Another week gone already! The picture at the top was actually from last week, not this week, but I figured you’d all forgive me. Last week I was able to go smelting with some friends. It was not only my first time ice fishing, but my first time fishing at all. How does a girl live the majority of her life in Idaho, the remaining portion of her life in Alaska, and never go fishing? Well, for 25 years I managed it. It was actually really fun (very cold) and really easy. We rode out to the mouth of the frozen river on our 4-wheelers. We had to be careful not to get stuck in the powder. When we arrived at the mouth of the river there was already several holes that had been previously dug (I’m not sure if dug is the correct word for putting a hole in ice, but you get what I mean). We just had to rebreak through the ice because they had all frozen over again. With the help of an axe and an ice pick we had several holes ready to go in no time. We used a simple stick with about 6 feet of line and a hook on the end. No bait needed. Every few minutes a fish would bite and most the time, they would just fall off the hook once you got them out of the hole, so we didn’t have to handle them a lot. I particularly liked that feature. It was really cold so we constantly had to wipe the ice off our lines to keep them from breaking and use a slotted spoon to clear out the newly formed ice on top of our holes. I caught about 15 smelt. Luckily, I was able to give them to someone else so I didn’t have to eat them all. (Have I ever mentioned that I’m not very fond of fish?)
Our friend Robin had a birthday this week, so last weekend her mom came into town and brought pizza with her from Anchorage. We had a huge birthday party in the school. It’s been awhile since I’ve had pizza from any sort of restaurant. Our case worker was here, so he joined us at the party. He thought it was quite funny that someone would go to the work of flying pizza in from Anchorage. He obviously hasn’t been in the village for 7 months!
This week was Tim’s 29th birthday. I tried to make it as special as I could despite our work schedule and village life. I made a “Happy Birthday Mr. Phillips” poster and secretly put it on his classroom door. That way, all the kids going into his room would know it was his birthday. By the time we got home from school there wasn’t much time left to celebrate. I did make him a dinner that involved peanut sauce because he loves peanut sauce. We really celebrated this weekend.
Saturday night we had 14 people over at our house for a party. Everybody brought some food to share, so we had a feast. We played the game “What if”. I think I was the only one in the room who had ever played before so it was fun to introduce everyone to a new game.
Tim was noticing that everyone was commenting on how close to 30 years old he was. I said something, his parents said something, and our coworkers said something. He kindly reminded all of us that he didn’t turn 30, he turned 29 and we should let him enjoy 29 before shoving 30 down his throat. (He didn’t use those exact words, but you get the idea.) So Happy 29th Birthday Timmy!
Friday, Heather’s sister, Bridgett, came to visit. Heather was so excited that it was infectious. I couldn’t wait for Bridgett to come. It was really fun to meet her. We don’t get visitors here often. (If anyone wants to come visit, let us know!) She’ll be here for 10 days. I foresee some fun in the next week or so.
Saturday morning Tim and I had to take some tests. Tim took the Praxis I: basic reading, writing, and math. We have to take the Praxis I for our teaching certificates to remain valid. I took the Praxis II: biology. It was hard. I hope I passed. I have to take the test so that the district can say I’m highly qualified to teach biology. I don’t feel qualified to teach biology at all, much less highly qualified.
Well, I better stop before I get an entire book. I was just excited we actually had something to report on this week and pictures to go along.
Our friend Robin had a birthday this week, so last weekend her mom came into town and brought pizza with her from Anchorage. We had a huge birthday party in the school. It’s been awhile since I’ve had pizza from any sort of restaurant. Our case worker was here, so he joined us at the party. He thought it was quite funny that someone would go to the work of flying pizza in from Anchorage. He obviously hasn’t been in the village for 7 months!
This week was Tim’s 29th birthday. I tried to make it as special as I could despite our work schedule and village life. I made a “Happy Birthday Mr. Phillips” poster and secretly put it on his classroom door. That way, all the kids going into his room would know it was his birthday. By the time we got home from school there wasn’t much time left to celebrate. I did make him a dinner that involved peanut sauce because he loves peanut sauce. We really celebrated this weekend.
Saturday night we had 14 people over at our house for a party. Everybody brought some food to share, so we had a feast. We played the game “What if”. I think I was the only one in the room who had ever played before so it was fun to introduce everyone to a new game.
Tim was noticing that everyone was commenting on how close to 30 years old he was. I said something, his parents said something, and our coworkers said something. He kindly reminded all of us that he didn’t turn 30, he turned 29 and we should let him enjoy 29 before shoving 30 down his throat. (He didn’t use those exact words, but you get the idea.) So Happy 29th Birthday Timmy!
Friday, Heather’s sister, Bridgett, came to visit. Heather was so excited that it was infectious. I couldn’t wait for Bridgett to come. It was really fun to meet her. We don’t get visitors here often. (If anyone wants to come visit, let us know!) She’ll be here for 10 days. I foresee some fun in the next week or so.
Saturday morning Tim and I had to take some tests. Tim took the Praxis I: basic reading, writing, and math. We have to take the Praxis I for our teaching certificates to remain valid. I took the Praxis II: biology. It was hard. I hope I passed. I have to take the test so that the district can say I’m highly qualified to teach biology. I don’t feel qualified to teach biology at all, much less highly qualified.
Well, I better stop before I get an entire book. I was just excited we actually had something to report on this week and pictures to go along.
