An Interesting Friday

Friday was a tough day for the students, which means it was a tough day for me.  Normally, Fridays are half days.  The students will ask me as they line up for lunch, “Lunch go home?”  This Friday, though, was a full day to make up for the half day we had on Tuesday for the funeral.  By the time lunch came around, the students were thoroughly confused as to why we aren’t “lunch go home” today.  They were restless and antsy. 

After lunch we came back to class, and I was reviewing with the students how to write a sentence.  I kept reminding them that a sentence starts with a capital and ends with a period.  One of my first-graders apparently was reminded of something she had heard before as she listened to the lesson.  She raised her hand, and when I called on her she looked at me sincerely and said, “I have a period.”  Asked her what she meant and she said, “I have my period.  I want to go home.”  I asked her where she heard that and she said, “My mom has her period.  She came home from work.”  I had to laugh.  Kids remember everything! 

Finally, when we had reached the 3:00 dismissal time, the students put up their chairs, got their papers and put on their coats and backpacks.  As they lined up, one of my students came up to me and said, “Are we going to lunch?”

After school, one of my students and her sister invited me to go to her birthday feast.  I agreed, and she said she would come to my house to get me when it was time for the feast.  At 5:00, I heard a banging on the door.  As I opened it, 4 kids rushed in and started exploring my room, saying, “It looks like Bethel in here!”  After their tour they told my roommate and me that it was time to go, and we rushed over to their house.  Inside were almost 50 people, with more filtering in.  I found a spot on the floor by the couch.  By the time they started to say grace, almost all the adults in the village were crammed into the house.  After grace, the kids started handing out candy and little gifts, like washcloths and plastic bowls.  They were stepping over people to get to everyone.  Next, the adults started handing out dinner.   They brought around paper bowls filled with moose stew and seal stew.  I had the seal, which was very dark, tough and oily.  As I ate, I had what people here call “Eskimo ice cream” balanced on my knee that I covered as people stepped over me.  The recipe is Crisco, sugar and berries.  It gets more delicious every time I eat it.  The seal will take some getting used to, though.