Blizzard and another one

For two weeks in a row we have been living in a snow globe! When one storm gets done another one comes. We got more snow and again lots of wind. Even with all the weather, I finally got out to go skiing and snowshoeing all this week except for Friday and Saturday. Kira, the school counselor was here all this week and we went snowshoeing. We took the "scenic trail." I knew about where we were, but just a LITTLE off. It was gorgeous out: hardly any wind and sunny.

My first taste of spruce tree gum also was interesting. It's hard and yellow stuck on the bark. So I took a fairly good chunk off and chewed it. It took some time to have it turn into the consistency of gum and for the sap taste to not be so strong. Then, it was pretty darn tasty. For some reason it got stuck in my teeth after a while. Nothing like a big juicy cheeseburger with onions and mushrooms to get it out.

How is Berry? Well, she has gotten in the habit of running away from me when I let her go outside to do her duty. She loves the dumpster. She does not stay when I tell her to or come. It was really pissing me off and wish I had a shock collar. So for now on she is on a leah and on her rope when she needs to go outside. When she's on a walk she is good because she sticks close by, but once you get closer to town, watch out because she so quickly turns stubborn.

What happened this week at school?
Our class finished reading 100 books! We kept track on a poster Scholastic gave us and then Scholastic sends free books to other kids in need. Our staff has been preparing for our audit this week. The Department of Education has chosen Unalakleet and Koyuk to represent Bering Strait School District. They will be here Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. I'm not worried one bit! We have accomplished so much this year! The kids writing is coming along so well and their reading is too. I'm so proud of each of them.

Please keep the village and the children in your prayers. There has been a lot a drinking going on and the kids are suffering at school and getting physically hurt. I lost some sleep on this, but I remembered that God loves these precious kids and parents more than I do. I'm so thankful I can give my burdens to Him who is stronger than I.

I'm pretty excited that my mom and dad have learned to Skype. If you are not familiar with Skype it is a free software that lets you type back and forth, talk like you are talking on the telephone (with or without video). My mom claims she taught herself, but I walked her through step by step. They also went to a friend's house to try the webcam. It worked for a couple of seconds off and on, but this is when I was having the huge storm. Hopefully we can try another time this week.

Until next week.

3 hours later and only 1 done

I thought it would be easier to book a flight to WI with free miles. I was totally wrong! First, I could get to WI but not back to AK. Then I called back and checked flights to Chicago. They had one! Then I had to wait to see if Berry was confirmed for the flights home. I will have to overnight in Anchorage and in Nome. I'm not too worried about finding a place in Nome. I have a some friends there. I will have to stay at Long House, since they take dogs.

I still have my flights from Koyuk to Nome and Nome to Galena. I'm going to be curious how much that will cost. It's very challenging trying to juggle three different flights along with a dog. She's worth it...even though she pisses me off sometimes.

I will be coming to WI May 28 to July 8th.

I will probably get to Galena MOnday May 19th.

It was an expensive day today and the next month. I just purchased over $500 in meat, not including freight. I'm super excited to eat chicken: drumsticks, breasts, whole chicken. I purchased dog food, and some wildlife DVD's (with gift certificate), birthday present.

What's on the menu this week:
Steak with pasta salad
Cheeseburgers with homemade buns and oven baked onion rings, root beer floats.
Breadsticks with Marinara
Some baked goodie..not sure yet
Pasta

Until next week!

A week of sickness

Well, can you guess how many kids I had out of 10 this week? From Tuesday to Friday I had three, four, and five kids on separate days. I got standardized tests done, other assessments done so students could pass standards. I didn't do the curriculum all four days, did review, read two of my favorite books. W read Panda Cake, which was my favorite book when I was little. My parents read it over and over to me because I liked all the animals in it. We also read Stranger in the Woods. My Nanna gave it to me and it's about a stranger that all the animals are trying to find in the winter time. It's a lot of fun!.

I started getting sick on Monday also but held off until Friday for a sick day. I wish I could sleep during the day but I couldn't so I only rested about 2 1/2 hours, not slept, for that long all day. So I was bugged by that so I found homework sheets for next week, made my newsletter, made breadsticks and marinara sauce, which turned out excellent.

The weather has been crazy. We got a ton of snow and it drifted like I have never seen before. I saw drifts as deep as my waist and as tall of me; and believe me, you know I'm not that tall.

I'm so bummed to be sick or else I would be skiing and snowshoeing. Berry is going stir crazy and she takes it out on running away from me and following the ski team. One of boys had to catch her for me. I was drenched when I got home from the heavy and wet snow that was coming down so fast. I was so flippin angry with her that I threw her in the kennel for an hour.

Some good news! The grant was passed to keep the Early Childhood Teacher for the three and four year olds! I'm so glad Sarah is going to be staying. She is an excellent teacher and I can't wait to see all the wonderful things she has done with the new kindergartners.

Until next week!

Battle of the Books

The major celebration this week was that the Kindergarten Battle of the Books Team made it to finals. This extracurricular activity is a K-12 in the whole district. Each year books are chosen, children read them, and then practice answering questions. Here is an example of a question: In which book does a character say, "I want my mommy?" or In which book is there a red and white umbrella?". For two weeks before the battle we have been practicing questions like these and the children amaze me. We had four books: Alaska Three Pigs, 10 Minutes Till Bedtime, The PaperBag Princess, and Owl Babies. Not only do the children have to remember the title but also the author. So our first battle was on Tuesday and we missed only 3 questions out of 16 and so we got to go to the finals. We did a little bit better during the finals and got 2nd place! The second time we battled I had only three girls....luckily they were the girls who knew the most about the books. So what a celebration for these kids!

Also, every year the children publish a their own book from pictures I took throughout the year. This will be my third year doing this and one of the community members who is on the city council encouraged me to write a letter to the city of Koyuk to ask if they would donate the money to make these. So I had the kids give me ideas on what the letter should say, along with guidance, or the letter would say, "We want money for books." and they called this week and they are donating over $200 for our books. We have been thinking of titles. We need to get started soon, though because our press date is May 20. It takes about 3 months of writing and organizing.

I will have to upload photos later, since I cannot do it at the apartment building because the internet is too slow and loses connection at times.

We got about 10 inches of snow. It was warm for a while and then the wind came back making it colder. I had a nice snowshoe that kicked my butt. It was tough going through all the snow but it felt great to sweat and work hard.

I'm still very much at peace and excited for next year to be in Koyuk. I'm more excited to visit friends and family this summer. I will stop in Galena in the middle of May, head to WI to spend some time with the Grandparents touring the State Parks, visit the Twin cities to see my dear friends Betty, Johanna, and Heather S., and hang out with my puppy and the new puppy-Belle. I know Berry will get extremely jealous because she does here if I pet other dogs. She nudges herself between me and the dog and gets on my lap.

I had a wonderful Valentine's Day. I don't think I ever said that in my entire life. It was a special one this year!

Until next Sunday!

Decision

After much prayer and thinking I have made my decision about my contract. This was the hardest decision I had to make since I've been in Alaska. I have decided to stay in Koyuk for one more year. I had so much peace while praying and thinking about this decision and continue to have peace. Sometimes the thought of " I hope this is the decision God has directed me to take." comes into my mind. I do love Koyuk a lot! I love the beauty, the people, the berries, my school staff.

Thank you for all your prayers!

Lots of Fun!

Hi-ya!

We learned about opposites. The kids made a list of about 30 of them. They amaze me every day!






Well, as my pictures are in the process of downloading, I will write. What a great week with the kids! We had many visitors this week; a total of 9. That is a lot for us! The most popular were the Tae Kwon Do instructors. Through a grant the community gets free lessons until the end of May an then a different instructor comes in October. Our instructor is Mr. Lee. He is from Korea and speaks very little English. It has been a great learning experience for my children. They are asking such great questions it gets me so excited! On Thursday we went to a demonstration. They showed us a video of them competing and it was really interesting. One guy kicked an apple off of a guys head. Another, jumped by springing off of one guy's knee to kick a board that three other guys were holding up high..about 15 feet in the air!

Then the two instructors and the Master Dan did some demonstrations. One was a fire demonstration. Everyone's eyes were so wide! He lit boards with gas and matches and broke them. One of my students was a little scared and started to cry. Poor! Then she said we went back in the classroom, said that, "My dad is strong like those Tae Kwon Do guys." It was really cute.

I had the chance to talk with Mr. Lee this weekend. It was great fun and a learning experience. I asked questions on the computer and it translated it to Korean for me and vice versa for him. His favorite american food is pizza, he loves the children and the whiteness of the snow. Some of the translations didn't come across the way we wanted them too, but we tried.

Well, a game night and snacks tomorrow with parents, guardians, grandparents and Elders. It should be tiring and fun! I hope it goes well!

Extension update: I did not get one. I was pretty disappointed but it is what it is. I kind of gave up on working on a resume and cover letter, until my Nanna encouraged me to get a move on it! I have my cover letter almost finished and my resume is almost done too. Praise God! It will be a time crunch, but if God wants me in Galena then he will get me there and if He doesn't He will do that also. I'll be fine staying too because I like it here also. I think I will be somewhat disappointed if nothing happens. Please keep praying for this process. Thank you! I'll have to work on the photos!