Christmas Program 08-09

Catching up on a few missed pics...

Our first snowman of the year... he was knocked over by morning ):

My students standing below the stockings my mom made for each of them!



My morning class.

All bundled up checking out one of the old sod houses that has caved in.

I must be a second grade teacher!

Imagine my surprise when I found this in my turkey soup...

An Alaskan Adventure

So on Monday night I went to the praise and worship night at the school and there were just a handful of us there, but Ryan asked if Alfred and I wanted to take a ride over to Hooper Bay sometime over the weekend with him and Emily. Awesome enough, Alfred sounded enthusiastic about it. I should pause and mention who these people are... Emily is one of my closer friends out here and she teaches middle school science... Ryan is a certified pilot, Emily's husband and also our long-term math sub at the moment... and Alfred is a local, the community counselor, and the brother of my classroom aide, Priscilla. Okay... so, fast forward to Friday and as it turns the weather is decent enough and I am more than ready enough to head to Hooper Bay which is an 18 mile snowmachine ride from Chevak. A few of us went there briefly by boat in the fall but this was my first long trip by "snow-go". Ryan and Emily are with a missionary program called SEND and they have some contacts in Hooper that started a church and a little "restaurant" run by volunteers so we thought to make a dinner date out of this. Alfred came to pick me up on his snowmachine around 5:45p. I wore my long underwear, regular outfit, carhart bibs, a parka, a face mask, my goggles, a hoodie, gloves, extra socks, and boots. And I threw in some extra winter gear in a backpack just in case (great advice from the Walker's)!

We arrived in Hooper about 45 minutes later without losing anybody and the ride was actually quite warm (woohoo face mask!). The restaurant was pretty crowded, but after peeling off all of our layers we soon found ourselves a table. Just as soon as we sat the gal with the animal hat and the gentleman next to her (in the pic above) asked if they could join our table. Turns out they are teachers in Hooper so it was nice to exchange information on the schools and stats. As I stated earlier, the restaurant staff is made up of all volunteers... so that made for an interesting ordering experience, but nonetheless we had a fabulous meal of chicken quesadillas, spanish rice, beans, and guacamole! Yummy! What a treat to be "eating out!" Now is where it gets interesting. We got all bundled up for our ride home (where we will be driving against the wind) and a few locals kind of chuckle at our layers...

Okay, I wish that I could have recorded all of my thoughts as we we headed home. But, it was too cold and we were driving too fast to possibly write anything down so I am going to try to recapture my thoughts here: do you know that absolutely awful brainfreeze you get when you quickly suck down a slurpy? It is just so intense and your brain seems to be zapped with ice? Well, that is how I felt. Do you know the feeling of trying to stay attached to a mechanical bull at the fair? Where you dig your heels into the sides of the bull and hang on to the harness with your hands as tightly as possible? This is also how I felt. What about the feeling you have when you are on Space Mountain in Disneyland and you close your eyes at some point (don't lie, you know you do!) and you fear that you are going to crash into one of the other rollercoasters?... Are you getting a visual? Okay, well what about the sound of an automatic machine gun going off non-stop? Can you hear it? All of these thoughts were going through my head as I had a HUGE smile on my face, hidden under my mask. What a ride!

Unfortunately, just a few miles out of Hooper we came across one of the men from our village on his snowmachine. He stopped us and asked if we'd seen one of his family members who was inebriated and had started the 18 mile walk back to Chevak. We hadn't seen him so we all turned and began the search. Ryan and Emily zig-zagged on one side of the trail, Alfred and I zig-zagged on the other side, and the man headed straight towards Hooper. I have to pause for a moment and share with you that I saw my first wild white fox on this search! It was beautiful and exceptional. We were on a mission and it was much too cold to stop for a picture. This was one of life's moments that you truly could only capture in your memory. Anyhoo, after quite awhile we still saw no signs of the missing guy and we were all starting to get pretty cold despite the many layers of winter gear. The wind was picking up and it was only getting darker. We decided that we would head back to Hooper since we were now just a couple of miles away and go warm up at the Public Safety Office and try to find out more information before heading back out again. Thankfully, the young man was found and had been brought to the Hooper clinic and all ended well. We ended up back in Chevak around 10:30 that evening. I have to tell you, tonight, I felt "Tougher in Alaska." Happy trails!
Misty

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today was my first Thanksgiving away from home EVER! And yes, I survived. (: The day began with what seemed like several phone calls while I was trying to sleep half the day away (I was a little homesick and figured this would help pass the time). *smiles* A few days ago I introduced myself and our buddy Jaden to baking. We had a great time- in fact, I think I have a passion somewhere deep (deep) down inside for baking. So, he called this morning to see if he could come over and bake. I told him I was sleeping and we could bake later. He called back a second later to make sure I would call him when I got up. *more smiles* Then I received a phone call requesting my presence to help make stuff for the dinner. There was no more putting it off- it was time to wake up. I should stop and add that I was in a MARVELOUS dream prior to these interruptions. I was on vacation in Mexico by myself in a chic evening outfit, roaming the streets nearby and running into buddies. The weather was perfect, the mood was right... it was almost heaven. And then, I woke up. To the phone ringing. In Chevak, Alaska. Without my family or closest friends. Despite the rude awakening, I actually had a great Thanksgiving. Jaden did come over and we made kiss cookies to bring to the dinner and I also make an apple raspberry pie. Now, I say I made the pie but I actually only "made" the crumbly crust on top. I bought the premade crust for the bottom and the premade filling. Nonetheless, I took great pride in putting it altogether and learning yet another recipe! (; **NOTE: For those of you unaware, I am pretty much domestically disabled so this whole baking thing is a BIG deal! *laugh*

After baking, I headed to Lena & Harry's house (Ulric's mom and dad), but on the way I stopped at Priscilla's to meet the newest addition to her family and say hello to the clan. There were at least ten adults and just as many kiddos there, but it was surprisingly quiet and calm. And, oh that little baby was adorable! It was very nice to visit with Priscilla (she is my classroom aide and friend); she took some time off to care for the baby. I said my goodbyes and headed to the Ferguson's for my turkey dinner. I arrived just in time to grab a spot in the winding line. Again, there were at least ten adults and as many children here. We ate turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet yams, and apple pie.


After eating and more eating I came home and took a short snooze. Around 7p I wandered over to the school to catch Priscilla's basketball game. It was great to visit with more people from the community as basketball is a big deal here. Chris and I ended our evening with crashing the community dance (run by teens) and then went back to the Ulroan's to play a round of Pictionary with Priscilla, Harriet, and Mary. When we got home we made some apple cider and sat on our porch, identifying the constellations. What made my day was seeing the three or four shooting stars while we were out there! Life is beautiful.

It's getting colder...

So, the shirt was a present from my roomie and it says, "Sometimes I pee when I laugh." LOL

A cold, cold day.

Chris and Amanda... they have the fancy espresso machine in their house... they are our Kaladi's.

Me and Amanda

Halloween Photos

Kendall and his daddy wearing Chevak Comets gear... too cute!

Me & Kendall at the Halloween Carnival

Me, Emily, and Chris

Miss Nelson as a tacky tourist with some of her kiddos!

Snow...

A neighbor and a couple of students joined me for a snowball fight after our first snowfall.

My roomie and some of the teachers' kids heading down the hill!

Our group photo... we hear that Anchorage has more snow than us at this point!

A sad day in Chevak

Yesterday morning I decided to attend service at the local non-denominational church. At the end of a great sermon and a time of worship the pastor returned to inform us that there had been an accident. One of the fifth grade girls had been accidentally shot by her father. This has been particularly hard on me because I met this young lady a year ago, the first time I visited Chevak. For some reason her and I hit it off right away even though she didn't exactly get along with her peers. She held a special place in my heart and we exchanged addresses before I headed back to Anchorage. When I returned to teach out here I kept looking for her and after about a week we finally saw each other again! Also, it took me about a month to realize that her younger brother was in my class. Well, their dad accidentally shot his gun in their house on his way out the door to go hunting and the bullet hit the young girl in her head. She was taken to Bethel or Anchorage where she was pronounced dead late in the evening last night. My heart is sad. Living in such a small community, death really affects everyone. Today my students are writing letters to her brother, their classmate, telling him that they miss his sister and I hope is okay. It makes me sad that this is our writing assignment today. That is where I am at right now. Keep us in your thoughts... 

Fall Pics

Me and Priscilla (check out my kaspuk!)

Some of my silly students.

Me and Henbug on the way to the airport leaving Anchorage in late September.

Hosting a community Fall Literacy night in my classroom.

One of my classes.

Me with some old co-workers and a Siberian Yup'ik dance group in Anchorage at a training.

My little bug.

Tami and I getting a dance night in before I headed back to Chevak.

Our training group... people from all over!

October is Here!

I have to start this posting by saying that I have misplaced my memory card reader so I can't post any pictures at this time ): , but I still wanted to write. I want to share where I am as it has almost been two months since I arrived in Chevak. Things are going well. I enjoyed my short and intense visit back to Anchorage at the end of September; it was SO nice to  visit with family and friends! I have to say that it was kind of nice to get back to Chevak and slow down a little bit. I was welcomed home as soon as I arrived here. I got back into the swing of things pretty quickly with a movie night at the Ulroans, a Literacy night and school reports being due. It is hard to believe that the first quarter is already coming to an end. It has been a great semester, but I am noticing that as the school year moves on my roomie and I are having less time to explore the great outdoors ): We continue to add things to our lives to keep it spicy and fun and plan to celebrate my 24th (which is also the end of the quarter) with an 80s themed party and, of course, we will be having a Halloween party at the end of the month! Before we know it, Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here! I cannot believe how fast time flies! The weather is getting a bit colder here, but I have to say it felt more like winter when I was in Anchorage than it does out here; however, I am sure snow is right around the corner. I really feel like my students are learning a lot and they make me proud. I was able to watch the VP debate last night at a friend's house and I have been trying to incorporate a bit of the elections into my teaching and the kiddos just think it is so neat that I have a picture with Governor Palin. I am still following the debates as best as I can out here and I am anxious about the results. What a historical year! My master's class is going quite well though I find it more challenging than I had anticipated. I am the youngest one in the class and the only first year teacher so it has been interesting to try to keep up with all the veterans, but a great learning experience. Well, I hope to get some pics on here soon but until then I will keep writing. Hugs!

So thankful,

Misty

Heading to Anchorage for a Training

Young friends and students at the XC meet.... and high schoolers dancing at Pep Assembly

I just realized that it has been a couple of weeks since I posted so here I am. I don't have too many photos to post, so I thought I would share some of my thoughts. The last couple of weeks have flown by as I expect the following will as well. I have a great group of students and they seem to be following our classroom routine smoothly. Last week I was sick and stayed home for a day and when I went to school in the evening to see how their day was and to grade papers I was greeted by a stack of notes from my kiddos! This is one of the reasons being a teacher makes me smile (: I am feeling better now and school events are hitting us left and right. XC Running is a HUGE sport here and we hosted one of the meets last weekend as well as a school dance. Some of the teens thought it was a bit lame to see all of the new teachers dancing... but WE had fun! I did feel like an old lady by midnight and nearly turned into a pumpkin! lol


The Chaperones (:

... I guess you can see why some of the teens might have thought we were a little uncool... *smiles*... I have signed up to assist with the K-2 Battle of the Books program at our school... this was something that I was a part of in elementary and really enjoyed since I was a bookworm and I am a huge advocate for providing and supporting literacy programs... along with that I will be working with the ANE grant to provide an opportunity for kiddos ages 3 through second grade to participate in Literacy Nights at the school where we will read themed books and have hands-on activities... and last but not least I am heading to Anchorage to get trained to be the Tobacco Cessation Support Specialist at the school... basically, I will be providing supportive activities once a month for students, co-workers and community members to assist them with quitting tobacco! ... As far as my living situation goes my roomie and I don't see as much of each other these days due to me being in the elementary wing and her in the high school wing... though we get together on the weekends for fun times (rounds of "spoons", 10,000, scary movie night, girls' night, boating, etc)... we do have a very naked house... our living room needs something to make it more homey... I think I will invest in some curtains while in Anchorage and maybe some scented candles... and I still haven't really learned how to cook... but I CAN finally make those boxed brownies from Costco without burning them! And I might add that they make a great treat to bring to potlucks, friends' houses, and just a nice treat when in need of chocolate! Next month I will be celebrating my birthday (and I am BIG on celebrating my birthday... I get it from my Mama *smiles*) so we have decided to host an '80's- themed party... mostly because we like the music (; I don't think there will actually be much dancing, but it is always great when you get a bunch of teachers together! Anyhoo, I am off to bed as I have to complete some formal assessments over the next couple of days. Thanks for checking in!


Some of my terrific students at the Pep Assembly.... my awesome aide, Priscilla