Gone Fishin'

This last week was busy busy, getting my classroom all set up, since school starts on Tuesday. I told myself I'd actually have some fun this weekend, since from here on out I'm sure I'll always have some papers to grade or something of that nature. Friday night after school, Basil (the maintenance man at school) asked in a very Yupik way, if Max wanted to go fishing. He did that by mentioning he might be going, and then after a 30 minute conversation, Max said he'd love to go. Basil asked who else might want to come along, and I chimed in that I'd love to go if I wasn't intruding on a man trip. Basil sheepishly told me that he'd love for me to come along, after a bit of joking around saying it was guys only and that women can't fish up here. We'd be going out on the river fishing for something I think is called a chee-fish (that might be in Yupik, Max says they're called white fish) at 1:00 the next day.

Since people around here run on "native time" Basil called at 1:30 and we were out on the river by 2:00. Sara and Anthony joined us, and the 3 of us hadn't fished since we were kids, and the 4 of us had never been out on the Yukon. Talk about taking a bunch of newbs out! Basil took us about 30 minutes up the river so that we could gather an herb called Iyuk, which he likes to turn into a tea sort of concoction. We gathered a ton of it, and then headed a little further up to start fishing, while Basil fired up his Coleman stove and boiled some Iyuk for our tea. After a little casting refresher, my roots caught on and I was casting like a pro, and I think I might be hooked. Well, I was only hooked once in the literal sense, but I like fishing. My dad will be thrilled to hear that.

By the way, it's been foggy and rainy for like 2 weeks straight with just a few breaks in the weather, and today it is raining like crazy... but yesterday was absolutely beautiful. ALL DAY. I got a good sunburn.

These are the three MOOSE we saw while out on the river.
One bull and two cows. Those things are seriously huge. 

Moose again. 

The Yukon, from Basils favorite Iyuk patch. 

Fishin' in the sinking mud. 

No, that's not a baby's hand. Those moose tracks are enormous. 

We fished for about 5 hours. My arm is sore today. 

So proud, that little guy is in our fridge. 

The mud up here is no joke. 

While we were out we also saw another bull moose,
Which we mistook for a brown bear for a few minutes...
and we also saw a bright orange fox, chasing ducks! 

Pilot, from the river. 

Basil's two huge fish. 

Unfortunately I didn't catch anything, but I'm hoping we'll get to go again before the river freezes up. I'm determined!

Happy Sunday... we're back in my classroom again and I'm going to continue attempting to write my weeks lessons plans. My room looks good though, it's about ready for some kids! 

TWO MORE DAYS!

See ya on the other side!

It's MY Classroom!

Well folks, 

It's all starting to come together! I just finished 2 days of training from 8 to 3:30 for our brand new reading curriculum on video conferences with the other 9 schools in the district. It's great that I don't have to leave Pilot to get that done, however, there is something that beeps about every 30 seconds in the room where the video conference is held... I might be borderline crazy. Even better though, I will be in the same room on video conference for our PBIS implementation for the next THREE days, also from 8 to 3:30.

Aside from all of that, I have learned a TON and I'm also starting to really make some headway in my room! It's not finished by any means, but the bulletin boards are done and my desk is clean!

Here are some pictures, however, I took them from my computer because I forgot my camera at home and it's raining... so all the words are backward. The teacher in me is leaving it that way so that you all can work your brain out a bit and try and read them anyway!

Word wall and awesome student work wall!
I've got 3 apple computers, 2 of which have power cords. 

Class jobs, student of the week, happy birthdays...
and my language arts and science curriculum! 

No repeated directions! (I WISH) Thanks to Teacherspayteachers.com!

I just made the flags, and I'm very proud :)

Calendar, behavior clip chart, and an explanation of student consequences...
Apparently I've got some kids who will need those consequences. when they throw desks.
WISH ME LUCK.

SO proud of my clips- Clothes pins and washi tape! 

Here's the front of my cute little desk :)

My TV which will HOPEFULLY be replaced with a smartboard
by the end of the year.. and our class rules and my objectives :)

My supply cabinet which I have been advised to move because of sticky fingers...
but I'm stubborn, and I have faith. Maybe too much. 

Writing process clip chart which I am SO proud of. 

Cubbies with book files, and my exit ticket strategy,
"What stuck with you today?" and kids answer with post-its! 

Good luck reading all of those. But they're behind my desk.
Mostly pump-ups for me, rather than the kids... 

Me and my desk. I've been at the school for 12 hours now. 

My daily schedule! I am in charge of recess and PE.

When you enter this classroom... you are....

Welcome to my FIRST CLASSROOM!

I can't believe it's all mine... (for now) and soon I'll get to share it with 16 4th graders who are so excited and have been peeking in and tapping on my classroom window ALL week!

That's all for now, T-7 days until the kiddos come!

Home?

It's starting to sink in, that this is home for a while.

I miss my family and friends, but it's still very exciting that we're actually here, and in a little over a week I will be a real teacher and will have a class of my very own. I have met a few of my students around the village. It's amazing how different their dialect is. I have spoken to some of my students that, according to their test scores, have the strongest english in my class, and it is still difficult for me to understand them sometimes. It will be an interesting first week, of misunderstandings on both sides, I'm sure.

Some of you requested house pictures... and with that comes an update of an interesting predicament we were in for the last week. Because of increased enrollment, there are more teachers now at Pilot than there ever have been, so with that, there are not enough houses. We almost got relocated to another school because of a grievance that was filed because some staff had to be moved in together to make room for Max and I. Because Max and I aren't married, that makes us lowest on the totem pole, so when the superintendent makes a decision on the issue it is still possible we could be moved but not likely, but we're not entirely sure what could become of our living arrangements. I'll let ya'll know if anything drastic happens!

Max's office and/or the spare bedroom

Master bedroom

Master bedroom looking toward the living room

Living room, with a comforter covering the nasty couch. That window looks out toward the village.

Kitchen and dining area, with a large storage pantry to the left. The house is slanted, so the fridge is propped up on a stick (a branch, basically) to make it level. 

Fridge and freezer, and the pantry

Mudroom and future Arctic entry

Nasty bathroom, because our cleaning supplies STILL haven't arrived. 

The red house is the opposite side of our duplex. 

Our front porch :) 

It's nothing like the home we know, but it's beautiful, the culture is new and exciting, and it's a big step outside of our comfort zones. 

This whole experience sure will make us appreciate living within driving distance to everyone we know, and being able to buy beer whenever we walk into a grocery store, and have food when we buy it, rather than more than 2 weeks after we order it... I also really miss fresh fruit and darkness. 

This was taken at 11:30 last night. Still not dark. 

Here's our view of the river from our house. 

And again. The weather has been a lot like Florence, always changing. 

And here is my school, viewed from the trail I take to get there from our house. This is the back. 

My next post will probably be an update about my classroom. It's coming together, and I'll post pictures once I finish the decor and getting organized. The school year is rapidly approaching!

See ya later, alligator.

We Made It!

Well, we're here, and all is wonderful.

The village is beautiful, there are a ton of trees, and we've got a nice view of the Yukon River from just about everywhere.

Looking down on the town from the airstrip, at dawn.

The 360 degree view from the airstrip above town

The people are all really nice, and we've met lots of people around the village. We get stares, because we (and the other new teachers) are the only new people in town, probably this year. The returning teachers haven't reported yet, so thus far it's just us 4 newbies in the school and the janitorial staff and office manager. All of those people are Yupik people, and they have been teaching us about the culture and showing us around. Our matenience guy, Basil, is probably going to take Max and I fishing soon. We've spent a lot of time walking around town and going to the store just to make ourselves known and to meet new people so that once school starts it's not quite as overwhelming.

I've been working in my classroom a lot, and it's starting to come together.

This is how it looked before I started working, it's come a long way since then. 

I'll post pictures of the final product soon! 

This is the view outside my classroom window

The fireweed is EVERYWHERE. So pretty! 

Today is mine and Max's 7 year anniversary, so we decided to get out and about and see the surrounding area. We went with our neighbors Sara and Anthony who are also new, and Sara is the new school councilor. We went berry picking up on the tundra hill above the airstrip, and it was a perfect and beautiful day! It only rained a little bit, and we got a ton of blueberries! They're wayyy better than the ones back home, and they grow really low to the ground and each plant has about 4 berries on it, that are way bigger than anything else on the plant.

Another view from the airstrip, looking toward the Yukon

Picking our dessert

Happy 7 years, Love! 

Everything is so wonderful, it's so nice to go home at the end of the day and disconnect without having texting, data, internet, or TV. I'm sure we'll get sick of it eventually, but for now it's a breath of fresh air and we're both getting a lot of reading done and we're getting used to just sitting in silence and looking out the window every now and then. 

This next week will be busy busy! I've got new teacher training on video conference all week. I hope I'll have some more time to work in my classroom! Well, I think that's all I've got the energy for, for now! I'll try to write more regularly!