Snow, Lox, and Caviar

Hello Everyone!  It has been awhile since my last post.  After the first two days of school I caught a cold that lasted through the weekend.  Despite my cold, I joined a group of teachers for a trip to Stebbins for the beginning of the year St. Michael-Stebbins teacher volleyball game and potluck.  I was able to visit with teachers that I met earlier this year in Unalakleet during the New Teacher Training and in Nome for the ECE Teacher Training.  I watched the first part of the game and then met up with Prophetess, who gave me a loaner cell phone until Nathan and I get our own plan.  I was also able to help her cook for the potluck.  We made rice and crab.  It was good!

At the potluck I saw other teachers that weren't at the game.  Lan (science teacher in Stebbins) brought lemon rolls (like cinnamon rolls) to the potluck.  He offered me lox and caviar to celebrate Nathan's arrival on Sunday.  Unfortunately, Nathan can't eat fish.  I took some anyway.  YUM!

Nathan got to experience Alaska travel the same way that Ellen and I did.  However, the plane with the mechanical problems that caused the delays was the plane coming to pick him up in Anchorage.  After a two hour delay in the Anchorage ariport, Nathan flew to Unalakleet and missed his flight to St. Michael by 20 minutes.  He was able to stay in the dorms when Ellen and I stayed.  He also got to meet some really cool people and made a few connections with the church in Unalakleet.  He also learned how to drive a honda...on paved roads.  (I learned on gravel!)  So instead of arriving on Sunday afternoon (when I was really sick), Nathan arrived on Monday afternoon.  I picked him up in the Suburban at the airport and took him to Stebbins (I forgot to get the charger for the cell phone).

Then I taught Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and taught a small group for three hours on Friday.  On Fridays I have the class to myself.  Head Start policy is a 1:10 teacher-student ratio so I split the class into two groups and will alternate the groups each week.  I had four kids to begin with on Friday.  After an hour and a half I gained two more.  The room is almost too big for just six kids but we had fun and I enjoyed doing art with the whole group.

On Wednesday the temperature started dropping and we remained in the 40s  with lows in the high 30s.  On Friday night when we came home from LOST night, there were some snowflakes mixed with the rain.  This was a cold, wet summer, and we have been told to expect steady snow by mid-October.

To create a community of teachers that support each other, we abide by a strict teacher activity schedule:
Sunday:  church in the evening (about 7 attend regularly)
Monday: women's Bible Study
Thursday: Ladies' Night
Friday: LOST Night (we watched the first disc of season 1 last week)
This can also include spontaneous movie nights on any given night.

(My pictures are not uploading correctly.  I'm am working on it.)

Examples of Village English:
"You pack me?"  = "Will you carry me?"
"I win you."  =  "I beat you." or "I win."