Kaitlyn and I are having the time of our lives.  Spring time is absolutely beautiful in Alaska.  We're coming off a wonderful high after visiting much of the state by RV last week.  This week we've been furthering our education, and our Alaska teacher certification, by taking two classes: Alaska History and Alaska Culture and Communications.  Both classes were taught by Father Michael Oleksa, a Russian Orthodox Priest.  He first came to Alaska 30+ years ago to fill a church position in Old Bay, Ak (by Kodiak).  He ended up falling in love native peoples and decided to officially move here after his term was up in Old Bay.  He has a wonderful perspective on native people and their culture that is very much contagious.  His classes meant a lot to Kaitlyn and I because of our unique situation of teaching out in a native village.  A lot of the things he mentioned were very aligned with the things that we either experienced or saw.  He gave us reasons for why natives are the way they are today.  Alaska natives have had hundreds of years of cultural oppression by the United States and Russia.  They are who they are today because of what they've had to deal with in their past and how to join that with the present.  It gives a glimpse into the way they perceive their culture and history.  I, for one, am glad to had been shown this side of Alaskan native history.  
     Our classes ran from Monday thru Friday.  Each class entailed 2 days worth of lecture and 1/2 day of a field trip.  For our culture class we ventured to the Alaska Native Heritage Center.  The Heritage Center had various native dances, games, and displays for us to look at and watch.  Also, there was an outdoor exhibit of various houses that tribes stayed in traditionally.  It was fun.  Lewis, Kaitlyn's dad, took the class with us and got to go with us to the culture center.  After being isolated in the village for several months, it was nice to see a familiar face.  For our history class our field trip was to the Anchorage Museum.  It was rather big, so I focused my energies on one exhibit.  The Anchorage Museum had about 600 items on loan from the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. about Alaskan Natives.  There were items from each tribe throughout Alaska and Siberia Russia.  It was really interesting.  The rest of the museum was just alright. :)
     On Saturday, Kaitlyn and I were lucky enough to visit the Anchorage Temple.  It was nice to sit and enjoy the spirit that resides there.  After which, we went to the Anchorage Farmers Market downtown.  It was fun, almost like walking through a county fair.  There weren't any fruits and vegetables, at least not yet.  We spent an hour walking up and down the isles looking at items that were so neat and hoping that one day we could afford them. :)  To finish off the day, we went and did some shopping for Togiak next year.  We bought a bunch of non-perishable items from Costco and Walmart.  It's always exciting to think about what we'll need for an entire year.  This, however, was a bit easier because we already have some food in Togiak.  Once we were finished shopping we went and picked up our food bins from the Petersons, some members in our branch, and went to the Post Office.  Luckily, the Post Office next to the airport is open from 6am to 12am.  As we were packing, we realized that we didn't have enough space for all our items.  We were 1 tote short.  Surprisingly, Kaitlyn bartered with some guy in the post office some of our duck tape for his extra box.  We thought it was a great save, however, the box was just a little too small and we ended up buying a bigger box instead.  We finally shipped everything off to Togiak about 11:20, about two hours after arriving.  
     On Sunday, we wen to church at the branch building and met Bro. De St Jeor and Sis. Meyers for the first time, who were visiting from their villages.  We were invited back to the Petersons for dinner and spent the rest of the day with them.  They are such a great family, I'm glad we met them.  

We definitely had an exciting week!  Last Sunday we picked up an RV in Anchorage.  Tim and I and two other teacher's from Togiak, Kim and Claire, decided to spend a week RVing around Alaska.  Sunday we made the drive from Anchorage to Denali National Park.  We met some of Claire's friends there that came with us 30 miles into the park that night.  At 12:30 am we were standing in the middle of a frozen river in Denali National Park.  I was so tired, but it was pretty cool. 
    We didn't see as much wildlife as we thought we would, but we did see some caribou, a bear eating a caribou, a moose, and some porcupines.

   Monday we spend the whole day in Denali.  We took a walk by the river and went on a hike in the park.  I wouldn't mind going back to Denali in the future to do some backpacking. 

    Tuesday morning we drove a couple hours to Fairbanks.  We weren't exactly sure what to do in Fairbanks, so we spent the first evening walking around downtown and checking out a few shops.  We visited an ice museum where we saw a bunch of ice sculptures and watched an artist carve some ice.
  

    Wednesday our plans were changed.  We started off the morning by visiting Santa's Clause House in North Pole, Alaska, complete with reindeer.  Following that visit, Claire had a job interview to do over the phone and then it was off to the doctor.  Tim had somehow injured his eye earlier in the week and it was getting worse.  He thought he scratched it.  After 2 hours at the eye clinic we learned that Tim had a corneal ulcer and he needed antibiotics, pain relievers, and several more appointments to make sure it was healing and he didn't get an infection.  After another hour or two at Wal-Mart we finally had his prescription and we were off to play some more.   We visited Mary Ann, a native teacher in Togiak, who has a summer condo in Fairbanks.  She introduced us to her kids and grandkids.  Finally we were off to Chena hot springs.  After an hour drive, we made it to the hot springs at about 8:30 pm.  They were wonderful.  On the way back to Fairbanks, we stopped to see the pipeline.  By the time we were ready for dinner it was 12:30 am.  Unfortunately, Papa John's was closed, but fortunately, they had 3 pizzas they were about to throw out and they were kind enough to just give them to us.

    Thursday morning we were planning on heading out early, but had to delay our departure so Tim could visit the eye doctor again.  Luckily, his eye had improved a lot, but we had to set up another appointment for the following day with another doctor in Anchorage.  We spent the majority of the day driving down the Richardson Highway.  I got really excited when we started driving through areas that you could tell had been formed by glaciers.  That evening we stayed in the Matanuska valley, just above the Matanuska glacier.  We spent a couple hours hiking around on the glacier.  Kim and Claire had never been on one before and they were loving it.  We had a brand new guide that had arrive from LA just the day before.  We were his first group.  He took us to some spots that we didn't have the proper gear for and we had a hard time safely getting back down.  Luckily, a more experienced guide had noticed us going in an area we shouldn't and came to save the day.  He had to lend Tim is ice axe and give him a crash course in how to self-arrest yourself using the ice axe.  We all made it off the glacier safe and sound and mostly happy.

    Friday morning I got up at 5:00 am so we could make it to Anchorage in time for Tim's 8:00 am eye appointment.  I got the RV all ready to go while the rest of the crew slept on.  Tim got up to keep me company while I drove.    After we dropped Tim off at his eye appointment, we dropped Claire off at the airport to head back home to Wisconsin.  We picked Tim up again and then headed off to Homer, Alaska.  It was about a 4 hour drive, but we were all so glad we went.  Kim had talked us into going to Homer and it was my favorite place we visited on the trip.  It's a fishing town of about 5,000 that has a fair bit of tourism as well.  It is a beautiful place.  Friday night stayed in Hal's driveway.  Hal was a teacher mentor in Togiak this year.  He wasn't Tim's or Kim's mentor, but he was very friendly to all of us and offered to let us visit him in Homer.  Unfortunately, he wasn't there, but he offered his house for hot showers.

     Saturday we decided to splurge a bit and go halibut fishing.  I am so glad we did.  We were out on the boat for about 6 hours.  We took about a 1 hour boat ride to our fishing spot.  Along the way we so tons of otters.  I've never seen so many otters in my life.  We were both allowed to keep no more than 2 halibut.  Tim and I caught 5 each, so we both had to throw 3 back.  We also both caught a cod.  Fishing is so much more work than I thought.  My arms are sore.  We had a two or three pound weight on the end of our pole and let our line out 140 feet to the ocean bottom.  2 pounds doesn't sound like much, but when you have to reel it in 140 feet multiple times, it starts feeling like 40 pounds. 
    Sunday, today, we drove back to Anchorage and returned our RV.  We still have another week and a half before we leave Anchorage, so Tim and I got a hotel here in town.  Dad is also here with his friend, Justin, so we got to see him tonight. 
    It's been a long, fun week and I'm wondering if we're crazy for leaving this Alaska in the summer.  I love Alaskan summers. 

We officially survived our first year in the village!  Today was our first day of summer.  To welcome us we had a cold, windy, wet day.  I was in my rain gear most the day.  I can't even describe how light we feel.  Our responsibilities of work are gone.  Tim and I haven't felt so relaxed since last July.
    This week was quite a bit busier than I expected.  Even though we had our finals all written we worked a lot getting our rooms cleaned up and our house cleaned to be able to check out for the summer.  I don't really feel like anything we did this week is even worth mentioning in comparison to the end of the school year.
    Our last day of school was a little crazy.  There was not enough structure and the kids were all over the place.  I decided to just go with the flow, rather than completely go nuts trying to keep order.  I realized, half way through the day, when a water fight broke out in the school that I shouldn't have trusted a certain student to fill the water balloons for the water balloon toss.  Miss Jeffers, Mr. Mason, Mr. Phillips, and myself did not leave the school dry.  Miss Whitty ended up drenched.  I couldn't apologize enough to the rest of the staff for the mayhem. 

    The weather today was not very good for flying.  The flight Tim and I were on weather canceled, but luckily we were able to get on another flight right away.  We flew out with the Lee family (pictured) and Dale (another teacher).  The flight was very bumpy.  Only two of the passengers threw up.  I felt so bad for them.  I just kept wishing the flight to end for their sakes.  We did make it to Dillingham alive and mostly well.
    Tim and I are spending the night in Dillingham with two other teachers: Kim and Claire.  Tomorrow morning we all fly to Anchorage, where we'll pick up our RV and go exploring!  We're all very excited.

    By the way, Tim and I (well Tim really) finished our personal adoption website this week.  Feel free to visit: www.timandkaitlyn.com.  Also, feel free to add a link to it on your own blog.  We are doing everything we can to get the word out and advertise ourselves; the more people that know, the better.

     School is beginning to wind down.  On Tuesday of next week of next week, the seniors will be graduating.  That means, that this past week we've been giving out final exams and grades.  I remember this time during my senior year.  You want to do well on your exams, but you also just don't want to study for them anymore.  Our students are definitely at that point.  They just want to be down.  I don't think many know what to do with their lives after high school, but that thought can wait till later.  Kaitlyn and I kept up our tradition of giving out really long, and difficult final exams.  I hate to say it, but it makes me smile a little bit to think that our students were were convincing their other teachers to give them time to study for our tests.  Kaitlyn finished her Chemistry class this week and I finished my Early U.S. History class, both of which were primarily, if not all, seniors.

     Saturday night was Prom.  This years theme was "Masquerade".  This is the one "big" dance the school holds each year.  It was open from grades 6-12, plus the community.  There were a few community members there, however, most of the people were middle and high school students.  Prom started at 7 pm and went to 12 pm.  Middle schoolers were allowed to stay until 10:00.  Honestly, I'm really glad the middle school was invited, because they were the life of the party.  The middle school boys acted just like middle school boys and hung out near the refreshment table, and the girls had fun dancing and giggling all night.  Most of the high schoolers made a "fashionably late" entrance between 8:30-10:00.  Most of the high school girls had dresses on and were the talk to the party when then arrived.  One thing that was quite unique about Togiak Prom was that the kids didn't stay around for very long.  The middle schoolers had to leave around 10:00, and once they left the high schoolers left too.  By 10:45 we had about 20-25 kids there.  Kaitlyn and I left around 11:00.  We are told that around 11:30 so many people had left that the dance ended early, because of lack of attendance.  Apparently 1.5 to 2 hours in a dress is long enough.  Overall, it was a rather uneventful evening.  Everything went according to plan.
     The best news about this week is that Kaitlyn and I are officially "published" on itsaboutlove.org.  Our case worker notified us this past week that we were up and running.  You can find our official profile page at https://itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/25493550/ourMessage.jsf This is exciting for us, because it has been 8 months since we started this process, now our name is out there.  If you know of anyone who is considering adoption, please suggest us and direct them to our profile page.  This isn't a time to be shy.  The more open we are and the more the word gets out, the better the chances we have.  Thanks for all your help and prayers.  We definitely feel them up here.  

I’m getting lots of good practice with Roman numerals through doing this blog.  I’ve never tried “counting” this high in Roman numerals before.

I was really looking forward to this last week because we had some Archeologists visiting the school.   They specifically have been studying the areas around Togiak and the culture and lifestyles of the people from the past as well as the wildlife. They had a bunch of presentations and activities planned for our students.  I was excited for 2 reasons.  Firstly, there were several classes I didn’t have to lesson plan for because we’d be at activities.  (It’s always nice to have a little break.)  Secondly, I was excited to see what the Archeologists had to show.  The things they had prepared did turn out to be rather cool, however, it did end up being quite a headache.  We had worked out a schedule prior to them coming that worked with our class schedules and we planned testing and our last few lessons accordingly.  The morning before the presentations started we were handed the updated schedule, which was completely different than what we had worked out.  According to the new schedule we’d be teaching classes we hadn’t planned on teaching and not seeing classes we had planned on seeing.  Some students would be going to activities twice and others wouldn’t be going at all.  In the end, we got it all worked out, but it was definitely stressful throughout the week.

We have 10 days of school left: 10!  I would be lying if I said I was excited.  Next week is my last week to see my Chemistry class because it is all seniors.  My final is all written and I am ready to go. 

Unfortunately, I don’t feel like there is anything exciting to report this week.  We just worked a lot.  We spent a lot of hours at school trying to get all our last lesson plans ready and final tests and final reviews written (which still aren’t done).

Fanny Parker, one of the native teachers here, started teaching me how to make a kuspuq.  A kuspuq is the traditional native shirt/dress that the eskimos wear.  They are kind of like very long, long-sleeved shirts, with a hood and a little skirt at the bottom.  The natives wear them quite often with jeans. Hopefully, I’ll get mine finished next week. 

We did have a couple of other teachers over for fajitas on Friday night.  I love having anything for dinner that has produce in it.  Some other teachers came over later that evening; one of them made the mistake of leaving behind some belongings.  I decided we should return this specific teacher’s sandals to her in a huge ice block.  I found the biggest container I could, filled it with water, and placed her sandals inside.  After two days in the freezer, it was frozen enough to be left on her doorstep.  I can’t wait for her to find it!  Any minute now she should be walking out of her door to see the ice block. :)