One month down!

When I was getting ready for school this morning, I happened to look up at my wall calendar and realized that this week was my 4th week in Alaska!

Who would have thought the time would fly so quickly...and tomorrow is already September.  

This last week has been a great week and I am finally starting to get comfortable and into a routine of planning and teaching.  I am also getting to know the students better and I am in awe of their brilliance!  There have been many moments this last week where they surprised me with their knowledge and wit.

We had a staff meeting today and I learned that our total enrollment(K-12) for this year is 248, which is up from last year.

After school today our school hosted a cross country meet. Seven schools flew into Kwethluk during the day and we had three races(elementary, junior high, and high school).  There were nearly 130 kids from Kwethluk, Newtok, Akiak, Tuntutuliak, Atmautluak, Akiachak, and another that I cannot remember).  I helped out by recording times.  It was great fun to see community members and teachers from other schools out supporting the students!

The sports scene is a little different than I am used to in the midwest.  Unfortunately, Kwethluk does not field a football team.  We do, however, have a volleyball team, which I have been asked to help coach this year! The head coach is our secretary and asked today if I would be interested in assisting.  I was also intrigued to find out that due to the low number of students, volleyball is co-ed here! She said the season begins in the middle of September so I will keep you informed on how that adventure begins!

Above is a picture of the district and some of the schools in the district.  Akiak and Akiachak are not in LKSD, but they are up river from Kwethluk.  This next week we do not have school because of the District-Wide In-service in Bethel.  The entire KAMS(Keta'cik and Aapalluk Memorial School) staff will fly to Bethel on Tuesday afternoon and stay until Friday.  The first year teachers will stay in Bethel until Saturday for one extra day of in-service! I have to say that I am quite excited about traveling to Bethel and getting out of Kwethluk for a little while.

I am sure I am forgetting to mention little things and go into details about where I am. Please feel free to ask any questions you have about where I am and what specific things are like here.

I think now I will head home and enjoy the rest of my Friday night!

Have a great weekend. :)

Way back when...

Good morning!

I hope you're all off to a great week.  Just wanted to share a picture that my dad sent after he read my post on Sunday night.

This was taking at least 10 years ago when Dad, Chuck and I went on an adventure to the bog near my Grandma's old house.  I showed this to some of my students yesterday and they though it looked a lot like the tundra! It is quite amazing how similar places that are this far apart can be.  Maybe we will have to take another trip out there this year.

Have a great day!

Picking (not throwing) the nature!

This is a picture of me after picking berries(which are in my coffee can) with the Kwethluk river in the background.

Let me preface this post with a little story about the title I am using.  Some of you may know that I have been thoroughly involved through camping, counseling, deaning and working at Placerville Church Camp in the Black Hills of South Dakota.  This name comes from one of the many favorite experiences of mine as a counselor in Faith Explorers.  I believe that this happened in the summer of 2007(I may be off..the memories merge).  

A large group of campers and counselors were hiking to the top of Perrin(probably the most challenging of camp hikes) and I recall being exhausted.  After quite a few warnings to campers about not picking up rocks, sticks and other various items on the hike, I was at my wits end! I may add that I believe this was near the end of the week of camp, and I was exhausted and patience was running low.  I loudly exclaimed to the nature offenders that they were to "STOP THROWING THE NATURE!!" 

Looking back at this moment if life, I have learned many things.  One, I should have more patience. :) And two.  Let the kids be kids, as long as their safety and the safety of others is not in danger.  I can now laugh at this moment of frustration I experienced along with the counselors, and hopefully any campers that I hollered at can laugh also.  I hope if any of you are reading this, you also get to experience the joy of counseling and learning to control your emotions with junior high adolescents.  :)

After that long story, I will get to my newest nature experience!

Yesterday, our neighbor Cindy invited us to go berry picking! Specifically blueberry picking, but I saw many other berries.  My students had spoken of berry picking, which is a common activity in the summer in this area. And I have been looking for an opportunity to go. After a half hour boat ride we climbed up the bank of the river and saw this incredible view!

I have to say these remind me a little of South Dakota.  The ground in South Dakota is much drier than the tundra here.  It reminded me of the bog my dad took my brother and I to which was near his childhood home.  The ground seemed to shake if you jumped!

We arrived around 4:30 and picked blueberries until 6:30! I was definitely not as good at picking the blueberries as our neighbors or the other two teachers that went with.  But it became much easier for me to spot the low-growing berries as I picked.  We were there to mainly pick blueberries, but there were also cranberries and blackberries(different than the ones I knew of).

The first two pictures below are of blueberries.  The one in the middle is of a bunch of cranberries.  The lowest left picture is of blueberries with cranberries, and the lowest right picture is of the blackberries.

Below is an unripened salmonberry which is my favorite of the tundra berries I've had.  They are very sweet!  You can see it kind of looks like a bunch of fish eggs.

Me picking berries!

I am wearing my rain boots because the ground was VERY wet and soggy!  The weather was really nice while we were out and there was a breeze that kept most of the mosquitos away.  I also saw a plane flying over while we were picking.

After picking for a few hours, my coffee can was half full! We got into the boat and went over to Cindy's mother's fish camp.  Fish camps are set up in the summer, where families clean and cut the fish they catch.  Here are some pictures of the one we visited.

Most of the pictures are of the fish hanging to dry.  The last picture is of the maciq(I may have spelled that wrong) which is a steam house.  Most people in the village steam as their means of showering because there isn't running water.

The fish hanging to the left is from the beginning of this summer, and the fish hanging to the right are salmon strips from fish caught this week.  These were in a shack smoking.  Cindy told us that there was a brown bear that broke into this shack a couple weeks ago.

The last thing we did before leaving the fish camp was pick a few more berries.  I can't remember the name of the berry on the left side, but I tried just one bite and it was the most sour and bitter tasting thing I've ever tried.  We also found some wild raspberries.  They are a little different than the ones we have back in South Dakota, but taste just as delicious! :)

Lastly, I took a picture of the fireweed which has beautiful pink flowers and a vivid red tassle at the top.  Pauline explained to me that fireweed is the named as such because it is the first plant that grows back after a fire. 

After a great day outside in the sunshine (which we haven't seen much of lately) I was exhausted.  

I will end with a picture of my first blueberry harvest! And a photo of the blueberry muffins I made this morning. I used the package my friend Sarah sent last week, but I spiced it up with some fresh blueberries!

Thanks Sarah!

I'd also like to end with a shout out thank you to Vonnie who funded my last packages from my mom! It is so wonderful to receive mail. Feels like Christmas :)

I am now 2 for 3 on the packages I (my mom) sent to myself before I left.  Hopefully that last one comes this week! 

I'm sure I'm forgetting something else I had meant to tell you all about, but I guess that will just be more for next time. :) Please email me or comment if you have any questions.  I will try to update this once a week or so. But I'd better get to my planning for this week!  Have a good one :)

The Beginning of a Journey...

Hello again! I first would like to apologize if you checked this every day for the last week and were disappointed that there was nothing new. But this entry will hopefully be worth the wait!! :)

My last entry was nearly an entire week ago, and it has been a busy one! Last Sunday I slept in and spent the afternoon at the school.  I was planning to spend more time at school, but my roommate and I were invited by one of the other teachers to go fishing! It was nearly a half hour boat ride up the Kwethluk and Kuskokwim rivers to where we heard there were fish.  

The scenery was incredible!

The photo to the left is a view of my school from the river and to the right is a view of our house from the river.

Although we only had one bite, we did bring a silver home!  Another teacher had asked us to check his net and this is what we found...I will admit that I did not do a whole lot to help. Hah!

So we brought this lovely silver home and our neighbor's wife showed us how to properly gut and filet the silver.  I can only imagine what Grandpa Royce was thinking looking down on my first Alaskan fishing adventure. :)

Sunday night Stefanie(my roommate) and I had fresh salmon for supper and I was sooo excited that I had to take a picture of it!

I really think this photo could be found in Taste of Home!

Monday was a work day for teachers, so I got to spend the day finishing up my room and finalizing my beginning of the year final touches! I was pretty nervous when I left in the evening on Monday night thinking about what the First Day of School would bring! I have to say that I had never been so nervous for a first day of school in my life.

Surprisingly, I slept well and felt rested Tuesday morning, ready for whatever was coming my way!

The pictures below are just a taste of what I see in the morning on my way to school.

I should explain that originally, I was expecting to teach Pre-Algebra, Algebra I, Geometry, and Applied Math.  With some last minute changes to my schedule, I am now teaching, Algebra I A & B (the first and second half of the textbook, at the same time, in the same room!), Geometry, Pre-Algebra A & B (also the first and second half of the textbook, at the same time, in the same room), 2 sections of Health II, AND 7th grade Career Explorations!

Who would have guessed how versatile a teacher would need to be for this job. :)

With a little apprehension, and maybe anxiety about WHAT I would be teaching, as well as having no idea WHO I would be teaching, I began my first day at KAMS.

And was it incredible!! I know exactly why I am where I am and doing what I am doing.  My first day was my dream first day of school.  The kids were great, the classes were good, and I survived!

Oh yes, there were some bumps in the road, but overall I couldn't have been happier with everything that went on. :)

The kids that attend this school are some of the most intelligent, driven, exciting, funniest students.  And after just one week with them, I know that I would do anything to see their successes.

After the first day of school, the high school science teacher and I walked to the native store (the closest thing we have to a grocery store) to get a celebratory Coke. :) We also stopped by the post office to check for mail. After an incredible first day, it was like Christmas came early when I got a box in the mail! I don't think I've ever been so excited about mail in my life.

A care package from home! 

I was also lucky enough to get the coffee pot I ordered from Amazon in the mail the next day!

My first week of being a REAL teacher was filled with some bumps in the road.  I was at the school until nearly 10pm every night just trying to get the next day planned.  We are still waiting on more textbooks so that I have enough to give to all of my Pre-Algebra students.  Technology never seems to work when you really need to rely on it! :) 

But I feel like keeping a positive attitude about all the little things that may not go your way shows the kids that you're ready for anything! It gives you an opportunity to show students the real person that you are, and if you're lucky enough they may return the favor.  My focus in the classroom this week was not getting the content hammered out, but showing students that I am here to help them reach their goals, that I want to see them succeed, and that I am not going to let a little malfunction or disturbance stop me from wanting the best for them.

This week has been one of the most incredible, exhilarating and eye-opening weeks of my life and I feel so lucky to be in this place with these people!

So, to keep this as brief as possible, and to keep you wanting more :) , I'm going to sign off for tonight.  

P.S. This quote, I believe, embodies my feelings about where I am and what I am doing and maybe helps you to have a little faith about your life paths as well.

Another day in paradise...

Hey all! I hope I'm not over-blogging (is that a word?) but I just have so many exciting things happening every day, so I'm trying to keep up.  I'm guessing that the winter will not be as thrilling..but who knows! :)


Last night we had an incredibly beautiful sunset that I wanted to share with you. I didn't check what time I took the picture, but according to google the sun went down at 10:55pm last night, so it was sometime before then.

Also last night, my roommate and I received a present!

Our neighbor had checked his net and brought us a silver (one of the types of salmon)! So Stefanie went to work cutting while I watched in awe! I like to think I helped with the packaging while she did the processing.  We have 2 fresh filets out to eat soon and froze 4 for later. I am pretty excited to eat this! My first real Alaskan salmon. :)


Today was inservice day 4 in the last 5 days, so I'm a little tired, but have to say today was quite productive.  We had meetings this morning, but as part of staff development, we went on a picnic!

We walked down to the point where the Kwethluk and Kuskokwim rivers merge to roast hot dogs and marshmallows for lunch! It was a beautiful day and we had a great time.

So the following pictures are panoramic from left to right of where we picnicked.

Hopefully that makes sense and you can see the view from left to right in the slide show feature.  The top picture is downstream and just the Kuskokwim.  The bottom picture you can see the land in the middle and to the left is the Kuskokwim and to the right is the Kwethluk river.  Also in the "My NEW Home" post you can see an aerial view of this point.  In the 3rd and 4th pictures you can see some which on the opposite river bank.  I was told that that is a family's fish camp that they set up along the banks to catch salmon for the summer.  The orange you see in the 4th and 5th pictures is someone's net set up to catch the salmon.

Also on the way to and from the picnic I saw a sled dog team! As well as a drying rack with salmon drying.

My last picture is of me on the banks of the rivers.  As you will notice, I have on my super awesome blue rain boots.  It was a beautiful and did not rain, however I did put my boots to use.  I was walking along the river edge and actually got stuck in the mud!! The mud came halfway up my calf and the principal had to help pull me out.  I was just thankful I didn't fall while I was stuck!

Have a great Saturday night!