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Johnny's Journal, Part Twenty-Four: Alaska, Here I Come! :) (By Johnny, 12) by Karen Lynn Vidra, The Texas Tornado
Saturday, April 9, 2005
Rated "G" by the Author.
Johnny and his big sister, Barbara, are leaving for the airport in an hour; they are going to Alaska for a week, and as you can see, Johnny is past excited. :)
Saturday, April 9, 2005, 1:11 p.m. (the "Big Countdown" is on, folks!...)~
Dear Journal~
You never will guess where I am going in about an hour: in less than an hour, we will be leaving for the airport, meaning maman, Barbara, and myself. Ronee' is coming along, too, but she is staying behind (HEE). Well, ANYWAY, Barbara and I will be starting our vacation today, and we are going to Alaska! We will be going to Barrow, Alaska, to spend a week with Sikik Grace Eegeesiak, who is a friend of maman's, and she is Inuk. She doesn't live in an igloo (she has a house), but she and her family speak Inutpiat, the language of the Inuit, and they also speak English; so at least I don't have to worry about THAT! :) Where they live in Barrow, it is cold, and it is cold much of the year round; and even though it is spring now, it won't LOOK or FEEL like spring there in Barrow. Chances are, it will be very cold, and there will be lots of snow on the ground, so it will look and feel more like winter there. Maman and Sikik have been emailing each other for about a year now, and they met last year when we went to Alaska, and they have been keeping in touch ever since. I met her too, and she was very nice.
Sikik Grace Eegeesiak (now is THAT a name, or WHAT??) has four sisters and eight brothers, and they all live in or around Barrow. Sikik just lost her mother, so she is probably very sad. She is healthy, doesn't have any health problems, and she is very cute. She is short, but fat, and she has long, straight, jet-black hair, uptilted black eyes, and a round, dark face; and she is always smiling it seems (or at least she was when I saw her last year; I don't think she is doing much smiling now, that her mother has died and that her father is sick). Her father is in the hospital; he has cancer, and from what I hear, he isn't doing very well.
Sikik doesn't work, but she does stay home and take care of the dogs they have, and she also takes care of her father (but now he is sick, and he is in the hospital). Her brothers do work, and so do two of her sisters; the other two don't work because they are going to school full-time. Still, they have no problems in paying their bills, and they also get money from the state of Alaska because they are natives, so that helps them out a lot.
Sikik asked maman a while back if I could come to Alaska, and after giving it some thought, maman said yes, but I would have to have Barbara go with me because I am in a wheelchair and I need a lot of extra help. My helping dog, "Ginger", is also going to Alaska, and she knows that something big is going to happen; she is looking around, her eyes all glittery, and smiling her doggy face off! :) But it is going to be interesting to see her trying to walk on the ice and snow! :) It is also going to be interesting for Barbara when she tries to push my wheelchair across the ice and snow! YIKES!
I am looking forward to this trip to Alaska, but at the same time I am nervous. What if I have to eat seal meat or walrus meat? What if I have to eat some whale? ICK! That doesn't sound too good! I also am nervous because I don't speak Inutpiat, and I am afraid that Sikik's family will laugh because I am so pale in comparison to their dark skins. I also am scared that I will meet a polar bear, and I will end up as polar bear food! What do I do if I were to meet up with a bear?? I'd be in a whole world of hurt, that is for DARN sure!
I will be keeping you up to date on what I am doing in Alaska, and I will let you know how my trip is going. ANYWAY, I am looking forward to seeing the Northern Lights, and I am looking forward to seeing Sikik Eegeesiak again and getting to meet her family! This is going to be fun!
See you; gotta' eat so I can take my afternoon meds; and then it is OFF TO THE AIRPORT! WHEEE!! Alaska, here I come! :)
Saturday, April 9, 2005, 1:11 p.m. (the "Big Countdown" is on, folks!...)~
