Sunday, November 30, 2008

Susan took this picture. It warmed up some and most of the snow melted from the trees. One day it was -8 with the wind chill it was -20. Hey, cold is cold -8 -20 just means you will freeze faster if you fall down or something.
This is a nice kid that is in both Susan's class and my class. Kids just can't keep off the net!! I will be glad when basketball starts here. Teachers have to do volunteer duty, just one hour shifts.
I think I might have put this on before, like maybe last time. They call it cabin fever. (just kidding)
Susan and I are so excited to be coming home in three weeks. It will be good to see everyone. We can't believe the time has passed so quickly. We decorated for the Christmas season!
I am going to work hard with the kids so the time passes quickly. We have an after school program 2 or 3 afternoons a week for another hour and a half. That really gets Susan and I tired be the end of the week. We do have fun with the kids though. We get to work with some kids we don't have during the day.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Here is a flocked tree. The snow looks like little thorns. From 50 feet away the trees look like they are blooming.


Talking about a winter wonder land. We have it!! Now, I know what fake flocked trees are supposed to look like.
It is like large crystals. The snow has crystal like projections.
Road to the Bering Sea You can see the clouds that seem to hang over the sea about 14 miles away. It is about 4 pm and -9 degrees. My fingers get cold quickly even with gloves. I am looking forward to Thanksgiving Break.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

We had a parent night for the after school program. The program paid for $700 worth of Subway sandwiches to be flown in from Bethel, Alaska. Grant Airlines brought the sandwiches in free. That was really nice for the kids. Yes, we had mostly kids show for the night. The teacher's had to do an hour and a half tutoring session, then do the parent night without any pay. Susan and I were really tired after 12 hours of teaching work.

The snow just sits on the bushes where it lands. The sunlight does not melt it and we have not had strong winds to blow it off (an 0 degrees, that is good news!!).

Not much going on here. The temperature is staying around 0 degrees at night. Susan and I do after school program about three afternoons a week and/or sometimes a double session on Saturday. We get warn out by Saturday evening. The kids are great and love getting the snacks the after school program provides. They are required to work on the educational program the program supplies for at least 45 minutes of the hour and a half long session. At the very least this may help the student to develop the ability to stay focused for longer periods of time. We are doing popcorn reading in my classes. I have been doing research on reading development and trying different approaches. We need to work on comprehension if we are going to see any improvement in the Alaska State test. Here are some pictures I tried to get of a beautiful sunset. I even ran out in the snow to get around some brush that is close to the school buildings. The snow was a foot deep. It is not packed, but held up by high grass. The snow does not melt much because of the temp. When it does frees water drips through cracks above our back door and freezes solid during the night. It is very hard to open, if fact, I don't think Susan can bust it open. Also, the key hole gets water in it and won't let me get the key into it without hot water which only freezes back again. I am going to get the stuff a person can spray into car key holes when I go home for Christmas. We have a front door, course I spent an hour shoveling the steps and walk to the back door last Saturday. I am spend a lot of time on the school's computers. It is definitely more of a hobby.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Now the pickup berg is on the right. We traveled about 45 minutes by snow machine to get to the spot where one can forget all the political speeches and media bias. Who cares if the stock market crashes, who cares if rich men become poor, who cares if poor men become rich; it is hard to worry about all of that out here so close to nowhere so far from everywhere. I am just glad Susan is here with me and my family is safe at home in the other world.
You see, it is a lot lighter in this shot. The sun sets very fast around this part of the world. Francine said someone caught (shot) a polar bear near here in 1970.
We went from 15 to 40 mph on the way out here. Susan and I tested the worth of our winter clothes and found out what we might need later on in the really cold Alaska night. Hooper Bay, where Susan got in the Bering Sea, is far from here. Today, my older students were telling me that the ice is only about 6 to 8 inches deep. They said it will get 4 feet deep. I told them I want to go white fish fishing with them this winter and they said "Good". My students can say a lot in a few words. Maybe, that is better, well, I know it is better that what we have been hearing on TV.

I has so much fun driving the snow machine. It is a lot like driving a motor cycle. They have caterpillar tracks on the back and skis on the front. Raymond said he went slow for us and usually travels at 5o mph. I kept thinking what I would look like with the tip of my noise black with frost bite going only 15 to 30 mph. They lent me some goggles that were definitely necessary!! It was good to get out of Emmonak and out of the school and house.
I told Raymond I would be very happy to help him collect wood on Saturday. Susan and I do have to teach the after school program till noon and I do not know if he can wait for me to go. They find the wood along the shore and either tie the logs behind the snow machines or take plastic-like sleds that require that the wood be cut up some for the trip to Emmonak. I hope I get to go and will wear more clothes next time. Although, Susan and I never got cold at all. The handle bars of the snow machines are heated somehow and get very warm on your hands.
After traveling 14 miles by snow machine through the snow covered tundra dotted with frozen lakes we arrived at the Bering Sea once again. The forms in the back between the sky and the sea are small ice bergs. I was surprised at how many there were. I just checked the temp and right now it is 5 degrees. It could not have been much more that 10 degrees on our way out.
This picture shows the mounds of ice that build up when the sea is trying to freeze over. How can there be such beautiful places? Why can I see them? It seems that God does love us to let us share in this enormous testament of the universe only he could create.
I was trying to get the larger ice berg at the left of the picture. It looked as large as my poor lonesome Ford truck waiting for me in Arkansas.
Here is Susan and our friend who took us on another once-in-a-lifetime adventure. This is Francine, and also her husband Raymond was there to guide us on the many snowmobile trails to the Bering Sea. Susan could not get in the sea, so she licked a piece of ice. Yep! Salty!
Here is Susan, Francine, a teacher we work with, and one of our students. They look so small. I am a loss for words to describe the vast emptiness we found and which greedily swallowed us for a while. It puts a speck of dust in perspective. We were the dust and God's creation was the rest.