One month later...I'm still alive up here :)

I am finally posting on the blog again....so sorry for the entire month MIA. I hope you all have had a wonderfully exciting last month and didn't waste too much time checking here for updates. My last month has been incredibly busy and filled with new adventures! 


When I last posted it was almost Halloween. I did celebrate by dressing up as a nerd! Many of the kids and teachers also dressed up for the occasion. I will try to put up a picture of that when I find one. The first weekend in November was my last New Teacher in service in Bethel. I flew out Friday afternoon at 4:30 and got to Bethel in time to watch our Kwethluk wrestlers that night! I was excited to watch one of my 7th graders win a match on Friday and they were excited that a teacher came to watch them. I spent my entire day on Saturday in training on our Instructional Method SIOP. I was supposed to fly out late afternoon to come back to Kwethluk and had some time after meetings to catch a couple of our wrestlers that afternoon before I left.  The flight back was nice, but flying on the weekends really wears you out. Above are some pictures of the changing landscape in early November. You can see that there is a lot of ice on the river.


After a busy weekend,I found out on Tuesday that our school would be hosting volleyball matches that weekend! For those of you who know my Type A (planning/controlling personality), having something like this come up a couple of days before the event got me a little nervous.  We were originally planning to host two teams, but on Friday afternoon, were informed that we would be hosting four volleyball teams! A few deep breaths and cups of coffee helped us survive the weekend. In all honesty, I couldn't have expected the tournament to go any better than it did. It is amazing what can happen when people work together! The Kings volleyball team played 3 matches and finally won our first match against the Akiuk Grizzlies!! Garrett(the other coach) and I were so excited to finally have a win. :)

 After a long weekend of volleyball here, three of the teams visiting ended up being weathered here. Two of them (Akula and Akiachak) left on Sunday afternoon and one team (Akiuk) didn't get home until Monday morning. I'm sure the weekend was much longer for those coaches than for Garrett and myself.  The next week was all about preparation for the regional tournament in Tuluksak.  Thirteen teams attended the tournament and lived in the school for 4 days! We left on Thursday at noon and came home on Sunday at noon. The picture above is from the regional tournament. We were seeded #11 and played the Aniak Halfbreeds (the first team we played this season). Unfortunately we came up short against the Halfbreeds.  It was a single elimination tournament, so that loss put us out of the running for a state tournament spot. We did get to play a consolation match against the Kwigillingok Eagles. We lost the first set, but came back to win two sets and ended the season with a win! Not only did our players end on a high note with a victory, but we also were given the Sportsmanship Award for the tournament. The award was voted on by the coaches! We also had one representative on the All-Tournament Team. That is voted on by the coaches as well and is the top ten players in the tournament out of the nearly 100 students! I couldn't have asked for a better first time coaching experience! :)

After all the craziness of the volleyball season, I was more than ready for a long Thanksgiving weekend. I have to say that although this was the first Thanksgiving I haven't been with family, I had a wonderful weekend. I watched the village basketball tournament, ate pie, and relaxed. Going into the last month before Christmas break I'm feeling refreshed and ready!

Some of you may also be curious about Raisin. He's doing just fine. Growing like crazy and still has a huge appetite! He has almost passed Cooper in size(definitely in weight!) and has lost his puppy fur. 

The temperature continues to drop and we still don't have snow, but I'm told that the river has almost 2 feet of ice on it. My roommate is actually on her way back from Bethel tonight in a river cab, so I should probably get home and feed the dogs. Hope you are all doing well. I hope to update this again with more information about my last month, but you have the highlights reel so far! Have a great week! :)