"Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts." Oliver Wendell Holmes

Hello again! I decided that my prep time would be a great time to post :) I do have a long to-do list, but my mind is already thinking about tomorrow and my first trip home!

The last couple of weeks at school have been busy, but good. My classes are winding down and students are taking semester finals.  I've done quite a bit of reflecting on how so many many things have gone differently than I expected first coming to Alaska. I've done so many incredible things and met so many incredible people. I could not have asked for a better first semester of teaching!

My mom said that many people have been asking when I am coming home and how Raisin is doing. So here are answers. :)
I am flying out of Kwethluk tomorrow and then heading to Anchorage tomorrow night. Jeff and Terry Wilson are letting me stay with them tomorrow night before I fly to Minneapolis Saturday morning. I hope to be home some time Saturday night as long as the weather it good.
Raisin is still doing well. I cannot believe how quickly he has grown up! Raisin will also be making the trip home to South Dakota with me! So you may be lucky enough to meet him! :)
Raisin was going to ride in the plane with me, but unfortunately he already outgrew the carry-on bag I bought for him, so I had to take a trip to Bethel yesterday to get a travel kennel for him.

I am so excited to see everyone again and can't wait to spend the holidays with family. Hope everything is well where ever you are! :)

I will try to post pictures later when I can upload them!

Christmastime is......near

Hello again!

I am trying to be more diligent in December to keep this updated. Hope you are all enjoying the beginning of the month...I am already beginning to count down the days until I get to travel home and see my family and friends. :)

This last weekend was nice and relaxing. I really did nothing and I enjoyed it. I actually did not even venture to school on Saturday and only went on Sunday to quickly lesson plan, enter grades, host the study hall for high school and junior high and help our neighbor's son's with some college homework.

I did leave the house on Saturday to FINALLY go check on my snowmachine! It is a Polaris RMK 550 that I am buying from the former math teacher. Here is a picture of it (especially for Sarah!) :)

 

With the help of Garrett, we (actually Garrett) got it started and checked the chain case oil. The oil needs to be changed, but everything else seems good. I'm obviously no expert, but Garrett made it seem like everything is fine. As you can see from the picture, we don't have much for snow. We did get a small dusting Saturday evening though. The forecast looks good for snow this weekend, so hopefully I'll actually get to use it before I head home on the 21st.

This week in school we are doing MAP testing, which is a benchmark test similar to the annual state testing.  MAP testing helps us see where students are in learning achievement currently.  Along with MAP testing comes modified schedules so students can be tested in grade levels.  My 3rd hour Health class on Monday consisted of one student, so instead of doing bookwork, we decorated my room for Christmas! I also had some string lights sent to me, so the kids decided to put those up also! The tree came from a teacher who went to Anchorage this weekend. The decorations she picked out are in our school colors!

Putting up the decorations has started me thinking more about my trip home for Christmas. Although I really do feel at home here in Kwethluk, I am missing my family more each day and can't wait to see them over the holidays!  Raisin will also (hopefully) be making his first trip to Redfield, provided he fits in the travel bag I got him. The way he has been growing makes me feel a little skeptical.  Before he can travel Raisin needs another check-up, so I am taking him in to Bethel tomorrow after school for an appointment. Tomorrow will also be my first trip in a river cab, I am nervous and excited!

A couple last bits of information you might find interesting:  I finally got my Carhartts in the mail today and boy do I love them already! I can actually enjoy the -11 degree walk home in the evenings.  Speaking of the walk home, you may like to know that we are currently experiencing 6 hours of sunlight a day. I am not having any issues adjusting to it, but find it weird the angle of the sun when it is up. It shines in my classroom window(south-facing) staring during 3rd hour(around 10:30) and sets by 4:30. We end the school day at 4:10, so that leaves about 20 minutes of daylight after school ends. Finally, I am writing this post sitting in my kitchen at home. YES, I finally have internet access at home. This is the second day I've been able to use it, and I can't believe how great it is to be able to lesson plans at home using the internet access!!

I don't know exactly how many people are still checking in on my blog, especially after my month hiatus! But if you are, I want to thank you for your interest in me and what's going on up here in rural Alaska.  I am still having the experience of a lifetime and love every minute! Have a great Wednesday and rest of your week!

Naomi

  

 

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! :)


 

  

How Time Flies..

Hello again! I apologize for not posting last week. Our first quarter ended last week and I was finalizing my grades all day last Sunday which left only enough time to plan for the upcoming week.  It is amazing to think that I am one fourth complete with my year. And how the time has flown!!

The last two weeks have been filled with volleyball practices and lots of time in the classroom.   Unfortunately I haven't been spending as much time as I would like with Raisin, but luckily he has a best friend to play with at home!

With all of the time I've spent at the school, I decided to take a day completely away from the school last Saturday. I was very productive at home! I vacuumed, did laundry, and baked an apple crisp :) I can't say it was as good as my Grandma Ila Mae's, but I was pretty impressed with it. I got to share my apple crisp with two of my volleyball players on Saturday night when they stopped over to say hi.  We had some tortilla soup and apple crisp! It is so amazing to make the connections with students and see how incredible they are both in and out of school.

This last week was quite busy with Parent-Teacher Conferences on Wednesday and Thursday nights.  It was also spirit week! We ended the week with Kings Day on Friday. The social studies teacher and I dressed up in black and blue volleyball knee pads and wigs! Kwethluk also hosted a wrestling match on Friday and Saturday.  There were three teams that came:  Nunapitchuk, Napaskiak, and Bethel Gladys Jung.  Kwethluk placed 2nd and had 3(I believe) 1st place individuals. I got to help out by running the scoreboard and was so incredibly proud of our students who wrestled!

Four of our high school students traveled to Wasilla this past week to attend AASG convention for student government.  Our student council president and I were talking about what she would get to do on the trip and she was very excited to go to Starbucks. I jokingly said she should bring back a drink for me.  She laughed and said she wasn't sure she'd be able to get the drink through airport security.  I was pleasantly surprised when I answered a knock at my door this afternoon and saw the student standing with a Starbucks cup in hand for me! :) I guess it will be my turn to bring Starbucks back for her over Christmas!

I feel like this blog has been a little random, so I'll finish with the weather! It has been much cooler this past month.  The Kwethluk river (which runs in front of my house) is beginning to freeze up and I was surprised to see how much ice is on the river.  Many people have begun to talk about snomachines and getting excited for the snow! Considering it is almost November, I'm sure the flakes will soon be flying.

I would like to add in a quick thank you to Bev and Lyle and Patrice for the packages I've received in the mail the last couple weeks. The tortillas are much appreciated and Raisin loves his new toys and treats!

Today I glanced at the calendar and realized how quickly my first year is going. I feel like the first quarter is a blur and cannot imagine how soon it will be Thanksgiving (in 3.5 short weeks!) and Christmas! Before I know it, I'll be flying home for the break. I will say that my first 3 months in Alaska have been an unforgettable adventure that has opened my eyes to a completely new and exciting part of the world.  I have learned so much about my students and their culture as well as myself. I can't wait to see what the future holds for me here up north!

Bye for now :)

Volleyball opener

Hello again! It has been an eventful week for me in Alaska.  I am up at the school right now putting together my lessons and finishing up grades from last week, but figured I could spare a few minutes to share my newest adventures with you.

After a productive 3rd week of practice, the Kwethluk Kings Mixed 6 volleyball team traveled to their first games in Aniak, AK.  You can see where Aniak (green B marker) is in comparison to Kwethluk (green A marker) on the map below.

The 7 players and 4 adults flew out of Kwethluk at about 4:30pm on Friday.  The eleven of us fit into two 6-seaters for the 45 minute flight to Aniak.

I snapped a few photos on the way.

 

Loading up the first of our two planes.

Above you can see the girls were all smiles as we started out.  Unfortunately the 45 minute flight was a little bumpy and none of us felt well when we arrived.

Below, you can see some of the landscape we saw on the way.  On the left are mountains that you can see from Kwethluk, not sure what they are called.  The picture on the right is of a huge lake(Whitefish lake I think) we flew over shortly before we landed in Aniak.  You can see that ice is forming on the edges of the lake.  The great thing about bush planes is that they fly low enough for you to see the ripples on the water.
 








The scenery in Aniak is much different from Kwethluk.  It is surrounded by mountains and they have many many more large trees.  You can see the village in the picture below.

 Shortly after we arrived in Aniak, their volleyball coach picked us up from the airport.  Aniak is in a different school district than Kwethluk. They are in the Kuspuk district.  There were two other teams that played in the tournament, Tuluksak and Akiachak.  Those schools are both in the Yupiit school district.  We were the last team to arrive in Aniak, and as soon as we had eaten supper provided by the school we suited up for our first volleyball match!

The gym in Aniak (and school in general) is much newer and bigger than ours.  You can also see that the Aniak high school mascot is the Halfbreeds.  I didn't believe my volleyball players at first when they mentioned that to me last week, so I decided to google it.  Here is an article that I found: Aniak Halfbreeds

Our first match was against Aniak, which we lost in 2 games(we played best out of 3).  Garret(my co-coach) and I could tell that the kids were nervous for their first game, but saw some glimpses of success throughout the match.  We played Tuluksak right after that and the kids tried again to shake the nerves of their first games.  Unfortunately, we didn't play to our potential and lost to Tuluksak in two games.  The tournament was double elimination, so we were done the first night with games.  Although the kids seemed a little frustrated(as were the coaches) we felt that it was a good beginning to the season and gave us a list of things to improve upon. :)

After the last match of the night, the kids played some basketball and volleyball in the gym.  The night became much more exciting when the Akiachak coach came and told us that the Northern Lights were out that night! It was incredibly cold outside, but the view was worth standing in the frigid temperatures.  Seeing the green lights dance across the sky was an unforgettable moment and allowed me some time to reflect on all that I have been able to experience in these short two months since I've been in Alaska.  

I tried to take pictures and video of the Northern Lights, but it didn't turn out so I found some pictures of them online.  Here is a link to some pictures of the lights from that night from other towns in Alaska.

We woke up Saturday to a clear sunny day and planned to watch volleyball rather than play because we had been eliminated from the tournament.  However, the one team we hadn't played yet wanted to play after they won the championship, so our kids suited up for one more match.  Our third match started off a little shaky, but by the end of the 2nd game(which we ended up losing) the kids had gotten over all their nerves. After our last match, we packed up to fly home.  Our plane left at 1pm and we enjoyed our less turbulent ride home to Kwethluk.  

The ride home was much nicer and some of the kids even slept!

Here are a couple of pictures of the scenery on the way home.

 
We arrived in Kwethluk around 1:45 and were shuttled from the airport to the school.  After an exciting weekend of firsts, I was exhausted and went home to take a nap and watched a couple movies last night.  

Today is another chilly, but beautiful day in Kwethluk and I hope to get my lessons and grading done so I can head home for the night and relax with Raisin. He has been up at the school with me patiently waiting (and napping) while I work.  

Hope you all have had a great weekend and are ready for Monday! :)

New friend!

Happy Saturday! Hope you are all enjoying a lovely fall weekend.  I had been scheduled to travel to Bethel for a New Teacher Inservice, but due to weather I was lucky enough to stay in Kwethluk for volleyball practice yesterday and attend the inservice via VTC.  This week has been another crazy one.  The biggest news though is my newest friend!

Yes, I now have a puppy! Raisin(not sure about the name yet) was outside the school all day on Tuesday and one of the other high school teachers brought him in at the end of the day.  She planned to find him a home.  I held him for 10 minutes and decided that I couldn't let him go. Rachel took him to the vet for me and we found out that he was born in the middle of August.  He has been wonderful so far and was very quick to find out where the food is! He chows down and licks the bowl and follows me around the house. 

Other than that big news, we completed our 2nd week of volleyball practice and I am already starting to see big improvements in our players! The kids are getting excited for our first matches next weekend in Aniak! :)

After an exciting and busy week I am ready for a weekend off. So I am going to head home for the night! Have a great weekend!

 

FIRST Snow!

Hello again to all my faithful followers! I have been crazy busy in the great north with volleyball starting last week as well as trying to get all the other day-to-day stuff done. I'm sure you're all busy as well.

I wanted to share with you the excitement that I woke up to on Saturday the 29th of September! SNOW!!!

 Although the snow is gone already it stayed around for a good part of the day on Saturday. I was told that the snow won't really stay until the end of October.  But it was pretty exciting thinking about being able to ride my snowmachine!

In other news, our school did a Community Mentor Day on Friday at school.  The high school and junior high students were asked to invite a community member that they admire to shadow them at school on Friday. The turn out was great and it was so nice to meet the adults that support our kids. We also celebrated that night with a party for the students and their mentors. We played basketball, video games and volleyball until 11pm at the school.  The kids had a great time and it was nice to see the students in a fun atmosphere without the pressures of homework and other classroom standards.

My first week of volleyball practice went well and I have a wonderful co-coach that knows the kids and volleyball even better than I do! I think the kids are enjoying practices and are really looking forward to our first games in Aniak the weekend of the 12th.

I will leave you with some more pictures of the snowy day and a quote from a Dove chocolate wrapper I found on Friday.

 

"Open your eyes to all the love around you."

I hope you are all enjoying the fall season and beautiful colors and take time to appreciate the sights and sounds around you where ever you are.

Bye for now! :)