Non-Stop November

Getting ready for a morning
flight from Port Alsworth

I’m going to start sounding like a broken record, but I just cannot seem to wrap my head around how quickly this school year is going by. The days seem to blur together and before I know it another week has gone by. One thing that definitely makes the time pass is traveling, and the last time I wrote I was gearing up for a volleyball jamboree. While I did coach volleyball for one student last year, I knew my lack of coordination was no match for coaching our school’s nine players. Luckily, one of our high school teachers called dibs on this one and I happily tagged along to make sure our students didn’t cause too much mischief. With some snow on the ground and more in the forecast, we made our way up the lake to Port Alsworth.

Six Mile's first freeze of the year

It was exciting to go there because I’ve not yet been to this site, and I am determined to get to as many of the villages in our district as I can. I was blown away by the beauty in Port Alsworth, not only outside, but in the school as well. This village just opened the doors of a new school this August, and it is an incredible building. I can honestly say I have never seen such a student friendly and state of the art school anywhere, let alone in rural Alaska. Students and teachers can write on the walls, they have almost sound-proof study rooms attached to the classrooms, and the classrooms in the main hall have windowed walls that are basically like garage doors that open and close. I bet students that dislike school would want to wake up and race into this building each morning. 

A great night in Kokhanok

The only flaw that I found was the fact that the lights in the school gym were activated by motion. I suppose it’s important to note that all of the girls slept in the gym and I’m not exaggerating when I say that on the first night we were awakened every half an hour by a loud click and bright lights coming on. It was a long night and thankfully the controls were switched for our second night because we had some cranky students and chaperones after the first one. Other than that, we had a fun two days in which volleyball matches were non-stop from 9:30 in the morning to 9:00 at night. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and I was glad to see that a few of our students went out of their comfort zones to try a new sport. 

Bundled and ready
for adventures

My next stop was Kokhanok where I joined a few other special ed. teachers for some training on one of the assessments we use. While the training was necessary and helpful, I was much more excited to spend Friday night visiting with the staff. We all gathered for pizza that had been brought up from Naknek and had an intense Catchphrase tournament. As I looked around the room, I couldn’t help but appreciate the fact that only in this environment do we gather with so many different people that we normally wouldn’t and have so much fun. I wish I could have stayed longer, but unfortunately it was a short visit and I had to get home the next day. As it always does after traveling, it felt nice to be able to sleep in my own bed. 

Taking a look at the rapids
on the Newhalen River

While I was able to spend the rest of the weekend recovering from traveling, I woke up sick on Monday morning and spent the rest of the week fighting a cold. My students couldn’t help but laugh at how funny my voice sounded. On the day I was feeling the worst, I had my first formal observation of the year and a special ed. meeting so I stocked up on tea and made the best of it. I was able to get some rest on Thursday, and sick or not, I was counting down the minutes until I was in Newhalen for the weekend. My friend Kelsey was going to be visiting from Kokhanok, and although I’d seen her briefly during my trip there, I was looking forward to a longer visit with her. 

Getting his workout in!

Unfortunately, it had snowed quite a bit this week and the road between our villages made for a less than smooth trip for Kelsey and Sam when they came to get me. In addition, the lake froze up last week and while two people crossed over safely mid-week, it is not something to mess with and we will wait until the path has been marked. The good this is that the lake flows into the Newhalen River and we are able to cross by boat where the river begins. However, ice builds up on the sides of the river and it can make for a difficult time to get a boat into the water. Not only that, but they had to shovel out snow from the boat before they could put it in the water. Sam and Kelsey were cold and tired by the time they picked me up and we were all soaked from the snow on the ride home, but the excitement of the upcoming weekend kept us all in good spirits. 

A beautiful trip across the river

I can only speak for myself, but I had a great weekend visiting with Kelsey, Sam, and the other teachers. Saturday was a nice, clear day and we spent it outside riding around on the honda. We got to show Kelsey some must see spots in Newhalen, and even though I have been to them plenty of times, it is always fun to see how they change with each season. Our days just keep getting shorter so it's nice to spend the weekends taking advantage of the daylight while we still have it. It felt so refreshing to get outside and soak up some sun! I think we were all tired today, so we had a lazy morning playing games and getting some Christmas shopping done. I was bummed to have to get home this afternoon, but we had a much easier trip than the one on Friday and for that I was thankful. 

Another see you later after
a great weekeend

This weekend was just what I needed, and I am so happy that I was able to visit with a friend who I never get to see. We have a short week ahead of us and then I get to go back to Newhalen for Thanksgiving and a long weekend. It’s hard to believe, but there are only 18 days of school, 10 progress reports, 3 IEP meetings, 2 days of parent-teacher conferences, and a Christmas show standing between me and winter break. But who’s counting, right?