Arctic Adventures

Today, my winter boots went into my closet and my mud boots came out :)   The snow is melting which is causing A LOT of water.  In fact, the lake opened up in the middle, so we have to take the long way to and from school now.   The sun is above the mountains from about 7:00 to 10:30 or 11:00.  The funny thing here is that even when the sun goes down, light stays in the sky for a very long time, making it seem lighter much later (does that make sense?).

I'm still learning new parts of the culture every day I am here.  Today we invited some local dancers to come to our PE class to teach the kids native Eskimo dancing.  The kids had a blast!  We learned the sled dance and the rabbit dance. Later, I was talking to one of the natives who works at the school.  We were visiting about the daylight.  He said he lived in Seattle for a while.  He moved there in May, and he said his body just felt funny, like something was wrong, and he couldn't figure it out for a long time.  Then, the reason came to his mind.  He thought, "Ah!  It gets dark here!"  His body was not used to the dark.  In May, it's supposed to be light all the time! I made a comment similar to, "I just don't understand how the kids can stay up so late!"   His reply was pretty enlightening.  He said that he believes that it is engrained in them from their ancestors.  They worked from now until freeze up--hunting, fishing, and gathering--storing...

It's starting to feel like Spring!!!   Saturday warmed up to the mid 30's so I went for a run down the snow-machine trail to the "pit" where they keep the boats in the summer.  It was a little slippery, but absolutely glorious!  It continued to warm up and Sunday was warmer yet.  I took the opportunity to run again, but the continuous warmth was disastrous for the trail.  It was a bit treacherous, but I made it out alive and only half wet :)  Today its up to 40!!! The 2nd-5th graders had their "Lil' Dribblers" basketball tournament this weekend.  Teams came from Kivalina, Point Hope, and other nearby villages.  (Kids were EVERYWHERE!)  They had a blast, but there were so many games to play that they played until 1 am on Friday and 3 am on Saturday.  My students all came in with stories this morning.   "Ms. Kayla I stole the ball 5 times from those big girls." "I scored 14 points." "I flicked from the white line."  ("fli...

Only four weeks left in our school year!  I can't believe it.  Last week we had the state "SBA"  tests.  It was a stressful week for the kids...testing every day, almost 5 hours for some kids, but they were troopers and they worked hard.  I get frustrated with the tests when they don't make any accommodations for the cultural differences or differences in learning styles, but I guess that's a bridge that will be crossed with time, hopefully.   This week we have a lot of things going on in the school.  There are 5 students from Juneau that are participating in a student exchange and are staying in Noatak for the week.  I heard screaming Monday, so I looked out the window.  The snow-gos were coming back from picking our visitors up from the airport.  Some of the Juneau girls were riding in a sled behind one of the snowmachines and were "roller-coastering" (can I turn that into a verb?) with their arms up in the air and screaming at the top of their lungs. ...

Here is a funny story that someone was telling today:  A lady from Noatak was down in the lower 48 speaking at a church and describing the people in Noatak.  She said "We're hookers.  We love hooking."  Well, the part that the congregation didn't know was that in Noatak "hookers" are fisherman and "hooking" is fishing. Tina found me at the school this morning, "Too much work, woman.  We're getting fresh air come on."   Well, I definitely wasn't going to argue.  It was about 15 degrees, bright, and SUNNY.  (Daylight is about from 8-10 now).  She brought me to my house and I changed into my fishing gear and we were off! Tina using the "took" (too-yuk) to get through the ice of an old hole. Asking "Uncle" for advice. Herbert being grumpy for the camera. My first fish (whitefish) of the day!!! Yay!  I kept having bites, but the fish just liked to tease me. We both pulled up 3 or 4 fish, all whitefish. Just enjoying...

20 April fools pranks on a teacher by students. . . . 4 grey hairs Laughing at 20 corny April fools jokes. . . . 1 hoarse voice Teacher pranking 20 unsuspecting students. . . . PRICELESS So after ALL morning of April Fools jokes and pranks from the kids, gym time rolled around (2:00).  The kids came in and did their laps then got ready for stretches. "What are we doing today, teacher?" the kids kept asking. "Laps today." "No! What are we doing in for gym?" Then I got an idea.  "Laps.  We're running the mile today." Of course the complaining began. "Adii!  Mile.  Boring!" We continued the stretches, as I reminded the students to stretch well so they we limber for the run.  Then I got all the kids lined up to begin the dreaded 25 laps around the gym, "Ready? 3. . . 2. . . 1. . . APRIL FOOLS."  Oh man, the faces were priceless :)    Quotes to live by: "Ms. Kayla what if you're making a mistake getting married?" ...