Town, tests, and turkey time :)

What a great holiday weekend!  It was so nice to have some extra time this weekend to do so many new things.  Before I get to the 'turkey' part of this edition, let me start with 'town.'  Two weekends again, Lucas and I flew to Dillingham to each take a test.  Our students refer to Dillingham as "town."  It is where our school district has its administrative offices, but there are also real streets(!), a health clinic, a few grocery stores, a bank, a coffee shop, restaurants, and two bars.  It is also home to the University of Alaska- Fairbanks, Bristol Bay Campus.  Lucas and I each took a Praxis test so we can become "highly qualified" teachers in Alaska.  Each state has very different standards when it comes to teacher licensing and being "highly qualified" in the subjects that you are teaching.  Because Lucas is teaching multiple subjects (he is basically our middle school generalist) and I am teaching every social studies class under the sun, we had to take a very specific test.  It was nice to get out of our village for the weekend (paid for by the school district!) and even though it was a ten minute flight, it was a nice break.  We were able to get A TON of food to bring home, eat out, get a mocha, and relax.   A blizzard caused us to get stuck for another day (we were there for three nights when we had to each take one two-hour test), and by the end we were both ready to return home.  This made us both realize that we are really settled here in Manokotak :)  Here is a picture of the little plane we fly on between Manokotak and Dillingham.  This was the day after big snow storm when we were able to return.

Lucas and I hosted Thanksgiving this year for the school staff.  This sounds like a lot of work, but everyone brought a dish or two to share, so our job was to basically handle the turkey.  Neither of us have ever made a turkey, which I was slightly concerned about.  We bought our turkey in Dillingham a few days before, and while there we were able to talk to another teacher about how her husband made the turkey at their school last year for the staff.  He recommended putting the turkey in a salt brine the night before, and after searching online for a recipe we actually had the ingredients for already, we put that baby in the bath the night before.

It turned out great!  Which was quite a relief since everyone knows I'm not exactly known for my mad skills in the kitchen.  I've been learning a lot this year :)  Lucas and I also set up some Christmas decorations before everyone came over.  We borrowed folding chairs and tables from the school so that we could fit all fifteen of us in the apartment.

Vikings and Vera Bradley stockings :)

 It was my first Thanksgiving away from my family, which was really hard.  But we kept pretty busy over our 4-day weekend which helped keep my mind off it.  On Friday, Lucas rode in to Dillingham with our friend Brian to pick up our new snowmobile (known as snow-machine or snow-go here in Alaska).  Someone in the district office was nice enough to pick up for us and store it until we were able to get there to get it.  There are two rivers that you cross between Manokotak and Dillingham, so we were basically waiting for them to freeze over before we could get our new toy.  That being said, it is so stinking cold here!  Lucas was not able to get to Dillingham by snow-go until after Christmas last year.  Here we were on the day after Thanksgiving and the rivers were good to go!  Once the boys returned with our machine (it was dark and WAY too cold to stand outside and try to take pictures...I will get some of it soon!) we got together with a few of our friends to decorate gingerbread houses. 

Lucas' team built a very non-traditional Star Wars- themed type "house."

My team went for a Balmy Christmas look (note the reindeer on the surf board in the pool)!

On Saturday, Lucas insisted on taking me into Dillingham on our snow-go.  It was -10 outside, but I said what the heck! :)  We bundled up and Lucas and two of our friends drove into town once again.  I got to ride on the back.  The trail is new, so it was super bumpy and then my goggles frosted over.  So for the hour-plus ride, I could not see the beautiful mountains that we followed all the way there.  I knew the men were already driving slower so that I would not fall off, and I had already made us stop once to adjust my face layers so the wind was blocked.  So I closed me eyes, held on tight, and screamed at every bump on the way there.  Lucas was not my biggest fan.  I had to hold on for dear life the whole way because I could not see when a bump was coming.  My arms and back are soooo sore right now,  and I was totally exhausted when we got back.  I don't really understand why, but I am already excited for another ride next weekend! :)  

Here we are in Dillingham on Bristol Bay on Saturday.

Count down until Christmas break: only 14 school days left!  We will be in Chicago Dec 18-24th, Minnesota 25-30th, and back in Chicago the 30th-2nd.  We look forward to seeing our friends and family then!  Can't wait :)

Let it Snow!

Winter has definitely arrived in Manokotak!  Today is the only day this week that will reach above 30 degrees.  After that we have highs in the 20's!  Brrrr!  Lucas and I attempted to go on a walk yesterday, but we got a little distracted.  Lucas didn't have enough layers on, so we had a bit of fun in the snow, then high-tailed it back indoors.

On the last Friday of October, the school held its annual Halloween Carnival.  It is a fundraiser that had a pretty good turnout.  I am the 7th grade class sponsor, so I helped the 7th graders run a game.  There are only seven 7th graders, and they took turns running "Bozo Buckets." I had the pleasure of sitting here for two hours, and I look thrilled :)  Lucas is the 10th grade class sponsor, and they made the big bucks doing a cake walk!

I have more exciting 'food news' this week, too.  Last Wednesday night, Lucas received a text from the girl's basketball coach informing him that the "Store Plane" was going to be in Manokotak soon and to spread the word to the other teachers.  Sure enough, a few minutes later, we heard the plane buzzing around the village- sending a message to get in the car or on your 4-wheeler and get to the little airport ASAP!  We hopped in the school vehicle with a few other teachers and made our way as quickly as we could.  The store plane is basically a grocery plane that brings in items that are hard/expensive to get to Manokotak like fresh produce and frozen treats.  The plane lands, the man unloads, and it is a crazy free-for-all to try and grab what you want.  It was also freezing, dark, and snowy on this particular night.  We grabbed what we wanted, stood around with our goodies in a pile, and eventually the pilot came over, added up our total, and we wrote him a check.
We got:
Onions
Eggs
Grapes
Oranges
Apples
Summer Sausage
Mountain Dew (Lucas' treat for himself)
Drumsticks (my treat)

All of this snow is really getting me in the Christmas spirit.  I've ordered a few things for the apartment to decorate for the season but I have not allowed myself to turn on the Christmas tunes yet.  This is mostly because I still want Lucas to love me :)  ( I don't want to overkill him with Christmas cheer)!  I think I'm overly excited for the holiday because I am more than ready to travel back to the Midwest to see all of our family and friends.  And to have a peppermint mocha from Starbucks with my mom :)  Less than 6 weeks!!!

Living in Alaska is really killing my style ;)

This is it!

http://www.wfaa.com/news/education/an-Alaskan-Adventure-132966333.html

We had a news crew from Dallas in our school to follow the other new teacher, Amanda, around for a few days.  Check out the video to get a glimpse into our lives!

Snow and Yoga

We had our first real dusting of snow on Monday night, but we had some huge flakes coming down this morning.  I snuck out during passing period before my prep to take a few pictures.  As I was fumbling with my key to get back inside, two of my students/volleyball players decided to frolic outside :)

Last night we did Yoga!  The 11th grade class sponsor is running yoga classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays as a way to raise money for her class.  We joined a few other teachers last night for Lucas's first ever yoga experience :)

October Happenings

How did we get to the end of October already?  We have been keeping ourselves pretty busy with work, classes, and volleyball this month.  I've also gotten quite a bit done in the wedding department as far as signing contracts and sending out deposits :)  I'm getting a lot more into wedding planning lately- it helps keep me connected to the lower 48 and I love talking about it with my bridesmaid Becky, who is also getting married just one month after Lucas and I.  Our engagement is a what I would consider a bit on the long side (a year and a half), but I am now loving the extra planning time.  My sister Erin has been a HUGE help with everything.  She really knows her stuff!  And I like that I get to be someone's fiancé for this long, too :)  How lucky are we that we get this experience- working in the same school, patrolling the hallways together during passing times, eating lunch together everyday, coaching the volleyball team together...how many people get to do that with their fiancés? :)

This weekend we flew (yes, we travel by plane for all away athletic events) to Newhalen, AK for a volleyball tournament.  We left Thursday at noon and got back around 3 on Saturday.  We have a mixed team of 3 guys and 3 girls that came with us.  If any player becomes ineligible due to grades- we don't have a team!  Three of our players are first-time volleyball players, but they played SO well this weekend.  We won 3 out of our 5 matches, losing the first two basically due to jitters!  We lost our first match in 3 games, our second match we lost the first two games, game back the second two to win, but then lost the fifth game to lose the match.  After that, our kids did great- winning the final three matches to get 3rd place in the tournament.  I'm ready for a re-match with our first two opponents.  If our kids can keep their grades up, we may have the chance to play at least one of these teams again!

It was quite the treat getting out of the village this weekend.  I was most excited about the store in Newhalen.  It put our little Manokotak general store to shame.  We bought porkchops, a few steaks, grapefruit, tomatoes, soy milk (non-expired dairy is not really an option in Manokotak), cream cheese, canned pumpkin, and I finally got my caramel apple! :) We easily dropped way more money that we should have, but when you live in bush Alaska, any food comes at a great price.  Pumpkin cheesecake bars out of the oven last night were totally worth it!

One thing we missed while we were away was parent teacher conferences.  While most teachers I know don't get too excited about these, in the past I have really loved getting to talk to parents.  I sure learn a lot about why my kids are the way the are (good or bad)!  Lucas and I both left sheets outside of our classrooms for parents to sign if they "wanted us to contact them about their child's success in our classroom."  Lucas had ZERO parents sign, and I had only two! This after first quarter ended and I had over 20 kids fail my social studies classes.  I could rant about this, but to give you an idea about what Native American kids are facing these days I recommend this ABC News special Lucas and I caught last weekend:
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/hidden-america-focuses-tribal-children-14741987

This program focused on the Lakota people, but the Yupik natives of Alaska face similar hardships: poverty, hunger, fetal alcohol syndrome, loss of their culture, domestic abuse, a forced western education system on their children, alcoholism, and unemployment.  With some of my students, I would not even guess that these are some things they experience on a daily basis.  They have great attitudes, work hard, and are nice kids.  With other students- I need to constantly remind myself that they are facing battles that I cannot even imagine.

On a lighter note, we have made a purchase that we are VERY excited about.  Bring on the snow!
http://cdnmedia.endeavorsuite.com/images/catalogs/2334/products/detail/36d91e9a-a900-4e3c-8f9c-8b6334a4072b.jpg  Once the river freezes, we can travel to Dillingham on the weekends to eat at restaurants, shop at a real grocery store, and have a latte at the coffee shop!

Here are a few pictures from the last month.  No we don't have a puppy!  A student brought hers over for us(me) to play with :)

Fall Fun

 **Uploading pictures is not working today...I'll try again soon :)

This weekend, one of my high school students offered to share her family’s moose with us.  She came over on Friday night and using her ulu, cut up her moose meat, seasoned it, and threw it on the stove with water.  We roasted some veggies in the oven to go with it.  Every two weeks we get fresh fruits and vegetable in the mail.  It is so nice to have these things, because there is literally no other way for us to get fresh food like this.  The small store in town has canned goods, a limited amount of bread and eggs, and lots of pop and candy (the students’ favorites)!  Sometimes we get some crazy things in that vegetable box that I have no idea what to do with- like bok choy and rainbow chard.  Needless to say I am learning a few new recipes this year :)

It was so generous of my student to share her family’s moose with us.  Her father shot one moose this season, and it sounds like in general, it was a tough season for the villagers.  Fall hunting season is over, but there is another moose hunting in winter.  Maybe there is more moose in my future? 

This week there were a few passings in the village.  My students told me that one of the elders that passed away was 104.  I can’t even begin to explain the family structure of the Yup’ik , as it is very different from the traditional Western family and I am just beginning to wrap my brain around it.  I was able to learn a little more this weekend by observing the funeral that took place yesterday.

I was working in school yesterday morning to get some lesson plans done as I have homework that I am spending today completing.  Teachers in Manokotak work at least 6, if not 7 days a week!  Right before 2 pm, the “running of the kids” began.  I could hear the back and forth racing of the little ones down the school hall- which meant it was time for the funeral to start.  Because the school is the biggest building in the village, this is where the double funeral was held.  Everyone from the village was up, and I had heard that many from other villages flew in as well.  Tons of cars and 4-wheelers were parked outside school as I left just before 2.  A few dozen kids were outside on our two playgrounds as adults were filing into the building.  After a few hours, most vehicles left to go to the small cemetery that sits between the school and village.  Soon after, they were back up at the school for the “potlatch” (potluck) that followed. 

Other things I did yesterday:

·      Lucas taught me to drive the 4-wheeler.   My previous experience with a non-automatic vehicle was not a good one.  This was MUCH easier.

·      We had ourselves a little fire and made nutella s’mores.

·      Taco and game night with our neighbors/co-workers/friends :)

The tundra is changing colors and looks beautiful.  However, I really miss a Midwest fall with the changing leaves and trips to apple orchards.  My students have told me that there will be caramel apples in the store soon….I am crossing my fingers!  Until then I’m drinking my pumpkin spice tea  a co-worker shared and eating the apples my mom sent me!

Village Life

I thought I'd share a few facts with you about Manokotak so you have an idea what life is like here:

Manokotak is about 350 miles southwest of Anchorage.  There are about 450 people in the village (97% are Native).  It sits on the Igushik River.  Manokotak is a Yup'ik Eskimo village with a fishing, trapping, and subsistence lifestyle. The sale, importation, and possession of alcohol is banned in the village.

 We have 125 K-12 students in our school.  I am teaching 7-12 Social Studies, which consists of one Geography class, two American History classes, one 7th Grade Social Studies class (Ancient World History), one 8th Grade Social Studies class (Medieval World History), and one Government/Civics class.  Yes, this means I have to come up with 25 lessons a week (I only had to plan 10 last year...)!  Lucas teachers a remedial math class, 7th Grade Reading, 7th Grade Writing, a math test prep-class, middle school PE, and high school PE.  We spend a good chunk of our Sundays (and sometimes even Saturdays) in school to keep up with our planning/grading.  We are also both taking a grad. class on Teaching in Rural Alaska that meets twice a month. 

When we've needed a break from time in school, we have had the opportunity to experience some very "Alaskan" things! :)  Labor Day weekend, we had two invitations to go out on a boat.  Sunday, Larry (our awesome tech. guy at school and Manokotak native) took us out on his boat for some fishing as sight-seeing.  I looked stellar for these adventures! :)

The next day Kirk (science teacher) took us out on his boat.  We threw a net in hopes of getting salmon, then went berry-picking on the tundra.  The berries (blue, black, and a few cranberries) are super tiny and pretty seedy, but it was fun to go.  Lucas got to play look-out because we were in bear country!

We have a few ziploc bags full of berries and a chest freezer full of salmon fillets now.  Lucas has gone down to the river (FYI: The river and village is 4 miles from the school and teacher apartments) just about every day (via 4-wheeler) to check the salmon net to see if we have anything in there.  It has a been a slow late summer when it comes to the salmon, but we have enough to eat salmon about once a week from now until Christmas.

Life in Manokotak, Alaska

I can't believe we flew out of O'Hare 25 days ago!  Time has just flown by as we have been super busy with the start of a new school year.  Our journey together started when we flew from Chicago to Seattle on August 3rd.  From Seattle we flew to Anchorage where Lucas's aunt, Celine, and her son Sam, came to pick us up at the airport.  Thank you Celine! :)  Some of you may not know that Lucas has family in Alaska.  His Uncle Greg and Aunt Celine live in Anchorage with their kids, Sam and Meredith.  Lucas's brother, Pete, has been in Anchorage for several years now since being stationed there for the Air Force.  His other brother, Adam, just moved in with Pete this June.

Greg and Celine were gracious enough to host us for the evening.  Both Greg and Celine took us to run errands.   They also fed us, Pete, and Adam that night :)  I needed a new cell phone because the only company that works in rural Southwest Alaska is GCI.  I get great service here and when we return to the lower 48, we'll pick up AT&T.   We also bought tons of dry foods and goods to ship to Manokotak.  A few stores in Anchorage let you shop, fill up your cart, leave your full cart in the store, and then ship your goods to the bush!  A very important tidbit to know is that you should not move to bush Alaska broke!  It is super expensive to ship all your belongings (or buy all new ones), and then to get food to the village.  There is one little store in town but the supply is very, very limited.  That, a gas pump, and a post office are the only businesses in the village.

After stocking up, we flew out the next day to Dillingham, which is 330 miles southwest of Anchorage.  Dillingham is where the Southwest Region School District Office is located.  It is also where we had our beginning of the year workshops.  I had two days of new-teacher workshops on Friday and Saturday.  We had all-district days on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

Wednesday afternoon we flew to our village, Manokotak.  This was my first experience in a small plane- a really, really small plane.  At full, it seats 7.  7 people! If you watched Sarah Palin's Alaska at all on TLC, there was a small, blue plane in on the episode when they were in Dillingham.  That is the plane we flew on!  Luckily, our flight was less than ten minutes so I only squeezed the heck out of Lucas's hand for that long.  It is only about 20 miles from Dillingham to Manokotak, but there are no roads.  The landscape is wetland/marsh-y and there are two large rivers between the two towns.

Here are a few pictures to start.  The first two are before we got to Manokotak.  The building is the school, and the last two pictures are my classroom.   I'll post more pictures next time and let you know what outdoor adventures we have been up to!