Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!
Hope you all had a great time with all your family and friends. We had a thanksgiving feast with the community on wednesday, and then had a staff thanksgiving meal on thursday. The picture is from our dinner (the staff that did not have family in the area).

Less than 4 weeks till I'll be back in PA! It's crazy how fast time goes! Right now it is -15 degrees without wind. I'm looking forward to some warmer weather when I head home.

Miss all of you and hope to see as many of you as possible while I'm home (Dec. 23rd - Jan. 6)

Kersten

Winter Storm

Hello all,
I figured I'd post on here quickly to say that I am fine and Kong has survived the crazy storm that hit the west coast of AK last night and this morning.

Two of the neighboring villages were flooded, and there is some structural damage, otherwise, we are all ok here.

I am sending an e-mail with details about the past few hours and if you do not receive it feel free to email me. Its a really powerful God story.

Have a great day!
Kersten

Walrus and Other Stuff

Wow! Two posts in less than a week! That is a record, and probably wont happen again for some time. However, there are many interesting experiences I figured I'd share.

First, its cold here. Yes, you all got snow back in PA, but here it was -12 and there was no snow (though now we have a few inches). It is pitch-black dark until 10:30ish every morning, and the sun never fully rises (just high enough to shine in my classroom window and drive us all nuts! :) By 8pm is is almost dark, and winter is near.

One of the interesting things about the tundra is that it takes awhile to freeze, but the ground shifts when the  ground freezes. As the ground freezes, our house, which is built on stilts, shifts, causing our house to not only move, but some of our cupboard doors, as well as our bathroom door to not be able to close. We were told to make sure not to sleep with the doors closed because we could be stuck in our bedroom the following morning. Last night when I was trying to sleep the house was cracking as it shifted. Scared me to death! I was afraid that it was going to fall in on me. My kids had a good laugh this morning when I told them about it.

Today was also the first day that I woke up due to the sound of howling wind. I have less than 200 yards to walk to school, but it took almost 10 minutes between the ice and the wind that was so strong it could knock you over. When I asked another teacher about it, she said that this was mild. "Wait till January" was her response. I think I can wait though. :)

Another exciting event from this past week was the killing of 3 walrus.
I've taken the pictures from another teacher, and posted them here if you want to look and "enjoy" some of the festivities.

I was shocked at how LARGE a walrus really is! Also, in the picture of the innards, the black things are the lungs. Yes, a walrus really is THAT BIG!!!! It took 4 four-wheelers, and 10+ people to pull the walrus out of the water!!! I was invited for walrus soup, but then the party was canceled due to illness. I'm sure there will be many other opportunities to eat walrus soon, and I'll make sure to comment on that when I get the chance.

Missing all of you,
Kersten