Easter in Alaska

This weekend I headed to Bethel because I needed to go to the doctor. Where else will you take a plane to go to the doctor? After the doctor I just stayed in Bethel for the weekend to have an Easter celebration with Pete. Friday we ordered Chinese food which was delicious and just kinda hung around watching television.

Saturday we went to the store to prepare for this Easter dinner we would try to prepare together. I swear the two of us go to the store in Bethel more than anyone I know. Anyways at the store we created a feast. We made a D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S spiral glazed ham, asparagus, potatoes, and a pistachio dessert. We even had crescent rolls! It was quite the treat and helped me to not miss home as much.

Sunday I headed back to Quinhagak in the early afternoon to have lunch with everyone here. We had quite the feast and it was nice to all be together.

This week is cultural week here in Quinhagak. The students will be participating in a variety of different activities and trying new things. It should be an interesting and meaningful experience. I am excited to learn how to make some new things and watch the students learn.

SPRING IS HERE! It is getting much warmer (well around 40) and the weather is looking good. In Bethel this weekend it was 40 and sunny--it felt like a treat. One of the things I am most looking forward to is working on my tan this summer. Anyways everything is thawing out and it is like a big river. They had to build a mini bridge to help drain the water. I honestly have never seen anything like it. There is this one house and there literally is like a small lake on both sides. It is crazy!! It is officially time for my big nasty muck boots that I will probably have to wear for the remainder for the year. I made a mistake of going outside in my little flats and got completely drenched. It was awful!!

The packing has began! People who know me well, know that I despise packing. It is one thing I do not enjoy at all. I've started packing totes to take into Bethel so I'm not going crazy at the end of the year. Who knew I had so much stuff--its crazy! So far I have three totes packed--my room looks like a disaster and the real question is just how much stuff will I forget here in this house. Not much I hope. The good news is that I have been uncovering and finding a bunch of new stuff, which is always exciting!!

That's all for now =)

Happy Easter from Quinhagak

April

After recuperating from the long week in Bethel I am back at it. (this was written a while ago and I am just getting back to blogging) Last Monday was an inservice grading writing papers. Last week I had a visitor from Bethel, which is always one of my favorite weeks of the month.

I have been challenging myself to walk everyday---I just started this on Saturday, but for the last 9 days I have walked to the beach and back which is about a 2 mile walk. I even walked twice one day! I've tried the whole running thing as well which is pretty funny. I try to tell myself not to stop, but it just doesn't happen. Today I tried to run with my ipod and stopped even sooner then usual.

Exciting things that have happened: I booked a flight to Texas for a week in June and am going to visit there and have a fantastic week. I also booked my flight home for May 28th and I'll be flying back early August. After school is out I am headed to Bethel for a few days before heading to Anchorage to take a class. I've also registered for my grad classes for this summer and next fall. If all goes well, I should have my masters by the end of next summer.

My teaching is going really well, and it's hard to believe that it is almost over. We have about 17 days of school, and it's all over. My first year of teaching will be completed. I am scared/excited for what it yet to come and can't wait to see what happens next

Okay thats all for now, just a quick little update--I'll have to blog when I'm a bit more focused

This is Who We Are

Last week I got the opportunity to go into Bethel with a group of students. There is an art grant in the district that helps educate teachers and helps artists travel to work with students. This year the focus was on Yupik stories and visiting with elders. We had an elder come in and share a Yupik story to us. We then used a Yupik story book to create our own story based on the book. We did a story called The Man Who Turned Into a Wolverine. For the past couple of weeks we have been working on using the green screen to create the movie. The first thing we did was create the script. Once making the script we then created the artwork for the movie. Then the real fun began as we started filming and editing the movie.

As I said on Monday we traveled into Bethel. 120 students traveled into Bethel from 12 different schools. Each school brought a different interpretation of a Yupik story with them. The week was filled with preparation of the big show. The students created all the artwork for the performance area and then worked on an opening and closing number. The students had to work on memorizing motions as well as learning a dance. It was interesting to see what the students were able to create with the help of the elders and their teachers.

The shows were on Friday and Saturday. It was incredible to watch all the pieces together, although I could not always tell what was being said, you could feel the energy and still feel the overall message of the story. The skills the students picked up from this project include digital storytelling, acting, art techniques, and Yupik song and dance. It was fun to watch the students build relationships with one another over the course of the week.

Decisions, decisions

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.

It's Friday and testing week is...OVER! Testing week honestly was not that bad, and now it will be nothing when I have to do it again. The wind is still a mess and blowing snow all over the place. Bad weather = no mail, so I am hoping that it clears up here soon. The weather for the weekend forecast is looking much better, so I am hopeful that the wind will stop.

Hoping to have a nice long relaxing weekend before a straight week in Bethel. Here is a poster from the event that the kids are participating in.

The last month has been one of the most challenging months I have had here in Alaska. I had to dig deep and really think about a lot of things. It took lots of conversations, tears, and personal reflection. I have come to a decision that I will be leaving Quinhagak at the end of the school year. I will be teaching 3-4 grade in another Yupik village next year, I will be teaching in Napakiak, Alaska. It is a smaller village about 15 miles away from Bethel. A classroom has become available and that was my goal as a teacher to have my own classroom.

Doing SRA this past year was an unbelievable experience, but I am ready to have my own classroom and try a few different techniques on my own. My sole and only reason for leaving Quinhagak is to pursue a full time classroom. This experience and these people were more then I could ever ask for. I want to find that happiness in teaching that many of my friends here as well as people back home have experienced. Leaving Quinhagak will be one of the toughest things, but this experience has been amazing. I know that with all the thinking I have put into this decision, this too will be a good choice.

That's all for now, I could use some good thoughts as I finish up in the next month or so and begin transitioning into a new adventure for the upcoming school year!

When the wind blows

This is our forecast currently here in Quinhagak, Alaska.

So this weather is quite beautiful these days.....WAIT that is a joke. Yesterday outta know where we got winds up to 60 mph. The wind was blowing and you can hardly see in front of you. It's only been like this one or two other times since I have been here. The wind doesn't really bother me because I think it's kinda funny when it is blowing you all over the place. I always get a good laugh when I'm trying to walk down the steps, and I have no control. Getting pelted in the face with snow is what bothers me.

Thanks Rachel for this picture, took it off her blog!

Yesterday after school, Jim gave Steph and I a ride home on the four wheeler. I was just laughing once I arrived home, the snow was just pelting me in the face and it was so cold---I'm actually starting to feel like I am in Alaska (weather wise)

The problem with the wind you see if it creates giant snow drifts. These snow drifts pile up and its hard to walk over them let alone drive the snow bus. I remember one time earlier this winter, Al and I were walking to school and it went from one extreme to another. One point there would be no snow at all, another point just ice, and then a huge mound of snow to walk over. This morning Rachel called because she said the bus would not be able to get over the big snow drifts. I didn't really know what that meant, but said okay. We got picked up in the car instead, As we got in the car Rachel was like put on your seat belt and hold on. The streets are literally piled with mounds of snow. We had to go over one of them--it was kinda scary but funny.

The brand new Quinhagak store opened yesterday. There was news that it would be built by November, but yesterday at 3 o clock was the grand opening. We drove threw the wind tunnel and went to see what the talk was all about. That store is beautiful! There is so much food and it is so big, doesn't really feel like you're in the village. There is going to be a produce section, clothing section, and lots of other things. They even had a huge section of pickles! I was impressed!!

Today is day three of the state testing, and the week has been going pretty well. Next week I head into Bethel with some students for an art production called "This is Who We Are" We have been filming a movie on the green screen. We took a Yupik store and transformed in into a movie. It is fun and def a learning experience. I will be sure to take some photos of that. I am pretty excited for it and to be with different teachers and students from the district, always a fun time!

That's all for now---trying to stay warm and not get blown away or slip on the ice!

Only about 7 more weeks until I am home for the summer =)

Weekend in Bethel

It's Monday again---this week is a normal day at school and the rest of the week will be a testing week.

On Friday at around 4:00 pm I decided to surprise Peter and head to Bethel for the weekend. I had not planned on going and then while walking home, I decided I would in fact like to head there for the weekend. I guess one of the good things is that you can spur of the moment decide to go to Bethel, and there are still planes to take you. I've said it before, but planes are sort of like our cars here. We rely on them to take us in and out of the village. I called the agent and was on my way to Bethel within 30 minutes.

So now on to the weekend: Friday night we decided to order out from one of the restaurant's in town. Eating out used to be a huge perk of going to Bethel but I no longer feel that way. I was pretty pumped for a milkshake, which was mainly the biggest reason for deciding to order out. Anyway we ordered onion rings, a milkshake, and a chicken parm sub. It was quite delicious.

Saturday morning after cooking up breakfast burritos we headed to the store (one of the many trips to the store we would take during the weekend) before the March Madness games came on. This was the first year I took a liking to the whole March madness thing and I'll have to admit, it was really fun. Although once Ohio State lost, I had no other teams left, my bracket turned out nicely and I really enjoy watching the games. I am excited for the championship game tonight, and have that to look forward too. Back to my weekend, after the game we made dinner (chicken, pasta, french cheesy garlic bread, and alfredo sauce) It was GOOD!! After that I got a great idea that it would be fun to make brownies. You are probably wondering how I could still be hungry after a meal like that, but I was so we embarked on trip number two to the grocery store. The weather is getting nicer, and it really was a nice little walk up to the store for ice cream and brownies.

After brownie making we decided to paint on little canvases. I thought this would be a fun little thing to do and I was right. Here are pictures of our artwork. You can try to figure out who painted which one.

Sunday morning since it was around 30 (it's getting warmer) we decided to take a walk around Bethel. This weekend was the first time since October probably I didn't need my winter coat. We went to down to look at the Kusko River which is all frozen up still, and then went to a different grocery store, for trip number three. Who knew I could go to the grocery store so many times in one weekend.

That was about my weekend---stay classy =)

April Fools

Happy April Fool's--this morning was comical as student after student kept coming into the room telling me something and then saying April Fools. I told them that they were no longer allowed to say that to me, until we did the ticket store at the end of the day. It worked out quite nicely.

Weird to think that it is already April 1st. Weird to think that in 2.5 months I'll be back in Monticello, NY at Camp Kennybrook. I am pretty pumped for the summer and to take on a new role at camp. I am glad things are working out nicely, and I will be able to go from here to camp and then back here to start the next year.

I am glad it is Friday and better yet, almost time for Friday nap. Tuesday starts the state testing in Quinhagak. Next week will basically be the testing the entire week.

I just got back from Bethel and am eating my dinner, so I will do a blog tomorrow about this past weekend--it was a good one.

Goodnight all =)