Spring Break!

So...April Fools' Day is tomorrow. I can't wait to play a few jokes on my students and coworkers! April 1st means it's getting closer and closer to the date of my return to Pennsylvania! I'm excited to soak up some warmer weather and spend time with my family and friends.

Spring Break was wonderful and a much needed break away from everything. Thank you Liz for inviting me to tag along with you! One day we went to a place called Hatcher Pass which had amazing views everywhere you looked. I couldn't get enough. It took us a long time to get to the actual top of the mountain where they had small cabins to rent and a little snack bar. People can go there to ski, snowboard, ride snowmobile, etc. for free! There are no ski lifts so that makes things interesting. If people make it to the bottom of the mountain and a car is going to the top they usually just hop in the back for a ride! Here are some really great pictures of the views...

So Alaska...a husky in the snow.

The only place I wanted to go the entire trip! Target with the mountains in the background...something you don't see much in Pennsylvania. 

We got to go to the Iditarod Headquarters in Wasilla. It was neat because the race was actually going on while we were visiting, however, we didn't get to see any of the action. I snapped a few pictures inside and grabbed some souvenirs for my Pennsylvania friends.

The mountains are literally surrounding you every place you go. Amazing.

Guess what else we found while we were there?! GIRL SCOUT COOKIES. They're $5 a box in Alaska. I made the girls pose for a picture haha.

Look what else I found at a grocery store here!

$5 foot longs don't exist in Alaska. It still tasted good though.

One thing I never really noticed at any other airports are cargo airplanes. It seems that Anchorage has a ton!

Finally it was time to return to Napakiak after a quick trip. I had the row all to myself on the plane so I hopped over to the window seat to take a picture.

St. Patrick's Day fun at school! 

Here's a cute picture from when we played "Who wants to be the teacher?"

I have some models...

This past weekend we had the NYO (Native Youth Olympics) Tournament at our school. We had 20 other schools come to Napakiak and compete to move onto the district meet in Bethel. It was crazy!! There were about 175 kids here..more than go to school here! It was super fun though. The athletes are very talented and you can tell that they train intensely for their events. NYO reminds me a lot of track and field in the lower 48 because it has many different events. Students can choose to participate in all the events or just a few. 

This is the two foot high kick. Athletes need to touch the ball with both feet and then land with them together for it to count. 

So many kids!!

One interesting part of NYO is that the audience doesn't clap until the competitor is eliminated. They get 3 chances to complete the event and if they fail or miss they are eliminated. It is definitely a game of concentration and the audience needs to be almost completely silent to help the athlete focus. This was the first weekend I was able to watch NYO besides walking through practices in the gym here. It was so neat and interesting. I took a bunch of videos throughout the weekend, but I decided to compress them into one short video if you would like to watch.

It was really amazing to see the culture brought into our school over the weekend. Students from other villages practice their native songs and dances often and brought them to share. Here is a quick video. It's so cool seeing them interested and "into" their culture. They are proud of it. 

This is walrus!! The layers from left to right are: blubber, fat, meat. A visiting team brought the treat to share with others. They say it is a special treat and they don't get to eat walrus as much as other animals. The natives say that the walrus cleans your stomach and will also keep you warm. The woman I talked with said she will boil this down for a few hours until it gets soft and then serve it. I wasn't lucky enough to try this...lol.

On Saturday after the NYO Tournament we took a ride up to Bethel while the river was still frozen (at least in most parts). We happened to come across a Yupik museum and walked around for a bit. The picture below is a coat made from fish skin! The museum showcased a variety of native work.

It was such a beautiful day out in Bethel. We got some coffee, sat outside in the sun, enjoyed dinner, and did some grocery shopping. We all enjoyed ourselves, even though those are such small things in life. It was fun. Here are some pictures from our trip back to Napakiak. We got out right in the middle of the 'road'.

The weather is starting to warm up. That big snowman we made a few weeks ago is melted and the  sunlight is here to stay. Right now the sunrise is at 8:15am and sunset is at 9:30. It's pretty amazing. You don't realize how late in the day it is until you look at a clock!

This has been a long post filled with lots of pictures! I hope you enjoy viewing my pictures of Alaska.  This week during school we are celebrating Easter and doing activities with Easter Eggs. I'll post more pictures soon! :) Thanks for reading!