Weekly Reflections - Week 2

Ahhhh...the joys of living in the bush....random power failures that fry wireless routers and leave you with no internet at home. I can use the internet here at school, but i've been running to the post office everyday in anticipation of my bush order arriving. I have gotten some amazon orders & the box my mom sent but still no bush order. I see another $120 bag of groceries in my future.

I am using my laptop that the school gave me & the delete key has fallen off. I have it on the key but do you know how often I make typing mistakes? This is somewhat annoying.....although I did enjoy it when the tech guy asked me which key I was missing and I said, "This one." and handed it to him.

My heater is still broken in my classroom and let me tell you, it feels like august in here. I could make another reference but I'll refrain.

So my weekly reflection ~ Teaching is exhausting but I'm seeing progress. Which is good. These are good kids who are so smart. It's just really hard to keep their focus.

I heard some gnarly stories involving puppies who follow their kids to school in the wintertime and get left outside. That was disturbing.

I was able to upload pictures to my laptop so I could publish them on my blog. Of course they aren't on this computer, so a lot of good that does me right now....

The hardest thing about this week was the fact that I got sick. I lost my voice, had a bad sinus cold, etc. I was able to work and I really wasn't all that miserable, but it was hard because I don't have any over the counter cold medicine. I had tylenol and that was it. I had some teas but not my whole assortment that I liek to have when I'm sick. I haven't gotten any of my cough drops and I totally forgot about throat spray. So I've just been bearing it. And you know what? I'm doing okay. Man, I'm going to be so tough after all this! I'm gonna have to order some plaid fannel shirts to go with my hiking boots to go with my grizzly toughness. Okay, not really, but I bet they are warm.

But my two weeks out here have changed me. I've been thinking about it and I've made a list of things I will never complain about again:

1) It raining all the time in California. Here's why: it's raining almost everyday here. Which means the river is really high. If the river doesn't go down before it freezes, then come spring our village will get flooded out. Rain in California is just annoying, not dangerous.

2) Going to the store. Man, I would love to go to the store. I would love to need something and get it within an hour. That's freakin' sweet!

3) Traffic. You're at least in a car and not walking.

4) Having nothing to do. The power went out. Which means the pumps wouldn't work for our water. My battery was low in my laptop and I was going to recharge it later. I had to become inventive with my time for 3 hours. I was bored out of my mind.

5) Darkness. We'll see about this but right now I miss seeing the stars and the moon. I know they are out there. I may miss the sun in a few months.

6) Plumbers: what I would give to have a good plumber....my toliet, tub, sink, washing machine and pipes leak. I would wait hours for a decent plumber.

Okay, I feel like all I've done is complain. I tend to get grouchy in the heat. Which is one of the reasons I moved to Alaska. And it's hotter than Hades in this classroom. But I will leave this blog entry on a positive note:

My roommate and I went down to the river after being invited to another teacher's hosue for dinner. We played Just Dance on the Wii and had a great time. But down on the river (which is seriously right by my house), it was so beautiful and peaceful. I saw a fish jumping. That's still the only wildlife I've seen besides ducks. But it was a lovely way to end the day. Life here is really very lovely....