Hallelujah Night

Happy Halloween!  Instead of celebrating Halloween here, they have "Hallelujah Night" at the school, hosted by the Friends Church.  The night starts off with a "picnic lunch"--sandwiches, chips, apples, and juice.  Next everyone sings some songs, hosted by the minister/priest.  There was also a costume contest.  We voted for "best costume"-- kids that dressed up as biblical characters filed around the gym and we cheered.  The finale of the night was games for the kids.  They divided the kids into age groups and had games with prizes.  Everyone was sent away with a bag of treats.  In Noatak, they have Hallelujah Night in place of Halloween activities, like trick or treating.  

Today:  11 degrees... the sun peeked above the mountains at 11:00 am....dipped below mountains at 6:00 pm

In other news...
I ate "muktuk" the other day...whale meat!  It was oily and VERY fishy.  One of the teachers brought it in during lunch and I tried some.  Also, the elementary teachers have a little pot luck every other week and we ate reindeer meat for one lunch..maaaan was it good!  My kids gave me a Inupiaq name too, but they couldn't decide on just one, so I have two:  Saumik (so-mik) and Ivalu (iv-u-luu). So my new name is Kayla Jeanne Saumik Ivalu Ryynanen :)

We had an adventure on the way to school the other day.  I always walk over to Alision's house to get her and we walk together.  Well, on Friday we were a little later, so we met Timm along the way. He told us that the lakes were frozen, so we could take the short cut--over two lakes and the tundra.  Well it turns out that with no snow (can you believe there is no snow..it's just been FREEZING) it's quite difficult.  The ice was quite slippery and the tundra was..treacherous, it's very 'knobby.'  Regardless, we made it safe and sound.  Once there is snow, it will really cut off a lot of time!

Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 2, 2009 at 1:10 PM

    hi kayla!! I love reading about your adventures up there.. sounds amazing! that's a sweet twist on our traditional Halloween.. much better!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Edwards BunchNovember 3, 2009 at 6:47 PM

    Hi- made a blog so I could comment:) Their Halloween tradition is interesting. It's kinda neat how they dress up as biblical characters instead of witches, ghosts, and devils. Also, I am pretty proud of you for eating whale meat!

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Pietila'sNovember 4, 2009 at 8:19 PM

    Thanks ladies! It was fun to be part of! I hope all is well with you!

    ReplyDelete

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