A Weekend in Koyuk

I should apologize to anyone who saw me on Thursday. I was pretty mega bugged about being weathered in. It's the Unalakleet winds, I tell ya - they'll get you every time. I think since I've been home from Christmas break, we've had at least four days of no planes - which means on those days we have no mail, no food coming in, no shipments, no passenger flights, nothing. Except for Doug. God bless Doug. He flies in anything, and although it was the smallest plane I've ever been in, I felt completely and totally safe.

Thursday morning we had our usual 40 mph winds, 56 mph gusts. All planes were grounded - none coming in, none going out. Even Doug wasn't flying. If Doug doesn't fly, nobody flies. After calling and waiting and teaching my morning and afternoon classes, finally the hangar called and asked if I could be ready by 2:20. YAY! We flew out of UNK, finally, at 2:30, and I saw the last 10 minutes of the day with Jenna.

Side note: Jenna is a legend among BSSD teachers as being the Writing Guru, the best of the best for teaching writing. She is the reason I went to Koyuk, so I could observe her classes and learn as much as I could in two days - well, one day, since I missed a day. (Boo. Still bugged about that.) She is also a really great person to be around, and I enjoyed every minute of my Jenna time. :) It was really refreshing, and I could pretty much listen to her talk all day long.

The other person I got to spend a lot of time with and get to know better is Erika. She is a new teacher in KKA, and since she has two bedrooms in her apartment, she welcomed me to stay with her for the weekend. Pretty much, it rocked. We hadn't spent a lot of time together before, but it was really fun getting to know her better these past few days. She is really cool, fun to be with, and a great cook. :) She also has a cute cat, who I took lots of pictures of. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Toes, named appropriately because she loves to attack, particularly toes. :)







So this is what I did:

Thursday afternoon I flew with Doug from Unalakleet to Koyuk. It's about a 45 minute flight, not bad at all. It was pretty windy coming out of UNK, which isn't really that strange, of course. Those who have been here know... It was kind of an interesting flight. As I was looking out the window at the breathtaking view, I realized that the direction the plane was pointing was not really the direction the plane was going. It must have had something to do with the wind, but I'm pretty sure that the aircraft was flying at a slant. Go Doug.



I arrived at the KKA school about 10 minutes before the day was over. I saw a few minutes of Jenna's last class, perused around, eavesdropped some learning conversations, and got a feel for how she works. It is a very, very pretty school, very clean, and filled with student worked. I loved it immediately. After school, Erika came in and invited me to ski with the team, so I gathered my things, moved to her apartment, changed, and headed out with the group. I wasn't as fast as most of them because I was on back country skis and most of them were skating, but it was still cool to interact with them and hang out with them in a different setting. Good kids. :) Lots of fun, including the fall that has left me with a sweet and colorful bruise on my left leg.

Thursday evening was one of my highlights. We had dinner at Jenna's, which is not only cool because it's with Jenna, but also because she lives in a yurt. It's basically a round, one-room structure with a wood stove in the middle for heating. She just recently got electricity, but still uses a honey bucket as a toilet. I've decided that one day I would like to live in a yurt. It's very cool. Anyway, dinner was fantastic with Erika, Jeni, Jenna, and I. We had good food, good conversation, and good laughs. :)

This is not Jenna's yurt (note the lack of snow), but this is what a yurt looks like.



Friday I woke up in my usual routine - early enough to have my wake-up hours so I'm not a total grouch when I actually have to interact with other people. This was my day of observation. I talked with students, I noted teaching strategies, I listened to instruction, I read student work, and I asked lots and lots of questions. In my time with Jenna in her classroom, I had almost five pages of notes for references, strategies, questions and answers, and daily routines. It was awesome. After school Jenna and I chatted about teaching, about books and literature, about life, and so on and so forth. It was amazing. And it only makes me want more!

The evening was a generally mellow one. It was pretty busy with a community tournament going on. Actually, a couple of other teachers from Elim snowmachined over for it, so it was cool to see them, also. But Erika and I stayed in for the night. She made pizza, we talked about random things, watched a movie (Saved!), and went to bed fairly early for a Friday night.



I slept a LOT.

Saturday was super fun. After Erika prepared a crock-pot stew for that evening's dinner, we headed out for our skiing adventure. On the way out of town we stopped by Jenna's to affirm her invitation for the night, and then we were on our way. Erika is primarily a back country skier, but only has skate skis to use at the moment. The answer? We traded skis. :) This was cool because I really enjoy skate skiing, and it's been a while since I've done it. We were skiing for about an hour and a half. I definitely fell a lot, and almost ran into Erika a few times. (Of course I fell a lot.) But KKA is built on a hill, so even though there was a lot of uphill climbing, there was also a lot of downhill fast skiing. :) By the end I pretty much had a handle on it, and then I stopped, and then I fell again. :) But it was a great workout!





That afternoon we had a surprise arrival: Erika's new roommate, a long-term sub for one of the teachers. Erika didn't know when she would be coming, and I had been sleeping in the spare room, so we rushed around to get things put more in order. Mostly I shoved all of my stuff onto one of the couches. And then we prepared for dinner. Jenna came prepared with chocolate chip cookie dough, which baked during dinner, and were promptly all eaten by Sunday afternoon. :) It was a great evening of conversation, yet again, with lots of really great people. I've decided that I love KKA. :)



I should note, however, that as much as I appreciated and loved my weekend in this little village, and although I could live there for sure if need be, it also helped me remember how much I appreciate UNK. I don't love it here more because of the opportunities like easier travel to ANC and more stores (because KKA actually has a couple of stores that are pretty good, so I've heard). I love it here because of my people. :)

On Sunday afternoon I traveled back to home sweet Unalakleet via Doug. It was a beautiful flight back, and this time I remembered to take a few photos. It's a 4-seater plane, pretty small, but really swell. I love it.







This is Unalakleet from the front window of the plane as we approached to land.



Overall it was a very good weekend. I definitely enjoyed myself, and I am thankful to all the people that helped make it so wonderful. Cheers!

What I Learned Today

The internet lied. Yes, yes it did. Shocking, I know.

This is what happened: I had to make brownies to sell to help fund-raise for my seniors, for graduation. I was going to make my sweet, kick-butt peppermint patty brownies. I realized too late, i.e. tonight (when I had to bake them) that I have no eggs. What to do??!!?? Google, of course! What might I substitute for eggs? The answer: NOTHING. It doesn't work. The result? Well, that's what the video is for.

Winter Vaca

Merry belated Christmas!

I've been reminded that it has been a while since I've blogged, though not as long as some... So anyway, I'm starting the trend. We should all blog about our winter vacations. :)

Yes, yes, I know, it's the life of a teacher. It is our destiny to live forever on a semester schedule. We get two whole weeks off for Christmas. (I won't mention the 80-hour weeks during the regular school week.) My first week I went all the way to Indianapolis to visit with my family for the big holiday. I was fortunate that I flew through Phoenix, since Seattle was completely shut down, and very many BSSD folk were delayed in Anchorage for quite a while before they could head out.

Before leaving Anchorage for the first time, however, a fellow teacher in the district had a music show in town. Several teachers showed up at Snowgoose downtown to show our support for his sweet sound. It was definitely lots of fun!

Willis Fireball is my new favorite artist. I've been enjoying listening to these tunes, and I'm anxious for his next album!



There were also, of course, the series of photographs with me and my BSSD buddies!







Lots of bonding time, and absolutely, definitely worth all of it!

On to Indy... for Christmas!

Every year they make a giant Christmas tree out of the circle monument in downtown Indianapolis. It's sort of tradition to go down and see it, particularly on the way to Christmas at the Zoo with my dear friend Sara, whom I've known now for (gosh!) 20 years!!! Talk about family. :)



Sara. I wish we could have spent more time together. I guess you'll just have to come to Alaska this summer. :)



O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree... O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree. :)



(Not the cardboard box with ribbon on it - that's about my extent of wrapping. Just so you know, it was a pretty sweet gift, that one. It was for my brother, and probably the best gift I gave this year, other than the enormously expensive plane ticket just to get there...)

This is my mom's dog Jasper. She's cute.



My brother was able to come for the holiday, as well, which was awesome! As you can see, we look absolutely nothing alike.



After some travel madness, I spent an entire week in Anchorage. During this time I slept, read, met some cool new people, hung out at my new favorite cafe, and just walked around downtown. This picture of my coffee the first day I was there pretty much captures my anonymous, relaxing week in town (even though I am now totally broke). :)



I hope everyone had a great holiday! Happy New Year!!!

Now Isn't This Fun?

1. Said the night wind to the little lamb, shhhhhhhh.
2. The first Noel, the angel did say, peace to you, no matter what those silly elitists say.
3. You ride those 4-wheelers, Over the hills and everywhere.
4. It came upon the midnight clear, cold cold cold cold and Northern Lights.
5. It's Friday, Let your heart be light.
6. And the thing that will make them ring is the carol that you sing, so don't stop the music.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to dinner with good friends, tomorrow my plans include Anchorage amazing-ness, and Sunday, I want to not miss any flights!

http://fridayfillins.blogspot.com
(Thanks to Tiff for the sweet idea!)

Okay. It's Friday. I am ready to be DONE with the semester, as is pretty much everyone else. Anyway, I leave tomorrow for Anchorage - sweet!! Should be a pretty fantastic weekend. I'm looking forward to some good times with good people. Late Sunday night I will be flying to Indianapolis to visit the fam and good ole friends from my other life. :)

Happy holidays to all! I hope everyone has a fantastic break, and a safe New Year's. This is me loving the snow - snow, I will miss you for one whole week!! What will I do in all that warm Midwest weather???

One Great Night

The day was a generally grumpy one. We all agreed. I was even obviously snippy over skype. This means two things: 1) I must have been extra snippy if she could tell over skype, and 2) she was grumpy, too, which meant whatever I said was doubly harsh because of dual bad attitudes. Don't worry, words of affirmation is not our love language, so we are still friends. :) Anyway, this is the order of events after school.

1. I had a good talk with Janelle - I am SO glad she's back at work with us! I know it's hard for her having Jonah and everything, but I'm so glad she's back. :) After talking with her, I prepared to leave school while shouting out Scattergories answers with two of many students who are absolutely addicted to that game, and I am the keeper of the box, therefore my room is cool.

2. I went home. I think that is a wonderful event in and of itself.

3. I tried my hand at baking (scary...) a new kind of pumpkin bread (even scarier...) using an online recipe that I didn't have all the ingredients for (yipes stripes!). No cloves, no orange peel. Being able to substitute or feel safe in leaving things out is something bush folk have to learn pretty quickly. I enjoy cooking in general, though, and even though baking is a totally different culinary field, I had fun creating. Instead of the orange peel in the cream cheese filling, I just added a little bit of Kaluha. Mmm. :) (Really, it turned out quite good!) The recipe makes 2 loaves. Lucky me!



4. Scrabble date!! Sissy and Judie and I have been having pretty regular game and craft nights. It's been ages, though, so it was about freakin' time! I took one loaf of the sweet bread over with me, and we enjoyed eating it while playing Scrabble and getting un-grumpy. They even gave me my Christmas present!! It's awesome. I got a sweet bag that has a dancing Santa on it. Then I got a Longaberger basket that holds napkins, AND the napkins to go with it. AND I got a sweet ulu pocket knife! Merry Christmas to me!



5. We had been trying to convince Adrianna to come and play with us. She said she'd call later, mentioning something about a full moon. She called, and we (somehow) convinced Sissy to go to First Hill with us, hike up, just to sled down. It took some begging and prodding, but she loves us, so Sissy, Ryan, Adrianna, and I drove out to the base of the hill, then hiked up the powdery snowy hill with our sled. Sweet! This part of the night will be discussed in sub-categories.



A. Adrianna and I were the first two candidates to sled down. I got to be in front. This was awesome because pretty much I got snow in my face the whole way. We went wicked fast, at least compared to last time we went sledding up there, and hit every brush possible on the way down. It was amazing. We laugh-screamed the whole way. :)



B. After hiking back up, we decided to have some good conversation. We started with Truth-or-Dare - a classic. Most of us are really bad at dares, but Ryan came up with a good one - ride the sled down the hill standing up. So that's exactly what we took turns doing. We didn't get terribly far, though Sis won that competition. (Dang - she won every single freakin' game we played tonight...) Anyway, we had lots of fun trying! This is a video of Ryan going, then falling. Turn your head to the left, and watch closely. It's a little dark, but you can a bit with the flashing of the cameras, particularly the falling part.



This is a sweet picture of Adrianna giving it a go.



C. We decided it was time for the Truth part of the game, so we asked some questions that everyone had to answer. We started with a good one. Feel free to reflect on it yourself - and even answer in the comments if you feel so inclined. :)

"If you were to write a book, what would it be about, and why?"

We had some pretty sweet conversation. We also talked about living on other planets and traveling in space and ultimately, how cool Earth is. We gave examples, talked about some of the amazing things on our planet, and so forth. Here's another question for you to ponder:

"What is a picture of a place that you have in your mind, a photograph of something you will never forget?"

D. After all of this, we had to get back down the hill. We started with the four of us on the little sled. Too much weight with all of us, so we basically scooted a few yards, then stopped. Ryan and Adrianna got up and pushed Sissy and I down the hill. We did okay until we veered sideways and fell off. It was pretty much hilarious. Ryan and A took over, and made a pretty sweet dash down much of the way. They stopped, then gave us back the sled. We made another amazing run down, sideways, through a bunch of brush, then finally, and I'm not kidding you, crashed STRAIGHT into a bush. By the time we stopped I was laughing so hard I could not breathe or move.

Everything was right in the world, all the stars were aligned, and even though it was cloudy, I am pretty sure it was a beautiful night. Thanks, yous! :)