On the Schedule for Today:
- Get Vans and get organized
- Buy Food
- Possibly Native Heritage Center
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Report from the Science Committee:
Temperature (High/Low): 81 / 60
Altitude (High/Low): 286 / 276
Weather Conditions: Morning was sunny and clear, and afternoon was sunny and partly cloudy
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Daily Report from the Journalism Committee:
Our First Full Day
Amanda Labun
June 18, 2008
Our first full day in Alaska started out at 8 a.m. We all woke up, got ready, and ate breakfast. After breakfast participants went outside to play games, like volleyball, catch, or even soccer. People also called their parents to let them know we arrived safely or even just talked to their friends.
Soon after, we all gathered around Ishtar and had a meeting. Most of the adults went to retrieve the vans we would be riding in for the next three weeks. We were told that we could pair up and roam around town, to see what is around us. The group met back at the church at 10 a.m. kids played the piano, John Chmura shared his guitar skills with others, and we had pillow fights, or just sat around and talked. Either way we all had a good time.
After the vans approached around 12:30 p.m. we went and ate lunch, we had pizza and pop! Soon after we got in our vans for the very first time, and set off to go to the Alaska Native Heritage Center. While there, Katie Slaght, Roni Ranville, and I participated in the Heritage dances. We all walked around outside and looked at the houses that people use to live in and the objects that they used to make, for instance bags made out of moose heart sacks. Inside there were people who showed you how to make visors, or who talked about the stories behind their artwork.
Around 4 p.m. we left and headed to the grocery store. Some people went to Carr’s and others went to Fred Meyer. We all had to buy snacks for the long van rides around Alaska. When we walked in everybody was grabbing food and throwing it in their baskets. Only a few minutes later everybody was paying and leaving.
When we got back to the church everybody hung out with each other. At 7 p.m. we ate dinner, we had baked potatoes, with chili, cheese, sour cream, and all of that good stuff. Soon following dinner people got ready to go to Palmer High School to go swimming and take our first showers yet. At 10 p.m. we left the High School to go back to the church. When we arrived at the church we started getting ready for bed. At 11 p.m. lights went out and everybody layed there and tried to get to sleep. But since we had the four-hour change in time, and it is light in Alaska all day and night, it made it hard to go to sleep. People finally started to fall asleep around 11:30 p.m.
That was our first full day in Alaska. It was a fun and interesting day. I never thought that I would get the chance to travel with a group of people to Alaska, and even if I did I didn’t think that I would want to take it. Now I am very glad that I took advantage of the chance to travel here, it is beautiful up here. It is a very good opportunity and if you ever get the chance then take advantage of it. Alaska is amazing; everywhere you go you see beautiful mountains that reach the clouds. Everything here looks fake; it is so unreal that we are here. So if you do get the chance, then take it, because it’s a once in a lifetime chance, and you never know if you’ll ever get the opportunity again.
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