It's Winter Time!

SO what a week!Wednesday, Oh, Wednesday-- So Al had been mentioning for days that she was cold. I just thought she was crazy since I had been sleeping in a tank top, but little did I know she was right. Wednesday after school I got home and my house was…FREEZING…FELT LIKE A REFRIGERATOR. Allison and I sat in the house with our winter gloves on. It was quite a sight watching us type in our mittens on our computer. We decided to go to the neighbor’s for dinner because I couldn’t feel my body any more. Later that night we found out that our house had in fact ran out of heat and we were homeless for the night. At first we tried to just bare through the pain. I put my winter jacket on and was ready to bare the cold, but I just couldn’t do it. Between it being the first day that it snowed and the fact that my house had no heat—I just couldn’t take it. Poor little Gill was floating up and down in the tank about to die and I was crying like a baby. After the initial laughing My WONDERFUL family came to the rescue and we had a….SLEEPOVER! It was far better then any sleepover I had as a child. We watched television, had some puppy chow, and my wonderful family tried to cheer me up! We even got a motherly “hey girls it’s 7:15” by Stephanie. Oh how lucky we are to have the fam.

The family let us watch GLEE at their house. This week was BRITNEY SPEARS WEEK—Nothing makes me happier then Britney Spears!!!-OH WHAT A DELIGHT. I love that even though I am in Alaska, I am still able to watch shows I love—gives me a little taste of my old life in Ohio.

ITS MASK MAKING TIME….Thursday was my last art class. I had one great looking mask. You can be the judge of that though. So after a few classes and some art projects I earned a college credit!

Friday at school I did my first art project with my children. We made pumpkins since it was the first day of October. Later I went to Steph’s class to do the same project with her students. On Friday I am going to go to her class to do art with the students. I am becoming quite the artist that is for sure!

IT’S SALMON RUN TIME….Friday after school was the 2^nd annual Salmon run! It is a race around the village! There was quite the showing! I Alicia Weaver ran a half a mile! Now I know it doesn’t sound that much, but it was a milestone for me. Typically I am not a runner unless it is to get a burger or running from something scary. I had a great time running beside the children cheering them on! I even ran the race in my jeans and ugg boots. Allison and I were the timers for the second race and it was quite the time! The children got bags, a shirt, and a bunch of other goodies. I even got a…RIBBON!

Friday night we flew into Bethel again, and it was…MILKSHAKE TIME…I had a peanut butter shake this time to try and shake things up a bit and it was DELICIOUS! The flight was a great view of the snow and beauty that Alaska has to offer. The flight back was also quite enjoyable. The girls and I made a new friend and had a great time laughing and enjoying great times in Alaska.

Saturday something spectacular happened….I ate fish for the FIRST time EVER!! At first I was kind of afraid, but I took the next step and took a little nibble. You know what? It wasn’t too shabby. It was fried and tasted like chicken. Woo I am growing up. Later I tried baked Grayling. IT WAS NASTY- TASTED LIKE MUSHY GUSHY GROSS-NESS. I will NOT be eating that again!

So lately I have been thinking a lot about grad school and I think that I am going to start grad school in the spring. I really have a passion for special education and I think that is what I am going to pursue my masters in. I spoke to a school and they will accept me! I am pretty pumped about this and can’t wait to dive in and come up with new ways to help my students!

So my final thought today is about positivity. I want to try and look at everyone and everything here in a positive way. Before I came here I noticed that sometimes I didn’t take the time to find the good side of things. I am going to challenge myself to look at every single situation in a great way. Today I had training in CHAMPS which is a behavioral program and it really challenged my thinking. Made me evaluate my teaching and I want to ensure that I am rewarding the positive things instead of focusing on negative things. My goals for this year are that my students will leave feeling confident.. I also want to provide them with opportunities to build meaningful relationships with myself and with other students. This week has been quite a tough week. It has been draining as a teacher, but I am remaining positive which is something I am not sure I could have done a few months ago.

I can tell changes are happening and I am ready to embrace them. Change is happening outside with winter coming, and change is happening within me. I can’t wait to see what is still left to come!

Shoutout to everyone--Miss you =)