Winter is FINALLY here

I said I’d try to be better at posting this year.  But...I’m not.  Oh well.  Things are really busy up here with my teaching load.  This year, I’m teaching primarily math and science.  If you don’t know anything about the No Child Left Behind law, you have to be Highly Qualified to teach a subject within a year of teaching it.  I took the 7-12 Math Praxis last year, and scored high enough to become Highly Qualified in the state of Alaska (not high enough for the state of Colorado though).  So, this year, I’m teaching the following schedule:

• 1st Period - 9th and 10th Grade math (Algebra I and HSGQE Math...HSGQE = High School Graduation Qualifying Exam)
• 2nd Period - Subsistence Issues Elective
• 3rd Period - 6th/7th/8th Grade Biology
• 4th Period - High School Biology
• 5th Period - 6th/7th/8th Grade Math (This is actually 3 separate curriculums) and Algebra II
• 6th Period - 11th and 12th Grade math (Algebra II, HSGQE Math, and College Math)

Friday Morning Snow

So, on top of all of that, once a quarter, we (the middle/high school teachers) go around to all the students’ houses to deliver progress reports.  We visit with the families to tell them how their kids are doing in a less intimidating environment than the school.  Also gives them a little warning for their student to be able to fix their grades before report cards come out.  We try to visit with every students’ parents or guardians.  It takes a few hours, but the community seems to really appreciate it.

Snow!  Finally!

Sports are also in full swing here.  Right now, we’re right at the end of wrestling and volleyball season.  Because there are obviously no other high schools nearby, our team travels by plane.  Regions were this weekend for both sports.  The teams were supposed to leave on Wednesday afternoon, but we had a storm system move in.  They both ended up leaving on Thursday morning.  Hopefully they’ll all be back tomorrow (Sunday).  The volleyball tournament was in New Stuyahok, which is the village just south of us.  Because it’s “close,” almost the entire village went to watch.  By lunchtime on Thursday, we had 7 high school students and 8 middle school students left in school.  It makes teaching a little difficult when all your students are missing.

Footsteps in the "small" drift

We FINALLY got a big snow!  It had been starting to feel like springtime up here...rainy and “warm.”  But Thursday brought some snow...and Thursday night brought even more!  I walked out of my house Friday morning with my snow boots and only saw a few inches on my front steps.  So I figured I’d be okay.  I rounded the first corner and saw that the wind and made drifts in front...but they only looked to be 9-12 inches.  Just boots should be okay.  Stomp Tromp Stomp.  Round the second corner.  Oh man!  Drifts up past my knees!  Crap!  Turn around, head down, disheartened...back to the house for my ski pants.  Other than tromping through the snow to work, everyone is really happy about the snow.

Fall in Alaska

I know it’s been awhile since my last post.  Not a lot has happened though.  So, I’ll try to make it as interesting as possible.

Rick got his moose this year.  We spent almost 5 hours one night cutting it up.  Good thing the sun wasn’t going down until after 10pm at that point.  We still didn’t finish until almost midnight though.  As is part of village life, Rick gave both me and the other teacher quite a bit of meat.  The three of us all ended up with a rubbermaid tote FULL of moose meat!  Yum!  If you’ve never had moose, it’s pretty darn tasty.  It’s not as gamey tasting as deer or elk, and it’s less fatty than beef.

I picked up an after-school job.  I’m working for an after-school tutoring program called Alaska Learning Labs.  I’m focusing my program on grades 2 through 6, although they do have a program that can be run at upper grade levels.  Because of sports and such, after-school programs don’t tend to work out so well for the older kids.  Anyway, the program focuses on reading, writing, and math.  It’s geared towards our state standards as well.  I’m running the program 4 days a week, for 90 minutes each afternoon, and I can have up to 11 kids in the program.  I get paid $30/hour, plus an additional 22% for prep time.  Not too bad!

The group that funds Alaska Learning Labs paid for me to go to Anchorage for a 2-day training in the middle of October.  It was sheer luck that while I was there, my good friend Tadpole, who teaches in Alukanuk (another village in Alaska along the Yukon River), was also there waiting to have her baby!  After I was done with training both days, she picked me up from my hotel and we went shopping and to dinner.  We went on a Wal-Mart run the first night and had some tasty mexican food.  The next day, she took me to the mall for a pedicure, then helped me finish up my shopping, and we went to Subway and to get pizza!  Yum!  I miss city food (but it doesn’t miss me, unfortunately...just makes me sick...haha)!

On the last Friday in October, we had our Halloween Carnival at the school.  We have small games and such for the elementary and younger kids in the village to come play.  Their parents buy tickets, and they can win small prizes (vampire teeth, pencils, small activity books, etc.)  All of the proceeds from the tickets that we sell go to Math-a-thon, which I believe is a St. Judes fundraiser.  The High School Seniors also made popcorn balls and caramel apples to sell to try to raise more money for their senior trip.  After we came close to running out of prizes, we close the carnival, and we had a “Haunted Library” that some of the high schoolers put on.

A bunch of people ask me about Halloween and if kids trick-or-treat.  Yes, they do.  And their parents or sisters or aunties sometimes trick-or-treat right along side the kids.  A bunch of kids asked me “Sandra, why didn’t you go trick-or-treating?”  Umm...because you kids wanted me to give you candy!  Silly kids!

Back to the Senior Class I suppose.  They have been raising money since last year to go on a senior trip.  They have a tiered goal.  If they raise a little bit of money, we’ll head to Anchorage.  If they raise a whole lot of money, we’ll get to go to Hawaii.  And if they raise somewhere in the middle, we’re Colorado bound!  They’ve been doing things such as cake walks, spaghetti dinners, selling goods, sports camps and tournaments.  Right now, they have an iPod nano that they are selling raffle tickets for.  If they keep up the good work, they’ll raise lots of money.  The next step for them is going to be getting donation letters out to businesses.

I guess the last thing I have for now is voting.  It took me all of 30 seconds to vote this year.  Signed the paper, got my ballot, filled it out, placed my ballot in a cardboard box.  And left.  Easiest vote I’ve EVER made.  The big deal in Alaska right now is that our Senate vote is going to have to be recounted again and again and again.  One of the major republican candidates (and longtime Senator) lost the primary, much to many people’s dismay.  She ended up becoming a write-in candidate.  You thought your political commercials were vicious back home?  Oh man...try adding a third candidate to the ballot!  A write-in, at that!  Holey!  I’ve NEVER been so glad for election season to be over as I have this year!  Anyway, now the new AK Senator probably won’t be decided until Thanksgiving, at the earliest.

Oh, this is actually the last thing:  We’ve got a decent layer of snow now.  Maybe an inch or so?  Fall finally hit the lower-48.  Winter hit Alaska.  It’s getting chilly out there!  Makes getting out of bed and walking to work harder and harder!

It...is...

SNOWING!

Keep it mind today's date:  September 28, 2010.

Village Words

My village doesn’t speak a lot of Yup’ik, which is the native language of a lot of the Native American tribes up here.  But there are a lot of different terms and phrases up here that are used that aren’t used down in Colorado.  So that’s what this entry is dedicated to!  Some words are Yup’ik, and some aren’t.  Some need explanations, and some don’t.  Enjoy!

Disclaimer:  I don’t guarantee that my Yup’ik translation is correct.  If you see it’s wrong, please let me know so I can change it!  Also, I’ve learned that Yup’ik spellings vary from one place to another.  Most of the pictures included were found on the internet.

Phrases

• “I joke” or “I fool” - instead of “just kidding” or “just joking”
• Short pants - usually basketball shorts
• “Oh Salmon!” - used by some instead of the phrase “oh shit!”
• Questions that don’t have proper verbs, such as:  Where you go?  What your doing?  How you know?
• Hurry up-a
• Holy Cats!
• This one isn’t verbal...but lifting your eyebrows up to answer “yes” to someone instead of saying anything at all.

Agutak

Yup’ik Words

• Maqii - steam
• Ciivak (pronounced Chee-vack)- flies
• Agutak (akutak) - the spelling varies; but it’s also called “eskimo ice cream.”  It’s usually made of Crisco, sugar, and berries (sometimes fish or rice)
• 
  

  

  Kuspuk

• Muktuk - whale fat
• Anuk - poop
• Uppa - grandpa
• Glusna - godparent
• Kuspuk - A cloth shell, usually made of bright patterned cotton.
• Quanna - thanks
• Ulu - a knife that is shaped like a saw blade, with a wood handle attached
• Camii - hello
• Akleng - sorry

Ulu

Words

Sno-Go

• Bum - bad (such as “The weather’s bum.”)
• Buggy - annoying (“Buggy kids!”)
• Ting - thing
• Honda - four-wheeler
• Sno-go - Snow machine
• 
  

  

  Skiffs

• Skiff - small, shallow-bottom boat with a motor
• Holeh! - just an exclamation
• PFD - Permanent Fund Dividend.  This is the money Alaskan residents receive each year based on the state’s oil income.  A portion of the state’s oil income goes back to the Alaskan residents through some crazy equation.
• VPSO - Village Public Safety Officer
• No-see-ums - A very small, biting, winged bug.  Hard to see when they’re by themselves, hence the name.  Their bites are quite irritating too!
• 
  

  

  No-See-Um

• Selavi - Russian Christmas, celebrated on January 7 and for seven days.  Involves caravans of people going from house to house with a large decorated star, caroling and sharing food and small gifts.
• Bush - Pretty much any part of Alaska that is not accessible by road.  Communities that can only accessed by air, water, sled, or snow machine.
• Cache - food storage for the winter

Speaking with Elders

During Cultural Week, a few of the elders in the village came to talk to the kids.  It was very interesting to hear them speak about their past and history here in Alaska.  I thought I’d share some of their stories with you.

Old Koliganek

Koliganek has been moved twice.  There is what is known as “1st Old Koliganek” and “2nd Old Koliganek.”  1st Old Koliganek was located on the Nuyakuk River.  I’m not sure when they moved from 1st Old Koliganek to 2nd Old Koliganek, but in about 1964, they moved from 2nd Old Koliganek to New Koliganek (where we live now).  The village was moved due to flooding and an earthquake that happened on Good Friday that year.  During the flood, all the women and children (and eventually the men) were evacuated via helicopter to other villages (mainly New Stuyahok and Ekwok).  The first sno-go came to New Koliganek in the late 1960s (it “looked funny though”).  Electricity came to the village around 1968.  TV arrived came in the early 1970s.  The first phone was in the village council in the mid-1970s.  There was one phone for the whole village!  There was no airport.  Planes would land behind the village, and it was first come, first serve, just get in the plane!  No reservations!

Hunting

The drawing on the top is a spear and throwing board.
On the bottom in a kayak.

They used to use specially shaped boards, called throwing boards, to throw 3-pronged or 3-barbed arrows.  The boards would give them more leverage so they could throw the arrows harder and faster.  The barbs or arrows were usually made of walrus tusk because it is ivory and hard and would not break.  Sometimes, moose bone was used to make fish arrows.  They would hunt for fish after they turned red from spawning and were in the slews and no longer traveling upriver.  They also used these boards for spearing seals.

When it came to hunting to bears, they were very brave.  They would lay down in a bear’s known path with a handmade metal knife, attached to a long stick, and wait for the bear to cross the path.  They would stab the bear in the throat, because that’s the only area there are no bones. “They were so brave in those days.  Would you like to hunt a bear like that?”

Travel

There were not any sno-gos.  They used dog sleds instead.  They did everything with dog teams: hunting, gathering wood, traveling, etc.  Everyone had a dog team, even the women.  Dog teams were mostly huskies, no labs.  “It used to take forever to go to Dillingham!”

Measurement

They used their hands, arm lengths, and finger widths for measuring, not tape measures.  Everything was made for the individual, with their own body measurements.  Nothing was mass produced.

Making Kayaks

One of the elders, sketching a diagram of a kayak.

Moose ribs were used for the bottom of the kayak, and were slowly bent into the perfect shape so that the boat would not tip.  They were fitted into wooden frames usually.  Then, they were covered with stretched caribou hides that had the hair removed by keeping them wet until they almost turned sour, and then the hair is just removed.  The kayak is made waterproof by covering the hide with bear fat or sticky-head oil/fat.  The kayaks that were made with only one opening and mostly covered were used more for people by the ocean.  Those people would use seal-gut rain parkas.  The parka sits over the ring of the kayak when they sit in it, and seals around the ring.  This allows the person and the inside of the kayak to become completely waterproof, inside and out, if they tipped over.  When they made kayaks upriver, they wanted to make kayaks more open so they could use them for more storage (nets, fish, etc.).

Dishes

Dishes were made out of roots of trees.  Everyone had their own bowl and utensils.  No one ever did anyone else’s dishes.  You brought your own dishes when you went somewhere to eat.  (BRILLIANT!)  Before metal pans, they would heat rocks and put them in bowls of water to heat the water to boiling point.

Animals

The warmest furs are rabbit, otter, beaver, fox, squirrel, and muskrat.  They never ate fox or wolf.  Fox was used for bait or for dogs, but needed to be cooked very well.  They would use fox for coats or insoles.  Northern people would eat mink, otter, or wolverine.  Many parkas were made of squirrel and caribou

The elders also talked a lot about Yup’ik values.  Here are some of the important values they had to share:

Be Resourceful

When you go out in the wilderness without resources, you have to become resourceful.  Use whatever you have available to you.  If your shoes have a hole, sew it up right away.  Take care of things as soon as they happen.  Even now, you should have a survival kit every time you travel, even men.

Long ago, even men had a version of a sewing kit with a needle, thread, and tools that they would take out in the wilderness to fix things (such as mend furs and clothing) because they would be gone for a month or so at a time.

One of the students, using an ulu.

Do Not Be Wasteful

Do not waste food.  Do not be picky eaters.  Try food, even if you are not sure of it.  Do not be a fool being wasteful, just because it seem like it’s easy to get things.

Be Helpful to Your Neighbor

If you see someone that needs help, help them right away.  Do not expect to be paid; just help them.  It makes them happy.  It is a good feeling to help others.  If you see any elders, it brings you luck to help them.

Speaking Yup’ik

Listen closer, and you will learn.  Listening helps you learn.  The more you listen if your parents speak it, the more you learn.

Tool Usage

Young girls are not as good with ulus.  They should practice more.  They should also learn and practice sewing.

Culture Week

So, this week was Culture Week at the school.  Because it was the first week of moose hunting, we were going to have a lot of absences.  So, the staff decided that, instead of fighting absences and make-up work, we would alter our curriculum to fit the needs of our community.  We allowed students who wanted to go moose hunting to go out (and even offered adults a fuel stipend for each student they took out on a cultural activity).  For the kids that came to school, we had activities that were culturally relevant as well.

Peeled poles for the fish racks

One of the finished fish racks

With the middle school and high school kids on Monday and Tuesday, we built a fish rack in the morning.  In the afternoons, we had elders come in and talk with the students.  

On Wednesday, the kids went down and split fish with ulus (traditional Alaskan knives) in the morning, and then we went berry picking the in afternoon.  

A selection of ulus

Splitting fish with an ulu

A rack full of split fish

Thursday, the weather was bum in the morning, so we had the kids work on pictures slideshows of this week the morning.  Then the older kids taught the elementary kids NYO (Native Youth Olympics) events.  They taught them the events below.  (I’ll do my best to explain how they work.  Unfortunately, I don’t want to post pictures with my students’ faces because I don’t have their permission to do so.  Instead I’ve posted links, in case my description doesn’t make sense.)  On Friday, we had a small NYO event for the elementary kids to show off their skills to the community, then we had a big potluck to finish off the week.  It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun!

NYO Events

• Kneel Jump - Kids start down on their knees.  They use their arms as leverage to jump up and forward onto their feet.  The goal is to land on both feet, with as much distance as possible.
• Stick Pull - Two kids start out sitting, facing each other.  Their feet are propped against one another.  They are holding on to the same stick (they take turns with their hands either on the inside or outside so it’s fair).  They pull on the stick until they pull their opponent completely towrads them or their opponent lets go.
• Seal Hop - Kids start out in a push up position (usually, girls have their hands flat on the ground, and boys are on their knuckles.  For our purposes and the age of the kids we were working with, we only taught them with their hands flat on the ground).  The kids hop across the floor in this position.  If you were really being judged, your butt would have to stay down.  Time doesn’t matter, only distance.

All these kicks require a little set up.  There is a ball (about the size of a softball) attached to a string, which is hanging over the top of our basketball hoops.  The other end of the string is attached to a weight which is placed on the floor so the height of the ball can be adjusted.

• Alaskan High Kick - First, the kids sit on the floor, facing the ball.  They hold one foot with the opposite hand (e.g. they hold their left foot with their right hand).  They balance on their other hand and kick the ball with the foot they are not holding.  The height of the ball is raised after each kick until the competitor can no longer kick the ball.
• One Foot High Kick - This one usually has a small running start.  The kids jump straight into the air, bending their kicking leg and kicking the ball.  They have to land on the same foot they kicked with, and keep their balance.  
• Two Foot High Kick - Very similar to the one foot high kick.  This one, kids jump with both feet, keep their feet together to kick the ball, and land on both feet, keeping their balance.

Back in the 9-0-7!

Manitou Incline - 3000-ish Steps!

I spent my summer in Colorado, well, most of it anyway.  I left Alaska and arrive in Colorado May 19th.  After spending the first two weeks attending all my "little sister's" graduations, I finally got some time to relax.

I spent a lot of time with friends and family.  I did lots of hiking at the beginning of the summer.  I hiked the incline at the beginning of the summer, which is quite the feat!

I got to go to Vail, CO for a week for a teaching conference.  I met up with some of the teachers from another village in my district, Manokotak.  It was a lot of information to take in, but it was well worth it!  We had a great time learning some amazing new material to try to bring back to our schools and students!

I also met Jack at the beginning of the summer.  He and I went to California for a few weeks this summer, where I met his family and friends.  He has met all my family back in Colorado and I'm told by everyone I need to keep him around.  We've got big plans for the future, as soon as I can get back to Colorado or he gets out of the Army...whichever happens first :)

I met a lot of new amazing friends this summer, reconnected with old ones, and had a great time with family.  Now I'm back in Alaska!  I moved into my new housing unit (well, new to me at least...).  On Monday, I'm headed to Dillingham for inservice for the week.  I believe school starts on the 17th, right in the middle of moose season!

My goal for this year:  post in this blog more, for those of you who follow it...we'll see how that goes I guess!

NCLB Testing...CO vs. AK

This week concluded our state-mandated testing.  After spending so long in Colorado dealing with them, then moving here, I was in for an eye opening experience.  It's soooo different here!

In Colorado, they're called CSAPs (Colorado Student Assessment Program).  Kids take them from 3rd to 10th grade.  Reading, writing, math.  And in grades 5, 8, and 10 they take a science test.  Then, 11th graders are required to take the ACT.  There is no exit exam for seniors.  The tests in Colorado don't have any impact on student grades, performance, etc.  All the tests are timed as well.

In Alaska, they're called SBAs (Standards Based Assessment).  Kids still take them from 3rd to 10th grade, but when they are in 10th grade, they are called the HSGQE (High School Graduation Qualifying Exam).  Reading, writing, and math still.  And science is tested in grades 4, 8 and 10.  All 10th graders must pass the reading, writing, and math sections of the HSGQE to receive a true diploma when they graduate as seniors.  If they don't pass the spring of the 10th grade year, they are tested again in the fall the following year.  And again in the spring.  And again and again until they pass.  They only have to retake the tests they failed though.  Other than the exit exam, the other major difference is that the tests here are not timed.  Students have as much time to complete the tests as they need.  Theoretically, they can stay til 9pm at night if they need to!  I didn't get a chance to see the high school tests, because I was proctoring for one of our elementary special education students (she needed a one-on-one proctor to read her the test), but the tests seem so much longer.  The writing part of the HSGQE has 6 or 7 writing prompts I believe, in addition to the 60 multiple choice questions.

The nice thing is that my community seems to find SBA scores important, unlike parents in Colorado, who are indifferent to their students' CSAP scores.  (I do believe SBA scores are processed a little quicker than CSAP scores...that might be a helpful factor.)

Overall, my first year of SBA testing went fairly smooth.  Nothing too crazy to report.

Oh, on another note, it's official.  I'm returning to Koliganek for another year!  I'll be back in Colorado for the summer though!

Things We Learned This Week....

I spent the last week watching Rick's kids while he was in Anchorage at a conference.  Although the week was stressful on multiple levels, we learned a lot...including why I'm not ready for parenthood.  Here goes a top-ten list (in third-person, because the girls did some learning to.  HaHa):

1. Don't eat Cheetos and play the Wii - Sandra hates Cheeto cheese because it gets everywhere.
2. Bouncing on the couch when you sit down will drive Sandra crazy.
3. Sandra's house is not big enough and not child-proof - especially the coffee table.
4. Sandra will make you eat your dinner, even if you don't like it.  You will put it in the fridge and keep eating it until it's gone, or you will not get dessert.
5. It irritates Sandra when she has to continuously tell you to "Take a bite.  Take a bite."  Don't try to mush your food either, because you'll still have to eat it.
6. When it's bedtime, you get to pick one movie - then it's Sandra's choice because at that point, you're just refusing to sleep and it's making her cranky.
7. No video games, tv, etc. until homework is done.  Period.
8. Sandra must know things...like how to spell their middle names, apparently.
9. Elbows, knees, and fists in the middle of the night reminded me of why I don't like sharing my bed with small children.  It made for a long week of very little sleep.
10. Doling out punishment sucks when their not your kids.

Yep.  Not ready to be a parent...at least not a parent of partially-grown kids.

It's the little things in life...

When you live in the bush, it's the little things in life that become important.

Last night, Lindsey invited me over for dinner.  She had gotten a head of cabbage, and made corned beef and cabbage.  It's amazing how tasty that cabbage was!  And cabbage is one of those veggies that doesn't have a lot of nutrients or flavor.  But...oh man...was that a gourmet meal!

The ability to go to the store and get something as silly as birthday candles is also something that you don't think about.  For Rick's and Lindsey's daughter's birthday, we didn't have any candles.  So what do you do?  There's no Wal-Mart.  There's no Walgreens.  Well...there is, it's just a $500 flight away for a $3 pack of birthday candles.  So, what do you do?  You light a lighter and have her blow it out...11 times, once for each year she is old and one more time for good luck!  Yes...that's how we roll in da bush!

Internet also is very important when you live up here.  It's a life-line to everyone from back home, all the news in the world, etc.  When the internet goes out...bad things happen.  A couple of weeks ago, the internet went out for a week.  We were pretty sure the village was going to riot if the company didn't get up here and fix the internet issues.

You don't realize how important the little things are (like cabbage) until they're gone.

More Tobacco Awareness

So, today I made my health class (all 6 of them) go present their videos and posters they had made to the grade 3-6 classroom.  I was highly impressed by the effort and presentation.  It started out a little slow, with mostly me talking to the kids, but the high schoolers started to pick it up and took over.  One of my star athletes talked about how smoking really effects how you play sports.  A couple of my girls talked about how smoking effects pregnant women and their babies.  They also helped the kids come up with a list of terms to use when they search on the internet for pictures (we have internet filters that block students from certain sites).


Here's two more videos they made.  Enjoy!

What Snuff Can Do to You

Stop Smoking

Tobacco Use

So, tobacco use among students is a pretty big issue here.  We have a Tobacco-Alcohol-Drug (TAD) policy for the student athletes, which means they are not allowed to use those things during sports seasons.  We've actually had quite a few students get kicked off of the teams for violating the TAD policy, mostly for tobacco products.  We've got students as young as 3rd graders being caught with tobacco.  The most common form among students is snuff (a form of smokeless tobacco).


Because tobacco (and even drugs and alcohol among some students) is such an issue, we started a Natural High Challenge.  A natural high is an activity, art form, or sport that you LOVE to do and makes you feel good inside.  It doesn't involve any drugs or alcohol.  The idea is that everyone has a natural high.  The students all made posters, depicting their natural highs, and could enter a contest for money if they wrote an essay to go along with their poster.


Also in response to the use among students, I've had my high school health class make anti-tobacco videos.  Here's two of them.  Hopefully I'll have more to post soon.

Facts About Smoking

Deadly Tobacco

And so begins February...

So, our internet has been out for a week in the village.  Which doesn’t seem like a big deal, until you realize how much you use it.  I’ve been utterly bored!  And the internet company was not helpful about getting it up and running again.  Luckily I noticed tonight, as I was doing my dishes, the pretty lights on my internet box (which sits in my window, next to the sink).  It’s funny how excited we all got when it came back on!  It’s ridiculously slow though.

It’s also been ridiculously cold up here.  Pretty sure it hasn’t been above zero all week.  The moisture from my breath freezes on my coat as I walk to work.  Sometimes it makes me wonder...

(I love postsecret.com)

Anyway, I’ve got a killer tax refund coming back to me.  Pretty excited.  Last year, I went to Oahu on my tax refund.  This year, I’m going some place warm and sunny.  I just want to lay in the sun in a bikini and thaw.

Other news in the bush:  Basketball season is in full force.  Last week both our girls and boys basketball teams went down to New Stuyahok (also known as just Stu) last week.  They left Wednesday after school.  Now, you have to realize, when there’s only 21 high schoolers in the whole school, and 15 of them are on the basketball teams, that really leaves your lesson plans in a lurch.  Especially when two of the five students that are left haven’t really attended school since January.  It also means that when 75% of your high school leaves for sports, so does 75% of the village (if not more).  This week is the Elks tourney in Naknek, which means they’ll all leave again on Wednesday.  AND, if that doesn’t draw enough of our students away, there’s also carnival in Stu starting on Tuesday.  For all of you crazy Colorado folk, it’s not like the flashing lights and fast rides carnival.  It’s more like a festival;  cultural events take place, sometimes dog-sled racing, and other fun stuff.  Anyway, anyone who doesn’t leave for basketball will probably go down to Stu for the week for carnival.  Just another week in...paradise?

And I’m going to leave you by dispelling a few myths that seem to be in everyone’s head:  

1. Alaska is not always dark in the winter.  Even on the shortest day of winter, I had 6 hours of daylight.  Right now, the sun is coming up sometime between 8 and 9ish (not sure when exactly because I'm teaching) and setting around 7pm or so.
2. Alaska does not always have snow.  This is unfortunate right now, and apparently rare.  Recently, it’s been bitter cold (think -20) and very windy.  Not the best conditions for snow.  But very good conditions to keep our 2 or 3 inch layer of deadly ice in tact.  Currently, the lower-48 has more snow than my village.  It’s irritating.
3. There’s a significant difference between “Alaska” and the “Lower-48.”  They might as well be two different countries.  It’s not something you truly understand until you live here though.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Well, I received my contract for next year yesterday.  I suppose that’s a good thing.  I have a job in Alaska if I want it.  However, I’m having a lot of doubts of what I should do next year.  Might as well explain it all, since I don’t talk to most of you often...

The Good

The students here are awesome.  They have a lot of potential.  If you can reach them, appeal to their better nature, and build a good rapport with them, then you can truly tell that I picked a wonderful village to work in.  Maybe I got lucky because there’s two of us new teachers here.  Maybe I’m just a lesser of the two evils.  Who knows.  But it seems like they enjoy having me as a teacher.

The staff I work with is pretty cohesive.  Well...for the most part.  There’s 5 teachers, a special ed teacher, and the principal.  In a small school like ours, it’s important that everyone gets along for the most part.  Half of us live in very close proximity to each other, so it makes for pretty good friendships if you get along with them.

I make about $15,000 more up here in Alaska than I do in Colorado as a teacher.  That’s pretty awesome.  Who wouldn’t want to make more money?  Cha-ching!

It’s beautiful up here.  The weather hasn’t been “typical” Alaskan weather.  It’s been pretty warm.  All of our snow has melted and is just a thick layer of ice.  Even so, it’s still pretty.

We do have a bush airline that travels straight from Koliganek to Anchorage.  That makes things much cheaper in the long run, so I don’t have to fly through Dillingham.

The Bad

There’s not a lot to do here.  The village is VERY small.  I’m not sure anyone really understands how small it is here.  Less than 200 people in the village, and about 60 of those people are kids at school.  There’s not a lot of socialization opportunities here.  Very few people my age that aren’t already married with kids.

The economy here is pretty poor, much like most Alaskan bush villages.  In such a small village, jobs are hard to come by.  This puts a stress on the community as a whole.  Luckily, alcoholism isn’t very high here, however it can be a problem for some.  One of the jobs here is the dog-catcher.  Stray dogs are a problem for a couple of reasons.  They get into the trash, and when they can’t find food, they get violent.  They’ve attacked kids in the past.  So, they round up the stray dogs, take them to the dump, and shoot them.  Pretty crazy, right?  Guess who has that job...a high school student.  Other jobs include the trash man, the post office lady, the store cashiers, and a handful of village council jobs.

I’m the only teacher here that is single.  That’s pretty frustrating sometimes.  Being the only one without a family is sometimes hard.  It’s especially hard since I’m pretty close with my family in Colorado.  It can also be tough, since most of my friends are also in Colorado.  I truly miss going out for pizza and a beer after work with some friends.

Although I make more money up here, it also costs more money up here.  For example, a gallon of gas is $6.25 in the village.  Everything at our store is very pricey.  I have to ship everything in.  Transportation in and out is pretty crazy too.  The only way to come or go is via plane.  It cost me about $1400 to come home for Christmas (just for flights and hotels in Anchorage between flights).  So even if I am making more money, there’s a lot more expenses.

I’m still paying on my mortgage in Colorado.  Although I have a roommate now that helps with the cost of that, it’s still an added expense.  Everyone that wants me to stay here simply says “sell it!”  Easier said than done in a crappy, military-based economy.  Besides, I really enjoy having a place of my own to come home to when I’m not in Alaska.

The Ugly

The living conditions are decent.  But they’re not great.  I’ve gotten my rent knocked down quite a bit due to the condition of the housing here.  There’s an issue with mice where I live, which is disgusting.  They’re weird little mice too.  They don’t just eat things, they hoard it.  The mouse poison I put out, for example.  They started hoarding it under a blanket of mine and in a pair of jeans I had laying out.  Their trying to poison me back I guess.

In such a small school, if there’s anyone that you don’t get along with, it makes things very very difficult.  It’s hard to avoid people if you don’t see eye-to-eye.  And, at the end of the day, it’s not like you can go very far to escape the troubles of the day.

The Conclusion

Umm...I have no conclusion.  I have no idea what my plans are for next school year.  I’ve applied to all 11 Colorado Springs school districts, however, a lot of the districts are down-sizing.  Should I sign this Alaska contract?  Or not, and hope for a job in Colorado?  I have 30 days to decide.  Ultimately, it’s my decision, I’m aware.  I’m not sure if the good things outweigh the bad.  It’s just a shame more school districts won’t have jobs posted by then...

Superstitions and Other Weird Things

This blog would’ve probably been better if I posted it closer to Halloween.  But, what can ya do?  I’ve discovered life up here is a bit different.  They have different superstitions and beliefs up here.  Some sound familiar to things I’ve heard about before, others are a little more strange to me.

Hairy Man

We’ve all heard about Big Foot, right?  I suppose every place has some sort of large, hairy creature.  Down in Colorado, we call it Big Foot.  We don’t usually pay any mind to the idea of such a creature.  It’s not real, right?  Who knows.  Apparently there was a special on the Discovery Channel or something about Big Foot eating all the elk in Manitou Springs.  Well, I know all those Manitou people are slightly crazy, and usually pretty high...but why it made it on the Discovery Channel, I have no idea.  Anyway, up here, they call him “the Hairy Man.”  I suppose it falls into the same category as Big Foot.  Extra-large, extra-hairy creature that eats the animals.  The people up here will swear to you that they’ve seen the hairy man.  And, they run away from him, because he’s scary.

Northern Lights

This one is pretty basic I suppose.  All the kids have told me that if you whistle at the Northern Lights, the lights will snatch you up.  They’ve told me about a kid they knew that disappeared.  Good thing I can’t whistle very well!  Ha!

“Little People”

This one has a whole day devoted to them.  January 18 is “Day of the Little People.”  Around here, they call them “Sintheaqs” (I’m not sure if that’s spelled correctly, as it’s a Yup’ik word, and I don’t speak Yup’ik).  It’s pronounced “sin-the-ucks.”  I’m pretty sure that different areas have different names for them.  They’re little, gremlin-like creatures that come out and cause havoc.  Everyone’s afraid of them, like they fear the Hairy Man.  They don’t talk about them much, other than their devilish creatures and no one likes them.  When things go wrong, and no one can explain it, they always blame the “little people.”

Bad Bread

How many of us has tried to bake something and it’s gone terribly wrong and tasted awful?  Apparently, when that happens, you should throw it away immediately, otherwise someone in your family will die.  eekk!

Spiders

Only males can kill spiders.  If females kill spiders, it will rain for days.  Females must trap the spiders and put them back outside.

Hunting Customs

When someone gets their first moose up here, it is customary to give it all away to the community.  Because subsistence is the way of life up here, almost everyone who is old enough will have a moose tag during moose season.  So, when the young kids shoot their first moose and give it away, the older family members will also be able to get moose to stock their freezers for the winter.