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 :)