Fire Alarms at 1030 PM

Well Ladies and Gentlemen, we had the school fire alarm go off and wakeup the entire village. Turns out one of the boilers really started smoking pretty bad and it was hard to get rid of all the smoke. Tonight was one of the rare nights I am appreciative of the distance of my house form the school because the volume was not nearly as bad as my previous residence which is only fifty meters away form the school. I was going to call it an early night, yet this has severly put a bump into my groove. I haven't posted in while so i have decided to take this opportunity to give a heads up. Life is looking on the up and up out here. My kids are getting a little squirrely but nonetheless no worse for wear. Things are shaping up here, although I am still waiting for the barge to bring my 1000lbs of lumber so I can build my water storage facility. We just had a week of five rainy days and each drop that falls I stare remorsefully at its descent. One more drop which I wil not be able to harvest... But eventually it should arrive and once it is constructed I will let you all in on how my water purification system is going. My plans this year are pretty big, if this water goes through, I will be helping my father present it to the village and we will see if we can equip the every house in the village with a system. My friendship with the other teachers has grown immensly and we have begun taking excursions out into the tundra. These tundra walks have turned into quite the bonding experience, especially after we all got stuck in the mud on Friday. Some teachers were knee to thigh deep in mud, and another sacrificed her clothes to lay in the mud and dig out another teachers book which was about 18in deep in the mud. Using physics rules we thought we had forgotten we were able to pull ourselves literally by our bootstraps out of the muck and returned home. We were mired in muck for about an hour. We must have look ridiculous to the hunters passing by, four kossaqs laughing and falling over. However when I related the tale in the Maqii I was given two methods for how to walk in the mud. The first was to walk and become pigeon-toed when you hit the mud, this helps compress the mud and distribute your weight. The second is to walk springly popping your heels out first, almost like an over eager aerobics instructor. I have yet to test out these methods but I am trusting that they will definitly come in handy the next time we attempt to make another excursion. Well folks thought I would shoot a little something your way, til next time!

Out of Order 8-19-08

Well Ladies and Gentlemen this one was on my first day but due to internet difficulties i have been unable to post it...here it goes

Blog

Well I stayed up too late once again the evening before the first day of school. After worrying about what could go wrong after last years fiasco I was trying to set everything to rights so I would have any firedrills or kids passing out during the school day. As I walked home at one in the mornign I saw a shooting star and wondered if it perhaps boded well for tomorrow. I was hoping anyway… Actually my first day was only mediocre, however it was 1000x better than last years first day. Not only did I survivie it but I am pretty optimistic about how this year is going to turn out. I am enjoying my classes and my students, and it doesn’t look like I am having anywhere near as many conflicts as I was expecting. Overall I am pretty pumped about this year.

I told myself I was going to hit the hay early today, but I could never pass up the chance to “maqiiq” or steam. After talking and cleaning I headed to the house where I had Akutaq and dried salmon strips, man alive was it tasty. While eating it we began watching an old collection of pictures that were put ona video. 2 and half huors later this video is going on and it looks like my idea of turnign in early for the night is shot to pieces. I was able to learn quite a bit about relations in the village and was able to discover how certain families are related. It was great six of us sat on a bed watching this old tv and it was explained who everybody was, it made feel like I was making another link into the village, watching family videos where everybody knows everybody else. It was a pretty intriguing experience. However it did push back my bed time and I am going to have cash in my chips for the night. Till next time guyos…

Getting old...

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have been playing PE with my students and let me tell you, and I am maybe getting into a little bit shape. I am throwing a medicine ball around with my students and man it is hard keeping up with these fishermen, their forearms are killer from pulling in nets. But I have found my one true strength in basketball in the game of 21. It is mainly rebounding and defense, and with my long arms and odd height out here I am actually competitive with the game. At the end of the day I am reminded just how unfit I am, shin splints and back pains keep me relishing the experience of finally sitting down at the end of the day. Things are looking on the up an up this year I don't knwo what got into the water but it is like night and dayout here. I have kids voluntarily staying after to work on homework before they go play out even on Fridays! I have found myself becoming oddly more social, I end up talking to people most of day nowadays and my days seem to fly by. I go from homework to dinner to Church next door for a little socialization to steaming then to home. My steaming has improved and the other day I was able to cook some of my students, they were convinced that I took notes and studied over the summer. And Ladies and Gentlemen the food has been simply amazing! I can't believe it, I was not a fan of fish before but I can just pound this food down it is so delicious, salmon coooked abunch of different ways, and now I have even dabbled in a little clam eating. I have been incredibly impressed so far and am looking forward to more delicacies in the future. The first three weeks are down and I am pumped about the rest of the semester. I have already signed up for graduate courses so I will be working on my masters as well as teaching this year. I tell you folks I am getting my ducks in a row. Until nesxt time ladies and gentlemen...