It has been a couple of busy weeks here! After much success with the raven art project two weeks ago, the 3T teacher asked me if my class wanted to blow eggs with her class. To blow eggs the students poke both sides of the eggs with a syringe. Then, you take the syringe and extract the egg inside. After awhile, it is impossible to extract the yolk and therefore you have to blow on one end of the egg to get the yolk out. Thankfully, we had a lot of parent volunteers to help and the kids had a blast. I was surprised at how well they did with the syringes! Then two days later the kids got to paint them for Easter. (FYI: A 3T is a year that is in between 3rd and 4th grade. The students speak Yupik until 3rd grade and the 3T year is the transition from Yupik to English.)
Last week we only had school on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We had the rest of the days off for our Spring Break. My mother braved the planes, weather, and interesting people and made it her on Tuesday. She flew out on Sunday from Green Bay and then had a layover in Minneapolis. She then flew the 6-hour flight to Anchorage where she spent the night. The next day she flew to Bethel and then to Toksook.
Tuesday night was spent shoveling. Jimmy shoveled for over an hour and didn’t finish until around 10:00PM. When we went to leave in the morning the snow was piled up ¾ of our doorway. Jimmy did a quick 5 minute job and then we had to go to school for the day. It continued to be horrible weather on Tuesday so we didn’t think she was going to make it. At 1:00pm they began to clear the runway. No planes had come in for two days. She arrived around 3:00 on one of the two planes that came in that day. Grant (one of the three airlines that comes to Toksook) didn’t even fly out here that day. Thankfully and miraculously I put her on the airline that did, Hageland. During the day my kids were so excited that my mother was coming. I kept hearing, “When is she going to be here?” “Can we visit you tonight and tomorrow?” My mom had an interesting time trying to get into the house with all the snow. That night she slid into the house on her butt, it was quite a sight and I am laughing now as I am thinking about it.
Wednesday the bad weather continued and no planes landed again. My mother decided to volunteer her time in the classroom. She got to watch my kids paint Easter eggs. Each kid got to paint two hard-boiled eggs. They had to pick between the two and decide which ones they wanted to be in the Easter egg contest that was judged. Two of my students placed in the contest. The second place winner decorated her egg like Plankton from Sponge Bob. The first place winner made her egg into a pig. It was so cute; she painted the egg pink and poked holes to make it have a squiggly tale, legs and a nose out of pipe cleaner. They both got chocolate bunnies as prizes. Then at around 2:00 we went into the commons area and the middle school students hid the Easter eggs for my students. My students then had to try and find two eggs that they could take home with them to eat. Thankfully after this the students left. Then it was the middle schools turn to get their eggs hidden by the high school students. The high school also participated and got to decorate and have two eggs hidden.
The next few days were spent trying to stay out of the blowing snow, relaxing, and showing my mom around Toksook. She got quite an adventure saying up here. I took her to the store on Thursday and she got to see how expensive it is to buy food here. She could not believe that a pack of 24 toilet rolls cost $30.00. Then she got a nice mastodon ivory bracelet as a memento from her trip. It was really nice having someone else around to talk to, laugh with, eat with, and enjoy adult company with. She also brought us a bunch of food including fresh Wisconsin cheese, frozen pizza, and other snacks. Dirk came over on Thursday night and had lasagna that my mom cooked and played some hand-and-foot with us.
My mom was supposed to get out on Saturday so that she would be able to catch an early flight on Sunday morning out to Anchorage. However, the weather was not cooperating. It was horrible all day on Friday and the winds wouldn’t let up. When we woke up that morning my mom was shocked by how bad it was outside. The snow kept blowing and at times you couldn’t see the house that was less than 200 feet from us. This was nothing new to us, but she said that she now sees what really bad winters are like! We even took her out on a walk on the Bearing Sea.
Thankfully the weather finally died down after the two-day storm and she was able to get out on Sunday. However, we did have to reschedule all of her flights, which turned out to be quite a mess. I miss her already, but it was so refreshing to have her with us.
On Tuesday our state mentor, Pat, came out and worked with us until late in the night. She is such a huge help when she is here. She showed me how to do a few new programs in my classroom and she is always has such great ideas and insights. I can’t imagine doing her job. She is constantly going to different villages and mentoring first and second year teachers. She has 2 people she mentors here and many others in more remote villages. She sleeps on the floors of the school, on couches in people’s houses, or anywhere that she finds comfortable. She also brings us food with fresh fruit, which is always nice!
Today was also eventful! Jimmy is at home sick with a stomachache and I had to send two of my student’s home within 2 hours of school starting because they both had pinkeye. I then spent my prep-hour disinfecting desks in the hopes of spreading it to the rest of my students and myself. Then, in the afternoon my students were working well with one another and the sun was shining so I decided to take them out for a walk. Today is also our last day of the after school program. Jimmy and I will both now have an extra 4 hours of our lives back every week! What a relief.
The pictures that you see are those of us getting ready to brave the weather outside. My mom is looking outside in one of them, and I think this is where she spent a lot of her time hoping that she would make it out. The lower ones are when we went walking on the Bearing Sea.
Expect another update soon. Jimmy and I will be traveling to Bethel for the Camai Festival. Here they will have native dancing, native food, and an art show. Then on Saturday Jimmy and I will have our last culture class that we are required to take as first year teachers. The year sure seems like it is coming to a close.
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