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.

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.

Frozen Fabulousness

Snow in my front yard

Today marks the first “big” snow of the season!  Pretty exciting!  And it warmed up today too!  It’s been right around 0˚F for the last week.  Today it was above 30!  Whoa!

My "back yard"

Last week, Rick and I took the high school kids out to the dump to talk to them about waste and how it relates to their community and where it goes.  Then we took them to the stream, where the dump water run-off leads to.  The stream was completely frozen.  Of course, the kids immediately started skating on it.  I wish I had my camera!  Then we took them closer to the river, where the stream leads, trying to make the connection between trash and water.  However, playing on the ice was much more fun!  The next day, we took the kids back out, and watched one of them set a trap.  It was pretty interesting.  We found a wolverine skull on our way.  Also cool.  One of the students picked up the skull, looked at me, and said, “Do you need any souvenirs for you friends or family back in Colorado?”

Side Note:  They bet on when the rivers freeze up here.  Depending on what river, depends on how much you can win.  The Nushagak River (the river I live by) usually has a winning pool of more than I make in a year apparently!  Crazy!

Dillingham

Last weekend, I flew to Dillingham to take the Praxis I.  That was the first time I have left the village since I got here in August.  We left on Friday and came back on Saturday.  It was the longest test ever!  It was actually 3 tests:  Reading, Writing, and Math.  Just to stay licensed in the state of Alaska.

One of my classes is Current Issues in Science, and they decided they wanted to learn about mining, due to the Pebble Mine Project.  Pebble Mine is potentially the world’s largest producing gold mine in the world (nation...world...I don’t remember.  It’s big!).  The problem is that it is located at the headwaters of the Nushagak River, as well as 2 other rivers, and right next to Lake Iliamna.  The Nushagak has the world’s largest salmon runs, which is important for the subsistence lifestyle up here, as well as commercial fisheries and business.  Anyway, that class wrote letters to local state representatives about their opinions on Pebble Mine.  We got a letter back from the governor of Alaska, Sean Parnell.  That was pretty cool.  It’s actually a raised-seal, and self-signed (we analyzed it).  I’m going to frame the letter for them, because I think it’s a pretty big deal for kids here.

Freezing Rivers and Tundra