Arctic Adventures

I've been hearing "alapaa!" a lot lately.  It roughly translates to..."holy crap it's cold!" Thursday I checked the weather at lunch-- it was 28 degrees and, of course, snowing :)   The juniors were "sponsoring" open gym this week, and they arranged a mini-tournament.  We played 4-on-4.  I got home from the Post Office and Store at about 4, then at about 4:30 there was an announcement over the VHF Radio that anyone making a team for the tournament should meet at the school at 5.  I caught a ride up to the school for 5:00, but no one was there yet!  I went to my classroom for a bit and checked at 5:15--the juniors were setting up, but they still didn't have a schedule... making a long story short--we didn't start playing until quarter to 7!  That is definitely village time.   Tomorrow I am having a "movie night" with the kids at the school.  I invited them to just come and hang out, because they always ask to visit my house, but it...

So, I was innocently teaching math this morning to half-sleeping 5th graders, when one of the girls in the back sat up a little taller.  "Is it snowing?" she asked. I looked outside, but I didn't see any flurries, "No, I don't think so, let's focus on math."  A couple of minutes later, another girls pipes up (obviously not focused on math), "It IS snowing!  Look!"  Sure enough, snowflakes were swirling around.  Of course, we all had to go over to the window and look, "teachable moments."  It snowed the whole morning, but by the time I walked home all the snow was melted.  I think it's safe to say this is the earliest I have ever seen snow! My students are convinced that I have eyes in the back of my head.  One day, when I was teaching a boy got out of his seat, "Sit down, please."   He couldn't believe it, "You can't see me!" "Don't you know that all teachers have eyes in the back of their head...

Finally, I got to play basketball tonight and it felt awesome!  The seniors "sponsor" open gym on the weekends and kids/adults can pay to play.  It's one of their big fundraisers for their senior trip.  Women can play at 9 against the high school girls.  A lot of my kids were there playing in between and on breaks.  The biggest surprise came when we started playing and both teams were in a zone, at open gym! I was laughing in my head thinking "What would Russ say?" We beat the high schoolers by just a few points.  It was a good game and fun, but it turns out I am pretty out of shape :)

It's FRIDAY!! So that means I got to leave the school at 3:40 to make it to the Post Office before it closed :)  and I am glad that I made it there!  I have the best family and friends in the WORLD!  I had to get my boxes carried by a 4-wheeler there were so many!  It feels like Christmas in September!  My mom and dad have been awesome sending me the boxes I left at home and stocking extra goodies in them.  My mom even went to the dollar store and bought some water bottles for my kids (because their "Can I take drink, please"s are driving me crazy!) and stocked it with chocolate, flavored syrups and cream for coffee :)  I got 2 boxes from mom and dad, one from Grandma, one from Patty and Faren, one from Ingrid, then I got my coat that I ordered, my snow pants, gloves, hats, boots, and scarves--all on the same day! Ingrid sent me  pictures of bright, colorful flowers that I can decorate my bland white walls with :)   I'm modeling my new coat in this picture.   Uncle Ca...

Today was a great day in school.  By Wednesday and Thursday, the kids remember how they are supposed to behave in school and life is good!  I've even stepped up and made some positive calls home :)  Mondays and Tuesdays are still a struggle with behavior, but we are working on it.  I've received a lot of help from my mentor and our SpEd teacher, and I think that has really made a difference.   Tomorrow is my day to leave early and go to the Post Office and store.  The new school is in the new part of town (the kids call it "Beverly Hills"), but the Post Office and store are still with the teacher housing in the older part of town, by the river.  Apparently, the river is eroding and before long this whole part of town will be the river.  I have heard rumors that they are trying to move everything up the the other part of town.  Noatak is split by a lake, so the road from the old part of town to the new part of town swerves around.  It's about a 20 minute walk.   Ho...

One of the other teachers here, John, went out caribou hunting last night.  He ended up seeing a moose instead of caribou and shot at it 8 times-and got it.  It was across the river, so they had to use a boat to get it back (apparently, it was quite an adventure).  When I got back from school today John, Darlene (Middle School teacher), and Dave (my mentor teacher) were butchering the moose.   I was walking home and there were just caribou head sitting on the side of the road. Alaska has a state mentoring program.  Dave is my mentor, and he is in charge of 15 other 1st and 2nd year teachers.  He travels around to the different villages and meets with us and helps us out.  It was nice, he helped me with some discipline/management issues I've been having.

Well, here I am at the end of our 4th week of school.  I can't believe that it has been that long, but it sure isn't getting any easier!  I am glad that there is only ONE first year of teaching.  Turns out, this is ALOT of work.  There have been a few rewarding moments, those times when the "lightbulb" turns on, but mainly a lot of testing me and complaining.  The rewarding moments definitely make up for any of the in between hours :) I ordered all of my winter gear.  I am super excited to get it in.  Lori helped me pick out a coat--I ordered an Air Force imitation coat, it's supposed to be warm and tough--perfect.  I did learn something about myself.  Mark informed us that only "manly men" and "hard women" can live in Bush Alaska, so apparently I fit into that category :)