It's been a while since I posted. Most of you might know from my Facebook posts or from being in contact with you though my cellular device, that I was in Unalakleet for teaching training recently. Since I'm a "new" teacher here in the district but technically not new, I still had to go to new teacher training. I left last Wednesday and slept there for 9 nights..
I'll tell you a little about how all of this goes. They fly us all in from our sites either on the BSSD plane or on raven or bering air. We go to Unalakleet school, find an air mattress, our assigned classroom labeled "Elim Eagles", set up camp and listen to each other snore all night. Not only do we listen to snoring, we also listen to a lot of presentations (most are useful) and we eat a lot of free food so that when we get back, we all feel like beached whales. It's a good thing I brought my ear plugs because 9 days is a heck of a long time to sleep on an air mattress in the same room as your co-workers!
Since we're only allowed to bring 40 pounds per person on our flights, it makes for a very challenging adventure when we leave the trainings with 10x the amount we came with.. including the 10 pounds I probably gained on this trip ahahhaha ! We got to do a lot of very fun activities. They had 4wheelers there that we were able to check out and drive around town on, we could sign up to go fishing, berry picking, kayaking and kuspuk making. I chose to do kuspuk making. Let me just say that I am not as crafty as my mother. I had to video tape some of the instructions that Bethany (from wales) was giving us. Cutting and ripping the fabric was challenging but when all the pieces were done i felt pretty proud of myself. I saved the pieces instead of sewing it so that my mom will have a pattern and make more for me! Someday maybe I'll find a passion for sewing… maybe…?
I met so many new people and make so many new friends on this trip. We laugh because there's no where else like this in the teacher world. We're all in the same boat and we all seem to be quite chipper about it as well. Hearing other people's stories about their journey to BSSD is the most interesting part. I didn't know that there were that many people that dreamed of coming to Alaska and researched working for BSSD. It still blows my mind that I just randomly ended up here. I guess what's meant to be will be!
We had a few fires on the beach in UNK. We sang some songs, wished we had beer in our hands and enjoyed the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen. The weather honestly couldn't have been better. I believe that the hottest it got was 76 degrees. The eskimos were melting… we were all melting .. and we laughed about that too. You'd hear people saying, "I thought I moved here to be cold." "I packed only sweaters thinking, hey I'm in AK! We don't wear shorts in AK!" I think the worst part was that schools here don't have air conditioning. There's really no need hahah So, at night we complained and during the day we complained in our sessions that it was too hot. Its a good thing I packed my flip flops!
During all of this madness I went on a date. I know, most of you are like "what?! with who?!" omg omg omg omg….. but really its a long story. I met a nice guy online who just happened to be a pilot for ryan air out of kotzebue. We had been talking for months and he just happened to be flying in and out of UNK for the week. I'll post a picture of where we went on our date. It was nice and I had a great time. We will see what happens with that. I am finding out that pilots are just as busy as teachers these days. No rest for the people who live and work in the bush! Anyway, something happened with his phone and I haven't talked to him in a few days. If anything else, I get to say I went on a date to the Igloo with a bush pilot. Seems pretty solid to me. hahah
I met up with old friends and hung out with new. I realized that what I get to do is truly awesome. I got on an airplane to go to inservice and sat in the co pilot seat… seems so normal to me now but when I think about it, it's absolutely insane. The life I'm living is like something out of a dream and its definitely something I'm proud of. The greatest feeling in the world is knowing that when I come to Elim I feel like I really am going home. A huge sigh of relief as a I land is a sure sign that I am where I belong. This beautiful place and these beautiful people amaze me every day.
My brain is full of information and my back is tired from working all day in my classroom. I took before pictures which I will post with this blog. You will see that it looks like a tornado went through it but you have to tear it apart in order to make it all come together! I'm replacing the old with the new and making it my own since I know I'll be here for a while. The first year of something new is always the hardest but I'm sure just like anything else I'll get the hang of it eventually. I hope I can utilize the knowledge I gained from this training and keep it all together to do the best dang job I can! I really want to rock at what I do and I'm going to try my butt off to make my students love Kindergarten!
Just know that I love and miss you all. WI is always in my thoughts. Things are crazy right now.. and I know that I haven't been the best at communication but soon I'll be settled.
until next time,
Sam
p.s. The darkness is moving in! It's 10:00 and it looks like the sun is already going down. I think probably around midnight for sure. :( soon it will be goodbye land of the midnight sun and hello winter and blackness! ahhhhhh!
amanda and I at the beach in Elim before we left
All the teacher luggage on the way home!
Can't wait to show you pictures when it's done!
Lovely!!!! Can't wait to see the finished classroom!!! Love you!
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