Modes of Transportation

Every small town has a sport that they love. Here in Eek, and most of the tundra, it is basketball. This weekend it was my job to accompany our junior high basketball team to Kwigillingok, another village in our district. The junior high team is coed, and therefore they needed a female chaperone. It started out with a fun plane ride. The students asked me if they could ask the pilot for a "roller coaster". I said sure. I like thrill rides, so I figured this would be ok. A roller coaster is when the pilot nosedives the plane toward the frozen tundra, and then pulls up and goes higher than the usual flight track. It was so much fun! Trash, paper, clipboards--everything-- flies into the air due to the lack of gravity. Of course, we had to have one on the ride home too.

The highlight of the weekend was meeting Bill, a teacher at Kwig, who builds kayaks in the Native American traditional way.

This is a kayak that Bill is working on.

These are the frames for kayaks that are a work in progress.

This is the inside of a kayak. Notice how the "ribs" are bent? They bend those with their teeth!

This is a kayak made in the most traditional Native American Way. The skin of the kayak is seal skin, and the colors are made with crushed rock and water.

This is another traditional kayak. Notice the vein running down and forking out at the bottom. That's where Bill and his sons patched together two pieces of seal skin. It's held together with moss and seal fat as the "glue". This is one of the most interesting experiences I've had since I've been here. I'm really glad I got the chance to see this work.

This last picture is just a pretty sunset on the tundra.