Thanksgiving in Kotzebue

I know that Thanksgiving was nearly two weeks ago and everyone is well past the event and on to Christmas. Understood. I have done the same. However, I did not give Thanksgiving a proper Thanks just yet.

My Thanksgiving was spent here in Kotzeube. It was quite delightful. This town could not possibly be less of a blessing to me. I am so grateful that I was placed somewhere where there are plenty of people ready and willing to make my time here special, and not lonely. I happen to live with a family of girls all in their twenties like myself, which is great. They all have parents and aunts and uncles and brothers and sisters elsewhere in town also- so naturally, I am invited to all the family events so as not to be left alone. It is wonderful. I have my own little Kotzebue-an family. BUT, that is certainly not the best part of Thanksgiving break. The entirety of break consisted of nearly too much happiness and comfort for me to withhold within my body.

It began when school ended one hour early for the break on Friday afternoon, at 2:30. Anyone who has ever had a job knows Friday afternoon is the best feeling in the world, especially when it ends early, this rule stands even if you love your job. After that, I borrowed a sno go (snow mobile) and went to the airport to pick up Kevin! YAY! Kevin came to visit! Then after only one near death experience because of my driving, we made it to my apartment where we all just hung out and played cards all night. It was so much fun to have him here with me. ( Of course, I did have my stage of just sort of staring at him and being baffled by his arrival, after 4 months it takes some adjusting back into each other). Then on Thanksgiving we made pumpkin cheesecake for pie fest and headed off to the West home. This is the aunt and uncle of my roommates. There we feasted on many things, including sweet potatoes and green bean casserole (my favorites!). After that was the big event. PIE FEST! Throughout the whole event we totaled near 40 pies brought in from all over town to just simply eat and enjoy with everyone. We cut the pies into little slivers so you could taste as many pies as your body would fit. I personally tasted, throughout the weekend, about 8 or 9 different pies. FABULOUS! What a fun way to get everyone together over the holiday, I want to bring this idea back home with me!

The remainder of the weekend went as follows: Friday, Snowmobiling all day onto the ocean, over the tundra, all the while the sun was somewhere between sunrise and sunset, and positively gorgeous in bright orange and pink shades. Friday night Kevin and I tried out the Nullagvik hotel for a whopping $245/night! ( DON"T BE FOOLED- THAT IS JUST KOTZEBUE PRICES. IT IS THE EQUIVALENT OF A $50/NIGHT PLACE IN COLORADO). I watched Elf, Kevin wandered around the room being miserably awkward until he finally got the nerve to propose! And HOORAY, now we are getting married. This followed by a midnight cross country ski event on the Ocean in an attempt to find Northern Lights for Kev to see ( we were unlucky, but there were great ones the night AFTER he left). Saturday we did more snowmobiling, a tour of town, a post office visit, and had a bit of a party at our house. Sunday, sledding with the kids I live with, and Christmas movie watching.

All in all it was a wonderful Thanksgiving break. I was very thankful for the entire weekend, and I needed to share the glory with all the world. :)

Most Hilarious Moment.

I have been asked millions of time in my life the question: "What is your most embarrassing moment?" I always hate this question, and here is why:  First, because I just don't have a moment that I felt so embarrassed that it sticks out more than any other embarrassing moments in my life. And secondly, because it is usually asked during a silly "ice breaker" game with a bunch of strangers. So everyone is looking at you and judging your most embarrassing moment- they are hoping for something hilarious, and I usually can't preform in the way they that everyone wants- thus their first impression is that I obviously must be boring. However, I have recently found a new story to tell, should this event ever occur again.

Now, I titled this post "Most Hilarious Moment," in place of "Most Embarrassing Moment," and for good reason: this happened in front of 6 year olds, and thus, they were unphased and totally unreceptive to the event, making the whole event less embarrassing and more hilarious. However, with a different audience, it might have turned out differently.

I was having a particularly "cranky teacher" day, in that I spent a good deal of time having to lecture my students on following the rules and being respectful and less time just laughing with them and enjoying that day. I have told them about 39 times that when it is time to put the legos away, they have to put the legos away, rather then place their creations hidden under book cases and behind other classroom tools. It infuriates me to find lego pieces throughout the room. I had warned them on this day that if I found any hidden lego creations around the room I would have to put the legos up for one week, and they would not have it for indoor recess, or choice time. So, we had just finished cleaning up and were seconds from starting centers. As I walked up to the front of the classroom I noticed a giant spaceship lego creation stuffed between the shelf and the heater. Naturally, I was annoyed. ARGGH! So, i said, "Boys and Girls, unfortunately I just found some hidden lego creations, and that menas I have to put the legos up." The kids moaned and and watched as I bent down in a fit of rage to dislodge the hidden legos. It was well hideen, this first grader meant business in hiding it. So, I really had to bend and squat to get this one out. As I did so, I heard this...
"RRRRRRIIIIIIPPPPPPPP."
My eyes nearly burst out of my face, I quickly stood up, and to my surprise said something out loud that I meant to say to myself (all the while, my surround sound microphone is turned on): "did my pants just rip!?!?"
The class loudly responds with: "YES!"
Well, in the words of Rachel Green, "isn't that just kick you in face, spit on your neck, FANTASTIC!" My pants had ripped just next to the center seam above my right cheek pocket all the way down to mid thigh.  My bright purple underwear were available for all of my class to see. I was wondering if there was enough of a rip for their little eyes to catch the black lace at the top of my underwear- the last thing I need is a first grader to go home and tell their parents they saw my black lace underwear at school.
But oddly, the first graders seemed unphased. After they stated "YES!" I just turned around and tried to "act normal." They were still on the legos being put away. They still moaned. They still were blaming kids for the lego creation that was hidden. They did not care even a little bit about my purple underwear- THANK GOD!
So I sent them to centers in a VERY awkward maneuver around the perimeter of the classroom, and walking with my back to the wall at all times found my snow pants- located directly on the other side of the classroom from where I had been- and put them on over my regular pants. Not a single kid said another word about it. I however, fought back strong urges of uncontrollable laughter, and mourned the loss of my very favorite khaki Maurices pants my sister had bought me for Christmas. RIP wonderful khakis. :( 

First Grade Mumblings (part 2) +some middle school mumblings

Since my post in September titled "First grade mumblings" I have had many requests for a second volume. Ask, and you shall receive, I will give the people what they want! But, also included this time are some middle school volleyball mumblings- because after having coached middle school volleyball for two months- I found they have quite a few funny things to say as well...

Scene: Camon and I dancing and singing BSB during Volleyball practice...
Me (to volleyball team): "Do you guys know who backstreet boys are?"
Player: "EW! My dad listens to them!"

"Ms. Ray. It is raining glass outside!" -1st grader, interpreting the arctic weather

"Ms. Ray, I am sorry I was being risdespecful." -1st grader

Wildlife presenter: "Does anyone know what hibernating is?"
Student: "It is like baby turtles."

"Ms. Ray, It is backwards day. You are the kid, and we are the adults. So YOU sit criss-cross-applesauce now!"..........(another student)..."but. Ms. Ray is a teenager." bahahahahaha.

Scene: Volleyball game vs. Kivalina
Me (to players on the court): "Ok girls, sideout right here!"
(a moment passes....)
player on bench: "What is a sideout?"

(previously in the year, weeks before, I had told my class that I had eyes in the back of my head, and I could see EVERYTHING...)
Me (to class): "1st graders, I should not need to walk backwards in the hallway just to make sure you guys are being respectful. I should not need to keep my eye on you every second. You're first graders now."
student: "but Ms. Ray, you don't need to walk backwards, you have eyes in the back of your head. Use those eyes."

scene: while standing at recess one of Ms. Baker's students comes to us real serious and says:
"Jaqlyn just called you an ass-hole, Ms. Baker! And he meant (then turns around and points to her butt and says)..."this kind!"


:)

Kalyn Peterson

This is a side note from everything Alaska, and everything teaching. This shall be an ode' to Kalyn.

A dear friend to so many people has lost her life this week. On Thursday, Kalyn Peterson, at age 21, found herself at death's door and to so many's disappointment, did not live through the day.

                                   

Kalyn in Chile this summer

There is nothing I can say to make it better, nothing I can do that no one else can do. But, I simply want to take a moment to praise Kalyn's life. She was a beautiful girl for so many reasons. She had a smile and a spirit about her that made everyone near her feel happy. She had an amazingly genuine way of loving others more than herself, and living life as though she knew it might be cut short. She was so very gracious and humble, and full of joy. Kalyn simply loved her life, and everyone in it. She was not afraid to love with her whole heart, and see only the positive in others. And her smile! Oh, Kalyn's smile was the most wonderful smile! She seemed to smile with her whole self, and never ever stop.

Death is the most confusing and difficult thing for me to understand, especially from such a wonderful person, at such a young age. I just keep wondering, "why?" It seemed that Kalyn had so much to offer this world- and now, she is gone. I can only trust that God has a plan for Kalyn, a plan that is far greater than anything I can imagine, and anything she can do here on earth. I pray that everyone grieving for our loss right now can somehow find the strength to celebrate the life Kalyn had- and the love she so willingly shared with all of us.

Thank you, Kalyn, for the blessings you shared!

"I hat you Ms. Ray"

As a first grade teacher I get lots of love. First graders dish it out like candy...i get hugs, drawings, love notes (mis-spelled, of course), and even verbal praise. You have to do very little correctly to gain their love. I have a whole wall devoted to the little notes and pictures I have received from them. It is a much needed Wall O' Support for the days that are...lacking in love.

Unfortunately, not everyday is filled with constant joy and smiles. It is just as easy to gain a 6 year old's hatred, as it is love. I sometimes must lay down the law, punish, discipline, and disappoint these beloved little friends I spend each day with. Yesterday was one of those days. We were taking a test. The kids know this routine. We do it twice each math chapter, and every Friday for spelling. They get it. And they know that cheating will get their paper taken away and I will get very frustrated with them.

Just because they get it, doesn't mean that they won't at least attempt a little peek at a neighbors paper, or a little side conversation when they think I am not looking. BUT, as we all know..I have eyes in the back of my head. So I see EVERYTHING! :)

One little girl could really use some tips and pointers from the people I went to high school and college with, because she sucks at cheating. Very loudly, she started up a conversation with a girl ACROSS THE ROOM about the answer to number 13. REALLY!? As though I would not notice. I promptly "moved her clip down" and took her paper explaining that cheating just is not acceptable. She has heard this before, from another boy who used to have a problem with cheating in the classroom. Yet, she acted as though I just took her Halloween candy and threw it away. She then pouted for a moment. Put on some fake tears (which I easily ignored), and went to work on a "hate note."

She is ridiculously un-sneaky. She then tried to run to my desk, and put it there without me seeing. I obviously saw. I simply took the note, and read it. I was rather impressed with the front of the paper..in perfect writing it stated "This is for you Ms. Ray." SWEET, she even spelled 'this' correctly! But then I turned it over to find this, "I hat you Ms. Ray." Now, I was clearly upset. I have heard plenty of "I hate you's!" in my day while working with kids. Kids will hate you for anything. But, this is my first written note. She meant business. But not only that, we have spent ALL WEEK learning the long /a/ sound! We spent the last 3 days specifically practicing and discussing how the e at the end of these words makes the a says its name.....hate. it should say HATE! Oh my, not only does she hate me! But she doesn't know what we have spent all week working on!!!

But, first grade is simple. So, it was a simple fix. I gathered the class for a class discussion. We talked about our classroom rules. We talked about respect and disrespect. We talked about how this makes me feel- how it makes anyone feel. (all done anonymously..she did not know I had seen her put the paper there). Then I gave the culprit of the note writing a chance to come and talk to me about it while the rest of the class got ready for recess. If the note author did not come and fess up the punishment would be: 10 marbles from the marble jar.

...you're on the edge of your seat now, aren't you?....you're wondering..did she fess up? did she let the class lose 10 marbles?...did i really make the whole class lose marbles for one girl's mean note that I actually KNEW who wrote it!?!....

...she fessed up. she came weeping to me. saying how sorry she was. how she just wanted the right answer on her paper. how she was wrong. she cried and hugged and apologized over and over.
...and the class kept their 10 marbles.

And just like that...from hate to love.

Kotzebue in (early) Winter

It has been weeks since I have posted. But a whole lot has happened since Halloween- both fun and work- and my free moments are spent sleeping, not on the computer.

Sure, my job is tiring. And sure, I keep plenty busy to keep me needing sleep. But no, I don't need sleep THAT bad...but what else is there to do when it is dark? For instance, right now, it is 11am, and it feels sort of like early sunrise. There is no sight of the sun rising yet, but its not really dark. It is dawn-ish. So what do my eyes want to do? Sleep, naturally. All this darkness makes a person LAZY. It is not nearly as dark as it will be- but it is dark, much darker than home. And for me darkness means sleep time. It is that simple. So when I get home instead of being extremely productive like I usually can be, I sit on the couch and think about how early is too early to go to bed. When I am home (in Colorado) I can usually wake up and without ever seeing a clock guess the time with great accuracy. Here, I wake up and am completely clueless to the time. It could be 9am just as easily at it could be 8pm or 2:30am. My internal clock is ridiculously incorrect these days. Which is kind of a fun, mind-boggling, event each day and night. But also, can throw a person off.

With shorter daylight hours, and more darkness, come more coldness. Its not been too miserable at all yet. It is bearable or sure. We had one sorta-kinda blizzard which brought some snow- but really, there is not tons of snow. There are snow drifts from the wind. The temperature all the days this week were within 5 degrees of 0. I don't think the actually temperature got below -2 or above 10, but with wind chill and humidity the coldest it felt like was like -13 or so. Which, believe me I was cold. But, not really very many other people were. haha. I wonder if I will survive January, when with wind chill it can be something like -50. Hmm...that will be wild!

With the snow on the ground we have officially made the switch from fall to winter. It is most noticeable by looking at the lagoon behind my house. No more boats... Instead, dog sleds. :) They have begun taking the dogs out everyday for training. When there are not dogsleds, there are ice fisherman, cross-country skiiers (that's me!), and snow-go's (snowmobiles). It is very fun to see. It is hard to tell there was ever even water behind my house- as far as anyone can tell, it was just a big patch of grass.

The Northern Lights have been out a lot more this week than the last few weeks. I saw them a few times this week to or from school. I saw them from my bedroom window yesterday. But unfortunately I have not snapped a picture. They go away FAST! And. I often am not prepared because I need my tri-pod, and camera and everything. Not to mention that it won't really work in town. There is a lot of other light to ruin the picture, It would be best if I could get even just over the bridge to cemetary hill to not have any light pollution. But I am on a mission..hopefully I can even do it tonight!

In other news and updates:
-Last week I was able to to go to one of the villages, Noorvik, about 700(ish) people. We played Volleyball there.  Kotzebue defeated the bears! :) It was fun. It was was neat to see the village. Basically, the exact same thing as here, but smaller. Still the same things existed. I was absolutely floored to hear my volleyball team make jokes about 'the Natives." In the villages, many people are more Native. By this, I mean that in Kotzebue there are more non-Natives. Many of my students are 3/4 or 1/2 Native. IN the Villages, many more people are around that are full Native, fully Inupiaq. And they girls from Kotzeube were making fun of this! It broke my heart to see and hear that. Why on earth is that they way it is!?! They are all Inupiaq, and all share the same culture. I could  not believe it. Interesting, huh? It made me sad to think that a few more years of that kind of treatment and much of the Native traditions and culture will be lost.

- My Volleyball is playing against Nome this weekend. We are playing both today and already played last night. We won both games! And really well! This is big news because they lost to Nome in October when we went there to play them. It was neat to see the girls be so excited.

-KEVIN COMES IN 11 DAYS. I am VERY excited. :)

That is all for now. More to come I am certain. :)

lunch break

today for lunch i watched the sunrise.

'that's wild. :)