Birthdays in the Bush

Our daughter is turning 11 on Monday and we are preparing for her birthday, which will be held at our house tomorrow. As I am getting ready, I am thinking of all the differences between a "typical" birthday party and what we do here. First of all, there is nowhere to go to have the party. That leaves our house as the destination every birthday. This is nice because we aren't running around in traffic, trying to host the party somewhere. But this stinks because that means we are stuck cleaning all night after the party ends. LOTS of dishes... And did I ever mention that we don't have a dishwasher here? That means all those dishes get washed by hand. Another great thing about birthdays here is everyone brings food to share. We aren't doing all the cooking ourselves. We make the main dish and everyone shows up with a side. It doesn't always translate to a great combination but the food always gets eaten. Sometimes you might have 3 or 4 carb options, which is totally fine by me! I like how laid back the birthdays are here. It seemed like I was always stressed out getting ready for one of the kids' birthday but now I sit back and enjoy them with everyone else. I will post some pictures in the next few days to show our lovely birthday party for our precious daughter!

Halloween Goodness

Halloween is a huge deal out here! People of all ages go trick-or-treating and most of them are dressed in costume. The Student Council put on a Halloween Carnival this year and that brought in almost the entire village. The games were fun for those who were playing and for those who were watching.

The carnival allowed the kids to have some Halloween fun inside where it is warm. There wasn't much snow this year for Halloween but it was very cold and the wind was blowing like crazy. I had to put all of Ethan's snow gear on him, underneath his costume. He was the chubbiest skeleton ever!

Costumes are hard to get out here. Ethan and Morgan both picked out costumes online and we ordered them. Ethan's came, Morgan's did not. So Morgan ended up putting together a costume with what we had around the house and ended up being a boxer. I think she looks pretty good, don't you? Theres' costume was bought by my parents and sent up here. Living up here takes a little bit of planning for the holidays! Now the planning starts for Christmas before we even get to Thanksgiving!!!!

Back to the Daily Grind

Coming back to teach after the first quarter has ended was a little stressful! I came back to Kotlik to discover that my long-term substitute was horrible and taught my students nothing! But thankfully, my partner teacher, did a lot of work in my classroom to help keep my students learning a little bit. My students basically lost an entire quarter of the school year. I came back to school and had to conduct parent-teacher conferences on my forth day back at work. Despite all the stress, I am thankful to come home to our new little addition.

Isn't she adorable? Going back to work is so easy when you have a job in a place like I do. I go home each day for lunch. I walk to and from work, which takes literally one minute. I don't sit in traffic for half an hour to an hour each way. I have an amazing husband that watches our daughter while I work. He is so amazing! I come home for lunch or after school and he's playing with her and ready to tell me all the cute things she did that day! What a life!

Over 100 Degrees!

It's amazing just how a few degrees can make such a huge difference in my comfort level. I do not like being in 90 degree heat but the difference between 100 degrees and 105 degrees will take your breath away! Just walking from your car to your door in 105 degrees is like being punched in the stomach and melting all at the same time. I grew up in Las Vegas and never grew accustom to the heat. It is simply unbearable! My advice for anyone visiting Las Vegas in the summer is to stay inside as much as possible. Or spend a lot of time in a pool.

In Vegas for Summer

This summer has been an adventure on its own. We came back to Las Vegas for the summer to spend time with family and give birth to the newest addition to our family. I am due in the beginning of September and will have a long, hot summer. When we left Kotlik in May it was around 30 degrees F and when we arrived in Las Vegas it was around 100 degrees F. I can't wait until the weather cools down but I know it is a long ways away! I will definitely be posting more as summer progresses. Sorry I haven't been posting as often this year as I should have. I will stay on top of the postings more!

Christmas Caroling in bush Alaska

Our village used to participate in Christmas caroling years ago. People fondly remember children going door to door, singing songs to the adults and elders. Then for some unknown reason, the tradition disappeared. No one remembers why the children quit singing, but they did. So this year a few of us teachers and adults got together and decided to bring it back. Well, we decided on a Tuesday that we were going caroling on that Thursday. It didn't give us too much time to plan but we wanted to do it before it got swept under a rug for another year. We made plans, got candy canes, made flyers, made announcements, got hot chocolate and cups, etc. and then Thursday came. After school the weather started to get a little windy. Then it got real windy and cold!!! Well, we planned on caroling, so we WENT caroling! We were freezing and getting blown around in the middle of a blizzard, but by God we were caroling. We decided to only go to a few elders' houses but ended up going to more houses than planned. The children loved it and we enjoyed the time together, bringing some cheer and holiday spirit to the community. When we came in, some of the children were sad that we didn't stay out caroling for longer!

Some of the group after caroling drinking hot chocolate and warming up before going back out into the blizzard to go home. We met and departed as a group from the school.

A few of my students that joined us caroling waiting in line for some delicious hot chocolate, being silly!

We had a great time together doing something to bring some joy into peoples' lives. I felt so happy being able to plan and participate in such a fun event. The children were also very happy and enjoyed doing something "new."

Until my next adventure,
Jacqueline

Winter Life...

Well the days are definitely getting shorter, dawn comes up around 11 am and sunset is around 4:30 pm. The days are short and the cold is really setting in. I fell in love with a little puppy a few weeks ago and no one seemed to want it. I talked to the "owner" and they wanted $80 for it. They wanted the money even though they never watched it or took care of it. I tried to take care of him but I had to give him back nightly. Ethan was in LOVE with him.

Well a few days after we fell in love with the puppy, the owners decided to let it run free again and it got trapped in an abandoned building. It ended up freezing to death. We were all very sad when we heard. Living out here, animals simply do not have the same value as they do in the Lower 48.

On a lighter note, one night Ethan was watching Glen measuring his body fat for his workouts. Ethan grabbed the calipers as soon as Glen put them down and tried to take his own body fat measurement. It was too cute to not take a picture!

I will keep blogging my Alaska adventures. Until next time...