At 4:50 the airline called. "Ten minutes out!" The principal and I hopped on the snow machine and rushed up to the airstrip. As soon as the plane landed the pilot jumped out, grabbed my gear, jumped back in and we took off. I looked down at the village below. Good-bye Koyuk. Good-bye Clarence and Dee Dee and Steven. Goodbye Koyuk School. The village of Elim was next.

Elim is pronounced Ee-lim. The village is 96 miles east of Nome. It was formerly the Malemuit Inupit Eskimo village called Nuviakchak. The people live a subsistence lifestyle. Average winter temperatures range between 8 and -8 degrees. Snowfall, approximately 80 inches. Population: 306. Value of an average home- around $60,000, rents- about $355.00 per month. 33% of the homes have no indoor plumbing, 51% heat with wood and 61% do not have a phone. Once we landed, I slung my gear up onto my back and headed towards the building that looked most likely to be the school.

The door was locked. I banged and banged on it until I heard light footsteps on the other side. "Is anyone there?' I called. I heard a little laugh. "Hey, open up!" I yelled. No reply. I put my mouth to the door and went, "Meow!" That did it, the door pushed open a crack and someone ran away. I stepped inside and looked up the stairs. Suddenly a little girl jumped out, yelled "EEEK GOSSACK!!" And ran away.

I looked around. Where was the office? Then a little dog ran up, sat down and cocked his head at me. "Do YOU know where the office is?" I jokingly asked it. And with that, the dog jumped up and started down the stairs. When I didn't follow, he stopped and looked back at me as if to say, "Well?" So I followed him and he escorted me right to the office.

"I see you've met Selma," came a voice. I looked around. "Selma's the dog. Hi. I'm the principal here." "Nice to meet you", I said, shaking hands. "I hear that you are making a book about Alaska's REAL hero dog. It's about time, is all I have to say," she said. Someone took our picture. Kids began to peek into the office. "Gossack!" they screamed and laughed. "What's a Gossack?" I asked the principal. "Oh, it's a slang term for a white person," she said. "Friendly or derogatory?" "Oh, usually derogatory."

Elim is a beautiful village, especially in the evening. And it is a busy place at night- people buzzing around on snow machines, kids sledding and adults "going visiting." The kids were very friendly and joined me as a group while I walked around. They all wanted "piggy-back" rides, and most of them got 'em.

In the morning I went for a quiet walk around the village. A woman came up to me and asked, "Do you have blubber in your pockets?" "Excuse me?" I asked. She said, "You should carry fat in your pockets because polar bears can be hard to see and if you come up on a polar bear, you can throw the fat at him. Then he will go for the blubber which will maybe give you a chance to run away." "Thanks for the information!" I said.

I was lucky enough not to come face to face with a polar bear in Elim. I visited with many students and made lots of new friends. But finally it was time to go. I hitched a ride up to the airstrip and waited for the plane with a woman. "Here it comes, "she said. I squinted into the sky, I strained to hear....nothing. Then, about a minute later, a plane appeared in the sky. I was soon on my way to my last village, Golovin.