Arctic Adventures

Well, I am officially on "Alaska Time" or "Village Time."  My watch broke the other day, and I was freaking out about it when someone informed me, "It's okay.  There is no real time up here."  Which is definitely true.  No one is really in a rush.  The only thing that starts on time, it seems, is school.  In other words, the Ryynanens and Daavettilas would do well up here :) I put in another full weekend of work, but I don't think I got ahead at all.  We are trying to figure out what works the best to meet the needs of the kids, so we keep trying different schedules and groupings to find what works.  Our principal is very helpful and laid back.  He wants us to tell him what we should do.  He figures we know the kids and their needs more and takes our input very seriously. On Friday, Mark and Lori had a bunch of us over for dinner.  It was absolutely wonderful!  One of the guys they had over travels all over, working on things for the villages and s...

My rain coat and boots have been coming in pretty handy lately.  It has rained for the last few days, quite constantly.  It has been pretty dreary, which is fine because then I don't feel so guilty about working so late :) I got a new student today.  He was enrolled yesterday, so I knew he was coming, but I did not know when he was coming. He seemed to fit in well with the class, so we will see how it goes.  This morning was a great morning, but the afternoon was a little exhausting.  I am learning how to keep EVERY minute structured.  No free time for these kiddos... yet.  Hopefully, we will get to that point eventually.  So far, the kids aren't too pumped on my structure and rules.  Hopefully, they stop testing me soon and find their boundaries:) Mara would not do well here because the kids keep telling me I talk to fast!  "Adii Teacher you talk toooo faaaaast.  Sloooow doooownnnnnn."  I am working on it....

We had a meeting after school today, and I signed up to teach HOME EC in the evenings.  Oh, dear.  We'll see if any of my cooking skills are up to par....I think that I might be able to handle teaching them how to cook Ramen! haha Today was a great day in school.  The kids are getting to know me and I am getting to know them and their needs.   My cable was finally hooked up last night.  The cable dude was over last week two times, but it never worked.  Now I am connected to the rest of the world...Internet, TV, Phone :) yay!

I had my first mishap of cultural differences today.  I have been having problems with the kids interrupting me for little things, like a drink of water.  Well, today, two kids interrupted me right in the middle of the lesson TEACHER, MISS KAYLA, MISS KAYLA! (Well, geez it must be an emergency if they are freaking out so much, right? Wrong!) "Can we take drink?" (Are you kidding me?!?) So, instead of replying I tried to give them "the eye"--I looked at them with raised eyebrows.  Oops big mistake, they got up and went to the drinking fountain.  Raised eyebrows means "yes" in Inupiaq. Today, when Alision and I were walking home a nice older lady stopped and asked if we cared for a ride.  She couldn't believe that we walked most of the time.  "Such a long walk! Too long!" She was so sweet!

This is the earliest I have made it home from school!  YAY! I did take alot of work home with me.  Everyone is getting sick at school, the kids are blowing their noses constantly, then hugging me.  Alision already caught it! I went to my first birthday party here today!  It was our secretary Tina's daughter.  They made yummy homemade pizza and cake.  Almost all of the kids from 5th and 6th grade were there--and way more quiet than they are in school :)  We did a classification rap song today for science--I am going to try to post it on our class blog, you have to check it out--noataklynx.blogspot.com (Just skip over the girl that wrote that Alision is her favorite teacher :) We had a blast.  Another tidbit--the kids hate flies, they told me they are afraid that they will land in their hair and lay eggs.

Sorry I have not written too much lately.  It just turns out that my life has been school.  It's the end of the first weekend, but I didn't quite get a break yet.  I worked yesterday and today for the full day, but I do feel a little more prepared than I did last week!  We have quite a bit of extra work to do because the test scores were a bit low last year.  I have to submit detailed daily lesson plans for each week, in addition to posting the Grade Level Expectations in the room.  Also, our principal has to come in to observe us 3 times a DAY.  While he is there he takes notes on the instructional strategy we are using, how many kids are engaged, and then he asks a student what we are learning and why we are learning it. I did get my first birthday party invitation today!  The kids are very excited about their teachers...at least when they're not in school :) But, I sure am going to have thick skin after a few weeks... the kids just blurt out whatever is on their mind! Th...

Almost the end of the first week, and I am still alive!  The school day for us is from 8-3:30, but the kids are only there from 9-3.  They still stop in between 8 and 9 and hang around until 4.  The beginning of the week was super stressful, but now every day I feel like I have it together a little more.  The kids are great.  We have a blog set up too:  noataklynx.blogspot.com I have 13 kids now (2 more were signed up, but we'll see if they come) for most of the day, except 20 for math.   I walk to school in the morning and home in the afternoon, unless Lori is going on her Honda at the same time.  It is a super nice walk and takes less than 15 minutes.   Some quotes from the first week : "your hair is like gold, you should sell it" "my cousin say you very boring" "Miss Kayla I love you very much, you the best teacher" "Why you so skinny" "Do you have a baby in your belly" "How old are you? 32?" "Adii! (Oh man!) You...

The other teachers were super helpful, only about half of my boxes made it by then, so they loaned me everything that I needed to so that I could get started.  I unpacked that evening and was in the classroom the next morning setting up!  It's feels pretty awesome to actually have a classroom to call mine!  Lori (she is from the UP too!), Alision, and I went for a walk through town to the pit (where they keep the boats) and blueberry picking.  Before we left John equipped us with his 9 mm, just in case we came across a bear!  We did not last very long, because the mosquitos were so bad.   I got to work in my classroom for a few days before I had to fly back to Kotz for an inservice.  I was there from Sunday through Friday.  It is a small world, though:  Jenny and Ricky Asiala were there and so was a student teacher that I had in high school--Jason Copenhaver!  I did get to meet some cool people--it was nice to know that other people are in the same shoes as I am (new to the area......

 The first problem occurred when I got to Minneapolis.  My suitcase split open during the drive!  There was a gaping hole along the seam near the zipper that ran over half the length of the suitcase.  When I finally got my bags into the airport and carried my bags up to the counter, the first bag was 54 pounds... oops it was only supposed to be 50.  The second was only 47 pounds, so they did not charge me the extra $75.  As I tried to pass through security, they scolded me to go more quickly, but I couldn't!  I just had too much stuff! Once I got onto the plane, I had to push, grunt, and shove to get my bag into the overhead compartment, but my light bulbs survived!  The view from the plane was breathtaking.  I took pictures as we entered Canada...over the Rockies...and of the glaciers flowing off the mountains.  Each picture was more amazing. I flew Sun Country and when I arrived in Anchorage the terminal was on the other side of the airport from where I needed to be.  I decided t...

Hey everyone--We are going to try this as an easier way to keep in touch, we'll just see how it goes.  I apologize that I don't have anything up yet.  I am down in Kotzebue until Friday, and I do not have my personal computer here.  I will try to recap the move so far by early next week (at the latest).  Hope all is well!