Let it Snow!

For the first time this week, the snow that has been falling actually started to stick! So, we have have snow and it will probably be this way until May.  I have my parka from LL Bean, my Carhartt gator and face mask, my Northface gloves, my BOGS boots and my STABILicers ice cleats... I hope I am prepared for the looooooonnnnng winter! The village people have been getting their snow mobiles out and making sure they work.  They also refer to snow mobiles as "Snow Go-s."  

The teachers have still been getting together for meals some nights and hanging out~ I ABSOLUTELY LOVE MY CO-WORKERS!!!!! We have become friends and family.  They have been such a blessing from God. We move into our new houses within the next two weeks! We are all very excited! While I was the one and only lucky teacher to have a microwave, the new houses will all be equipped with microwaves over the stoves.  Can you imagine living without a microwave??? We will still not have dishwashers though because no one knows how to fix them if they break or need maintenance.  Because we have to cook most everything from scratch, we usually have a lot of dishes.  I miss dishwashers. :( It is just weird not living with modern conveniences.

By the way, because the village people thought that Nichole's kids were demon possessed, they asked the Russian Orthodox priest to bless her classroom.  This happened a few weeks after they asked the Catholic priest to bless the room..... Never have I ever read anything about this in my college textbooks about teaching... I took pictures! 

 He had to face the east for the ceremony thing.

 Snow that sticks!

A pretty picture of the sky... it is so big and open here!

 The sky meets the river.... Lovely shades of stormy gray.

 By the time we had walked about 7 minutes to our houses, it was getting pretty clear outside. That is how fast the weather changes here! Also, these boys were getting their snow machines out to test drive them.

 Perfect snow to build a snowman!  So, Nichole and I decided to build a snowman right in front of the boy teachers' front door!

 Rolling the middle section up the ramp!

 It looked like a gangster.

 We eventually found a penny and a rock for the eyes, a baby carrot for the nose, and a slice of a red pepper for the mouth.

 We knocked on their door and ran.  Josh walked out, went back inside, and then came back out with his camera. Nichole snapped this picture from our "hiding" spot beside the house.

*In loving memory of Jack.  He was brutally massacred later that night... a real hit and run. Rest in pieces, Jack!

Report Cards...

This week has been focused on getting report cards out. They are due Sunday night at 11:59 pm.  Because we have a levelized system here instead of grades for student placement, it is A LOT different from anything I am familiar with. (Story of my Alaskan life.)  Anyway, every child has a list of standards to complete for each subject.  The subjects I grade my students on include Reading, Writing, Math, Science, Social Studies, PE, and Employability Skills.  Once all standards have been completed in one level, the child can then move up to the next level.  Standards can be checked off according to skills, performance, or projects.  Skills standards are based on a point system, performance standards are graded by marking developing, proficient, or advanced, and project standards are graded by marking A, B, or C.  Each child is working on a different standard from basically everyone in the class.  Every child moves at his or her own pace.  Because of this, I have some eight-year-olds that are on the equivalent level of a first grader in math.  I also have some six-year-olds that are on a second grade reading level.  It is crazy.  To make matters worse, the teacher they had last year in Kindergarten did not enter the standards correctly (I mean... it is all such an easy concept. *Sarcasm*) so I have to go in and fix everything.  In addition to that problem, the teacher that was in my room last year left halfway through the year on maternity leave so everything her students did the rest of the year did not get checked off.... SO I have to go in and fix it ALL to get the kids where they are supposed to be.  This includes testing the kids through the standards assessments, informal observation, etc. By the way, each student has about 200 standards in each grade level and I have 13 students.  I had to test 9 students in level 1 and 2.  Do the math. It equals TOO MUCH WORK FOR ONE WEEK! But, it is finished! Now, I just have to record the grades/standards/levels/behavior on report cards. Safe to say, I feel like I know this system quite well due to the problems I was handed to solve. 

That has consumed my week so I do not have anything interesting.  Sorry to all of the non-teachers out there who might be even more confused than the teachers after reading the above story!

The first snowfall happened this week! I had to put ice cleats on my boots! They will probably not come off my boots until April or May.

We are supposed to move into the new teacher housing at the end of the month!!! Hopefully, it will be soon so I can add more pictures to my blog! The new housing is looking REALLY NICE!!!!!!!!!

Oh, four seals were donated to the school.  And I thought I was the one with the bad week... poor seals!

Yes, it is legal for Natives to hunt and kill seals and whales here.  They cut out the blubber, boil it, and eat it.  The blubber is a two or three inch layer of fat right under the fur.

This is our janitor. His nickname is Buster. 

He is one of the funniest guys here and his youngest son is in my class!

 Oh yeah, and that is a seal he is cutting up. :(

 There are small parts of the rib cage~ They have a lot of ribs. 

That is one of the paws. :( Poor little fella...

 There is the fur (obviously covered in blood). It is supposed to be white with black spots like on the paw of the above picture. After they stretch the fur out, it can end up being twice its size.  To wash the fur, they use warm, soapy water and a washcloth or sponge.  The fur can also be thrown in the washing machine to wash, but it stinks up your washer for weeks... (or so I was told by one of the elders).

 To the left you will see the inside parts of the seal, in the middle is the fur folded in half, and to the right is the head.  This seal weighed about 30-40 pounds total.  That is a baby seal.

 Buster... caught red-handed!

Trip to Anchorage!!!

This week, I have been in Anchorage!!! Nichole and I both needed to see doctors, so we decided to try to get our doctor appointments on the same day so we could also do some bush shopping while in Anchorage.  We left Marshall on Wednesday after school.  Because we were planning on a huge shopping trip, we took two empty suitcases and two empty duffel bags and an empty cooler.  We only took what we could cram into a backpack so we would have plenty of room for everything else. 

Our flight was from Marshall to Bethel and then to Anchorage.  Luckily, Nichole knew a couple from her church that lived in Anchorage and they let us stay with them AND they gave us a car to use the whole time we were there! We arrived in Anchorage Wednesday night without a problem and the couple picked us up and took us home.  On the drive from the airport to their home, my eyes were hurting from all of the bright city lights.  It is so weird how that happened, but I have not been around city lights in two months.  Neon signs and streetlights were causing the worst pain.  We had not eaten since 11:00 am and the couple graciously made dinner for us.  They made us huge sandwiches!  Nichole and I got our own bedrooms while we were there, too! These people were so wonderful to us!  They were such a blessing!!!

On Thursday, Nichole and I went to Fred Meyer and Sam’s Club to do lots of shopping for groceries for the bush.  We also bought all of the food for the school’s concession stand.  When we checked out, we got some crazy looks from people because we had two shopping carts filled with primarily candy and chips.  That afternoon, we went to get pedicures!!! Then, we did some more shopping in downtown Anchorage. The hustle and bustle was so different from what I have been around in the village. Everything in the city moves so fast and is so bright.  It is hard to imagine what it was like before I was in Marshall because I did not even realize these things.  Now, it sticks out like a flamingo in a flock of crows.  In the village, whenever I pass someone I say hello or stop and talk. In the city, I would smile as I walked passed people and they would give me weird looks like “Don’t bother me!” or “What are you looking at?”  Good thing I did not stop to talk to them… then they would really think something was wrong with me. 

It is funny how living in the bush can change so many things about a person.  I used to be such a picky eater.  Now, I get excited about seeing vegetables.  Because it is so rare to get produce in the village, I have not eaten much.  Whenever produce is available, everyone eats as much as they can in an attempt to remain healthy.  However, in the city, produce is everywhere!  We loaded up the cooler with romaine lettuce, peppers, apples, celery, carrots, tomatoes, bananas, and cheese! 

Another thing that is different is that time is kind of a suggestion in the village.  There is not a definite answer and people are never concerned about time.  This goes for flights in the bush, when the store opens, when the post office opens, when you are meeting someone.  It is all an estimation and not precise.  Stores open when the workers get around to it and decide they want to open them.

Anyway, on Friday Nichole and I both had doctor appointments.  Afterwards, I got a Chinese massage (MUCH NEEDED!) and we of course… went shopping!!!! I miss shopping…

Before I went to Anchorage, I imagined that I would know exactly where I wanted to go to eat.  However, that was not the case.  As soon as we started looking for places to go, anything and everything sounded amazing.  So, we went to McDonald’s of all places and marveled at the low prices and what all we could get for just four dollars. 

Things I have learned these past few days:

It is hard to not take things for granted until you are put in situations that make you realize all the things you have been taking for granted.

Never judge someone until you have walked a mile in his shoes. Therefore, after you have judged him, at least you are a mile away and he is left barefoot. 

Bad days can come and go.  By writing the events of the day in a journal, it is easier to look back and laugh at them.

 Found this at the airport!!

 The view of the tundra from Marshall to Bethel

 More of the tundra

 Bethel- a village of about 1000 which is HUGE compared to Marshall!

 More of Bethel

 Our pilots- They were from Bethel

 Haven't seen one of these in a while!

 The lovely house we stayed at while in Anchorage!

 The beautiful mountains in the background made driving in the city very distracting! :) I am not complaining- I LOVE THE MOUNTAINS!!!!

 The third from the left is Smoked Salmon Chocolate... I was not brave enough to try this...

 Day 2 outside of the lovely house!

 How are we going to fit all of this stuff in the trunk/car????? (By the way, we are the student council sponsors and bought a lot of candy and food for the student store... I promise that is not all for us! It was just WAY cheaper to bring it back with us instead of shipping it.)

 Arkansas people should appreciate this... The Wal-Mart in Anchorage was built to resemble a log home...

 Which face mask shall I buy for the winter weather? They all caused some really bad static in my hair...

 Finally! We got to get dressed up for the first time in FOREVER...or so it seemed.... One of the first purchases in Anchorage for the both of us: high heels!!!!!!

 Gotta love the tourist traps...

 This made me laugh: This is a camper on the back of a truck with a moose crossing sign on it, a flower box under the window, and a solar light stuck in the flower box.  Nice!

 We keep buying stuff and cramming it in the car....

 All the stuff purchased in four days... Hmmmm... How will we fit this in 3 suitcases and a cooler????

 All of the cold foods fit perfectly in the cooler! That was just good luck!

 Worn out from the packing~ We packed from 10:00pm -1:00am and ended up shipping all of the boxes to the left

 The view of the tundra from Anchorage to Bethel!

 The temperature dropped a lot in those four days!

Teacher Trip for In-Service

This week, some men from Oklahoma were in Marshall to shoot a moose so they could mount the rack.  Basically, they had too much money and time on their hands.  After they shot two moose, they gave one to the family that guided them and one to the teachers.  We got to trim the meat off the moose and keep it!  I, Molly Walker, trimmed meat off of a moose leg.  I am still in shock. I have a HUGE fear of raw meat... guess I am over that!  

For my birthday, the staff and teachers got together at the school for a meal consisting of moose meat, potatoes, carrots, cornbread, and cupcakes!  It was a lot of fun getting to hang out with everyone.  The students usually wear a crown when it is their birthday.  The crowns are yellow with dinosaurs, balloons, and confetti on them!  I wore that crown with glory all day (because my students were begging me to) and it said: "I'm Having a Dino-mite Birthday! I am 22 years old today!" Lol!

From Wednesday afternoon until Friday night, the teachers all went on a trip to Mountain Village for in-service.  If you are a teacher, have you ever had to fly to a district-wide training? I have! It was a lot of fun getting to see all of the teachers I met in Anchorage again!  I took a course on computer programs for students and a course on the Intensive Phonics program.  The classes were exactly what I needed to improve my teaching and help my students~ Phonics is a difficult thing to teach in my opinion.  I feel better equipped with all of the ideas I got from the classes!!!

The first night we arrived in Mountain Village, I met up with some teachers in the gym for some basketball. I am 5'2'' and have NEVER played basketball.  So, they helped me and taught me how to hold the ball and shoot.  The next night, we played a game of Street Basketball as they called it.  It was Marshall vs. Russian Village.  Marshall consisted of two 5'2" girls, two 5'10" guys, and one guy that was over 6 feet tall.  Russian Mission consisted of 4 guys well over 6 feet tall and one lady who had played basketball forever and she was about 5'4" tall.  Safe to say the odds were not in our favor.  The game was this: anything goes unless the ball goes out of bounds and the first one to 25 points wins.  The game was close.  Russian Mission- 21 to Marshall- 22.  After running up and down the court for over an hour straight and debating whether or not my legs would fall off before or after my lungs collapsed, Team Marshall pulled through and won with a 3 pointer from our 6 foot tall player!  The crowds went wild! (Just kidding- we were the only people in the gym; however, I felt as though we were in the NBA.)  I scored two baskets for the team- Who knew?!  It was a lot of fun!!!

Getting ready to trim a moose

 EWWW!!!! Moose legs!!!

 Yuck~ We had to transport the moose legs from the truck to the cafeteria

 Learning how to trim meat

 Mary and Cody starting to trim their moose leg

 Susan passed

 I am successfully trimming moose meat without throwing up!

 This was heavy... and gross.

 The moose meat we had for my birthday dinner!!!

 My birthday cupcakes from one of the kitchen staff ladies!!!

 My crown!!!

 Blowing out the candles

 Muffins made from scratch with the berries we picked from the tundra!

 Cody's b-day cake~ we used matches because we did not have any candles...

 SMARTboard lesson with Sam!

 State Trooper truck at Mountain Village

 Store in Mountain Village- I bought a normal size bag of Cheetos here and a 16 ounce Coke and it cost $11.62.  I wanted it though because I have not had either of those since I was in Arkansas (2 months ago).  After eating/drinking just a little bit, I felt SO sick.

 A church in Mountain Village

 One of the cemeteries in Mountain Village

 This was in the store at Mountain Village!

 All of our luggage

 Waiting for the plane to go back to Marshall

 The TINY plane that carried 6 of us

 It was windy... I was scared because I knew it would be a bumpy ride.

 Crammed in with all of the luggage.

 YIKES!!!

 Taking off

 View of the tundra from the plane

 view of another village in the district

 There is Marshall!

 About to land in Marshall (my village) which is on the Yukon River.