My Alaskan Adventure

2011-10-31T17:10:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened since my last post. Gia, one of the other new teachers got two dogs.Our school's National Youth Olympic (NYO) tournament took place on a Friday and Saturday. I attended another throw and the feast that went with it (those pictures will be coming as soon as i figure out how to get them off my phone)We had an assembly. I got a Yupik name (Miisaq), and it finally snowed. Here are the pictures to go with it all.

Kipnuk Sunrise

A few from around town

Frost 10-10-11

NYO

Coach Paul-7th Grade Teacher

Spectators

Kneel-Jump

Wrist Carry

One Arm Reach

Alaskan High Kick

One Foot High Jump

Two Foot High Kick

Little Lucy....My photographer for a while....loves playing with my camera

Emily, Jenni, Gia

Toe Kick

Indian Stick Pull

Seal Hop

Eskimo Stick Pull

One of Gia's 6th graders Amber Kanuk came in 1st place for JH seal hop

Awards

Award Ceremony

Junior High came in 1st place

High School also came in 1st

Pumpkin Bread courtesy of Jessica's teal box

Frost 10-17-11

Halloween "Whoopie Pies" (Gobs if you're from PA) Jenni made

Aquila

Moses

First Snow 10-24-11

Waiting for the assembly to start

Being told about the dog tags-a school wide reward system

Andy Slim-Perfect Attendance Quarter 1

Lena Dock-Good Behavior Quarter 1

The whole class with their red ribbon week dog tags

Watching First Grade receive their dog tags

Ramsey Construction in Kipnuk

Duquesne Magazine in Kipnuk

Pictures

2011-09-17T11:57:00.000-07:00

I know its been awhile so I figured I would add some pictures for everyone. This week I got to go to a birthday and try some new foods. The weekend of the 10th we were in Bethel and brought food home with us. I haven't received my Span Alaska order yet, but we did get some Omaha Steaks.

Moravian Church

Jessica got this weather chart for me!

Different Views of Kipnuk

Jenni made meringue mushrooms

Geese

Ducks

Windmill!

Grass drying for baskets

The front of the school

The Gym

We went out for Sushi when we were in Bethel for training

Some of the food I have been making/eating

My traditional Yupik Shirt...I think its spelled Kusbaq

Our Staff
Fannie-1st Grade

Voni-2nd Grade

Amanda-3rd Grade

Fran-4th Grade

Maxine-5th Grade

Gia-6th Grade

I need to get pictures of Jessica and Paul...they teach 7/8 grade.
Mark-High School Social Studies and Health

Mike-High School English

Jenni-High School Math and Science (My roomate)

Our Custodians Noah and Dollie

My Class

2011-08-28T22:16:00.000-07:00

Just a brief update for now and I'll edit later.

Since my last post I attended a throw party. This is an event held by the women of the family when a boy kills his first seal or a girl finds her first egg. The party I went to was held by Maxine a teacher at the school. A throw party consists of the women literally throwing household items into a crowd of women and children from the village. I caught a bowl, candies, and writing utensils, while my roommate caught a pitcher. Pictures will follow.

On the first day of school, Agnes my aide brought me dried salmon strips to try and they were delicious.

Maxine brought us Yupik ice cream which is usually made out of crisco and berries. The one she brought had a relative of spinach in it as well as dried fruit and salmon berries. I definitely ate more then is healthy but it was delicious.

I am finally receiving my full circle farms. Every Tuesday I get a box full of fruits and veggies. I didn't know I missed them so much until the first box arrived and I literally jumped for joy.

For those of you who know my mother, you will be happy to know that this week I attempted and successfully made her stuffed cabbage and homemade pierogies. Even though her recipe was super complicated for use in bush Alaska and I had to use Maureen's simplified recipe because I could actually get all the ingredients here. I assure you I am not starving in the bush. My roommate and I have almost finished an entire gallon of ice cream which arrived on Thursday evening.

2011-08-09T00:38:00.000-07:00

So obviously training is over, but some of these pictures pertain to the last couple activities so I am going to go back in time in order to describe them. The day after my last blog we learn all about the Yupik culture in our training session. We learn some basic words as well as two dances. We also got to try the local foods. The portions were small which was a good thing for those of us who were nervous about the taste and textures. Everything was surprisingly good, including the whale blubber. The taste and texture are hard to explain but definitely better than I was expecting. After the day's classes were over, we went fishing. Jenni is the brunette in the pictures and my roommate while Gia the blonde lives downstairs. Needless to say we had a fun time even though we didn't actually catch anything. It was raining pretty good and we were out on the boat until about 11 pm at which point we had to go home and pack. The following day we flew into Kipnuk and I assure you it is exactly what I was expecting. It was colder and mudder then Bethel and was raining pretty good when we landed. The landing wasn't the smoothest one I've had but the pilot was good and I had complete faith especially since Jenni is a pilot and didn't seem nervous. Our apartment is nice and the hardest thing so far has been waiting for our stuff to arrive at the post office. Things are coming together though. I'll update pictures once we are settled. My classroom is big and setting it up was more difficult than I anticipated. I was trying really hard to take into consideration everything I was taught during college and I may have over analyzed the situation. I will update these pictures once I am done setting up. This past Sunday we flew back into Bethel and stayed at the District Office overnight. This was a day earlier then we were supposed to get in because we were going to tour a gold mine on Monday and we had to fly out of Bethel early on Monday. Needless to say the district office at night is an interesting place to be and I got some good pictures. As we flew inland to the mine on Monday, there were both trees and mountains that surfaced which is exciting because we have neither when flying to the village. The mine is not currently active but is the proposed site for Donlin Gold. We got a lot of information on what the project consisted of and where certain aspects of the mine would be placed. We drove to the top of a mountain to see the site from above and several Yupik ladies showed us how to find tundra tea and berries. Tuesday and Wednesday was training for the entire district. I don't have much to say other then I finally got to meet the rest of the teachers from my village and learned more about the programs that the district implement for instruction.

Gia and Dorothy at 9:45 pm

Pictures from Bethel

Native Food

Fishing with Gia and Jenni

Best Smoked Salmon Ever

More fishing trip

Alaskan cinnamon roll

Leaving Bethel

Tundra

Our plane

Kipnuk from the air

Landing in Kipnuk

View from Kipnuk airport

View from the living room window

Furry meat from our freezer

Our Apartment
Gia and Jenni eating dinner at 11:30 pm

My Classroom

School from my room

Kipnuk view

Kids on the play deck. The blue tan and white building is the school and around the corner is my apartment.

District Office

Trees and mountains flying to the mine

At the mine

Dorm for district wide inservice

I'm here!

2011-08-02T22:12:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am here. I would have updated you sooner but it's been a whirlwind experience. Yesterday we worked on paperwork for most of the day and had an ice cream social last night. We are staying in a dorm that has two bunk beds and I am rooming with the other three new teachers from Kipnuk. So far everyone is super nice and super helpful. Today was our first day of training and we got a lot of introductions and learned how to find out what our curriculum is. Tonight Jenny (my tentative roommate), Ken (a new teacher in another village), and I walked to AC to get fishing licenses for tomorrow's fishing trip. Tomorrow, I think we are going to get a crash-course in the language and other cultural experiences including tasting the local cuisine. That's all I have for now so I'll close with some pictures.

This is on the plane leaving Pittsburgh.

A statue in Denver

In Anchorage

Landing in Bethel

Dorms from the outside

Heinz Ketchup does exist in Bethel

Ross the driver told me that when the foxglove plants bloom at the top winter has arrived

View from walking towards the dorm

Thank You!!

2011-07-24T11:03:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who came to my surprise party yesterday. I have a really awesome sister and everything was absolutely awesome....And YES I really was surprised!