Week with my Mom!

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.

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.

Stuck in Bethel and Tununak

Jimmy and I had a busy week and then weekend. On Thursday I was busy at school until around 8:00. I had the after school program with the high school and then I had a family night. Family night is a night that the 3T-5th grade puts on and we have family members and their children come up to it. We ended up putting on a valentine card making session where the parents could have their picture taken with their child and put it on the card. It turned out to be a bigger hit than we had planned and a lot of community members showed up which was really nice to see.

This weekend Jimmy and I both went our separate ways to chaperone the middle school basketball teams. I went to Tununak, which is on Nelson Island just up and down the large hill (mountain) that we can see in Toksook. We left on Friday around 12:00 on snowmobile. It was quite the trip. You really have to bundle up when you travel in Alaska in the wintertime. I had on 6 different layers and my coat, a hat, mittens, snow goggles, -30 degree boots, wool socks, 3 pant layers, and my snow bibs. I felt like I weighed 15 more pounds and had a hard time walking. The trip over to Tununak was very rocky. I was taken over by one of the maintenance guys that works in our school. We also had to tow a sled of equipment behind us. There was more than one time that I thought I might fall off and die and then the sled would run over me. I thought that the half hour trip would never end! The thing that surprised me was that they don’t wear helmets on their sleds up here in Alaska. It’s something that I have gotten used to in Michigan, and I felt so much safer with one than without one!

When we arrived we had to play in less than 20 minutes so the coach and I got the girls to put their things away and quickly get ready for their game. Their first game went really well and the girls won. The rest of the night was spent watching the other 3 teams compete against one another and we also had another game that night. I had forgotten what it is like to be in middle school, and probably for a good reason. The girls were very nice but hyper for most of the time. They spent their free time in the gym and couldn’t get enough basketball. They played until 11:00 PM when we kicked them out! Then they didn’t want to settle down and I was still yelling at some at 1:30AM! I was sure exhausted come Saturday morning when we got up for breakfast at 8:00 AM. We then were supposed to play one game and be home by 2:00 PM. Unfortunately two bad things happened. We lost our last game and then the weather was horrible. We weren’t able to leave until around 8:30 PM. I was just thankful that we were able to get out. The other two schools were snowed in for another night. The coach and I were jumping up and down ready to leave and head back to Toksook.

Jimmy had similar issues. He went to Bethel with the boys. The boys won all 3 games but they also got snowed in. They were supposed to arrive on Saturday afternoon but didn’t return until Sunday afternoon. Thankfully Jimmy spent his morning calling the airport otherwise he would have been stuck for another night. The small window (1 hour) of good weather only lasted the time he was in the air. The weather is horrible again here with the wind blowing really strong.

Needless to say we are both exhausted but look forward to another week. I can’t believe there are only 14 more weeks left. Hopefully winter won’t be for the rest of them. I am ready for the snow to melt and to start enjoying positive temperatures again.

The pictures you see are ones that I took in Tununak of the school and village. The painting is one that is hanging up in the school that I thought was really cool. The village reminded me a lot of Toksook besides that it is a lot smaller, they have a smaller basketball court, and that the large mountain we see was on the opposite side than it is in Toksook.

We also added some pictures to an older post we called Berry festival. They were pictures form Jimmy't trip to Umkimuit and of the cross country course that we have in Toksook. It's nothing like the one in Newberry or the other towns that I used to run in, thats for sure!

The snow continues

The past week has been really busy for both Jimmy and I. A lot of people were out sick again this week with the flu and cold. I ended up subbing the after school program on Tuesday because no one else was not sick and able to cover. This meant that I stayed until 6:00 this week on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. It was nice that I could help out, and even nicer that I will get a large paycheck. However, it did burn me out. The past week seemed to crawl for the both of us. I had two full mornings and an afternoon full of Terra Nova testing with my kids. The kids were really great sports about it, which was a huge relief.

It seems like everyday this week we had to shovel a mound of snow when we got done with school in order to get back into our house. Whiteouts were a common thing around Toksook. This morning (Sunday) we got woken up at 4:12 AM, 5:00AM, and 5:30AM this morning because our heater was not working properly. When the wind is as strong, as it was last night, the heater can’t get the fuel on its own. Therefore, we have to turn the heater off and pump it manually then turn it back on. If you choose to ignore it, it will continue to have a nice loud, high-pitch beeping sound until you get up and turn it off. Then it was hard to fall back asleep each time because the wind was knocking so hard it seemed like the windows were about to break! It was so windy that at times we couldn’t even see the house next to us! Our neighbor and her son came over and shoveled a little bit for us so we could get out. The picture you see here is what it looked like this morning when we were trying to go outside. Jimmy spent awhile shoveling it out. We were informed it was better to shovel stairs going up and then down instead of shoveling the whole thing out. This way you are only shoveling a little, instead of the whole walk way every time. It is just amazing how quickly the wind brings the snow back once you have shoveled. Thankfully, this should be our last month of really hard winter until the spring comes! Jimmy is the brave one that usually shovels as you see in the picture. I was warm inside cleaning and doing dishes. To cover up and keep warm when you are shoveling Jimmy is sporting the usual clothing that we have to wear – boots, bibs, hoodie, coat, hat, gloves, scarf, and then goggles. I know you are all going to run out and get cool gear so you can look like us!

I just received my ipod today. I was so excited to open it, and today is spent trying to put songs on it. We are currently at school right now, and we are supposed to be working on our lesson plans for the week. However, it is VERY cold in here (around 57 degrees) and our hands keep freezing. Jimmy and I both have our hoodies on and winter coats but we are still both freezing. It gets like this in the school on windy days because the wind comes right through our walls. The sad thing is Jimmy’s classroom is actually colder than mine because it’s upstairs. I think we are going to have to come back tomorrow on our vacation day and type our lesson plans. Then, we can borrow the key from another teacher (who has a classroom in the new part of our school) that can set the temperature.

It will be nice to have a short week and my kids will have to endure another round of testing on Tuesday. This time it’s to see if the kids are proficient in English. They say February is always testing month and I now see that it is true! Thankfully the most important tests that the students take aren’t until April. Only 15 more weeks of school left until we fly back to Michigan where there is warmer weather, trees, cars, highways, stores, TV, and Internet at home!

Birthday and Snow Day all in one

Well today is Jimmy's 24th Birthday! Unfortunately, he had a large migraine and had to call in sick to school. I on the other hand braved the weather to go to school. On my way, I kept being blown over. We had wind chills -50 below! These were winds like I have never experienced before! I couldn't see anything because the wind was whipping up the snow. Then I kept hitting drifts of snow and falling down. I actually missed the door to the school and had to go back to try and get it because the wind lead me away from it. Then, after I had been there for about 15-20 minutes they delayed school for an hour. I began to work and warm up (my room was around 60 degrees all day). Well we all waited around for a bit, and then they called off school for another hour. We then started school at 10:45. I have to say, it was pretty humorous to watch the kids try and walk into the school. They were barley moving and almost being swept away. When I got done with the elementary after school program at 6:00 I began to walk home. I had to reach down to get the door handle. Then I actually had to jump in. The picture actually looks better than it was. Then Jimmy and I spent some time shoveling us out of it. Just remember when you think you have experienced bad weather, realized that it is nothing compared to an Alaskan Bearing Sea storm!

Update!

Well it’s been a long time since we last updated our blog. Let's start from the beginning. Jimmy and I both enjoyed our trip home. It was a nice refresher and although we had a lot of delays, we made it back safely. I cut my hair while I was there and donated it to Locks for Love for young children that have ailments that prevent them from growing their own hair. Since we’ve been back, my students have been much more well-behaved!! This has of course been a huge relief. I still have some problems and struggles but overall things have calmed down a bit.

Last week, Jimmy and I were super busy planning for conferences and getting ready for classes the next week. I was sick this past Monday with flu like symptoms. I was happy to be back at school, and so were the teachers. We have been getting a lot of snow and wind in the past few weeks. We had a ton of teachers that left for a union meeting and our principal was also out for a meeting. They were all supposed to arrive on Sunday last week. However, they were all snowed in at Bethel. We had a total of 6-7 teachers gone, our head custodian, many aides were sick or snowed in, students were spread out in different villages, and our principal was also snowed in. This lasted until Wednesday at 3:00 when they were finally able to land their first plane. The school seemed like it was bursting at the seams! The kids were not used to that many substitutes and it got really rough. I felt like this past week was 3 weeks rolled into one! It was on Thursday and Friday having all of our teachers back and getting things back to normal.

Yesterday was spent making Yupik masks and making up a Yupik dance for our culture class that we have today. It’s crazy and exciting to think we only have 16 more weeks of school!