Did I Mention....?

Now we're into October....and this is only my second post since returning to Shishmaref for another school year.  Compared to last year, I am reporting only a smidgeon of what I am experiencing so far.  But, did I mention that I am now teaching third grade in the "big school"?  It has brought about BIG changes for me in my workload.  I find I don't have as much time to get out and enjoy the village life.  It's getting easier though....it truly is.  I don't think I'll be spending as many hours as I have been here in my classroom....except....except that this is where I get my internet connection!  Six of one....half a dozen of another!

I am enjoying my school year with the third graders.  This is the age group I finished up with back in my hometown of East Jordan, Michigan.  Back home, I taught every grade level from preschool through sixth grade throughout my 30+ years of teaching.  I had originally hoped for a second or third grade position when I headed to Alaska.  Last year, as most of you know, I taught in an Early Childhood Education program with four year olds.  It was fun and I really enjoyed meeting the parents each and every day.  But I missed the older kids, too, and I wanted to experience being in the "big school" up close and personal.  When the third grade position opened up, I decided to go for it and here I am.

We just finished up our sixth week of school.  In two weeks, the quarter will end and we have progress reports to mark.  The way we do reports up here is very different from "back home" and there have been lots of changes in the whole Bering Straits School District.  We're all learning the "new and improved" way of marking the reports.  Thus, meetings, directives, changes, confusion...you name it....are par for the course.  

I could list all the "new" things I've had to deal with....but, you get the point.  I've been spending LOTS of late nights here in my classroom.  Many people have made comments to me about the amount of time I spend in my classroom.  What's sort of funny about that is that I did the same thing last year but I was working out of a completely different building behind the "big school" and most people may not have even known I was doing that.  This year, people driving or walking by the school can see my classroom lights on through my window and are now aware of how late I am staying.  Regardless, it's hard to convince people up here that what I am doing is what I have been doing for thirty years or more....staying late in my classroom!  My classroom is and always has been my "comfort zone" where I find a great deal of peace.  I can't say I find "quiet" up here because the school is a focal point in the community so there's a lot going on in the building after hours.  It's also where the teachers do laundry each night and on weekends.  There's a lot of activity up here.  Sports practices have started and soon it will be basketball season.  This place REALLY starts hopping then!

The weather has been wet and windy for the most part.  Today was quite a blustery day and there was flooding out by the lagoon.  I heard that a couple of boats sank.  Last week or so, we had three or four days of strong winds that just wouldn't quit.  And yes, we also had some snow.  It lightly covered the ground but didn't last long.  A few nights ago, it was clear enough for a beautiful display of the Northern Lights....which I didn't see....oh, well.

This year seems different to me in that I have to remind myself where I am.  "This isn't Kansas anymore, Toto!"  Yet, it doesn't feel a whole lot different this year than being back home in Michigan.  Oh, sure....there are BIG differences in many ways.  I just don't think you can beat Northern Lower Michigan's autumn colors.  I sure miss it.  But, today, as I gazed out of my classroom window, the color of the thick grass up here was so beautiful in its fall glory....a deep golden amber.  The sky and cloud cover up here are also quite vivid and you really can't beat the view of the Chukchi Sea in all its fury!

But still....it's hard to put a finger on it in how different it feels this year.  I feel like I'm "home" and yet I know better because I can't hop in my car and drive over to Indo-China Gardens restaurant in the neighboring town for my favorite meal with one of my best friends to just sit and laugh and tell good stories.  Last year, everything up here was so new and different.  My camera was clicking a zillion times a day.  This year, it might stay in my backpack for several days straight.  It's not that what is happening up here is no longer interesting.  It definitely is and I'm learning new things about Shishmaref all the time.  I think it's just that I'm becoming accustomed to the sounds and sights and, yes, the smells around me.

I think one of the things I am quite pleased about is that I can actually spell many of the names up here now without too much difficulty...and can actually say some of them, too....Nayokpuk, Eningowuk, Eutuk, Kiyutelluk, Ningeulook, Weyiouanna, Kokeok, Sinnok....to name a few.  HOWEVER, don't ask me to say some of the words that Lisa has been teaching my students in Bilingual because my mouth and voice box are simply not designed to say some of the sounds that come from the Inupiaq language!  I am recognizing some of the words that I hear though....some!

One of the things Lisa shared this past week was a tidbit about a favorite food....herring.  Now, mind you....this isn't a fish that's caught, gutted, dipped in batter and fried up on Friday nights and served with cole slaw, fries and tartar sauce at an all-you-can-eat buffet!  Nope!  These fish are caught and put in a gunnysack and left to....ferment....guts and all.  When they are "ready", folks can easily peel back the outer layer and eat the fermented parts.  In all due respect, Lisa called them "stink herring" and I think I can understand why.  That may be one food I do pass up on trying.

Speaking of foods I've tried, not too long ago, the Kokeoks had me over for Eskimo food....seal guts and all!  I said that to gross people out....ha!  Seriously, I ate a small portion of seal blubber, stomach and intestines.  I also had dried fish and mukluk and boiled seal meat.  Maybe I can post a picture here....

Oh, well....maybe later.  I can't remember how to do that and I don't have "those directions" right here with me.  I carry around a little book of directions on how to access a million things up here.  I have to tell you, with the two school districts I've worked in now....the Bering Straits has more codes and acronyms than you can shake a stick at.  Geez!  Oh, and every village goes by a different airport code, too, which gets REALLY confusing when the letters don't seem to have ANYTHING to do at all with the village name.  At least Shishmaref is SHH....and Nome is OME.  But Stebbins is WBB (I think).

Speaking of Stebbins....that's where we go for our long weekend training sessions.  We will be going again on October 24 (evening) through Oct. 27.  We will do that again at the end of January and we were there for a week in August.  It's part of the School Improvement Grant we are working under to improve our methods of teaching and to raise our state test scores.  Enough said!

Here's an interesting story that involves Stebbins....it'll happen this Christmas.  I have decided to go home for the Christmas holidays.  I shouldn't announce that on here because friends read this blog and I will say RIGHT NOW.....I'M SORRY....BUT, NO....I WILL NOT HAVE TIME TO VISIT EVERYONE IN THE VERY SHORT TIME I AM HOME!!!!  Please don't be offended....but I have an agenda for this trip and I cannot deviate from it!  Anyway, I had trouble booking my flights out of Shishmaref in December.  Keep in mind that many (most) teachers attempt to fly out of the bush to points south for Christmas....and we come from many, many remote spots.  Each of those remote spots has to land in a hub and then you board a jet from those hubs to get to Anchorage and destinations beyond in the Lower 48.  Well, in booking my flights, I found that I could not get a connecting flight from Nome to Anchorage (known as OME to ANC) on the night I flew out of SHH....everything was booked solid....or so it seemed.  I hit one glitch after another.  I finally reserved a room at the Aurora Inn in Nome for the night and booked a "milk run" flight out of OME the next day.  Let me elaborate....

Staying in Nome for the night doesn't bother me....there are plenty of good places to eat.  It won't be Indo-China Gardens...yet....but, let me tell you, there are some good sushi and tempura spots in Nome! And, even though my friend, Warren, tells me that I give too much information sometimes....I will finally be able to shave my legs while staying at the hotel for the night....HA!  The next day, I will board a "milk run" flight, which will take me from OME to WBB (Stebbins) to SMK (St. Michael) to UNK (Unalakleet) to ANC (Anchorage).  From there, I will finally board a jet, which will then take me to Seattle and eventually to Detroit...arriving on the 21st in the evening....two days after leaving SHH.  It's costing me an arm and a leg....but at least the leg will be clean-shaven!  Plus, I will add more miles to my Alaska Air miles, which will help when my son, Dan, comes up in May.  It helped when my daughter "followed" me in August.  

Oh, hey!  Dan!!!!  He finished his Appalachian Trail trek on September 17....2,180 miles.  I am so proud of him and I LOVED reading his trail journal.  He posted lots of pictures, too.  I don't remember if I posted his link in my previous posts or not.  Just in case I didn't:  http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=370456

Dan is now back home in East Jordan and hard at work catching up with his clients and his "handyman" jobs.  Seriously, if you have time, check out his journal.  His adventures were nothing short of AMAZING!  I can't wait until I have the chance to sit down with him and hear about them in person.  That's one of the biggest frustrations I have up here this year....not being able to connect with my kids very well.  Now that I am in the "big school", my phone reception is bad, bad, bad.  I lose calls constantly so it's gotten to the point that I just keep my phone off....it's so frustrating.  Besides not being able to talk to my kids much, I am also missing out on some Eskimo birthday parties up here!  Sorry, kids!  I'm not ignoring you....just not able to get phone calls easily!

Did you notice the "followed" a couple paragraphs back?  That's part of the lingo up here.  For example, if a parent said, "I'm going to the store!"...a child might ask, "I follow you?"  That means the child is asking if he can go with the parent.

I'm happy to say that the Snack Shack is up and running again for the year!  Nothing more needs to be said here!

My class (20 students....the biggest class in the school) will be pen pals with a third grade class back home in East Jordan this coming year.  Karen Jervey's class sent their letters up here....which I have to tell you have not arrived yet and she sent them out BEFORE we sent ours from up here and OURS have already made it to East Jordan.  Go figure!  We look forward to sharing our cultures with each other.  I wish everyone back home could come visit Shishmaref.  It's such a different and interesting place to be.

Before I end this post....and walk home to get something for supper instead of ordering from Snack Shack...again....I want to tell you about something I learned up here.  I have to laugh because it really has nothing to do with being here!  It is directly related to a phenomenon that happens right over my house back in East Jordan at this time of year....which I am missing.  My student teacher, Stacey, told me one day that she heard a new word...murmuration...which is what you call a large flock of starlings swooping over an area.  Every year in the early autumn evenings, a murmuration occurs right over my house.  I have seen it several times and it fascinates me to no end to first listen for it coming and then watch it happen right over my house (always wondering if it's a good thing to be looking up...ha!).  I was absolutely thrilled when I realized that I now have a word for what I have witnessed for years.  Just think, I had to travel over 3,000 miles and live in a different culture to learn that word....let alone all the new words I can't even begin to pronounce.

Tautugniaqmiġikpiñ / Qiñiġisilgitkikpiñ  (I think it's "goodbye" but don't quote me on that....I had to look it up and I sure wouldn't be able to say it!)

Quyanna!  (That one I do know....thank you!)