Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Changes ladies and gentlemen...
Monday, October 27, 2008
Project done!
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...
Monday, October 20, 2008
Projects abound!!!!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Fire Alarms at 1030 PM
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Out of Order 8-19-08
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…
Friday, September 5, 2008
Getting old...
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Exercises in futility...
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Lazy Days...
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.
Friday, August 8, 2008
New Faces!
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!
Monday, August 4, 2008
Homecoming...
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...
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
There and Back again...
Friday, June 20, 2008
Wizard's apprentice....
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Clean Coal????
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Fashion Tricks and Quips
Friday, May 30, 2008
Putting pets to sleep and russian cartoons
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Comfy couches and Almighty grouches
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
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.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Stuck in transit....
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Doors opening...
Prettiest Flowers
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...
Friday, May 16, 2008
Crafting shafts and plucking ducks...
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?"
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Maqii is the best...
Monday, May 12, 2008
Spaghetti Sunday
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.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
"Food tastes best in Tundra"
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.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Avoid the dark spots....
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"
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Bushed...
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.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Water water everywhere...
Friday, May 2, 2008
Tie day, Prom Night
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
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.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
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!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Uppers and Downers of Sick Days
Monday, April 28, 2008
Of Shoes and SUVs
Picking up a trick or two
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?":