By Laura Shoopman

Today we woke up and finished some more projects in the community and packed for our flight home. However, it was snowing fairly hard and we were unable to leave as scheduled. We were able to use Pastor Nick’s phone to call our parents and let them know about the change in plans. This was our first time using a phone on the entire trip because GCI is the only cell service that works in Unakaleet.

With the change in plans, the team was able to have some more flexibility with our time. Some went back to Doris’ house to finish up some more loose ends, while others stayed and talked with each other.

We went back to the Daniel’s house for caribou soup and games. The soup was really good! Afterward, we played some games, one of which was “Dutch Blitz” it was a game we had never played before, but was very easy to learn and we all enjoyed it a lot!

With graduation tomorrow, there were many dinners and celebrations for the senior students. We went to the school to celebrate three senior boys. There was about 40 people there and a spread of food. One of the favorite desserts that we tried was salmon berry (cloud berry) pie.

On our way home, we ran into a man who showed us his garage full of antlers and animals. He had just shot some geese and was getting ready to prepare them. We were in awe of his work! He also showed us a walrus skull that still had its tusks attached. He shared moose jerky and salmon jerky with us and it was really good! He came over later and showed us a presentation on Unalakleet. It explained the culture, hunting, fishing, and way of life of the town. He said that they could spend five minutes fishing and get a week’s worth of meat in five minutes of fishing.

We went to the water and the kids found us. Before we knew it, our team was surrounded by roughly 25 kids on the beach. It was our time to say goodbye, and it was a beautiful moment.