Welcome to Quinhagak

It is Monday morning and it is time to make our way to Quinhagak. After a wonderful breakfast Nick, Ashley, and I call a taxi to take us to the airport. We get all checked in and then wait patiently for our flight. Not surprisingly our flight was delayed for a couple of hours do to wind in the early hours of the morning.   

 

Nick is shocked that our flight was delayed for a couple of hours do to weather. Ashley in her styling purple snow pants is enjoying the carefree time at the airport.

Nick looks so excited, not sure if he got enough coffee this morning at breakfast. 
I on the other hand just don't like my photo taken. On the far left is our experienced pilot.

Safe Landing

After a short flight we made it to Quinhagak where we were greeted by the principal shortly after landing. This was good because the Quinhagak airport is a bit outside the village and it would have been quite a trek with our luggage. We were comfortably transported to the school and allowed to settle in to our new accommodations, the library loft. Lucky for us we wouldn't have to pack and unpack everyday, but could safely leave our stuff in the library. Unluckily, we were informed that the library is haunted, we were willing to take the risk. The kitchen staff let us store our food in the fridge and as we became acquainted with the teachers a couple offered up their classroom microwaves for use during our stay.

 

Quinhagak Airport

The Surprise of the Quinhagak School Bus and Windmill

We got a quick tour of the school and were introduced to several teachers. It was very interesting to see a school bus among the many snow machines and four wheelers  parked at the school. The school bus was something I was not expecting to see in a rural village. The bus is used help transport students with handicaps and it is the special education teacher who happens to have a CDL to drive the bus. Also unique to Quinhagak is the well groomed gravel roads. Apparently the nice gravel roads are there because of gravel found on the coast, lucky for Quinhagak. Of course we cannot see the gravel roads being covered in snow and ice, but travel around the village was definitely smoother because of it. One last aspect of our welcome to Quinhagak was seeing a windmill. Off in the distance was a working windmill to help produce power for the village, but we were informed that it was not currently in use. I got the vibe there were mixed feelings about having the windmill in the village. It was a busy day and we jumped right in and were invited into classrooms, but more on those experience later.

Welcome to the Quinhagak K-12 school.

Quinhagak Head Start, which is right next door to the school.

Bethel

We arrived in Bethel Super Bowl Sunday.  Since we had the rest of the day and wouldn't fly out to our respective villages until tomorrow morning, we all decided to explore the Bethel area on foot. First, we would have to catch a taxi to Bentley's Bed and Breakfast to check in and drop all our cargo off before heading out into the snow covered world of Bethel.

Waiting at the Bethel airport for taxis.

A true rural Alaska taxi.

Watching the Super Bowl and enjoying being connected to the Internet again.

Bentley's B&B

Our taxi rides were all very interesting as you can see from the photo above.  We all crammed into each taxi with all our cargo. The taxi driver I had actually drove on the river to get us to Bentley's Bed and Breakfast, which was bumpy, but really cool. We arrived at Bentley's Bed and Breakfast, which is a very bright blue building. We got settled in our rooms and decided to relax a little while before venturing out into Bethel.  After watching the Super Bowl long enough to reconnect with the world via the Internet provided by the Bentley's Bed and Breakfast WiFi it was time to wonder the streets of Bethel and find some dinner. After exploring and dinner we crashed for the night in our comfy beds.

Why can't I get cell phone reception?

Dinner, with choices :)

Expensive fruit, good thing we brought our own.

Rural Alaska prices, Ouch!

Gearing up for Quinhagak

Quinhagak, AK

In the spring of 2011 I traveled to Quinhagak, AK with two other UAF elementary student teachers, Ashley and Nick. Our travel plans would take us from Fairbanks to Anchorage to Bethel and then to the Yup'ik village of Quinhagak. In Bethel we would spend the night at the famous Bentley's Bed and Breakfast (a very bright blue building, which sticks out no matter the season) before flying out the next morning on a little airplane to Quinhagak, weather permitting of course.

A Little about the Village of Quinhagak

Quinhagak is located on the coast of the Kuskokwim Bay, which gives way to the very cold, but plentiful Bering Sea. The Kanektok River also wraps around the village. The Yup'ik for the village is is Kuinerraq, which means new river channel. It is approximately 75-100 miles south of Bethel and about 400 miles west of Anchorage. You can only access Quinhagak by airplane, the only roads are the ones located in the village. Quinhagak is a Yup'ik village intent on preserving its culture. It is one of the larger villages in the Lower Kuskokwim School District (LKSD), which is why three eager student teachers, instead of the normal group of two, were sent there. The name of the K-12 Quinhagak school is Kuinerrarmiut Elitnaurviat and if you want to see some great visual of the school visit their Facebook page. The school was founded in 1909. The population of Quinhagak is about 700 people with anywhere from 150 to 200 of its people being students. Also located in the village is a Head Start building for preschool aged children.  To get an entertaining view of the community watch the video below that was produced by the 5th graders in 2010. This made Quinhagak a little famous in the YouTube universe.  Enjoy.