It's the End of the World As We Know It

I finished my first year of teaching May 18th.  I succeeded in surviving living in the longest and harshest winter this region of Alaska has seen in a long time.

End of the School Year Excitement

• ABC Days: The last two weeks of school were celebrated in style in my classroom.  I took an idea from TPT (Teachers Pay Teachers) of making each day have specific themes.  For example we had ice cream day, bubble day, and even luau day.  Everything we did in class had something to do with the themes of the day.  For the most part the kids loved the novelty of the days.  Each day they’d ask me what the next day would be as they walked out the door. 

• Field Day: My school celebrated the last week of school with an afternoon of fun and crazy games.  Freethrow contests, balloon relay races, and egg tosses were just a few of the events.  The kids had never done this before.  This shocked me because where I’m from that’s the one day of the year most kids are looking forward to.  Our afternoon ended with the teachers all grabbing an egg and “tossing” it into the group.  It’s always great when the kids can have fun.  The teachers had a bit of fun working the event too.
  
  

• Graduation:  Thursday night was graduation for our school.  We had 3 students graduate, one who graduated in the 4 years he was a high school student.  As surprising as it sounds it was quite moving.  I cried when they walked in during processional, and during the presentation of parents.  In our village it’s customary for the students to take a moment and recognize their parents in the process of getting them to this point of their life.  They walk out into the crowd with bouquets of flowers.  Parents give hugs that last lifetimes and cause a grown woman of 23 to begin crying.  It just reminded me of how far these kids have come since I first met them in August. 

• Last Day of School:  The last day of school was a relatively calm and quiet one.  We made it a very fun and easy day of movies, cleaning the classroom, and spending the rest of the classroom economy money.  Had lunch with my kids and then sent them out into summer.  It was unreal to know that my first year of teaching is over.  I spent the rest of the day and following weekend packing up and cleaning my house and classroom.

 

Reflection Questions

1.     What was it like?

Crazy, fun, intense, hard, eye opening, terrifying.  There are so many ways to describe my experiences up here, ones I can’t even put into words.  I must say it was quite the adventure.

2.     Best Memory?

The random moments I would catch myself thinking, “YOU ARE LIVING AND TEACHING IN ALASKA!!!”   More specific memories?  When my students would make connections between what I’d been teaching to the world around them.  Example, I had a student come to me before class started and was SOO excited that her favorite movie Happy Feet 2  used the word food chain.  We’d been studying animal relstionships for quite some time and for her to make that text to world connection BLEW MY MIND!

3.     Hardest Challenge?

Behavior.  Isolation.  Frustration.  Anxiety.  Distance.

Hey I Heard You Were A Wild One... Show Me How You Do. I Wanna Shut Down the Club With You

All of that is made from animal hide/fur

Handwoven basket

I was able to go snowmachine in to Bethel for Camaii.  Camaii (pronounced JUH-MY) is a great gathering of different villages for a celebration of the Yupik culture.  The district I work for spends a bit of money to send out the First Year Teachers to be part of the neat experience.  Seeing the first years one last time was great.  Some will be coming back next year for yet another adventure in the Alaskan Bush, but others will unfortunately not.  The latter makes me quite sad, but I know that those people not coming back will have great luck and experience wherever they end up teaching, and I'm glad I was able to be part of their experience here.

Handwoven Basket

Whale or Seal Gut Coat

Traditional Yupik Dancing

My friend Patrick making fun of my seal skin owl.

This is the woman who made my seal skin owl.

At Camaii, There was so much to look at, buy, try, and see that I don't think I could accurately account for everything. I can tell you that I saw beautiful quaspaqs (pronounced kuspuks), hand-weaved baskets, dance fans, and headdresses.  I purchased some dolls, an owl made of seal fur, and earrings to remember the trip by.  

Just now got the feeling that we're meeting for the first time...

One word, BASKETBALL.  Yes, basketball has got me up at this crazy hour.  Another word deserves to be highlighted.  Second word, CHAPERONE. 

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            Since the beginning of the school year I’ve been asked to chaperone/coach several sports.  First it was my own team, the cross-country middle school runners, then it was for the females on our school’s wrestling team, and now it has been for the high school basketball team.  Great kids, great experiences, and great opportunities to travel. 

            I should probably start by explaining how chaperoning works out here.  Because of our rural location, playing another school isn’t as easy as hopping on a bus and getting there in 30 mins.  It takes planning, lots of money, overnight stays, and the good graces of mother nature.  In the fall time most travel is done by bush plane to nearby villages and or the nearest town, Bethel.  In the winter we can still travel using plane, but the cheaper and therefore preferred method is snowmachine.  You heard me right, snowmachine!  When you stay over at another school, the team is led to a classroom to sleep and hangout in for the weekend.  Everyone sleeps on the floor, unless you were one of the smart ones to bring an air mattress.  Finally I say it takes the good graces of Mother  Nature.  I’ve been stuck twice now at other schools because of weather delays… one of which was because the windchill caused tempatures to be in the -50s!!!!

           Tonight was a moment that I won't forget, because I saw a glimpse of the culture that still resonates deep inside these kids.  All day I'd seen high school girls and boys running around texting, facebooking, and listening to music on ipods.  At the end of the night, after the gym was cleaned and the kids were supposed to be heading to bed we heard noises coming from the front of the school.  Boys from another school began singing and dancing the traditional Yup'ik story telling way.  It was so neat to see these young guys embracing their culture. 

If you were a sleep I'd be a dream... whereever's your heart there I'd be...

I am sitting here at my teacher desk surrounded by piles of things that could/should/need to be done.  Motivation has been absent from me this past week.  There are probably several different factors causing this to happen...

1. Exhaustion... I think I've hit my plateau of how much my body, mind, and emotions can handle.  It's exhausting, rewarding yes... but exhausting, to be a teacher.  ESPECIALLY a first year teacher.  Especially a first year teacher living 4000 miles away from her norm.  I can't just drive to starbucks to get my caffeine buzz early in the morning.  I can't go to the local gym, unless you count the gymnasium with NO workout equipment.  I can't just drive to my boyfriend or best friend's place to have a good vent or cry... But... I soldier on.  I keep late hours, work my mind, body, and soul to the breaking point and now it's hitting me.  But a weekend of sleep and productivity should help a bit.
2. "Spring Break".... To me this is kind of funny, because our spring break is a 4 day weekend that is in the middle of March, and the tundra, rivers, and ground will still be absolutely frozen solid.  The kids can feel it approaching and so can I.  I'm counting down the days because once it starts that's when Nate will make his way up here.  So excited!  But alas, prepping for his visit and the anticipation is causing me to stress and keep busy.
3. Lent... Don't get me wrong.  I LOVE my God.  I love my Savior.  I love being a Christian... but it really is difficult to give up something in remembrance for Christ.  I decided because I signed up for a 5K this summer (The Color Run), I will give up my biggest comfort up here.  Junk food.  I haven't had chips, candy, or fried foods since Wednesday.  Easy for some, maybe... but up here junk food and processed foods are the only real readily available options.  Plus I am one that tends to eat my feelings. Happy... I eat.  Sad... I eat.  Mad... I eat.  :)  Get the picture?  So my body seems to be rebelling from not having the constant sugar/carb intake it's used to.  But it's worth it. Every time I have the urge to eat the M&Ms sitting on my desk for my kiddos I'm reminded of Christ.  Candy or Savior?  I'd say Savior wins out every time.

Apologies for the whiny post.  Kind of felt like readers needed an accurate account of how things are going here.

And for a while I will take it day by day...

Around Halloween I happened upon a dog that’d been sticking around the school begging for shelter, food, and love.  I couldn’t say no to the poor thing laying on our gym floor one afternoon, so I picked it up and brought it home with me.  Before that fateful day, however, I’d already been approached by some of the wrestling girls to get a puppy from their dog’s upcoming litter.  I couldn’t say no to them either.  So for 4 months I’ve had 2 little dogs under my feet and making messes all over.  I named them Ranger and Lil (Ranger because he was the rescued puppy and Lil because she was absolutely tiny when I got her.) Unfortunately, about 2 weeks ago Ranger started acting a bit lethargic and listless.  Within 2 days he got really sick and passed away.  Village dogs tend to not live long out here, even in the best situations due to lack of vet care and random acts of violence.  On the bright-side, Lil has been doing fine since Ranger’s death and makes my evenings and weekends all the more fun.

Another favorite is online time, primarily spent on social networking sites, Pinterest, and skyping friends and the boyfriend.  I would say I am fairly well connected to people back home thanks to technology.  Without it, I doubt if I’d really know what all is happening outside of major world events.  As for Pinterest, I can easily say, “Hello, my name is Dorothy and I’m an addict.”  I can’t help but fall in love with all the great creative ideas that I find perusing that site.  Most of my pins involve teaching, so I feel it’s a justified waste of time. ;)  I’ve even gotten some great use of the ideas in the classroom already.

  And finally, on a regular basis after dinners Eli and  I put on Dexter just to decompress from our crazy days.  He always claims the recliner and I curl up with a blanket on the coach.  Sometimes it’s nice just to turn off the brain and just watch something.