Cultural Experience Saturday!

We had Cultural Experience Day on Saturday. We learned a bit more about Inupiat culture and did some really cool stuff. 

This is a picture out the window by the gym. I was trying to get a picture of the darkness and lights in the distance. I'm standing in Barrow and I'm looking at the lights in Browerville. It was dark at 8am!

I had cooking class first. This was the mess we made cutting up the walrus. We used the ulu to cut it up. It was difficult to cut through the skin. We cut the pieces up into long strips with skin, blubber and meat attached. 

We added water and salt and let it boil for about 2 hours. We added rice to it. 

This is matuk aka whale. The pink part is the blubber and the black part is the skin. We cut it up into log strips and fried it. 

This is a goose. 

We were shown how the Inupiat pluck and chop up duck for stew. This is similar to the way we make stew. The only difference is that we use root vegetables in our stew. Veggies don't grow up here. 

Walrus boiling

Two large pots for the teachers. 

Duck stew

Our yummy lunch! We also had eskimo donuts which are my absolute favorite!

Toby and me at the museum

Best part of the day... drums and dancing. 

We learned that the best drums are made from the membrane of a whale's organs. You really can tell the difference in the sound. 

It was a great time learning more about the Inupiat culture. The other villages got to go camping. I'm sad but totally understand safety first. There's been some bear sightings out at the point where the whales were butchered. 

What a great way to spend my Saturday!

The girls spent the day at home hanging out with their girlfriends and playing Xbox Adventures and Just Dance. They finished the night with laser tag at the Rec Center. They had a blast!