Where Does the Time Go?

Six Mile finally
 thawing out! 

As incredulous as it seems to me, spring has sprung in Alaska, the days are getting longer, the weather is getting warmer, and somehow the calendar reads April. An even better indicator of spring was Six Mile starting to thaw out this week! The past few weeks have been interesting to say the least. Recovering from the accident has been seamless for the most part. Though I was worried about their reactions, my students loved my battle scars and are sad to see them go. I on the other hand am ready for the whites of my eye to be white again. My memory still frustrates me as I continue to have times when people tell me I’ve had a detailed conversation with them that I simply don’t remember having. Most of these conversations took place within the first two weeks of the accident, and hopefully with time my memory will improve and get back to normal. Just this morning, I had to re-read my last blog post because though I remembered writing it, I couldn’t for the life of me remember what it contained. 

After the accident, March was a blur of a month that consisted of quiet days spent trying to be good and let my body heal. I did however travel quite a bit in March, and counted nine flights! Two weeks ago I spent some time observing in Newhalen for a class I am taking and then spent the rest of the week in King Salmon for some training (where I was spoiled with fresh fruits and a restaurant!). I am looking forward to getting to take advantage of the longer days and hopefully I can start to get outside more as the light is bothering my head less and less with each day. I’ve also been having some anxiety over going on honda rides, so I have been easing back into this. As much as I’d prefer to get outside and be more active, the necessity to relax has helped me get homework done for classes that I am taking. Most of these courses are self paced so I am hoping to get them done before summer so I can spend all my time soaking up the sun and adventuring around the east coast. 

Flying into Perryville 

As for school, I had been originally planning to follow up February’s first blog with a second check in during that month, but I’ll try to recap the important things so as not to ramble on and on. The week before the accident, I was able to travel to our southern most village, Perryville, with the basketball team for the last sport’s jamboree of the year. It was so much fun to visit this village as it is incredibly beautiful, and the school is a short walk to a black-sand beach. Our students loved the beach as much as I did, so it was painless to get them to go on walks. 

Another big thing that happened before the accident was that I was offered a contract for a third year in LPSD. After much thought and some great talks with my employers, I signed on for my second year of teaching special education in Nondalton. I simply am not ready to say see you later to this amazing place that I get to call home. Being away from family and friends is difficult, but I feel so lucky to be experiencing this adventure and feel that this is where I am meant to be right now. I am looking forward to see what next year holds, and hopefully this third year will give some more family members (and friends?!) time to come and experience some AK love! 

Showing some AK
 love in Perryville

April promises to shower some of that love on my sister Nikki and my brother-in-law Frank when they come out to Nondalton in just19 sleeps! I am so excited to see them and to get to show them where I live and work. Sam also has some friends that will be coming this week and then at the end of the month, so it will be a month of sight-seeing and showing off our villages. We were also gearing up for two weeks of state testing, but after an unfortunate error from a construction worker in Kansas, the Alaska Department of Education called off testing for this year. I wasn’t sad about this and I am excited to be able to spend that time working with students instead of watching them stress over tests. 

Somewhere in AK
during my month of flying!

Another school year is quickly coming to an end, and at last count there are only 33 school days left (31 for me thanks to my visitors) before summer officially begins! I am looking forward to getting home to visit everyone, and I’ve also been dying to get down to Florida to meet a very adorable little lady who was just born at the end of March. Let’s hope the rest of the school year passes by quickly and without anymore unexpected adventures!