with boulders poking out) peaks. A few glaciers. And finally over the frozen coasts to land in anchorage.

In anchorage I sat outside for a few hours waiting to check in. Then Security had to check both my bags – computer, 2 recorders, microphones (they were at a loss for what all my stuff was) – but eventually I got through, ate dinner and at 12:15 I can board my plane to Seattle and then from there to Edmonton arriving at noon Tuesday.

Then a week of relaxation and apologizing to J for being gone for so long.

In all this has been a fantastic trip and I feel I have made good head way and maneuvered myself into the hearts of the community just a little further. I got about an estimated 10 hours of Yup'ik recordings, 13 total hours of recordings, and a total of 22 hours of sitting with the elders and talking history, ethnography, and life. So a good start and a lot of analysis work coming up. As always I am sad to leave but happy to go home and eat pizza again. I will miss Kotlik but know that I will return again very soon.

I guess I should mention I worked with one final elder before I left and he spoke mostly in English about history, dog sledding, growing, up and landscape. But he told me and translated a fantastic story about how a nearby river got its name and its about a war between two tribes who both has shaman summoning the spirits of bears and wolves and the hero who shot one of the shaman through the mouth and ended the war... Basically an amazing story with hints of Magic!!!

So that is that. The end of trip 3. I will unlikely have much more to blog, I'm not great at keeping up when I'm not in Kotlik... but I've been told some people actually read this and I guess many I don't know? So welcome! And Hello!

So I tell you what if you have questions about: Language, Linguistics, Eskimo-Aleut history/culture/language, Native American Languages, Anthropology, language endangerment and documentation, my studies, semantics, typology, morphology, syntax, conlanging, anything you've ever wondered about language, the Eskimo snow myth, and ect... then ask and I will make a blog post for each question you guys have in the coming months as I have time. Or otherwise I will pick this back up with trip 4 in April 2017 hopefully.

Quyana Cakneq! - Thanks for following along!

Piurra! - Stay as you are (bye)!