End of this 1st School Year/Beginning summer adventure

    Well, The close of my 1st year teacher came on May 17, 2012.  The last week of teaching was capped off with an indor picnic (was suppose to be at the beach, but there was just too much snow still and it was also raining), Wacky Olympics and an awesome teacher work day :).  It was bitter sweet because there were three teachers and an assistant site administrator that will not be returning to us next year.  The couple that is retiring (Marsha and Dennis Seaton) really helped me through this school year.  I am pretty sure I wouldn't of made it without my classroom neighbor Marsha or the down to earth Dennis.  Allison Kirchoff is also leaving us (she's moving to Homer), she will be greatly missed.  News of Allison was also bitter sweet.  Bitter because it was nice to get to know her and it was nice to have someone next door I could talk to if need be.  Sweet because I get to move into the house she is leaving.  Speaking of which, I GET MY OWN HOUSE NEXT YEAR!  I'm really excited about this because that means there will be more personal space :).  Not that I don't like Felicia or Kona, but the house on stilts is a little cramped with two grown women and an Alaskan huskie puppy.
    Now, I know It has been a REALLY long time since I wrote and I have many a story from the almost boyfriend to the verteran teaching status, however it is so much to write in one blog that I think I will slowly let it seep in to my summer blogs.  so the above story about end of the year will be the first story :). 
    I kicked started my summer by getting Insanity.  I konw I know, I definetly do not look like someone who would be doing Insanity.  Not to mention, even my older brother Thomas doubted my ability of stick-to-it-ness.  But I will make this one different.  I mean I stuck to p90x until I went to Jamaica which was the goal anyways, so if I make the goal to stick to Insanity until I go back to Alaska, and then make another goal to do it again I should be good.  Or we will hope.  I mean If i start now (I say now because I did the fit test today) then that means I can be done before I go back to alaska in August (it's only a 60 day program).  I think if I went back to Quinhagak after completing Insanity, I might not be recognized, but I will take that chance :).  So today was fit test day.  I got through half of it.  Thats right I said half, then I had to quit because I really felt like my head was going to explode, and let me tell you I feel the burn in my abs and upper thighs.  But I also got the post workout high that I loved after p90x.  I wrote down on my card what I was capable of doing: 30 Switch Kicks, 20 Power Jacks, 62 Power Knees, and 16 Power jumps.  After the power jumps I had to give it up.  I will use this blog to keep you posted on my progress through Insanity.
Have a fantastic awesome magical day :) :)

These are the baby booties I purchased for Myka :)

Made of seal fur and has beading on it and another kind of fur

dancers at Cama-i

The best is the older guy in front

and more Cama-i Dancing

Almost got me one of those headdresses hahaha

The drummers from all the different groups came together and surrounded the whole audience at one point

This was the group from clinton, Texas that was brought in

This guy was great!

Cama-i was definetly interesting

Yes, that's Felicia...outside..with an icecream cone in her hand....with no coat...don't worry I had on short sleeves! :)

and of course...this is now Seahawk Territory

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely

I realize it's been a couple weeks since I have updated my blog.  In the last blog, I stated that pictures would have to wait to be uploaded, so I will post them later today in a different post.  First I want to talk a little about what my classes have been up to these first 2 weeks of second semester.  

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace. ~ Jimi Hendrix

Oh no she didn't?!! yup I'm gona.  My government class will be hearing not only Jimi Hendrix quote, but quotes from Gandhi, JFK, Lord Acton, MLK Jr., Aung San Suu Kyi to name a few.  The reason we are going all quote like in government class is because the students are learning about power.  We played a chips game on thursday January 19, which involved handing out different colored pieces of paper and telling the students they had 2 minutes to make as many trades as they could or wanted.  Some students didn't want to trade because they weren't told the value of their colored chips and wanted to hold on to the many different colors they had.  Others, made guesses and tried their best to get a hold of that color.  Turns out that the most valuable color was the one no one thought would be, pink.  I think they enjoyed the game and moving around.  After one round, the person with the highest points made the rules, after the second round, this person made a new rule and other people were allowed to make alliances to try and overthrow the one in power.  This is where they really had their fun.  Two of our high points earners got overthrown.

The cold in Quinhagak isn't so unbearable at first.  Key word: at first.  When I go to school in the morning I ride the school bus, which saves me from having to walk the 10 minutes in the cold and gives me a false hope that the walk home after school wont be that bad.  My classroom is like a sauna because the high school side gets all the heat so that gives me false hope that the walk home after school wont be bad.  Then I start the walk home.  It isn't so unbearable until I get halfway home, which is about around the post office.  Then my face starts to freeze and I just feel like curling up in my electric blanket when I get home.  Not to mention the extra weight all my carharts add to me.  the bibs alone weight 6 pounds (seriously!).  I  know, your saying "but isn't that what you expected when you moved to Alaska?"  Yes and no.  I knew it would be cold yes, but when even the natives are complaining about the cold you kind of realize it hasn't been this cold in almost ever.  Not to mention when I do get home, my bedroom is the same temp as outside because the door has been shut and no heat gets to it.  So, I just make sure I plug in and turn on the electric blanket (only when supervised) so the bed can warm up for me.  oh and on that note, THANKS GRANDMA JACKSON FOR GETTING ME THE ELECTRIC BLANKET :)

New Year, New me

So I've been home for about 2 weeks on Christmas break, and it's been an o.k. couple weeks.  I'll be the first to admit, I didn't do half of what I had planned.  At least I got to spend a lot of time with the family though.  The trip started off iffy with a weather hold on our charter, and then when we finally got the green light, Tim J had to take a later flight because our pilot only had 7 seats and we had 8 people.  Then our flight from Anchorage was late (which worked to Tim's advantage).  The flight to Chicago was on-time though and actually got to Chi-town like an hour early!  Definitely could have done without the dude sitting next to me spilling his drink on my leg though.  And it wasn't even early on when it would have had time to dry, it was at the end!!!  At least I got to travel with Amy, that was an unexpected surprise.  It was good to see everyone at the Paris clinic too, specially since they all told me I lost weight! hahahahah (what it's good to hear once in a while and I did lose weight! bout 20 pounds since the last time I saw them!).  Oh, and to add to the break from Alaska, my GCI phone did not work at home.  I could get it to work when I was in Chi-town and Indiana, but not downstate Illinois.  Go figure.

With the beginning of a new year, comes a time to reinvent yourself.  At least that's what I'm telling myself.  This time of year is a time when most create new year's resolutions.  I'm going to steer clear of that because lets be honest, new years resolutions never get accomplished.  Well mine don't anyways.  So instead, I just plan on being me.  Yup that's right I'm just going to be me.  Look out world! How is this different from 2011 you ask?  Well I held myself back from doing things that I wanted to because I was too shy or to nervous or too scared, but not this year!  2012 is going to be an amazing, awesome, fun, scary, and adventurous year!!

Well 2 days left on this break/vacation and I'm itching to get back to AK.  Don't get me wrong, I love to spend time with my family, but I just feel like I need to get back.  I belong there.

Below are some pictures from vacation/break :)






I lied....picture to come in a later post........the internet here at the house wont let me upload fast enough.

On another note It's been a week since I've been back and I'm itching to get started on this weight loss challenge.  I am looking at the Insanity program by beachbody.com thinking it might be good to do.  I have done p90x before (before I went to Jamaica) and lost a ton of weight on that (which I obviously gained back), so I'm thinking beachbody has good products.  Insanity is much harder though so I'm not sure how that will work out and what not.  I will keep you all posted on my weight loss journey though, and I do promise pictures!!!!!!

:) until next time