The best part of my Friday was when I got to do my ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. I had told my students about it earlier in the day because I needed help and knew that they would be overjoyed seeing their teacher get a bucket of ice water on her head. I then basically gave them free reign to decide the details of how my challenge should be done. They first chose the setting: Airplane Lake. Next came the time: 8:30pm. Then they said that because I was nominated twice that I should have to jump in the lake as well. So I said I would see what happened when we got there (I didn’t know if I’d be able to handle it).
We had open gym at school from 6-8, and afterwards my students were prepared and so excited to get going. They all had their hondas (whether it’s an actual honda or not, that’s what 4-wheelers are called here) and as they lead the way, I felt as if they were the firing squad and I was about to be executed. Almost all of my students showed up to watch, and two were eager to take part in the actual dumping of the water (and being in the Facebook video).
At first I stepped into the lake and it was bearable. Incredibly buggy, but the water was not as bad as I was expecting. Then came the moment of truth when they dumped the water on my head. It was freezing! And then I followed through with their request, and walked into the lake and went under water. I was so cold that I was struggling to talk for the video. So here I am feeling like my bones are going to shatter from being frozen, watching as half of the kids proceed to jump into the lake and start swimming. While my new license says so, clearly I’m not a true Alaskan yet, thought I did earn some respect from a handful of children, the village priest, and my co-teacher:)
**Please donate to the ALS foundation! Every dollar counts!
No comments:
Post a Comment