New Year and New Surprises

Hey All!

So yeah....haven't blogged in awhile. I apologize. Between two dogs and teaching.....sleeping sometimes feels like an option. Oh well....it's a new year and I'm determined to try my hand at this again...

So....newest story. For those of you that don't know, I adopted a village dog from Kong. Her name is Sammy. Her story is pretty funny. She was living underneath Rachel and Amanda's house and driving us all mad. She would never leave and she was distracting our dogs so that they couldn't even go to the bathroom! Finally, one day while we were dumping our honey buckets, Rachel and Amanda told a student to "get rid" of Sammy (we had already named her by then...) When I came back from dumping they were crying and telling me what they had done. We walked back to their house, tears still frozen on their cheeks, and when the turned the corner...there was Sammy.....waiting for us! Yeah....we were a tad surprised too. Then the next night Sammy showed up to Rachel/Amanda's door all bloody. Somebody had beaten her pretty badly. Rachel put a blanket over her and prepared Amanda for her death. The next morning, Rachel went to go look in on Sammy.....and there she was.....happy as ever and ready to greet the day! So...after that she was in and I adopted her....though she took a couple of "jaunts" in there where I thought she was gone for good. But, our little cockroach is still around.

Here is Sammy :D
Here is Weeko with her favorite piggy pillow :D


Another fun event that's happened this semester is the GPS exercise. Rachel (science teacher) was teaching about GPS and location, so she collaborated with the Search and Rescue team in Kong and set up an exercise where the students have to use a GPS to find certain items out in the tundra. The students came up with the back story. They were searching for a lost villager who crashed his snow machine and had a broken nose...well that's the jist of the story anyways :D

We had 5 teams, each team looking for 2/3 items that Sheila's husband Rod had already placed and mapped out in the tundra. I was the leader for one team, Rachel, Sheila, and two other men from the village made up the other 4. The teams were made up of junior high students, and there were about 4 or 5 students per team. We also had 3 HS boys help out in the exercise as well.

My Team after we found our first item!

Morning in Kong!

We did the exercise during our Saturday school day (had to make up for snow days) which actually worked out well. Those students that were late stayed at school and took the radio calls from the teams and mapped out where everyone was. It was a HUGE success....well I think anyways. All the teams found their items, we didn't lose anyone, and no one froze! It was around -30/35 degrees outside. We all learned a lot about using a GPS AND the elders gave us some tips on how to use the grass and snowdrifts to find what direction we need.

John Phillip: An elder that taught us a few things, he's also the oldest man in the village and the new school is named after him


Here are a couple pictures of Rod and Mr. David showing us a few things, with Mr. Phillip


All in all....awesome experience :D


The last event that's happened is I traveled with the HS Boys BBall team to Tuntutuliak (say that 5 times fast ;) ) It was a lot of fun. We lost both games but they had fun.

The team heading to Tunt

The first game was against Tunt and we came back from a 35 point difference and fought the whole game but lost ...I was proud of them.



After the game we were invited to Gideon's sister in law's house for dinner. Gideon is the 2nd grade teacher and bball coach. That was really nice and I think the boys enjoyed relaxing for a bit. We also had to hit up the store...because that's what has to be done. That night I set up a TV and put in "The Hangover" in for the players to enjoy. For some odd reason, the S.A. in charge thought that I was a coach (which I'm not) and gave me all these things to do for the next day. I was a tad confused, and I also had to watch the JH girls that came for the JH games....not exactly what I was hoping for but meh...it worked out.

Heading to Gideon's Sister in Law's House


The "Cars" of Village Alaska




The next day was our second game against Eek. This one didn't go much better than yesterday's game. We only have 6 boys, so they were tired. BUT they had a lot of fun, especially during the 4th quarter....it was all out. They came back to the bench with smiles on their faces. Overall I think they had fun.


Reminder: These are KINDERGARTEN aged
kids costumes......



We were weathered in Tunt for a bit so the boys messed around with the kindergarten clothes they found in the classroom....obviously VERY bored.


Fun Pictures!!

Some fun pictures I thought you would enjoy :D Amanda, Rachel, Michele and I all experienced our first steam!

Heading to the steam Sheila's Daughter leading the way

For those that don't know what this is....a steam is like a mini sauna but HOTTER! You go into this first chamber and undress.

The first chamber



Then you go into the second chamber where there is a stove with rocks on top.



You take a basin, and two wash clothes in with you. The basin is to hold your water. One wash cloth is for you to sit on (don't want boils!) and the other is to hold over your face to help you breath. After everyone is set up you pour water on the stove. Let me tell you....when that heat rolls over your body.....whew! It's so hot but it feels so good.

Apparently the men take REALLY HOT steams. They have to be on all fours so they can breathe, getting the cooler air closer to the floor. When you've had enough then you go out into the first chamber and take a break, drink water, etc. You do this however many times you want, going in and out, and then you go in and wash.

Afterwards you feel so relaxed and thirsty. I could drink gallons afterward. Some rules we've learned are that, usually, men and woman steam a part. The children can steam with whomever and married couples can steam together. It's a great spot to chit chat and gossip....always fun ;)



The other fun pics are when we went to go get fresh caribou.



Mildred's Caribou Joe's Caribou


They usually just cut up the meat inside the house, on the kitchen floor. The first picture was when I went with Sheila, Amanda and Michele to go get some fresh caribou. The second picture is of when Amanda, Rachel, and Michele went to go get some. The villager had shot 3 caribou and he gave the girls ribs to eat! After cutting up the ribs Rachel says she has to take a break before actually eating them...tehe.

Amanda, Michele and I cooked our fresh caribou together; stir fry one night and caribou stew the next night. Amanda prefers moose to caribou, I like them both.


Amanda and I had a little too much fun with the fresh caribou.... ;)

Well folks, that's the update. Miss you all and hope you're all enjoying the snow in the lower 48! Could you send some our way? Would love that! Thanks


TTFN