Mike and Kaitlyn playing in the wind.
I guess I’m cheating a bit with the pictures on this post. They are actually from last week. (There just wasn’t much worthy of picture-taking this week.) Tim mentioned that we had a pretty bad storm a week ago Saturday. Because of this, we were cooped up inside for most of the day. Tim was itching to get out and experience the storm, so he and Mike Tozzo attempted to go to the school. They didn’t make it more than 50 yards away from our apartment before they had to turn around because of huge drifts in the road. Instead, the three of us played outside in the wind and the snow like we were 10 years old. If you stood in the right spot between the two teacher apartment buildings, you could lean at a 45-degree angle and the wind would keep you from falling over. So, we leaned in the wind, we rolled down the hill, and we threw snowballs. Before long everyone who lives in our apartment building was out playing in the snow. After the wind blew off my fur hat (which was tied under my chin and underneath my goggles) I decided that I had had enough and went back inside.
Kaitlyn's latest creation.
Last week I also completed my second pair of crocheted mukluks. After making the first pair, I wanted to see if I could make them taller. It took some improvising on the pattern, but I managed. They turned out pretty well. My friend, Gala, really liked them and told me I should sell them. I was a bit hesitant, but then I heard that the school is hosting a bizarre in one month. So, why not? We’ll see how many I can get made in the next few weeks. I don’t know if any of them will sell, but it wouldn’t hurt to make a few pairs and just see. I guess I better get on to the events of this week. There really isn’t much to report on. Monday through Friday was pretty uneventful. I will admit that I was having a hard time keeping an upbeat attitude with the knowledge of Saturday school looming. Since we had a weather-canceled day a week ago Thursday, we had to make it up by going to school this Saturday. Working 6 six days in a row is doable (not desirable or pleasant, but doable), however, having only one weekend day before starting the new work week is a little intimidating, especially when Tim and I always use one of our two weekend days to lesson plan for the upcoming week. We were expecting attendance to be pretty poor on Saturday; however, we had better attendance than I expected, especially in comparison to Thursday and Friday. The MS and HS boys and girls basketball teams have been gone and the roads have been icy, so attendance was pretty poor Thursday and Friday. Saturday it was lower, but not as much lower as I expected. In my best-attended class I had 66% of my students. In my worst attended class I had 30% of my students. There were other teachers though that had one or more classes with only 1 student in them. I decided on Friday to make assignments that would take them longer than one class to complete. That way, those who chose not to come on Saturday already had their homework, and those who did come on Saturday could use the day to complete their assignments. Tim and I had to pull out the ice cleats this week. The weather has made a drastic change. We are no longer experiencing temperatures as low as negative 30 degrees Fahrenheit, but now they are has high as positive 40 degrees Fahrenheit. This has meant that we have gotten a lot of wet snow and ice. The other morning we couldn’t make it from our apartment to the 4-wheeler or from the 4-wheeler to the school without ice cleats. One thing I have learned from living in bush Alaska is that having the necessary equipment and clothing is a must. It is foolish to simply go without. It’s much better to bite the bullet, spend the money, and be well prepared. It’s not a matter of fashion, popularity, or even comfort. It’s a matter of staying alive and healthy.
We had our first fight of the school year on Friday. I have been worried about a fight breaking out for the last month or so. Us teachers have been trying to have more of a presence in the hallways and have been keeping a closer eye on a few individuals. The weird thing is that the fight wasn’t between any of the boys that we were worried about fighting. It was between two fairly calm and pleasant girls. Our principal handled the situation pretty well and the hallways were more heavily patrolled on Saturday. I have a feeling that his method of handling the situation will do a better job of squelching future fights than the methods of our previous principal. (Last year, two fighting girls were given a “slap on the hand” and sent back to class. Of course, within minutes we had another fight on our hands and a third fight just weeks later.)
I don’t really feel like I can end a post with talk of a fight, so I better include something more positive. Saturday night, Tim and I tried to squeeze in all our weekend rituals into one evening. We did household chores, relaxed, and had Heather over to watch a movie. Although, we never even got around to picking a movie since we were too busy just talking and laughing with one another. It felt really weird that it was already Saturday night and we had just finished our work week hours earlier, but we made the most of it by enjoying hot chocolate and chocolate chewies.
We had our first fight of the school year on Friday. I have been worried about a fight breaking out for the last month or so. Us teachers have been trying to have more of a presence in the hallways and have been keeping a closer eye on a few individuals. The weird thing is that the fight wasn’t between any of the boys that we were worried about fighting. It was between two fairly calm and pleasant girls. Our principal handled the situation pretty well and the hallways were more heavily patrolled on Saturday. I have a feeling that his method of handling the situation will do a better job of squelching future fights than the methods of our previous principal. (Last year, two fighting girls were given a “slap on the hand” and sent back to class. Of course, within minutes we had another fight on our hands and a third fight just weeks later.)
I don’t really feel like I can end a post with talk of a fight, so I better include something more positive. Saturday night, Tim and I tried to squeeze in all our weekend rituals into one evening. We did household chores, relaxed, and had Heather over to watch a movie. Although, we never even got around to picking a movie since we were too busy just talking and laughing with one another. It felt really weird that it was already Saturday night and we had just finished our work week hours earlier, but we made the most of it by enjoying hot chocolate and chocolate chewies.
