I moved to Alaska exactly 9 months ago. I was wiping tears at the Philadelphia airport and making the long journey to Anchorage...9 months ago. The time went SO fast. I honestly can't believe that I only have to work for 14 more days. I remember when there were 14 more school days until winter break and now here we are with 14 more school days until summer break! The kids are super excited to have off from school in the summer and they keep telling me about their swimming adventures in the river.
The weather has been amazing lately! It's sunny and in the 40s and 50s almost everyday. With all the sun it's making everything melt! We have a small pond outside of our house because of all the melting snow. The river still isn't broken up, but it's not safe to travel on anymore. The ground here has become very muddy, but it's fun to walk in if you have boots on. We have been able to go outside everyday this week and enjoy the sunshine. All of my students say "It's so hot!" when it's 50 degrees. I agree, it feels nice, but it's not HOT!
Just hanging out with a puppy at recess.
Two weeks ago it was still colder and we were able to see the Northern Lights around midnight. I wasn't able to get any good pictures of them, but Nik got a few great ones.
The new teachers got to travel into Bethel for the Cama-i Dance Festival a few weeks ago. There was a special section of the festival that was selling native art and special crafts. Some of them were earrings made out of walrus tusk ivory, gloves made with beaver fur, and scarves made from muskox fur. I bought a book from a book illustrator who lives in Anchorage. He even signed it for me!
We were supposed to return to Napakiak on Sunday evening of that weekend, but it ended up snowing like crazy right before we were supposed to leave. We had to stay the night in Bethel but we made new friends and it was fun. This was the second time I've had to stay overnight in Bethel because of the weather, but the planes really cannot fly when the weather is bad. This is something I've gotten used to living in the bush.
In a few days it will be 1 year since I graduated from Penn State! I can't believe how fast the time actually went. I miss Penn State, but I'll be back for Arts Fest in July! Looking back on my first year of teaching I've realized that I've grown so much professionally and personally. This was the most challenging year of my entire life and I learned so much in such a short amount of time. I'll be sad to leave my students for summer break, but I'm excited to get back to Pennsylvania to see my family and friends. I have a growing list of things I want to do when I get home...places I want to visit, people I want to see, things I want to buy, etc. I'm also excited to just relax for a few days and not have to worry about lesson plans or anything having to do with school!
I'll be home on May 30th. Our last day of school is May 20th and I'm attending a conference in Anchorage from May 26-29. I'm excited to spend some time in Anchorage when it will be warm! The sun isn't setting until almost 11pm now. At the end of the month it will probably be around 12 or later!
Here are some pictures from when we celebrated Easter!
When I went into Anchorage for spring break I found Peeps! I bought enough to share with my class. I'm so glad I did because no one had ever tried them before! Most of my students liked them, but a few gave them away because it wasn't for them. It was funny!
April Fools was fun. I decided to take some Oreo cookies and put toothpaste in the middle of them. I got quite a few of my coworkers! They were good sports. My students even tried to get me. One student left a piece of gum for me, except there wasn't any gum inside.
A joke played on me...
We did a cool science experiment this week that involved the primary and secondary colors. It was neat because my students don't have an art class that they go to every week, so it's my responsibility to somewhat expose them to these things.
My village is now selling milk!!! This is the best news since we got 3G cell service here. A half gallon of milk is $9.19...but it's real milk.
Actually, one store is closing and a new one is opening. The grand opening is next week. This is the ad they are passing out....big sale on chips and soda.
Our spring formal dance is tomorrow. We were busy yesterday after school getting our decorations ready.
Things are going to be busy here the next few weeks. I'll try my best to do one more post before I leave Napakiak. Thanks for reading!
