Summer and Loving It!

I've officially been back in Denver for over a month now and I couldn't be happier. In addition to picking up some summer bar tending shifts on the weekends, Parker and I have been loving all the fun in the sun! I'll admit, I went through total temperature shock when the weather climbed into the 90s and refused to leave the air conditioned house for a few days, but eventually I got over it and am thankful that no triple digits have been sighted (yet!)

Summer is cruising by and I can't believe my June cell phone bill is already due! Seriously? Where has summer gone? May was spent getting settled into Denver. I bought a few new furniture pieces, including a HUGE dog bed for Parker, and unpacked all of my stuff. A lot of winter items have been packed away and quite a few of them will be making an appearance on Craigslist once the weather gets cooler. Can't wait to say goodbye to the parka!

Just ten short days after M. and I parted ways in Seattle she showed up at DIA for our annual vacation. We spent an amazing week and a half tooling around the Front Range, drinking our way through downtown and munching up all the food we encountered. including some amazing Brazilian BBQ that M. treated me to for my Birthday. We welcomed June with a bang, celebrating at our favorite concert venue with our favorite DJ and some delicious mixed drinks. Talk about starting the summer right! 

M. with some good ol' summertime hail!

I also introduced M. to some class III and IV rapids on the Arkansas river and tried to show her the beauty of the I-70 corridor... unfortunately M. does not enjoy a 6am drive as much as I do. 

We parted ways just as the first week of June was coming to a close with promises to keep in touch and meet up in London for Christmas. Since M. is moving to Kuwait for her new job Europe is the new logical meeting point. Darn ;)

The theme for the rest of June was establishing my new stomping grounds in the Denver area. I've staked a claim at a fun local coffee shop, found a gym between home and work, toured my new school and seen my schedule (full time world history teacher FTW!), and purchased a car to cover all the ground in-between. 

I'm hoping the theme for the upcoming month of July is going to be travel. There are trips to Los Angeles, Boston, and Nantucket in my near future to visit some of my closest friends and enjoy their new home bases that they've set up away from the Rocky Mountain state. 

I'm not really sure what's going to happen with this blog. It all started as a way to stay in touch with friends and family while I was in the north, and now that I'm back I don't know what I'll write about. So I guess for now I'll bid all of my readers a fond adieu and wish you all a wonderful summer!

Summer Vacation!!

Bet you didn't know this is what summer looks like:

I mean honestly, didn't anyone tell Alaska that it's the middle of May?!

Denver, I'll see you on Sunday =) I'll be that one and only person in passenger pickup wearing winter clothes. 

Wait! I have a Blog?

Apparently I forgot that I had a blog...

That's a lie, but I really just haven't had too much that I wanted to blog about. Some time around March I put myself on autopilot and decided to just power through until I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Since the last time I blogged (when we were in Anchorage for Aca Deca) the following major things have happened:

1. Winter Fishing
The weather was finally nice enough for us to head out to Smith Point, or just down to the river, and go ice fishing. I am not a huge fan of Pike (the fish we fish for), but there's always someone willing to take my daily catch off my hands. Really it's just nice to get out of the house and see the sun again, even if it's cold and windy.

2. A Trip to Colorado
In early April I used my accrued personal time to fly home to Colorado for vacation. It was a much needed break, even if so much travel in such a short amount of time made me a little loopy. While I was there I got to spend a little time with family and very close friends, enjoy some tasty beverages of the alcoholic variety, and cruise on up north to attend a job faire. I had 17 interviews in two days and by the end of it all I don't even know if what I was saying made sense to anyone.

3. Culture Week
I came back to Alaska just in time for culture week. I did not teach out of my home like I did last year, but this year instead opted to teach sewing to a mixed group of 7th-12th grade students. Some students made quilts, others made pillows, and some created some really adorable stuffed animals. I'm not sure how cultural it all was, but now all of these students can sew on buttons, make button holes, and create their own patterns.

4. Prom, Graduation, Senior Banquet
They happened, I survived. I feel pretty accomplished since this week of events always feels like the longest for those of us who work in the high school. I didn't count my hours of overtime, but I do know that the only reason I left school when the sun was still up is because it doesn't set until well after 11pm.

5. Robbery
Yup, you read that right. A group of middle school student broke into not only our house (they nabbed my phone, not much else is left to take since M. and I shipped out our stuff), but also broke into and vandalized our neighbors house, and trashed the school truck. My phone was eventually returned to me thanks to an honest student who noticed it was mine and stole it back for me (Student of the year maybe? I think so.) and it had lots of nice incriminating photos and video on it that I gladly handed over to the Alaska State Troopers.

6. End of the Year
This one hasn't happened yet, but it's coming up this Thursday and I'm psyched!

I head home this weekend and I can't wait to permanently ditch my rubber boots and settle back in to the Colorado lifestyle. I'm happy to say that my Colorado trip payed off and I will be returning to good ol' 303 as a high school teacher.  It only took four years, but I finally get to do what I love in my favorite state ever.

See you soon CO!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Spring Time Travel Shenanigans!!

The Big Decision

Earlier this month teachers in our district were officially offered contracts to return for the 2013-2014 school year. I was out of the village at the time (chaperoning some of the best kids I've ever worked with!) but I got word through the grapevine that my contract was also being renewed if I wanted it. I'm not going to lie, I'd been dreading this moment since we returned from Christmas break. The moment when I'd have to decide.

To return to the job I love, so far away from the family and friends I miss? Or return to the life and people I miss and give up my teaching job in Alaska?

After months of pondering this question, I've decided to decline my contract for the 2013-2014 school year. I have enjoyed my two years here in bush Alaska and will miss both the students and the staff very much. However, I have decided that I am ready to move on to my next adventure. I'm not exactly sure what that adventure will be, but I'm hoping it will be a little closer to home.

Adventure to Anchorage: Academic Decathlon

This past week I travelled to Anchorage with eight students from our district so that they could be competitive test takers in a state competition. I know what you're thinking: test taking is not a sport! But for thousands of nerds around the country who compete in things like Tsunami Bowl, Math Counts, and Geography Bee test taking is their arena of choice.

Let the testing begin!

This year I sponsored our district's combined Academic Decathlon team and spent countless hours locked in my classroom with a group of dedicated students studying everything and anything about Russia (this year's topic). We studied the space race, Communism, the Tzars, famous Russian composers, art, the Russian Market, and we even read Dr. Zhivago. Months and months of preparation culminated last week in Anchorage at the state Academic Decathlon competition where students spent two days testing in math, science, economics, music, art, social sciences, literature and language, essay writing, and the super quiz. They also gave two speeches and sat for an interview with the judging panel. 

Super Quiz Relay lineup

Our students took 15th in the state and 5th in their division. Although our kids didn't win any of the scholarships that students were competing for (over $30,000 in scholarships, how cool is that?!) we did have one student win an iPad mini for being a high scorer in his division. 

What a good looking team!

And in our down time we tooled around Anchorage, visiting college campuses and eating yummy food. 

Touring Alaska Pacific University

Enjoying the marine biology lab at APU
(She's playing with a baby octopus)

Octopus!

Rock Climbing adventure

Sushi was a hit, even if chopsticks were not. 

Playing "what is this?" and "is it edible?" with
the spring salad. 

Needless to say, I am absolutely exhausted. Five days of chauffeuring students from place to place really does get tiring. I think the next time I head to Anchorage it will be sans-students so that I can travel at a more leisurely pace and have a drink!

Everyone Around Me is Getting Sick!!!

Brrr....

Today the weather is being downright spiteful. It's completely gray outside with high winds and a biting cold. 

The weather station down at our airstrip is reporting: -6, feels like -41

Sunlight... Almost

By the end of January we still aren't getting any direct sunlight here in Scammon thanks to the mountain. We are, however, starting to get an almost sunny sky. We've all been missing the sunlight for months now and it very disorienting to see that it's daylight outside but still not get any sunlight.

Talk about vitamin D deficiency!! I'm missing sunny Colorado a lot this month.

There's a sun behind that mountain!

When the Lights Go Down

In addition to our water shenanigans from the beginning of this month, we've been dealing with some  hissy fits from our generators. 

I don't know if it's because of the cold that suddenly hit or if there's a mechanical error, but it has become pretty common place for our lights to flicker on and off throughout the day. It wouldn't be too big of a deal for this to happen during the day down-states, but since the sun is still refusing to peak out from behind the mountains it presents kind of a pickle. 

Most of the teachers have stopped counting on technology when they write their lesson plans because it's about a 50/50 shot that the outlets will be functioning. So we make the most out of the emergency lighting and midday twilight and push on. 

Emergency Lights

Hopefully February will bring slightly warmer temperatures to keep our generators happy and functioning. 

Preparing to Lose Water

This morning our IL came over the intercom and announced the one thing that can turn my blood cold: the water pressure in the pump system is down to 6 PSI and we should switch into water conservation mode. We should also prepare to lose water at any time.

Many of you who have been reading my blog for a while may remember when this happened last March. If not, you can read about it here. The summary of it is that when I can't shower I turn in to a very grumpy person. I'm fully capable of preforming all other daily tasks without running water. I can wash my dishes with melted snow, flush the toilet with reserve water that we keep in totes, fine.

But the one thing I can't do is shower, it takes up too much water that we need to keep around for all the other stuff.

I'm hoping that since we are getting ready to host a basketball tournament this weekend that a lot of resources will go toward fixing the water (otherwise we may need to cancel the tournament).

Cross your fingers for us and hope we don't lose water!

Update:
Our neighbor, B., came over to house this evening with a glass of what we all assume was water. Apparently the water from her faucet started spewing out a light brown liquid... the sign that our tanks are on their last legs before they run out.

You see, we have to distill our water here to filter out a lot of heavy metals that accumulate in the water as it sits in the tanks. The picture below shows the different water available in teacher housing- B's, ours, and distilled water.

The good new is that some of the city water is being diverted to the school to fill the tanks. We may lose water for a while, but it should be back up by this weekend!!!! (it's the little things that keep you going)

And, in case you're wondering...

... this is a distiller.

... and this is what distilling does. 

Gearing Up To Go Home

In just under 48 hours I will be landing in Denver. I can't wait to be back in the mile high city with my friends and family, away from the negative temperatures and severe wind chill!!

Gearing up to go home is always an adventure and quite a process. There's a lot of planning (and money) that goes in to traveling down states... packing... flights... the actual traveling ordeal. There's nothing quite like it.

Packing
I'm not ashamed to admit that I've been packed for this trip since last week. I've always been an early packer, and how early I pack is directly proportional to how excited I am about the trip. So yes, I packed early.

I'm traveling home with a backpack, an empty small duffel bag, and Rubbermaid totes.

Why Rubbermaid? Well, anyone from the AK bush can tell you that getting as much into your bag as possible is important, especially when that stuff includes food and essential toiletries. And suitcases, empty suitcases, are HEAVY. So are coolers. Rubbermaid is the way to go. They hold a lot, are durable, and very light weight.

It's true, people in the lower 48 will give you weird looks when you pull four Rubbermaid totes (stacked in each other and duct taped together) off of the conveyer belt. Oh well, that's okay- they just don't get it.

More on the empty duffel bag later...

Flights
It will take four different airplanes and three layovers to get me from the village to Denver. Hopefully everything connects on time!

My flight itinerary looks a little something like this:

Scammon ---> Bethel
Bethel ---> Anchorage
Anchorage ---> Seattle
Seattle ---> Denver

My total travel time is just over 21 hours (ick) and includes an almost five hour redeye flight into Seattle. I have a love-hate relationship with redeye flights. I love them since I get home that much quicker but at the same time I hate them because I can never sleep on a plane.

Luckily my third layover is in Seattle, so I'll be stopping at Starbucks for a morning kick!

Travel
The actual act of gearing up to travel is no small feat. The key to travel is layers, layers, and more layers. It may be 45 degrees in Denver, but right now in Scammon it's a balmy -6, and with the wind chill it feels like -25. That's a 51 degree difference (feels like 70 degrees).

When I leave tomorrow I'll be sporting the following layers (this is in no way a product endorsement, even though it reads that way):

• Underwear (always important!)
• Wool socks x 2
• Calf compression sleeves
• UA ColdGear compression tights 
• UA compression top
• Cold running tights
• Cold running turtleneck/ face mask
• Snow pants
• Anorak down parka 
• Muck Arctic Sport boots
• North Face Headband
• Gore-tex gloves
• Glove liners
• Cozy wool hat

The key to making this outfit transition from ridiculously cold to downright comfortable weather is to strip!

This is where that empty duffel bag comes in handy. By the time I get to Denver I'll have a full duffel bag and will be wearing pretty much just my base layer. Not exactly fashionable, but it works!

Other than that, there's nothing much left to do except sit back and hope that the weather works out. It looks good so far... let's hope it stays that way.

See you on Thursday Denver, I can't wait!!

Monday Morning Commute

Good Morning!

Sorry I missed out on November, but it's December now and I'm back at it. I thought it might be fun to show everyone what exactly my days look like (since I have this nifty iPad that records...) and figured I should start off with an easy one: my morning commute.

Please note that I am not a videographer, film editor, or cameraman of any sorts. I did have fun with some of the iMovie effects though.

Happy Monday!

Almost Wordless Wednesday- NaNoWriMo Edition

Challenge yourself, I dare you. 

www.NaNoWriMo.org

Why I Buy Books For My Classroom

Every few months I spend between $200-$300 on books for my classroom.

And I'm not talking about textbooks either. I am very fortunate to teach in a district that provides more than enough resources for my classroom. I have curriculum textbooks, supplemental textbooks. digital textbooks, dictionaries, atlases. I have never wanted for a subject-area book (and if I did all I need to do is ask for it).

What my classroom lacked when I arrived here last year were engaging, for-fun, reading books. I never gave it much thought because hey, I teach social studies and I've got textbooks in every corner. The high school English classroom down the hall is stacked to the ceiling with novels and we have a library downstairs. I really wasn't concerned... until I noticed that my students never had a book in their hands.

Maybe it concerned me because I'm an avid reader, but I took notice. There was no reading for fun going on at all. All of my students were wasting and suppressing their starved teenage imaginations on television and school work. They never let their minds roam free to Olympus, Hogwarts, Narnia, or Middle Earth. There were no tears for characters they had connected with, no outrage that a book ended a way they didn't like, no anticipation to get the next book in the series.

Nothing.

And on the academic side, there was no familiarization with acceptable patterns of language. You see, when a child reads they are not only stretching their imaginations, they're also secretly getting familiar with how written language should sound in their heads. An important skill for all students, but especially those with limited English proficiency who struggle with grammar, sentence structure, and punctuation.

So I took a tentative step and used some scholastic book order points to order some classroom books: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Hoot, The Guardians of Ga'Hoole 1-4, Warriors, and The Hunger Games. The books arrived two weeks later and we established some ground rules:

1. Books must be treated with respect
2. Books must be checked out
3. Books must be returned quickly so other students can enjoy them 
4. If you find one of our books in the school, bring it back to the bookshelf. 

By the end of the day they were all checked out and I had a waiting list posted for each book.

I was sold, and decided that high interest reading books were something I wanted in my classroom. I jumped on Scholastic and started searching. Three weeks later I had over 40 new books sitting on my shelves and a board full of book check-outs. (Thank you scholastic for free shipping and book club points!)

Tuesday was our book arrival day. I labeled all of the books with my name and put them on the shelf (some of them were checked out before I could even take them off my desk):

Inspecting the new arrivals

Now my classroom looks like this after school:

Books and Music. 

Calvin and Hobbes Action

And my front white board looks like this:

Sure, some of my books never come back. Over the course of time I've lost four books to sticky fingers and forgetful minds. Other books are so well loved by the students that they are falling apart from over-use and have been lovingly taped back together (Percy Jackson).

Seeing this change in my students taught me that no child truly hates to read. They just haven't found their perfect book yet. Even my most reluctant readers are in love with some of the graphic novels series that I have ( Bone, Amulet, Maus) and almost all of my kids go crazy for an engaging scary story/ thriller.

Sports Travel in the Bush

Chaperoning a sporting event in rural Alaska is no small thing. It can easily eat up your entire weekend and leave you looking like you survived a war.

Travel usually starts during the school day on Friday. Coaches leave on the first charter flight in the morning with a selection of players. This is so all coaches can meet up and iron out the fine details of what's going to happen over the weekend. Chaperones follow with the rest of the team around lunch time, arriving in time for a little settling in time and the first game/ match.

Wait, flights?! Yes, flights. When your district is the size of a large east coast state and there are no roads, flying is the only option. Which also means that it is very rare to have an event that doesn't include an overnight stay.

Sleeping on a classroom floor.

With limited access to showers.

Always a recipe for fun. But sleeping and travel aside, it's always fun to travel with students. I love traveling with kids from our school because they are the living embodiment of community pride and sportsmanship. They clean up after themselves, are polite to other teachers, cheer each other on, cause very few problems (if any), and are gracious winners.

Seriously, I've had teachers tell me how jealous they are of our travel team. They're that amazing.

Be jealous. No stray, running around kids here.
Just perfectly behaved gentlemen ready to cheer for
their teammates. 

This past weekend I travelled north to Emmonak with a team of wrestlers. I know it seems strange to have a female chaperone for wrestling, but wrestling is co-ed 4-12 sport and we had five girls compete this weekend.

Elementary School Wrestlers

When we weren't wrestling, our team made a few trips to the community store and the AC. Lucky for the chaperones the weekend was pretty packed with very little down time, which meant very little boredom.

Our kids wrestled in two meets, one on Friday night and one Saturday morning. On Saturday afternoon there was a wrestling clinic to teach rules and technique to one of our district's smaller schools (Nunam Iqua) that has just started their wrestling program this year.

It was a great weekend, we saw the Northern Lights on Friday night and whistled at them with the kids.

We arrived back in Scammon Saturday night. The barge was in the river with our winter fuel delivery (over 65,000 gallons) and it felt like winter.

M. and I walked down to town just as it started snowing to get pizza at the store and make a few house calls.

I was barely able to get off the couch on Sunday, I was so exhausted.

Snow, Snow, Snow....

It started snowing here in Scammon at the end of September, but nothing stuck around for too long.

When I returned from EMO on Saturday night (more on that trip later), it was just starting to snow. You know, that really pretty snow that isn't quite sticking and looks like glitter. People in town were heating up their steam houses and it even SMELLED like winter.

M. and I took a walk down to town to visit a few people and enjoy the crisp weather. Everything about it was perfect and, with the right layers, it was a nice fall temperature.

Fast forward to this morning. By now it's been snowing for over 24 hours and not only do we have snow accumulating on the ground, we also have ice hiding under the snow. Talk about an exciting and surprising walk.

I think my love affair with snow is already over for this year. Maybe because I know that it most likely won't melt before I leave for the summer, or maybe because it's switched my brain into Christmas mode (which is going to make these next two months seem extra long).

I'm not ready for the never-ending winter to start.

Best Surprise Ever!

CARE PACKAGE!!!!!

Salt and Vinegar Chips, Life-Saver mints, and our remote!

Thanks Debbie!

Teacher In-Service: Year 2

Last year, I wrote about my very first in-service in the bush. I introduced my wonderful readers to the joys of flying to another village, sleeping on a classroom floor, and not having to cook for myself for two days (yay!).

This year, instead of being sorted geographically, all teachers were assigned to a site based on what level we teach. For all of us secondary teachers it was off to Mountain Village!

207 Time! Sittin' in the
back like a boss...

When we left on Wednesday afternoon it was incredibly windy, the kind of windy where you know it's not going to be a smooth ride at all. But work is work, and not wanting to fly in turbulence is not an acceptable reason to miss two days of training. So I jumped into a 207 with four other teachers and prepared for the bumpy 45 minute flight (meaning I buckled my seat belt and put in my headphones).

The flight got off to a rough start, complete with the classic 207 "lean forward for take off and hope we have enough runway." Oh dear. We swung into the air and thanked our lucky stars that it wasn't too bumpy around Scammon.

Flying by Kuzi. Starting to get
rough out there. 

Of course, that all change when we flew passed Kuzelvak, the mountains that mark the almost-halfway point between us and Mountain Village. The plain began to pitch and swing back and forth, giving it an almost boat-on-rough-seas feel.

Did I mention I get sea sick easily?

Turning away from Kuzi
toward Mountain

By the time we were in sight of Mountain, I was searching frantically for an air sickness bag and hoping I could hold my lunch until we got on the ground.

Thankfully, the flight was the worst part of the in-service. The rest of the week was spent in the cafeteria with all of the secondary teachers in the district, learning about our new ELL curriculum (that I'm totally psyched about!)

Brushing up on Dominant
Language Functions. Woo!

Mountain Village also gave a lot of us down time to hang out and explore town. Many of us took the opportunity to head down to the Alaska Commercial to stock up on much needed things that have been hard to find here in town (plain m&m's, dog bones, light bulbs, fruit, and eggs just to name a few).

I also got to go out 4-wheeling with another teacher and explore areas of Mountain I'd never seen (we navigated our way from store to school making only left turns. No idea why). We also walked down to the beach where many boats are anchored on the Yukon River. It's a skinny beach, nothing like Hooper Bay last year. I guess it's more of a river bank than a beach... I digress. In any case, it was a great walk after a LONG day of learning.

Oh! The best part? I got to sleep at a teacher's house in a bed instead of on the floor. Thanks Doug and Barb!!!!

M. gives training a thumbs up!

We landed home on Friday afternoon to a village covered in Snow. Here comes winter! I'm not sure if I'm ready.

Attendance and Subsistence

Hunting season always makes for an interesting time in rural Alaska. It's exciting, it's hard work, and it's something that everyone looks forward to.

Brianna and Diana with
Jeff's first moose. 

This year we've had quite a few students and teachers get their first moose (a pretty big deal and an awesome accomplishment). Talk about lots of work! Moose are BIG! They're heavy as all get out and they pack a lot of meat, which means that they are usually the number one target this time of year. Once a moose is caught it has to be hauled back to the village (usually by boat), hung, cleaned, and packed for the winter. 

Tomcods hanging behind
the house.

Even though moose hunting is the big event this time of year, bird hunting and fishing are popular afternoon activities. There are a lot of geese this time of year and tomcods a-plenty! 

If hunting isn't your thing, like me, there's always berry picking to be done this time of year. Salmonberries, cranberries, blackberries, and blueberries litter the landscape just waiting to be made into yummy jam, savory agutaq, or frozen for use later this winter. My personal favorite way to eat berries is covered in condensed milk with a little sugar. Yum!!

Yup, it's an exciting time to share food, stock freezers for the winter, and work hard.

It also means that a lot of the high school students are missing from class. 

My Sophomore class is small all the time by lower 48 standards (it's pretty average for here with 15 students), but it's never been this small:

Yup. That's it. I guess it makes it pretty easy on me and it's always fun to work with small groups but getting all of those missing kids caught up when they return will not be my favorite thing to do. I sure hope they're catching a lot before winter gets here!