Earthquake!

Napakiak is still busy, but nothing very interesting has happened recently. I was in Anchorage almost 3 weeks ago for a quick conference. I attended a great session with Anita Archer. I also experienced the earthquake! I was enjoying my last night in the city when suddenly the power went out and the ground started to shake. The earthquake was a little less than 200 miles SW of Anchorage. The street lights were out and many people in my hotel evacuated the building. The alarms were going off until 4AM. That was the second earthquake I felt. The first one was when I was a sophomore in college and there was an earthquake in Virginia, although I barely felt that one! The one I felt in Anchorage lasted for about 1 minute! When I got back to my hotel room I noticed that all of the drawers on my small dresser were open! I surely didn't leave them that way. I was staying on the 8th floor. 

My time in Anchorage was over in the blink of an eye. We didn't get there until Friday evening and then left Sunday at lunch time. I took a trip to the mall and did some grocery shopping while I was there. I also managed to see the former Miss Alaska, who auditioned for American Idol and was on TV, sing one night. However, since I wasn't in Anchorage very long I didn't have a chance to take many pictures. Here are some from the air...

and from the conference center balcony...

Mountains!

Every weekend has been busy here. Last weekend I went to Bethel for a second year teacher training. The weekend before that we had a fiddle dance for 12 hours of the weekend! We are trying to raise money for student sport teams to travel. The next 3 weeks our school will hold basketball tournaments and I am in charge of organizing the selling of concessions. We sell things like soda, candy, soft pretzels, and nachos. I will also be traveling to 2 other villages as a chaperone for the girls basketball team. I'm excited to see what other villages look like. AND guess how we will be getting to these villages?? Yes, we will be driving on the frozen river!! Planes are very expensive and the school district is allowing us to use school vehicles to drive on the river. It will be an adventure. 

The days are going by fast. Spring break is less than 4 weeks away!! I'm so excited to go to Hawaii. After spring break we will only have 10 more weeks of school left! I'm starting to think about things I want to do this summer and places I want to visit. I haven't made a final decision yet on next year and if I will be returning to Alaska for year 3. I have a formal observation next week and will likely have 1 month to decide if I am returning. 

It hasn't been very cold here. On Saturday the sun was shining and it was in the mid 30s! It was really nice because there wasn't any wind. It felt like a winter in Pennsylvania! However, it is super icy here! The roads are very icy and of course the river is, too. I took a walk to the post office last week and I had to wear my ice cleats. I still almost fell a few times even when I was wearing ice cleats! One of our teachers went out for a walk last weekend, fell on the ice, and cracked his head open! You definitely need the correct type of winter gear here. 

My class has been Skyping with a class from Slatington, Pennsylvania. So far, we have done it two times and we have one scheduled for next week. It's so fun! We are learning all about Pennsylvania through a 1st grade class. In return, we are telling them things we do in Alaska and what our state is like. My favorite part so far was when one of my students explained how we ice fish! It was perfect. Some questions our Pennsylvania friends asked were, "Do you have a McDonalds?" and "Do you guys have a GameStop to buy games?" The questions were so cute and the PA students were so surprised to find out we didn't have a McDonalds!! We are doing a valentine exchange with this class and they are sending us Girl Scout Cookies! My students have never tried a Girl Scout Cookie. It will be an exciting day when those come in the mail. I'll be sure to document the experience. :)

I want to stay thank you to Wynnie's Aunt, Jill, for sending me such a lovely, unexpected package in the mail!! As always, it's exciting to get a package in the mail here in Alaska. My students were so excited when I told them we got some treats in the mail. I told them we could enjoy them during our Valentine's Day Party on Friday afternoon. We wrote little Valentine thank you letters to her and put them in the mail today. :)

It's going to be very busy here until spring break. We will be having the basketball tournaments, I will be traveling, the school will be having another fiddle dance, and we have to give a special test! Each passing day is one day closer to Hawaii. :) I will try to update maybe once before spring break!

Here's some exciting news! I had a Penn State article written about me!! The link is below if you are interested in reading.

http://news.psu.edu/story/388910/2016/01/25/academics/college-education-alumnas-teaching-role-alaska-anything

Porter is still in puppy mode. I bought him this little basket for his toys while I was home and now he treats it like a toy. He also gets out of his crate somehow and enjoys running around our house destroying things! He got to enjoy the blizzard. :)

This is newsworthy in rural Alaska...

and a Bethel sunset.

We celebrated the 100th day of school last week! Here are some pictures from our classroom and outside the school.

Christmas Break in Pennsylvania

My Christmas Break started out a little bumpy because when I woke up in the morning it was snowing and super windy! I knew the planes wouldn't fly if the weather stayed like that for the entire day. Luckily, it cleared up around lunch time. However, because we got so much snow the runways needed to be plowed in Bethel so the planes could take off. The plane coming to pick me up was supposed to take off from a runway covered in snow. There was no way they would clear the runway in time for the plane to pick me up and take me to Bethel. I didn't want to be stuck in Napakiak...so, I went on quite the adventure. I took a 45 minute snow machine ride to Bethel. We followed a trail just as it was getting dark out. Two other teachers were trying to get out of the village, too. They sat on the sled while I rode on the back of the snow machine. I had a cooler, suitcase, and backpack to bring with me. The other teachers also had their luggage so it was a full sled!! The man who gave us a ride dropped us off right at the airport. He was driving the snow machine on the main road!

It's hard to believe that everything fit!

I made my flight into Anchorage and all of my connections to Pennnsylvania. I was only traveling for a little over 12 hours. It was a great to finally be in Pennsylvania where the weather was warmer! I didn't need snow boots or a winter jacket for most of the time I was home. 

I took this picture on my flight from Anchorage to Chicago. 

I enjoyed my 20 days in Pennsylvania. I got to see my friends and family, I met Porter the new dog, and I relaxed! It seems like I only took pictures of Porter while I was home. He's so cute! We spent a lot of time together while everyone was working. I took him for car rides and walks. I also tried to teach him a new trick, but he didn't master it before I left. 

A few days after I was home we had to get a crate for him because.....

He went into our lazy susan TWICE and made a mess each time. One day he also went through our mail basket so that was all over our kitchen floor. He took butter off the kitchen counter one night. I didn't believe how bad he was until I met him. I can't believe a dog did all of this! We spent a long time cleaning up his messes.

After all the puppy excitement it was time to let my Dad and Lee deal with him. I was on my way back to Alaska. I traveled all day to get to Anchorage and then I finally arrived at 2am Alaska time which is 6am Pennsylvania time. I stayed in a hotel for a few hours of rest and took a walk to Walmart to pick up a few things before my flight in the morning. I made it back to Napakiak at 2pm Saturday. It was about 28 hours from the time I left my house in Pennsylvania to the time I reached my house in Napakiak.

I forgot to mention...I got a surprise phone call from my principal one day over break. She told me that the roof blew off my house in Napakiak!! The winds were so bad that the roof blew right off. The way she explained it, it seemed like I would have a lot of cleaning to do when I got back and I might be missing a few things. However, I called the maintenance man and he said everything would be fine. My roof was fixed when I arrived in Napakiak and everything inside was just fine. Here are some pictures of my roof outside of my house.

It has definitely been an interesting year. Our spring break is only 7 weeks away and I am going to HAWAII!! The teachers really wanted to go last year, but we didn't make it. I wanted to go this year so I found a great deal and booked my flight in October. My dad is going to meet me there and we will explore the island of Oahu for 6 days! I'm excited to be in warm weather and near an ocean. I've never been to Hawaii, but I keep hearing that it's beautiful. After spring break, my dad will be returning to Alaska with me! We will spend 1 day in Anchorage and then he is going to come to Napakiak with me for about 2 days. I'm excited. 

I also get to go to Anchorage this Friday for a conference. We are only staying for the weekend. It will be a quick trip, but it will be nice to be around other teachers I know and also visit the grocery store!

Last weekend I went to my first birthday party! One of my students was turning 10 and I was invited to his party. I had some moose spaghetti and cake. Something I found interesting about the party was that the birthday boy left after he was done eating! I wasn't used to that, but I still had an enjoyable time at the party. 

We've been busy the first week back to school. This student made a sentence that says, "I saw a fox and a moose"

We've also been playing a new dice game that the students love.

The river is completely frozen now and safe for travel. I walked down there on Sunday after the birthday party and took this picture. The truck is on the river!

Here's a comparison picture. I'm standing in just about the same spot. 

Here are a few more pictures I took recently...

Thanks for reading!

Portland + Christmas in Napakiak

I haven't updated in a few weeks. Things are busy here in Napakiak. 

I went to Portland the second week of December for a conference. It was amazing! I got to connect with other 2nd grade teachers from rural schools in Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. We stayed at Skamania Lodge just over the Washington border. It was so beautiful. I would definitely return there. Here are some pictures from the lodge...

Indoor heated pool

Outdoor hot tub! They also had 2 indoor hot tubs.

One night after the conference I was with 3 other teachers and we met some people who work for Nike! There is a company store near Portland where everything is 50% off. However, you need to have a special pass to enter the store. Our new friends gave us four passes to get in and shop! It was awesome.

After returning to Alaska there were only 5 more days until Christmas break! The week went fast because we had a staff Christmas party, a Christmas program, and grades were due! My class sang Jingle Bell Rock at the program. Some of my students dressed up and Santa came to visit!

On the last day of school Santa brought gifts for my class and we enjoyed some snacks while watching the Grinch.

Here are some pictures from the air...

...and some from Napakiak.

I will do another update tomorrow about my relaxing Christmas break in PA!