Hello all.  We just completed the second week of school.  All the kinks that accompany the start of a new school year are now starting to iron themselves out.  For the most part, things are going quite well.  The staff is happy, and the students seem to be happy too (at least appear to be).  Kaitlyn and I have returned to our outrageous school schedule and arrive at to school around 7:00 a.m. each day and usually go home anywhere between 6:45-8:00 p.m.  Our schedule seems weird even to the other teachers, but there is just so much work to do that it’s difficult to come home early.  I (Tim) like to keep work at work so that home is a place of rest and relaxation.  I have broken down a few times and brought work home, but I never really get anything done.  It’s amazing how sitting down in my lazy-boy can take all motivation out of me. :)  

     Each week night, during the school year, the school is open at night for the community to use the gym.  It’s about the only source of entertainment (other than video games, tv, and mischief) that the community has.  Each year, the school receives a grant from the American Diabetes Association (ADA) to fund the salary of one person to supervise the gym night.  At the beginning of each school year we have about a three to four week period until the ADA Grant kicks in, so it’s traditionally been a fund raiser for different school organizations to earn money and charge the students/community members to come use the gym (it’s free when the ADA grant kicks in).  This year, Kaitlyn has volunteered to co-supervise Student Government.  One of her duties was to supervise gym night so Student Government could earn the money.  Supervising consists of taking money and refusing entrance to those students who are not allowed to participate because they were either tardy to class or had an unexcused absence that day.  She had to be there at 6pm - 9pm.  That doesn’t sound too long, but add that to a 7 am start day, it turns into a very long day.  She’s a trooper for doing it.

On Friday, we had an inservice day.  This was a district required inservice for training on a reading program/software input.  It only applied to elementary and middle school, so Kaitlyn and I got out of it.  High school basically had a free planning day.  It’s always nice to have a break and feel like you can get ahead (however, I always feel like I never do).  Friday night, we went to our friend, Heather’s house and played games with her and our new school counselor Leslie.  It was nice just to sit and enjoy a game and chat.  Part of the fun of 3-day weekends is that it gives you an extra day to relax.  A normal weekend never really feels relaxing because you’re always thinking about school.  However, getting a lot of our work done on Friday meant we could do other things on Saturday!  Kaitlyn went with a few other teachers and hiked one of the hills we have around here.  (Now, don’t be fooled by the word “hike” and “hill”.  Our hills are not very tall, just a few hundred feet at most.)  They drove the four wheelers as far as they could go and then hiked to the top.  This particular hill is called “Two-Hill”, because it has two humps.  I stayed back and went to the school to finish a few things.

     Saturday night Kaitlyn when to a “girls-only party” at Heather’s house.  With her bering gone, I used the opportunity to play manly and fix my 4 wheeler.  Last week, it over heated on the way to town because the oil pan drain plug had come unscrewed and lost most of the oil.  This is considered really really bad.  Usually when you run a vehicle without oil it’s pretty much shot and you have to get a whole new engine.  In bush Alaska, this means buying a new 4 wheeler. Luckily though, it simply overheated and isn’t completely ruined (only “mostly”dead). Another teacher and I decided we were going to fix it by getting in the engine and lubing up the pistons with some liquid wrench so that they won’t overheat.  We think this will help. First off, I must say, Honda did a good job making it rather impossible to work on their 4 wheelers.  In order to get to the engine, we have to take apart just about everything on the 4 wheeler.  We ran into our first problem when we realized we were going to have to remove the fuel tank.  It sounds easy (just disconnect the fuel hoses and pull it out), however, it sure isn’t.  There were so many hoses and in different places that we weren’t sure if we should or not.  After about 30 min of work, we decided to stop tear down and walk away.  I’m actually quite proud of ourselves, because it’s way easier to puff up your chest and assert one’s manliness and start yanking on things then it is to walk away, admit temporary defeat, and ask for help.  I plan on asking one of the local mechanics in town to help me out.  Maybe we can all watch. :)

Tim and I survived our first week of school!  It is so nice to start the year out knowing the kids, the faculty, the village, and the culture.  I feel like things are so much more doable this year.  We were still busy and still worked 13-hour days all week, but I felt like I was keeping my head above the water, rather than gulping for air.
    Tim now teaches 7th and 8th grade as well as high school.  I have always thought that he would make a great middle school teacher.  His personality just seems perfect for the kids.  I was so happy when Tim told me after school on Monday that he loved the middle school students. 
    We have been adjusting to a new principal and counselor, but I think the change is going to be really good.  The kids are a bit nervous about the new staff as well, but I tried to reassure them as much as I could.
    I’m not going to go into detail about the school week, because we just worked all day long, but we did play pretty hard this weekend.

    Friday, we invited some other teachers over for dinner and games.  Tim made his famous pizza.  I think it was his best yet.  Mike brought over some muktuk (whale blubber) to share.  I’d never tried it cooked, so I gave it another shot.  I took one bite and couldn’t control my gag reflex, so I just through the rest away.  We played one of our favorite games: Bang!  At 10:00 pm, we all headed to the beach.  Dale had set a net earlier that day and we were all going to help harvest the fish.  The tide was still too high when we arrived, so we waited at Dale’s house until midnight and then went back out.  The depth of the water at the net was still deep.  Dale, Michael, and Greg went out to get the fish and they were wet up to their armpits (yes, in the Alaskan ocean in the middle of the night).  I purposely volunteered to gut the fish so I didn’t have to go in the water.

    We found what we think was a whale washed up on the beach, but it was extremely small.  We couldn’t figure out what kind of whale would only be 3 feet long even when it was a baby.  Who knows?
    Saturday we slept in and took a sweet time getting to anything productive for the day.  I finally finished organizing our furniture.  We bought a treadmill, so we had to do some major rearranging to make things work.  I feel so much better now that my house isn’t torn apart with a treadmill in the middle of one of the rooms.

    Earlier this week Tim’s 4-wheeler “blew-up”.  He was driving back from town and the machine just shut down in the middle of the road.  He got it started again, but it sounded awful, perhaps a piston is blown or something.  Anyway, he felt really horrible, because there was next to no oil in the machine when he checked it.  But, he had changed the oil right before we left Togiak and we had seen no signs of a leak.  This made me particularly paranoid about my own 4-wheeler because I hadn’t ever changed my oil and I don’t know how long it had been since the last owner had changed it.  So, Saturday afternoon was spent changing oil in Tim’s 4-wheeler, my 4-wheeler, Heather’s 4-wheeler, and Michael’s 4-wheeler.  (Perhaps, Tim’s mishap made more than just myself nervous.)  It was my first time changing the oil in a 4-wheeler and my mind is at ease now that it’s changed.
    Saturday evening we had a potluck at our neighbor’s, Eve.  She invited the entire faculty.  There were 17 people in her little apartment.  I love teacher potlucks.

In-service
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week was our district in-service.  Our in-service is held in Dillingham.  Dillingham is not part of our district, but our district office is located there.  It was really fun to see everyone from the district again and meet all the new people.  Tim and I are excited about all the new staff in Togiak.  We especially were relieved when we met our principal.  He seems like a really good guy that will do the best for the students and staff. 

Back to Togiak
In-service ended just after noon on Wednesday, so after lunch everyone started making the trek back to their villages.  We had about 6 flights over to Togiak.  Tim and I were scheduled on the 3:00 pm flight that left at 4:30 pm.  We enjoyed the wait though.  We looked through the district media center and loaded two totes full of books, DVDs, and manipulatives. 

Work Days
Thursday and Friday were work days at school.  Tim and I were at school all day Thursday, Friday, and Saturday getting things prepared for next week.  It has been a little hard to prepare because the bell schedule and class schedule are still changing and we are trying to adjust for one less teacher for an unknown amount of time (she broke her hip a few weeks ago).  I feel for our counselor and principal.  Both are new to the district and there are so many changes and decisions they have to make with little or no information.  Regardless of how ready we are though, school starts tomorrow.  We’ll survive. I’m a bit nervous, but excited to get going again.

Netting
I made sure to get away from my classroom a little bit the past few days.  Friday evening, I went down to the beach with a bunch of other teachers to set up the fish net.  After we got the net set out most of us continued exploring along the beach.  We drove down to 2nd creek and then decided to return over the hill instead of along the beach.  The weather was great and the view was beautiful.  I love how green it is here this time of year.

Saturday morning we went back to the net to harvest the salmon that got caught.  Some of the teachers gathered up fish from the net and the rest of us gutted and fileted them right on the beach.  I’m not very good or very fast at fileting fish, but I want to get better, so I’ll keep practicing.  We brought in about 14 salmon, enough for us each to keep two fish.  Saturday evening we went back out for one more harvest.  Unfortunately, the tide went out faster than we expected, so the birds got all our fish before we did.  We just brought the net in instead.

Fish
I keep trying to like fish, but I just can’t.  I told Dale (the teacher that was instigating the netting) that I wanted to come help but I didn’t want any fish.  He still gave me fish and told me I could just give it away; so I did, all but 1 filet.  I thought, “I’ve got fresh salmon here, I should just give it another try.”  I got a new recipe from an experienced salmon consumer, cooked it up, and then . . . felt like I rather puke than eat salmon.  I knocked on my neighbor’s door and told them, “I cooked more fish than I can eat, would you like some?”  What I didn’t tell them is that I gave them ALL the fish.  I hope it tasted okay.  I’m not exactly a pro at cooking salmon.

Excitement on the Tundra
After setting the net on Friday evening, some of the teachers and I decided to take the “short cut” home across the tundra.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with tundra it tends to be very spongy.  There are a lot of mosses, berries, and small plants and bushes that grow close to the ground, but much of the tundra is very saturated.  You will sink a bit where you step and you’ll get a bit wet if you don't have on your waterproof boots.  Needless to say, I was a bit skeptical of this short cut, but was assured by another teacher that he’d taken it before and you could make it.  We drove for a while on a fairly firm dirt trail, but soon were following a less established and less firm trail.  We had to keep up our speed to avoid getting stuck and repeatedly get stuck here and there as the 4-wheelers sunk into the ground.  At one point in time one teacher was walking across the tundra to help another teacher get unstuck and sunk to the top of his rubber boats.  As he tried to get out he sunk to his thighs.  None of us could help him because we would sink too.  When he finally worked his way out, his boats were still in the muck.  After he got stuck two more times and our 4-wheelers got stuck a little more seriously, we decided we’d turn back.  I guess that short cut can wait until it freezes.

    Monday was our last day in the lower 48.  The day went by so quickly.  Tim and I began the day by driving to Idaho Falls to pick up a rental car.  (Kia Optimas are really kind of nice.)  We took the opportunity, while in Idaho Falls, to go clothes shopping one last time.  We got back to Rexburg, packed our bags, ran a few last errands, and finished one last dentist appointment.  We made it to the street festival in time to see the jump rope team perform and then enjoyed bumping into old friends.  Unfortunately a sudden rain/wind storm cut the celebrations short.  Our last few hours that evening were spent visiting as many people as possible: Yvonne and kids, Alex and family, Sarah, and Becky.  I couldn't believe how many people I still wanted to see and time was already up.  (Sorry if you were one of those people who didn't get visited.)
    Tuesday started quite early.  We were packed up and out of the house by 3:00 am, headed to Boise to catch our flight.  In case any of you are wondering, Tim and I are very upset that Horizon no longer flies into Idaho Falls, it makes traveling to and from Rexburg a bit more difficult for us.  We made it to the Boise airport without any hitches.  Tim had his first experience going through a body scanner; luckily, I was spared the experience because the line was getting backed up.  We made a stop in Seattle where we almost got bumped, but unfortunately made our flight in the end.  ($800 in ticket vouchers would have been awesome.)  By 1:30 pm we had made it to Anchorage. 
    I must say, Tim and I were very efficient in our "perishable items" shopping.  We wasted no time getting from the airport, dropping off our bags at the Petersen's, borrowing the car, and getting to Costco.  We knew exactly how many pounds of food we could fit in our coolers and purchased accordingly.  We amazingly used all of our space and within pounds of our limit.  I was pretty proud of ourselves.  We even had time to go treadmill shopping, have dinner with our branch president and Elder's quorum president, and buy cell phones.  Yes, we gave in and finally got GCI cell phones.  GCI is the only provider that works in Togiak.  I must admit, it is really nice having a cell phone again.  Overall, Tuesday was a pretty full and productive day.

    Wednesday morning we went back to the treadmill store and scored a deal.  We asked for a particular treadmill we had been looking at the night before (which was on a really good sale).  However, when the sales associate noticed it wasn't in stock, he offered to give us the upgrade for the same sale price as the original treadmill.  We were pretty happy about that.  To top it off when we dropped the treadmill off at Northern Air Cargo to be shipped to Togiak it cost $200 less than what they had quoted us the day before.  We then picked up our perishable items from the Costco freezer, loaded them into coolers, and headed for the airport.  Alaska Air doesn't charge baggage fees for the first three bags as long as your travel is solely within the state.  Be warned though, they will still charge you baggage fees if you traveled on previous days under the same reservation outside the state.  That was a bit of a bummer, but I guess if you balance it out with the treadmill incident earlier in the day, we were still ahead.  We made it to Dillingham, had time to eat at our favorite Dillingham Chinese restaurant, and then flew to Togiak.  Oh, it's good to be home.  I thought I was in heaven when I sat on my own bed.  I love coming home to a clean house . . . to my own clean house.  It was so good to ride my 4-wheeler again too!  One of the first things we did was get the vice principal to unlock the Connex for us so we could get our 4-wheelers out.  We spent a couple hours that evening unpacking boxes, but then just had to go to bed and save the rest for morning.  (We mailed ourselves 4 boxes of nonperishable groceries in May when we were in Anchorage.)

    Thursday we spent some more time unpacking and putting groceries away.  We went "downtown" to the post office and the store and stopped by the library to see our coworker.  One of our students saw us and came running over to tell us his big plans.  He is transferring to Dillingham so he can get a better report to get into college and next summer will be going to Greece, Italy, and France.  He was pretty excited to tell us his plans.  I was really excited to hear that he had such big plans.  We'll miss having him in class, but glad he's taken advantage of such good opportunities.  We spent several hours at the school that afternoon getting our classrooms put together.
    Friday and Saturday we also spent several hours at the school doing prep work for the new year.  On one hand, thinking of the new school year is very overwhelming, because this time I know what I'm getting myself into.  I know how much work and how hard it is.  On the other hand, I am a bit relieved because my learning curve is so much lower.  I know what to expect and get a second shot. 
    This morning Tim and I had to fly back to Dillingham for inservice.  Traveling in the bush is not like traveling in the lower 48.  Tim and I were told by our vice principal that we would be flying with AIA, Sunday, 9-10.  That doesn't mean that we were taking off at 9:00 am and landing at 10:00 am.  It meant that we would leave sometime between 9:00 am and 10:00 am.  We left after 11:00 am. Most companies will send a driver to come get you from your house.  Usually they call about 10 minutes before they show up.  There's no buildings or check-in process at the airport, you just get out of the van and into the plane.  This particular plane had 6 seats (including the pilot and copilot).  When we arrived in Dillingham, the pilot drove us to where we needed to go (in our case, the Mormon church!).
    There were a whole 10 people at church include Tim and myself.  The Dillingham branch has always been small, but this week was particularly small. I'm not sure where everyone was.  As soon as we walked into the building all attention was turned to us.  The lesson was paused to find out how our summer was, how long we'd been back, if we knew of any other LDS teachers coming this year, what our new phone numbers were, and if we wanted to have a BBQ while we were here.  After a few minutes, we resumed with the lesson, which was combined Relief Society, Priesthood, and Young Men.  (There were no young women or primary children.)  I love the Dillingham branch. 
    Tim and I have the rest of the day to ourselves.  We'll probably spend time this evening catching up with all the other teachers from our district as they arrive.  It's nice that we are no longer the new guys!  I feel a little bit like I know what I'm doing this time around.

Whoops!  Tim and I are a couple days late on our update this week.  We have been staying busy playing with family and friends.  Last weekend we had the opportunity to attend the Lee reunion (my mother’s side).  I was a bit nervous to go because it had been 10+ years (20+ years in some cases) since I had seen most of my cousins and I wasn’t sure I would recognize anyone.  It turned out to be a blast.  I am so glad that we took the time to go.  Tim and I and the Andersons were able to take my mom camping on one of her few camping trips of her life and I think she loved it.  Tim and I are both looking forward to another Lee reunion in the future and for all those family members who didn’t make it, I would highly recommend making a great effort to come to the next one.  I wouldn’t want you to miss out.

Monday evening (July 25), Mom, Tim, and I went to Gus and Cindy’s house.  They were kind enough to include us in their chocolate party.  Every time Gus travels to Germany he comes home with a ton of chocolate and they gather around as a family to taste it all. 

Tuesday my mom and I went with Reb and Julia to a Quilt exhibit, which was amazing, and then we headed back for Rexburg.  The rest of the week we spent a lot of time with my parents, Valerie, and the Anderson’s.  I have to say my sister Yvonne as some pretty cute kids!  Thursday we were able to attend the temple with my parents.  Saturday Tim and I attended the bodies exhibit with Matt and Yvonne.  It was so cool!  Anyone who lives in southeast Idaho, who hasn’t gone yet, should make a point to go.  (It’s open until September 5th.)  Sunday Tim attended our old ward one last time, had lunch with the family and Warren and Rachel, got to visit our friend Jason Stark (welcome back!), and have dinner with Matt and Monica Foster.  It was such a great day.

Yesterday, completely slipped away from us.  We got our last few errands run and packed our bags.  We were able to see Proform Airborne Jump Rope team perform and catch part of the street festival (before it starting raining), see Yvonne and her girls one last time, visit with the Macbeths, visit with Sarah and Becky, and eat a delicious mother-made dinner.  By 9:00 pm I was so sorry to think that the day was already over and we were finished seeing so many loved family and friends. 

Tim and I left Rexburg at 3:00 am this morning, drove to Boise, and caught our flight to Anchorage.  Thanks to everyone who made our summer so great and to all those who opened their homes to us.  We had such a great time and we are now ready to return to our own home.  I’ll be so excited to see my own bed, my own kitchen, and my own 4-wheeler.  (I’m sure our 4-wheelers have felt neglected.  We’ll probably needed to take them for a ride right away.)