Alaska Part III

[leftyjew]

Monday: after breakfast

So last we left our heroes, they were about to go to the Alaska Native Heritage Museum....
We drove out there (it's about as far away as Anchorage gets from our hostel) and saw a demonstration on a native Alaskan sport where you have to jump and kick a ball that's at eye level or higher. Serious jumping skills, but not all that stimulating. The kids were teenagers or so and could really kick that ball high.
We went downstairs where I met a woman I had spoken to at the basket-weaving exhibit at the Folklife Festival last year. She is a woman of may talents. Very crafty. Shoshana's mother type (even though I've never met Shoshana's mother). Most of the museum is outside, though. Outside, they have villages set up sorta like "typical" villages in the four regions of Alaska - Inupiaq in the north, Yup'iq/Chup'iq in the west, Athabascan in the interior (including Dena'ai), Aleut and Alutiiq in the southwest (the Aleutian Islands), and various groups in the Panhandle including the Tlingit.
I can go on for a whilee about what I learned here, but I will probably get a lot wrong. Here are some interesting tidbits which maybe arctic_alpine can fill in more about:

• Most native Alaskans live in rooms built into the ground. I felt like I was walking through a hobbit village


• All of the people working at the displays were native Alaskans. It felt so much friendlier and realer than any similar minority exhibit I saw in China (so much better than the presentation where I cried at the dehumanization - "可爱的老套儿"). People were modern and real and just exemplifying what they do. It's like if I was sitting down and explaining tefillin to my non-Jewish friends. Except that they didn't mention religion at all. At all. Part of this could also be that most of the folks there were high school or just post-high school. They were my-ish generation - at least people I could relate to. It seems like it's a pretty cool summer job. Anyway, big props to the museum for representing people in a respectful way.


• Polar bears will hunt people for food. People have learned to hunt polar bears. They use baleen cut into jagged weapons and then put that in a hunk of seal meat. While the bear digests the seal meat, it is torn apart from the inside. 15 hours later, you can bring home a bear.


• Alaskan natives tended to have multiple camps - winter spring summer or fall, all they have to do is qayaq and they'll be there (yes they will) together again. They call the winter camp their home


• Seal skin is awesome.


• The Aleut kid explained troubled times as "storms." "There were two storms in our history - The Russian occupation [the period from the late-1700s to mid-1800s when Russians forced Aleuts to hunt sea otters for their pelts even though otters are considered the animal closest to humans and hunting of them is traditionally forbidden] and WWII [when America forced all Aleuts into internment camps 'for their safety' after some outer islands were occupied by the Japanese]." arctic_alpine mentioned that the climate is so stormy on those islands that it makes sense to see historical travesties like storms that pass. She also noted that it speaks to an old and self-aware culture.


• There's a really neat form of yo-yo that the Aleut have (or was that the Tsamishan?). Apparently it's to train skills with a flying snare thing.


• Qayaqs are really cool, too. And sewing is men's work, cuz who's gonna fix your clothes when you're out hunting?


• I know that sarahrubin would be particularly excited for the Tlingit exhibit, so I paid attention there. I learned about matriarchal moieties (raven and crow - these are notably different than my friend Adam's aboriginal Australian moiety both in name and structure), and totem poles, and a bit about other things. The region where Tlingit (and Tsamishan, etc) live is a temperate rainforest. Lots of trees (most Alaskans relied on driftwood for wood). Lots of life. Decent weather. You seemed to get a lot more social organization in this setup - both with the various languages and groups and with the subgroups within the groups, and within each group, there is more complexity. It makes sense (thank you Maslow).


• It bothers me to look at people with too many piercings - one kid had a lip ring and those lobe inserts. Kinds gross if you ask me. I wonder if it's traditional (doubt it) or a reaction against.... something

We also heard some singing and dancing before going outside (one song about drinking whiskey/cola) and left. The dance/song group seemed was a bunch of high school or just-past-high-school kids. (again - props to the museum for creating a casual environment where people can be themselves) Their social interaction reminded me of every other group of teenagers I've ever seen, but it was weird to see it on stage :) I wonder who had a crush on whom. There was one cute girly girl in the group. The other girls were neither as superficial-looking nor as made up.
Oh! I also met an artist who I've heard of. I might have seen his things at thee Museum of the American Indian in DC. (You really get a lot out of being in DC. I like it!) He talked to us about his works and he's a pretty cool guy. I think I might go to the national pow-wow to meet him again! George Something(?). I bought one of his T-shirts, but no the one I wanted because they didn't have my size.
Okay, so after the museo, we got falafel at the only kosher restaurant in Anchorage (thanks, alanscottevil!) and met Amy W. She's very cool. So were the falafel-shop-owning Israelis. The falafel was better than Amsterdam (though not as many toppings) and Amy claims the shwarma is great. Anyway, Amy is cool and told us about moose dropping lip balm and moose dropping earrings and about her time in Katyuska(?) and about her time in Anchorage and about being a math teacher. We ate outside and had a pitcher of water. It was nice. Good fries, too (better than in Israel, for sure)!
Then we returned to the hostel for an afternoon bike ride along the Coastal Trail....(to be continued)

Comments

[tobeginagain.livejournal.com]

Thanks for these updates. I'm really enjoying learning and hearing all about your travels.

[arctic-alpine.livejournal.com]

very good fries at felafel king. i think i stole like half of yours. i think katyusha is rocket not a village but you never know. do you realize your on update III but day 1? thats why ive bogged down with journal writing, too damn much happened, i dont have time to write it down.

[leftyjew.livejournal.com]

Then what's that village name we kept coming across? Katsuya?

[alanscottevil.livejournal.com]

That's so cool!! (the whole alaska thing so far)
And you met up with that blogger too!