Happy Haloween

Just a quick note on this Holiday. They got another walrus and I was able to make down to the river just as they were hauling it in so I added more pictures to my flickr account.




Also a big thanks to Aunt Marilyn for the Apples the kids loved them a couple of them said they were the best ever. Obviously we don't get much fresh produce here in the village so it is always a treat. I remebered to take at least one phot of my Histroy class enjoying the apples - should have gotten my middle school class they realy went nuts for the apples I almost got one of my students who hasn't done any work all year to atleast open her Social Studies Book.



Hope everyone had a great Halloween. Yes, all the kids tricker treated tonight, so I had lots of visitors.

Walrus

The sun finally arose at about 9:30am and I found the Walrus. Actually I lucked out one of the Dad’s from school was taking his 1st grader down to see it and so he gave me a ride on the four wheeler. They had covered it last night thus MJ couldn’t see it when she went looking. As you can see they gutted it and removed the fins last night. After I got back Alicia was at my door looking for me to see if I wanted to go check it out so back we went. Again another kind parent gave us a ride on the four wheeler. By time we got back down to the beach they had started butchering it. As you can see they are removing the fat which they will use for oil. You can also see from the photos that they basically remove the innards all as one. And finally notice the kids just hanging out. I will/have uploaded more photo’s to my flickr account. Well back to my lazy Sunday afternoon. I keep thinking maybe I’ll head to school and do some work but naaa, maybe I’ll just read and watch a movie or take a nap.

Fun Filled Day

Well it was a busy day here in Kongiganak. First we had the Halloween Carnival at the school and some how I ended up helping with the Haunted Hallway. A new experience for me. It was totally student run - so not very organized. Ruthie you would have killed someone for sure. They key thing is the kids did have fun and for the most part were pretty good about cleaning up. We also had games in the gym and concessions - over all I would have to say it was a success.















Saturday evening "Ladies Night" followed. We all agreed that after the Carnival we could all use a nice relaxing drink. Diet Coke and Ice Tea would have to do. It was a two Can Diet Coke night for me - I also made pizza and an apple bake with fresh Michigan Apples thanks to Aunt Marlyn (everyone loves the apples). Kendra made brownies with extra Chocolate Chunks and Almound (very yummy) and of course we had left over chips and cheese from the carnival. Good thing we started the night early - 3:30 instead of 7pm - with all the food. Kendra introduced us to a new game called PIT. It is faced paced and exciting. I loved - well I won so of course I thought it was a great game.

After Kendra and Alecia left MJ and I decided to watch a movie and about half way through there was a knock on my door. It was Daryl our Site Administrator. He came to tell us that Lewis Beaver one of our teachers had gotten a Walrus and the village was planning on butchering it in the morning. So the three of us set of to see if you could find it and take some pictures before hand. Of course it was dark and foggy. And as you can see there are no pictures at this time so we didn't find it. So I am waiting for the sun to come up - about 9:30am - and I'll head back down to the beach to see if I can find were they landed it.

Okay that's it for now hopefully I'll add more later today.

Proof that it SNOWED!!

Just thought you would like to see proof that it really has snowed here.





















Otherwise life goes on. It is Saturday so that means laundry and a trip to the lagoon (to dump the honey bucket) and a nice walk through the village - stopping at the post office, and the store (I need a couple of eggs for corn bread).

I informed my students that I bought my ticket to Michigan for the Christmas Holiday and it is a non-refundable, round trip ticket. They only groaned a little, not sure if they caught the meaning - That I would be back in January.

Well, I guess I will go run my errands. Have a Great Day everyone.

Good Morning

Good Morning friends and family. It once again Saturday morning and I am taking a moment to enjoy my coffee before I head of to school to do laundry and grade papers. Believe it or not next Friday marks the end of our first quarter here in Kongiganak. WOW!!!

Last Sunday I went for a walk and remembered to take my camera and so I have included a few photos of the Tundra - as you can see it has changed colors and is now a beautiful gold color.





When I returned to the village from my walk I noticed some activity and upon investigating it discovered that a barge full of wood had arrived and as you can see from the photos they are unloading it. I have been told that the barge comes through twice a year - once in the spring and once in the fall. This is the first time the village has purchased wood. This wood will be used for steams (like a sauna) a very popular activity.




Well, it is almost 9am and I want to get my laundry started so I will close for now. When the sun comes up this morning I hope to take a couple of pictures to show you that we actually have a light dusting of snow on the ground. Have a good weekend.

IT SNOWED!!!!

Yep, That's right it snowed yesterday! I am so excited YEAH!!!!! It didn't last long but we really did have snow. It was a "white out" for about 5-10 minutes. Just long enough for all the packages I was hauling back from the post office to get wet. Wished I had had my camera.

It is 8:30am and I am probably one of the only people in the village awake. I am pretty sure that at 7:15 when I went to school to start my laundry and go the bathroom I was the only person awake. It is still dark outside and the temperture is a comfortable 38 degrees no wind so it's not bad. We do get some increadable wind here.

Anyways thats about it for now. Same old same old. School and sleep that's about it.

Oh a couple people have asked for "wish list" items. Paper back books (to read since I have no TV) and cheep school supplies or novelty things (for give aways to my students (pencils, erasers, silly putty...)I am now set at least until Christmas with coffee I think. There was a momentary scare but it turned out okay. The US Postal Service wasn't living up to their standards of getting somethings delivered in a timely manner.

Okay I am going to watch a movie and grade some papers -

All Dressed-up and No Place to Go

What do three single female teacher do on a Saturday Night in rural Alaska – What else is there to do they get dressed-up in their finest, they eat and they play cards. Please note NO alcohol was consumed during this evening. (remember this is a dry village)



This has become a Saturday night thing for the three of us, getting together, teaching Alicia to play Euchre and eating dinner. This week it was great food – Homemade pizza (MJ makes great pizza crust) chips and cheese and a few fresh veggies, the cupboard is getting bare when it comes to fresh veggies we had to throw the lettuce out it was slimmy. Soon after this picture was taken someone got a craving for some dessert (a chocolate milk shake was mentioned) so we decided to make blueberry short cake. Alicia was sent to the store because someone remembered that they did have CoolWhip (step 1) I had some Bisquick and blueberry’s MaryJane ran home for starch, blueberry’s and the recipe for blueberry sauce. YUMMY is all I need to say as to how it all came out.

Well I hope all is well with everyone everything is the same here in Kongiganak It continues to rain most days and I can defiantly notice the change in the amount of daylight. It was still dark at 8am this morning and will probably be dark before 8pm tonight.

I have taken on the challenge of starting and coaching our Lego-Robotics team. It should be very interesting and fun. I currently have three students on the team and two of them are very excited and want to work on it all of the time. I will be learning along with the kids what it is all about. I also seam to be being prodded/recruited into coaching a girls basketball team – Paul has sent me the information on getting certified as a coach – I have been telling him I would help him or volunteer to help as long as he coached. We haven’t had a girls team since the early 1990’s and Paul coached them to the State tournament. In 1987 (I think) they actually one the state tournament. Plus I am teaching math twice a week for half an hour in our extended day program so basically I live at the school.

Again I hope everyone is well – keep in touch. I love reading most of your comments.