Potluck

Jimmy and I both had a good week here at Toksook. We have been busy this weekend getting ready for next week (our last full week until spring break). We are both so excited that spring break is almost here! My mom will be visiting Toksook Bay in about a week and a half now.

On Thursday, we had a potluck for the interns that were here from the Anchorage area. They were both really nice guys and stayed here for two weeks to see what teaching was like in the Bush. It wasn’t as large as our normal potlucks but there was quite a variety of food. I felt adventurous and tried a bunch of it, which amazed me. The first thing I tried was Halibut, which I have wanted to try. It was amazing, and it reminded me a lot of the way that perch tastes. Then, I tried Musk-Ox sausage. It was interesting and tasted just like regular sausage, which I don’t care for. I then debated and finally was talked into trying beluga. I now have a new meaning for the song baby beluga. I don’t know of those who have tried it, but beluga is very chewy. It is not at all what I expected and I didn’t enjoy it. Then for dessert I had some amazing Eskimo Ice cream made by one of the teacher. I even took a little bit for my mom to try when she comes to taste it. It had salmon berries, blueberries, and a few other types of berries.

My kids also came up with a Yupik name for me this week. I am now named Naunraq Ilanaq. The first word Naunraq means salmon berry. The second word is named after a women that died this past week in a village nearby. The kids were really sweet and made me posters with my ‘new’ name on it.

The pictures you see here are the ones that I took with my mentor Pat last week on our walk around Toksook. Overall, it was a good week for both Jimmy and I. We still have a lot of work to get done this weekend and I am sure that the time change is going to mak for an interesting week with our kids. Thankfully, we only have one week left and then we are done with this quarter. Only one more left!

The Sun is Finally Shining

I keep meaning to write on our blog, but other things keep coming up at school that I never have gotten the chance. It has been snowing like crazy around here. Last week we had an hour delay. The snow started around 2:00AM and it continued until around 9:00AM. It was knocking on our windows so hard it really felt like they would break.

On Tuesday of last week Jimmy and I were heading home from school. As usual the snow was piled very high and we had to jump to get into our house. However, this time the door was frozen. Jimmy and I pushed. Jimmy gave it a push and the door fell down. Right off of the frame! Here we are jumping into our house and landing on the door on the floor. It was quite a sight. I then had to run back to school in the horrible weather to let a maintenance worker know so we wouldn’t have a bunch of snow in our Arctic entry-way (basically an enclosed porch. Most houses here are equipped with one). Jimmy spent the rest of the time shoveling that night. The top picture is Jimmy shoveling (once again). If you look close you can tell that you can't see out of the window because the snow is piled so high. The second picture is the door laying on the floor.

Last week after school on Wednesday, our secretary stopped me and said that I had to go to the window and look out. Over the mountain (through binoculars) I could see a herd of musk ox! I had wanted to see them since I got here (preferably alive) so I was really excited to be able to see them in the distance.

Jimmy’s and my mentor came to Toksook last weekend. She was snowed in on Saturday, so was able to stay the extra day until Sunday afternoon.

It has already been an interesting start to the week. On Monday the kids had "Read Across America Day." We all wore our Dr. Seuss hats and our students read to the 1st and 2nd graders. We had 5 classrooms all crammed into one class. It was crammed, but it was a lot of fun.

Today, I took my kids outside because it is such a nice day out. We were only outside for 15 minutes but the kids enjoyed every minute of it. The kids are getting really impatient as the weather is getting nicer. They really want to be outside enjoying the nice weather that we are finally getting. Then, we went into the 3T classroom and my kids made ravens. Overall, it was a nice day and quite relaxing.