My Classroom & My Kiddos

Here are some pictures of the classroom and the students in Perryville.  I realize that people probably would have liked to see these before my last week here, but......oh well.  I'm getting to it now, so here they are.  Enjoy!

View of the classroom from the door.  It's a very nice room.  Much bigger than I had expected, and equipped with lots of resources.

The computers, the cupboards on the side of the room filled with tons of activities and resource books, and some colorful classroom artwork.

Students' desks.  The white shelves in the corner hold lots of books for the classroom library.

Picture from the back of the room.  The white board, the calendar area, student desks, the U-shaped table where Dora teachers lessons.

Desks.  That red table in the corner is where I do lessons with students.

My desk (if you can find it...)

Me and some pretty great kids.

Silly faces!

Restful Weekend

This weekend was enjoyable.  I had lots of time to relax, sleep in, read Harry Potter, watch movies, recuperate from last week, and prepare for this week. 

Christian and I did not end up going on another hike this weekend, which was just fine with me.  He was at a volleyball tournament with some of the older kids for most of the week and I think he was pretty tired out when he got back, which I can completely understand.  I would have loved to see some more of the beautiful ocean views from high up on the hill, but after last weekend's treacherous climb I was not particularly anxious to face anymore steep cliffs or drop offs.  I have no idea how easy/hard/dangerous this other hike would have been, but Linda said it's steeper and scarier than Three Star, so maybe it's a good thing we didn't go.  My fear of heights might have immobilized me and caused me to be stuck, unable to move somewhere along the trek if we had gone.  I certainly wouldn't have turned down the opportunity to go, but let's just say I'm not too beat up about the fact that we didn't go :-)

On Saturday I was invited to go with Christian and Linda to one of my student's houses for his big brother's birthday dinner.  The student in my class had been talking about his brother's birthday all week long, but since he had gone with the volleyball team to their tournament, they didn't have a party until this weekend.  It was very neat to be invited over to dinner for something like that.  I guess that's something that happens a lot around here, but it's the first time it's happened since I've been here, so it was neat to be a part of it.  It was interesting too, because while we were there it seemed like people from the whole village were coming and going.  I guess the whole village must have been invited :-)  Anyways, it was a fun afternoon/evening.  I got to eat some really yummy salmon pie and smoked salmon as well as some tasty desserts.  Christian and I played Sorry with some of my students, which I won by the way :-)  I haven't played Sorry in years, but it was a fun game and the kids seemed to enjoy having us play with them.       

On Sunday I spent some time at the school preparing for the week....making copies, printing lesson plans, etc.  It was a productive afternoon.  Then I went on a walk to the beach with Linda and her dog, Sadie, which was a nice little break.  Soon after that, the new teacher and his wife and their son arrived.  Christian, Linda, and I piled in the school truck and went down to the airstrip to help them unload and take things back to their apartment.  It was nice to finally put a face to a name of the teacher whose going to be taking my place and his wife who will be the classroom aide.  They will be in the school and the classroom this week learning how things run before they take over.  I think that it will probably be good for the kids to see them and get to know them a little bit before they start teaching in the classroom full time.  It will give the kids some time to adjust to yet another new teacher.

So there wasn't really much in the way of adventures in my weekend, but I still had fun and enjoyed the time to relax a bit before everyone got here and things got crazy.   Oh and I almost forgot!  One of the highlights of my weekend was that Linda came into my classroom on Sunday while I was working and told me she was going to miss me, that I'm a really good teacher, and a really good person.  It absolutely made my weekend!  I know that she has told me several times that I'm doing a good job, but I didn't know she was going to miss me when I left.  It made me feel really good, and it was a nice way to end the weekend :-)

Thankful to be in the Home Stretch

Well, I've made it to the home stretch.  I survived a very difficult and stressful week.  One week exactly until I fly back home.  This coming week is going to be a busy, but exciting one.  The new teacher and his wife will be here to learn how the classroom runs before they dive in, the principal of the school will be here, the special education teachers will be here, and I hear there will be some other people here as well.  It's going to be pretty crazy, but I think it will be a good final week of teaching in Perryville. 

Because there are so many people coming in next week, there are going to be some ladies staying in my apartment since I have two extra beds that no one is sleeping in.  I think it will probably be the special education teachers that I met last week.  It will be nice to have some company for a change.  I have enjoyed the time to myself and having my own apartment to live in, but I do miss having other people around, even just to eat dinner with.  Plus, maybe they will be able to help me finish off some of my food before I leave.  That would be nice.

I guess that there is also going to be a potluck on Tuesday to thank me for being here and to welcome the new teacher and his wife.  I've never had a potluck thrown for me before.  I'm looking forward to it.  It will also give me a chance to cook up some of the food I have left and share it with the people in the village.  That should be a good way to get rid of at least some of my food :-) 

So far this has been quite the experience.  It has definitely been challenging and overwhelming at times, and I have been frustrated and stressed, but it has also been an opportunity to learn and grow.  I do not consider myself an excellent teacher by any stretch of the imagination, but I am proud of myself for being able to survive here in this multi-level classroom in a remote village in Alaska.  I mean, if the head teacher tells me that I'm doing a great job on multiple occassions, then I've gotta be doing something right.....right?  I think this experience has also definitely helped me to identify some of my strengths and weaknesses, which is useful to know.  There is certainly a lot that I can take away from this experience when I go, and I am thankful for the opportunity that I have had.

While I am happy to be here, and have learned a lot, and have enjoyed my time.....I will be very ready to go home next Friday.  I miss my family.  I miss my friends.  I miss going to my church.  I  miss my Jeep.  I miss my bed.  I miss meals that are not from a box or a can.  I have absolutely learned a great deal about teaching and the classroom while I have been here, but I have also learned how blessed I am.  I am so thankful for my family and friends, and for being able to see (most of) them whenever I want to.  I am thankful for the ability to drive to the grocery store to buy what I need.  I am thankful that I do not have to worry about encountering a hungry bear on a daily basis.  I am thankful for luxuries that I often take for granted....going to the movies, watching tv, having friends that are just a 5 minute drive away, being able to drive to the next town whenever I want to, having internet in my house, eating meals with my family, etc.  I know I haven't been living in a remote village for that long, but it doesn't take long to discover there are a lot of things that I miss, or that I never realized how fortunate I was to have.  This experience has taught me a lot about teaching, but it has also taught me how grateful I am for what I have.  I guess that's never a bad lesson to learn :-)       

Alarm Clock Issues

Well........I was about 30 minutes late to school today.  I was very embarrassed.  Every night I set two alarm clocks for this very reason....to make sure if there is a problem with one - the battery dies, the power goes out, etc. - that the other will still go off.  I was even thinking last night before I went to bed how it was a good idea to set two alarms because it would be embarrassing to accidentally sleep in.  Well......I slept in.  I didn't do it on purpose, of course.  This week has just been so exhausting and wearing....plus I probably stayed up a bit too late reading Harry Potter.....oops :-(  Anyhow, I always set my travel alarm clock and my cell phone to go off about 5 minutes apart.  My travel alarm clock will wake me up, and then I'll turn it off and wait for my cell phone to go off and hit snooze a couple of times before I actually get out of bed.  I know, it sounds silly, but those extra minutes in the morning can make the difference between a grumpy or tolerable Mary.  Well little did I know this morning that my cell phone had died in the middle of the night, and the alarm that I was waiting for never went off.  Being so tired from the week and from not going to bed as early as I should have, I fell right back to sleep and woke up at about 8:25 wondering what time it was and thinking that I should probably be getting up soon.  I rolled over and looked at my alarm clock and freaked out.  I jumped out of bed, threw on some clothes, grabbed my stuff, and hurried over to school.  Thankfully, school doesn't actually start until 9:00, so I wasn't really late for school, but it's my week to get breakfast ready for the kids and they were all waiting.  Linda had it covered though, which I am very grateful for.  She didn't seem upset with me at all....I suppose that maybe there are worse things she could/has had to deal with than someone sleeping in a bit late.  All I can say is....I will not be letting that happen again!    

My Dinner Diary (Part 2)

Well, I've taken to long to post these pictures of my meals, so I can't say that I remember exactly when I ate all of these things, but I can at least give a description....

Soup and sandwich

I got creative with my tuna and made a tuna melt.  I used tuna (of course) cheese, and the rest of my cherry tomatoes from my veggie tray.  It was pretty tasty.  Then I also had some of my beef and rice soup.

I was feeling like Italian food this night, so I made my frozen spinach ravioli with lima beans on the side.  It was very good.

Beef and rice soup....again.  Unfortunately when you make a package of food that is meant for 4 people, you have to keep eating the same thing for a while.  I like leftovers, but eating the same soup 4 different times can get a little old.  It's currently in the freezer, so I don't have to finish it off right away.

Honey mustard chicken from a box and lima beans (can you tell what one of my favorite vegetables is?).

Spinach ravioli and lima bean leftovers.

Hot ham and cheese sandwich with leftover honey mustard chicken.

Hallelujah!

Whew!  I made it through 3 days of teaching 7 students at 5 different levels all on my own.  It was crazy and it was stressful, but now it's over.  Tomorrow Dora will be back in the classroom to help me.  Oh how I've missed her!  Then Friday is professional development day, so we get out at 2:30 instead of 4.  And Next week the new teacher and his wife will be here and I'm supposed to show them the ropes (as if I'm an expert or something....yeah right) and how the classroom runs.  The special ed. teachers and the principal of the school will be here, too.  So next week will also be kind of busy and crazy, but I think it will be in a good way.  And hopefully the fact that all those people will be here will mean I'll have some help in the classroom :-)  Plus, once I get to next week, I will only be days away from going home, which I am definitely looking forward to.  I'm enjoying myself here, but I miss my family and my friends and homemade food and my own bed.  It will be nice to go home and be able to take all of the things I have learned here with me.

Well, the wind is sure whipping outside right now.  The building is creaking, and it sounds kind of scary out there.  I'm not sure I'm quite ready to walk back to my apartment, but once I'm there I can snuggle into my sleeping bag and watch a movie for the night.  So I suppose I'll get up the nerve to bundle up and walk outside....it's not like I really have that far to walk :-)

Toodles!

Weekend Wanderings (with a shotgun of course!)

This weekend I got to go on a hike with Christian, the middle grade teacher.  We went to this place called Three Star that is a short drive from the school.  It was a beautiful day and a beautiful hike.  From the top I could see the entire village and all the surrounding mountains and the ocean.  It was a very neat experience.  However, it was also quite a treacherous little hike.  It was not far - maybe a mile and a half up to the top - but there were some parts where I did not want to look down, and if I had tripped it would have been bad news.  We did not see any bears on our hike, but I keep hearing that they're around.  We brought the bear spray and the shotgun along to be safe.  It was my job to carry the bear spray, which I dropped and almost lost in the ocean before we even really started the hike....climbing over rocks with a can of bear spray sticking out of your pocket is not the most secure way to carry it I have learned.  I tucked it inside my coat into another pocket, and it was safe for the rest of the hike.  I have to admit that I was a little embarrassed after dropping it, but hey, I've never carried bear spray in my life until coming here, so I'm just learning how to safely handle a can of this stuff.  In my defense, I figured that it would be more useful if it was easy to get to in case we did come across a bear, which is why I put it in my outside pocket to begin with.  Thankfully I did not have to test that theory :-)

Here are some pictures of my hike up Three Star.

An eagle hanging out on a branch at the top of a cliff.  There were several of them around.

At the bottom before we started up.

Beautiful view.

That is a cliff.  At one point during the hike I was sitting on the other side of it (to the left in the bushes).  As you can see, it drops straight down.  It was my least favorite part of the hike.  I just barely looked over the edge briefly and that was enough for me.  Christian said that I would want to put my camera over the edge and take a picture........heck no!

This is a picture from closer to the top (it might even be the top, I don't remember).  Those three hills (not quite a mountain) are what we climbed up.

Surrounding mountains.

Some islands near Perryville.

This picture and the next few following it are views from the top.

Anchored boats.  They're pretty much stuck there until spring.

Islands.

That big white mass in the background is the volcano.

Those little dots in the distance are the village.

That blue building is the school (I think).

Christian standing next to one of the sheer rock face cliffs to give a proper scale as to how big it was.  Very frightening.  I hate heights.

The cliff again.  I did not look over the edge on the way down.  I tried to get past it as quickly as possible.

One of the places where a trip/fall would have been ugly.

We discussed how a person might rock climb this on our way down.  It's safe to say that I will never be a rock climber :-)

A fox walked right across the path in front of us.

There he is walking through the trees.

He's hiding in the woods.

Beautiful.

It was a fun hike, but also very tiring.  It wasn't a long hike, but there were a lot of branches/ruts/bushes to climb under/through/over and there wasn't much of a trail, so we kind of had to break our way through in some areas.  I was scared for my life a couple of times when I was trying not to trip for fear of falling down a cliff.  I also had on quite a few layers because the weather can change in an instant there, so I was very warm and sweaty on that sunny day.  My legs are still pretty sore, but it was worth it.  I got to see some beautiful views that I wouldn't have seen otherwise.  

Next week (weather permitting) we might hike up to the cross that's on the top of another big hill.  We'll see.  Christian says that hike has a lot less trees and brush and no cliffs :-)  I'm good with that.  Hope everyone enjoys the pictures.  I'll post again soon!