End of the Quarter

So, I’m pretty sure winter just showed up. We’ve had snow on the ground for over 24 hours and it’s snowing as I type. Nice, big snow flakes. The good thing is that I was able to toss a few snowballs at some students. The bad thing is that, well, it’s winter. So, let’s see….what exciting things have gone on since last I wrote. I’m not actually online at the moment (just typing this up in Word), so I can’t really remember what I last wrote. So….what has happened this week? I bought (another) plane ticket. Actually I bought 2, because it made sense to buy 2 One Way tickets. One to Anchorage, and then one back to Bethel over Thanksgiving break. REALLY looking forward to that trip. Get into the big city again, go to the Bear’s Tooth, and just REALLY get away from the school for a few days.

I recently had the distinction of (indirectly) causing a student to be removed from the school in handcuffs. Let me explain: I have a fairly strict policy of no bathroom use during my class. My students still ask sometimes, so when I’m in a good mood I’ll let them if they’ve can show me that they’ve done some work. Well, one particular student decided that this wasn’t good enough & got up and went to the bathroom anyway. So, I informed this student that an after school detention was now in order. When the student came back I insisted that work be done. The student didn’t particularly care for this either. So, the student left once again. I called the principal, informed her that a student left my room and was potentially leaving school altogether. My principal was able to intercept the student. Again, this displeased the student who made threatening gestures toward the principal. Such behavior being completely unacceptable the authorities were informed. Though they took quite some time getting there, the misbehaving student failed to take the opportunity to simply leave. As luck would have it, right when the rest of the students were getting out for the end of the day, the police showed and handcuffed my entirely unhappy student in front of much of the school. It’s time like these that I don’t know whether to happy or sad. I guess I’ll know for sure when this student comes back.

Oh yeah, I also bought a boat…or at least committed to buying a boat. Cindy purchased one this fall, and after a while thought better of it. So now I’m gonna buy it from her. I hope it’s a good investment. At the very least it sounds like it’ll be pretty easy to sell. Better yet, it sounds like I’d be able to do it for a profit. So we’ll see how this whole thing goes. I won’t know until spring because, well, the river is freezing over. So, I’ll let you know after the big thaw whether it was a good purchase. I think it is, though…

What else…. Oh yes. We had a Halloween Carnival at the school today. The student council put up some carnival type games and kids (and community members as well) could come in and buy tickets that they then used to play the games for little prizes. It was a lot of fun, and the kids really seemed to enjoy it. Next week is a haunted house. I’m pretty excited for that one. There’s also some Rocky Horror Picture Show thing going on in Bethel that weekend, that I’m very tempted to check out. So, I’ve got some things to think about.

On another exciting note, We are officially ¼ of the way through the school year. The end of the quarter was Friday, and I have all my grades ready. Some of them are pretty abysmal, but hopefully it’ll make those kids realize that they actually have to do stuff in class in order to pass. Or maybe it’ll get their parents a little more involved. Anyway, I hope it does something for the better, because right now it’s just kind of depressing.

Hmmm…I’m also trying to figure out my summer plans. Looks like Lane is gonna come up this summer J Just in case anyone else is interested, you can currently get a RT ticket from Chicago to Anchorage for only $430. Pretty good price, especially when I think about how my RT flight home at Christmas cost me $1800 (and that doesn’t include getting to/from the village). So, something to think about for those of you who have always wanted to go to Alaska ;) So, I’m thinking that I want to go to Denali and Fairbanks over the summer when my visitor(s) arrive. Maybe try to squeeze in something else as well (Wrangell-St. Elias, maybe).  But I was also thinking I could try to see Barrow, AK (the northernmost city in the USA). I looked it up, and I can use my Alaska Airlines Frequent Flyer miles to pay for a ticket from Bethel è Barrow è Anchorage. There are also a couple of Couch Surfing people in Barrow. So, if everything works out, I’ll get a few days up there for next to nothing. And that’s in Polar Bear and whale territory! So, just some things that I’m trying to figure out.

I also am thinking about thinking about heading into Anchorage to check out the start of the Iditarod. Apparently we’ve got a 4 day weekend then, so that’s a very tempting possibility. The only problem I see w/ all this is that I need to make sure I actually save some money this year. But I think I’ve been doing a pretty good job.

And finally….Dorothy got herself  a puppy. She’s been wanting one since she got here, and today she snagged up a little stray puppy that has been terribly neglected and has been hanging around teacher housing for a few days. So that’s nice. Anyway…I’m sick of writing, and you’re probably sick of reading. Wish me luck and pray for me and I head into the 2^nd quarter. I hope you’ve been enjoying my posts, and I wish you all the best. Take care, and God bless!

Winter Is On Its Way....

So....it's getting a bit chilly now. I think we've broken 40 once or twice over he past week, and aside from the mornings it's been raining I've walked to school through frost. And today, as I mentioned on my facebook status, there was frost still on the ground (albeit in the shade) at about 4:30 this afternoon. Oh yeah, and around noon the puddles were iced over. I think winter is near. I know that I'm not quite ready for it. I don't like there's been a summer up here. I'm not sure it's been over 70 since I've been here. And I'm pretty sure I could count the times it's been over 60 on my two hands. So, I kinda wish I had had some more nice days before winter started to kick in. On the positive side the days have been pretty nice, just a bit chilly.

The really noticeable thing however, is the daylight. When I flew into Anchorage on July 25 sunrise was 6:06am, and sunset was 11:47pm. Fast forward to today (less than 3 months later) and sunrise was 9:19am and sunset will be at 7:54pm. That's a lot of sunlight that is no longer with us.

What big events have happened since the cross country meet? I really should keep up with this thing a little better.

Anyways...tried to do a little hunting this weekend. Didn't work out so well. We boated around looking for birds, but didn't see many. The ones we did see we weren't able to get. And my shotgun decided not to fire any of the 3" shells I bought. So that was fun. We also shot at a beaver for a while, but we weren't able to get him either. Then we were going to go the next day, but Tim had his gas stolen, so that put a pretty quick halt to those plans.

Which reminds me...a fun little "adventure" I had somewhat recently was wiring up teaching housing for satellite TV. Tim asked me to help lay some cable for just this reason a couple weeks ago. Thinking it would just be a few hours, I agreed. Well, it turned into 5 or 6 hours one night, and then another 6 hours (ish) the following morning. The really funny thing is that I'm not even going to have TV...sometimes I wonder how I made it this far in life. I'm hoping, however, that my good deeds will pay off when there's a program I greatly desire to see (i.e. Wings' game).

Hmmm...I'm doing Fantasy Hockey again, which is nice. I got off to a great start, but my team kinda tanked today, which ticks me off. Also, in even more exciting news, I just got 80 lbs of cat litter in the mail today. So now Squeaks can poop in comfort for the rest of the year.

Getting really excited about Thanksgiving & Christmas. Sounds like I'm gonna be heading into Anchorage w/ a handful of the new teachers for Thanksgiving. That'll be nice to get into a real city, see some of my older (in years of friendship terms) friends, and hang out with some of the new ones. Christmas will just be nice in general. See the family, the friends. Do a little skiing, drive my car, go to Short's, eat at a restaurant, go to a movie. Except it'll go by like nothing. Oh well, it'll be a lot of fun. I think Lane said we're in the 60s for # of days left until I come home.

I really love this place at night. I love it when I'm at the school late or watching a movie at Dorothy's and I have to walk home. It's so quiet, and still. And the lighting gives a really, really nice atmosphere. Almost spooky But I love it. I usually just stop and look around for a few minutes. Maybe having very little sunlight in winter won't be so bad, because it really fantastic here at night time. Anyways...should probably get to some lesson planning done. Hope you guys are enjoying my blog, and hopefully I'll get posts up more frequently. Take care, and God bless!

Cross Country

So, traveled to Bethel last night for a Cross Country meet today. It was nice. Got to see Matt (new teacher at Nunap), and it was a nice chance to be w/ some students outside of the school, and the classroom. There were six students, 5 of which I have in at least one of my classes. It was a lot of fun. A couple of the kids did really well. The course is just a big sand pit. I think it was a 5K for the High Schoolers. It was actually pretty interesting to look at. One of the weirdest things is that there were a bunch of random cars (all rusted to heck and not worth the metal they're made of) strewn about the pit. I'm curious as to why they're there. One of the boys ran today for his first time as a Varsity runner (they run double the distance of the Junior High kids) and placed 12th, out of 40-60 runners.  One of the junior high boys placed 15th in his first Cross Country meet ever. Last night we played some basketball, "Not It" (tag), and watched most of the new Tron Movie (it started to get too late, so we ended the movie a little early).

It's turning out to be beautiful day. Sitting here at the airport in Bethel I can see the Kilbuck Mountains pretty clearly. It's nice to be reminded that there are places in the world with topography. Another bit of good news is that it sounds like I'm going to get a kitten! One of my cross country boys has some kittens and he says that he's going to give me one. I really hope he follows through because I just bought food, litter, a pet carrier, a litter box, and a litter scoop in preparation for this kitty. It will be very nice to have a little cat around :)  Mom already doesn't want me to get one, but oh well. I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to do with it over Christmas, but I'll figure something out. The other thing is that I'll probably have to get it into Bethel sometime to get it fixed, and maybe even declawed or get some shots or something. We'll see. I'm not even sure Bethel has a vet, but with as many dogs as there are out here, I have to believe there's a vet in Bethel.

Anyways...I can't think of anything else to share right now. Things are generally going the same. Still a lot of work that I have to do, but I'm getting better w/ the planning, and there's a still a lot of work to be done w/ the students, but things will get better. I got a shipment of food in yesterday, I had a fun couple of days in Bethel, there's no school on Monday, and I think I'm getting a pet :) Life doesn't sound so bad at all, now does it. I hope everything back home (and elsewhere) is doing great. Thanks for tuning in once again, and God Bless!

Just Some Thoughts and Happenings

So....thank God for Fridays...although not all Fridays are created equal. Take this one for instance....kind of a pain. We had a short week this. Students had Monday & Tuesday off because of Labor Day, and we teachers had Monday off, w/ an inservice on Tuesday. The long weekend was great for me (did some duck hunting - got 6, got a lot of work done, and we even able to relax! That, my friends, is a rare & precious commodity). It was not, however, good for my students. They were a little out of sorts (or more so than usual) this week, and I am very happy that I get a break. I love these half day Fridays. We get the whole afternoon off, I can actually run to post office and check my mail (usually none, but it's something to do). It's nice.

On an even more exciting note, I get to see some of the other new teachers tonight & tomorrow. There's a day of New Teacher Inservice tomorrow, so Dorothy, Cindy, and I are flying into Bethel this afternoon. Tonight, some of the New Teachers have organized a little get together, so that will be really nice to re-connect w/ them and see how things are going in the other villages. It will also be a chance to do a little shopping (I feel kinda lame for getting excited about this...like maybe I need to turn in my Man Card...). I'm also curious about what we're going to learn about at the inservice tomorrow.

So, between now and 5 (assuming the plane is on time...HA!), I've gotta get all packed up, finish my shopping list, and eat some food. I think I'm going to cook up some of those ducks I shot this weekend and put them over some pasta. Probably invite Cindy & Dorothy over as well. Which reminds me....

I decided to be a nice guy this past Monday, and cook up some of my whitefish for Cindy and Dorothy. It was a very nice meal - pan fried whitefish w/ mashed potatoes...yummmm! However, I had a little hiccup at the beginning of the meal prep. While chopping up some potatoes (so they'd soften up more quickly in the boil), my subconscious mind thought it would be a great idea to curl my thumb underneath the potato I was chopping with a rather sharp knife (courtesy of my father). Well... in case any of you are not yet aware, when I sharp knife blade forced downward comes in to contact w/ your soft fleshy thumb, your soft fleshy thumb has an uncanny ability to become a little bit smaller than it was previously. In simpler terms, I cut off the tip of my thumb while cutting potatoes this pas Monday. My left thumb now has a flat spot. So, I had to prepare most of the meal w/ one hand (not the easiest thing in the world), and try not to bleed all over the food (once I wrapped the thumb in some paper towels, that was pretty easy). Now it's the waiting game. Gotta wait for my stupid thumb to heal over a little bit so it doesn't sting all the time, and I can take the bandages off, and have a fully functioning left hand once more. I do have some pictures of the wound which I'll put on facebook and up here (I have quite a few pictures I have to get up here, don't i?). It really isn't that big of a deal. It was a relatively small piece that I lopped off, and I don't see my thumb becoming hideously deformed from this incident (maybe a little weird looking on close inspection), I'd be very surprised indeed if the injury has any lasting effects.

Anyhow, I supposed it's time I make some food and get ready for Bethel. Thanks for tuning in, and God Bless!

A Few Firsts, and Some Other Stuff...

So...It's been a while, eh? Sorry about that. I haven't really been super busy, just not very productive. I think my brain has been recovering from over-exertion from the first 2 weeks. I'm happy to say, however, that I do believe I am getting better. I'm figuring out what makes my students tick a little bit. Teaching is still a huge challenge, but it's getting better. I'm beginning to accept some things that "just are" and am figuring out how to work within the constraints that I have. But I'm getting more time for myself. I still often stay up late doing work (not as late), but it's been because I haven't been as productive. And am multi-tasking while doing work, so I haven't been as effective in my planning. But the planning has been a lot less stressful. Which is good. Dorothy and I are still having our daily "homework parties" but they're getting more enjoyable, and shorter. And I'm getting a handle on my curriculum materials. I don't think I'm going to be able to teach quite the way I'd like, but I think the students up here need a different style of teaching that how I would prefer to. At least for right now. There are a lot of behavioral/social learning that they need to do before the academic stuff can be very valuable.

Anyways....I met state mentor this past week. She was super friendly and nice and supportive. She's going to be at the school once a month, and we're supposed to talk every week. We'll see how that talking thing goes. I've already got a handful of people that I'm supposed to talk to regularly, and that's too much right now. So, we'll see. I had her come into my "bad" class to offer some support, and of course they have the best day so far. The one time I want them to be a pain so that I can get some advice on how to deal w/ it, and they decide to be quiet, calm, mellow, and generally well-behaved. Go figure...

On that note, it was a pretty good week this week. Monday was a little rough, but after that things went pretty smoothly. Far from ideal or perfect, but if every week goes like this one, things will be OK.

So, let's get on with some firsts...I had my first "F***k You" from a student in my second week. I held him after school for being "naughty" (as they say) and called his parents, and he got a little upset. It was only going to be for 10 minutes, but turned into 25 or so because of that little comment, mainly because he didn't want to apologize. Students get angry quite easily up here, and don't handle it the best. The odd thing was that it didn't ruin my day. It was actually a decent day and I was happy to have one at that point. I don't think it's happened since. I've had students express their displeasure with me (I think I've been called "stupid" and have had them say they don't like me), but I don't think they've sworn at me since (not in English, anyway. Who knows what they've said in Yup'ik...). So that was interesting. Like I said, there are a lot of behavioral/social issues to iron out...

Another first was trying some moose meat. At least the kind I tried. I think I had a moose burger in Canada this spring, courtesy of Johnny, but I had forgotten that when I tried the moose this time around. One of my students had been gone a few days during the week for moose hunting, and Dorothy and I ran into him when we were going to one of the little stores in the village. I asked if he got a moose, he said yes. I asked if we could see it and he said yes again. So we went over to his house (actually his grandmother's house). On a tarp in the middle of the kitchen there was a skinned moose head. The skin was in a pile next to it, and all the meat from the head was in a big bowl, also on the floor. It was pretty interesting. So, Dorothy and I snapped a few photos (on facebook - I'll try to get some pictures on here) of it, and his family invited us to try some it. They were boiling some of the bones and it would only be a few more minutes. So, we hung around. When they pulled the bones out of the pot (they boiled it w/ onions and rice, I do believe), I learned exactly what we were going to be eating: Marrow & Joint Cartilage (and a little of the meat that was left on the bones). I was a little nervous about how the marrow and cartilage would taste. However, it was all pretty good. It actually reminded me of dumplings (both the marrow and cartilage). The cartilage was a bit chewy, but it didn't have a terrible texture. The marrow was really smooth and creamy. It was actually quite pleasant feeling. As far as the actual meat went, it tasted a lot like pot roast. So that was a good little experience. We even got invited to party the next day, but we couldn't make it. And they said they'd send a chunk of the meat over our way, but that hasn't showed up yet. I'm hoping it does.

I also got to skin my first beaver (no giggling in the back, there!). For whatever reason, one of the guys from the village brought Tim a beaver (he uses them as bait on his rather extensive trap line). He doesn't particularly like skinning them, and I wanted to learn, so I volunteered. He happily accepted to teach me. So, in my Arctic Entryway we laid down some cardboard, plopped the beaver on it, and he walked me through the process of skinning a beaver. It really wasn't too difficult (I would have totally botched it w/o his guidance, and still need A LOT of practice), but I didn't put any holes in the hide, and learned a little something new (it was also a lot better than my attempts at filleting fish - I'm terrible at it...). There were a couple girls that hung around and watched and offered some advice. And Cindy came to check it out and take some pictures (again, there are some pictures on facebook, and I'll try to get some up here). So, once it was all skinned, I cut off a couple chunks of meat (Tim doesn't like it much, but I want to give it a try) to eat. And Tim is letting me keep the pelt. He's got to get all of his equipment for stretching it and fleshing it out, but once he does he's going to show me how to do all that. Then I'll send it off to get tanned, and have myself a beaver pelt! It'll be nice when I'm able to get the pelt off an animal I actually killed, but hey, you gotta start somewhere, right? Right now the hide is just sitting in my freezer.

And Cindy bought a boat. There were a few issues w/ it, but those got fixed yesterday, and she, Dorothy, and I went out for a very brief little boat ride. Our first "adventure" w/o the guidance of someone who actually knows what they're doing! It was really nice. I got to do a little bit of driving (it has tiller-steering, which I haven't done since sailing school about 10 years) which took a little getting used to.  But the boat is gonna be fun. Give us newbs a chance to get out a little on our own (it also give us plenty of opportunity to get lost, break down, and just generally run into back luck).

What else.........oh yes. I do believe that I'm going to do my first ever hunting this weekend (possibly even today!). Bird season just opened up this weekend, and Tim has been itching to go get some birds, and we decided that this weekend we're definitely going this weekend. So, hopefully by the end of the day (and certainly by the end of the weekend), I'll be a bona fide killer! And I'll have some more food in the freezer (to go w/ my fish). So that's pretty exciting, I think. This all assuming that I can actually hit anything...which might be assuming a lot.

I looked up some fish recipes last night. So I can experiment w/ some ways to cook up some tasty salmon and whitefish :)

I also bought an X-Box controller to so I can play games w/ Tim and his kids. That should be fun. Anyways...I think it's time to (try) shoot some birds. Wish me luck! Have a good day, thanks for tuning in, and God Bless!

P.S. Hunting was a lot of fun. I was able to shoot 5 ducks (3 wigeons, 1 mallard, and 1 pocket duck). Tim and son picked up another 5. I don't know about them so much, but I certainly shot at a lot more than 5, but I'm pretty happy with how everything went. I missed a couple of really easy shots, which I would like to use a mulligan on, but whatever. Spent a handful of hours walking on the tundra, trying not to get stuck in mud, wading across rivers/streams/sloughs/creeks, and looking for birds to shoot.  I actually got pretty soaked. I shot the mallard and it fell right in the middle of the river and just kept floating there, not getting any closer to the bank (more specifically, MY bank). So I walked along the river bank for a while hoping it would start drifting toward me. It didn't. So I waded in. The river was a little deep and I took about 1 too many steps toward the middle and got my chest waders flooded. But, I was able to use a stick to pull my duck to me. So it was all good. Anyways, just thought I'd give that little update, although I don't think any of you have even read this yet, since I haven't made an announcement on facebook. But I'm doing it right now. Take care!

Here Goes Nothin'...

So...just got through my first "week" (it was really only 2 1/2 days) of school. "Got through" is definitely the right word choice. It was pretty stressful, and pretty tough. I'm hopeful, however, that things will be better. I came down w/ a nasty cold the night before the first day, and didn't sleep well (partly the cold, partly nerves). The cold was in full swing the first day. I could barely speak by the end of the day, and was generally worn out and exhausted. To make things even better, I WAY under planned for the week, and used up all of my lesson content in that first day. So, I was up until 3am that morning planning for all 7 of my classes. It's a lot of work. I'm teaching 6th Grade Reading, 6th Grade Writing, 6th Grade U.S. History, 7th/8th Grade Reading, 7th/8th Grade Writing, 7th/8th Grade Ancient History, and a High School Creative Writing class. Each class requires its own lesson plan. So, I keep myself pretty busy on a daily basis getting ready for school. I just have to find my groove, get myself a little bit ahead, and then I can probably ease up on all the extra planning time. That will be nice. To add even more, I'm thinking about coaching Cross Country. There is a decent sized group of High School kids that want to do it, but there's no coach. So we'll see.

I'm still trying to figure out the students. I don't know what motivates them, what their interests are, and haven't gained their trust yet. They don't really trust teachers that much, and I suppose I don't blame them. Every year or so there's pretty much a wholesale change of staff. It makes it hard on the kids - having no continuity, consistency, and probably thinking that nobody really cares. It makes things tough - both for them, and me. Thank God the staff here is so supportive. Every one is so nice, and willing help. It makes everything a lot easier. It also sounds like all the teachers are having the same struggles that I am, so it's nice to know that it's not just me, or my my teaching. It's only been 3 days, so I gotta believe it'll get better over time, it's just a little overwhelming sometimes.

One of the teachers, Cindy, has become, as Dorothy and I put it, our "Atmau Mom" (don't feel threatened, Mother Mary!). She provides a lot of support for us, and kind of takes care of us (gave us little goodie bags after our first day & gave me a bunch of Vitamin C when I got sick). Her actual family is coming up in November, and Dorothy and I joke that we're going to feel abandoned when she spends more of her time w/ her real kids.

We've had a string of nice weather recently (once school starts, of course...) so I've been trying to get out and walk around a little bit. I've been able to do some berry picking, and have picked a couple cups worth of blueberries (yum!). I also got my SMART Board installed this weekend! It's too far away from an outlet right now, so I need an extension cord of some kind to plug it in, but I'm super happy it finally came (it was supposed to get here this past Monday).

I also started receiving a bunch of my mail yesterday. I ordered a bunch of food and general supplies, and Dad & Lane both sent me some stuff and I got almost all of it. Being up here makes you appreciate mail SO MUCH. I was literally about the happiest I can remember when I went to the post office and saw all those boxes w/ my name on them. It's like Christmas - maybe even better...

So yeah, things have been challenging these past few days, but after talking w/ some of the other teachers and my principal I feel a lot better. I've got some ideas for how I'm going to assess my students' abilities, and some ideas on how to teach some of the material and how to structure my lessons. So we'll see how it goes. I've got my teaching coach coming out to the village on Monday, my State Mentor coming out by the end of the month, and we also have some training this coming week. I also have Parent-Teacher Conferences this Thursday. Hopefully, I'll be able to gain some insight on my students and address some issues as well. But it's keeping me busybusybusy.

I'm so glad, I'm not the only new teacher. Dorothy and I have spent a lot of time together talking about, lamenting, laughing about, etc. our experiences and it's been really good to have someone going through very similar things right now.

So...bottom line: this is definitely a challenge. But it's only the first week which means there's lots of time to figure things out, and I've got an awesome group of people around me for support. Better yet, I'm optimistic and I've got some things to try. So...we'll see what happens. Thanks for tuning in, hope you're enjoying this, and God Bless!

Some Pictures...

These are some pictures of the area, my village, my housing, and some of the native foods I got to try at My New Teacher Orientation. A couple of notes: the bathtub shots were BEFORE I cleaned (or even used) it. You can see some good before/after type things where I did a little scrubbing because taking the picture. The picture of the grayish building w/ its lights (the school) was taken around midnight (it's nice to have that much light!). And on the plate of food, the carrot is dipped in seal oil, and the little black & white thing in the middle of the plate is whale blubber. Seal oil wasn't too good, but the whale blubber was surprisingly good.  If you have any questions about any of the other ones let me and I'll see if I can answer them. Thanks, and God Bless!

Fishing (successfully, this time!)

So, today I was actually able to do some "subsistence" fishing. Tim and I went down to the village he used to teach in and met up w/ one of his best friends to do a little fishing. The weather and water was considerably nicer this time around, which is why we were able to actually get a net in the water. And that's how we did. Tim's pal brought his net along, we boated a little way into a big open spot in the river, dropped the net (a gill net, I believe) in, and then waited to fish to get caught in it. Using a net isn't quite as thrilling as going w/ the ol' rod & reel, but it sure works a lot better. Drop the net in, count the strikes (I got better at this over the three drops we did), and then haul the net back in when you're ready. We ended up w/ 32 or 33 fish altogether. They were all "Silvers" as they call them up here, but from what I've read they're Coho, which I'm sure is a lot more recognizable/meaningful to most of you reading this. If I'm to be completely honest, I'll have to admit that Tim and his friend really did most of the work. I just kinda helped out where I could I tried to learn a few things. They did most of the net dropping, and getting the fish out of the net. They also did most of the gutting & filleting.  I gutted a handful and tried my hand filleting one, but my fillet job was pretty sad. I'm hoping to get out again and try my hand at a few more and start to become competent at filleting a fish. It seems wrong that I can't do it well.

Of perhaps a more interesting note, however, is that I got to try what is known as a "Stinkhead." Those of you who don't like seafood, or fish in particular, should probably stop reading right about now. A Stinkhead, for thsoe of you unaware of the term, is a fish head prepared in a pretty special way. When gutting the fish up here, you cut off the head & then pull out all the innards. And then what some of the natives do is take the heads and the guts, put them in a hole in the gound, and then let them ferment for a couple weeks or so. Once they're good and fermented, they pull 'em out and you get Stinkheads. I helped Tim's friend clean his recently fermented fish heads, so I got to try a little bit, and he also gave a few pieces of some fish he's dried (very tasty!). I was given the eye of one of the Stinkheads, which I guess is considered the best part, so that was really really nice of him and his family. The way to eat a fermented fish eye, in case you were wondering, is put a dash of salt on it and then pop it in your mouth. I have to be honest, it wasn't the best thing I've ever eaten. It was very salty, very fishing, and a little "rot-y" tasting.  The consistency was very much like a wad phlegm, if you then added a pinch of rubber to it. Swallowing it was the hardest part. My gag reflex was definitely ready when it came time to swallow. But I managed to keep myself composed. Although it isn't something I'm going to seek out in the future, it was surprisingly not bad. I half expected to not (or barely) be able to eat it. But it really gave me no problem. Like I said, the swallowing was a little tough, but that was mainly because of the texture.

I do have some not so good news as well though. I first noticed it last week, but I can see my breath sometimes up here. It's early August, and I have been able to see my breath on numerous occasions. Not cool. At all. I also learned the price of gas in my village. So, in an effort to make all of you guys "Down States," as they say up here, a little more happy about your gas prices here is the price I have to pay for gas when I want/need some: $7.06. Jeepers....it looks worse when written down. But anyways, to end on a more positive note, I have some nice salmon in my freezer, and it sounds like I might get to tag along on a moose hunt next weekend (very exciting!). So, until next time I hop on here, God Bless!

Inservice & Getting Ready for School

So...where was I? To help me organize my thoughts, I suppose I'll give you folks a list of significant events since last I posted. Then I'll expound on a few of the more interesting stuff. So, significant events:
Failed fishing trip w/ Tim; Fiddle Dance; District Wide Inservice; My classroom; More Plans affected by Weather; Moravian Church; Other teachers; Exploring the village; and I think that's about it.

I guess I'll start w/ what came first - the Fiddle Dance. There was a "Blueberry Festival" last Friday/Saturday, the primary reason for it, from what I've gathered was to raise money for Search & Rescue. There were some vendors selling food, and other stuff, some carnival type games, and then some other games. I just kind of checked this stuff out (walked by, watched for a while, etc.). However, I did go to the Fiddle Dance. I didn't do any dancing, although most of you probably assumed as much. I did, however, meet a lot of local kids and was the focus of a lot of their attention. They found it incredibly entertaining to poke me, and then pretend as though they hadn't. I must admit, their fascination w/ it lasted a lot longer than mine, but oh well. They had fun, and I suppose that's the important thing.
I don't really know why they call it a Fiddle Dance, however. There was no fiddle. It was really just a Dance. There was a live band (didn't catch the name of it) comprised of a handful of guys from the area. They played mostly country, and then some oldies. Not a whole lot of people did any dancing, really. There were a couple of songs that got some people on the dance floor, but in general, people were socializing on the edges of the dance floor (the following night, from what I hear, was a lot more "hopping," but I did not go that night). There was one cool part where they recognized a couple that has been married for 50 years, and then did the whole "dollar dance" thing w/ the two of them. So, that was neat.

There was also my failed fishing trip w/ Tim. We were gonna do some subsistence dip netting (I believe that's the correct term), w/ one of his buddies, but the weather decided it didn't want us to. We made it to the fishing spot, but the water was quite rough & Tim decided it wasn't worth trying to do any fishing in those kind of conditions. Unlike my previous boating experience, however, Tim has a canopy on his boat, so I stayed fairly dry and warm. That was nice. It was also nice to see a little more of the area, although, to be completely honest, it all looks pretty much the same.

I also went to a Moravian Church last Sunday. I went w/ Dorothy to the 10am service. It was nice. I haven't been to church in a while, so it was good. Most of it was in Yup'ik, so I didn't understand much of it, but the preacher (not sure what the correct term is) read all the scriptures in both English & Yup'ik, and spoke in English here and there besides. It was a little sad because there were only 5 people in the audience. Then there was the preacher and his "assistant" (rang the bell, carried the collection plate, etc.). I gathered, however, that more people attend in the winter because they spend a lot of time w/ their subsistence living activities in the summer. I certainly hope this is true. They, apparently, also get a "special" preacher-guy to come during the fall/winter. Sounds like someone a little more "official" in the Moravian church. So, I'm excited to see how things go this fall and winter.

A few days ago I also go to see a little more of the village. Dorothy, Cindy (another teacher), and I took a pretty decent stroll around the village. We tried going off-boardwalk, but the ground around here isn't the best for hiking (again, very muddy and lots of "sink" potential). So we stayed to the boardwalk mostly. We wandered around the village, saw the "Honey Bucket" hoppers (look it up if you don't know what a "Honey Bucket" is), picked a few blueberries when we saw some "high" ground that provided better footing, and walked all the way out to the villages Sewage Lagoon - I'm assuming you can figure out what this is. On the way back from the lagoon, I even found $10 on the ground. That was a pleasant surprise.

The District Wide Inservice was pretty good. A lot of information. But I got a water bottle & a USB drive, along w/ some mechanical pencils. I learned a lot about what I have to teach, so that was very nice. I would have liked to have had some more time to learn about my Social Studies Curriculum (I learned only about my 7th/8th grade reading classes), and my other Writing/Reading classes, but so it goes. I also learned a little bit about my SMART Board, so I hope to be putting that to use this school year. I got to meet some other teachers in the district, and re-connected with the new teachers I met at the New Teacher Orientation, so that was really nice. We stayed in a dorm again, and it was a lot of fun. We had a pool tournament (it was pretty pathetic), and stayed up later than we should have hanging out. The second night was a lot of fun because I started playing all of my 80s/90s music, which everyone seemed to get a kick out of. Some of the other new teachers probably would have liked us to go to bed a little sooner, because we did get a little loud from time to time, but I don't think there were any hard feelings after the fact. It'll be nice to see those guys/girls again at our various New Teacher events this school year. Some of them live in nearby villages as well, so I hope to get over and see some of them. If our schedules work out, there is a group of us that are hoping to get together at the airport in Anchorage and grab a beer when we head back to our hometowns around Christmas. That should be a lot of fun if it works out. I was able to meet most of the other teachers at my school (Bruce, Mary-Alice, Betsy, & Suzie; I think there are 1 or 2 more that I haven't yet met), and the teacher that I replaced (she moved to another village). She's been pretty helpful this summer giving me an idea of what I'm getting into. So it was nice to finally meet her face-to-face.

Another couple things about the inservice... I had another nice bit of standing around in the rain waiting for an airplane. I'm becoming pretty good at this. Our plane to Bethel was about an hour and a half late. I also picked up my Swan Stamp for hunting while in Bethel, so I now have permission to shoot three of those. Tim says they're fun to hunt, because they're tough to bring down & crash pretty hard when you're able to.  And finally, I was able to find some semi-affordable ammo in Bethel. Back home (and even in Anchorage) I can get a box (25 rounds) of shotgun shells for about $12. In the village, the price is around $30. But, I found a place in Bethel that sells 'em for about $22 a box. So that's really nice.

I've also got a classroom now! My original classroom was re-allocated to one of the returning teachers. The funny thing is that she was in that classroom last year, but had to move all of her stuff out of it because it was supposed to be MY room. Today she had the opportunity to move all her junk back into it. Fun! Until last night, my room was the library. I've been waiting a week or so for it to get emptied, staring sadly at the other teachers who have been able to work on their rooms this whole time. But, the room was emptied, and I have all my desks and books, and it's just been a matter of sorting through things and getting everything all situated. I'm hoping that by the end of tonight (I plan on it being a late night) I'll have all my textbooks put away and my desks arranged. Then I should be able to really hit the lesson planning. I'm still waiting on my SMART Board & one of my 2 white-boards, but that's a not a huge deal right. When they're ready they'll just get hung up where I indicate.

Sorry I've been so slow getting photos up, but I've got a bunch of older pictures that I've been putting on facebook, so I'm working my way to the pictures from up here. I'm hoping to have them up by the end of the weekend. Then you'll be able to see my housing, classroom, the village, and some of the area in general. Anyways, time for me to take a little break, grab something to eat, and do a little reading (I've been cruising through Patrick McManus since I've been up here - very funny!) before I come back and get cranking on this classroom. Hope you've all enjoyed this entry and I'll be writing more in the near future. God Bless!

Bethel, and a few other thoughts....

Over the past couple days I have remember a thing or two that I forgot to mention in my last blog, and have had a few cool experiences here in Bethel, so I thought I'd share.

In Anchorage, about the only pretty neat thing that happened that I thought might be worth mentioning. I saw a moose cow and her calf. It was funny because I had just hopped on one of the bike trails in Anchorage on my way back to Melissa's, and she gave a buzz seeing what was going on. I told her that I was biking back to her house, that I should be there soon, and that I hoped to see something worth seeing while on my little bike ride. A few minutes after I hung up and continued my ride, I came around a bend and there, along with several other bikers/runners/walkers standing around, was mama moose and her calf a few feet off the trail munching on some leaves. While this was pretty neat, and though I took the opportunity to snap a few photos, I began to get a little concerned. The moose seemed to be in no hurry to move along, and to get past one would have to walk/ride/run within 10 ft or so of a pretty big moose and her baby. Eventually I chose the, arguably, poor option of purposely walking almost within arms reach of the moose family (making sure to keep my bike between the animals and myself, of course). As I expected, neither of the two moose really gave a hoot that I was there. Mama kept on munching, and baby did about the same. I did get a little nervous, however, when baby moose looked up at me and took a few steps in my direction (I was in no mood to get trampled by an angry moose that probably wouldn't have known that the baby approached me). However, baby moose halted and then continued munching and I continued on my way, unmolested by the Alaskan wildlife.

I've also gotten my first taste of Alaska weather  disrupting every day life. Dorothy (the other new teacher at my school) and I were supposed to fly to Bethel at 12p on Monday. However, I got a call around 10a or so, saying that the flight was pushed back to 1p. No big deal. So 12:45 rolls around and Dorothy and I begin the walk to the airstrip. It's about a mile walk and, aside from the potholes in the dirt road that makes up part of the walk, is pretty darn flat. It's also drizzling (like it does every day). Again, not a huge deal. However, I realize about halfway there that my "waterproof" jacket, really isn't all that waterproof. Kind of annoying, but hey, I'll be on a plane in a few minutes - no damage done. So, we get to airstrip and wait. And wait. And keep on waiting. Hmm...this doesn't seem quite right, but these things happen. After 15-20 min my phone rings. It's Tim, one of the other teachers. He informs me that there are no flights going on from Bethel today because of the weather (I assume it's the fog). Fantastic....so, Dorothy and I walk back to our "houses." I make a nice bowl of Ramen, sit down in my super big, super comfy recliner, munch it down and start reading a book. A few minutes later I get a call from Tim. "Hurry up! Your plane is here! Meet me in front of the school so I can give you a ride on the 4-wheeler." Go figure. I'm curious what winter will bring....

Bethel had some good experiences, too. I've met a handful of really cool people that I hope I can stay in touch with and that we can help support each other through what I expect will be a pretty challenging school year. More interesting, however, is the cultural stuff I experienced today and the boat ride. Today was "Yup'ik culture day" in our New Teacher Orientation. It was pretty interesting. We learned a bit about the culture, what expect from the natives, etc. We also learned some Yup'ik stories, and even a traditional dance. However, the most interesting thing (certainly from all of your perspective) was getting to sample some traditional Yup'ik foods. Mainly it was various types of dried fish and a few other fish items. There were 3 or 4 types of dried salmon (all of which were pretty good), a couple salmon spreads (also pretty good). There was some dried smelt (ok), baked halibut (pretty good), and some dried pike (quite good). There was also pilot bread (basically a big, thick cracker) and some tundra tea (not sure what the ingredients were, but it was pretty mild and not too bad). I also tried some pine medicine (very tea-like, and apparently a good decongestant) and some stinkweed medicine (not as bad as the name suggests, and used to help combat a cold). Then there was the stuff that was a little more bizarre. I had some cranberry aqutaq (Ah-Koo-Tock). That was pretty interesting. Really tart from the cranberries, really creamy, really sweet, but also a big salty. They call it Eskimo ice cream, but it really isn't anything like ice cream, more like frosting, but still not quite. I was also able to try seal oil and whale blubber. Seal oil...not the best thing I've ever had. Really strong, and pretty fishy as well. Almost tasted like concentrated fish. It was suggested that we dip carrots in it, and that did make it a lot more palatable. The whale blubber was actually pretty. Not sure I'd eat a whale blubber steak, but certainly something I could munch on a little bit fairly regularly. I actually went back for seconds, but it was all gone. I really hope to get try some more of it, and different preparations.

Finally, there was the boat ride. It first needs to be mentioned that yesterday was a fabulous day. Very sunny, pretty darn warm (mid 60's probably). Just a really nice day. Today was pretty much the same. Nice and sunny, and all around very inviting. That is, very nice until it was time for the boat the district arranged for any interested new teachers. Once it was time for that, the clouds came, the wind picked up, and it started to rain. Did I mention that the temperature dropped about 10 degrees, and that I didn't pack any rain gear (expect for that not so waterproof jacket)? Well, I went on the trip anywhere. Sure it was cold, wet, and bumpy (I'm pretty sure I bruised my butt), but it was really neat. The Kuskokwim River was interesting to boat up, and we got to stop at a fish camp. While there we got to hear some pretty interesting stories from a long-time member of the district about his experiences in the villages, and in Alaska in general. It didn't hurt that he packed thermoses full of hot water, and hot cocoa mix. The conditions were pretty miserable, but it was a lot of fun. That being said, I'm very happy to drying out, wearing my PJs, and sitting on a comfy couch....inside. Again, I'll toss some pictures up here, and a bunch on facebook, in the next couple of days, so keep checking in  :)  Take care & God bless!

And so it begins...

So, as many of you know, I am officially in Alaska (and have been for about a week now). I flew into Anchorage on the 25th, and then went to my village, Atmautluak (At-Mouth-Luck), on the 30th. Currently I'm sitting in a dorm in Bethel because I've got a New Teacher Orientation going on for the next 2-3 days. I'm on Alaskan Time, which is 4 hours behind Eastern Time, which it puts it at 7:50pm right......now. But anyways, that's the uninteresting stuff, I suppose. Unfortunately, this first post is going to contain mostly uninteresting stuff (how's that for a hook?).

Anchorage was very nice. I had good weather, and got see some friends (Melissa "Lakes", and Tyler "Cobby"). Didn't get a chance to see Dave Murdoch, mainly because I was dumb and lazy, maybe next time...if I get my crap together. I didn't do a whole lot of exciting stuff in Anchorage, it mostly errands and business. I got a new phone, a hunting license, an Alaska state driver's license, started up my 403(b) (I have an investment portfolio now - very impressive, I know), and bought a bunch of food for life in the village (right now that consists of granola bars, ramen noodles, condensed soup, oatmeal, and some canned corn), most of which will be flown to me sometime in the near (I hope) future. When that comes I'll have a little more variety in my pantry.

It wasn't all business and what-not, however. I did a lot of biking (mostly because Melissa needed her car for work), went on a couple of hikes (one in Chugiak at Ptarmigan Valley, one to the top of Flattop in Anchorage), pictures of which I'll toss up here (a few) and Facebook a little later, drank some beer (the last until around Christmas, awww......), and went to my favorite Anchorage establishment, The Bear's Tooth - a Theater Pub (movie + food + bar = awesome). I also went to a BBQ where I was able to talk hockey for a few hours with a fellow ice lover (sadly, he supports the Flyers). Finally, Saturday rolled around and flew out to my village.

This is where it gets a little more interesting, I suppose. My flight to Bethel was pretty standard. Flew on a major airline, on a big jet (737, I believe), no big deal. However, my flight to Atmau, was a little different. I hauled my 4 bags (2 backpacking backpacks, a normal book bag, and a gun case) down the street to the Yute Air building, where not only did my bags have to be weighed, but I had to stand on the scale as well. That was a first. Then I hopped on a little 4-seater plane (single engine, I assume). This was also a first. The flight to my village was took about 15 min and was quite nice. We were quite close to the ground, which was nice, and I got to really see what the topography is like firsthand (the flight into Bethel was quite foggy, so I couldn't see much). Google Earth, shows the terrain pretty accurately. LOTS of water. Water in ponds, water in rivers, and water pretty much everywhere in between. What really surprised me about the flight, however, was the landing. The airstrip in Atmau isn't paved. This possibility never struck me before. Not until I looked down saw what looked like gravel on the runway did I ever consider such a thing. It really wasn't a big deal, it just surprised me.

When I landed, Tim (my principal's husband) picked me up on his 4-wheeler. We tossed my bags on the smaller trailer he was towing, I hopped on the back, and away we went - down very muddy, uneven roads, then across boardwalks - until we reached my new home. My new home is very interesting, but I quite like it. It doesn't look like much, but it certainly has character...and storage. I've got 2 full sized freezer, plus a refrigerator/freezer combo. About 15 cupboards/drawers in every room, several dressers, a few bookshelves, an entire room of floor-to-ceiling shelves, and then a breezeway with about 6 shelving units. It's quite nice.

Aside from superior storage facilities, it kind of a homely looking place, to be completely honest. The paints, white-ish/yellow-ish/cream-ish color. Everything is quite obviously 30+ years old (it's very reminiscent of the first "Place" for those of you who understand that reference). The ground actually got so soggy this summer, that the front corner of my house sank into muck half a foot so. It obviously needed to be re-leveled, but it jacked up my front door, so the school maintenance people had to kick it in. They say that I'll be getting a new lock soon.

The house itself is on "stilts." The "stilts" are really just a bunch of stuff that has been stacked up, and then house has been placed on top of that stack. I can't help feeling as though I could have a sturdier foundation. The walkway up to my house is a boardwalk. Most of the boardwalk is in good shape, but there are a few "soft spots." I suppose when it rains as much as it does (it drizzles all day, every day from what I've seen) that's bound to happen.

I really like my bathroom, though. It really isn't much to look at, but it has one awesome feature (beyond the aforementioned myriad drawers and cupboards): My toilet is on an elevated platform about 2 ft off the ground. There are 2 steps leading up to it, and I certainly do feel very impressive when sitting on my throne (it was pretty moldy in the bowl, at first, but oh well...). The bathtub was pretty sketchy though. Most bathtubs that I have seen come in white. This one was that color, I'm sure, at one point in it's life. However, water with an apparent 50% iron content had turned this particular tub to a rich, rust color. An hour of elbow grease, metal scrubbie, and some comet toned it down to more of a dull rust, but it was quite vibrant at first. All of it's...uniqueness....aside, however, I really do like my new home.

The village is really neat, too. You certainly would never mistake it for Beverly Hills, or call it beautiful, or really even ever go there, but it has a really cool atmosphere. As I said, it rains always, and there's unlimited water around (but don't drink it). The ground, at any given place, has a consistency somewhere between a mud puddle and a bog. The buildings are more like shacks than anything else, you get around on boardwalks of varying structural integrity, and I have a large pond of raw sewage 50 ft beyond my back door (fenced off, topped with barbed-wire, and posted, of course). But I feel like a pioneer. It feels like the edge of civilization. It has the feel of a temporary settlement, like I'm a part of something fleeting. A mining town, or railroad town is what comes most to mind. It really adds to this sense of adventure, and I like that.

I guess that's about it for right now. Like I said, over the next few days I'll put up some pictures both here and on facebook, disseminate some other general information, and maybe write some more...we'll see. I hope everyone is doing well, and I hope your lives are enriched at least a little bit through my attempts to keep you all updated on this experience and to describe what it's like up here. So, take care down in the Lower 48 (as I can now refer to the contiguous US), and God Bless.