Week one down!

It's been a week and I'm not running home scared!!!  I'm been doin perty good, though I do have to say that I hate this having to watch my money thing.  And the no running water thing.  But, I get to do my laundry tomorrow afternoon and maybe take a shower tomorrow as well, we will see (though if I stink I can't smell myself :) :) :) ).  and on that note, I am finding all my materials, books, people to go to when I have a question and what not. 

OH did I mention that I cracked the screen of my Alaska phone and I have to pay full retail price if I want it replaced.  NO? Oh well maybe that's because I'm just going to live with it.  You can see the crack but you can't feel it.  Honestly it looks like a gigantic scratch and not a crack, but it's definitely a crack.

Yes people I had moose.  I know you are all shocked and I still get texts from mom saying that people don't believe I tried it but I did and it was good.  It was not stringy, it was a little tough though, but still good. 

Ok well I have to go because I am leaving in like 10 minutes for 'home' aka house on stilts, and I have to get some online stuff for my classes done.

First Work Day

Boy am I exhausted!!!  

This morning I woke up around 6 am to a cold room because I had left my bedroom door shut when I fell asleep.  Unfortunately that means I kept the heat out because the heater is in the front room.  So I went to the couch and sat on it to warm up before I could really function enough to get breakfast.

After we got ready to come to our first work day!!  My roommate was the first to try dumping the honey bucket.....hehe...That just means it's my turn next time :(

I did dump the water under our sink though! :)  That's not too hard of a job though. 

Anyway, I got my classroom all set up...well except cleaning a few more places.  So I can focus on lessons now and learning myself before I teach the kids.  From the look of things I will be doing A LOT of learning.  that's ok though.  That's what I signed up for.

Everyone I've been meeting and talking to has been nice and friendly.  This place definitely has a small town vibe (of course since it's a village or should I say small village vibe?) and that's good.  I think that will help me.

Now I just have to write out my expectations and my rules for the class so I can brainstorm what will be good and what doesn't really need mentioning.

Tootles for now

Training week

So, I arrived in Bethel Alaska after a very LONG day of flying on Sunday July 31st!!!  I met two teacher friends in the airport trying to find our transportation to the mysterious land of the long house where we were staying.  I say mysterious land of the long house because we didn't know who was picking us up or where we were going to stay.  Sounds crazy now that I type it that I didn't ask those questions but I guess when you are already asking all kinds of questions the obvious ones can slip right through the cracks.  Anyways, The two teachers I met were Jaclyn Whynott and Kristin Henke (I hope their names are spelled correctly!!)  They were and are a blast!  We decided to walk around bethel that night even though it was already like 8pm by the time we got settled in and what not.  Mainly because we were hungry and looking for something to eat.  This one place and I don't remember (to be honest I don't remember asking) the name of had AMAZING chinese food made by the owner himself.
 Monday, we were transferred to the Yute training center where our training would be held and we would be staying all dorm style like until Thursday.  We dropped off our luggage and hiked to the district office to get our paperwork, laptops, phones (GCI was there giving great deals to the new teachers) food (lunch and supper) and a couple other things I know I'm forgetting.  I also met my roommate.  I saw her walk into the room where we were signing up for phones and I'm like "Felicia??"  and she was all "Kristen??"  it was wierd because she totally looked like her pictures.
Anyways, turns out i'm staying on the bottom bunk, Jaclyn has the bunk above mine and Felicia has the loft bunk which is way up there.  OH and did I mention these bunk beds are not meant for adults?  yea, they are rickety and everything!
Yesterday (tuesday) we went on a 2 1/2 hour walk after training because Kristin wanted to go look around swanson's grocery store which wouldn't normally take that long, but we took the scenic route and went over some boardwalks and what not.  It was cool, but by the end I was most definetly ready to take a shower (the dust here is glacial silt and is so fine that it gets in everything!)  and just go to bed.
Today we tried the native food.  The dried salmon was good, the salmon paste was great and the eskimo ice cream was great too :).  I'm happy I tried that stuff.  I didn't have the guts to try the whale blubber, maybe next time.
That leaves us to tonight, we were suppose to go on the fishing trip, but not only did I just not feel like being out in the strong breeze, but it felt like I had so much to do that I wasn't going to be able to get done if I went.  I did get a LOT done by staying behind so now I feel like I can breathe.  Besides, I'll have tons of opportunities to go fishing and boating another time.
And that brings me to the pictures...below are pictures that Jaclyn took on our walk!  Thanks Jaclyn!