Nikolai cleaning a seal in Gambell. Moved to the island 12 years ago from Russia.
The "gas station" at Savoonga. The sign says "Savoonga Bulk Fuel Storage Facility."
Kids on bikes at the airport in Gambell on Tuesday night when we landed.Sunday, February 10, 2008
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Island Life
Savoonga, Alaska, population 642
Gambell, Alaska, population 646
According to the last census
I just made another village trip this week, to St. Lawrence Island between Alaska and Russia. Those are the two biggest communities. Googlemap can give you a pretty good perspective. The Bering Strait School District includes quite a few of the communities in the region, and they had a board meeting on the island on Tuesday, so KNOM decided to send me out on Bering Air. I was happy for the chance to get out of Nome!
I'll try to put up some pictures when the internet connection cooperates. I had some time to walk around in each of the villages. In Savoonga I met a man named Julian at the village "gas station." It's the bulk community fuel storage farm. He carved ivory and told me he grew up in Savoonga and didn't want to leave any more. He must have been more than 50 years old. Said the last time he was in Anchorage was 4 years ago, and he said he was the only person around the village who had been to Spain. He said it was in 1975. I didn't ask why he made the trip.
I didn't see a single car or truck on the island. There's no need for them. Everyone gets around on snowmachines and 4-wheelers.
I caught a glimpse of a fox running by outside the school, but I didn't realize what it was until I was talking to the school board members at lunch and they mentioned that a fox had been living under the school.
In Gambell I climbed a little bluff that overlooked the village. Then I climbed down, walked across the village, found the IRA and interviewed the general manager, then walked out the other side and down to the beach. I looked at my watch, and it was a little more than an hour.
Every few minutes someone would come by on a 4-wheeler and ask if I needed a ride, who I was, what brought me to Gambell. I told one man my name was Jacob and I worked for KNOM. He said, "Jacob Buckenmeyer! Yeah, I know all of you from the radio." Then he asked me why some people weren't on the radio any more. Mostly past volunteers I didn't know.
I met Edwin. He was one of about seven or eight men on 4-wheelers circling the village coast with their rifles looking for seals. The water isn't completely frozen over on the shore, and big chunks and floes are moving through the current. I saw birds, and Edwin tried to point out a seal, but he knows what to look for I guess. Said he was 33. Took his first polar bear when he was 22, with a 7mm. He was carying a .338 Ruger and let me take a shot at a bird on the water. No luck. He said if I waited long enough I might see a walrus. He said he's seen the weather change over the years -- "global warming," he says, "is for real." Good guy.
Later I took a ride back to the school with a man who said someone spotted a polar bear out on the ice. Said he hoped it would come in off the ice by tomorrow where someone could take it. As soon as we got back to the school I checked in with the flight agent to see what time my flight was coming in, then started walking out toward the beach again.
I spotted four or five men on snowmachines and 4-wheelers speaking Siberian Yup'ik (I think that's what it was). One was standing up and his hands were covered in blood. The others were looking out at the water, talking. I stood apart for a few minutes, then moved down for a better look. The man was cleaning a small seal, but he was just finishing up. I could see a small pile of bright red with what looked like a spine. On the side he had set apart two sides of meat. Later he came over and introduced himself: Nikolai. Said he came from "over there" and motioned toward the mountains of Russia across the water. Moved here 12 years ago and now had 5 kids, I think, he said. It was well below zero, but still a warm day for the island this time of year. Nikolai cleaned the seal with bare hands and rinsed the blood in the water.
So I never saw the bear. I told them I'd heard they saw one, and then laughed and said, "Now we've heard that from you!" I waited around, then headed back to the school and waited for my plane.
Another man took me out to the airport when the agent called the school to say my flight was getting close. As I was putting my bag in the back, one of the members of the school board -- a Native man named Aaron -- said good bye and joked that he would give me my "Eskimo name." He conferred with a woman standing by and then said, "Awkmalook" I'm not sure if that's how you spell it, but it sounds like "awk-MAW-luke." He said it means "One who wears a backpack," because I had my big pack on all day, back and forth across the village.
So then I got on the plane, fell asleep and woke up in Nome. Two days, two villages, and back to Nome.
Gambell, Alaska, population 646
According to the last census
I just made another village trip this week, to St. Lawrence Island between Alaska and Russia. Those are the two biggest communities. Googlemap can give you a pretty good perspective. The Bering Strait School District includes quite a few of the communities in the region, and they had a board meeting on the island on Tuesday, so KNOM decided to send me out on Bering Air. I was happy for the chance to get out of Nome!
I'll try to put up some pictures when the internet connection cooperates. I had some time to walk around in each of the villages. In Savoonga I met a man named Julian at the village "gas station." It's the bulk community fuel storage farm. He carved ivory and told me he grew up in Savoonga and didn't want to leave any more. He must have been more than 50 years old. Said the last time he was in Anchorage was 4 years ago, and he said he was the only person around the village who had been to Spain. He said it was in 1975. I didn't ask why he made the trip.
I didn't see a single car or truck on the island. There's no need for them. Everyone gets around on snowmachines and 4-wheelers.
I caught a glimpse of a fox running by outside the school, but I didn't realize what it was until I was talking to the school board members at lunch and they mentioned that a fox had been living under the school.
In Gambell I climbed a little bluff that overlooked the village. Then I climbed down, walked across the village, found the IRA and interviewed the general manager, then walked out the other side and down to the beach. I looked at my watch, and it was a little more than an hour.
Every few minutes someone would come by on a 4-wheeler and ask if I needed a ride, who I was, what brought me to Gambell. I told one man my name was Jacob and I worked for KNOM. He said, "Jacob Buckenmeyer! Yeah, I know all of you from the radio." Then he asked me why some people weren't on the radio any more. Mostly past volunteers I didn't know.
I met Edwin. He was one of about seven or eight men on 4-wheelers circling the village coast with their rifles looking for seals. The water isn't completely frozen over on the shore, and big chunks and floes are moving through the current. I saw birds, and Edwin tried to point out a seal, but he knows what to look for I guess. Said he was 33. Took his first polar bear when he was 22, with a 7mm. He was carying a .338 Ruger and let me take a shot at a bird on the water. No luck. He said if I waited long enough I might see a walrus. He said he's seen the weather change over the years -- "global warming," he says, "is for real." Good guy.
Later I took a ride back to the school with a man who said someone spotted a polar bear out on the ice. Said he hoped it would come in off the ice by tomorrow where someone could take it. As soon as we got back to the school I checked in with the flight agent to see what time my flight was coming in, then started walking out toward the beach again.
I spotted four or five men on snowmachines and 4-wheelers speaking Siberian Yup'ik (I think that's what it was). One was standing up and his hands were covered in blood. The others were looking out at the water, talking. I stood apart for a few minutes, then moved down for a better look. The man was cleaning a small seal, but he was just finishing up. I could see a small pile of bright red with what looked like a spine. On the side he had set apart two sides of meat. Later he came over and introduced himself: Nikolai. Said he came from "over there" and motioned toward the mountains of Russia across the water. Moved here 12 years ago and now had 5 kids, I think, he said. It was well below zero, but still a warm day for the island this time of year. Nikolai cleaned the seal with bare hands and rinsed the blood in the water.
So I never saw the bear. I told them I'd heard they saw one, and then laughed and said, "Now we've heard that from you!" I waited around, then headed back to the school and waited for my plane.
Another man took me out to the airport when the agent called the school to say my flight was getting close. As I was putting my bag in the back, one of the members of the school board -- a Native man named Aaron -- said good bye and joked that he would give me my "Eskimo name." He conferred with a woman standing by and then said, "Awkmalook" I'm not sure if that's how you spell it, but it sounds like "awk-MAW-luke." He said it means "One who wears a backpack," because I had my big pack on all day, back and forth across the village.
So then I got on the plane, fell asleep and woke up in Nome. Two days, two villages, and back to Nome.
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