Our First Week!

It’s been a very busy first week for the both of us. Sorry to all of the readers that we have not gotten a post out yet. We have both experienced many firsts this past week: our first day of school, our first class, and our first discipline with our new class. It has been an exhausting, but fun week for the both of us. I (Kerri) learned how to Yupik dance with my students on Friday and during the week I took my class out berry picking. They picked raspberries, blueberries and blackberries. My aide then made Eskimo ice cream for the students. It was quite the process, and if you have never seen it before, then you will have to have me make it for you sometime. However, I am not going to tell you what is in it besides berries. The kids loved it! Most of our week has been spent being busy planning exciting lesson plans for the students. Many of the students miss the outdoors during the day, so it is a much happier class if you can get them up and moving. This is quite a struggle for me sometimes but I am beginning to learn the ropes. I also cut Jimmy's hair for the first time this week. There are no barbers in our town, so when we were in Anchorage we purchased a hair cutter so I could cut his hair. I was very nervous about messing it up but was surprised to find that it wasn't that hard and I didn't make it look too bad.

The weather is beautiful up here. It sure makes the kids not want to be in the classroom when it is sunny and beautiful. I begin to wonder, how many more days are there going to be like this before the long winter days start to come. Although it is beautiful today, most days it rains at least once. This past weekend we had hail and a thunderstorm. This is something that is not seen by the island very often. On the clear nights there are beautiful sunsets. They are all sorts of colors and overlooking the sea it is breathtaking. We should take a picture the next time we see one and post it.

Although this past week was very busy we have both been fortunate for the teachers that have reached out to help us at school to learn how things are run. We have spent a lot of time with these people. Last weekend we went over to Nicole and Marty's house for dinner. We ate amazing food (Jimmy and I are still stuck on the Raman and Mac and Cheese college phase) so that we refreshing. After dinner we played a really fun card game called down the river up the river. It is a cross between hearts and euchre.

Other than that not too much has been happening around here. We seem to spend most of our time here at school. At home there isn't too much to do. We don't have any TV yet; no phone, no Internet, and we are working on getting our oven fixed. Thankfully because of my brother, we received Netflix as a wedding gift that has been a fun thing for us to do every time one comes in. This weekend will be a nice break because we have a three-day weekend. It will be a busy one though because it is the Blackberry festival. Many people from the surrounding villages come and celebrate the festivities with us. We both plan on helping out with the cross-country run which is the hardest trail that I HAVE EVER seen! It is through a stream, up a few MAJOR hills, and rough terrain. It will be interesting to see the kids run it!

Jimmy will be leaving on Wednesday with all of the high school to go to a local fishing camp until Friday. Here they will hold their regular classes outside and the elders will come in and make the event even more special for all of them. It will be interesting to see how he handles it considering there will be no showers, or running water. I am sure he will do fine, but I am going to miss him when he is gone.

We Made It!

We finally made it to Toksook Bay, Alaska. We have both accepted jobs here. Jimmy will be teaching Physical Education, Health, Personal Life Skills, Government, Weight Training and Conditioning, and Video Production. Kerri is going to be teaching 15 5th graders. In order to get here it was quite a trip. My brother Chris drove us down to Chicago where we flew to Anchorage (a 6 1/2 hour flight) and we stayed in Anchorage area for our honeymoon. We also visited Mt. McKinley and a few glaciers. We took a crusie and saw whales, sea lions, sea otters, and seals. From Anchorage we flew to Bethel (1 hour flight) where we had new teacher orientation for 3 days. We then got on a 7 seater plane last Friday (the biggest one they have) and flew to Toksook Bay (about an hour flight).

One of the first things that we noticed is that people are really friendly here! We then noticed how muddy it gets! Thankfully we were given some rubber boots as a wedding gift that we have used everyday since we got here. We have been out blueberry picking 3 times now! Dirk Martin, another teacher, was nice enough to show us some of the good spots on the tundra to pick. We have frozen two bags so far for the long winter when we won't have any fresh fruit.

We have been very busy with school training and getting our rooms ready for school that will start on Monday. We are pretty excited about starting the year and getting to meet all of our students!