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About this Journal
I am really making this because 1) I love to write, and 2) I am moving to Alaska at the end of this summer and I am horrible at writing emails. I figure this way I can just write a bit each day and then whoever wants to read about my time, can. And those that really don't care to read long emails from people far, far away don't have to feel bad for erasing my message. :)
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Oct. 16th, 2005 @ 12:35 pm Silly virus...
Current Mood: excited
Current Music: The movie Big Fish
So I had to miss my first day of school. I had an awful morning of throwing up and not being able to eat...so I made it through reading, got my writing classes all set, and then came home and slept for about a day and a half - no kidding. I had to go to the clinic and the health practitioner guy had to give me an anti-nausia shot and then more pills to accomplish the same thing. Thanks to him I was actually able to eat somethings.

Other than all of that, I am finally getting thiings together in my classroom - it took a while for me to work through the stress, but my mentor came into town for a couple days and helped me to get a plan in place for getting things together. I would love to be getting more done now, but my energy is failing me even now. I need to keep my energy so that I can work on Monday. :)

The end of the first quarter is coming up this Friday, then I have an educational conference with the rest of the teaching staff in the district for the week after that. :) I cacn't wait really. It will be great fun. I'm actually really excited to meet and talk to the other English teachers that are teaching the same things I am.

I suppose that's all I'm up for at this point...
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Oct. 6th, 2005 @ 09:33 pm ummm...nevermind.
Current Mood: fine
So, I was going to go through and delete a bunch of stuff and edit out things from my journal, but then I reread a bunch of it and decided that I just don't think I will. Basically, there is nothing in this thing that I would say or haven't said already to the parties involved. I don't say anything bad or negative about people, just observations. Hopefully no one will take anything wrong, I just write about the things that strike me. Sometimes I get frustrated, but for the most part, I'm just running through things that happened in my days. What can you do? Now I really want to go home. I have some writing class planning I wanted to focus on. The internet it NOT good for my attention span. :)
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Oct. 6th, 2005 @ 08:23 pm My odd little life...
Current Mood: eh....
Current Music: kids running in the hall at 8:30 at night. grrr.
Been really busy lately...found out that some teachers in Stebbins (the next village) found my blog...oooops. I suppose when you put something out there for the whole world, it's only a matter of time before it gets back to those around you. Sigh. I don't even remember what I wrote "so long" ago. I'm a little afraid to go back and check to be honest. so I may be starting this whole thing over. ;) Too bad so sad. It was fun while it lasted. I'll just leave a "forwarding address" on this one to my new and improved blog world. haha. Off to grade papers finally. It's been a crazy week of graduation qualifying exams and big old class projects for the rest of the high school. I'm amazed at how ready I am to get back to my own little classroom world. :) It was a nice break though.
The quarter is over in two weeks. AHHHH....big changes ahead. should be interesting.
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Sep. 25th, 2005 @ 10:07 pm well ok then.
Current Mood: anxious
Current Music: Dido - Life for Rent
Lots going on...we had a funeral last week, and classes were all screwed up. The cross country team went to Kotzebue (that includes ME). :) so I have now officially been above the Arctic Circle for a day. Good times. :) I am going to Nome with one of the other teachers next weekend! She is actually the closest one to my age...she's 26. We are going to go see a movie and we have a hotel room reserved and all of that!! I can't wait - what a treat that will be. It's odd this little life I have up here. It's like there is no one here to be dependant on REALLY, even as a friend, without things getting confusing, so I feel liek I am learning how to be independant over and over again in a matter of days and weeks.
I am starting to look forward to all kind of things coming up this winter. Snow, ice, tournaments, sports, competitions...all kinds of stuff. Fall is like a waiting time, hunting is being taken care of or is over for now...the birds (cranes, etc) have basically all left now, the fish are not so good or have left, the berries (except for black) are out of season...so now everyone is kind of just waiting for winter! Feels like time is just measured differently here. Hard to believe another month has already gone by.
Well...I need to go home - grade a couple papers, sleep.
I'll try to write more later.
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Sep. 21st, 2005 @ 07:09 pm A random assortment of facts.
Current Mood: it varies...
Current Music: Garden State Soundtrack
I found some old friends on myspace today...that was exciting! It does my heart good, you know?

There has been a lot going on in the village...there is a funeral tomorrow for a little nine year old that died in an accident. Yes, it has been confirmed to be an accident. It has been a rough week. They keep the body in the house for viewing before the funeral here - I can't decide if I think that is more healthy or more disturbing than what I am (and most people are) accustomed to. We keep moving on, school keeps going.
Speaking of...my schedule may be changed. :) What a calm sentence that was for as excited as I am! The elementary side wants to move 11 or 12 kids into the Jr./Sr. High school. It looks as though that change will mean that I no longer teach social studies (WAHAHAHA) and that I will pick up another section of writing (levels3/4). I already teach levels 4-7, so that would be NOOOO problem with me! It just makes me so happy.

Enough for now...some worker is in the village and staying in my classroom tonight - I am going to pack it up and grade papers at home.
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Sep. 16th, 2005 @ 10:35 am Little update...
Current Mood: sandy no voice
Current Music: various rap/hiphop around the room
It's odd to not be updating this everyday. I forget to tell little stories anymore. Really there are only a few bigger things going on. 1) Cross Country is almost over - we have a meet this weekend in another village, and then next weekend in Kotzebue) 2) I have been sick all week and now I have no voice...it makes for an interesting school day and coaching. 3) I ordered food from Fred Meyer and can't wait for it to get here!! 4) I was thinking of getting a puppy, and then thought better of it at this point...but when I told the guy whose puppies they are, he got really sad because that means he will have to kill it. Yes, the kill puppies and dogs around here all the time. This puppy is a "mutt," both of his parents are super sweet, and he is SOOO stinking cute I can't stand it. You can definately tell there is some pit bull in him, but not a ton...and he has great coloring. I will resist giving him my "dog name" (you know how some people have kids names picked out...well I have a dog name picked out...and this guy fits it) so as to not make me sad.

Little things? I just don't know. We go to the store every couple of days, and the people that work there are getting more used to us. Like yesterday, one of my students who is a really tough tomboy (she really looks like she could just take you out if you made her mad) came up behind me and threw her stuff in my basket to see if I would notice. :) I told her that if she ran back and got me a soda I would buy her's too. She and I have gotten into shoving matches in the hallway after school before - we kid around a lot. So, then I took out my card to pay for everything and the lady behind the counter looked at me completely deadpan and said - sorry, cash only. My eye's got SO wide and I tried with my no-voice to ask "what?" and she started laughing and laughing. Veeeeerrry funny...scared me to death...I was sitting there like - wait a minute? since when? I have no cash! What do I do? Anyways...

I had a falling out with a student who chose to cuss me out in the hall, punch a locker in front of me and stalk out of the school...that was no good. I didn't handle it well and broke down a bit and made a scene in the office - but I had a chat with the principal and a few other people and things have pretty much blown over now. That student hasn't come back, and I'm thinking that he won't. I've told administration that he is no longer welcome in my classroom unless there is another adult in there with me. Welcome to the rough part of Alaska. Nothing to worry about he was just one of a LOT of kids, and he is an exception to the rule. Most all of the rest of the kids are awesome and would defend me to anyone else. So yeah... no worries.

That's all for now...A longer update!!! Go me!
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Sep. 15th, 2005 @ 10:02 am JOURNALS ARE HERE!!!
Current Mood: sick
Current Music: Big Pimpin' (student choice)
I have been waiting a MONTH to get my journals in for my class...it's rediculous actually. All I wanted to do was have them decorate the compositions books so that they would feel like it was their own space to let go...so I ordered these notebooks for them the week before school started. I thought...well, that's ok they'll be about a week late or so. NONO...it's been a month. But the timing couldn't be better really. I have been sickly sick all week long and today I am losing my voice, so instead of a lesson and work today - we are decorating journals. HA HA HA. I love it. Tomorrow is Friday...Fridays have taken on a lot more meaning in my little world here. I must say. This will be a short one...off I go.
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Sep. 8th, 2005 @ 08:02 pm It's been a WHILE....
So school is in full swing, and I am starting to adjust - I'm trying to figure out exactly what is happening in my classes, but hopefully there's something. I find myself being stress about the wrong things at the wrong times. This has been a SUPER easy week for my students, as I have felt AWFUL and sick for the whole thing and therefore have not done any HUGE planning or anything. Next week though...ooooohhhhhh yeah - I have PLANS for next week. We're gonna knock out those standards like you wouldn't beLIEVE. :) Or so I would hope.
There was a potluck tonight. I met a bunch of parents and some elders and talked with the guy who hired me - asst. superintendant man.dir. of personnel. nice guy. Now I'm just trying to get out of my classroom - tomorrow is Friday, if I can make it through that I can sleep for two days. That's my plan anyway - and maybe some camping if the weather clears up long enough to not make me sicker.
more later....
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Sep. 2nd, 2005 @ 09:06 am School Burning...
SO, yesterday when people got to school, they discovered that someone had tried to burn down the school the night before. It was a bit of an eye opener. Thing is, it was pretty bad damage, they had started it by lighting the tar on the support under the school and there was smoke all the way up the side of the building. We are thinking that they were probably just trying to see if they could and then got scared when it actually worked so they put it out. If they had just let it go it really could have taken the building out. Now that I think about it - it was just the high school building...I don't know what they would have done with holding school and all of that business. Hence, I lectured my classes about respect a bit. :P I hate doing that and it just puts me in a bad mood. HOWEVER....toDAY is Friday...and it is a three day weekend...AND I have my prep period today. OHHHHH life is good. :) We have a cross country meet in Stebbins today after school, so there goes my evening. Last night was good - - I relaxed for a long while, had stew that Chuck made, then I made sweet rice (with dried blueberries in it) to make rice milk. I missed my daddy, and rice milk makes me think of him. :) I came over to the school and only worked for an hour or so at about 9:30-10pm and then was in bed by 11:30. It was great, I got about 8 hours of sleep, and even though I still feel sick, it's not quite as bad as it was yesterday. I have to go get things started with my next class. More later...
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Aug. 30th, 2005 @ 11:15 am classes today...
So today...I really enjoy my profession. I am comfortable with the students and we are getting quite a bit done. They have been writing for me everyday, where people have only ever said that the most difficult things with these kids is going to be getting them to write ANYTHING. Today I did a "writers in the round" project. It was just going to be the journaling portion of the day (10-15 minutes) to get them into writing mode...then we were going to work on individual stories. I told them after switching papers 3 times that we were going to be done, and they all (but 1) revolted!!! They got mad at me and said that they wanted to keep writing until they got their own papers back...we have a 50 minute period and we almost didn't get done in time!! I love it. That changed my plans for the rest of the week a little...but WOW. I was so impressed. This class period they are just working on their own getting things done. I love it. ok - class is almost over.. I have to wrap things up.
:)
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Aug. 27th, 2005 @ 01:46 pm Survived the first week...
Current Mood: melancholy
Current Music: Garden State Soundtrack
Oh man.... you get to that point where you feel as though you are BARELY keeping your head above water, you know? Welcome to my week. It wasn't so bad at all really, I love the kids, we got to know each other a lot this last week, but now is the time to PLAN PLAN PLAN. I have to get things completely in order for at least the next month I'd say in order to let myself relax. I'm not so sure that will happen, so at least this next week would be nice. Really, I have found that it takes a lot to light a fire under these kids, but once they start moving - - I can almost not keep up. They are really good workers and they are very smart - they just WON'T do the work a lot of the time. 1st period I have reading...then three classes of writing...lunch...social studies...test prep...jr. class meeting. The class meeting at the end of the day is something I have started looking forward to a lot actually - Drew doesn't understand how I can get the kids to talk as much as I do, because he and I will talk after school and I will bring up all these things the kids want to do or have mentioned to me, and he stared at me like "where do you get the time, and how do you get them to talk?" It's pretty great when they do talk though. I think that having them all in writing has done me a world of good. Then I have some of them in CC and that builds a different dynamic. I have them journal every day at the start of class for 10 minutes. They have a prompt on the board and they just come in and write. I have been shocked by some of the things I have read...I have three students that are CURRENTLY pregnant...a couple (probabaly more) that already have kids. One of their writing prompts was "My biggest worry is..." and that brought out a lot of information. I told them that they could write private and that I wouldn't read it, but no one did. Another one was "I hate it when my parents..." and WOW - I almost want to have them write, "I love it when my parents..." just to see if there is just as strong of a response. These kids have had to grow up WAY faster than I ever had to, I can't even imagine. The problem I have seen even in 4 days with being such a safe place for them is being careful not to cross a line. They feel free to tell me things, and I am glad that they do...but there comes a point when I just don't want to know anymore. They hae started telling me who's dating, how many hickies so and so got the other day...AHHHHHHHHHHH...I just said - I don't want to know that and walked inside the house. Just walk away Ms. King, just walk away.
OH...got to go check mail - -
more later.
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Aug. 24th, 2005 @ 08:45 pm Officially a teacher!
Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: working on it...haven't thought that far yet.
So yesterday was the first day of school. The trainings didn't make me feel like a teacher, the signing the contract meant I would get money...but didn't make me feel like a teacher...yesterday and today...I feel like a teacher. Really, I suppose I feel like I am pretending, and that someone is going to come in the room at any point and say...oh sorry...we made a mistake, you're only 23 so you don't count - but good joke, huh? I LOVE my mornings - lunch is WAY too short - afternoon is a challenge - cross country has me running more than I have in years - overall - good times.
Classic moment just now, a fellow teacher (that has been here for years) just came in my room and said, by the way, those letters that are after the slash next to your writing classes, that means that you are teaching personal social health to the kids all year too...oh we're all responsible for teaching that...what? we only have that by your classes? Oh, well, I guess it's just you then. (I'm sure that in his head was an evil little snicker at this point in the conversation.) Then he proceeded to tell me how great and creative the teacher I replaced was and how she did such neat things with the students all the time. For someone like myself that is currently attempting to just stay above water...NOT such a great thing to hear. He had a couple neat ideas, but OH MY LORD, how am I suppose to do anything else with my day...and I was just starting to LIKE my writing classes. No, I love my writing classes, I just don't like social studies yet.
For those that didn't know, I am coaching cross country with Drew. So far it's pretty fun, I was the mean coach today, but that's ok, I was the nice one yesterday. We have a meet against Stebbins a week from Friday, so we had to give the kids "the rules" today. It's funny, there is one kid that just gives me grief in class for the entire second half of the day (yes, I have him every (both) period after lunch) and then he comes to cross country and kind of looks at me like "what'd I do?" and runs his head off. We/the kids made him a captian today...which should help out some. He's really smart, acts dumb, I kicked him out of class this afternoon and made him finish a pre-test at a desk I pulled into the hall, then I asked him to stop by after school for a few minutes. I saw him siding up to the door after class, kind of trying to see if I would remember and call him in...(I only really remembered becasue I heard his friend say (oh, you have to talk to Ms. King, what'd you do?) So as he finally starts to come in, he turned around to his buddies and says, "hey wish me luck." We chatted...it was really good. I told him that I was sorry if I embarrassed him, and that I was sorry that he was so smart and bored that that I would appreciate it if he would use his influence on the other students positively instead of being a distraction. I told him to think if there was anything I could do to help him out with that, and that he could let me know in the morning before classes, if that was alright with him. We'll see how that goes. I've found I am really mean going into 6th period, and that maybe the kids are picking up on that, but then I think...no, they just don't do ANYTHING. Like pulling teeth..."write down a topic - go" "ok, really...right now...you can go ahead and do it anytime....any topic...go." "No, REALLY, you can do it now...here are some ideas _____ _____ ____, you can even use those....want me to do it for you? NO, you do it...here...just write down what I write on the board." Ok, it's not always THAT bad....but, yeah, it really is. What can you do? I have planning on Fridays during that period when another teacher takes them! SCORE - I only have to endure that 4 times a week...I can totally do that.
Enough for now...I have another hour of work and I want to go to bed NOW. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO tired I can't even believe it.
sorry if I drop off the face of the planet for a while...I've been getting your emails and I LOVE them, it's good to touch base with reality in the midst of madness. Loves.
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Aug. 20th, 2005 @ 09:53 pm Two days and counting...
Current Mood: long-winded :)
Current Music: none
So school starts in just a couple days. I am a bit overwhelemed. One of the other teachers asked me what was wrong (I have seemed/felt a little out of it lately) and my response was, "I'm a first year teacher and school starts in two days...what else?" She and a couple of the other teachers that were there - we were having dinner at the principal's as we'd caught a fish - looked at each other knowingly, looked back at me and said, yup...it never gets better, just so you know. BLECH. Like that is really what I wanted to hear. They said that every school year is nerve wracking and awful until you tart, then things will get better. RIGHT. Oh well, over half of the staff is new this year and apparently this district/system/curriculum is completely different than anything most of them have ever seen, so we are all at square one.
Drew looked at the calendar today and told me that we are really only teaching 160 something days - actual, teaching with the students days. That was encouraging...I thought...I can do that. We'll see. I think I am going to go over to the school tonight and just sit at my desk until I have written out what I would like to see - yearly goals, monthly, weekly for as much of the year as I can. I need to print out level assessments and whatnot so I know what exactly I am teaching to whom. whew...I guess I just needed to think on paper tonight.
We went to Stebbins the other day for training...yesterday?...it seems like longer than that. It was pretty fun - we got to see everyone we'd made friends with at inservice the week or so before - got out of St Mike's a bit. I went to brush/love on some sled dogs later that evening. There is a musher in town that is aparently famous and has run the Ididerod 18 times and is in the hall of fame and all that business, but he is retired and has a tour company here in town and he takes people hunting and fishing in the summer and dog mushing in the winter as his business. That to say, he has about 30 dogs in his dog yard that just ahng out all day with nothing to do until they start to train closer to the winter season. Drew said he was going over to see if he could brush them and spend some time over there, so I tagged along. It was crazy. You walk out into this yard (grave and dirt) that smells like dog and all that that implies and you are just surrounded by 30 dogs, fairly good sized, all of them have are at least half some sort of husky. They are all chained just out of reach of each other, but not really the person wlaking through. The thing you have to think about though is that the SECOND you step within touching distance, they ALLLLL freak out and start braking for your attention. At first this kind of scared me, I mean when you walk up to a LOT of dog's and most of them are barking and throwing them selves in your direction, choking themselves on their collars - one would think this is not good. However - I discovered a couple of things. One...most of them can and will knock me over if I am not paying attention. Two...all they want is lovin'. Three...a lot of it is all show. The ones that were barking the most were just spooking (as the musher's daughter called it). They would bark and bark and bark until they got used to you. Turns out with most all of them if you jsut walked up, stepped on their chain and put your arm around them, they would just start to lean into you or they would roll over/lay down to be scratched.They stunk so bad, and really needed to be brushed, so I wen thome stinking of dog, covered in hair. One of the dog's wanted to make eye contact the entire time I was near him, he got nervous if I didn't - which was kind of creepy becasue he had brown eyes, except for half of his left eye, which was PALE blue, almost white. A couple of them looked exactly like wolves, there were three mommies, and I am convinced that I need a puppy. (it won't happen, but I sitll think I need one). There was one in the back corner that was EXTREMELY spooked when we first came in and wouldn't even let Drew near him, but I went back over a bit later and he timidly just laid down and let me pet him - so I massaged his back and sang to him and he and the dog next to him kept almost falling asleep. It was great. Long story...good times...plan to do it again.
I have been here almost a month now and today was one of the first that I really REALLY just got homesick. It rained today and that made me feel more at home, but I just wanted the people. I want to talk with my family, be with my friends, sit and have a GOOD coffee - not doctored up black coffee. I want to go sit in a bookstore, a library, Brittani's house, Nicole's house, Ox's house. I want to see my friend Ben, who had the nerve to come home a month after I left. I want to not be "attacked" by a swarm of kids everytime I try to go anywhere from my house... so I went on a run in the rain down the beach instead. That worked alright. My asthma is worse than it used to be, but I made it quite a ways and walked back to cool down. I feel better - I was ready to go to bed before the run, but now I think I will go work for a while, wear myself out, then sleep as long as I can. That will be good.
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Aug. 18th, 2005 @ 10:45 am Inservice...continued.
Current Mood: lethargic
Current Music: none - stupid video conference
We are still in St. Michael today...I have discovered that I really don't get much done with other people around. I usually go home and take a nap/rest right at 3:30 when we can clock out and then I come back after dinner and work until 10 or 11pm in my classroom. There is so much to do, information to gather, go through...things to plan, look up. We are in Stebbins tomorrow, which will be nice. Change of scene, friends to see, FINALLY learning the SFA (Success For All) reading program that I will be expected to teach all year. I've been told that if I make it through the week before and the first week that things will calm down a bit and get easier...we'll see.
There is a lady that works in the school (an educational aide) named Esther that was in my room today for a visit and she told me that she was going to give me the Inuit name Oogitu (sp?) (oo-gee-too) and that it means small lady or small person. haha...she's about my size, but I suppose they are not used to seeing white people that are the same size as the natives.
I have also made "friends" with two of the custodians, Johhny and Buddy. Drew says he thinks they have a crush on me, but I think they are just nice and know that I will make them cookies if they help me out. :) I have this chair that seems like it is broken, but really is the most comfortable chair in the room - Well, I borrowed a few tools so I could re-upholster it, and Buddy just came in to take the tools back and as he picked them up said, "one dozen cookies, another dozen cookies, and... two dozen cookies - thanks!" Everyday they come in and sit in the chair and chat for 10-15 minutes. Cracks me up. I just keep working, but they talk to whomever happens to be around. Apparently my room is a popular gathering place. Today for instance, the sped ladies are having a mandatory video-conference out of my room. That means that if I want to get anything done I have to gather it up and go somewhere else to do it. Oh well... I like having people around - I'll adjust. Enough for now...
OH YEAH - I have had a stack of writing prompts and things I have wanted to laminate for YEARS-ish and yesterday I got to go and get it all done! WOOHOO! I love having teacher access to things like that, I didn't even have to ask! (I did, but I didn't have to) ;)
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Aug. 17th, 2005 @ 07:58 am So the smoke...
Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: Jack Johnson
The smoke (and I am assuming there is some fog mixed in) is SO bad that I cannot see my house that is right outside my window. It is pretty cool looking, but you can't stay outside very long or breathing becomes difficult. For instance, yesterday, we went on a walk (the 3-mile loop) and about half way through my asthma kicked in a bit and I didn't get a good deep breath until an hour or so after we had been inside.
So right now I am sitting in a meeting (inservicce). I love wireless internet... I suppose I should get back to paying attention. Our principal is reading us the story about the little boy that throws starfish back into the ocean to make a difference to even just that one...then the science teacher piped up and said "yeah, but if he had torn it in half before he threw it back it would have turned into two and he would be getting twice as much done. haha... I love the high school staff. Ok - more later.
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Aug. 15th, 2005 @ 08:08 am First day...kind of.
Current Mood: good
Current Music: Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around
So today is not REALLY my first day because I had new teacher training last week that "officially" counted as my first week. This week is more training...but we actually had to clock in this morning by 8am. SO, my first morning coming to work and clocking in AND having to set an alarm. WHICH I have discovered does NOT pick up a radio station so I had to wake up to the annoying buzzer thing, which I hate. My next purchase is going to be one of those CD player alarm clocks I think...except that I really didn't bring any CDs...OH MAN I'm screwed!!! Maybe my cell phone will have a purpose up here! Anyhow...my school email is up and running as of yesterday...so I can get email there if any of you have that address.
The last couple of days have been good. I didn't realize how much I needed a weekend!! After training (which kind of felt like a repeat of Grad school), we flew home and I just crashed. I went to Stebbins the next morning (about 2pm when I woke up) and went exploring on the honda with Drew...we went up around clear lake and found trails that went down to the beach on the other side of the island kind of. For those that don't know St. Micheal and Stebbins are "technically" on an island. It's so beautiful here...we found some good camping spots, but have to wait till next weekend to get a goup together to go out there and fish or what have you. Yesterday, Sunday, pretty much the entire staff was at the school, it's kind of nice because you can leave work at school and home can just be a place to relax. If I were in the lower 48 there is no way I could come back over to the school at night or on the weekends just to work late or grade papers, but here that is what everyone does. I promised myself I would not come to the school in my pjs for the first month at least. Oh the standards...
alright...enough for now...I really should get some work done...I am actually being paid for it today!!
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Aug. 12th, 2005 @ 01:02 am One o'clock in the morning...
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: none- I have to be quite
So everyone is asleep now...I must have made writing into a habit or something without realizing it because it doesn't seem to matter how late it may be, if I haven't written before I go to bed, I will get up start the computer and start writing at least SOMETHING before I go to bed. Today was good...we trained all day in group stuff and in particular program that we use in the district. I really love this district I have decided. I got all of the insurance and financial stuffs figured out today...we'll see what happens when the checks actually start coming in. :) Until December I will not be getting a full check though...actually...not until January because I have so much to pay back from just trying to get up here.
We went down to see one of the musher's dogs tonight before going to bed. HAHA, I'm so dumb, I had on my pjs which was the first dumb move, and I am being as stubborn as heck with people about wearing real shoes. I really only want to wear flipflops or go barefoot, which had been working for me up until this week. First, before we even came over to UNK for training I almost ripped off half of my toenail by hitting it with a door, then tonight Drew accidentally kicked some stick and it came back and the end ("point") of it hit me on the top of that same foot which is nice and all swollen now, and then when we stopped to talk to the musher and play with the dogs a bit I comPLETEly got eaten by mosquitos. One of which bit me on the arch of my foot that was already out of commission. THEN as we were leaving the dog-yard I realized that I kind of smelled dog crap - understandable as there were about 12-14 dogs right there..but no, this was following me. TURNS OUT I had it on the bottom of both of my "shoes" which is not so terrible and can be dealt with, however, I also had it all over my "good" heel and that in turn got all over the inside of my PAJAMA pant leg! OH man... so then, I thought, maybe I will take my shower tonight instead of tomorrow morning! HA - novel idea smelly one. So as soon as we got back I took me a LONG shower to wash off the stink and wash out my pants AND wash off my shoes. Here's the deal though. I am almost PHOBIC about showering in front of people, I hate it, I will wait a VERY long time before having to shower in front of others - don't know why, I just can't do it. Or so I thought. Turns out necessity is an excellent motivator. There was one girl JUST getting in when I got there (I was all excited at first because I thought she was getting OUT, but I was very wrong. And then some other lady came and got in, I kid you not, right after the other girl got out. I knew I had brought a swimsuit to Alaska for some reason, but as I stared at it just the other day (at home) trying to figure out why I would be so dumb as to think I would be SWIMMING here, I could not think of anything and I stuffed it up in the back of my closet so as to make room for things that would be of use to me. Hence the reason I forgot about having no swimsuit to shower in on a thre day training adventure in a differnt village.
Oh yeah, I love this district because of the fact that this training is feeling quite a bit like a cross between summer camp and college...everyone is just a lot older and there are no rules. Drew, the sped ladies and I are sleeping in a room with all the Stebbins people. (I may have mentioned that) I say it again though because I am SO glad we are. We have made such good friends with them, and that just opens up the rest of the known area there is to go on the side of Norton sound that we are living. It may not seem like a big deal, but it broadens our world of friends and opportunities to do things by at LEAST 12 miles of road (where we have about 4-5 total in our town now one side to the other) and the population of people to meet from 400 in our village by the 6 or 7 hundred that they have in their village. Plus I've made friends with about 4 of the English High school teachers in the whole district so far which will be an amazing resource and place to go for help when my kids won't do anything. YAY networking!! OK - off to sleep, I don't want to wake the room up agian. :)
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Aug. 10th, 2005 @ 09:05 pm New Teacher Training...
Current Mood: secretive
Current Music: none
So today was the first day of new teacher training. We are all sleeping in the school in Unalakleet. The people from St. Mikes got split up into different rooms - which is ok with me - Drew, Lori, Patty, and I are in a room with all of the new people that are in Stebbin. There are two married couples that are my age and then a couple of other women that are way closer to my age than most of the new people at SMK. Everyone is setting up "blogs" tonight as a lot of people got laptops all set up tonight. That caused me a bit o trouble as I haven't told anyone about my livejournal so that I can write whatever I want. I am going to have to look back through things before I let the address out. :) It is basically assumed that Drew and I are together at this point - it's pretty funny. We have been hanging out with the couples from Stebbins so people are just assuming. There is one guy named Nick that is convinced we are fated and is just waiting for the wedding invite at this point. HA. Training is good - BUSY. I got MAYBE about 45 minutes of sleep last night, for some reason I just could not sleep at all. Nor could a handful of other people. Drew is giving me something to help me sleep tonight which I think would help a LOT with my attention span during the training "lessons". Got to go for now - more later... I'm being watched over the shoulder!!!
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Aug. 9th, 2005 @ 02:46 pm So far today...
Current Mood: hungry
Current Music: none
Not much has happened yet today, I was supposed to write some people letters yesterday so I could get them in the mail today before I left, but really...it didn't happen. I take off for training in about an hour...oh the life of flying everywhere that's not in town. :) I was opening a door today and I just about took off half of my big toenail on my left foot. grrr... now I have to go pack band-aides. Oh well...works for me. I should have internet in Unalakleet, so I will just write more later tonight. Nothing else interesting has happened today. Except that they are cleaning the carpet in my classroom, that's good, but I need to get out of their way! By for now. sjk
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Aug. 9th, 2005 @ 02:45 pm Rambling...from last night...
So today and yesterday…maybe I wrote yesterday, I’m not sure, I’ll have to check. Today is my last real day of summer vacation. I go to training tomorrow about 4pm in Unalakleet, which is about a half hour plane ride away… or so I’ve been told. Drew and I have now been asked if we are married or dating at least a few times, but the kids say it’s because we are both younger and that we should get together because of that. Oh the wonder of bored logic. We are both new and still quite the commodity to the kids. They all start yelling your name the second you step out a doorway. There are lots of requests for “can we visit?” or “watch me, watch this” they are all pretty starved for attention. They don’t get any at home, a lot of times we can’t even be sure there IS a parent at home for a few days. Sometimes they go off camping, other times who knows. I walked the three-mile loop again today – the first time was chasing Jasper (Drew’s dog) that Chuck and I had taken out and let off the leash. Dumb idea, but we didn’t know. This time it was voluntary – I found some really good pieces of sea glass that got uncovered in the stormy weather of the last few days. OHHH, so the other night it started raining. More of a heavy drizzle, but the wind was fierce and wonderful to listen to and it made what rain there was hit the windows. I have noticed that I don’t miss the trees as much as I thought I would, but instead it is the rain! It hadn’t even rained back home for quite a while so I hadn’t even thought about it. But the second it started I walked outside and just the smell and the feel of the air was enough. It hit me really hard, somewhere deep inside, it was like I was being re-hydrated. Its odd the things that do that for me. I can sit on the beach for hours, come home and feel pulled to go back out there. When the wind picks up the first thing I want to do is be out in it or to get the windows as wide open as possible to create a draft. When there isn’t any wind the bugs come out, but it’s more then that, when that happens I find someone that wants to take out the Honda (everyone has 4-wheelers around here) and I just sit on the back and close my eyes and take it in. I crave the wind and rain and water - the people that were here from the mid-west said, “wow Sandy, you seem a lot more acclimated to this wind and cold than even we are, how long have you been here?” At that point I’d only been here a week, so I don’t know where it comes from. Anyhow…Tomorrow it begins. We take off…we train…we come back…we train some more…we have two work days and a weekend…and then classes begin. Oh the wonderous stress of it all. SCORE. ☺
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