Hello all!  This week was "Spirit Week" at school.  The cross country team is starting their post-season races and the student council set up a exciting week to send them off and recognize them.  It kind of doubled as a "Welcome Back" to school assembly too.  Kaitlyn is co-supervising Student Council this year and worked hard to be a good example to the students.  In the picture to the left, she dressed up for "Hunter Day".  However, neither her nor I actually own any official "hunter" clothing, so instead Kaitlyn dressed up as the "Hunted".  In this picture she is a Bristol Bay Moose.  The students all loved it.  Kaitlyn does a good job for dress up days, (I think she likes it a lot).  Some of the other days were Twin day (Kait dressed up like me and drew a beard on), and Favorite Athlete day (we dressed up like the cross country team.  Thursday was the culmination of the Spirit week (because the XC team left on Friday).  We had a big pep assembly with all the students K-12 at the end of the day.  There were activities that required giving students mohawks with shaving cream, blind free-throw shooting, and ice cream sundae eating using other people to shovel it into your mouth.  It was great. 

***Just as a side note, we got a new hall rug this week we want to show off below if anyone is interested.

     Kaitlyn is currently in Fairbanks, Ak attending a Science/Math conference.  These opportunities are fantastic when they come up as they usually provide free transportation to a major city where we can do grocery shopping!  They also provide us with necessary "city-life medication" as some times living in Bush Alaska can be a bit cabin feverish.  Kaitlyn has been preparing all week for this trip.  She left Friday after school and will be coming back Tuesday some time (weather permitting).   Kaitlyn sent back some pictures from her flight to Dillingham from Togiak.  Two are from the flight, one is a sunrise earlier that day from my (Tim) classroom window.  

     It's always fun being a bachelor for a while.  Once the Kait is away, this mouse usually plays.  However, playing usually consists of eating all the bad food I shouldn't and staying up really late watching movies.  By the time she comes back I am usually just recovering from the stomach aches and poor sleep patterns. :) 
     On Saturday, we had a service project down at the public library.  The public library is planning on moving to the old school house (not in use for about 7 years).  One of the projects was to make it ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessible.  The shop class at school has built a ramp to affix to the building.  Saturday, I went out with a couple other teachers and students (totaling about 10-12) and dug postholes for the support.  This was not an easy task as its all gravel beach at the old school.  One of the reasons the current school is where it is now is because the old school is in a flood plain/tsunami zone.  Great view though!  We needed to dig 10 holes about 4 feet deep with only 4 long shovels and one posthole digger.  It made for a classic state construction work site; lots of people standing around, few people actually working.  By the end of the day we got it done, however.  

    I didn't have a whole lot of pictures to choose from this week.  On Thursday we had a beautiful, sunny evening with a beautiful rainbow.  Tim and I were admiring it out our living room window.  I decided to go outside and take a picture; however, by the time I got outside the rainbow was gone.  You can still enjoy the picture of the rainbowless, beautiful, sunny, Togiak evening.
    This week has been busy, but good.  I only made it to cross country practice one day this week.  The coach, Mike, was a bit sneaky.  He called my room after school to ask me if I was coming.  I told him yes and then he hung up, not telling me the plan.  When I got there, he started explaining the route.  It was then I realized why he got a commitment from me before telling me where we were going.  We ran to the dump, up 2-hill, and back.  It is 2.5 miles to the dump.  2-hill is very steep and rocky.  It was also windy and rainy.  All that being said, our 5+ mile run wasn't too bad.  I was so proud of all the middle school runners.  The first time I went to practice with them none of them even made it half way through our 3-mile route without stopping to walk and they all suddenly had twisted ankles and sore knees.  Monday, however, all of them made it the 2.5 miles to the dump without stopping.  They were scared out of their wits to go up 2-hill, but they went anyway, and they didn't do too bad on their way back either.  Phrases like "I can't do this and this is too hard," that I heard two weeks ago had turned into "I can't do this . . . wait, yes I can.  It is hard, but I can do it."  I couldn't believe my ears.
    We finally got word that our 4-wheeler was shipped from Anchorage to Dillingham.  We were so excited to get a phone call later that day, assuming that they were telling us they were shipping it from Dillingham to Togiak.  Unfortunately, the call was to tell us that our 4-wheeler didn't fit on the plane.  No wonder nobody out here has a 4-wheeler as big as the one we just bought.  We have tried going all sorts of different routes to get it here.  You can't drive it across the tundra.  Even in the winter, I don't think I would trust a 4-wheeler between Togiak and Dillingham.  Bringing it on a boat could work, if we had a boat or a friend that hadn't already winterized their boat.  The barge doesn't have enough stuff on it to make a trip.  There is one man in Dillingham who has a plane big enough to bring it, but the price tag is also big: $1600!  We're hoping that we can find some other people in need of a large plane that can split the cost with us.  We've heard rumors that there might be some fencing coming out to Twin Hills (our neighboring village), maybe we can jump in on that.  I guess the good news is that Tim and I are confident that when the day comes that we want to turn around an sell this 4-wheeler that it will be a hot item that goes for a good price.
    I don't feel like I've told much about our week, but I don't feel like there's much to tell.  We're finally getting into a bit of a routine.  We love our new principal and the staff this year.  We are so grateful to be getting along better with our classes and our students.  We are just happy to be here and happy for the changes from last year.  We just had to turn in midquarter grades, which means the school year is already 1/8th over.  I can't believe how fast things are going.

     This week has been the longest week so far, and it was only three days!  Monday we had a day off.  It was nice, however, Kaitlyn and I ended up going to the school anyway to get ready for classes.  We spent the day at school and then came home and watched a movie.  Nothing fancy.  Tuesday was a teacher inservice day.  The district wanted every certified employee to go through data training for a program called Aims Web.  It’s a program used at our district to measure student reading ability and to track whether or not they are progressing according to some standardized time frame.  It’s used in grades Kindergarten through 8th.  For all those who know what grades we teach might be scratching your head now.  Kaitlyn and I both teach high school (I teach two middle school grades, but am not involved with the testing), and yes, we were also required to go to the training.  I wish I could say that I was interested and intrigued, however, the training was all about how to read the data points for this program.  Those who don’t use the program, or even have the slightest idea of how it works were incredibly bored.  I don’t want to come off too negatively, but it’s difficult to stay attentive and engaged to material that 1) doesn’t apply to your job, and 2) is difficult to understand.  We didn’t want to be rude and just turn our thoughts away and play on our computer, but how could we not.  We tried to stay focused, but it sure was a challenge.

Wednesday through Friday seemed to drag on forever.  First off, there is some type of virus going through Togiak presently.  It finally landed on some of the teachers and made the week feel slower.  I (Tim) caught something.  It wasn’t horrible, localized around the throat only, but boy did it zap any motivation to do well in class that I had.  I just wanted to sleep, but I never felt poor enough to actually call in sick.  As soon as school was out on Friday it felt like a heavy burden was lifted and everything was well.  

Friday after school Kaitlyn and few other co-workers held a Battle of the Books Party.  For those who don’t know what Battle of the Books is, it’s a club that meets and reads a set of books.  At the end of the year, they go to a competition and “battle” other schools answering questions from the reading.  Friday was this year’s starting day.  Kaitlyn said they had 28 kids (3rd-12th) who stayed after school and started reading.  They finished the party by watching a movie that came from one of the books and had pizza with the kids.  Our principal summed it up pretty well when he said, “Wow.” in reference to how many kids were at school an hour after the bell rang on a Friday and reading.  It was a cool sight.  

Kaitlyn and I have started a new television series and stayed up late Friday and Saturday night watching it.  It is Sanctuary (2008).  It stars Amanda Tapping, actress in Stargate, who, with her crew, collect and study people/creatures with abnormal powers.  It’s very much Science Fiction, but we’re into that recently.  It’s kind of fun to get hooked on a tv show and battle with your common sense whether or not to stay up late or not.  Luckily, we only have this battle on the weekends. :)  

Today, Sunday, we had Stake Conference over the phone.  It was a special conference as all of the Washington and Alaska attended a conference that originated from Salt Lake City.  We heard from Sister Dalton, YW’s General President; President Snow, Presidency of the Seventy; Elder Holland and President Packer.  It was a great meeting and surprisingly short. We were out in 90 min, which is a stark contrast to our 4 ½ hours of church each Sunday.  We were informed that Elder Holland will be coming to Alaska next month to do some Bishopric/Stake Presidency training and will do another conference.  So, we get two fall Stake Conferences this year.  Pretty cool.

    On Monday Tim stumbled upon a 2007 Can-Am 4-wheeler for sell on Craig's List.  We'd been contemplating getting a 2-seater snow go for the past few months.  (Snow go is what snow machines or snowmobiles are called here in the village.)  However, since we spent money on laser surgery this summer, we decided we should hold off.  However, a few weeks ago, Tim's 4-wheeler overheated and needs quite a lot of work.  So when Tim found this 4-wheeler on Craig's List we decided to look into it.  It is a 2-seater and since it is a Can-Am you have the option to buy tracks for it.  That means in the winter you can replace the wheels with tracks and use it as a snow go.  Hours later we had agreed to buy it.   I must admit that Tim is not the only one anxiously awaiting it's arrival.  It's pretty fun buying a new (well new to us) ATV.  Within 24 hours, we already had a good offer on Tim's broken 4-wheeler as well.  Not bad.  We have to wait for the machine to get shipped from Anchorage, but we should have it within a week or two.
    I have been trying to make it to cross country practice at least half the time.  I want the exercise, the company, and I think it's a good opportunity to form a good relationship with the kids.  This week our cross country coach has to go to Dillingham for some training.  I offered to be his substitute coach while he was gone.  Wednesday and Thursday I ran with the kids.  None of the high school kids showed up for practice, so it was just me and 5 middle schoolers.  It was a lot of work to keep them going the whole time.  They all wanted to stop and walk, pick berries, or wander off into the tundra.  I had to keep telling them, hold your pace until we get to this pole.  Keep up with me until we get to the stop sign.  Don't give up.  Let's do this lap without walking, etc, etc, etc.  Although not all of them completed their entire run, I did survive practice and thankfully their official coach did return.
    This weekend the student council wanted to host a basketball tournament.  Mike Tozzo, the MS and HS special ed teacher, and myself, are the advisors.  We were a bit nervous about putting on a tournament with such a short planning period.  Especially since everyone here is just used to playing it by ear.  We managed to put it on though.  I was lucky and Mike agreed to let me solely worry about concessions and he had to worry about the games.  I think I got the better end of the deal.  I spent the last couple of evenings sitting in the hot concessions room, boiling hot dogs, and fetching soda.  It went fairly well though.  There was no blood or fights and I think we actually made some money.  Now, we're just going to have to have a chat with all the students on student council who didn't show up.  We had one student show up one of the nights.