I got a job!

In August I will be headed back up here to Gambell to be the 8th grade teacher.

I'm kind of scared and excited at the same time. I'm going to have my own classroom, and I'm moving to a different state for at least a year!

It will be run kind of like a middle school, we'll have the 6/7/8 rotate through the three middle school teachers. I don't know what that will look like yet, because they are working out what the schedule will be like.

The vice-principal is leaving Gambell, and I've purchased most of her household goods up here so she doesn't have to ship them home, and I don't have to buy them at home and ship them up here. I even bought her TV, so I can bring my PS3 up and play games.

Yu'pik Days

This week has gone by pretty fast. I can't believe that I have only two weeks left!

This week was the first week back from spring break. The days are getting longer, it's light out about 930am, and it stays that way until about 10pm.

I started my reading intervention groups to get the kids working on extra skills and knowledge for the big state standardized test that takes place starting on April 1st. I work with two different groups ranging from 3rd grade to 6th grade. They are a bunch of great kids with their own personalities and it's been great to get to know them and learn from them. I know the 3rd graders from being their substitute, but I haven't had much interaction with the older kids.

On Thursday was the start of Yu'pik days. Yu'pik days has been a tradition for 38 years for the village to celebrate the St. Lawrence Island Yu'pik Culture. It started on Thursday when they had a reindeer stew feast for the entire village and they had mantauk.

Whale blubber and skin, the Yu'piks love it! 

Walrus and Polar Bear -- WARNING CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES!

The pictures behind the cut are part of what happens up here. It is subsistence living, and when walking on the beach you will come across this occasionally.

I was not there, but these are pictures taken by another teacher here in Gambell, as well as another staff member.

Please DO NOT CLICK the read more if you do not want to see dead animals. It is graphic and you've been warned.

What the beach looked like on March 12

March 12, 2014. 

This is what the beach looked like on March 12. Thanks to another teacher who was out there taking pictures.  You can see how much the beach changed over the few days before my pictures below.

Ocean Ice

Yesterday I went out with another teacher to the other beach to see if there was open water. Apparently 2 days ago when they hunted and butchered a walrus the ocean was open. Yesterday, it wasn't.

Going outside

Once you've lived in Alaska, you can never take for granted the amount of time it takes to get ready ever again. At home, I can just throw on a jacket, if at all, slip on shoes and there you go. 

In Gambell, in order to go outside to the post office or the store, you have to get dressed. For me at least, that consists of thermal pants, jeans, snow pants, wool socks and my snow boots. Then a shirt, hoodie, my coat, my neck/face gator, snow goggles, gloves and a hat. Then I put the hat on, then my hoodie hat, and then sometimes my coat hat. 

Whew, what a week!

I can't believe that I only have a month left before I'll be back home. It seems like it was yesterday that I just got to Alaska. I have had some amazing experiences so far. Some good, some excellent, and some life changing.

I've learned a lot about teaching in Bush Alaska. I do want to teach here, and I've decided to pursue teaching opportunities here in the district. I don't know what will happen, but I've let my intentions known, and we'll go  from there.

I've made some friends up here and have learned a great deal about teaching the students here. I learn something everyday about being a teacher from all of the teachers and administration that I've come in contact with. I have to thank a few teachers that have helped me get through a very interesting 7 days of substituting in the 3rd grade.

Walking around ... and things I forgot to say earlier

On Wednesday I subbed for the MS/HS English teacher. I got to watch the same ~20 minutes of Hunger Games: Catching Fire 4 times that day. The MS/HS kids were great, they wanted to know where I was from, what I was doing in Alaska, and were all around pretty cool kids.

Thursday morning one of the MS kids came down to the 3rd grade classroom because I told them I was subbing there. He gave me a hug and said, "Thanks for being my sub yesterday." It was sweet! I love it when that happens. It makes the difficult ones less difficult.

Today I walked around town, taking pictures. I walked to the beach, all the way along the road to the end of it, then back into town. Not sure how long the walk was, but I'm pretty sure it was a couple of miles. I didn't walk close to the water because I wasn't sure where the ice pack started, nor how thick it was. There were piles of ice on the beach that were probably taller than I am. When I got here, the ocean was completely frozen over. Now it's breaking up. It might freeze again, but who knows?

My treasures... so far.

Doll from Brevig Mission, purchased in Nome. 

Hoodie from new school! Qughsatkut (Which I am working on being able to say!) is King Polar Bear in Yu'pik

Savoonga, Gambell and random thoughts

I got on the plane to Gambell with several other people. There were only 6 other people on the plane with me, but there was a bunch of freight in the back. Flying over the Bering Strait was uneventful but it was kind of cool. You could see where the ocean was frozen over and had broken up some. If you look, you can see where the pieces fit back together.