Today the second and third graders from McNeil Elementary School and Mrs. Boone's second grade from Paul Banks Elementary made their yearly pilgrimage to Seldovia on the Alaska State Ferry System.Seldovia is a quaint village off the road system in Alaska. It lies across the bay from us and it is where I move to in my, "I need solitude" fantasies.
I was excited that I was able to join Falcom and his class on a trip to my fantasy town until about 3 in the morning when Marina came in and told me that a tsunami was breaking at the foot of our house and that she was scared. We laid there together and I told her that dreams of tsunami was just one way for God to scrub our karma and as I was explaining I heard what had inspired her dreams. The wind was blowing 40 to 60mph into our open sail of a house. As I whispered softly to her, "It's just a storm coming in honey...go back to sleep." I was yelling to myself, "The ride to Seldovia is going to be full of barfing kids! Oh No!"
I was to meet them at the ferry terminal at 10:30 and from the wind and white caps I was praying that the trip would be cancelled. I did not want to be in charge of any puking children. I buckled down, got tough, and got my group: Falcom, Kiriana, and Elizaveta. These two girls are Russian Old Believer kids. They were wearing beautiful sparkling dresses. My son had not even remembered to bring his rain coat from school. (Even though I reminded him a dozen times). We got on board and as did all the kids, we started eating. I thought, "Well, at least when all these kids start going, the puke will be fresh." I took every barf bag I could find and stowed them away, I was ready.
In the Russian Old Believer culture, there are a lot of rules about diet and music and hanging around non-believers. They can't share food. They can't eat off plates that aren't brand new or their own. They can't do music. Now this Kiriana (holding guitar) must have more liberal parents than Elizaveta because she knows all the Hannah Montana songs and also knows how to pose for the camera. On the ferry she asked me about Falcom liking to do girls stuff. I asked her why she likes vanilla ice cream and we talked about how you can't really say why you like things, that you just do. I don't know if the talk helped, but, they played Barbies and pool and then got on these guitars and really jammed.
I hope these pictures I took of the girls don't get them in trouble with their parents. But they were just so cute. We tried to go on a hike, in the pouring rain.
And it worked until Kiriana fell into the mud. Then we were back at the Boys and Girls Club. We took a tour of the school given by the third graders and then we went back to the Boys and Girls Club. After school they were able to crank the music and put on the microphone. Then the kids really had a blast! It was fun to hear the kids reaction to Falcom..."Did he just sing that or was it the CD?" "Did he make that up or did he know it already." "Falcom, I like you when you sing."
After a while, other adults started coming to the Club. The place was getting so full and I knew that if we didn't try to make it to the museum they may never let me chaperon again, and so I bundled them up and off we went to the general store for an ice cream, then off to the museum being educational each time we could lift our heads without being blinded by raindrops.
We got to the museum and then huffed it over to the Slough, w
here the tide was high and the scene so picturesque, but all I could see when I would look behind me was this:
And so, I huffed us back at a good clip to the ferry dock where we climbed back on board the ferry, found our table, and proceeded to eat, again.
An hour an a half later we were back in Homer, tired, cold, and fortunately, with stomachs still full.
I was excited that I was able to join Falcom and his class on a trip to my fantasy town until about 3 in the morning when Marina came in and told me that a tsunami was breaking at the foot of our house and that she was scared. We laid there together and I told her that dreams of tsunami was just one way for God to scrub our karma and as I was explaining I heard what had inspired her dreams. The wind was blowing 40 to 60mph into our open sail of a house. As I whispered softly to her, "It's just a storm coming in honey...go back to sleep." I was yelling to myself, "The ride to Seldovia is going to be full of barfing kids! Oh No!"
I was to meet them at the ferry terminal at 10:30 and from the wind and white caps I was praying that the trip would be cancelled. I did not want to be in charge of any puking children. I buckled down, got tough, and got my group: Falcom, Kiriana, and Elizaveta. These two girls are Russian Old Believer kids. They were wearing beautiful sparkling dresses. My son had not even remembered to bring his rain coat from school. (Even though I reminded him a dozen times). We got on board and as did all the kids, we started eating. I thought, "Well, at least when all these kids start going, the puke will be fresh." I took every barf bag I could find and stowed them away, I was ready.
In a sweeping bit of good luck, the pessimist in me was thwarted when the sea was relatively calm and not one kid on the entire ship puked! Yea!
Rain... it rained the entire day. As parent chaperones we were given a handbook describing in thorough detail every educational opportunity we should be offering our students. I looked at my group of three. I considered my inner barometer of patience. 
I evaluated the amount of rain that was falling and I marched us immediately over to the playground. When the girls were tired of being wet (two minutes into this picture of swinging) we walked right over to the Boys and Girls club where the three of them delighted in that big Seldovian living room.
I evaluated the amount of rain that was falling and I marched us immediately over to the playground. When the girls were tired of being wet (two minutes into this picture of swinging) we walked right over to the Boys and Girls club where the three of them delighted in that big Seldovian living room.
In the Russian Old Believer culture, there are a lot of rules about diet and music and hanging around non-believers. They can't share food. They can't eat off plates that aren't brand new or their own. They can't do music. Now this Kiriana (holding guitar) must have more liberal parents than Elizaveta because she knows all the Hannah Montana songs and also knows how to pose for the camera. On the ferry she asked me about Falcom liking to do girls stuff. I asked her why she likes vanilla ice cream and we talked about how you can't really say why you like things, that you just do. I don't know if the talk helped, but, they played Barbies and pool and then got on these guitars and really jammed.And it worked until Kiriana fell into the mud. Then we were back at the Boys and Girls Club. We took a tour of the school given by the third graders and then we went back to the Boys and Girls Club. After school they were able to crank the music and put on the microphone. Then the kids really had a blast! It was fun to hear the kids reaction to Falcom..."Did he just sing that or was it the CD?" "Did he make that up or did he know it already." "Falcom, I like you when you sing."After a while, other adults started coming to the Club. The place was getting so full and I knew that if we didn't try to make it to the museum they may never let me chaperon again, and so I bundled them up and off we went to the general store for an ice cream, then off to the museum being educational each time we could lift our heads without being blinded by raindrops.
The roof of this store was covered with seagulls and Elizaveta was completely enthralled.
We got to the museum and then huffed it over to the Slough, w
here the tide was high and the scene so picturesque, but all I could see when I would look behind me was this: 
And so, I huffed us back at a good clip to the ferry dock where we climbed back on board the ferry, found our table, and proceeded to eat, again.
An hour an a half later we were back in Homer, tired, cold, and fortunately, with stomachs still full.
1 comment:
wow!! Quite a day!
i love seldovia, too, especially when it's sunshiney.
Great pics.
Priceless kids!
Post a Comment