Gil-net fishing

It's 7:35 am (here) and today we head off to staff retreat. No showering and no toilets for a week. In theory I am excited for this. If I can go swimming everyday, I'll go a few days without showering. There's a sort of thrill in this to just not care about being dirty. I discovered this on PWILD. If everyone else is dirty too, well then there's no reason to look good!  I'm attempting to wear no make-up for the duration that I am here. We'll see how that goes!

This week I'll be without my laptop so my blog posts may not be extensive. Thanks to the IPHONE though I can blog from the road! O the wonders of technology. We can communicate anytime, anywhere. Good thinking dad. "Everyone's gonna want a cellphone"...Betsy "No one will want these things"...Oh Aunt Betsy I probably would have said the same thing. But now it's so ingrained in my life I can't imagine being without it! I'm sure I'd be fine, but I do enjoy Snapchat.

Before we head off, I've got to tell about gil-net fishing. I'm cosily sitting on my top bunk and the room is dark. So I'm nice and warm and can talk about fishing with a smile instead of shivering. Before I begin, I want to say I dedicate this experience to my dad. You'd be proud! Sorta. When and why did you catch fish in Alaska? One of the odd stories I'll have to ask about.

Layers--jeans & rainpants, shirt, fleece, sweatshirt, and coat...rainboots. I felt prepared to be warm no matter how cold it was. False! We drove to the dock and I was chilly the moment I stepped out of the KBM van. Walking along the wooden peer, all the fishing boats with their storied names like "Marian Kay" watch and wonder. We stepped onto a bigger boat and put on life jackets. That made me a bit warmer. Kyle Sebastian, the city boy, pointed out the newness of this world for him. We all stepped into a smaller silver boat and set off along the coastline. When I tasted the saltiness of a wave, I realized that this was the ocean! There are sharks, whales, sea creatures in that thing.  fdklfjdlakfj makes me shiver. We did see a ginormous seal. Man that thing was so hefty that if he moved, I bet he just rolled off into the water. Splat. He didn't move the whole time we were out in the water! When we came back he was still splayed on his stomach, but a skinnier seal friend had joined him. This one gave us a bit of a show and jumped into the water. He/she seal was pretty massive as well so that I can say I never want to swim with one of those things. The movie Andre, what was that about? So anyway, we rode in the boat across the ocean for awhile, and I faced the back because the rain hitting my face was cold. Stevie and Shelby kept pointing out seals and everytime I would turn around the seals would pop their heads back in the water. It was a game of sorts.  I watched the island hills blanketed in fog. The wind turbines peeked through the fog in an eerie way...sci-fi-esque as if they were the blades of a battleship. The sage water mirrored the forest green hills--emerald jewels reflecting the color of another. So beautiful I wish I could put a house on the shore and just watch the waves and trees in the wind.  Kyle Sebastian said, "See I'm looking into the future, and you're looking into the past," philosophizing, and making a metaphor of the fact I faced the back. I realized that he's right. I do wonder about the past, contemplate the choices I made to understand who I am in the now. I don't see this as a negative thing. If I only thought about the future, then I'd have no basis for understanding what I want/don't want. I know by experience what I don't want.

What I do want is to be brave. To jump into experiences that make me hesitate. I love the feeling that comes with spontaneity. I feel most rejuvenated when I live life unplanned...100% my favorite way to live! Of course I see the value of plan and have implemented that into my life, especially at NU. But I've found that when my life lacks spontaneity, I, as an artist, writer, creator, friend lack a joy that is central to who God made me to be. It is such fun to have an unexpected connections and conversations--these moments often inspire and energize me, and I love that. The good thing is, I know that God knows who I am, so I can trust that he will provide these routes of spontaneity. My acting teachers always say, "The casting directors want you to do good. They want you to be awesome so you can play their part." Well I believe God feels the same way. He wants me to be the best me so he is going to help me be that me. Whatever that means. But I can trust that I don't have to put all my energy into making life the most exciting it can be because I know that God will provide exactly what I need, I just have to remember to see my circumstances that way.

Woahhh I really digressed from my story about gil-net fishing! And I haven't even gotten to the most exciting part. The fishing. Well we cast the net about fifty feet from shore. Steven, one of the camp directors, said that if we jumped in the water we'd have about a 50% chance of making it to shore. Hypothermia would get us. (Titanic mind jump here). Since I was already feeling cold, I didn't want to test his theory!  Anyway, we had to wait awhile and re-adjust the net and continually move the boat back from the shore. The funny part was, Steven would tell us to move to the back of the boat to make room for this guy to adjust the net. So all us girls would struggle to get around one another and get to the back of the boat. Then he'd tell us to move to the side. The front. Kept us on our toes I'll say. Finally, a salmon swam into our net! I was talking to Steven about something and all of a sudden he exclaimed, "We got one!" It was so exciting that I didn't even mind that he stopped listening (hehe). He explained that the seals know what we are doing and if we are not quick enough they will pick the salmon from the net. LAME. get your own salmon seal. Then another fish got caught in the net and another! It was hard to tell because of the waves, but to see a silvery lump slip into the net!

After awhile we had to reel the net in slowly. Stevie, Shelby, and I picked kelp and seaweed out of the net while Clay curled it into a donut shape. The kelp looked like knots of hair, but the seaweed was a pretty translucent green. I almost took a bite. At one point, Clay started putting up the net pretty fast and we tried to keep grabbing the kelp and it was a mess because the boat was rocking and I don't have very good balance (which I learned in gymnastics...horrible at the balance beam!), so needless to say I started dreaming about hot cider and a warm blanket. But it was fun to work with my hands, to be so gritty and outdoorsy for once. I don't think I could do that often and I admire fisherman who live that life. Not for me. (One job I can check off the list). Through this process we brought in three shiny, blue, slippery salmon (and one flounder that we threw back into the ocean!). Oo they were so pretty. With our fish caught and our net retrieved, we rode the boat back to the dock. Shelby, Stevie, and I held onto this rail as if we were about to fall, and Shelby goes "gun it"...then the boat moved forward really slowly. Very anti-climatic. Riding back across the ocean, took a pit stop by the fat seal and his skinny friend. Back to the shore. Onto the big boat. Across the dock. Into the KBM van to go clean the fish!

Here's where I'm kinda lame. I just stood and watched because I hate blood. Steven cut into the salmon and oh my goodness I couldn't move. Stevie, Clay, Shelby, and Kyle ate the fish eggs. There is no way on earth I would do that. Hope they don't get sick! Stevie and Shelby took the salmon splays and washed them off. I really didn't want to touch them. The thought of putting my fingers into the gil just made me shiver. I could never be a doctor! But it was cool to see the process of catching fish and preparing them for cooking! Felt very self-sufficient. I think I'm more suited for writing poetry than catching fish...On the ride back to KBM I thought about how people work, people have jobs to provide ease and convenience for other people. If people didn't want convenience, what jobs would there be? A society where everyone plays a part and share's everything would provide convenience but also make sure everyone is provided for. But the way our world is set up now, people's livelihood depends on the demand for convenience. I want to eat salmon while living in Evanston, IL, so some fisherman in Alaska does all the work for me. I have no connection to him/her yet our lives our connected in some strange way. What if he lost his job? Would I care? Our world is connected and disconnected simultaneously. Everyone, every thing, every moment is a thousand stories of joy or pain or both. So much unknown.

Once back at the mission, I immediately took off the layers to get the wet off me.  Then we cooked the salmon. Stevie and Drew, the cook, collaborated. It was tasty. MMMM. Butter and lemon pepper, skilleted then baked. Real good.  I've been strangely continuously neverendingly hungry on this trip (possibly because of that first day hiking), so I ate a LOT  when we got back from fishing. Honey net cheerios. Salmon. Halibut enchiladas. Wheat bread. So much that I'm not very hungry for breakfast now. That's now the past pattern to adopt. On the topic of food, I'm slightly nervous for this staff retreat because Clay said we'll be eating hot dogs and chili with fritos....uhhhhh my digestive system is going to struggle...I need vegetables. I'll bring some nuts and an orange along, and make do.  Clay taught me about this plant that's sour when you bite into it. Like sour straws. I'll distract myself with that.  Oh and the rain. It'll be rainy for the duration of our time on staff retreat. I do like rain. I love the smell and the look and the feel. So that will be beautiful.

It's a good morning, and I'm excited to brush my teeth, get some Honey-net cheerios, and head off on staff retreat. Hope you have a good day too : )