White, Yup'ik, Black, Asian.....We Are All People

Oscar! Oscar! Who will win? I still think Billy Crystal is the best Oscar host. His opening numbers were so fun....

So tonight was Oscar night, and thanks to the magic of satellite, I was able to watch. I have been watching the Academy Awards my whole life and I was a little upset about having to miss them. Silly, I know, but it actually bugged me. Until my roommate got tv that is.

This week was a good week. Well......maybe not the best week ever, but it could have been worse. We had to give the English Language test to see where our students were. During the test, my kids rocked it. But towards the afternoon, they were exhausted and so spent. As the week progressed, they got worse and worse. I was thinking something was up....and then the snowstorm hit.

Now, if you don't work with children, you won't understand why I should have seen it. While I don't have any real scientific evidence to back this up, it's a known fact: children act up during full moons and weather changes. I should have realized when I checked the weather that a snowstorm would have explained what was going on in my classroom. It was my first real snowstorm....hard winds and hard snow. It was awesome!

The internet went out during the storm so I wasn't able to talk to my special someone but it was okay because I went home and took the most incredible nap. The wind was howling outside....the snow was falling and I was cuddled up under a blankie with my cats.....I slept hard and I slept good!

This weekend I was off to Bethel for a math conference. I'm using this math curriculum that is designed to teach math skills using traditional Yup'ik activities. It's a good program. I went to the first conference back in November. This time a couple of new people joined us. And it's funny how two people can change the dynamic of the group. Last time there was this chick who seriously needed a valium. And there was another woman who complained the whole time about her village & her students (there's a few teachers who've crossed my path, but I try to keep their negativity out of my life and off my blog.) but with these two guys around, the negativity was gone! And we were actually able to focus on math.

One of these teachers was a Yup'ik man. And he said something during the discussion that stopped me dead in my tracks. We were talking about using your fingers and other body parts as a form of measurement vs western civilization methods. And he asked didn't everybody at one point use the same methods? Basically he made me realize: math had to come from the same place before we had formulas and all this "stuff"....he pointed out the human quality of it. Think about it...before rulers, what do you think people used to measure when they made clothes? I was thinking in terms of what's Yup'ik and what's the white culture......I am ashamed to admit, I forget we are all people.

He was also telling a story about carving a spoon. I didn't quite hear the whole story but I guess someone had asked him if it was a Yup'ik spoon...and he said, "The whole world uses spoons."

This reminds me of a conversation I had with my friend who's Sioux. I asked him whether he wanted to be referred to as Native American or Indian. You know what he said to me? "How about a human being?" I think it's sad that the people who've reminded me these lessons were all native. When will I learn this lesson and won't need to be reminded? When will I think of people in terms of people? This person's native...this person's white...someday I will get there. While I'm bothered that I need reminding, I am grateful for the reminders. It humbles me.....it really does. Living here humbles me.

On my way home, I thought to myself, "Wow. I left the village and nothing bad happened." Then I thought I had better not jinx myself. But who was I kidding? I was five minutes from home.....what could happen? Yeah........so when I got home, I couldn't find Lola....she had been locked in my roommates room for 36 hours and had pooped on her white bedspread. And my other's cat's eye was swollen and had gunk coming out of it. I got Lola soothed and cleaned Daisy's eye with a warm washcloth....I have to ask: why can't I leave Akiak without anything happening???? By the end of the night, the bedspread was clean, and both Lola and Daisy were okay....whew!

As I've been typing this entry, I've had an Academy Award winning song playing: Falling Slowly from the movie Once...It fits my mood tonight......here's the lyrics:

I don't know you
But I want you
All the more for that
Words fall through me
And always fool me
And I can't react
And games that never amount
To more than they're meant
Will play themselves out

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you have a choice
You'll make it now

Falling slowly, eyes that know me
And I can't go back
Moods that take me and erase me
And I'm painted black
You have suffered enough
And warred with yourself
It's time that you won

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you have a choice

You've made it now
Falling slowly sing your melody
I'll sing it loud

Good Enough for Now

So lately, my posts haven't been quite as reflective as they started out being. And I don't post as much. It's not because I don't have anything to say, it's just my mind has been on something else that I haven't yet mentioned.

I was wondering when or even if I should bring this topic up on my blog. It's of a personal nature but I think people would be interested. And this is part of my Alaskan adventures, so I should really mention this....

So I am going to for a couple of reasons: 1) it will help me not hold back on my writing 2) I know some ladies at home who would love to hear about this and 3) someone was a bit miffed that he hasn't been mentioned yet.

I have a new friend. He's a man that I've met up here but he doesn't live in my village. So it really pisses me off when the Internet is not working.

So here's where I don't know what to say. I don't want to say much in case we just remain friends. And I don't want to say anything in case he turns out to be a jerk and breaks my heart. But I also want to gush about him because he brightens up my day and makes me smile at the same time. So in light of all this, I'm just going to admit to his existence.

But I will say the funny part is I become completely female at everything he does. He made a comment that he read my blog and I hadn't mentioned him in it. What does that mean??? Oh yes friends, my mind has been a pondering a great many things. None of which I'll torture you with. However, whether or not I talk about it on my blog, I reserve the right to analyze every action, every word, and every tone because I'm a woman and that's what we do! But that's what I need my girlfriends for to help me with this crazy stuff.....such a shame I moved thousands of miles away from them....but I have new girlfriends....maybe I can drive them crazy with my: he didn't email me before 7 p.m.......is it because he was busy or was he trying to tell me something??? Or read this email and tell me the type of tone he's trying to get across (Friend - don't worry, I haven't actually done that! Okay, maybe I read one aloud.....but that was just the one time.)

So life has gotten even a bit more interesting. It's been a very long time since I was involved in the drama of it all. It's kind of fun. And nerve racking at the same time....

So there you are! He's been mentioned and no longer hanging over my head wondering if I should or shouldn't. Whew! Just when you think your life is starting to settle down, life really starts to take off! At least up here it does...

Snow Falls....

So this has been a quieter couple of weeks, without a whole lot of drama. Snow storms came in, but the weather isn't such a huge deal to me anymore. I've got the equipment to stay warm & dry.

I was a bit worried when the zipper on my parka broke, but I think I can fix it. The morning after it broke, I had to walk to work in a snow storm. I wore a thick hoodie under my raincoat and was warm & toasty. So I'm not worried if I can't fix it. I'll come up with something.

This week I was at the school quite a bit for the middle school teams basketball games. One game I was in charge of the 1st, 2nd, & 3rd grade cheerleaders. I had fun, but I didn't know the cheers so it was hard to coach the girls. Lucky for me, they were all so adorable that anything they did was cute as could be. My roommate coaches the cheerleaders but she also was coaching the basketball team, so she couldn't be in two places at once....although, technically, they both were in the gym, but you know what I mean.

I was invited to play basketball with a group of women who play at night. Surprised? Yeah, me too. I can't shoot, dribble...okay, so I don't really know how to play basketball because I hated P.E. when I was in school. I was a drama kid....we didn't do P.E. We were too cool for it. But, it might be fun and I warned the women how I really don't know how to play. So why not? Who knows? I like the ladies who play so I might just love playing basketball.

The big news is that contracts came out. I was offered a contract for next year. And I signed it. I'm coming back to Akiak next year. I might not really leave it except for a visit to California this summer. I like it up here and i think I will have an even better year next year. I love my kids but this year I spent mostly feeling out what it takes to live and teach up here in Alaska. I'd like to be more proactive next year. I would like to start a drama club next year. I think it could be a positive way for the kids to express themselves. The only real question for the drama club would be what would the age range be? Well....I could do two....one for younger kids and one for older.....but that's just one of my ideas.

I believe most of the staff has been offered a contract for next year. I don't know who all is coming back next year though. I know my Miller friends are coming back (or never really leaving) but I think some haven't decided yet. The turnover here is really high so I might have a completely different experience teaching here next year. Who knows what will happen?

Oh, and I forgot....I have other news. But not really exciting. Over winter break I had dyed my hair blonde. And then I found out there's a high chlorine content in our water....which explains why my hair starting turning green. So I dyed it with the help of the Millers....to a dark purple. I look punk rock. And for those of you who don't know my mother, she has red hair. Really red hair....why am I telling you this? Because anytime I dye my hair, it tries to go red. The purple was a temporary color and guess what it's fading too....yep, red. So I've decided to stop fighting the red hair. Red hair - you win....next time, I'm just going red.

By the way, you can't ship hair dye....good thing I'm going to Bethel next weekend for a math conference. I'll pick up some then.

Adventure or Just High Drama???

Is the question on deck.....

I've decided never to leave the village again. Okay, not really. But my Anchorage trip didn't go very well because I got the worst case of food poisoning I've ever had. I had to leave the retreat early & my boss wanted me to go to a clinic. And I feel when you leave a work function early and your boss wants you to go to a clinic, you go to a clinic. So I went. And there's not much you can do for food poisoning but let it run it's course. I went to Walmart but didn't last very long. So I spent the rest of my Anchorage trip in bed. Poor me.

And now.....I have been without power for the last 24 hours. There's power at the school but not at home. And there's been no cell phone or internet either. People are showering in the locker rooms and we just had a massive teacher dinner with excellent food. I even cooked a dish. It was a pasta dish from a box that boiled over. But whatever.

Many of the teachers are sleeping at the school tonight. Only in bush Alaska can you walk down the halls of your school and hear babies crying and dogs barking coming from the classrooms. People brought their dogs (and one family brought a parrot). The temperature is supposed to drop really low.

And our houses have no heat. We don't have wood burning stoves to generate heat either. So, sleeping at the school becomes a legitimate option. But not for yours truly....oh no. I'm going home in a bit. Cause I can't leave my cats. I know they will be fine but I'm not actually a fan of camping and I would rather bundle up my bed with blankets than camp out in my classroom. I'm spoiled, I know....

But there's internet right now....so I have some hope that all power will be restored to the village. I can't decide what's worse: no power but running water (no way to heat it up) OR no water but the ability to heat up river water or snow.....hmmmmmm.....

Tougher Than I Thought....

So we were supposed to get a substitute teacher for our district. He got the job and was totally excited. He lands in one of the villages and stays for an hour. Then he gets back on the plane, never to return.

I have heard stories but I have never heard of it in real life.

So I was totally judging this guy. I was thinking, "What a wuss!" But then I remembered my first reaction when I landed here. But I still never had the urge to get back on the plane. My only thoughts were on how to make it work. Culture shock is a very intense emotion but it passes. I really like it up here.

I don't feel tough or brave living up here. When something goes wrong, you just have to deal with it. There's absolutely nothing else to do.

We had a big shake up this week and I'm not really sure what happened. But one of our elementary teachers left. As in quit her job and is currently packing up her house. I wish I had the whole story but I guess she got fed up and couldn't take it anymore...whatever it may have been.

Personally, I could never make that same choice. I love my kids too much. I have so many sweet stories about them hugging me and telling me they love me...or writing notes to me. And I love them right back!

But I guess we will get a new teacher in our wing. Who knows? Right now, one of the aides is taking over the class. Another teacher is helping him with his lesson plans but so far he's doing great.

In other news, this weekend I'm going to Anchorage for an elementary teacher retreat with my district. This is going to be a fun trip for me. I will be hanging out with my teacher friends in an actual restaurant! Yay!

I'm not very reflective right now, but I just wanted to give everyone an update. By the way: they don't have Groundhog Day...it's Marmot Day....whatever a marmot is....I kinda wish I knew that before I taught the kids about Groundhog Day....oh well!