I was exhausted last night, and, although Liza showered and journaled, I pretty much conked out immediately. I woke at 7am this morning to shower before Camp. I woke Liza around 7:30am.
As we were getting ready, we chatted about wanting to visit the Trident Store and the regular “AC” (which Christine, our registrar at my school in Anchorage, told me stands for Alaska Commercial) grocery store. Norma offered to take us yesterday—so we decided to ask her today if, when she went, she could take us too.
We also talked about how strange it was to get to have “favorites”. As teachers, you can’t have students you like better than others. But, as adults, we’re able to have kids we like being around more than other children. That’s a strange change for me. We’re not here as teachers; we’re here as students too. It was odd; but, there were a few really wonderful children (mostly great in the way they interacted with one another) and it was nice to recognize that.
About 10 minutes to 8am, I opened our hotel room door. We were both cold when we went to bed, so we’d bumped up the heat. Now it was a bit stale and warm in the room. The first few gusts of fresh air felt wonderfully cool. Then there was a horrible odor. I grimaced and realized it was from outside. Mike came in just after and we left with him. Stepping outside felt like walking into a closet with a stink bomb. The horrible smell engulfs us. Mike says it’s much worse when the Trident Seafood plant is rendering (he didn’t know what rendering entailed—other than stink). I think this is just low tide, as Carla said low tide was at 7:55am.
We ride over to the Camp with Mike. Carla arrives just behind us. Breakfast this morning is a bit heavier on the protein, but was pancakes, fried SPAM (that was a first!) and a hard-boiled egg. I ran back to the hotel with Mike on his second run and change into lounge pants, rather than my jeans—since I’ll just be sitting around today. When I return, things are a bit busier. Liza is on her computer and I get on too. I try to check my email, but it’s slow and my responses are a bit tedious. I want to chat with John, but the internet won’t load quickly enough for me to run g-chat. Oh well.
John and I are able to shuttle a few emails back and forth before I’m drawn downstairs. It reminds me of how dependent we are on technology—sometimes for better, but sometimes for worse.
I went downstairs to finish working on my necklace. Merle verbally gave us the instructions on how to finish the necklace. I could hardly believe it, but we did it correctly!!
Yesterday Carla mentioned that she wanted us to start a headdress today. We didn’t know if it would be today or tonight. We asked Shalene and she said it would be better for us to work on them tonight. I was kind of glad, because Merle had said that, once we started the headdress that would take up all of our time. I was just starting to get the hang of beading and didn’t want to give it up. Merle decided she would show us how to make a little ID pouch. The beading is different. Instead of the Aleutian Circle (which is 5B1 with a S4 hook), we do big bead, little bead, and then up through the secure bead (BLS hook). About halfway through, I figure out that the little stitches weren’t better. I was trying so hard to make my stitches small—I’ve always done big sloppy stitches on everything… not intentionally, but as a result of my impatience. In the case of the pouch, though, the beads would have laid better if I had made larger stitches. Alas, bead and learn.
Norma’s daughter, Melissa, found us at about 11am and told us she was making a run to the Trident Store. She asked if we wanted to go. We left our projects. (We were eager to go and Mike had warned us that the store was hard to find if you didn’t go with someone who’d already been there.) Two other girls went with us. The 5 of us arrived at the store and Melissa directed us. We stopped on the dock, because Anne’s mom wanted to say hello. Melissa introduced us. We continued along the dock and up a steep set of stairs. I thought, Wow, this would have been hard to find. Then we entered the door and began snaking through a warehouse—about 60 feet from the first door was the entrance to the store. It was then I realized, I’d NEVER have found this on my own!!! At the Trident Store I saw a few souvenirs I’ll want to come back and explore. We got a couple packages of “Bowl of Noodles”—these seem to be the acceptable meal replacement. I also got a Sparkling Ice drink. I think it costs $1 at Walgreens in Anchorage; it was $2.69 here.
When we return, we pick up our beading again.
This doesn’t last long as it is almost lunch.
The adults eat lunch first. As they wait their turn, the kids hover around the entrance to the food table like sharks. It’s their turn soon enough though.
In the meantime, I fill my plate with food—hot dogs, chili, macaroni and cheese, and crab/octopus cakes. I share with Liza that I thought the food we ate would be mostly like the crab/octopus cakes… more “of the earth and sea” than hot dogs and macaroni. We laughed, because she had thought the same thing. How stereotypical of us!
I spent the latter part of lunch journaling some. I needed to catch up on yesterday’s journal and then wanted to make my notes for today before I forgot.
When I went back downstairs, all the seats at the beading table were taken. I took my stuff over to the bent-hat table and finished my pouch there.
When I’d finished the beading on 3 sides, I had a question for Merle. I sat patiently waiting to ask my question; Merle is big on us waiting our turn for help. When Maryanne came back to her seat, I had to stand up for her to sit back down. Merle looked up after a minute trying to weigh if my question was fast. I took the opportunity and asked her, “I’m wondering if I have to bead along the bottom of my pouch.”
Without looking up, Merle replied, “I doubt you have to do anything.” She then looked up and nodded that it would be fine to leave it unbeaded. Liza had already finished her pouch, so I checked out her decorative closure. I used some of the techniques Merle had taught me to create my own decorative closure.
Merle loves that people want to learn, but she pretends it’s irritating because she wants you to want to do it enough to put up with her curtness. (At least, I think that’s what’s going on.) So, when I finished my pouch, I asked Merle about the diamond-patterned necklace, and she sighed (deeply) and told me it wasn’t too difficult and I should go watch over Katherine’s (a camper) shoulder, as she was working on the diamond pattern now. I watched her and figured it out. You put on 11 beads in a 2 red, 1 white pattern ending with 2 red. You then sew back through only the red beads and then into the secure white bead. This pulls the 11 beads into a diamond pattern with the white sticking out. You then sew back up the secure bead, then 4 red and the top white and repeat. I took a deep breath. I understood that it wasn’t too difficult, but nor was it easy. I looked around for a chair and, unusually, every chair was taken.
I decided I’d go upstairs for a bit and see how Mike’s kids were doing with the mini-bidarkas.
Two of the boys from yesterday, Robert and Bryan were working on their models. I asked permission to watch for a bit. Robert was very easily distracted. He blamed it on the glue on his fingers. Mike asked Robert if he thought glue stopped his ancestors. Robert didn’t really answer. Both Robert and Bryan stayed pretty focus as they worked through the “kinks” in their models—Robert had incorrectly placed a part of his cockpit and needed to fix it. Bryan had to make his bidarka more shallow by adjusting the ribs.
In a little bit, Wolfgang came upstairs with a woman he introduced as Liz. Liz used to work for Pathways in Anchorage and had been kayaking up and down the Aleutian chain. We’d heard about her. She sat down to talk with Mike.
Liz talked about learning to Kayak in Anchorage and practicing in Resurrection Bay. She said that, although she wasn’t very confident in her kayaking abilities, she was well prepared. When she makes camp, she puts up a tarp like a tee-pee (the Black Diamond 4-person tarp) and puts her tube tent under it (MRS “the skinny one”). She explained that the tube tent kept her warm, while the tarp blocked the wind and rain and gave her the space to cook and change clothes. (She was also very excited about her MRS inverter stove, which boils water in 30 seconds.) She spoke about how she stretched the 2 months of dehydrated food from Anchorage by gathering plants. For greens, she uses seaweed and beach greens. She also digs up the brown lily bulbs, which are a startchy ball of “Indian rice,” and cooks this and rhubarb for added carbohydrates. She has been out kayaking for 17 days. She and Mike exchange some information and discuss writing grants to start a kayak summer camp.
One of the more interesting things was watching how Mike instructed while he and Liz were talking. Mike basically ignored Robert and Bryan. I kept thinking that was weird. My instinct as a teacher is to jump in; but, of course, I don’t know anything about bidarka building, so I couldn’t. The boys coped with being ignored. Bryan pushed himself to go back and check (and refine) his work. Robert fiddled with his i-Phone for a minute before looking back over his own work. After about 5 minutes, Mike interrupted his conversation with Liz to give the boys further instruction. They had gotten as far as they could productively go without further information. This makes me think that we often, as teachers, jump in before giving kids an opportunity to really reflect.
Traven asked if I could come in and help with some suggestions for the first and second grade class. I went in and saw a few areas with which I could help. Namely, they didn’t yet have a system for getting students’ attention nor anything to keep all the students engaged during the “teaching” part of the lesson. I modeled—I asked the students to put a finger on the tip of their nose when they were ready for the next direction and to put their hands on their head when they thought they knew the answer. Once I’d helped with that a couple of times, I stepped back and then left. Traven said it was very helpful. Ithaca discovered the irksome reality of all teachers—classroom management takes time from instruction. Of course, ultimately, you get that time back by not fighting for kids’ attention… but, it’s still aggravating. I wouldn’t have stepped in if they hadn’t asked me too (and it did feel a bit invasive); but, it was nice to feel like I knew what I was doing again!
For the most part, it hasn’t been too hard to relinquish the teacher-role (mostly since we’re relatively clueless about how to do anything around here)—though Liza and I have definitely had the teacher vs. adult discussion a lot as we try to navigate our days here.
I’ve sort of flitted back and forth between my journal, visiting with people, and then beading. Chairs had freed up and Merle wasn’t as busy. I asked if I could try the diamond pattern necklace now. Merle sighed and asked if I was going to work on my headdress (I think she was trying to assess where my instructional allegiances lay.). I told her I would, but not until later. She never says yes; she just starts telling me to gather supplies. (I’ve learned that this is yes.)
She helps me get started (the first diamond is done just as I’d described, but with 12 beads not 11). I get 4 done, but keep having too much space between the diamonds. I ask Merle about it and she, without looking over, says, “Well, you’ve probably done something wrong.” There’s no mincing words among any of the instructors. Merle looks over my work and discovers I’ve missed the secure bead. She recommends I cut it off and start over. (I don’t feel frustrated by this conclusion, which surprises me.)
I do stop for dinner, because—as Merle says, “What? Are we going to wait for dinner to get cold?” We have pot roast (which I have always disliked, but am glad my mom always made us take a “no thank you helping” anyway) AND salad. I’m so excited!! I could fill my entire plate with salad, but there isn’t enough. I have 1 helping and come back later for a second helping of salad. YUM!
I try again on the necklace after dinner, but mess up. I start over this time without being told to do so.
Finally, on my third try, I begin to get it. I get 2 diamonds done before Ithaca approaches. It’s just me and Merle at the table. Ithaca explains to Merle that she’d really like to learn to make a necklace. Merle gives Ithaca almost the exact same run-around she gave me, before relenting and getting Ithaca started. This is Merle’s pattern.
I was thinking as I was working that beading is more disciplining your temperament than it is learning the movements. It’s always been difficult for me to sit and focus on tedious, repetitive tasks. But, I have probably spent 9 hours over 2 days beading, and I don’t feel frustrated at all.
I’ve been wondering when I’m going to start learning the Culture. Durrrr. It finally hits me. I’m not here to learn Culture… I’m here to be included in a culture. I feel dumb that it took me 2 and a half days to learn this! But, I reassure myself that certainly in all the years of the Rose Urban Rural Exchange Educator Cross Cultural Immersion program, there’s no way that EVERYONE has figured it out before me. (The competitive part of my culture shines through :) )
I’m reminded of my interview for the ECCI program. I was asked what my culture was—I said that I was raised in a family that deeply valued education and that emphasized family togetherness often over food. Even though I knew this was my culture and even after the ECCI orientation and my sociology background, I still thought other people’s culture was Culture. I thought that I could just learn specific things—like… here is beading; we bead because it weaves the resources of our ancestors with the passions of the… whatever –sort of like a living museum. This is NOT what I’m learning. I kept waiting for Culture to be fed to me. Something I could take notes on perhaps?? But, this is not Culture. I think Culture is only Culture in books and for scholars. Most people don’t live Culture; they live culture.
Okay. It’s 7pm and that means dinner break (5pm- 7pm) is over and the adult classes start. No more typing and thinking for tonight. I’m sure I’ll have more to say on the subject of culture later… but for now I’m just going to enjoy it.
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