Scenery Photos: Not For Sale

A couple of weeks ago, we took 14 seniors on a career trip around Anchorage, the Kenai Peninsula, and Palmer. Basically, it was lots of driving, lots of touring, lots of listening, and lots of fun! Here are some snapshots from our drive. These are all taken on the road. Our destinations went like this: Anchorage to Soldotna; Soldotna to Seward; Seward to Anchorage. I couldn't tell you where each of these photos was taken. It was all lovely. I have to give props, though. All photos were taken by students. Since I was driving, I thought it would be safer that way. :)



















Hope you've enjoyed the scenery!

Last week was our annual October Teacher Inservice. It's pretty much my favorite week. We get to learn and collaborate and get work done. And of course our social network multiplies about a hundred times over, which is cool.

Anyway, back to teaching this week! Peas out.

Sunday Morning Adventure

On Saturday night, some of us got together and enjoyed a "Progressive Dinner" in which we all contributed some part of the dinner (mine was quite a small contribution... a bit last minute) and moved from new place to new place to see all the cool things people have done to their new homes. It was very nice, a good mix of people. That night we were all introduced to Jeremy, the new PA at the clinic (his wife and daughter are unfortunately out of town, so we haven't met them yet). He has snow shoes, Kira has snow shoes, I just like to snow shoe, so the three of us made plans for a Sunday Morning Adventure (hence, the title). He brought an extra pair for me, since I don't have any (yet).

Kira woke me up a little past 10am in the morning. I was reluctant, but I agreed to go forward with the plans to hang out. I am so glad she made me do it. :) Jeremy picked us up in his sweet Jeep and drove us out to the very very end of the 14 mile road. The snow was quite icicly, so we x-ed the snow shoeing idea and just decided to hike it. We hiked for quite a ways - it was so beautiful outside!



Along the way we found lots of tracks - moose, bunnies, fox, even bear! Jeremy and I studied them closely - he knows tons about this sort of thing, so it was cool to learn more.



This is our first group picture. Guess who's in the middle?? :)



This was the farthest we hiked to. The stacks of stones there have a Yupik name - I think it starts with an N - but I don't remember what it is. It's supposed to represent a person, I think, and also act as a marker, a known location in the middle of the tundra.



That's the coolest thing about here - when you are out, you are really OUT there. It's not even like hiking in a national park. There aren't rangers here. We're pretty much out in the middle of nowhere. It's great. :) (Don't worry, we stayed on a trail. Snow, especially when it's not windy, makes it easy to stay on track.) Once we started to go into bush areas, however, there was definitely more noise on our end. Jeremy was ahead of me, and I called out, "Maybe you should start singing now." "Yeah," he replied, "I'm calling for bears right now."



After our hike out, we decided to start a fire for lunch. Fortunately, I was prepared for this very sort of thing. :)





That's right, I had my handy dandy survival kit (thank you, Kim Hanisch), and I was able to start a fire using flint, steel, and a cotton ball coated in Vaseline. With some finagling, after only a few tries we had a blazing fire. We sat and ate and chatted for a while, munching on granola bars, apples and cheese, and hot chocolate.



It was a fantastic way to start any day! We were out for a good 5 hours or so, driving included. On the way back we did a bit of off-roading in the Jeep, up a big hill over the gravel pit. So lovely! The three of us had a great time!



There are some back pictures that I haven't quite uploaded yet, all from my trip to Anchorage. That will come later... sorry it's taking so long! This week will be good, also. It's Inservice week, so about 400 teachers from all over the district will be gathered here in Unalakleet for professional development classes and, of course, great social time. :) I'll have a full house myself, but I'm looking forward to good times with good people, and learning new things. This is my favorite week out of the whole year.

It Happens This Way Sometimes

No need to go into the terrible that has gloomed us for the past week (and longer). It's time to start moving forward, to find those things in life worth smiling about. Nothing ever stays miserable. What does that song say? "Life is a wheel in constant motion."

Anyway, to tell you the truth, the past few weeks that I haven't written have been fairly uneventful. I've been working, feeding the dogs, working, reading, working, being with friends, and, of course, working. But it's all worth it - my students are really what make this job so great. Sometimes I think they are the only reason I get out of bed and come to work in the morning. But that may just be my morning-ness.

I'll give a few pictures of things that I like. It is not an entirely all-encompassing story of what has dominated my thoughts, but it is something, hopefully, visually appealing.



The moose that Jake caught.



The moose that Jake caught.



Carrie's cat, Rijah.



One in a series of photographs of the Rijah.



My dog, Star. So happy together.



A good evening with friends - Adrianna: my #1 stunner, and the Lois to my Clark.



Janelle - last photo I have of her pregnant - and Daniel (DJ, Deej, booger, etc.). Janelle is in Anchorage getting ready to give birth to Jonah... October 2!!!! :)



I picture I sketched on Heidi and Damon's couch. Cool, huh? This is my new medium. Look out, big brother.

New Blog (Just for the Fun of It), Et Cetera

Because a particular friend will be spending so much time away from us, I decided to start making her videos (so she doesn't forget us) and sending them to her. The first one was quite funny, and Adrianna and I still watch it now and then. But I digress. Anyway... Unfortunately, these videos were clogging her inbox from receiving any other more important emails, so I had to find another venue by which to share the laughs that we have made just for her (well, and our, and now your) enjoyment. I hope that she and all of you enjoy watching them as much as we enjoy making them. Any home movies that I make and feel the need to share with my blog world can be found at my new Home Movie blog site:

homemoviesbykaris.blogspot.com

More to come on that front.

For now, I am just working, working working. What the heck else would I be doing? This week I will be in Anchorage for a couple of days. College Board is giving a free workshop for senior counselors, and since I have friends who are kind enough to let me stay with them for two whole nights, the district decided to give me the travel to get there. It will be a busy time, but I am glad I have the opportunity to go. I am hoping to get a lot out of the workshop, particularly scholarship opportunities and better ways to use the website as a resource for my seniors. But that's not really interesting to you. :)

I hope you all have been following the election. I watched some of the Republican National Convention speeches, and I watched some of the Democratic National Convention speeches, and I'm teaching the kids how to read media bias in newspapers and in magazines and on TV, and I am absolutely stoked for the debates. If you are curious about what the candidates' stances are on particular issues, here is a pretty sweet resource:

www.cnn.com/ELECTIONS/2008/issues/

I am doing my best to remain neutral for the purposes of teaching, and I try to play devil's advocate for both sides, but I know that students can hear my disdain about particular issues. My goal is to teach open-mindedness, perspective, and the ability to choose for themselves. Hopefully they are getting something out of it, anyway.

Just to point out some bias here, there has been unbelievable coverage of Sarah Palin, and hardly any on Joe Biden. Just throwing that out there.

John McCain and Sarah Palin - Presidential Candidates 2008 for the Republican Party



Barack Obama and Joe Biden - Presidential Candidates 2008 for the Democratic Party



Let's not forget the independents... The only ones you can vote for in Alaska are Baldwin, Barr, and Nader. I respect and admire their courage and determination.

Okay, end of the day, I'm headed out.

Cheers!