The Geography of Sish

These pictures are from a few different walks around Shishmaref. Shish is an island that is more long than wide. It's short going east to west and long going north to south. On the west side it looks to the Chukchi Sea north of the Bering Strait and on the east you can look out over the "lagoon." Across the lagoon you can see the main land. These pictures are mostly along the long part of the island running north to south. South goes towards the dump. 

This first walk is towards the south.

The sea wall that was put up to keep the island from eroding into the sea. In other places the sea wall is much larger and some places it is nonexistent.

You can see how close the sea wall is to some of the housing. This building is teacher housing and is part of the old school.

I do not remember what these racks are called but they use them to hang animals out to "dry." The child's wagon made a cool picture I thought.

You can see some of the ribs and things drying. The salt from the ocean in the air helps preserve the meat.

Just some old broken down buildings. This one has a Winnie-the-pooh plush on the door.

If you get close enough you can see the little blue sign that says, "police."

A boat frame. As we walk around we sometimes see people building boats. It is just amazing to us how they craft them from hand out of scratch.

Yup.

Haha. I don't think they actually use this chair but we thought it was a funny picture to take.

This is the post office! We check the mail religiously! We believe the Post master lives upstairs and the post office is on the bottom story. If we walked around to the other side you could see our house.

While walking around we ran into one of the other teachers who said she was going over to watch this person cut up some fish so we tagged along. She is originally from Shishmaref but now lives in the lower 48 with her husband and family. She comes home ever summer with her kids so they know the culture and visit their family.

A close up. The tool she is using in called an ulu.

 This is now the North side of the island.

Look how thick the insulation for the winter!

The old runway and the people we were walking with.

These dogs will be used for dog mushing! They stay outside all year long but all the dogs are tied up.

Just a pretty picture : )

Mike walking along the Chukchi Sea.

Looking back at Shishmaref.

We found this old decomposing walrus!

The last tree of Shishmaref.

Note: This is not a tree but a stick stuck in the sand. There are no trees in Shishmaref.

Our Shadows!

Erick, from Florida who was still getting used to the cold, Lani, from Oregon, and Amy, from Ohio. They are all teachers and we were exploring together.

Lisa and Mike on the sound. This is the very tip of the north of the island.

Walking back along the "lagoon" side. You can see Ear Mountain which is on the mainland.

Most of the island is just sand so it was nice to see some flowers.

Walking back through the marsh as a short cut but it got too marshy so we had to go back along the coast.

All of the boats in the setting sun.

We came across this caribou that someone had shot.

Mike feeling the antlers. There is a kind of fur on them which makes them smooth.

The old air strip, it has eroded right into the water. The new air strip now runs north to south, the longer way the island goes, but is not as ideal for landing on with the way the wind blows.

This basketball hoop is right on the old air strip.

Notice the cute little dog on the steps!

We don't know how this got there! We have learned, that since it is so difficult to get things on the island, when something stops working, such as this airplane, they don't take it to the dump or get rid of it because the parts may be able to be used for something else. Which makes sense but then you end of with a lot of old things sitting in random places.

The setting sun.

This building here is the church.

Hence, the random things sitting everywhere! Note: Ear mountain in the background.

As we were walking we had to be tourists when we saw this polar bear fur hanging out. Yes, we asked permission before we just started taking pictures.

Now you have had a tour of the outskirts of Shishmaref! It is Mike's job to take you on the tour of the dump and we will attempt to get some more pictures inside the village for you to view in the near future!

The Polar Bear Plunge

The before shot. Nice and warm and dry. From left to right: Colleen, Erick, Lani, Lisa, Mike, Amy, Pastor's Friend (I don't remember his name : / )

The week before school, Amy knocked on our door, "Are you ready for the polar bear plunge?" So Mike and I put on our "just in case swimsuits" and prepared for the cold of the Chukchi sea.

Another before shot, when we are at the beach and about to take the plunge. Mike is nervous.

 There are apparently rules for the plunge. In order for it to count you have to run out at least waist high, completely submerge under water and take at least a few strokes before you run back out. Our designated photographer took this photo. I may be way in front of the rest of people, but I would like to point out that Mike and Erick, the boys, were the first ones out.

Running out of the sea

 The coldest part of the whole adventure was the ride there. We rode in the back of a pick up truck, dreading the cold ride back. When running into the sea, it is as cold as you think it will be, however once your head is underwater you feel at peace and warm, the run back out of the sea just feels warmer and warmer and when standing on the ocean you don't feel as cold as you did before you went in the water. Maybe your body is just at shock and doesn't know how cold it is.

The after shot. Not quite a honeymoon in Punta Cana, but we did get a little sun in!

Another after shot. It's not really that cold, you just feel like you should be : )

After shot of the whole group.

The worst part was trying to get the sand off, because you knew you would be cold on the way back so you wanted to put socks and shoes and clothes on but not with sand in them!

 We drove very far from town before Colleen and Amy decided we were at the perfect part of the beach, about a 20 minute ride. The farther we went, the more we first timers were concerned we would be frostbitten on the way back.

Some high schoolers on a four wheeler decided to follow us down the beach to watch.

 Surprisingly the ride home actually felt warmer than the ride there!

Lani and Mike on the way back. We made it safe and sound and no one caught a cold : )

Great way to end our summer vacation before beginning or first real teaching jobs!