!Happy Halloween!

SNOW and COLD have arrived in Kong. We have reached temperatures below zero according to the weather forecast I look at online. It isn’t too snowy or windy yet- but it is cold enough. I must admit I am slightly worried about what is to come.

Moose loves the snow. He whines at the door to be let out a lot more recently and then he plays and digs in the snow. He and Weeko tend to wrestle in the snow often too (and anywhere else for that matter).


We had a GREAT Halloween Weekend. On Friday there was a big Halloween Carnival at school. Lucky me, I got to be at school from 7:15 AM to 11:15 PM. Garnet and I dressed up as Thing 1 and Thing 2 from The Cat in the Hat. Can you tell who is who? The kids have a hard time telling us apart with out matching costumes—so it was fun to play with their minds a little.

We dressed Rachel up last minute… but you would probably agree she had a pretty awesome costume/paint job. She was the Ghost of Hunting Safety. She helped me paint faces at the carnival- it was HILARIOUS to watch the poor little kids who didn’t know her go up to get their face painted and then walk over to me instead ☺ I can’t blame them. Sheila was a Witch- a scary one at that!


Here are two of my kiddos on Halloween. They didn’t come dressed in costumes- and I don’t think they knew what to think about me at first. The little boy on the left took a couple minutes before he could talk to me where as he usually attacks me with a hug in the morning.


So anyway, Friday was the carnival and the Student Council set up a Haunted House. As if this wasn’t enough- we also had a dance. Due to 10:00 curfew for students, guess who got to clean up after everything!

On Halloween I decided to put a flannel on both Moose and Me. He pretty much hated his life that night--- the sleeves were too long for him, so when he would go to walk he face planted a couple of times. Below are all of the dogs on Halloween (Moose, Midnight, Weeko and Lacy).

Kids in Kong start trick or treating at 2:00! We were out of candy by 6:00. We decided to lock the door and not answer whenever someone knocked- was a long night.


I definitely had a memorable Halloween- not only because of the costumes, carnival, and trick or treating…. But also because it was my first time ever ICE FISHING! A HS student and his mom invited Rachel and I to go. We traveled by 4-wheeler and a sled hooked on to the back. On the way we picked up one of the elders (Grandma of one of my students) to go with us.




(It was just a little cold… and this was before the ride and the fishing)


I was really worried that the ice wasn’t frozen enough. Just the day before the elders were giving the kids a speech about not going on the ice yet… and here I was about to go on the ice. I decided to put my trust in Dolly (the mom who took us fishing) though☺


Dolly made Rachel and I fishing poles with a stick, string, hook, and a few weights.


I started by catching 4 fish in a row….. however they didn’t make it past the surface. I would see it and then it would get away. But after a little advice, I learned the technique… pull it FAST out of the water.


I ended up catching 5 Tom Cod and 1 Smelt which we cut up and used as bait.


Below are Rachel and Faye in the sled on the way back- I sat on the 4 wheeler.



Moose continues to grow! He has matured and calmed in so many ways…. But still manages to drive my crazy at times. For example: he has recently discovered the Tootsie Rolls Peter hides in the litter box! UGH DISGUSTING! Moose runs up to me with kitty litter all over his nose/mouth/gums and the tootsie rolls are gone from the box! This is a work in progress although little or no progress has been made.


Just though I would throw this picture in too… I was simply putting pepperoni on a pizza and they all thought they may have a chance at a treat. Gotta love our miniature zoo!

Pumpkin Carving

Moose and I carved a pumpkin tonight. Ok, I cleaned and carved it then Moose tried to eat it when I turned around. BUT anywho, the school gave each of the teachers a pumpkin.

SNOW HAS ARRIVED!!! 2 days ago we had water… yesterday all water turned to ice… Today, we have snow and wind and oh wow is it cold!

Lucky for her, my mom flew out of Kong yesterday. We had a TON of fun while she was here. She arrived last Thursday and was greeted at the airport by a local teacher saying “Welcome to Kong!” After a quick tour of the school and house- I left Mom and Moose then headed back to class. Friday and Saturday were consumed with the NYO (Native Youth Olympics) meet. All of the events were sooo cool to watch. Some of the events were the Eskimo Stick Pull, Indian Stick Pull, Wrist Carry, One-Hand Reach, Kneel Jump, Seal Hop, Alaskan High Kick, Toe Kick, One Foot High Kick, Two Foot High Kick….. I think I got most of the events and I THINK I got the names right. Ganet and I were score keepers/judges and our moms worked in the kitchen/watched the meet. The Junior High team came in 1st Place!!!



This was the Tommy Phillip Invitational—Tommy is the man on the right in the above picture—he used to be AWESOME at the Wrist Carry and is well known throughout the district. A couple of days ago I watched him to the Toe Kick—still good at it!
We stayed busy besides just working at the NYO meet. Mom and I took Moose on a couple of long walks. We went to the graveyard as well as to the new school.

(In the picture above… the school’s water pipes are on the left and the new school is off to the right. It will be a mile walk! The 2 minute walk to school is more than enough in the wind and snow right now!)

(Mom, Moose and a pretty sunset)

Not only did we go on far walks, but we also got to walk to the Lagoon for our weekly Sunday Honey Bucket Dump!

Garnet, Me, Rachel
Weeko (Garnet’s new puppy!), Moose, Midnight
Our 3 Honey Buckets

Mom posing at the Lagoon and Garnet doing her dumping job

Along with working and walking, we also managed to do some shopping. My mom went to the village stores every day (except Sunday because they are closed on Sunday) and we went to Sadie’s house because she makes some really cool things. Sadie also showed us some of the Devil Fish they recently caught.

My mom came at the perfect time because she ALSO got to go to her FIRST THROW PARTY! (we don't know what they were celebrating but still had fun... and froze)

I think my mom was surprised to see how busy we manage to stay here. It was a little difficult for her to adjust to Alaska time as well. Not the time zone thing... the "We plan to meet in 15 minutes but really everyone is ready in 2 hours..." She managed to teach Moose some new tricks too! He now knows how to sit, lay down, shake and dance. He can now be trusted at home alone for short periods of time and he doesn’t have to sleep in his kennel at night ☺ When I left for school he enjoyed taking my spot on the couch…

The picture below is from the day before my mom left. She left on a REALLY cold day when everything was starting to freeze. The wind chill was already below zero.

Mom in Kong!

Mom made it to Kong! After over 24 hours of flights/airports (flying from Cincy to Kong is not cool), my mom finally made it. She arrived around 9:30 on Thursday morning- took a quick tour of the school- went to my house and even made lunch for Rachel, Garnet and I (we need to hire someone to do this daily). Moose finally got to meet his Granny and boy does he love her. He isn’t trying to make the best 1st impression of course… but still cute, sweet, and cuddly. (Moose decided to lick spilled food off of my table and won’t listen to commands since she arrived).
After a looonnnggg day at school, Mom, Moose and I went for a walk to the graveyard… quite the walk. We met up with Rachel and Erin (a girl vising from the District Office) as well as their 2 dogs. Garnet’s Mom and brother are in town as well. It was a crazy night. Garent’s puppy arrived so we now have 4 dogs plus Erin’s dog, Peter the cat, as well as 9 people hanging out in one small area.
The Tommy Phillip NYO meet starts tomorrow!!!! I get to be a gofer/record keeper/runner/ do anything Megan tells me to person and my mom gets to work in the kitchen. She should be learning how to make Yupik food because they want to cook Yupik food for the event! This weekend we will get to try salted fish eyes as well. Margaret, the secretary, keeps raving about these fish eyes. She asked if I have ever tried them and I said nope, but I will attempt to eat one. I reminded her that my mom was visiting this weekend so that may be a good time- she agreed. YOU’RE WELCOME MOM! Should be interesting.
Well it is late and we have a big day planned tomorrow—lots of stories to follow I am sure :)

*Did I mention... the last time I weighed Moose... about 3-4 weeks ago... he weighed 20 pounds... NOW he weighs 40 pounds!!!!!

**Sorry I haven't blogged for a while... I will try to do better!**

Moose's Birthday Party

Moose turned 4 months old yesterday!!
If you can't tell, I was a little bored- and I <3 my dog ;)
We had Rachel, Megan, Garnet, Midnight, and Lacy over. One of the students decided to join as well! Megan and Lacy brought Moose some treats and a container for treats :)

Old Picture

I know these are all a little delayed, but I wanted to show some pictures....
These are pictures from when the 1st year teachers left Kong and headed for Bethel- our flight was only 3 hours late because apparently the plane ran out of fuel and it takes 3 hours to fill it...



below-approaching Bethel at about 9:15


These pictures are from when one of my aides gave me some Moose meat (no, not my dog)... Rachel was sick so I made Moose stew! Was actually delicious (even though Rachel didn't like it- Garnet and I did)



Isn't he getting so big?!

Moose playing with his toy moose- it has 5 squeakers!

He loves me sometimes...

Moose Is 4 Months!

7 weeks of 1st year teaching done! Hard to believe, time is flying. I am so excited it is already October! I guess I had a pretty busy week since I posted no updates.
TODAY is Moose’s 4 month Birthday (That’s right, he was born the day after my birthday)! I think I will even make a cake today☺
Last Sunday a couple in the village was celebrating their 50th anniversary. These people were the parents of one of the teachers in the village. EVERYONE was invited to come over anytime after 4:00 for some food. We showed up at about 4:30 and there was a line formed in the living room and kitchen. I filled my plate with LOTS of goodies! Began with Akutaq (mmmm…. Again, the berry/Crisco/sugar/water mix=delicious…this one had seal oil in it as well) and followed with Salmon tail, Whale meat, Walrus skin, Walrus blubber, Walrus meat, mashed potatoes and all that good stuff. I was really hesitant to try the new foods…. At least so many new ones at one time. But one of our students was there (grandson of the couple) and kept telling me what everything was and encouraged me to try it. Garnet informed me that he was just trying to make me get sick. I tried it all! To me the Walrus blubber and skin didn’t have a lot of taste…. But I took tiny bites. Locals told me the whale tastes like eggs- maybe a little. And the seal oil... still not a fan. I LOVE Akutaq but seal oil gives it a really fishy taste and smell which I don’t prefer with a sweet treat.
This week was a good week, just busy. I have been working on another IEP and this time I finally did the work for it. I FINALLY feel like I know what I am doing (usually) and can do things without being walked through everything. My principal observed me a few weeks ago and this week we met to talk about it. Everything he said was great which made me happy ☺ BUT that was only an informal observation… I hope the formal one goes well too!
I have truly learned so much out here already. In the bush, you are SO MANY people all in one. Up here I have a ton of support from the district… but the therapists can only come out about once a month if even because they are responsible for students at various other schools as well. Therefore, every day I turn into the Physical Therapist, Speech Therapist, and Occupational Therapist. The actual therapists come out and check up on the students and discuss things I could work on with the kids. At this point we only have one Psychologist for the district (Any psychologists out there—I heard we are looking for another one!). In some ways I took the form of the Guidance Counselor this week. Our Site Administrator (Principal) has SO MUCH work to do out here. He usually creates every student’s schedule. This week we met and made the schedule for one of my students. I really feel like I am learning a lot of jobs all in one out here.
Now for the frustrating part… a few of the teachers out here are looking for classroom management ideas…. Not because they are bad teachers, but the kids are SO DIFFICULT! Now, maybe this is the norm and I am just not used to high school kids…. But they are starting to drive us crazy. I walk into a room and there are kids sleeping on their desks and EVEN THE FLOOR! If you go to wake them up, they ignore you. What can a person actually do in this case? If the teachers tried waking them up every class of every day- that would waste so much time. Also- could be my elementary experience, but so many junior high/high school kids just skip. They either leave school or sometimes I find students hanging out in the bathroom. I tell them to go back to class. They respond with “I will”. I tell them they need to go now- quit wasting their time- they will never get through school if they don’t go to class etc… they pretend to ignore me. Then, when some of the students don’t pass… they are mad at the teachers and don’t hold themselves accountable. I tell the secretaries/principal when I find kids just hanging out… what can they do that is that much different? I feel like the adults are powerless to an extent because if the kids won’t respect you/listen… they win. Sure you can suspend/expell them but then they are getting what they want. NOW, I am not the teacher so this is what I observe and what we talk about a lot- but I am really frustrated for them. I REALLY like the kids, and many of them are totally different outside of school, but there need to be changes made within school. On the bright side…. Things are better than they were a few years ago from what I have heard. AND I think we have a GREAT staff. They are consistent about their expectations and I think the kids will get there. Maybe right now is just a difficult time because they want to reject this authority as much as possible but will quickly get better. OK I WILL STOP BABBLING ABOUT THIS NOW! It is just so different from what I am used to and I don’t know if it is a local thing or if this is the norm for the age and I should get over it.
Last night the student council had a Movie Night for the kids. It was SO COOL! They set up a projector and screen in the gym, turned out all the lights, then sold pop and snacks. I helped in the kitchen. Some kids and I made 2 huge trays of Rice Krispy Treats! (Garnet took pics so I will post them soon). But seriously we had like 6 people working on these treats alone and it really made me think about poor Lorraine, the lunch lady. 6 kids helping and I was worn out from making Rice Krispies alone! This was really a fun event--- I think a majority of the school was there too! After Movie Night, there was open gym for the kids who helped out. Garnet, Sheila and I played too. We played some volleyball, soccer, basketball and then their version of Kickball. NO ONE TOLD ME THE RULES GARNET! Garnet kept saying I was giving gussaq’s (white people- I don’t know how to spell it though) a bad name…. but really I thought we were playing kickball where you kick then run the bases. HERE it is more of a combo with dodgeball. You kick the ball and then try to run to the other side of the gym. Basically you have to be touching one of the walls…. And if you are not and you get hit by a ball, the other team is up. There aren’t really rules it turns out- and no one keeps score. It is just a FAST paced game where offense constantly changes and you run like crazy but have no idea what you are doing or where you are running. At least, that’s what I took from the game. O, and it is A BLAST! The kids found that I was my team’s weakness (because I didn’t understand at all) and totally used that to their advantage. There were many laughs though and that’s what matters- even if I was the victim ;). Apparently we are having another movie showing today- should be fun!