Tundra Triumphs and Travesties...

Riding again!!!

2010-01-27T12:02:00.000-08:00

Well Ladies and Gentlemen, I am hitting the road again. I haven't posted in a great while, however I am expecting this to be picking up more speed as I once again work on incorporating it into the classroom. I expect to be creating a lot more media uploads this upcoming summer when I am on the the bike. I am actually receiving said bike on the first of February where my training will begin in earnest. I am currently killing time in the Anchorage airport waiting for my cast to come off and here what the specialist has to say concerning my hand. Part of me wants to hear good news, but it would bring with it the bittersweet feeling of wasting time in airports when I could have just removed the cast myself and saved myself two days of traveling. Bah, Doc's orders and Ann would fly up from Mexico to lynch me if I didnt follow through...(though I'll be jiggered if she could find a tree out here for 70 mi or so) However once the cast is off I have been told by the physical therapist that I can ride in the next two weeks as long as I have a brace. Overall not too bad.
As for training I am hitting the rollers with some intensity come the arrival of my bike, the shoes and pedals I ordered last year and could not cancel arrived over the summer so I have an extra set to put to use on this bike. I am not in as bad of shape as I was last year at this, but I would like to get somewhere close to bike and build physique by the start of the trip. I think it is at least approachable, last year I was feasting off of pizzas everyday, and then bulk orders of girlscout cookies. This semester I have over 60lbs of frozen stir fry vegetable left and 16 weeks to eat them all in. ALong with 30lbs of chicken 30 lbs of ground beef and about 20lbs of ribeye steaks. I have been getting lazy with cooking but I have to eat 5lbs of meat a week and about 4lbs of vegetables. Well see how I handle it...

Charge of the Bucket Brigade

2009-08-16T15:40:00.000-07:00

Well Ladies and Gentlemen, back into the saddle out here and there isn't any time to relax. I thought I would be able to kick back and have a lazy sunday, but while I was enjoying my morning coffee one of my students came up to my window and mouthed "Fire" and pointed towards the inner village. I jumped up and threw my boots and hustled out to the village and found that the fire was in a shack outside my old house! There was already a bucket brigade forming so I jumped in line and we were able to move quite a lot of water in five gallon buckets from this swampy pool to the shack. We got most of the fire out by the time they were able to hook up a hose and water pump to the swamp. It ran for a short while and then there wasn't really any water being sucked in. so the hose kind of failed, but the buckets kept coming and there was minimal damage to the structure of the shack just most of the stuff on the inside gut burned up.

After we were able to break the bucket brigade down I was able to visit with some of the villagers and it turned out to be a good way to meet a bunch of people and talk about summer. After a little catching up I headed home and decided how I was going to try and tackle the mountain of things that stand at the beginning of every school year. Well see how the blogging holds up this year.

2009-05-27T20:38:00.000-07:00

CHarlottesville VA DAy 6&7

We spent two days in Charlottesville, we got in pretty early after my first ride with hills that I actively enjoyed. They were rolling hills which for everyone back home in flat IL means the hills have a combination of uphills and downhills but they are spaced closely together. If you shift your gears correctly you can use your momentum going down thehill to pretty much carry you up and over the next uphill. It is pretty exhilarating and I definitly enjoyed the ride. It ended witha massive uphill ride into town and I had to get off the bike and walk up it. My body just was not ready for it yet after all of the other hills that were ridden, however it has kind of given me a starting off point by which to measure my progress. We got to stay in a sorority house and had some pretty pleasant accomodations.

The following day was a build day and I got to work on my first habitat home. It was pretty exciting although our first site got raineed out, there was a second site in town that needed quite a bit of work done on it. I was asigned to eb on a painting team, and we got the entire interior of a house primed and painted in a day. It was a bunch of fun as I re called memories of working a summer painting apartments, I do kind of like the feel of a roller in my hand and making a paint job look good. Other groups got to put up sheetrock and did some other stuff in another house. There was a lot of work that neded doing, but we rose to the task. The old adage "Many hands make light work " held true in this scenario and three houses had significant immprovements constructed in them.

My old juggling buddy Tony Gonzales was able to meet up with me in Charlottesville because he lives just in a neighboring village of Waynesboro. I hadn't seen him in years and was surprised to learn that my route passed so close to where he ended up livig and working as a journalist. We caught up a lot on what has happened over the years, and after a hard days work meeting him kind of rejuvenated me and gave me a fresh burst of energy or my second wind. We got together and juggled for a bit and afterwards he headed back out.

I can't wait until Effingham where I will get to see more of mty friends and family, it really makes this trip so incredible, I mean when we are travelling from town to town, all paces seem kind of foreign, but seeing a familiar face from the past really help kind of smooth the transition along and make each stopping point mor eentertaining.

I am a day behind with the posting so far but i have to get sleep. TSil the next time I have Internet.

Tank Crossing???

2009-05-27T20:32:00.000-07:00

Day 5
Waverly -> Blackstone
We are continuing to ride through Virginia and the terrain seems to become a little more hilly with quite a few inclines and oddly enough never as many downhills as one would like. We passed quite a few gravesites and I could just think of my parents tracing geneology, so I decided to make some stops and take some pictures of headstones. There were actually quite a few that dated back to the Civil War (Confederate side) so I snapped a shot of them and a couple other interesting signs along the way. One of them being “ Tank Crossing.” We were riding through a military base out there and one of the riders actually got to see the tank! When I saw the sign I kind of went into the same mode as when you see a deer crossing sign on the side of the road. You kind of get ready for a deer to spring out at anytime, well the same thing kind of happened to me with the tank, I was just waiting for one to crash through the trees out of the forest and onto the road.
I was struggling through more of the hills and we ended up doing detours and getting lost for a great portion of the ride but eventually made it into the Blackstone Campus and we were surprised with beds for all of to sleep in for the evening. It was a dorm but kind of nice they had a swimming pool that we all made use of. And then after dinner we decided to have a night out on the town. We went to a little tavern called Sully’s and pretty much doubled their Saturday crowd as 20 of us entered the bar. We shared some drinks with each other as we related tales, and learned more about each other. We had an early morning of riding tomorrow so we didn’t stay up too late or imbibe too heavily. I attempted to type this journal entry yesterday I was simply too exhausted. Better late than never…

Gold Bonding....

2009-05-27T20:24:00.000-07:00

Day Four
Suffolk-Waverly

Well today day was one of the shorter rides ofr our trip we ended up being able to make it around 40 miles ad it was a pretty nice ride. A little stressful on stretches of some of the busier roads, but overall prett easy ride. Or would have been had my cleat not separated from my clip on pedal and left me to pedal with one foot for about 7-8 miles. That part was not so cool, but it was a relatively quick fix during lunch and I was able to take it easy for the last couple of miles after lunch. I had an interesting experience this morning when I was brushing my teeth. Five riders came in and one right after another, they put on the counter Gold bond body powder bottles. It was almost synchronized, one after another I looked at them and asked “Guys am I missing something, whats the deal with the gold bond?” They informed me that it was a good way to keep the unmentionables clean and healthy, and they strongly recommended that I get some. Well after we made it into Waverly I stopped at a pharmacy and I picked some up as well as a delicious chocolate shake. I applied it after and actually it was quite refreshing. I think I am goin g to try and make a habit of using it. I will be able to engage with the other males in the ritual of morning application.
Overall the comraderie of the group is growing, as we go through the rides we end up talking to each other more and we are becoming pretty close. I keep coming to the conclusion that this is probably the best thing I could be doing with my summer.

Day 3 Suffolk

2009-05-22T21:02:00.001-07:00

Day Three: Destination Suffolk
Today was our first real day of riding. Our scheduled trip was around 45 miles of traveling, and we accomplished the first 30 miles of it before lunch after getting the van packed and ready to go. I lost my queue sheet with the directions on it in the first three minutes, but I didn’t think much of it because of the numerous other riders I was following. We made some good time cruising along the shaded patches of Virginian woodland and we decided to make our first detour and visit a fresh farmer’s market. We picked up some peaches that were delicious. After a quick pit stop, one of the other riders, Alicia, and I found ourselves as the only two bikers at the market so we decided to saddle on up and head on out. Alicia took point due to my earlier blunder of losing the directions, and she set a pretty quick pace. I have been getting the hang of the clipping in and out of my bike now as we have to do it for most of the red lights we run into. It gives me some time to readjust my seating position and make sure that blood is flowing to all the parts that it needs to visit. When we hit our first lunch break I noticed riders doing some stretches so I inquired further and found out that we have a pretty good foundation for healthy body maitanence. I was provided with a few stretches to try and loosen muscles in my lower back, which is really the only area of my body that was sore. I think it either must be due to my inflexibility, or simply to the way in which I sit upon the bike. I am not 100% sure which one it is, but hopefully I will be able to figure it out before we get too much further on in the trip.
We took quite a circuitous route book after checking out some of the scenic sights on our way to Suffolk, like the small airport, the garbage dump landfill, and then almost getting on a highway heading back to Virginia Beach! Needless to say everyone was a bit confused and it wa a great relief when we were finally able to roll into the Westminster Church, and hit up showers at the YMCA. After our showers there was a hot dinner waiting for us prepared for by the talented cooks of the Homeward Bound group. After our stomachs were satiated I fulfilled my end of the bargain of organizing a binder of dates t satisfy the 8 hours of sweat equity requirement for the trip. I spent some time while I was collating talking to another rider, David, and we kicked some ideas around about why we are on the trip and what part of our lives we are at. Turns out that although we taught it two very different parts of the world, our experiences were pretty similar. I can’t wait to learn more about other people’s stories, I think lately I have been doing too much of the talking about Alaska and I think I want to try to engage some of the other riders and learn more about them personally.
I have another ride tomorrow this one around 40 miles, going to Waverly, VA. I am going to call it a night for tonight and catch some shuteye. Hopefully I will kick this cold which has degenerated into a cough. I am drinking some warm liquids, but I ma y have to pick up something a little stronger in Waverly tomorrow. Til then all!

Day 2 Virgingia Beach

2009-05-20T21:30:00.000-07:00

Day 2 5/20/09 Virginia Beach
What level of nakedness are we okay with on this trip?- David Day 2
Well ladies and gentleman we found out the answer to that question today. When you have thirty people needing to change clothes, use showers, and try to just get through the day and limited bathroom space. You find yourself just dropping your drawers and hitting the YMCA with the best of them. I really didn’t have too much of a problem with it, all the steams in Alaska kind of prepped me for this trip. This coupled with prevention techiniques against chafing kind of opened the group up to discuss things not generally discussed in your normal everyday company. We ended the day with a couple of “Butt’erfly” creations and I believe we have achieved a new level of comfort with each other.
Well today we had a rather packed schedule, I seemed to be in the throes of jet lag, and woke up around 5 in the morning. Although this gives me ample time to write, I would kind of like to get on a normal sleeping schedule so I will be able to function as the rides become more strenuous. Today we had our first shake-down ride to see how our bikes handled and to try and get comfortable riding around in a group. This was my first ride with the bike and I had to get used to these new type of pedals that you actually clip your shoes and become attached to the bicycle. This helps increase your pedaling power, however it poses a problem, you have to a special move to get out of your pedals by twisiting your ankles, and if you fail to do so you can lose your balance and fall slowmotion-like with your bike onto the pavement. It hasn’t happened to me yet, however I feel my time will come, one slip up is all you need to fall. The ride was completed wqith a few detours and wrong turns but everyone made it back goodhumored and excited for what the trip will hold for us. Prior to riding I was quite anxious, it seems a little absurd, but I was thinking in my head, “Man alive how am I going to complete this ride” I kind of psyched myself out and there turned out to be little reason for it. We got to go through the scenic military base, and I have never heard so many fighter jets in my life. They are loud and almos tall conversation ceases when they fly overhead.
I am learning a bunch of things about bike maintenance and also one of our leaders, Brian, is really serious about photography, and he is kind of showing me the ropes on my camera. Which is kind of neat I was thinking I might have to sign up for a class to properly learn how to use it but he was able to provide me with a pretty informative rundown on how things like shutters, apertures, and ISO’s work. As well as some of the functions on my camera. Thanks to him I should have some snazzier photos coming on the way.
We had a good meeting with the church members in Virginia Beach and I got to learn a little bit more about how the building part of our bike and buil trip works. I think I could really get into talking to people and just finding out about them.
We are going to try and get up early tomorrow to catch the sunrise on the Atlantic, I may just stay up. This jet lag things has to work its way out of my system, I think it will eventually, happen. We have a forty-five mile ride into Suffolk, facing us tomorrow and I am pretty excited. Today we just got a taste, tomorrow will probably be more of a light lunch in terms of riding distances. Til next time guys and gals!

Virginia Beach Day one...

2009-05-20T21:04:00.000-07:00

Day One:
Well we all ended up meeting each other yesterday. There were a couple faces who I memorized on the home website, but for one reason or another were not able to make it all the out here. Overall it started pretty well, met my first two bike and builders in the airport, Julie and Justin, they are friends from Nashville, and after seeing them claiming two bags from the oversized luggage department, I took an educated guess that we were heading the same way. Sure enough we were, but bikes due tend to take up a lot of room and when I met up with Aaron and Alicia we had a hard enough time trying to pack our bikes into the station wagon, (partly due to the monstrosity I purchased online that disguised itself as a bike box.) After meeting with the group I realized that I had brought way too much equipment down and would have to send some of it back. It is just one of the realities one faces when trying to organize and plan something from the bush.
After getting my stuff situated we ended up schmoozing with the rest of the riders and ended up playing some “icebreakers.” Now in all honesty these were some of the weirdest icebreakers I have ever played, we started off with the basic name and interesting fact, then changed over to what we had in common with each other, and finally it escalated to a game where we definitely invaded each others personal space, but we were all laughing while we did it. Overall it was one of the most effective icebreakers I have ever played because although it was awkward, after going through the motions of either dancing up on someone, holding them up bride and groom style, and then airplaning on them as they lay on the ground, we found that the ice was literally broken. We all had a good laugh and everyone was ready for our next activity of learning the rules and procedures.
We broke up into groups for chores and my group consists of Kate, Nick, Julie, John, and myself. It sounds like we are a pretty solid group interested in helping each other, Nick has been a chef prior to this, so our days for dinner should be particularly tasty. (Which I’ll add is pretty good because my diet is so bland in the bush I doubt anyone would appreciate my meals of plan oatmeal, mixed with the odd combo of crystal light chicken, but we will see what happens.) Julie and Kate were worried about the large proportion of boys in their group for cleaning, so I guess the onus will fall on us to make sure we exceed expectations.
We received a dinner donated to us from Chipotle and it was pretty tasty, I personally cant get enough restaurant food after being out of the bush. Any food that I don’t have to do the dishes for and is tasty is fine by me. We wound up the day having a meeting with some alumni riders who sang praises about the summer we are going to have which I am pretty sure spread the excitement from rider to rider as we listened to tales from trips past. Afterwards we broke out a game of Apples to Apples and had some fun shooting the breeze while we made our matches. After completing the whole deck of cards we ended up claiming spots of the floor for snoozing. I succumbed to the jetlag and was out like a light. Man alive what a day!

Ballin...

2009-03-31T21:40:00.000-07:00

Alright Ladies and gentlemen, an unusual opportunity to workout popped up today. I was a little bummed when i heard tha tthe gym was going to be occupied for a bal tournament tonight and it was going to crunch into my workout time. However I got a call at 6:00 asking me if I would enjoy playing around with the 35 and older guys in a game. I thought why not and I went up to the school. I actually had a pretty good game. I had been practicing quite abit during the season when i was coaching my boys and I feel a bit more confident on the floor. I had a fun time and surprisingly I wasnt as winded as I imagined I would be. These games last forty minutes and I remeber when I played at Thanksgiving I was dying at half time. Tonight I was able to play the first game and I think I might have been able to play another after if need be. I am improving fitnesswise I just need to hit the bike harder. We are getting down to the final wire now only six and half more weeks man everything seems to be quickly approaching. I got to check in wiith my family and it looks like I might be able to squeeze in one day with them before I head out to the east coast. Time always seems to be so tight, I never seem to know where it all goes...

The little engine that could...

2009-03-27T00:19:00.000-07:00

Well Ladies and Gentlemen, 3miles done in one session is better than 2miles done in a morning and 2mi in an evening session right??? Actually I I think I am slowly getting the conveyor belt worked out, and my balance is improving. I took a day of rest yesterday, and I was sweating like a fiend today, (almost as much when I steam), it was crazy but it was feeling good. I am increasing my average speed, which is not going to sound impressive but right now all I am training on is a mountain bike with some fatty boombulatty tires on it so my friction is pretty high. I am working on getting my bike ordered, just had some sizing questions with the company that I am working out via email. I have to ride tomorrow morning because in the evening I have to fly to Bethel for some meetings, hopefully I will came back early enough on Sunday so I can squeeze in some workout time before hitting the sack. I steamed again tonight and it just takes all the juice out of your muscles. It feels incredible, but you feel like oyu can barely make a fist afterwards. Even typing this blog out is only with the aid of gravity helping my fingers fall down:)

If you guys would like to donate to my cause please go here: (Every little bit helps)
http://www.bikeandbuild.org/cms/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,118/
Just choose my name Mark Broz, and donate as much as you want. I would appreciate a billion or so, but I'll settle for just a measly million...)

Exercises in humilitation...

2009-03-24T23:50:00.000-07:00

Well Ladies and Gentlemen lets recap
Workout day 1 I worked out in the morning and in the evening morning session for an hour, evening session for a half hour, although I was able to bike the same amount of distance in each session. I swear this contraption I am riding on has to be harder than riding on the road. It is basically a conveyor belt I rest my bike on top of. However, I logged in four more miles today, bringing my total up to...5 miles. Kind of anticlimatic I know but you have to start somewhere, what happened to my college days of doing 70 mi rides...either I am really out of shape or this conveyor contrivance is simply wasting my energy. That which does not kill us makes us stronger, and I think it would be pretty hard for me to meet my end while basically biking in one spot. One nice thing though as I went over to "steam" after my evening workout session I got to see the last bit of the sunset at 9:20PM. Then after having a hot one, all of my muscles were completely relaxed. I wish I could pack a steamhouse with me and take it out to end my day. It is blissful. Then coming out and into the tundra evening air, was so crisp, and drinking a potful of melted snow...this is going to be something to miss. I have to get to bed now folks tomorrow I want to be at school by 6AM to work out, and still give me seven hours to sleep.

Biking is on!!!!

2009-03-23T22:22:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen I have been given the go ahead. My summer bike tour is on. That means between now and then I have to do a seriuos bout of training. I have to be ready May 19th, four days after the end of the school year. This si pretty intense and it looks like it is going to suck up a majority of my summer. But I think it is going to be worth it, getting to see America so intimately, I don't know if I could have passed this up. In two years I will sadly be too old. I am pretty pumped I have checked out the other riders profiles and they seem to be a good group of people, they have decided to put a big portion of this past year to devoting their time to others. I have to admit that I missing out seeing my family and friends this summer. A lot of my plans got pushed to the wayside, but I am appreciative that everyone still supports me to follow my wild fancies. I have 64 days left to prepare for this and Ihave my training bike all set up with a bike computer. So far mileage logged >1mi. Ok I know it is small, but I am getting up at 5:30 tomorrow to log some serious time in before school and see if I get these numbers up. I am going to attempt to keep a daily posting of how many days left and how far I have ridden total. Guys this sounds like it is going to be a trip of a lifetime. Once I am given a donation link I will post here and I hope you guys will help out the affordable housing cause. What this trip is going to entail is that I am going to start out in Virginia Beach, Virginia, dip my bike into the Atlantic Ocean, then bike to Canon Beach, Oregon and dip my wheels into the Pacific. Stopping along the way nine times to build houses in various locations along the way. I am a member of a group of 30 people, and following the philosophy of many hands make light work we should be able to provide a good surge of manpower to these sites. This trip will take me to the 29th of July, and I have to be back in AK on the 11th of August for meetings. Alright guys, here's to having some new starts...

A little fixer-upper...

2009-02-19T00:06:00.000-08:00

Well Ladies and Gentlemen, we had a snow day today due to blizzarding and I appreciated the day off. it gave em time to relax and get a jump on a project I have been trying to get to, yet somehow always forget about. I have been meaning to install a water purification unit in one of the teacher houses that would work with plumbing. Now my father gave me incredibly simple instructions as to how to install this, but I was wary because when i previously attempted to deal with water it ended up being a month long endeavor. It actually went well, I got it installed and it fit without leaking. It is currently running and the water there is now sterile, not that it was horrific before, but this just filters the water again, and then by blasting it with uv light destroys all organisms. It was pretty neat and it took me only about an hour to install. i was dreading it way too much apparently. Just thought I would throw something up here before I hit the sack, night all.

Weathering Anger...

2009-01-28T10:57:00.000-08:00

Ladies and gentlemen, I got my class going on choosing 2 of following three downers to write about, Anger Depression, and Anxiety. I think I am going to start out by talking about my anger. Most of you know that I have a flash point temper. I go from cool to hot in nothing flat. However as I was growing up my oldest brother gave me lots of advice on how get it under control. He told me that no one can make me do anything, you always choose how to react to someones actions. You let yourself get angry at situations, you let yourself get happy about things to. In each case YOU are the operative device in controlling your emotions. Once you start thinking like that if you mix it up with the advice he gave me on the "Weather Category" which is to start putitng things in life into the weather category. This category consists of everything you cant do anything about, topping the charts is, you guessed it...the weather. It doesnt make sense to let your self get angry or upset about the weather, it is what it is you cant change it, so dont waste any time stressing about it and move on. There are all kinds of things that can go into this category, it mainly focuses on not spending too much getting upset about something, but spend that energy in figuring out what you are going to do about it. Now this isnt always possible andI find myself at times getting a little angry things nowadays, but it has helped me figure out how to deal with these problems. I have shared my anxiety example with the class so I suppose I willl leave off here,til next time folks.

Mental Health

2009-01-20T12:50:00.000-08:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, well we are getting into the swing of things today and we are discussing mental. I have decided to lead the class and put out a little bit of what I considered my mental health or status to be. Now considering the positive and negative attitudes one may have on their outlook of life I would have to say that I feel overall pretty positive. My classes this semester are working out well, and I am trying quite a few new things in the classroom. The biggest change is that I am trying to incorporate computers more into the curriculum of my classes. Having the students take notes on their computers instead of a notebook and although at times they are a little off tasks chatting with each other or looking at the newest snowmachine on the market they generally are getting the assignments completed and keeping up with class. This allows me to maintain a pretty positive outlook on my classes. In terms of my college classes that I am taking am feeling a little stressed out, I am doubling my class load and taking on more graduate level courses. As the workload increases I wonder if I am going to be able to keep up with it because of all the extracurriculars I am taking on such as basketball, afterschool. I sadly have not been able to incorporate as much Choir time as I would like to have because by the end of te day I generally am pretty beat. On the topic of music, I still have not been able to get the music club started afterschool like I wanted nor have I been able to get the Chess/game club going. Perhaps after the State tests and our afterschool program is done I will be able to begin these clubs. As for defense mechanisms that I use I would probably say I deal mainly in the park of using rationalization as my technique. I find it very easy to provide an "excuse" or an explaination for my actions much to the discontent of my peers. This doesn't necessarily mean that I am making up excuses, it is just that I generally have a reason for doing what I do, and sadly at times they can be a little self-centered. It gives me something to reflect on the next time I visit the Church .

Sick!!!!

2009-01-09T15:15:00.000-08:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, man alive have I been hit hard! I have been down and out for three days now with this killer flu. My throat feels like it has had all of the moisture evaporated from it and there is nothing left but dry sandpaper. My uvula is swollen and is knocked around like the proverbial punching bag with every breath I take (or cough). Thankfully K&P's Pharmaceuticals came through for me and I believe I am finally at the end of the wild ride. This sickness has given me some time to read a bit more and I picked up a book by Isaac Asimov and I must admit I am greatly impressed by his writing style. I find his stories so informative, they are science fiction, but by explaining all of the science, he makes it seem almost plausible. It was only a compilation of short stories however it got me thinking about writing again. Once I have teaching down pat (if that ever happens) I will see about picking up the pen and notebook and see where they might take me.
As for right now I am enjoying the soothing pleasures of Ayuq (labrador) Tea and listening to whatever songs pop up shuffle-wise. Til next time...

Back in AK

2009-01-05T21:29:00.000-08:00

Well Ladies and Gentlemen, New's Years Resolution #1 try to keep this blog updated, it has been gasping through the last months. I am trying to get myself into full swing out here and I am going to see how this next week turns out. I am home, water froze inside my house and my door required the use of a blowtorch to gain entry. I am finding myself a bit overwhelmed at the moment, I need to find something that will help me gain a handle on the events out here, some kind of perspective. I haven't been taking as much time to reflect as I should and I wonder if I am getting a little out of practice. I helped Noah gather scraps for the steam today and one of the"scraps" was a massive wooden box that wouldnt fit into the sled, it could only rest on the top sides of the sled. We were without the use of rope so I manuvered the scraps and stuck a 2x4 so it stand straight up in the air and pushed the box up against it. There was no way it was going to stay there balancing by itself, so I had to ride on top of the scraps putting my weight against the box balancing it on the 2x4. The snowmachine lurched to life and every hill and valley caused me to adjust the pressure I placed on the block. I had my back to the snowmachine unaware of what would come next. As I tried to keep the box steady I was being knocked about by the scraps underneath, muscles tense to maintain my position. The last stretch when we were at the Maqii the sled tilted up at an angle and it was too much it fell off. I stumbled after it, and was relieved that we were right at our destination. I suppose thats what I could be looking at right now folks. Not sure where I am going, trying to get this listing senseless box of bush education balanced, while bureucratic scraps kick me in the shins. It seemed inevitable that I was going to fall, however it was at our final destination that everything came apart. Close enough... I don't know guys I have heard that counts in two games horse shoes and hand grenades. I am wondering if I going to steam tonight or just fall asleep, I am beat. Until tomorrow Ladies and Gentlemen.

Changes ladies and gentlemen...

2008-12-09T22:45:00.000-08:00

Man alive, ladies and gentlemen, life has moved in incredible directions. I find myself currently an uncle again with a new nephew, a basketball coach, as well as part of a spearhead movement to improve the water quality of the village out here. I got to see my family, have my water system completely installed and I am able to filter the water at an incredible rate cleaning it of microbes to a log12 factor. My mondays and wednesdays have turned into 13 hour days with only a lunch break with coaching and tutoring, and i am oddly surprised I would have expected me to be exhausted, but i am finding myself with time on my hands to write and update my blog. I dont know where this time came from, but i am reasonably planned up for the end of the year until break and I just have to get over my wednesday hump before i feel the week is over. I am looking forward to break with reckless abandon, I cant hardly wait, after getting a taste of my dad and sister it reminded me of what i am missing back home. Not to mention it was cool to meet Bob, the CEO of fourth largest communications company in the world! He was the most eccentric man I have ever met. Immensly interested in everything, honeybuckets, steaming, and chipping ice, I have never met a more humble man who was so giving. My little sister described it the best although the man isimmensley weathly he isnt really concerned with acquiring more of it, he is more focused on what good he can do with it. He has provided financial support to what he terms "world changing ideas" and tries to bring great minds together. I was blown away by the man and am incredibly grateful that he decided to take an interest in my little village out here. Guys the course of events that led up to this was incredible, seredipitious is only the beginning, and slowly I find myself becomin more religious. The chances of everything arejust too outrageous, I feel I have found reaffirmation that I should be out here, and I didnt even know I was looking for it. In retrospect this whole scheme came to be because I had no idea that AK stood for alaska. It is ridiculous guys I have no other explanation for it. As this project unfolds I think I am going to begin compiling my blogging and journaling and start laying this out in a book. I always wanted to be an author, I thought by choosing teaching I was giving up o nthat path, but it looks like there may stil be an avenue open. I don't know folks, i just dont know, I am simply amazed by what has occurred...til next time

Project done!

2008-10-27T22:43:00.000-07:00

Well ladies and Gentlemen my video is complete!!!! It is up and running and you can check it out at http://eimakeover.shycast.com/contestant/582/ There are only about fifty other highschools competing feel free to check out how we measure up. Please take the time to log in and register an email account. I know it is signing a bit of your soul away but what is one more piece of spam in comparison to the billions flying around the ethernet currently. We put a lot of time and effort into and I hope you folks will support our effort.

I have to admit that while I am happy that the submission went through I have to admit this is one of the first major projects I have stuck through until completion. I am notorious for starting things and then just letting them wither away. There was a small amount of elation that coursed through me as I finally got it up and now it is a little odd to ask people I haven't talked to in a while to come and support me, however the nice part is that over this past weekend I was able to get a couple of friendships that had been lying dormant to become reconnected and I am definitly looking forward to coming home over winter break and keeping those connections going.

Musically, if I ever hear Nickelback's "Rockstar" song again it will be too soon. Generally i can do the one song on repeat ad nauseum, however the amount of stress that get associated with song is something i would like to distance myself from. Leaving the world of pop, I have finally had time to delve into some music my brother hooked me up with last christmas and due to my disorganization of moving place to place I have finally gotten around to it. Right now Charles Mingus " My Jelly Roll Soul" is just rubbing me the right way. I am just unwinding and relaxing, I have a notch in my belt of project completions and I hope to double it by finishing the water project next saturday. I tell you ladies and gentlemen if I can ride this wave I will be ecstatic come november.

My two other goals are to purchase a Yamaha PSR-900 to start an after school club, and to by 20 basketballs, one for each of the guys who are eligible for basketball this year. I want to buy sharpees too so they can design their ball and make it their own and practice with it all the time. Something they can envision going through the air and landing in the hoop. M reasons for this are twofold, One most of my students have never owned their own basketball, and two there are not enough basketballs in the school for each memeber of my team to have one. Two people can not dribble with the same ball at the same time. I think Newton has a law about that...

Overall folks life's looking on the up and up. Things were kind of getting away from me for a while but I feel I got the horses back under the reign. Please help my kids out by checking out our music video again. Here's the link http://eimakeover.shycast.com/contestant/582/

Til next time ladies and gentlemen...

Projects abound!!!!

2008-10-20T23:53:00.000-07:00

Alright Ladies and Gentlemen, I have been neglectful true, but I am coming out of slump, this is awesome I am about 80% done with water project creating my aformention system that will purify and cleanse all of my water no matter what the source or pollutants out here. And I would be 100% but I adopted another project one that I just kind fo fell onto while searching for funding for a smart board for my classroom. It is to enter a contest and make a music video and you get the change to win a $25,000 Classroom Technology makeover. Well this thing looks pretty sweet and only 200 some people entered it last year. Well right now there are only 6 highschools involved and their videos are pretty shoddy. So I have worked with my students and we have come up with some lyrics to parody Nickelback's Rockstar song and we are going to be putting it to video over the next three days as the video is due to be uploaded on friday. I swear to post this as soon as it is completed, I took one of my classes, my Consumer Life Skills class and just told it for the next two weeks this is all we are working on. We got pretty pumped about it and we are going to see what develops. I am pretty hopeful that we have a good chance, the website to check out is eimakeover.com . Hang in there with me for a little long folks and I will have something phenomenal to show you... on that note, til next time.

Fire Alarms at 1030 PM

2008-09-22T00:03:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-09T23:33:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-09-05T15:38:00.000-07:00

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...

Exercises in futility...

2008-08-14T14:19:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, some of you had the pleasure of partaking with me various meetings "prepping" us for teaching out here over this last week. Alright although I felt the structure planned was pretty useless, I decided to start talking people. I have always envisioned myself as somewhat reclusive and relatively passive about problems, but I decided to try and hop on the ball and become a little more active about trying to solve my problems. First on the list was working on how to get more textbooks for my classroom. After talking with the head of SS department I was able to make some headway in ensuring that I will have enough books for my students. I decided to sit with some of the newguys and give them a crash course in the education system out here because the presentations were sadly lacking and half of the room was composed of people like myself who had a year to internalize this system for ourselves and the other half was being overwhelmed by the slough of information and jargon being dumped upon them. I was able to help the people around me get alittle firmer hold on a jumping off point and they got a little more comfortable with their situation. I feel I made some headway in being productive which helped me find some value in these meetings, and with a little help from my friends out here we made it passable. I am anxious to get everything up and running out in my room and it is looking like I may have a small mountain to tackle. Til next time...

Lazy Days...

2008-08-09T23:42:00.000-07:00

Well ladies and gentlemen it is a little disappointing I have spent a little too much time on my duff watching game shows and not really too much time on actually having productive experiences in the village or making large headways with my lessonplanniong. I kind of reread my blog posts and I have to admit I think I might have lost my direction for this blog, I liked how my posts started out in the beginning, yet somehow I have lost my rhythm for posting, please bear with me folks and I will try to bring it all back on track. I just need to find a little umpf somewhere...

Well folks here is the craziest thing, five minutes after writing this post I decided to call my unproductive day quits and I decided to head homeward. I saw four my students on a four wheel one male and three females and he was driving backwards down the boardwalk doing a little showing off. He ended up going half off the boardwalk almost dumping two of his passengers into a rather deep puddle,(close to two feet) I helped him out and one of my other students joined in and we were able to haul the fourwheeler free. I was about to call the day a wash, however it turned out to have some interesting stuff stored up for the very end.

New Faces!

2008-08-08T22:19:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am getting pretty pumped these last couple of days. Things are coming together and I feel a ton more prepared this year than last. One of the advantage of teaching highschool is that I know my students already give or take a couple new names and faces. As for new faces we have gotten four new teachers up here and I have met three so far and if their enthusiasm is any harbringer for what the year might bring we are in for a great year. Last year we just missed AYP by a handful of scores, but it was the closest we've come in eight years, (ever since No CHild Left Behind was enstated). The teachers up here have been doing some good, and I think this next wave will be able to continue it. I helped them settle in and I was trying to give them some helpful advice when I tried to think of my initial impressions of the village. Coming into the village I remember being kind of shocked how everything was laid out. My initial preconceptions of what life would be like in Alaska was shattered and it took me a couple of weeks to actually try and wrap my head around the idea that I was going to be out here for a year. The new residents of my apartment are facing similar challenges oddly enough that I faced, the hot water doesn't work, even after I showed them the trick of turning a knob or two on the pipes. This is Alaska for you a couple of kinks in all plans yet somehow there's a way to make do. This year the water challenge seems to be kind of intriguing, right now I have dumped my honeybucket a couple of times, but I generally visit Paula and Kris throughout the day and we swap chores with each other. I currently have a pretty sweet deal going, I go into thirds on the groceries and pick up a couple of nights of dishwwashing a week and I can come over for dinner every evening. Then I can also bring my laundry over and they will do it for me if I get their mail every week. Sounds pretty good, although The last time I went I carried back 80lbs of mail so maybe they got the wool over my eyes for that one :).

So there has been a revamping of the Social Studies curriculum in our district and we are getting new next textbooks. Now I thought this was pretty good our old books some of you might recall stopped after 1920. But true to Alaska form there has to be a kink somewhere in the works. This monkey turns out to come in the form of quantity, I only recieved five new text books for each subject that I teach. Currently I am at a loss asto how I am supposed to begin teaching class in a week without the books but who knows something will hopefully shake out.

Admidst all of the hurdles I am still oddly optimistic, I am not sure where this is coming from, I was struck with a bug to get everything unpacked yesterday and I even tried my hand at a little decorating/ trying to put away my juggling stuff even though there is a lack of shelving. Ladies and gentlemen let me stress the number of things you can do with some strings and couple of nails and a hammer. I was able to hang 9 clubs all with a nail and a piece of string, and the rings, devil sticks, diabolos, and balls were all interwoven into an interesting piece of work that looks almost like the head of a giant mosquito. In a rush with all of this hammering I nailed up a calendar to my wall however my nail had a flat head and I am not sure what I going to do when the month changes. i think I have about three weeks to come up with a solution. As for problems I am facing, does anyone have a solution for dealing with black houseflies, they are every where. I shut the doors trying to trap them in the rooms but somehow even without food they seem to be thriving. Any fixes would be welcome!

Homecoming...

2008-08-04T21:57:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It has been an intense week. My first sleep in my new house sans water was interrupted at about 3 in the morning when I awoke to find myself incredibly cold and seeing my breath in front of my face. My boiler went out and there wasn't too much to do about it other than grab a few more blankets and try to go bakck to sleep while I waited for the rest of the village to wake up. The following day I visited with the maintence man and tried to figure out how one goes about repairing a glycol boiler that looks older than I am. I got my fingers crossed that it will only happen once this year. While I was in the boiler room I got to see some of the leavings left by the previous owners and there is an interesting collection of albums, cassettes, and ammunition. I think I have to find a way to acquire a record player and maybe sample some of these obscure hits. I will be sure to keep you all posted with some reviews of the tunes throughout the year. Some other teachers have started to turn up by the end of the week and I have been spending quite a bit of time with them helping them move in and get settled in themselves. We have been catching up on what we did over our summers and what the upcoming year holds for us. We had a sunday school class and meal sessions, and I was able to work on perfecting my chocolate chip pancakes, luckily for me the kids were pretty nondiscriminating about shape because it took me a while to get the hang of flipping them. Which brings me to today and the conversations I have had with numerous Dell employees about how I can get a new computer to replace my old one that did not survive the transition over the summer. I have been able to already enjoy the pleasure of a Maqii, and also the not so pleasant experience of dumping a honey bucket. I am getting pretty pumped about this upcoming year and have many days of planning ahead of me to round out my summer vacation. Until next time ladies gentlemen...

There and Back again...

2008-07-29T00:15:00.000-07:00

Well ladies and gentlemen the summer is passed. I had an incredible time in germany, and I believe over the next couple of weeks I will include a picture and a story to accompany it. As it is right now I am not 100% sur ehow I will get into my house tomorrow. It is boarded up and I have lost the key. It will definitly make for an interesting turn of events, especially because I could be traipsing around with extremely overloaded luggage, but with a wink and a smile I was able to get it through Ohare without any additional cost. I am getting lost in the works of Paulo Coelho you can expect to see maybe a few quotes here and there thrown in. However I think I may try to bring some of his books into the classroom. I am not the reading teacher any more, but maybe I could wing it somehow. The posts should be following regularly once I have internet set up. Until then ladies and gentlemen, I am out...

Wizard's apprentice....

2008-06-20T12:33:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, the past couple of weeks have been turbulent ones, dealing with the personal loss of a grandparent, mixed with the joy of seeing relatives long overdue. Throughout it all though, I have been going to my old highschool and sitting in a summer school class observing one of the most influential teachers I have had at work. It is refreshing the energy he brings into the classroom, and to see his students reciprocate. Discussions in the classroom are at an incredible level and the students seem willing to take it to any height. While participating in this class I am able to see a master at work with his craft, 18 years in the making, noticing subtle changes that surprised even myself given the last time I heard him teach was five years ago. There is something here, something colleges play down, especially education colleges, all the stress put on classroom management and distancing oneself from the students. By focusing intensely on rules and expected behaviors it almost conveys to students that you, the teacher, don't trust them enough to behave on their own volition. If you have to fall back on the structure of the school's rules you take a situation between you and the student, and you pass the buck on for someone else to deal with. It almost boils down to the Machiavellian concepts of whether or not it is better to be feared or loved as a teacher. Due to all the law suits and limited funding there is a severe push from schools to veer away from the loved aspect because that could get "messy." Instead they err on the side of being feared at the cost of really connecting and motivating their students. I have to admit that over these last weeks I have seen the beginnings of a class falling into Machiavellian love with the teacher and it is a remarkable environment. Where a teacher can simply request a change in behavior if needed and the students respond not because they are forced to with punishment, but because they care enough about the teacher to abide by his wishes. It was incredibly powerful to observe and I have this image of what type of teacher I would like to strive towards to become. These influential teachers I have had, have become models for me to try and meld into the professional I would like to be. I have ways to go, but I think I am a little more aware of how to get there, at least some of the initial steps. One of the pleasant outcomes of these two weeks is that I finally have encountered not just a professional goal I will strive to obtain, but it can also work as a fitting title for my blog. I would like to be a "Sage on the Stage" a thoroughly knowledgeable teacher who is able to perform classes and keep them entertained while simultaneously educating them. I have seen it done, and been on the receiving end of such an education and it was incredible, I can only hope to recreate the same experiences in my classroom. The craziest part about this whole period was that it all came about from an email about going out to lunch sometime and it grew into this opportunity for immense professional improvement. Keep your old contacts alive ladies and gentlemen, you would be surprised with all that can happen if they are rekindled.

Clean Coal????

2008-06-04T13:03:00.000-07:00

Well Ladies and Gentlemen, I got in contact with an old friend who currently works on building powerplants. I have been seeing these commercials for clean coal and I have heard from various sources that clean coal is a scam and there is nothing clean about it. I took a little time out to try and understand what actually goes into the process that would separate coal from clean coal. Now I have only a highschool chemistry course under my belt but it was put to me in a boiled down format that I am able to understand. A coal powerplant gains its energy by having coal combust in the air to create the energy resulting in the thick black smoke dominating most images of cities during the Industrial revolution. That smoke consists of Carbon Dioxide, Sulfur, and other potentially harmful gases. Now this clean coal is clean because of the process of combustion used with the coal. Instead of using air a chemical compound that is a mixture of many gases like Nitrogen and Oxygen, clean coal combusts with pressurized oxygen. Now think back to your chemistry days of balancing equations what you put into the equation you get out of it. Now the benefit of using pure oxygen instead of air is that there is less mess in the equation. The byproducts of this clean coal combustion is CO2, Water, Sulfur (from the coal). Now first the plant will seperate and store the CO2 seperately for later disposal and the water and Sulfur Dioxide gets mixed together with some Ammonia and it precipitates out of the water as Gypsum which is used to make wallboards (and has some acoustical construction benefits). This is a great way for the Powerplants to become huge money makers because not only are they selling the energy but also the waste products. Now the kicker is the CO2 this is the dangerous or "dirty" part of the clean coal. CO2 in this concentration is incredibly harmful and it has to be stored two miles underground. Now in a lake in Africa called Tonga there was some 20,000 people killed by a CO2 leak at one of these dumpsites, so there is potnetial for great harm to occur. However if properly done and stored clean coal is one of the most effecient ways of getting energy. And ladies and Gentlemen there is plenty and plenty of coal in this world still. Leftovers from those smokey stacks of the Industrial Revolution. You never know when you are going to use something you learned in school, I think I would have done my chem teacher proud.

Fashion Tricks and Quips

2008-06-03T10:54:00.000-07:00

Well Ladies and Gentlemen my life seems to be a little less remarkable now that I am back home. However I have been keeping my eye out for noteworthy content, and I have a couple things to throw out there. In terms of a movie review, I saw Indiana Jones, and I thought it was pretty impressive, I have heard the critics and naysayers kind of knock it around, but after watching it I was pleasantly pleased with the action, the story, and even the ending. It left a good taste after it went down, well worth the 4.50 ticket. Which come to think of it I think the ticket girl maybe gave me a student discount. I think I'll take that with a wink and a smile. In terms of a book review a friend recommended me to read some books by SM Stirling the first "Dies The Fire" was pretty decent. It deals with a modern day Oregon, and has an event in which all electronics and guns stop working. Kind of an intriguing idea, he dresses it up nicely with some quality action description scenes however my one criticism of this author is that he uses the "suspension of disbelief" a bit too much. People seemed to pop out of the woodwork with all kinds of knowledge and none of it seemed to be too congruent. I have recently been rocking out to Jethro Tull, particularly "Like a Tall Thin Girl" the lyrics kill me every time. It tells a pretty good story one easy to envision like most of his songs. As for a new skill, I went out and tried buying clothes for the first time by myself. Well folks I generally go with someone a little more fashionably dressed than myself and rely heavily on whatever they pick out. The kid gloves were off and I found myself wandering into an Express, I have never bought an outfit and I was trying to recollect all the advice I had heard about buying clothes. Dont mix vertical and horizontal stripes, no long sleeves and shorts combos, and stop wearing kiddie cargoes. OK so in my attempt to not look like a high schooler I calmly perused the shelves after about 5 mins a slaesclerk offered if she could help, wanting to be independent I said "Oh no thank you I'll be fine" after about ten minutes she came back and I was ready to throw in the towel on picking out clothes. Well the store clerk rescued me and I was able to ask her all of my fashion concerns, she was able to aid me in picking out some clothes and I was actually able to put together an outfit. Her patience was much appreciated because now I feel a little more confident in picking out clothes, and you can bet your bottom dollar where I am going to be shopping for it. I picked up a new trick yesterday and I am going to stick in my bag. Keep your eyes out for new tricks ladies and gentlemen, we could all use a little spin on ourselves.

Putting pets to sleep and russian cartoons

2008-05-30T08:24:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen those are some of the saddest things. I took my dog in today and walked out with the leash and collar in my hands, this is the only pet I've had and if I were to try and describe it for all of you poor folks with allergies that never had the joy of a pet I would say sit down and read Where the Red Fern Grows, Old Yeller, and Sounder all at once, try to compound all of those emotions and you would have the beginnings of a fraction of what it feels like. Today will be maybe a little tearful however I have come across something else on this incredibly quick internet while I was searching for this russian birthday song from a movie "Eastern Promises" which I heartily recommend. I started clicking on some of the cyrillic(sp?) characters and found my way to this Krokodil Gena and Cheburashka little puppet animation similar to maybe a mr rogers. They had the song and some translations about how it is raining, but it is his birthday, and birthdays only come once a year. There was a distinctly depressing yet endearing feel to it. I recommend anyone that has a little freetime on their hands to check it out. I'll be signing out today guys maybe even put on a little "raindrops are fallin" and watch the rain beat against the skylights.

Comfy couches and Almighty grouches

2008-05-27T22:53:00.000-07:00

Well Ladies and Gentlemen, I spent the afternoon with my Grandmother today and while perusing stores for a particular sofa I was not only able to pick a few snippets about interior decorating but I also was able to hear an interesting perspective on religion. Concerning sofas I realized that their is a whole language devoted to picking out a piece of furniture, if you dont speak the language you have virtually no idea as to what is being talked about. It got me thinking, I am pretty ignorant of this terminology however given the time I could probably learn it, if all of these different fields have their own lingo I was wondering if it is possible to be knowledgable in all areas. I mean it is something you would really have to apply yourself into and I think there may not be enough time in a life to learn it all so we find ourselves reduced to choosing what we spend our time doing and wondering if it is actually worth it. In this picking and choosing I find I have to be careful not to get all sour grapey, for although I cannot seem to get the concept of designing, there are people who do, and spend time fastidiously trying to achieve perfection with what they have, that ladies and gentlemen is something that I can grasp. While color scheming and patterns are beyond me, the effort and thought which would go into a room is something I can appreciate.
As for religion, well, I am fascinated by it and today I picked up a little more. Over lunch I was discussing generational changes of religion and my Grandmother provided my with this anecdote. The God of your generation seems to be a forgiving one, when I was growing I was taught the if you told a lie God would pound a nail through your head. Now ladies and gentlemen I kind of follow this pendulum perspective wit history and I never thought about applying it to religion. That we are constantly shifting between poles with time, politcally, we get a little conservative, however the more conservative we get the stronger the pull towards liberal viewpoints and it will follow until the liberal ideas generate enough response from conservatives to swing it back the other way. I love the pendulum approach and you can apply it to naything, take generations industrious generations followed by slacker generations followed by the industrious 0one who pick up the pieces of the slackers. It never occurred to apply it to religion, but the same patterns are there we could be experience the different sways between strength in devoutness versus weaknesses of actions and pleas for forgiveness. What is going to cause to the shift hmm ladies and gentlemen this si something for me to chew on right now I am kind of thinking some kind of calamity...I think I will try devloping this idea further in a later blog we wills ee what comes of it

Making Pens and revisting friends

2008-05-27T00:11:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have been a little remiss in my posting and for that I apologize, however I have a feeling that I should be able to keep the rhythm going all throughout the summer, so please bear with me. These last couple of days have been packed meeting and relaxing with old friends. We play games of catch-up and I find myself feeling like this is what I have truly missed out in the bush. The friends, the family, it seems a whole different life I am slipping into, one I left when I took my excursion. I suppose it may have to do with the lack of responsibility I find myself with. For two months I don't have to worry about what I say, who I say it to, and what I do. The roughest part about bush life is the censorship you exert on yourself. It seems one is constantly surrounded by work 24/7 out there, it is rare to get a break, however back home your friends are at the ready with ears to hear your tales, everyone has their problems ladies and gentlemen, but man alive does it feel good to share them and kick them around.

On a completely different note I learned how to make a wooden pen today. My father has picked up another hobby, and it is crafting pens. Now not only was it an intriguing process and the different wood types incredible it kind of triggered a memory in my that my father said he would love to work with wood whenever he retires. He has a myriad of projects going on, finishing up one boat, building an 8 foot wooden boat for my nephew, and now the pens. Although my father has not retired he is still shifting into and developing his hobby. Now people say you should love your work, but love it all you want, there is still going to be stress from it. We all need an activity to balance ourselves, one that allows us to completely unwind and focus on something stress free. If we continually run ourselves through the gambit of work which only provides a necessary but only tangible reward of money, watch yourself, if all you are obtaining is a paycheck you need to try and make sure you are able to gain an accomplishment of self fulfillment in other areas. What these areas are, are highly dependent upon ourselves, for my father it is shaping wood, myself, I am not quite sure yet. I think I should keep my eye out for a stress free hobby of my own. If you folks have any suggestions I would be than happy to here them.

Stuck in transit....

2008-05-24T01:54:00.000-07:00

Well Ladies and gentlemen, I have been silent for a while due to interent cancellations, however now that I am in an airport paying by the hour for a room I have been able to hop back into the fast paced world of cyberspace. Once I hit home sweet home I will set in with a doosie of a post. Till then...

Doors opening...

2008-05-18T23:22:00.000-07:00

Well Ladies and Gentlemen, we had a couple of hiccups but overall the song was a success, I got up on stage thanked everyone and then my students came up on stage and sung with me. After the initial shakes, it was pulled together and at the end of Church people were shaking my hand and thanking me for talking. But it wasn't just the shaking and the thanking, their eyes, they were welcoming, as if given enough time there would be the opportunity to become close friends with everyone there. Doors were opened today, and I have a feeling that when I return in a couple of months some of those doors might be only slightly ajar,(due to tundra shifting:), however with a little more time and effort the welcome will be returned. Now most of you know that I am not a devoutly religious person, however I do feel it important to spend time doing good works and also to improve oneself with self-reflection. I find the Church the perfect opportunity to persue these aspirations, for while I cannot understand about 80% of what is said during the service, I am able to think about the past occurrances and behaviors I have adopted. In those hours you can think about a sick relative, the person next to you, or how a religion came to be adopted. Questions abound, and because religion is a relatively personal topic I only ask myself, not wanting to put anyone on the spot. I think it is something I could almost study as a hobby, I am intently curious about the "Why" certain behaviors exist, and for what purpose could they have been developed. It is like a puzzle without any edges and you are never sure if you even have all of the pieces. Now Ladies and Gentlemen, I am no theologian, but try to find some time in your hectic schedules to reflect on yourself, it doesn't have to be any religious worship, it can be through exercise, maybe step away from the computer or the tv or that killer book, and just give yourself a some serious self time.

Prettiest Flowers

2008-05-18T13:26:00.001-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, the day is finally upon me to try and put together everything I have learned about singing Yup'ik into a presentation at the Church this Sunday. I have been practicing, however my pronunciation is kind of up in the air. To give you guys a sample of what it looks like I will try transcribing it for you.

Prettiest Flowers will be Blooming (Yup'ik)

Nunatangkertok Tangniktlutingtlu Nautsitare Pairusvigkamtnik
Unguva Nangkan Nantsumetnaitnaktsekuktlu Akwharpak
Kelagme Tankigtsilngorme

Chorus
Asinkukatsagait Nautsitat Nauluting
Tumyarakigtarat Awataitni
Tangnilkilriatlu Napa Utakauk
Akirtlainam Nerpemtsaniantlune
Aturarluta Naskerutirluta
Nunapagme Tlarpem Inglukngaitlke
Atorpagtsekukut Angilattlu
Tsanianetlu Unguamkwegtane

Kilagme Tamen Tokulriartangkirngaitok Nanekuanarkitlrianik
Petaitsekuk Nunakaugoktlu Kinkutlirkaulune
Narniktlutingtlu Nautsitare

Chorus

Pairtsugyakamkin Tauni Kuigem Tsaniani Ekuktlisngailgomtlu
Unuakaune Wetankigtsiarkaulutatlu Akwharpak
Tuaingunretorusngaunata

Chorus

It is quite a bit and actually the chorus is a duet piece which I hope my students will help me with as I thank the village out here for a warm welcome and accepting me into their homes and community this year. Just a handful of days left, and so much yet to do, grading, packing, cleaning, I approach these tasks with mixed emotions of missing Kipnuk for two months, and the anticipation of meeting old friends back home. The prettiest flowers will be blooming soon, an optimistic outlook on life to come, I might have to stick that in my back pocket for a rainy day...

Crafting shafts and plucking ducks...

2008-05-16T00:27:00.000-07:00

Well Ladies and Gentlemen, life seems to be kicking itself into high gear, deadlines are swarming around me demanding attention, yet amidst all of this commotion I find myself having almost a sensory overload of new experiences. We had our last day of Culture week today and everyone that was there for all three days completly crafted a brass tipped harpoon. We had a village expert come in and teach us (myself included) all how to make them. We began with raw brass stock that we shaped over many hours with hacksaw and file until it satisfed our expert. I was almost like one of the students as I submitted my work for his review. He would inspect it and then diagram or tell me what I needed to do to improve it. It was an intriguing activity and throughout it all I am kind of confident that I know how to make a harpoon and I could teach it to someone else. I feel my studnets have a pretty good understandign of it as well and it kind of makes me consider, this is what teaching is, what has occurred over the last three days. I swear the most learning happened in these last three days than any other time of the year. My thought or goal this summer is to try and think of ways of replicating this experience, I can't just do harpoons every day, but what can i show the kids to try and involve them. WHen it is just you a piece of brass and a file, sure you can get all frustrated and try to go fast, but after you try it that way, you find that the way you were shown how before is actually more effective. It teaches patience, self experiementation, and then finally accomplishment as you complete your piece. I was positivly glowing after I finished my harpoon, I wanted to show it to everyone, "Look, I did this." It looked good and it was because I listened to a guide, by myself I probably would have went the way of frustration, procrastination, and incompletion. I feel I am on the edge of something here, but I am not quite sure how to follow through. I am ending the year on kind of a high note, I am having all of my students sign my harpoon and I am going to hang it up in my classroom for next year.
And if that wasn't enough I got invited to go pluck birds today which I followed up on. This was a peculiar situation out here there is a particular genderification of labor roles, men hunt and women clean. Is it archaic, yes, is it completly without merit, not really. Now before you all start pegging me as a misogynist let me try to make my case. Cohesion of a society is by far the most important goal in creating any type of community. Out in the tundra it is particularly important because you can't really survive for prolonged periods of time in the tundra by yourself. You need at least one, preferably more, companions to help you all get through the year. Gender roles developed, not as a means of submission or domination of a gender, but because this was the most practical way to survive on limited means. I'll go out and get more food, while you prepare the food I got yesterday. As long as I keep going out and you keep preparing we will get through year after year working together, if one of us breaks the chain, we both wont survive. Thatw as the origins now what we have today is something slightly different, an economic factor of survival was thrown into the mix and is almost as important as actual food. Survival has become more complicated one the one hand, however with the complications it has allowed for an ease of access of food. Hunting is much more productive with the advent of motors, shotguns, and rifles. We can go farther catch more and return in much shorter periods of time. This has created an imbalance in the spheres, hunting is vital for survival, but it doesn't buy stove oil to heat the house. As more women tend to work in order to supplement their family with an income they find themselves coming home to 20 or 30 dead birds that need to be cleaned. This I have found out is a huge chore, I was only able to clean two birds in about an hour and a half (and when they passed inspection I was given a C-). Granted my teacher was able to clean six birds in the time it took me to clean one. While food is essential for survival, the offset of food costs it provides is the strongest hindrance for allow change to occur. Having to clean all of these birds is a couple of hours worth of work after you day job could be pretty frustrating,(it is a good thing the bird you ar eplucking is already dead) however this discontent almost breeds change. There will be a new resettling of the dice just how they will fall who knows. Some of the women out here joke about leaving their men for men they have heard up north who help with some of the prep work. In every joke there is a grain, or for this case lets say a plume of truth. As each layer of feathers come off the question inwardly asked, is "how much more of this can I take?" When the answer reaches zero the phoenix of change is born out of the ashes of the former lifestyle. Call it the women's movement if you want but at the end of the day ladies and gentlemen we have to achieve a resettling or balance of our own that doesn't leave the other wanting. What is this idealistic partition of responsibilities? I'll be honest, I have no idea, I live alone out in the tundra, but it might start by asking yourself "What can I do to lighten the burden upon my companion?"

Maqii is the best...

2008-05-13T01:23:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am exhausted, and I think I am getting hooked on steaming. The smell of the wood when you enter the maqii, the hiss of the water as it evaporates over the rocks, and the enveloping heat that forces sweat to come out of every pore and run down your chin in many rivulets. Every knot in all of your muscles will be worked out by the heat, it settles in and just relieves every ache you have. We steamed for long tonight talking about teaching, weather, egg hunting, and bird hunting. I have been in a sauna before coming out here, but maqii takes the cake. My body is so relaxed right now that even the typing of keys with my fingers seems an exhausting task. It is too much. I am going to retire for the evening keeping it short and sweet, I hope I wake up tomorrow in time for school,I have abusy day of harpoon crafting ahead of me...I need to see if I can makea maqii back home. I would invite you all over and you could experience the extreme relief (and smoothness of skin) a maqii gives.

Spaghetti Sunday

2008-05-12T00:58:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen, I fear this evening I shall have to be rather brief, today was kind of a lazy day I relaxed and taught some of my students who came over how to make spaghetti, pretty simple but I showed them a couple spins on it. I had them try some balsamic vinegar to put in the sauce, and when they thought it was too sour you should have seen their eyes when I put sugar in the sauce. "Sugar? Broz you must be joking" Well then I got to thinking we could make this a little more fun so I grabbed some chili powder and had them taste a little bit. They got a kick out of it so we put some of that in,I followed that up by opening the cupboard and grabbing a half opened bag of chocolate chips and started tossing them in and my students stared incredulously "Chocolate chips?!?! they just couldn't believe I would put chocolate chips in the sauce. When we taste tested it they assured me that all they could taste was the chocolate, mind over matter, but I just chuckled a bit and added a little more of our other seasonings. That is the great thing about cooking there are so many flavor combinations sure you can go by the the recipe follow it to the gram, but the truth of the matter is if it doesn't taste right you are going to have to veer off anyways. Although I have a pretty bland diet, I like to cook for other people and do a little showing off but I tell you it was excellent with these kids, they stuffed themselves silly and said it was delicious. My options are pretty limited up here in terms of ingredients but I was able to throw together a crystal light lemon and basil chickenover rice that wasn't half bad, it is amazing what you'll try to spice up meals now and then. For those of you that have stuck through with me throughout my oatmeal endevours, I am down to just 2 of the original 12 containers of Quaker Regular Oats. It looks like my 50-60lb order was almost on the money for the year. This next week promises to be an interesting one of harpoon making and it looks like I might top it off Sunday by singing in Yup'ik to the entire Sunday evening congregation. I have a serious week of practice ahead but it promises to be enjoyable, I'll kepe you folks posted, until then think about veering off the "Recipe" and see what you come up with.

Hmmm actually if you have a recipe that you particularly enjoy post it on the comments and I will see about putting together a collection of recipes maybe a Cooks corner of sorts.

"Food tastes best in Tundra"

2008-05-10T22:49:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen, man alive is it difficult to finish a post once I begin. I have a smattering of half started posts that I had to leave in the middle of without fully developing the idea. I have just gotten back from an entire day spent in the tundra. I have experienced the kick back of 12 gauge against my shoulder, took aim and fired again, however those Nuqluqs are crafty and somehow they always seemed to dodge with lightening agility the shot I put out after them . I then was able to disembowel it to keep it fresh and waited for eight hours in the tundra. Just laying on a mossy knoll covered with lichen and taking it all in. During the long wait my partner and I pooled our provisions and I traded some coffee, dried apricots, and triscuit crackers, for dried tom cod, assalaq(eskimo fried bread), and akutaq(eskimo ice cream.) Ladies and Gentlemen it is incredibly true, food tastes better in the tundra. My buddy's gram told him to take food he didn't like out with him into the tundra he didn't enjoy, and when he tried it he thought it was the best food he had ever eaten. I have to admit I at first kind of smiled along and thought that hunger would have flavored the food, but man when I dipped the fried bread into the akutaq I thought it was pure bliss. I am kind of a half fan of akutaq, it kind of depends on who makes it sometimes it is a hit or miss, but man I'll be jiggered, it was the best combo I have placed in my mouth. I may have to set up an appointment with the Culinary Wizard himself and see if we can develop a flavor that is somehow related to extreme exertions in 35 degree weather. As I was laying there though I ate a couple different lichens, and more labrador. The stuff can kind of grow on you after a while. It is kind of liberating to get out of the village, I have been kind of trapped between work and home work and home, and it seemed like I really couldn't move from the confines of the 200 yard area due to excessive mud. However the trusty mudboots paired up with my partner in crime wearing waders we were able to navigate the coulple mile journey without any sinking occurring. I don't think I am ready to start exploring by myself because you really need to know where the rivers and deep water is at. Most of the time the ice cant support you at this part of the year and knowing where you are at can be the difference of 6 in drop or a 4+ ft drop. I soaked in quite a bit of sun today, the first time I have tanned in such weather, well I shouldn't really say tan, more like a light cherry tomatoed. My face has that familiar warmth emanating from it that I tend to associate with this time of year, I just didn't expect to feel it while wading through snow and ice. I am also beginning to be able to discern different birds by their call, because that is the first clue that the type of bird you are looking for is approaching. All in all there are quite a few things you have to keep in mind the wing span, how quick or slow they flap, and obviously size, but the call is your best friend. When you are always scanning the skies it seems to get pretty tough to continually pick out the birds, and every now and then one will sneak up on you. While I was without luck this venture once agian I have added a bundle to my repetiore of knowledge concerning hunting.(it was non existant prior to the week.) Til next time ladies and gentlemen, man I wish you all could have tasted it, I suppose I will have to try and figure out how to get all of you out here...
I am going to have to pick up some waders and camoflauge gear when I am back home for the return trip up here. I could really learn to love going out all day and just relaxing waiting for the bird to turn up.

Avoid the dark spots....

2008-05-07T23:34:00.001-07:00

Well ladies and gentlemen I had success today on a couple of fronts. Academically I seem to have gotten a couple of kids fired up about the spending of the Corporations money in Kipnuk and how nothing is really coming of it. Millions of dollars are getting dropped here and there and certain structures like a washeteria have been sitting half built for years now. 4.5 Million dollars for a new airport, lights on the runway and such, still nothing, no change. My students seemed to have gotten a little miffed and we sent some business letters to the corporation inquiring as to what was going on with the funding. I was tempted to use the kids original letters without improvements in language and punctuation because you could hear their voice very clearly through their words. However I was slightly torn between trying to get the Corporation to respond and having them mock my students out right. So we improved language a little bit, made it sound more professional and I will see if the COrporation chooses to respond. They might not or they may I honestly have no idea, however they way things are kind of run out here it seems like it may be able to put Tammany Hall to shame. Ignorance is bliss, and without any accountability the Native Corporation can run roughshod over these people. The first step is becoming aware of it. I feel that maybe some of my most important instruction has come in this last week. We have worked on how to fill out a job application and what goes into each box, how to officially request information, and how to increase our local awareness for events. I am pretty proud of my students, a lot of the times I feel this education out here is almost a sham in preparing the students for any kind of realistic job outside of the Bush or Bethel. If you cant work your way around the application itself how can you hope to even get considered for employment. There are huge gaps in the education out here and I am going through the first throes of trying to figure out of how not to just get by, but how can I get these kids honestly ready for life after highschool. This summer I am going to have to do some serious evaluating of what practices to ditch and what to fight for. But once again I am jumping ahead.

I had an incredible trip on the tundra today. ALtough it began with me stepping/sinking about two feet into a river I learned some valuable lessons, "Always avoid the dark spots." I spent the remainder of the trip squishing about until we ran into another villager on a snowmachine and he noticed my wet pant legs. He said he would be right back with something that would help. My student and myself continued onward and when he returned he had in his mitts lots of grass. he told me to remove my socks and boots and wrap my feet in the grasses. I tried it out and then put my socks on over the grasses and into my mudboots. Although it was initially very scratchy as the grasses got a little worn it was actually quite comfortable and dry. I stayed out on the tundra for a good number of hours after school and I was amazed at how the tundra smells. It has quite a pleasent aroma as I was getting low as possible while my student took aim at the geese flying overhead. It was wet and raining while we were out but man I felt Like I could walk through anything in those mudboots. (Just as long as it wasn't a river) We walked about two/three miles outside of the village and after running into many of my students who werent in school that day I eventually got a little too chilled and decided to call it a day around 8:30 PM. It just so happened that I was able to hitch a ride on a passing snowmachine and went Qatuq for the first time. Qatuq is when you go across water on a snowmachine, and it seemed likle we were almost stuck for a little while, but with a little rocking and shaking we were able to get free and continue on homeward bound. It was a fun little adventure and I got to spend some quality time out in the tundra, it is so soft, I felt like I could just go to sleep out there. Inhaling those pleasant fragrances of labrador, mosses, and lichens. We landed only one goose but I got to see some dead cranes, live cranes, owls, ptarmigans, all types of birds, as my student patiently allowed me to point out everything that seemed to be flying. He drew the line when I pointed out an airplane however, apparently Mr Broz can be a little dense at times. It was kind of an action packed Wednesday and hopefully I coast this week from here on out. Til next time ladies and gentlemen, and remember, "Avoid the dark spots"

Bushed...

2008-05-06T22:14:00.001-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am not sure what it is but the wind seems to be blown out of my sails, I got in contact with some friends and family yesterday and my mind seems to be two weeks ahead of me. I had only a handful of boys in school today. Almost all of them were out subsistence hunting. I got invited to go out tomorrow afterschool and hunt ptarmigan with some of my students and who knows that could give me the umpf i need to kind of stay in the game.

Took a little break to watch some Crocodile Dundee, man I must've seen it somewhere around 20 times or so, but I get a kick out of it all the same. From the Bush to the city, it is what I have to look forward to in by the end of the month. It made me wish I had some cool hat with the equivalent of crocodile teeth in it, however I couldn't really picture any claws or the like actually footing the bill. I think I will start practicing throwing my remaining canned goods in preparation for the apprehension of cutpurses. I have diced tomatoes galore out here, but we are using the empty cans as braces for our harpoons that we are going to be making next week. I will be sure to keep you guys posted then, now to just get through this week.

Water water everywhere...

2008-05-05T22:58:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen I finally showered! Man alive it was incredible, nice and hot and steamy. They were able to fill our water tanks so it looks like we are in the clear for water here on out. I am going to try and enjoy the privilege as much as possible because next year I shall go the entire school year without running water. I will be living in the village housing assuming the prospective new teachers follow through. Although there are the initial discomforts of no water, honeybuckets and what not, once you get used to it, which I imagine eventually I will, you can use it as an opportunity to connect more the students. Having running water seems to place me on a different plane as the students and once it is removed, I will be further away from the other teachers and closer to the kids. The teachers up here are all right and everything, however the students need someone to help them bridge the gap. As long as I am in the fortress of teachers I am unreachable, except in dire emergencies (like needing a sponsor for open gym) when the older kids would feel comfortable enough to come to teacher side of town. The teacher housing is generally overrun withlittle kids throughout all hours of daylight. Now I understand why, some of the teachers feed them and for some of the kids this is not only a huge benefit, but almost a necessity. While this helps ameliorate some of the immediate problems it does little for the long term solution. I like helping my kids out, if they are caught in a bind I do what I can to try and ease the pressures. It might make me a hypocrite but when I do it I feel like I am given a chance to build a stronger relationship with the student. The stronger the bond the stronger an impact I can have on them and maybe put some wheels in motion to get some things changed out here. I am reminded of the words from my older brother, "No one can make you do anything, you decide for yourself how to act." I cannot force these kids to listen to me and make them stop chewing or destroying their bodies through other means. I can only present a path I would choose to them, and if I am strong enough of character that they can identify themselves with me, they have the opportunity to follow. The character building, thats what I can experience out away from the teachers, away from running water. I have to admit that it was one of the sweetest things today to just wash all of that grime away, but maybe I will look into building a "maqii" or steam shack. It is intriguing the things I find myself dependent on, as more things are removed I think I gain an appreciation of the prospective newfound independence. It is 11:05 PM, foggy but daylight is still kicking around. I am hitting the hay but I shall catch you folks tomorrow.

Tie day, Prom Night

2008-05-02T18:47:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Tie day was a huge blast! I highly recommend it as an activity as this year winds down for a close. It wasn't a huge lesson or anything, I just explained about concepts of professionalism and I brought in all of my ties. I taught the kids the windsor and the double windsor knot, or as I framed it for the kids, the "basic style" and "Pro style." Everyone, boys and girls participated and I was able to get each of them to get the Pro style knot down. Some of the kids wore the ties until the end of the day. I feel that this might be one of the most useful skills I have taught my students, however none of them actually own a tie so I think this summer I am going to see what kind of ties and dress shirts I can rustle up. From what I heard last year the boys basically wore everyday clothes to their prom "because they didn't care" however after today kids were asking me for some of my button up shirts to wear. Well all of mine were dirty and water is tight, so I busted out a pot full of snow and I washed a handful of shirts one at a time in a pot for noodles. These kids are interested in looking sharp, I think it just is lack of opportunity, the nearest place to buy or see a tie modeled is Anchorage, five hundred miles away. I know I fele good when I dress up, I want my kids to experience that as well, it builds confidence, also maybe a little chest puffing because "Man alive, I look good." As a sense of self pride and self worth is fostered and developed, my students will be able to take the first steps against the complacent feelings of helplessness.

Well ladies and gentlemen I had to put this post on pause for the Prom... all in all it was a huge success. The kids looked phenomenal, my cooked button ups all got used as did all of my ties. My kids did me proud they all looked sharp, and I honestly couldn't tell who some of them were. It was an awesome experience. One of the students really liked one of my ties, it was one with winnie the pooh and tigger on it which I wore to my eighth grade graduation dance. He wanted to buy it off of me, but I was thinking I haven't worn that particular tie in a good while so I gifted it to him. That made me so pumped, that could be the most beneficial thing I taught the kids, and they enjoyed it. As this year winds itself down I find myself growing more attached to my kids, especially the ones that are graduating. We are having 11 graduates this year, and man I have threatened to fail a couple of them just to keep them around for another year. Half of me wants them to stay in the village after they graduate and the other part wants them to go on and finally pursue their lives. Man if this is what it is like after only one year, what is going to feel like when the kids who freshmen now graduate. This is an odd sensation, I am kind of torn, I know I should be happy that they have succeeded, but I am kind hit with the feeling that friends are leaving. Bah, there was no prep for this in undergrad...

Burning the midnight oil

2008-05-02T00:43:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have procrastinated a wee bit and have to finish all of my assignments for a class so I shall be brief, I have discovered that I can wash my hair in 6 coffee cups of water. Over and out.

2008-04-30T23:35:00.000-07:00

Well Ladies and Gentlemen,
As daylight slowly begins to wind down around 10:40 PM, today dealt me an odd hand. I thought I was going to have to force Grapes of Wrath down the throats of my students but they surprised me. The instant backlash I expected from watching a black and white movie never came, they were intrigiued with the story and were continually asking me questions about the film. It was a nice way to hop back into the saddle after being out a couple days. I have found that at times that is the hardest thing to try and reign the kids back in after a couple days of subs and monotonous activities. Who knows I may slowly be getting the hang of this teaching gig. The kids are an interesting mix of buzzing around and working hard. Students who have kind of slacked off are kciking it into high gear and wanting to get through with phases. I find my classes are slightly changing towards the end of the year, we are approaching modern day in my AK history class and I find our topics are perhaps slightly more enganging than the history of the steamships we have discussed. No joke people my knowledge of Alaskan Steamships has grown to be pretty immense. Now if it only it came up as a Jeopardy topic... I feel I have killed this subject for my students which is probably the biggest crime I could have commited with what seemed to be an underhand pitch. I just couldn't pull it all together, too much mundane information, and few ways to synthesize the info into something that would be more remotely interesting than a hisotry channel presentation. Not to knock the History Channel, I enjoy it, but I am afraid it is not the top of the charts for my students. Just want to get these last two weeks out of the way so I can start putting all my energy into prepping for my next semesters material which is looking like...drumroll please...American Government, World History, maybe entrepeneurship and/or Parenting, PE, Career Exploration. A little scatterbrained, however with enough prep time, this summer I want to nail these classes out of the park. Year two is approaching, the excuse that I am a first year teacher will be invalid in three weeks. Teaching is all about planning, keeping the kids engaged not just with activities but having them engaged in a cohesive curriculum that they can follow. I am failing in trying to teach these carnegie courses like a real course, I need to vere off and maybe try to phase them. Give the kids benchmarks to try and hit, I have got all kinds of goals I want to hit for next year, weekly grade printouts posted, have the course lined out before the semester begins. Do projects but the rough part with that is creativity, so if You are reading this, leave a comment with any project ideas you remeber doing as a student that you enjoyed. If ten people read this there is a cumulative amount of at least 100 years of schooling and projects in your conscious. I hated projects and I think as a result I have blcked out most of those I tried to acocmplish.

So today I was once again impressed by my students problem solving and perception. We can look at event and view it as either a dilemma or find a way to get by it. For example, our school is down to 16,000 gallons of water for the remaining 21 days of May. Now you can can look at that and do some rough math and figure that we need to use less than about 750 gal a day. Now we have a school with 250 students and faculty, and students love to use the bathroom. The toilets flush more than a gallon per flush but let sround down. If every student goes once, we are down to 500. I have not showered at my house for ten days,(I had a shower in quinhagak however it was almost frozen, I have never felt water that cold in my life!) A majority of the teachers have begun to live as if we had no water and there has been some lamentations. A student came over to visit and while we lamenting she was able to offer solution after solution. It gave me pause, man I have no excuse to not have clean clothes she is right, I should go out fill a pot with snow while it is still close to my house and boil it for laundry. If I spent half as much energy on focus on a solution instead of complaining about the problem it would be nonexistant. It is all about how you roll with the changes, you can gripe about them or you can incorporate them and keep on trucking. Excuses have kind of plagued me this year, it becomes almost to easy to claim ignorance, or give ni to feeling overwhelmed. To do somethign about it ladies and gentlemen thats what we need to strive for. Much like a parent rubbing our back and telling us its ok we tried our best, we can lull ourselves with excuses, until we create our own insurmountable demons. Be wary of the hydra of excuses, each head you vanquish presents the opportunity to give up because you have tried so hard,you feel you just can't do it anymore. I will be honest I am not %100 sure how I personally am going to accomplish this, I know one of my biggest weaknesses is organization, maybe if I make a concerted effort into tackling it, developing it, I wont consider it a reason for my faults. Ladies and gentlemen I am just taking an idea and running with it, thanks for coming along for the ride!

Any project ideas you enjoyed doing for American Government, World History, Entrepenuership, Parenting(outside of making babies, I don't how well that would fly with my principal) please comment!

Uppers and Downers of Sick Days

2008-04-29T23:27:00.000-07:00

Well ladies and gentlemen, I had a sick day today, I couldn't seem to pull it all together and I might have caught whatever my roomie has. (Hopefully not as he has been out for a couple of days now) However a dayquil and couple genebs later I am slightly optimistic that I may be able to kick this out of my system. This sick day gave me a chance to catch up with some friends and family, find out the ongoings of life outside the boundaries of Alaska. Just a couple of weeks left of school up here, the excitement is building as Prom night approaches. I have decided Friday I am going to teach my students all how to tie a tie. Before my first day of teaching I had this idea of wearing a tie every day to school. I kind of looked forward to it, the sense of accomplishment that came with that tie, the sense of being professional. I have to admit I have not taken my ties out at all this year. It really didn't seem to be too appropriate, as if I was putting on airs. I still kept to loafers khakis and a button up shirt, for almost the whole year, but these last couple of weeks the water crunch has been pretty tight, and I am down to jeans loafers and odd tops. I enjoy the criticisms of my students telling me I dress like an old man. They have had numerous discussions about getting me baggy and saggy clothing, and some have even talked about next halloween coming to school dressed like Mr. Broz. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, right? Well for right now I'll take what I can get. The beast of the first year is wheezing its last gasps. Next year has me rubbing my hands in anticipation eager for the chance to fix past slip ups and kind of hit the ground running. I have kind of rambled this post but I will blame it on the meds, I should have a more coherent piece tomorrow. As a final thought what type of image do your clothes cast before you, how were are put together whether we like it or not sends a message to our observers. Evening, all.

Of Shoes and SUVs

2008-04-28T23:07:00.000-07:00

Well ladies and gentlemen as I step foot in the frozen mud of the once melting tundra I heave a small sigh of relief. It is an odd welcome, cold, unresponsive, unyielding. Try to force your way through with too much pressure, you can leave an impact, one as serrated and abrasive as the refrozen pools and puddles scattered around. Given enough time and patience the ice will eventually recede, leaving in its wake a a mush that will not only receive your steps, but absorb them completly and at times refuse to let go. To say its messy would be an understatement, and every step taken despite all caution runs the risk of getting in too deep, and possibly leaving a shoe behind. There doesn't seem to be a set plan one can take to try and help people, what works with one can either miss or worse, aleinate, another. One can try to stay on the high ground, flit from mound to mound keeping relativly clean and pass through easily, leaving little imprint on the surface. The tracks we leave aren't permanent, their permanence is only determined by the frequency of use. The longer the tracks last the higher the chance it can grow into a trail for others to follow. Through its use others might be able to arrive at similar destinations and then decide to continue on or branch off on their own. To all the trailblazers, pathfinders, and anyone who has ever left a shoe behind, here's to your efforts.

Picking up a trick or two

2008-04-28T02:42:00.000-07:00

Well ladies and gentlemen had a relatively intriguing day today. I saw an incredible transistion occur during some of the singing festivities. There was this blind elderly man that seemed to come alive when he had a guitar in his hand. I didn't know he was blind until he was finished and he had to be helped off of the stage. I was shocked, this man's energy just seem to flourish on stage, but as soon as that guitar was handed off he seemed to age a lifetime. So to M.B. here's to you my friend.

For the first time in I don't know how many years I hit two threes in a row in basketball. I have to hand it to my boys showing me the proper grip on the ball to increase control. No one was more surprised than me when I got not one but two swishes in a row, I was aghast, the first one I thought was just beginners luck, but two, it was too much. I was kind of high on life after that but the day had all kind of little surprises. After Youth Group services, I was able to visit a couple different native homes and enjoy some native foods like aqutak (blackberry and mousefood) and some soups. After working on improving some of Yup'ik I found that I am still mixing up question words like how are you, who are you, and what are doing. My students crack up but i cant seem to stop myself from asking a student who they are when i want to do what they are doing. Outside of a couple language snafus things are looking on the up and up, I find I am able to make great improvements when I in a another village for the weekend. There just seems to be a stronger focus placed on just listening and mimicking the sounds. I also figured out how to work the zoom function on my camera which could lead to detailed and more interesting pictures, assuming I can figure out how to get a steady hand...
but that is something for another day, in the words of my parents at the dinner table, "What did you learn today?":

You never know if its a stop sign...

2008-04-27T00:53:00.000-07:00

Hanging out in Quinhagak this weekend with the youth group. I have to admit I am enjoying myself immensely, it took a while to get out here, about an hour and half waiting at the the landing strip for a plane that turned out not to be coming. But once we finally arrived things have been on the up and up. Quinhagak has mountains! Something virtually unknown in Kipnuk, it doesn't look like I will get a chance to admire them up close though so some pictures I snap from afar shall have to suffice. I also had the pleasure of walking on a road made out of gravel. While walking with my students one of them stopped by a turned over yellow little kids plastic chair thats was knocked down. I gave him an inquiring look and he shrugged and simply stated "You never know if it is a stop sign." I was struck by this on a couple of levels, the initial one being the concept that a yellow chair could be used for a stop sign. Then the thoughtful consideration put forward in adjusting the environment to aid an unknown other. This is a rarity out here, and its occurrence caused me to stop and think. How many signs do we pass by, simple actions, which if taken could potentially benefit an unknown other? The over turning of a little yellow chair could have an import consequence if it is indeed a stop sign. But stopping for what, traffic, to think, who knows what the unintended consequences of such an action will bring. (Maybe even the extra umph required for me to start a blog) However as we continue to progress through our days no matter our walks of life, keep your eye out for "stop" signs.