Thursday, April 3, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Catch-Up
So... the last update I did was in an airport and I didn't get to finish due to the fact that I had to board the plane. So here we are again.
February and March flew by. In all my classes we finished novels and have been preparing for standardized testing. It has been super busy and has gone by so fast.
The most exciting thing to have happened was my spring break!!! For spring break, my Nikki, Mel and I decided to go somewhere warm. Our principal, Jamie, her two daughters, her sister and niece also joined us. We headed out to Anchorage for the weekend where we shopped for some summer clothes. From there we flew to L.A. and got on our Cruise Ship!!! The first night on the Carnival Cruise we checked out the ship and relaxed on the sun deck. That night we ate in the ship's restaurant. It was very fancy. They even put your napkin on your lap for you! Nikki and I hit up the dance show that night, which was more like a cheesy Saturday Night Live skit! But it was still fun. The second day of the cruise we docked in Avalon on Catalina Island, CA. It was gorgeous!!! We took at brief tour of the city and hit the shops and a nice little restaurant by the sea for lunch. We had to laugh during the restaurant when the guide was trying to tell us how "small" the island was. He told us that the school only had 700 students from grades K-12. Haha! Only 700?! that is double the population of our whole island! He also said "here is our hospital. And yes, we only have 1 doctor." We were like, "sweet! You have a doctor?" That day after we explored Catalina, we went back to the boat to throw our swim suits and bask in the California sun. It was heaven! About 75 and blue skies! Our second day of the cruise took us to Ensenada, Mexico. We first got on a bus that took us through the city. The city itself was very dirty and smoggy. Traffic was heavy and tight and there were random dogs all over. Then we took another bus that lead us to the famous "blow hole". There are only 3 natural blow holes in the world. One is in Hawaii, one is in Australia and the third was there in Mexico. A blow hole is like a geyser that happens right on the ocean's edge. Our tour guide was great! She was hilarious and really knowledgeable, so she showed us all the key points in town along the way to the geyser. Once we got off the bus, she took us through the market place and showed us which shops were sold "the real thing" and which shops to stay away from. It was crazy there! There were people everywhere, and men that kept saying "pretty ladies, I have deals for you" and "hollywoods girls, come in and take a look." It was kind of creepy actually. We walked right through the market, which was probably about half a mile long! We wanted to see the blowhole before we did anything else. So we went to were a crowd of people stood by this cliff overlooking the ocean. You could see the waves coming and all of a sudden you could hear this gurgling noise that got really loud and then the water shot up through the rocks and high into the air. It was really cool! Then we hit up a real Mexican restaurant for lunch before attempting the market. I really liked the market. The prices were cheap, once you knew how to barter. It was so fun! I got a guy to go from $265 on a sterling silver bracelet down to $30! I didn't even buy it, I just wanted to see if I could do it! We only had a few hours there before we had to hop on the bus again. Once we got back to the boat we took a nap and got all dazzled up for the formal dinner night. The food was soooo great!!! The final day on the ship we were hoping to soak up the rays and relax. We had the whole day on the boat. Well, we woke up to temperatures of about 55 degrees and rocky waves. But we bundled up and attempted to at least get a little face tan! HAHA. It was really windy and cool. It was also hilarious to watch people try to walk around when the ship was rocking. We went to lunch and then checked out a few of the shops on the ship. At one point, one of the clothing racks on wheels went rolling to the other end of this hallway. It was rocky!! I started to feel a little sea sick, so I went back to the room to take a nap. Much to my surprise I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror back in the room and realized I had gotten some sun that morning. Even when it was that cool out! Actually my face was fried! AND... I had worn some big sunglasses that day, so I had some sweet raccoon eyes! The next day we had to catch our flight from LA to Anchorage, but we had about 5 hours to spare, so we decided to hit up Hollywood! Why not, right?! Jamie sweet-talked taxi cab guy to take us there for $50 total (he had been asking for $120!). We couldn't resist and hopped in the van. It was a creepy ride, to say the least! The driver was on the phone the whole time, weaving in and out of traffic, yelling at someone about his phone bill and saying he "had business to take care of". We were all very grateful to get out of the van back on Hollywood Blvd. It was great! We walked on the Hollywood walk of fame and saw all of the stars with the names on them. Then we hit up a pizza place for lunch in the Hollywood plaza overlooking the famous Hollywood sign. After a quick couple of hours there, we needed to find a way back to the airport. So, the subway seemed like the best option. That was a whole different adventure! The subway took us to the ghettos of L.A. We went through some pretty shady neighborhoods where all the windows and doors in the houses were barred. The subway stopped at Compton, which is where we had to get off to get on a different subway. Compton is one of the well-known rough gang areas of LA. It was quite the experience for sure! Finally we got on the plane to head to Salt Lake City and then to Anchorage. AND...the best part of the flight was that Robert Redford was on the plane with us!!!!!! Of course, he was in first class, but I did see the back of his head and his body guard.
Then it was back to Anchorage and finally back to Saint Paul. The 2 weeks since break have happened so fast. It consisted of test-prep for this weeks standardized tests. I also got a nasty cold that I have been fighting. Now only about 7 weeks left of the school year!
February and March flew by. In all my classes we finished novels and have been preparing for standardized testing. It has been super busy and has gone by so fast.
The most exciting thing to have happened was my spring break!!! For spring break, my Nikki, Mel and I decided to go somewhere warm. Our principal, Jamie, her two daughters, her sister and niece also joined us. We headed out to Anchorage for the weekend where we shopped for some summer clothes. From there we flew to L.A. and got on our Cruise Ship!!! The first night on the Carnival Cruise we checked out the ship and relaxed on the sun deck. That night we ate in the ship's restaurant. It was very fancy. They even put your napkin on your lap for you! Nikki and I hit up the dance show that night, which was more like a cheesy Saturday Night Live skit! But it was still fun. The second day of the cruise we docked in Avalon on Catalina Island, CA. It was gorgeous!!! We took at brief tour of the city and hit the shops and a nice little restaurant by the sea for lunch. We had to laugh during the restaurant when the guide was trying to tell us how "small" the island was. He told us that the school only had 700 students from grades K-12. Haha! Only 700?! that is double the population of our whole island! He also said "here is our hospital. And yes, we only have 1 doctor." We were like, "sweet! You have a doctor?" That day after we explored Catalina, we went back to the boat to throw our swim suits and bask in the California sun. It was heaven! About 75 and blue skies! Our second day of the cruise took us to Ensenada, Mexico. We first got on a bus that took us through the city. The city itself was very dirty and smoggy. Traffic was heavy and tight and there were random dogs all over. Then we took another bus that lead us to the famous "blow hole". There are only 3 natural blow holes in the world. One is in Hawaii, one is in Australia and the third was there in Mexico. A blow hole is like a geyser that happens right on the ocean's edge. Our tour guide was great! She was hilarious and really knowledgeable, so she showed us all the key points in town along the way to the geyser. Once we got off the bus, she took us through the market place and showed us which shops were sold "the real thing" and which shops to stay away from. It was crazy there! There were people everywhere, and men that kept saying "pretty ladies, I have deals for you" and "hollywoods girls, come in and take a look." It was kind of creepy actually. We walked right through the market, which was probably about half a mile long! We wanted to see the blowhole before we did anything else. So we went to were a crowd of people stood by this cliff overlooking the ocean. You could see the waves coming and all of a sudden you could hear this gurgling noise that got really loud and then the water shot up through the rocks and high into the air. It was really cool! Then we hit up a real Mexican restaurant for lunch before attempting the market. I really liked the market. The prices were cheap, once you knew how to barter. It was so fun! I got a guy to go from $265 on a sterling silver bracelet down to $30! I didn't even buy it, I just wanted to see if I could do it! We only had a few hours there before we had to hop on the bus again. Once we got back to the boat we took a nap and got all dazzled up for the formal dinner night. The food was soooo great!!! The final day on the ship we were hoping to soak up the rays and relax. We had the whole day on the boat. Well, we woke up to temperatures of about 55 degrees and rocky waves. But we bundled up and attempted to at least get a little face tan! HAHA. It was really windy and cool. It was also hilarious to watch people try to walk around when the ship was rocking. We went to lunch and then checked out a few of the shops on the ship. At one point, one of the clothing racks on wheels went rolling to the other end of this hallway. It was rocky!! I started to feel a little sea sick, so I went back to the room to take a nap. Much to my surprise I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror back in the room and realized I had gotten some sun that morning. Even when it was that cool out! Actually my face was fried! AND... I had worn some big sunglasses that day, so I had some sweet raccoon eyes! The next day we had to catch our flight from LA to Anchorage, but we had about 5 hours to spare, so we decided to hit up Hollywood! Why not, right?! Jamie sweet-talked taxi cab guy to take us there for $50 total (he had been asking for $120!). We couldn't resist and hopped in the van. It was a creepy ride, to say the least! The driver was on the phone the whole time, weaving in and out of traffic, yelling at someone about his phone bill and saying he "had business to take care of". We were all very grateful to get out of the van back on Hollywood Blvd. It was great! We walked on the Hollywood walk of fame and saw all of the stars with the names on them. Then we hit up a pizza place for lunch in the Hollywood plaza overlooking the famous Hollywood sign. After a quick couple of hours there, we needed to find a way back to the airport. So, the subway seemed like the best option. That was a whole different adventure! The subway took us to the ghettos of L.A. We went through some pretty shady neighborhoods where all the windows and doors in the houses were barred. The subway stopped at Compton, which is where we had to get off to get on a different subway. Compton is one of the well-known rough gang areas of LA. It was quite the experience for sure! Finally we got on the plane to head to Salt Lake City and then to Anchorage. AND...the best part of the flight was that Robert Redford was on the plane with us!!!!!! Of course, he was in first class, but I did see the back of his head and his body guard.
Then it was back to Anchorage and finally back to Saint Paul. The 2 weeks since break have happened so fast. It consisted of test-prep for this weeks standardized tests. I also got a nasty cold that I have been fighting. Now only about 7 weeks left of the school year!
Catch-Up
So... the last update I did was in an airport and I didn't get to finish due to the fact that I had to board the plane. So here we are again.
February and March flew by. In all my classes we finished novels and have been preparing for standardized testing. It has been super busy and has gone by so fast.
The most exciting thing to have happened was my spring break!!! For spring break, my Nikki, Mel and I decided to go somewhere warm. Our principal, Jamie, her two daughters, her sister and niece also joined us. We headed out to Anchorage for the weekend where we shopped for some summer clothes. From there we flew to L.A. and got on our Cruise Ship!!! The first night on the Carnival Cruise we checked out the ship and relaxed on the sun deck. That night we ate in the ship's restaurant. It was very fancy. They even put your napkin on your lap for you! Nikki and I hit up the dance show that night, which was more like a cheesy Saturday Night Live skit! But it was still fun. The second day of the cruise we docked in Avalon on Catalina Island, CA. It was gorgeous!!! We took at brief tour of the city and hit the shops and a nice little restaurant by the sea for lunch. We had to laugh during the restaurant when the guide was trying to tell us how "small" the island was. He told us that the school only had 700 students from grades K-12. Haha! Only 700?! that is double the population of our whole island! He also said "here is our hospital. And yes, we only have 1 doctor." We were like, "sweet! You have a doctor?" That day after we explored Catalina, we went back to the boat to throw our swim suits and bask in the California sun. It was heaven! About 75 and blue skies! Our second day of the cruise took us to Ensenada, Mexico. We first got on a bus that took us through the city. The city itself was very dirty and smoggy. Traffic was heavy and tight and there were random dogs all over. Then we took another bus that lead us to the famous "blow hole". There are only 3 natural blow holes in the world. One is in Hawaii, one is in Australia and the third was there in Mexico. A blow hole is like a geyser that happens right on the ocean's edge. Our tour guide was great! She was hilarious and really knowledgeable, so she showed us all the key points in town along the way to the geyser. Once we got off the bus, she took us through the market place and showed us which shops were sold "the real thing" and which shops to stay away from. It was crazy there! There were people everywhere, and men that kept saying "pretty ladies, I have deals for you" and "hollywoods girls, come in and take a look." It was kind of creepy actually. We walked right through the market, which was probably about half a mile long! We wanted to see the blowhole before we did anything else. So we went to were a crowd of people stood by this cliff overlooking the ocean. You could see the waves coming and all of a sudden you could hear this gurgling noise that got really loud and then the water shot up through the rocks and high into the air. It was really cool! Then we hit up a real Mexican restaurant for lunch before attempting the market. I really liked the market. The prices were cheap, once you knew how to barter. It was so fun! I got a guy to go from $265 on a sterling silver bracelet down to $30! I didn't even buy it, I just wanted to see if I could do it! We only had a few hours there before we had to hop on the bus again. Once we got back to the boat we took a nap and got all dazzled up for the formal dinner night. The food was soooo great!!! The final day on the ship we were hoping to soak up the rays and relax. We had the whole day on the boat. Well, we woke up to temperatures of about 55 degrees and rocky waves. But we bundled up and attempted to at least get a little face tan! HAHA. It was really windy and cool. It was also hilarious to watch people try to walk around when the ship was rocking. We went to lunch and then checked out a few of the shops on the ship. At one point, one of the clothing racks on wheels went rolling to the other end of this hallway. It was rocky!! I started to feel a little sea sick, so I went back to the room to take a nap. Much to my surprise I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror back in the room and realized I had gotten some sun that morning. Even when it was that cool out! Actually my face was fried! AND... I had worn some big sunglasses that day, so I had some sweet raccoon eyes! The next day we had to catch our flight from LA to Anchorage, but we had about 5 hours to spare, so we decided to hit up Hollywood! Why not, right?! Jamie sweet-talked taxi cab guy to take us there for $50 total (he had been asking for $120!). We couldn't resist and hopped in the van. It was a creepy ride, to say the least! The driver was on the phone the whole time, weaving in and out of traffic, yelling at someone about his phone bill and saying he "had business to take care of". We were all very grateful to get out of the van back on Hollywood Blvd. It was great! We walked on the Hollywood walk of fame and saw all of the stars with the names on them. Then we hit up a pizza place for lunch in the Hollywood plaza overlooking the famous Hollywood sign. After a quick couple of hours there, we needed to find a way back to the airport. So, the subway seemed like the best option. That was a whole different adventure! The subway took us to the ghettos of L.A. We went through some pretty shady neighborhoods where all the windows and doors in the houses were barred. The subway stopped at Compton, which is where we had to get off to get on a different subway. Compton is one of the well-known rough gang areas of LA. It was quite the experience for sure! Finally we got on the plane to head to Salt Lake City and then to Anchorage. AND...the best part of the flight was that Robert Redford was on the plane with us!!!!!! Of course, he was in first class, but I did see the back of his head and his body guard.
Then it was back to Anchorage and finally back to Saint Paul. The 2 weeks since break have happened so fast. It consisted of test-prep for this weeks standardized tests. I also got a nasty cold that I have been fighting. Now only about 7 weeks left of the school year!
February and March flew by. In all my classes we finished novels and have been preparing for standardized testing. It has been super busy and has gone by so fast.
The most exciting thing to have happened was my spring break!!! For spring break, my Nikki, Mel and I decided to go somewhere warm. Our principal, Jamie, her two daughters, her sister and niece also joined us. We headed out to Anchorage for the weekend where we shopped for some summer clothes. From there we flew to L.A. and got on our Cruise Ship!!! The first night on the Carnival Cruise we checked out the ship and relaxed on the sun deck. That night we ate in the ship's restaurant. It was very fancy. They even put your napkin on your lap for you! Nikki and I hit up the dance show that night, which was more like a cheesy Saturday Night Live skit! But it was still fun. The second day of the cruise we docked in Avalon on Catalina Island, CA. It was gorgeous!!! We took at brief tour of the city and hit the shops and a nice little restaurant by the sea for lunch. We had to laugh during the restaurant when the guide was trying to tell us how "small" the island was. He told us that the school only had 700 students from grades K-12. Haha! Only 700?! that is double the population of our whole island! He also said "here is our hospital. And yes, we only have 1 doctor." We were like, "sweet! You have a doctor?" That day after we explored Catalina, we went back to the boat to throw our swim suits and bask in the California sun. It was heaven! About 75 and blue skies! Our second day of the cruise took us to Ensenada, Mexico. We first got on a bus that took us through the city. The city itself was very dirty and smoggy. Traffic was heavy and tight and there were random dogs all over. Then we took another bus that lead us to the famous "blow hole". There are only 3 natural blow holes in the world. One is in Hawaii, one is in Australia and the third was there in Mexico. A blow hole is like a geyser that happens right on the ocean's edge. Our tour guide was great! She was hilarious and really knowledgeable, so she showed us all the key points in town along the way to the geyser. Once we got off the bus, she took us through the market place and showed us which shops were sold "the real thing" and which shops to stay away from. It was crazy there! There were people everywhere, and men that kept saying "pretty ladies, I have deals for you" and "hollywoods girls, come in and take a look." It was kind of creepy actually. We walked right through the market, which was probably about half a mile long! We wanted to see the blowhole before we did anything else. So we went to were a crowd of people stood by this cliff overlooking the ocean. You could see the waves coming and all of a sudden you could hear this gurgling noise that got really loud and then the water shot up through the rocks and high into the air. It was really cool! Then we hit up a real Mexican restaurant for lunch before attempting the market. I really liked the market. The prices were cheap, once you knew how to barter. It was so fun! I got a guy to go from $265 on a sterling silver bracelet down to $30! I didn't even buy it, I just wanted to see if I could do it! We only had a few hours there before we had to hop on the bus again. Once we got back to the boat we took a nap and got all dazzled up for the formal dinner night. The food was soooo great!!! The final day on the ship we were hoping to soak up the rays and relax. We had the whole day on the boat. Well, we woke up to temperatures of about 55 degrees and rocky waves. But we bundled up and attempted to at least get a little face tan! HAHA. It was really windy and cool. It was also hilarious to watch people try to walk around when the ship was rocking. We went to lunch and then checked out a few of the shops on the ship. At one point, one of the clothing racks on wheels went rolling to the other end of this hallway. It was rocky!! I started to feel a little sea sick, so I went back to the room to take a nap. Much to my surprise I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror back in the room and realized I had gotten some sun that morning. Even when it was that cool out! Actually my face was fried! AND... I had worn some big sunglasses that day, so I had some sweet raccoon eyes! The next day we had to catch our flight from LA to Anchorage, but we had about 5 hours to spare, so we decided to hit up Hollywood! Why not, right?! Jamie sweet-talked taxi cab guy to take us there for $50 total (he had been asking for $120!). We couldn't resist and hopped in the van. It was a creepy ride, to say the least! The driver was on the phone the whole time, weaving in and out of traffic, yelling at someone about his phone bill and saying he "had business to take care of". We were all very grateful to get out of the van back on Hollywood Blvd. It was great! We walked on the Hollywood walk of fame and saw all of the stars with the names on them. Then we hit up a pizza place for lunch in the Hollywood plaza overlooking the famous Hollywood sign. After a quick couple of hours there, we needed to find a way back to the airport. So, the subway seemed like the best option. That was a whole different adventure! The subway took us to the ghettos of L.A. We went through some pretty shady neighborhoods where all the windows and doors in the houses were barred. The subway stopped at Compton, which is where we had to get off to get on a different subway. Compton is one of the well-known rough gang areas of LA. It was quite the experience for sure! Finally we got on the plane to head to Salt Lake City and then to Anchorage. AND...the best part of the flight was that Robert Redford was on the plane with us!!!!!! Of course, he was in first class, but I did see the back of his head and his body guard.
Then it was back to Anchorage and finally back to Saint Paul. The 2 weeks since break have happened so fast. It consisted of test-prep for this weeks standardized tests. I also got a nasty cold that I have been fighting. Now only about 7 weeks left of the school year!
Monday, March 10, 2008
Busy Busy
Sorry! It has been WAY too long! Can you tell I have been busy?
Life is going swell. It has been over a month since the last update. I cannot believe how fast everything has gone by since Christmas break! Here we are and it is Spring break already! I have added a new class to my list of classes I am teaching. I now also have all the juniors and seniors. It is a nice refresher from middle school, but also a big change. They challenge me a lot, which keeps me on my toes. I have also taken on the extra duty called Rose Urban Rural Exchange. I will be taking 5 of my middle school students to a city on the mainland for a week on April and 5 of the city kids come to Saint Paul for a week. It is a lot of extra work, but I am really excited about the trip. I am also enrolled in a college class through University of Anchorage Alaska. Busy!!!
Life is going swell. It has been over a month since the last update. I cannot believe how fast everything has gone by since Christmas break! Here we are and it is Spring break already! I have added a new class to my list of classes I am teaching. I now also have all the juniors and seniors. It is a nice refresher from middle school, but also a big change. They challenge me a lot, which keeps me on my toes. I have also taken on the extra duty called Rose Urban Rural Exchange. I will be taking 5 of my middle school students to a city on the mainland for a week on April and 5 of the city kids come to Saint Paul for a week. It is a lot of extra work, but I am really excited about the trip. I am also enrolled in a college class through University of Anchorage Alaska. Busy!!!
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
It's been awhile!
Hey everyone!
Sorry it has been awhile since the last update. A lot of crazy things have happened in the past month or so.
Let's start with Christmas break. Well, it was quite the adventure to get home. Let's put it that way.
We were due to fly out of Saint Paul on December 19th. The plane cancelled due to bad weather. Apparently we had a tsunami warning early that day. Who knew? So we had to call the airlines and reschedule our flights; not just from Saint Paul, but we would also have to reschedule our flights from Anchorage because now we would miss those too. Well, after about 2 hours on the phone with the airlines we learned that we could not be guaranteed a seat until the 25th or later. They said it was best to go on standby from Anchorage on. We were rescheduled to fly out of Saint Paul the next day, but of course that flight also cancelled. So it was back to the phones to call the airlines. One of the other teachers went to the airport here the next day, the 21st to see if we could fly out on the cargo plane that morning, but they didn't have seats. So, that was a no-go. We finally got out of Saint Paul in the afternoon of the 21st. Once we arrived in Anchorage, Nikki, Steve, Mel, and I got on the standby list. At 9:45p.m. they said they had one extra seat. None of the other three wanted to travel alone, so they sent me off. From there I flew to Minneapolis. I waited on 3 or 4 standby flights at that airport. I was there for 14 hours trying to get on flights home. Then, the flights to Houghton started to cancel due to bad weather there! The ticket people said it was a fat chance of flying home before Christmas! Finally at like 6:30 the night of the 22nd Nikki and Mel made it to Minneapolis. So, we booked a hotel and decided to wait for Steve to fly in, who had now been stuck in Anchorage for 2 days, then we would rent a car and drive the rest of the way. Only problem was, there were no rental cars in the whole airport!!! Flights to Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin were cancelling, so everyone else had the same idea we did! We asked at the ticket counters about a bus, since there were a lot of Michigan people stranded there. They told us that the airport had no bus drivers left, since there had been so many cancelled flights! We figured we might as well go to the hotel and try and relax, get sleep and wait for Steve. We did however have a free hotel shuttle to the Mall of America, which was awesome! Finally Steve came in the next morning at 5 a.m. and we happened to snag a rental car online. We went to pick our Jeep Commander and we headed towards Michigan. Only problem was that there was a blizzard and the plows had been pulled. For more than 2 hours of the trip the highway wasn't even plowed! You could hear the snow hitting the bottom of the car! It was nuts. What should have been a 6-6 and 1/2 hour drive home took 9 and 1/2 hours! Let just say we were very thankful to make it home! We even got there before Christmas Eve. What about our luggage? Well, that's a whole other story!
Once we got home, break was good. Did a lot of relaxing and family time. I even got to see my friend Lora from high school which was awesome. Some friends from college were supposed to come to visit, but they also ran into weather problems and couldn't make it. :( I also did LOTS of shopping! You have no idea how much I missed going to stores. So, when i finally could, I went hog wild! It was great to chill out and spent time with my wonderful family. I had missed them so much.
Coming back to Saint Paul was no sweat. We had few difficulties with our flights home. It was good to see the staff at the airport and to catch up with them. We have no been back for a just over a week. I must say, I actually missed me students! It was good to get back in the swing of things and my students have been really good and are refreshed again and ready to learn. Who knows how long that will last! :)
Sickness has also swept the island. When a few people get sick, it spreads fast here, considering there are not that many people and everyone is related. We have just over 100 students and over 20 were absent today alone. We also have had many teachers get sick, including myself. But we are short on subs, so it is hard to take a sick day! I have been taking Vitamin C drops like they are going out of style and drinking so much water it isn't funny.
Other than that life is going swell! We are half way done with this school year!
Sorry it has been awhile since the last update. A lot of crazy things have happened in the past month or so.
Let's start with Christmas break. Well, it was quite the adventure to get home. Let's put it that way.
We were due to fly out of Saint Paul on December 19th. The plane cancelled due to bad weather. Apparently we had a tsunami warning early that day. Who knew? So we had to call the airlines and reschedule our flights; not just from Saint Paul, but we would also have to reschedule our flights from Anchorage because now we would miss those too. Well, after about 2 hours on the phone with the airlines we learned that we could not be guaranteed a seat until the 25th or later. They said it was best to go on standby from Anchorage on. We were rescheduled to fly out of Saint Paul the next day, but of course that flight also cancelled. So it was back to the phones to call the airlines. One of the other teachers went to the airport here the next day, the 21st to see if we could fly out on the cargo plane that morning, but they didn't have seats. So, that was a no-go. We finally got out of Saint Paul in the afternoon of the 21st. Once we arrived in Anchorage, Nikki, Steve, Mel, and I got on the standby list. At 9:45p.m. they said they had one extra seat. None of the other three wanted to travel alone, so they sent me off. From there I flew to Minneapolis. I waited on 3 or 4 standby flights at that airport. I was there for 14 hours trying to get on flights home. Then, the flights to Houghton started to cancel due to bad weather there! The ticket people said it was a fat chance of flying home before Christmas! Finally at like 6:30 the night of the 22nd Nikki and Mel made it to Minneapolis. So, we booked a hotel and decided to wait for Steve to fly in, who had now been stuck in Anchorage for 2 days, then we would rent a car and drive the rest of the way. Only problem was, there were no rental cars in the whole airport!!! Flights to Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin were cancelling, so everyone else had the same idea we did! We asked at the ticket counters about a bus, since there were a lot of Michigan people stranded there. They told us that the airport had no bus drivers left, since there had been so many cancelled flights! We figured we might as well go to the hotel and try and relax, get sleep and wait for Steve. We did however have a free hotel shuttle to the Mall of America, which was awesome! Finally Steve came in the next morning at 5 a.m. and we happened to snag a rental car online. We went to pick our Jeep Commander and we headed towards Michigan. Only problem was that there was a blizzard and the plows had been pulled. For more than 2 hours of the trip the highway wasn't even plowed! You could hear the snow hitting the bottom of the car! It was nuts. What should have been a 6-6 and 1/2 hour drive home took 9 and 1/2 hours! Let just say we were very thankful to make it home! We even got there before Christmas Eve. What about our luggage? Well, that's a whole other story!
Once we got home, break was good. Did a lot of relaxing and family time. I even got to see my friend Lora from high school which was awesome. Some friends from college were supposed to come to visit, but they also ran into weather problems and couldn't make it. :( I also did LOTS of shopping! You have no idea how much I missed going to stores. So, when i finally could, I went hog wild! It was great to chill out and spent time with my wonderful family. I had missed them so much.
Coming back to Saint Paul was no sweat. We had few difficulties with our flights home. It was good to see the staff at the airport and to catch up with them. We have no been back for a just over a week. I must say, I actually missed me students! It was good to get back in the swing of things and my students have been really good and are refreshed again and ready to learn. Who knows how long that will last! :)
Sickness has also swept the island. When a few people get sick, it spreads fast here, considering there are not that many people and everyone is related. We have just over 100 students and over 20 were absent today alone. We also have had many teachers get sick, including myself. But we are short on subs, so it is hard to take a sick day! I have been taking Vitamin C drops like they are going out of style and drinking so much water it isn't funny.
Other than that life is going swell! We are half way done with this school year!
Saturday, December 15, 2007
It's Christmas time!
December has proved to be a crazy busy and a bit strange. It is weird to be living in Alaska and not have any snow! We have had sprinklings, but not REAL snow. The weather has actually been pretty decent here! Last week, we were told to turn our heat down, because we were having a gas shortage and fuel for heat was running low. We had enough to last about a week. The fuel barge had tried coming out a week before, but had engine trouble and had to head back to shore. Then they had to wait for safe weather and waters before heading out again. The barge finally arrived yesterday! I had to look at the whole situation and laugh. I am definitely getting used to island life.
The past few weeks I have just been trying to get my classes finished on our holiday projects. We have been very busy! I have also been co-coaching the Little Sea Parrots b-ball team. The teams are made up of 3rd-6th graders. We had a tournament at the beginning of the month. My team came in fourth! Yah! (Out of 4 teams, but who is counting?) We lost both our games by one basket!!! But it was lots of fun and I even got a participation trophy and a coach of the year trophy! (All the coaches got one).
So, I have kept myself busy as always. I am very much awaiting my flight home for Christmas. I plan to spend it with family and friends and my dogs. I also cannot wait to go out to eat at a real restaurant and go to Walmart to buy new socks!!!
Merry Christmas to all!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
November
I also thought that I would have way more time to update this thing! Sorry, I guess life gets busy, huh?
Well things are going well here. Only 3 weeks left of the first semester! Then it's home for Christmas. I cannot believe how fast life flies by!
There was one great story that I forgot to tell in my October blog. I shall call this story "Flea Market".
Flea Market
It was a Saturday afternoon and rumor had it that there was a community flea market/rummage sale at City Hall. It was supposed to be the weekend before but no shoppers showed up so they did it again. Well, Mrs. Stacks (the principal) said she we should check it out. So, Mel, Nikki and I headed out for City Hall. When we got to the sale, there was no one shopping. It was like 5 women sitting around the sales tables and us. There was nothing there! But we browsed around anyway, prenending to be interested. Then Phyllis, good ole' Phyllis, (one of the lady's who works at City Hall) came up to Mel and me and tried to get us to buy a pastel floral Christmas wreath. We had to say no numerous times, before she left us alone. We had now checked out all the tables but one. This table had some random items on it. Apparently in Saint Paul people not only bring clothes and floral wreaths to a flea market, they also clean out their kitchen cupboards and freezers and bring whatever they find in there with them. For example, for sale they had a few half used spice containers. You know, thyme, lemon pepper, cinnamon, etc. There were tons of used spices for sale. To make it even better, there was a half opened ecomomy sized package of frozen hot dogs for sale as well! We ended up opting for some of the bake sale items instead. We escaped the flea market with 2 pigs-in-a-blanket and 2 mini-mini- loaves of banana bread for only $14.00!! Ha!
November:
This month has been crazy, but good. I honestly don't know where it went. We celebrated Veteran's Day during our November Saturday school. We invited all of the local Veterans to come to an Honorary luncheon presented by the students. It was sooo cool! We taught the kids the pledge and national anthem and all about the history of the flag. It was a great day. One of the veterans got really emotional with the students and said that it was so nice to finally be thanked for what they had done. I think that was when the meaning of the day really hit the students.
Thanksgiving:
I thought Tahnksgiving might be really hard this year, being my first Thanksgiving away from home. But, it was really fun. Of course, I missed my family, but the day was still good. The Wednesday before that was my second parent-teacher conferences, which went well. That night we had a baking party at my sister's house with Mrs. Stacks and her 2 girls. We made 8 pies, the turkey, cranberry salad, stuffing, mashed potatoes, onion tartlets, and rolls!!! Then on Thanksgiving, we watched the Macy's Parade that Nikki taped, since it came on here at 4 am and the National Dog Show. That is a family tradition. After that we packed up Piece-O with all the food and headed to Stacks for dinner. It was great and there was tons of food!!!!!! Friday, Mel and I set up our "Christmas Tree". I will post pics of that later! Then we decided to head to "the" store for the Day After Thanksgiving sales. They had 1 liter cokes half price and doritos were half price!!!! It was a wild 5 minutes of shopping!!!
Now we are back in school. Time will fly by so fast I know! See ya in Decemeber!:)
Monday, November 5, 2007
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Recap of October
Well...
October has been a crazy month! I cannot believe how fast time flies by! I am already two weeks into my second quarter of teaching.
I am going to write this in chunks.
Jennifer's Wedding:
At the beginning of the month I flew back to Michigan for my cousin Jennifer's wedding. It was so much fun, but went by way too fast. It was great to see my family; my parents, brother, sister, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins! i don't get to see them too often so it was really good to be there. I was a bridesmaid and also "the wedding singer". The wedding was beautiful and my cousin was, of course, gorgeous! It was weird to be in the lower 48 again. Life in Saint Paul is SO different. Going back to Michigan seemed so strange. I saw trees, dogs, paved roads, stores, and traffic lights! And, to top it all off, the weather was in the 80's compared to the 40's of Saint Paul!!
Girl's Night:
A few weekends ago, Mel and I hosted a Girl's Nigh Out at our house. We invited all the female staff members over for games and food. It was a blast! We talked and talked and talked. I even learned that one of the teachers had been attacked by a brown bear! I never knew! We played Guesstures and laughed a ton. It was so much fun and was well needed! The husbands came to pick up their wives and they stayed for a little while too. (I think they were all jealous that we were having such a good time! :P )
The husbands even brought over a few fishermen and some of the coast guard. I guess word spreads fast that there are two single girls on the island.
Artist-in- Residence:
For the past two weeks the school has had an artist-in-residence. His name is Steve and he is a professional photographer. He came into both of my middle school classes last week to teach them about photography. It was a bonus for me, because I got a break from teaching two classes and because I got to learn about photography! I have taken tons of pictures and I am trying to put them into slideshows now and do some cool things with them!
Little Sea Parrots:
This past Saturday was the first day of Little Sea Parrots practice. This is 3rd-6th grade basketball. I am helping Mel coach one of the teams. We have practice from now until Christmas every Saturday from noon-1:30. We even had our first game on Tuesday. The gym was packed! There are four teams that played throughout the night and the kitchen was open to buy nachos and pizza, so we were a very popular place to go that night!
Red Ribbon Week:
Nikki and I are in charge of Red Ribbon week this week. That is a week the school celebrates being drug and alcohol free. We put up banners and set up dress up days for the students. Today is Pajama Day, which is always fun! It has been a busy week!
Halloween:
Halloween is a big holiday here. Last Friday was the annual Halloween Carnival at school. We set up tons of games and activities in the gym and there was a lot of food for sale in the kitchen. Once again, the place was packed! Mel and I were in charge of the Tatoo Parlor, where we gave kids temporary Halloween tattoos and painted faces. After the carnival I went with one of the teachers to the adult costume party and watched the costume judging. It was so fun! And it was a good way to meet a lot of the older community member. I even met Buck-Buck, one of the infamous Saint Paul residents. He has about 5 teeth and is barely understood when he talks. He also always brings home whatever he shot that day for dinner. Well, he came up to me and asked me to marry him! I said, "Sorry Buck-Buck, not tonight. But maybe if you ask me tomorrow I will say yes." HAHA!
Yesterday was actually Halloween. The kids really get into it. When the students come back from lunch at 1:00 they are allowed to wear their costumes to school. At 1:15 all the elementary students have a parade through the rest of the school to show off their costumes. They were soooo cute! Nikki and Mel dressed up as Mama and Baby Bear, Benny dressed up as Napoleon Dynamite and I dressed up as The Cat in the Hat.
After school, we ran back to Nikki and Steve's to get ready for trick-or-treaters. Nikki was handing out candy, Steve would jump out and scare them and Mel and I dressed up as dummies that were sitting in chairs in the porch! We put out three chairs and one of the dummies really was a dummy. When kids would walk by Mel and I would jump up and scare the living daylights out of them! It was soooo much fun! My students were all talking about it today.
Piece-O:
Piece-O is what we have affectionatly named Nikki and Steve's car. It is short for Piece-O-Crap. Well, the name suits it even better now. The starter is out. So, we have to push start the car. This consists of Steve parking the car on the top of a hill and Mel, Nikki, and I running behind it to push it down the hill. Once it is rolling Steve can than get it going! So we have to be sure to park it on a hill all the time. At school we park it on a little hill that is covered in dirt and grass and Steve bumps down it the whole when when we push him. It is hilarious! I guess you do what you gotta do, right?
So yeah! There is my October in a nutshell!
Monday, October 1, 2007
Heading to the Lower 48!!
This weekend has been really good. It was my third 2 day weekend in the 7 we have been here so far! We have had Saturday schools and inservices on so many weekends. So it was nice to actually relax on a weekend! And to sleep in!!! Last night we all headed over to some friends of ours from school to celebrate their anniversary. It was the first time Mel and I have been to someone else's house besides, Nikki and Steve's, Benny's or the Stacks (our principal) house. We ate and played Guesstures until 1:30 in the morning! It was so fun! Then today I spent the day getting my substitute plans together because I am heading out of here!
I am so excited to head back to Michigan soon! I am flying back out from Saint Paul on Tuesday to go to my cousin Jennifer's wedding. I get to see all of my family. I also will get to see trees, dogs, and paved roads, which are all things I haven't seen in 7 weeks! I am looking forward to a little get away!
I am so excited to head back to Michigan soon! I am flying back out from Saint Paul on Tuesday to go to my cousin Jennifer's wedding. I get to see all of my family. I also will get to see trees, dogs, and paved roads, which are all things I haven't seen in 7 weeks! I am looking forward to a little get away!
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
School
As always, life has been crazy busy. I feel like I have spent every waking moment at the school in the past week. Last Friday was parent-teacher conference day. The parents are required to come to conferences, so I met with 27 sets of parents. It was a little stressful, but it went well. Saturday was an inservice day, so I was at school all day again. Yesterday, Benny invited Nikki, Steve, Mel and me over for a Sunday lunch of roast, potatoes, carrots, rolls and brownies. It was awesome! Then, it was off to school again to get some lesson planning done.
In my spare time, Mel and I have been busy with our evening work out routine. We just got a Tae Bo workout DVD, which is really hard! We are trying to get in shape for our spring break trip to Hawaii (hopefully). We have also been hanging out with Nikki and Steve a lot.
In my spare time, Mel and I have been busy with our evening work out routine. We just got a Tae Bo workout DVD, which is really hard! We are trying to get in shape for our spring break trip to Hawaii (hopefully). We have also been hanging out with Nikki and Steve a lot.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Hunting for for Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen
Well, it has been crazy the past few weeks! School has kept me so busy! Last Saturday we had Saturday school. We have school one Saturday a month, that way we end up getting out in the middle of May so the students have more time to work in the summers. Our Saturday schools aren't like normal school days, we usually do some cultural activities. So, this past Saturday I took a group of the students out reindeer hunting. Well, actually I was more like the teacher chaparone who went with two local hunters who took a group of students reindeer hunting. But whatever. Anyway, we were driving around looking for the herd when one of the students said, "I just saw one back there". It is really usual for a reindeer to be roaming around on its own during this time in the year. They are usually all in the herd. So, we figured the herd must be near. We drove up a hill and there they were! 600 of them!!! It was so cool! We all got out of the van quietly and figured out the best way to sneak up around the herd so they wouldn't see or smell us. As we stalked up to the herd, I was in the rear making sure all the students were coming. One of the girls was having a difficult time walking through the rough tundra and was trailing behind. I was coaxing her on, when I heard a grunt. I looked up and there was a reindeer trotting right for us. I was trying to get the girl's attention without scaring the reindeer. She was so oblivious to the fact that at any moment we might become the new version of "Grandma Gor Runover By a Reindeer." Can't you picture it, "Teacher Got Run Over By a Reindeer". All of a sudden it stopped and stared right at us. We both froze. We turned around and the other hunters were taking pictures! haha. Finally, it ran to catch up with the rest of the heard. By the time we caught up with the rest of our group, two of the girls didn't want to walk any further. So, I was asked to stay behind with them. We sat in the fog on soggy moss covered rocks in the middle of the tundra for an hour and fifteen minutes, while the others were off on a hunting escapade. I was a little bummed, but then the girls decided it would be fun to sing "High School Musical" songs. So, time went faster after that. And the hunters didn't get a reindeer in the end, so I really didn't miss out.
Anywho, we made it back to the school in time for the hot dog luncheon. After sharing our adventures with the other students I was sent off to lead the traditional Aleut story telling and games. I asked Ms. Edna, the Aleut teacher, to teach me a few things. It was really fun! After all of this the last half hour was spent celebrating Grandparents Day. All of the grandparents were invited to the gym, where there were tables of crafts and food. The students made seal and halibut cracker spread and spicy seal chilli. And that my friends, is Saturday school in St. Paul.
The rest of this week has been rather uneventful seen as how I have been swamped with school work! I think I am actually getting the students excited about books! I gave one class the option of playing a game for the last ten minutes of class or I could read to them out of our book. They asked for the book and were bummed when the class period was over because they wanted to know what happens! It was awesome!!!
Sunday, September 2, 2007
1st Week of School
Well, it has been a crazy week!
We finished our teacher training and I got my room all set and ready to go. Wednesday, Father (the Russian Orthodox Church Father) came into the school and blessed each room and all of the teachers. Religion is a huge part of this community here and culture here, so it was really cool to see a religious figure inside of the school! Thursday was registration day. The students and their parents came in and met with us to fill out paper work and get their schedules. It was a great way to get to see the students. Friday was the first real day! It went really well. Over the weekend we had another work day on Saturday and Sunday I spent writing lesson plans and getting ready for the next week.
This first week of school went well. I am still learning a lot and figuring things out. I think my students have taught me way more than I have taught them. It has been a challenge all ready, but I am ready for it!!!
This weekend is the 100th year celebration of the church, so there has been a lot of excitement. Friday, the bishop flew into the island. A bunch of the teachers and students left school and greeted him at the airport. Yesterday, Mel and I went for a walk around the island and walked to the church. They are putting a new traditional gold dome on it for the celebration. it is a beautiful church with a lot of history. It was cool to watch them get it all ready. We ended up walking around the island for 3 hours. We saw alot of Arctic Fox and seals! We walked down to a seal blind hoping to get some good pictures. Seal blinds are like little shelters that you can stand in a look through windows to see the seals. They can charge you and are very dangerous, so there needs to be something between you and the seals for safety. We walked a few miles to get out to one. As we walked closer to the seal blind we could hear how loud the seals were! They make so many weird noises. Sometimes they sound like they are burping. When we started toward the seal blind we saw that some seals were actually IN the blind. And on the stairs. And they were BIG seals. So, we couldn't get any closer!
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