Takedowns and tickets

Well, hello there. How's it going? Yes, I know it's been over a week. Sorry 'bout that. Let's see, what's been up lately?

Well, first let me explain this picture you see to the left. Last weekend Nunapitchuk hosted a wrestling tournament. Very cool. Wrestlers and their coaches flew in from various villages (and Bethel, of course) for the two-day event, stayed in classrooms at the school, had a good time, and...oh yeah...wrestled. Now, I've never been a huge fan of wrestling. Unless you count the period of time back when I was, oh, in elementary school, when my brother and I watched professional wrestling (ah, the glory days of the Junkyard Dog and the Bushwackers). But anyways, yeah, honest-to-goodness wrestling never appealed to me. Maybe it was the unitards, maybe the sweaty, groping dudes. I don't know. But in the short time I was there on Saturday afternoon watching the kids' matches, I have to say...very cool. It was neat to see some of the kids who are, how shall I put this...not the most behaved, engaged students...really doing something they enjoy, being intense, caring about something. I dunno, I might put sports on a slightly higher plane than some, but to me it's about more than phy-ed and an excuse to travel on weekends, you know? Plus, watching matches that I actually cared about (considering I knew some of the kids from subbing), I was able to really get into them, and as such started to understand the rules and the scoring, etc. More interesting sport then I previously thought, I'll give it that.

Anyways, another reason it was cool was that it brought a lot of people in to town that Sara hadn't seen in a while, and others we had seen recently but that it's always good to see. Some of the wrestlers from Quinhagak (the village she was in the last 2 years) were students of hers, so she got to see them again, which I know she enjoyed. Huzzah.

Let's see, what else? Oh, we got our tickets mostly taken care of for getting back to Wisconsin for the holidays. It's going to be an adventure, of course...but it always is, I guess, so at least we know what to expect. I'll be flying back a little early with the dog, to save both a little cash and a little headache that would ensue with both of us traveling, with Loki, a day or two before Christmas. This way, we figure, I can deal with the dog and not be rushed (in case weather causes problems for dog-flight), and Sara can hop on whatever plane is going the right direction without worry about such issues, seeing as the earliest she can possibly get out of here is the 22nd. Like I said, it'll be an adventure, but hey...that's how it goes.

Other than that, not much to report from the not-yet-frozen tundra. Days are getting noticeably shorter, but no sticking snow so far. Don't worry, pictures of Loki romping through the white stuff are surely not far away...