Teach Alaska: XCountry, Beautiful Sunrises and Meeting Moses

Hey everyone,

I know it's been a while since my last post. Rest assured that my Mr. Silver is put away nicely in my freezer and ready to be taken home for Xmas for canning by my parents :)

Things in Elim have been busier than ever for me. Weekends don't really feel like weekends because I have been working endlessly on lesson plans, organizing classroom materials, traveling to XCountry meets, having Xcountry meets in Elim and now, taking care of my new favorite friend, Moses.

Last weekend I traveled to Unalakleet for XCountry. I traveled with 8 students. 5 Varsity boys, 2 Middle Schooler's and 1 5th grader. We jumped on the plane and headed to UNK. I think many coaches in the lower 48 would get a big kick out of hearing what coaches go through here. Because we cannot travel by bus to compete, we travel instead by plane. We sleep at our competitor's school in our designated classrooms, eat cafeteria food, shower in the locker rooms and try our best not to mess anything up. Traveling with students makes me anxious. I know that these kids are good kids but if anything were to happen it would be on me. I set a curfew for them to be back at the school by 10:00 at night. They didn't have a key so they took my personal phone number and called if they needed to be let back into the school. The girls slept in one room with me and the boys in another room with a chaperone from UNK.

At first I didn't even have an air mattress to sleep on. I'm like "here's my hotel room with nothing to sleep on but this hard floor!" "yippy!" When the UNK chaperone came in he brought a mattress up from the basement for me. I was very thankful. I had kids all over the place but it was funny, no matter how much freedom you give them, in the end they still want to be where you are and hang out with you. We watched movies, goofed around and went to sleep. I boys in my room and girls in my room by 7 a.m. "sammy, sammy, I'm awake" and here I am going "Shaun, Shaun, I'm not!" haha But what can you do….

We did really well at our first meet. I have some very competitive boys on my team and they all did an amazing job. In the end we flew home after waiting at the UNK airport for 2 hours and I was exhausted. The worst part is, after you come home, there's knocking at your door and it's the same students you were just with, asking if they can visit….. ummmm.. I don't think so hahah

This week at school my Kindergarteners really worked hard. They complained at times, wanting to play, and I had to tell them that in Kindergarten we work hard all day. It is hard for them, to come from preschool where they play all day, to my class where we are literally learning how to read at the present moment. I am loving the curriculum that we have. Its new and there are a lot of really fun things to do with the kids. Some of it is very challenging for them so I find myself planning for a lot of enrichment activities so that they can really grasp the concept at hand. I have some really smart students in my class and they are so much fun. The 3rd week of school and they were all already telling me they love me. Just melts my heart…

I ordered an oil filter for my 4wheeler yesterday. Should be interesting to see how this goes. I think I will try and do it on my own, but I'm sure I will need the assistance of someone who knows what they're doing at some point. I think later on this month I will order some mittens for my 4wheeler and maybe a heated seat cover for the winter. I just don't know how much I will be going out. I wanted to go fishing today, but I just don't feel comfortable driving my 4wheeler knowing that it desperately needs an oil change. I don't need to be stranded again with a whole new set of problems.

On Thursday I saw a post on Facebook about some puppies in Elim that needed a home. I have been struggling with this decision for a long time. I know that with where I live, having a dog is a lot of work. I travel a lot, I'm gone all summer and for Xmas too. Its also an issue that we do not have a vet here at our beckon call. I decided that if I got a puppy and I had to actually take him to Nome to get his vet work done, I would not adopt. I called the vet in Nome and asked about the dogs shots and how to go about doing all of that… he said "simple answer, I'll send you everything you need and you can administer it yourself." I was overjoyed. I also decided that I would not get a female dog due to the fact that I don't need all those female issues when the dog gets older and of course having to watch out constantly for unwanted pregnancies, since in the village that can happen anytime if your dog were to get out.

I called the person who posted on Facebook and went over to the house to see the puppies after school. I was fully intending not to get the dog. I took one look at his little, happy face and I just couldn't resist. I did, however, make a deal with the girl that I would try it out for the weekend and see how it goes and if I really couldn't handle it, I would give him back. Well that all fell to shit when I brought him home, named him Moses and fell in love. I ordered a lot of stuff for him online, borrowed a kennel from my neighbor and have been training him ever since. He's been great to have around. Getting up int he middle of the night is not something I fancy very much, but I must say, he is a delight to have around. I have been crating him during the day at times so that he associates his crate with sleeping and not abandonment. He has pooped and peed outside pretty much every time I take him out .. except for this morning when he pooped in our kitchen. dun dun dun….. yes, it happened. I think his digestive system is going through a change because god knows what they were feeding him before I got him home. He's one lucky pup. He gets a mixture of dry food and an endless supply of salmon. We have so many fisherman around here that don't have room in their freezers so they give me the salmon and I baked it all just for Moses. I broke all the pieces apart and now I have several freezer bags ready to go for his food. Anyway, enough about the dog. He's sleeping now, in his crate.

I don't have much else to write. I'm baking some banana bread today and will probably go into my classroom at some point to get something accomplished. I do have lots of pictures to post, so I think I'll get a start on that now.

Love and miss you all

Smiling Sammy

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