First SNOW!

We woke up to snow yesterday morning! (Okay, so it was only a dusting... shhhh - don't burst my bubble!) It wasn't a lot, but it was snow still the same :) Ginger was funny when I opened the door; she usually just takes off in front of me (leashed of course!), but yesterday morning she stopped dead in her tracks. She took a step... lifted her other foot higher than needed and took a step with it.. then she started eating and licking at it :)

Enjoy some photos of my afternoon walk - another teacher (sweet Shuk!) and I went for a walk from the apartments down to the new church; it is a mile walk each way. It was refreshing to get out in such pure and clean air while surrounded by breathtaking awesome beauty all around - as far as the eye can see... oh, and the silence of the beauty is so loud that you can't help but to notice it.

This was about 9:30 in the morning  and you can see a few kids out playing on the tundra even when the sun hasn't quite come up yet.

My afternoon walk with my teacher friend, Shuk...

Last week was Halloween! The school hosts a village-wide carnival and just about every single person, young and old, come for the fun, games, food and fellowship! The carnival is also the school's largest fund-raising activity. The teachers all plan, setup and run a booth of their choice and we set ticket prices for folks to come participate in whatever the activity of our booth hosts. I set up a tattoo booth (the kind you rub on and wash off of course!) and made about $160! Enjoy some photos of the carnival and the cutest little kids in Togiak!

 This is my student and I did not recognize her at all when she came to the tattoo booth... Those glasses! lol

 My favorite costume of course!! This little girl makes the cutest Dorothy ever :)

 This is Amber at our tattoo booth...

 lol.. this little baby is the Chucky doll! Awesome.

When I left the school to walk home, I had to get a photo of this family - this shows how everyone just bundles up and gets around the village...

As you can see... the carnival was a big success and the whole village came for the fun!

Trick-or-treating...

School is going GREAT! I could not be happier with my classroom and students. Every single day I walk into my room and ready to be huggedNloved by my students. They are eager to learn and make my days wonderful. This teacher is blessed beyond words!

I fly out of here in a few hours today to go to Dillingham to take my Praxis - the outcome of this test determines if I get to stay next year or now. I have a year to pass this - but, I am also struggling with wanting to go home and reconnect with my mom, hang out with her for awhile... I see that in my future for next year and then hope to come back to Alaska and experience another adventure - who knows where!!

Enjoy some random photos! (as if I've not posted enough already... right!?)

$27 chicken... it gave me a good 4-days worth of delicious food!

 Yupik dolls project - I had so many parents come help :)

 Messy counters!

 Dale, my vice principal selling tickets at the Carnival.,,

 Sam, my principal...

The view from my kitchen window...

 The view from my living room window...

 So many rainbows... almost every day :)

Ok - so one last photo before you leave... trust me, it's worth checking out :) MY BOYS!!! Happy first Halloween to my grandson, Alexander - you and your daddy are adorable as can be :) I cannot wait to see this little guy come summer. AND.. he will be one year old in 5 more days - amazing!!

My awesome daughter-in-law/perfect wife to my son/best mother ever to my grandbaby, Emy - she is the wolf and the boys are the lumberjacks :)

Until next week... Zzzzz

Happy Halloween!

This is a picture of 1 of the 3 walruses that were caught by the villagers. I didn't personally see the excitement but learned a lot about walruses in general because of it. I had no idea that they weighed OVER 2000 lbs! This is a big celebration because of all the meat provided. My understanding is the meat is shared and distributed throughout everyone.

Traffic jam in Togiak! I don't think I've ever seen this many 4-wheelers at once in a single location on the road.

I walked to the village with another teacher on Saturday. It was brisk and cold, but a great walk! The village is 3 miles from the apartment. What is nice though is you usually will always be offered a ride. On the way to the village, we were offered a ride and on the way back we got another ride. Of course the rids are sitting on the back of someone's 4 wheeler. 

This is a HUGE dog - I walk by him every day about 4 times. What he is sitting on is a boat - that gives you a bit of a perspective as he is just about as big as the height of the captain windshield. One morning, I took Ginger out and this dog was there - OMG to say the least. I seriously panicked and jerked her back in by the leash. This dog had gotten off his leash and was running around the teacher housing on the Hill. Come to find out, he's as sweet as can be and I never needed to be afraid. But, I still wouldn't ever let Ginger be around any dog that could eat her in one gulp if it desired. (Ginger is a 6 lb Chihuahua)

5th grade reading buddies. I try to do things with the 5th grade class - usually art - but we decided to meet in the library one morning and let the kids partner up with books. When these 2 classes get together, it is always enjoyed by both grade levels. 

This is my principal, Sam. Sam grew up in the village (his father was a Shaman) and then left to get his degree in administration so he could come back and serve as the village principal. He is a great man and a great principal!

I bet you were expecting Halloween pictures - huh? Well.. you will have to wait until next week to see my adorable students! We did have a great time at the village-wide carnival and then again in class on Halloween. 

The weather is really getting chilly now. There was snow on the mountain tops! I was going to go out the following day after I noticed, but it rained over night - so, no more snow. I'm sure there will be plenty of other opportunities to see some snow in Alaska :)

Life here is good - but, if I am honest with myself I would have to say that the isolation is getting a little harder as time goes on. I also have to be honest and say that I do think about maybe not coming back next year for that reason. I have been struggling with this thought for a few weeks, if not for the last month, now. Every single thing about living and working here is great - just that it is so lonely and isolated from the rest of the world....