I had the most amazing weekend so far. Yesterday began by working in my classroom at 8:00. We had a Saturday work day and I tore that classroom apart! All the cabinets were cleaned out, things were thrown away and shelves were labeled! I feel so much more organized now that it's done. I piled books by genre, labeled book shelves and got my bulletin boards started with help from my friend Michelle. I can't believe how well it's all coming together. Walking into that classroom was scary because I had no idea how to make it my own. I think I'm well on my way now :)
Michelle came in yesterday to ask if I wanted to ride out to the hot springs with her and her boyfriend Gus and their son Levi. I was reluctant because I had had such a long day, but decided to go anyway. Amanda and I hopped on my ATV and off we went. This trail was nothing like any trail I had ever been on. It wasn't a gravel road like the one out to moses point. Compared to this trail, Moses Point is a breeze. We went up airport road, through the woods and up the mountains on this trail. It was exciting, scary and absolutely gorgeous. We were driving our 4wheelers on the side of mountains, sitting on top of the mountains, crossing rivers, crashing through mud puddles and dodging tree branches and roots left and right. Amanda and I were laughing so hard on the ride home. Michelle took us down a trail that we hadn't gone on on the way up. You couldn't even see the path in front of you. All you could see were tree branches in your face. With bruised and scraped knuckles, bugs in my eyeballs and bug bites galore, we survived! My 4wheeler even died right in the middle of one of these sections where the trees are engulfing you… not a pretty situation to have your ride die in. hahah
We first started taking pictures on the top of Pretty Hill. People go up there and make their names with rocks. If you look, there are names on the ground everywhere. Pretty cool stuff. From the top of Pretty Hill you can see the village of Elim, the sea of course, Three Amakhill, and Haystack mountain. Three Amakhill is a mountain that has three peaks and it actually means "three breasts" in yupik or inupiaq… not so sure which one. The view was astonishing. Breathtaking actually….
We kept driving up and around the mountains until we arrived at Rosemary Hill. This is the hill right before the hot springs. If you look down the hill you can see Moses River that goes all the way to Moses Point. Rosemary is an area that has a large and random piece of rock just sitting there. Gus and his friend Freddy climbed on top of this rock and used their binoculars to spot a bear about 5 miles out. They lost track of it… we were all wondering if it was just going to pop out of the bush at any moment. It didn't. All of us girls headed down the hill by foot to pick blueberries. There were millions of them. Big, fat, juicy and delicious! We picked a gallon of blueberries :) (Had them for breakfast too) hehe
The bugs were swarming as usual. If you could have heard me I'm sure you would have laughed. I kept shouting "ugh… these bugs are real bugging!" turning into an eskimo I am. At 10:00 last night we headed back to town. Amanda and I were dying laughing yet again. You know you're part eskimo if you can follow an eskimo on these trails and keep up with them.
At one point we were going through a thick of trees again and I just started screaming "we're in the bush and there's bush all up in my face!" hahaha dying laughing again. We went through very rough part of the trail and Amanda's first instinct was to hold on to me.. but instead of holding on to my middle she accidentally grabbed my boobs…. hahah then we were laughing even harder. She screamed " I just made it to second base! " hahahahahahah tears of laugher ! Michelle and Gus were taking pictures of us on their four wheeler and laughing their butts off at us. Just two gussuks trying to make it out here! (gussuk means white person)
When we got home Amanda and I were beyond exhausted. 9 hours of work, 6 hours of riding and berry picking… woah, just woah! We showered, washed our muddy shoes and clothes and hit the hay hard! I slept until 11:30 this morning.
Tomorrow and Tuesday are work days in our classrooms. Wednesday is the first day of school. I couldn't be happier about this year starting. I know that I will have 11 students to begin with. I might loose 1 or gain 1 but we will see. I know these kids and I know their parents. This year is going to be amazing! I can't wait to post pictures of my finished classroom. It's al coming together people!
One more note. I am coaching cross country running this year. ( I know right) Me, coaching that! But let me tell you, when no one else is willing to step forward for the kids and do it, you just do it! I will be coaching after school each day, tutoring at night, traveling for coaching and trying hard to get the job done. Luckily, Megan's husband Scott is going to help me coach. (Megan is the 1st grade teacher)
We also just found out that Megan is expecting her second child! I'm so excited for Februrary now. At least there is something to be excited about in February :) haha
ok, time to post pictures and a video of myself
love and miss you all, enjoy!
Sam Sam
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