Teach Alaska: Back to the grind

Hey everyone,

The past two weeks have been great! I'm back into teaching and already got observed by my principal Pam who flew in on Wed and left yesterday. Everything went great and she ordered me tons of new stuff for my classroom, so I'm super excited about that! My kids are happy to be back at school and are doing wonderful! They will be ready for Kindergarten in no time! I am impressed with them more and more every day. This week my kids were practicing writing numbers 1-20 and they impressed me so much that tears came to my eyes! I really do love those kids! I now understand why teachers cry at the end of the year. You watch your students learn and grow so much, you become super attached to them and it's going to be tough to watch them leave and head up to the big school!

The weather here has been very odd. The first week I was back there was a major heat wave in Elim. It was 40 degrees, which is virtually unheard of in January in Alaska. I liked the warm weather but it made it extremely hard to walk in the snow. Just imagine walking in sand and think about how hard that is... then multiply that difficulty by 3! I sure got my work out in that week walking back and fourth to school. The weather has taken a nasty turn now. We have strong winds and - degree weather. I can't say that I'm surprised... it is Alaska after all. haha Lets just say that I am looking forward to my trip to Florida in 2 weeks. What a drastic change in weather that will be ! A shock to the system!!!

I can't believe that my time in Wisconsin flew by so quickly. I knew it would but it seems like I had been anticipating that trip for so long and then before I knew it I was back in Elim! I did have a good time at home though. It was good to see everyone and have some drinks for once! I know that my time here is just flying by and in no time it will be May and I'll be back home for the summer!

As far as my job goes, I haven't heard much about whether or not I will have a job next year. It seems like the grant money is still up in the air and no one seems to know anything about it. It's very nerve wracking! Rachel and I talked about coming back next year. We both don't want to have a new roommate so chances are, if i have my job, we will both come back in the fall. I don't think I could leave this place so soon. Actually, the thought of leaving makes me so incredibly sad that I don't like to think about it. Also, the thought of having to find another teaching job scares the living daylights out of me... it's a terrifying job market out there! I don't want to go through that again! Not to mention the dramatic pay decrease I would get if I leave here... it all just seems so depressing! I don't know where I'll end up but for the time being I think I'll stick with where I'm happy. It's what my gut is telling me to do anyway.

Here are some pictures from Christmas that I never posted and a couple from Christmas break. There are also some pictures of my students from this week. They are just too cute for words :)

Love you all,

Sammy