Walking in a Winter Wonderland

My perfect little tundra tree<3

One more sleep. Just one more sleep followed by a short few hours at school before winter break officially begins! I think it’s safe to say that students and teachers alike are ready for some time off. I know the teachers in Nondalton are ready to relax while our students are excited to spend their daylight hours outside playing in the snow. 

Last weekend's ride to Newhalen

With the winter solstice coming up, we are down to about six hours of daylight. The sun rises at about 10:15 and sets a little after 4:15. Students spend five of those hours inside at school while teachers spend almost all six of those hours inside working. On the 22nd, the winter solstice will occur and we will slowly start to gain back minutes and then hours of daylight. Oh how I am yearning for the days of the midnight sun. It will be refreshing to get some sunshine back on the east coast, and maybe I'll get a tan with the weather that has been occurring back at home! 

One of our 4:15 sunsets

While the east coast is getting hit with warm weather and isn’t looking promising for a white Christmas, Alaska has already seen two good snowfalls this year. We’ve had almost triple the amount of snow that we had all last winter, and it’s only December! I am looking forward to seeing if more snow piles up during the few weeks that I’ll be roasting on the east coast. With how cold it’s been, I have already felt the pain that improper gear can cause and I am going to need to upgrade a few of my cold weather items over the break. 

Bear Creek Trail, Iliamna

Last weekend, Sam and I went out on a snowy adventure to get some fresh air and spend some time outside. While the trail we went on was breath-taking and incredibly peaceful, I was desperate to get home. I think the temperature was five degrees when we left, but with the wind it felt like negative 10 or worse. Halfway through the ride I had lost feeling of my toes and I spent the entire ride back coming to terms with the fact that I would never feel my feet again. However, after putting some hot hands in fresh warm socks, painfully soaking my feet in lukewarm water (that to me felt like one million degrees), and then having Sam sit on my feet for awhile, I finally regained feeling in all ten tootsies. Have no fear, the number one item on my shopping list over break is a pair of Alaskan native approved “Bunny Boots” (google the picture for a giggle, but know that my feet will never be cold again). 

A snow covered Six Mile Lake

Aside from being the weekend that I almost lost the use of my toes, it was also my first lake crossing of the winter. Two weeks ago the lake officially became thick enough to safely cross, and many people have been riding snow machines and hondas back and forth between here and Newhalen. Considering the fact that everything makes me anxious, it shouldn’t come as a shock that crossing over a frozen lake causes a mini panic attack no matter how many times I’ve done it. To make matters worse, it was snowing both times that we crossed and I was convinced that there was a hole in the middle of the lake that we could not see and that we would surely fall through (my anxiety gets the better of me sometimes). Rest assured that there are no holes and the ice is both solid and thick. While it might make me nervous, the lake being frozen makes for much easier travel between mine and Sam’s villages so I am hoping that the freezing temperatures stick around for a few more months! 

I found some time for crafting!

As for school, the past few weeks have been busy with end of the semester wrap-up. In addition, I very recently took over the title as the Nondalton FAMILY Grant Coordinator. The purpose of the grant is to help develop and strengthen positive interactions between pre-schoolers and their families while also helping prepare little ones for kindergarten. I am excited to take on this role, but the past week has held with it long nights of hosting family meetings, reviewing materials, and getting student records prepared and organized. I have also been trying to get work together for the first few weeks after break because I will be taking an online course beginning in January (more to follow on this later) and I want to be able to focus my energy on that when we return. However, I am ready for a few weeks of not having to do any paperwork! 

Our decorations for
the winter program!

As a nice goodbye to this semester, we held our winter program tonight and the whole community came out to support our students. The younger elementary students sang Christmas carols, the upper elementary students preformed a mini-play along with the reading of a book, and our middle and high-schoolers created skits to perform their own version of “A Christmas Carol”.  It was a fun time, but I was happy to get home to finish up packing and last minute things. Weather depending, I am supposed to hop on a plane tomorrow afternoon and then spend the weekend in Palmer (which is about 45 minutes north of Anchorage) with some great people. However, tomorrow is calling for a few inches of snow and it's possible that we will not be able to fly out of Nondalton. I am feeling so happy that I am not flying out of Anchorage until Monday night. With the weather conditions being so sporadic, travel from the villages is not guaranteed so it’s nice to allow for some buffer days in case you get weathered in or out of a village. Fingers crossed that we can get out tomorrow, because I am looking forward to seeing my friends, shopping, and going to a restaurant. 

My current outdoor decor

Oh, what a wonderfully chaotic semester it has been. I have had days that I never want to forget and I have also had days I wish I could never think of again. I have been on many adventures and have created unforgettable memories with people who I am lucky to be able to call co-workers and friends. My semester has been one unknown after the other, but what a ride it has been. With all that has happened in the past five months, I cannot begin to imagine what the next five will hold. My hope is that the second semester will bring with it a little less stress and a lot more adventuring!

I would like to wish anyone reading this a very happy holiday season and say thank you for continuing to follow along with me as I tackle my first year teaching special education in my tiny Alaskan village!  Stay tuned if you want to find out what Alaska has in store for me:)