Sunday, January 18, 2009

All work, no play.

Susan and I have spent the entire weekend working on a required Alaska History course. All the teachers new to Alaska have to take the course. The first lesson I did took 17 typed double- spaced pages. We have essay questions on the lessons and the two tests. I will be so glad to get this out of the way. Some of the courses at other universities let multiple people work on the same lesson and just put all their names on it for credit. Not ours, we have to do the lessons individually. We will probably do better on the tests, though. We plan to do three lessons per weekend finishing the lessons in one month. Our school district is paying for the course after we pass it, of course. 
Susan and the Yukon River. We still need to walk over to the island.
It snowed and stormed so much that we could not get out on a plane and missed a teacher in-service in Anchorage. We could have been in Anchorage 3 days at the end of this week. Now we will be here for months, unless another in-service comes up. It snowed a foot then 4o degree temps came in one day and melted a lot of the snow cover. Now, of course, the temp is in the single digits again. Oh, that is negative single digits!

Shark Boy playing with his new Spanish friend. Someone called her a teacup dog.
This was at noon, I think. Heavy clouds were moving in with a brisk breeze. Susan has her winter cough. She went to the clinic and they gave her cough syrup. I think she needs a shot of something strong with a syringe. 

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Going to another village school for an in-service.

This was after the in-service trying to get all the snow machines running again after setting in the -20 degree cold.
The school building we traveled to for the in-service. This is the arrival. You see all the clothes this person was wearing.
Sometimes the snow machines stick to the snow and person has to lift their tracks off the ice or the belt will set there and burn on the pulley that drives the tracks. On ice the front skis do not turn the snow machine very well. I guess that is why the don't call them ice machines. You just sit there with the steering wheel turned saying, "OH ____!!!!" (fill in the blank with your personal preference for those times when severe injury accompanied with pain is mili-seconds away). My experience was the machine had to run into some snow or bushes at the edge of the trail before the thing would turn. 
On arrival, I think that is Susan!! Anyway whoever gave me an Eskimo kiss. We were cold and frost bitten.
The survival kit my daughter, Sarah, gave me minus the little pliers-knife handy dandy 
combo the security person at the airport took from me. They probably needed one for their kit. The knife wasn't long enough to hit anything vital, at least, on me. I should have taken the foil blanket out and put it over my head so I could have avoided a scabby nose and face. Right, I would have hit the only large tree along that part of the iced over Yukon River.  

Friday, January 9, 2009

Frosty trees in Anchorage
Even the wild animals are running away from the cold. I think the temperature has been mostly below -10 since we came back to Alaska.
A village dog may wonder why the humans wear so much clothing that you can't even smell them.
And all this time Shark Boy thought hell was hot. He gets so confused on the bitter cold snow. His movements seem to tell us, "which foot should I save from becoming a block of ice!!"
Shark Boy wondering how can we expect him to do what comes natural in an unnatural place with fox scent everywhere. And what is a fox? Hopefully, not some kind of dog eating, blizzard loving, snow munching monster. 
It was nice to come back to so many friendly kids ready to tease us and tell us "Happy New Year." Seems like most teachers are the kind of people who see mostly good in most everything and everyone.  
The days are already getting longer. I feel we have made it through some kind of trial like a Praxis II test or something. It stays light till about five thirty, now. It is really like what I commented upon before: we are too busy working with mostly fun, smiling, young people to worry much about the light. The students provide light shinning out from within their spirits with their wonderful responses to our teaching and caring. Our church from Blytheville sent gifts of pencils, socks, lotion, and snacks. Surely the astronauts could see their light shinning that day. I will always remember seeing gifts coming from good caring people back in Blytheville in the middle the world received with thanksgiving by good caring people from Emmonak at the top of the earth. 

Sunday, January 4, 2009

After the Holidays and Sarah's Wedding

There is a new dog in town, Emmonak Village that is. It was -22 degrees with a -44 degrees wind chill. Cold has a new meaning for us and our dog can high step it much faster.
Bride and Groom start a new life. We all had a great time at the celebration with relatives old and new. 
Bride Sarah with her daddy. All I was thinking of was my memories of all the fun Abby, Sarah, Susan, and I had while we struggled through growing up and learning new things every day.
Sarah and Abby help each other while Susan and I are so far away. That is and always will be a great comfort for Susan and I to know our daughters are making sure each other are doing okay.
As we stepped outside the airport in Fayetteville, Susan and I were greeted by this beautiful sunrise promising what turned out to be a wonderful Christmas vacation with family and friends.