Getting There From Here

Gig Harbor, WA

2011-10-20T20:08:00.009-08:00

Welcome to Gig Harbor, Flat Claire! You've traveled a very long way to get to Gig Harbor. In fact, it's almost 2000 miles to get from Kaukauna, WI to Gig Harbor, WA!

Gig Harbor is located on Puget Sound in the state of Washington. Puget Sound is an area in Washington that includes Seattle and the cities that surround Seattle. I live about 40 minutes from Seattle. Lots of boats travel through Puget Sound and it's a very pretty area to live in. There is lots of water in Puget Sound and it is very close to the Pacific Ocean. This area of Washington is very damp and wet...it rains A LOT! We're going to have to get Flat Claire a raincoat and some rain boots so she can stay nice and dry. It doesn't get as cold here as it does in Wisconsin and it only snows in the mountains but the winters can be kind of chilly. I'll check Flat Claire's suitcase to make sure she brought a warm jacket and some warm clothes.

To get to Gig Harbor I have to go over the Tacoma Narrows bridge. It's a long bridge and it is super fun to go over. It is the 5th longest bridge of it's kind in the United States. There is a pathway on the bridge where people can walk, run or walk across the bridge. I haven't run across the bridge yet but I'd like to soon.

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge didn't always look like this though. In 1940 the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge opened and was nicknamed Galloping Gertie because of how the bridge moved and swayed during high winds. The bridge eventually collapsed during a very high wind. Here's what the old bridge looked like when the wind was really strong. The new bridge is very, very safe and doesn't move at all.

For a long time the people in Gig Harbor earned a living by fishing, building boats and logging. They don't do that so much anymore. There are many tourists who come to Gig Harbor because it is so pretty and so close to the water.

I live in a house that is very close to the beach. My yard is outlined in blue and you can see the beach and the water from my front porch.

I can walk down to the beach to fish or kayak.

The other night I was out in my kayak and saw a harbor seal in the water. The seal was floating around on his back and would dive down deep into the water when I came close to him. He was very cute and looked kind of like this:

Welcome Flat Claire!

2011-10-20T20:04:00.002-08:00

The other day I received an envelope addressed to Auntie Erin Kavanaugh. Inside was my very own Flat Claire!!! YAY!

I immediately had a friend take a picture of me, Flat Claire and my dog Macy!!

Here we all are! My next post will be about Gig Harbor, WA where I live.

Let the Adventures Begin...

2011-10-20T19:56:00.002-08:00

The other day I received a wonderful letter in the mail from my niece Claire. Claire's class is doing a Flat Stanley project and she colored a Flat Claire and sent it to her Auntie Erin!!!

I am so excited to take Flat Claire on some adventures (and I already have)! What better way to revive my blog than to do it for her!!

So, folks, I'm going to be using my blog to write to the students at Park Charter School in Kaukauna, WI and update them on Flat Claire's adventures.

Hopefully Claire and her class will track Flat Claire's progress as we travel throughout the Pacific Northwest and Alaska (and who knows where else!).

So...let the adventures begin!

Camai 2011

2011-03-26T13:50:00.001-08:00

Camai is back! There is a live feed of the festivities available if you'd like to watch the dance from a distance.

It's A Book - By Lane Smith

2011-02-23T14:00:00.000-09:00

A friend of mine received this book for Christmas and I thought it was pretty hilarious. However, it made me think about how I balance my love for books and my love for electronics and computers.

I love reading and I love how a book feels in my hands. I love holding them and I even don't mind the room they take up in my backback or bags when I travel. In fact, the weight of a good book in my backpack is almost reassuring. It gives me something to do when I'm bored, when I'm avoiding having to make idle chit chat with people, when I'm feeling down there's nothing like having a good book to curl up with.

However, it's also interesting to see how many electronic devices are available now designed to "read" books on. Books have never been more accessible and available for people. It always surprises people when I tell them I don't own a Kindle (and I don't plan on owning one anytime soon) and that I'm dead set against downloading eBooks on my iPad. I know, I know. I could approach it from a "eBooks are more environmentally friendly approach" and all that. However, many summer days of mine were spent in the local library and I've had countless days sitting on the couch relaxing and turning the pages of a book and now that I'm an adult I long for enough time to sit and read. I just cannot bring myself to abandon the feel and weight of my books to opt for electronic print.

This past weekend at ASTE one of the speakers emphasized the importance of being able to "unplug". His message was simple....take a few moments each day to "unplug" from the matrix and to step away from all your devices, computers and cell phones. I felt like that was the most powerful message of the entire weekend. Take some time to "unplug" and walk away and be OK being unconnected for just a few moments every day.

Anyway, I'm sort of rambling because I'm actually stealth blogging right now. I'd like to think that no one actually sees my blog window up but I'm sure that every one in the room sees what I'm doing!

I want to get my random thoughts about this video up before I forget what I want to say!

How to Dial a Rotary Telephone

2011-02-21T21:25:00.000-09:00

Flying Wild Alaska

2011-02-12T09:33:00.003-09:00

Much of last night's episode of Flying Wild Alaska took place in Bethel. It's strange for me to watch some of these reality shows about Alaska. Not only is Bethel tiny but the whole state of Alaska is really small. I've been here six years and it's amazing how many people I run into from all over the state where ever I go. If I go somewhere and meet someone new chances are very likely that we have a mutual friend somewhere and in no time we're chatting like old buds. So, when I watch the reality shows about Alaska most times I see people I know or even see on a daily basis. So when, I watch Alaska State Troopers or Flying Wild Alaska and they are filming in Bethel I usually know some of the people they show. Over Christmas break, when I was at home, I was watching Alaska State Troopers and watched someone get busted right in front of my current residence!

Last night my friend Brad informed me that another mutual friend of ours, K.C. was on Flying Wild Alaska. As soon as I found out the episode was going to be aired again at 11 p.m. I invited myself over to Brad's so I could see K.C's film debut.

Although they don't show K.C. in this clip this is part of the footage from last night's show. They got a few things wrong though. K.C. isn't a teacher out in Kwig, he's the Site Administrator (a.k.a. Principal) in the nearby village of Chefornak. Some of the footage is actually of them landing in Chefornak. You can tell because there was a "mountain" in the background. As someone who has recently been to Kwig I can tell you that there aren't any such landforms as far as the eye can see.

As we watched Flying Wild Alaska I turned to Brad and said, "You know, I do this crap on a daily basis and when I watch it I get much more excited about it than when I'm actually doing it."

What I love about the above clip also is that the pilot is that so much of it seems to relate to some of my most recent adventures. For example, high winds have caused me to get stuck in two villages, Nightmute and Quinhagak, the last two weeks. As some of you may know, my job the last two years has been as an itinerent Teacher Technology Trainer for Lower Kuskokwim School District. I'm based out of Bethel and I'm one of two people who's job it is to provide professional development, training, and work with students and teachers to integrate technology into the curriculum. I train on digital storytelling, SMART Boards, iMovie, podcasting with GarageBand, website design, etc. I went out to Nightmute the other week for a three hour digital storytelling inservice and ended up spending three days there. At one point I walked to the store to get some food and I swear I was walking sideways. When I was in Quinhagak I was working with some students on updating their school websites and using Pages to publish their school newspaper and meant to spend one night. While I was there the weather warmed way up and the winds kicked up making it impossible for planes to land for two days. Thankfully, my good friend Rachel Skime is out there and put me up for the three nights I was there. We played with puppies and visited with small children. It actually made me really, really miss my days as a village teacher.

When my pilot did eventually land on Saturday morning it had cooled off enough that the rain was turning into freezing rain. I was desperate to get out of Quinhagak as soon as possible to make another flight upriver. When the pilot landed I told him I needed to get out of there ASAP and I'd be more than willing to help him unload the cargo that was filling up the plane so we could get back in the air. Afraid of being grounded due to freezing the rain the pilot thought that was an excellent idea and together we had the entire 207 unloaded and were back up in the air in less than ten minutes. We got back to Bethel to find that Era had held my plane going upriver and I was able to make it where I needed to go that day.

The thing that I love about my job is that I get to meet so many people from the communities. Last night, as I was waiting at the airport for my flight in Kwig to land, an elder approached me. He asked where I was going and I responded that I was going to Bethel. During the next few minutes he told me he was 83 years old and had lived in Kwig all of his life. He pointed out where the houses used to be when he was growing up and waved his hand towards where the houses are now. He said, "None of that used to be there. The houses were all down there." He told me that when he was growing up they didn't have snowmachines and used dog sleds to get around in the winter and that they didn't have boats with motors but used qayaks (kayaks) to hunt and fish. My pilot then cut the engine and I thanked the elder for sharing before climbing into the plane. As we taxied toward the runway I smiled at the elder and waved. I could see him laughing and waving quite enthusiastically as our plane lifted off towards our next destination.

I also have to say that a friendly pilot out here makes all the difference on some of these flights. When you fly an airline often enough you get to know most of the pilots and it makes for much more enjoyable flights. On Thursday I met a really nice pilot and as we were preparing for take off he asked me how much I flew. I told him quite a bit. He got really serious and asked me if anyone had ever explained the various controls and how to fly the plane in case the pilot is unable. After telling him "no" I got a crash course in "pull this", "whatever you do don't push that" and "do this, but don't do that". I then mentioned, in a very joking manner, that I couldn't see over the dash of the plane and would have some issues landing it. He, still very seriously, said, "It doesn't matter, your pilot would just want you to keep the plane up in the air." Yesterday, as I was leaving Kwig, I was very pleased to see that the same pilot had come to pick me up. I crawled into the copilot chair, got buckled up, and after dropping some people off in Kipnuk, enjoyed the rest of the flight with my new pilot friend. As we landed in Bethel I said, "I hope you're my pilot every time." He looked at me and said, "I hope you're my passenger every time."

So there you go folks. A lengthy blog post. I hope to get back to blogging. I'm currently working on a blog post explaining my absence for so long. It's my goal to get back into the swing of blogging and to keep sharing my adventures!

Trying it Out!

2011-02-11T13:35:00.003-09:00

Hey Everyone! I came across a really cool site called AnswerGarden. It's an online tool used to help students brainstorm or you can embed it into a blog or wiki as a way of getting feedback or polling people.

I'm just curious as to how it works and how I might be able to use it in a classroom.

What is your favorite food?... at AnswerGarden.ch.

Just Because It's Awesome

2011-02-08T11:14:00.000-09:00

Totally Worthy of a Blog Post

2010-12-21T11:08:00.002-09:00

I know I haven't blogged in forever. I have resolved to blog more during the New Year and I have lots to share.

I just want to share this super awesome video that one of the teachers out here made! It's fantabulous and I love every second of it. Way to go Quinhagak students and their teacher!

Education & Technology Quotes

2010-09-20T15:05:00.001-08:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Education & Technology Quotes

View more presentations from Tony Vincent.

Freezer Inventory

2010-09-07T22:13:00.002-08:00

Here is what is in the freezer at ACE Cargo in case anyone is interested.

Graduation

2010-06-28T09:17:00.004-08:00

I'm not going to make apologies for not posting. I've been busy...lol.

I spent much of April finishing up my thesis. With the support of my family, my friends and a big bottle of Jack Daniels I was finally able to finish it and graduate!

Graduation was pretty awesome. I had been out in the villages working and came back to Bethel to sunny skies and the arrival of many friends. Emily, Mae and Ronnie (via R. Diehl Flying Services) arrived and after a nice dinner and some cocktails we all turned in so we could be ready for the BIG DAY!

Thankfully the weather in Bethel was awesome on graduation day. It was sunny, warm and very springlike. After breakfast we all headed to the Cultural Center to take a bazillion pictures and then sat through the graduation ceremony. The graduation ceremony was loooooong but it was great to finally get that diploma (it was a fake one) in my hand!

After the ceremony we went back to my house where we BBQed and had a small partay. After my party we went to a few others and to say I had "fun" would be an understatement. I had a BLAST!

As always, I didn't take pictures. Instead I stole Emily's. Thanks Emily!

Juneau

2010-05-13T12:01:00.008-08:00

After spring break I met up with a former student of mine, Nicole, and her mother, Olga, in Juneau. We went to the Capitol to talk with state senators and representatives about supporting the Consortium for Digital Learning program. The funds from the CDL are used to implement 1:1 (1 laptop per student) programs in districts around the state. We were hoping for more money to expand current projects and to add more schools. We didn't get any money but we did get some wonderful shots.

Here we are with Rep. Bob Herron

We had great weather in Juneau and got to take a look around town a bit. I've totally stolen these pics off of Nicole's blog so thanks Nicole.

Here we are at Mendenhall Glacier.
Here we are walking around Juneau a bit. It was rainy and getting late but it was still pretty.

Here we are in the place where the senators meet to do important things. We really weren't supposed to be here but the lady was nice and let us take some pictures.

And finally here is Nicole and Olga with Reggie Joule from Kotzebue. After hearing our schpeel he had some very inspiring words for Nicole. He was great!

Better late than never!

2010-03-19T21:46:00.004-08:00

So....I went to Mexico. After a not so great time one Spring Break in Cancun I decided that Mexico wasn't really where it was at. Whenever people would talk about going to Mexico I often wrinkled my nose and shrugged my shoulders. Yes, I was a Negative Nancy when it came to Mexico.

But then, Mya suggested we go to Mexico over spring break and I decided to give it another chance. It was AWESOME! We stayed in a great condo, had great weather, ate and drank ourselves silly and had just a wonderful time.

I know I'm a bit late posting the pictures but here they are.

Mexico! on PhotoPeach

Cover Girl

2010-03-18T14:34:00.000-08:00

I was recently featured on the cover of our district newsletter. This photo was taken at the start of the K300 race and it was about a million degrees below zero outside (if not colder). I stayed to watch a friend of mine start his race and saw Lance Mackey take off out of the chute then I went home. My feet were like frozen bricks and they actually tingled every time I took a step but I have this wonderful picture to remind me of that day!

Erin in Phoenixland

2010-03-10T06:52:00.003-09:00

Day 2 was pretty good. I again got up early to drop Scott off at work and was left to my own devices all day. I went for a short little jaunt in Beverly Canyon. Beverly Canyon was NOTHING compared to my hike the day before but it was a nice to get outside and walk around a bit.

While hiking around in the canyon the weather started to look a bit ominious and I decided that the weather to the east of Phoneix looked sunny. So I hopped in Scott's car and drove until I reached the sun and an In and Out Burger. After eating lunch I went to the shopping mall across the way and bought a new outfit for an upcoming trip to Juneau. While in Old Navy the rain started pouring and all the weather I had escaped from finally caught up with me. It POURED out and, not wanting to get soaked, I sought refuge in Old Navy.

After the rain passed I saw that it was sunny again to the west and started heading back towards Phoenix. I stopped in Tempe (I love Tempe) and did some quick shopping on Mill Avenue before heading back to town to pick Scott up from work.

Right after Mya got home we loaded up in the car and headed to the mall to watch Alice in Wonderland in 3-D at the IMAX! Although I felt that the story was missing some essential pieces I loved the characters, the costumes and the scenery. Johnny Depp was excellent as the Mad Hatter and Helena Bonham Carter did a good job as the Red Queen. One of Scott's friends summed her up as "not evil enough" and I had to agree. More evil would have been just fine with us. And what Alice in Wonderland movie viewing wouldn't be complete without the parents next to us with the two small children under four years of age. Sorry, but bringing two small children to a Tim Burton film at the IMAX after seven at night just doesn't sound like a good idea....and it wasn't.

Scott and I went on to hike Flat Iron in the Superstition Mountains the next day. I don't have my pictures downloaded and until I do you're all going to have to watch this to get an idea of what the hike was like! It was AWESOME and I'm still sore today.

Right now I'm waiting for Scott and Mya and baby Wyatt to wake up and after packing a few more odds and ends we are heading to MEXICO for the weekend. Booyah!

Guess where I am...

2010-03-09T07:08:00.003-09:00

I'm in Phoenix and had a wonderful day yesterday. Scott offered to give me his super awesome car so I could tool around the city while he was at work. After dropping him off I went back to his house and grabbed my workout gear and went to the gym to get a nice run in. Then I went to Whole Foods and spent time eating samples and oogling all the wonderfully beautiful produce. I grabbed a sandwich and some snacks and was off to hike Piestewa Peak. The veiw from the top was gorgeous and after a brief rest I headed back down.

After my hike my knee hurt a bit so I decided it was time to go shopping. I got a few odds and ends that I needed and headed to the grocery store.

Although there a was a grocery store next door to the Target I had been shopping at I decided to travel all the way down the road to another grocery store. It wasn't until I drove past the Target again that I saw the Fry's grocery store next door.

Anyway, I was at the grocery store when I ran into Elvis. I noticed him looking at the tomatoes and did a double take. He had the Elvis hair, the Elvis glasses, the Elvis sideburns and really did look like Elvis. I cast glances at him under the guise of trying to find the perfect zucchini. After a bit I got bored of the Elvis watching game and decided I had enough zucchinis and threw the bag in my cart. I wheeled my cart away to go get some tomatoes. At this point Elvis had moved on and I lost sight of him. I picked out a container of cherry tomatoes and began to maneuver my cart around the onion kiosk. I must turned a bit too sharp and instead of gracefully gliding around the sweet onions I ran head on into the potatoes. I looked up and there he was, looking at me and smiling. "Oops" I said to the King. He was silent for a moment and said, "You're dangerous with that cart." I smiled back and replied, "I sure am." Then after backing up a bit finally made it around the onions. I didn't see Elvis anymore after that but the memory of our encounter will always stay with me. It's not everyday you run into a King-In-Hiding in the store.

All in all my day yesterday was great. Today I'm going to go for a shorter hike and do some more shopping! I love Phoenix. I love my friends. I love being here so much. This weekend we are heading to Mexico and going to spend some time on the beach! Tonight we are going to see Alice in Wonderland in 3-D at the IMAX! This is shaping up to be a great trip so far.

Soooo long this blog post is!

2010-01-12T17:33:00.007-09:00

I know it's been awhile since I blogged. So, true to form, this is going to be a doozy of a blog. Get a cup of tea, your favorite blankie and be prepared for a lot of reading.

I'll start with Christmas and the holiday break and then work in reverse choronological order until we're all caught up. Feel free to quit reading at any time or jump ahead to whatever chapter appeals to you the most.

Chapter 1: Christmas Break

Christmas break was nice. I chose to stay in Bethel this Christmas instead of trying to fight the holiday exodus out of town. Many of you remember that ginormous snowstorm that hit Seattle last year. It screwed up holiday travel for pretty much everyone on the face of the planet and Brian and I ended up hanging out in Oscarville for four days while we waited for a flight to become available. Don't get me wrong, those four days were nice. It gave Macy a chance to recover from her rare bout of pukies, gave Brian and me a chance to relax, sleep in, cook good food and get outside a bit. However, when we finally did get home we had both missed Christmas and I ended up trying to make up for lost time by driving frantically around Wisconsin trying to visit and spend time with friends and family. By the time my brother Matt dropped me off so I could catch my bus headed for O'Hare I was exhuasted.

Anyway, I didn't want to do that this year. I've been traveling a lot for work and just wanted to sit around and quietly enjoy the overpriced apartment that I rent. I agreed to house sit and doggie sit for friends so I had an extra pup and an extra house (with cable TV and internet) to enjoy. I also took some time to work on my Master's project that has been looming over my head.

Christmas break started off with a party at my house. Quite a few people were passing through town and we all decided to have a big old slumber party at 720B 5th Ave. We had the Goodnews crew comprised of Paul Dhaemers and Chris and Amanda Hauk as well as Dirk, K.C, Traci, Brian, Iain and Bethany all come over. Brian cooked up some yummy brats and we had a nice spread of cheese and crackers and dips.

It was super fun to have everyone around to hang out and it was great to kick off the holiday break with such fun people. It's fun to have fun with fun people!

After everyone left the house was eerily silent but in a good way. The weather was pretty warm out so I spent time outside with the dogs. I had the honor of doggie sitting for my good friend Sara and Shaun's dog, Loki. Although Loki is a big old bucket of slobber he is quite cute. It was something else to share my bed with two dogs and there was one night that I woke up and just kicked them both off the bed. They were both back on shortly thereafter but I was able to claim some extra space while they were gone. Loki and Macy had a great time together and are BFFs now!

It was interesting to stay in Bethel over Christmas break. I was afraid that I was going to be bored and lonely and it was anything but that. It seemed like there were parties going on every night of the week of Christmas and it was so fun to get out and see friends and meet even more people.

I also had a really really great Christmas as well. My friend Joel Williams and I had been planning on spending Christmas together for quite awhile. I went over to his house on Christmas Eve and we watched movies and hung out. I dropped the dogs off at Sara and Shaun's house and when I came back Santa had delievered some presents and carefully placed then on the treadmill. After some T.V. watching Joel and I turned in for the night. The next morning we got up, had coffee, I went and got the dawgs and we opened presents. My parents had sent two boxes of Christmas presents for me and Macy. Mine was address to Erin Kavanaugh. Macy's was addressed to 'Lil Macy Doodle Kavanaugh. After presents we did a whole bunch of sitting around and Joel started in on the delicious turkey dinner that was ready later that afternoon. After we gorged ourselves on food we did a bit more sitting around and talking. After I left Joel's house I went home for a bit and then went to Christmas dinner at my friend Michelle's house. Needless to say, after I arrived home I got my butt on my bike and rode hard to work all that excess food off.

Although I missed my family Christmas was great! I loved it and had so much fun. I was so worried about sitting at home alone and feeling miserable but Joel really made it special and I was so thankful to both him and Michelle for including me in their holiday plans. Thanks!

Chapter 2. Thanksgiving

Yes, I'm blogging about Thanksgiving. I warned you all at the beginning of this post that I was going waaaaaaaaay back and it's just the beginning.

Although I have been traveling a ton this year I decided to spend my Thanksgiving break in Eek with Dirk and Traci. Another friend of our, Tania, and her daughter, Justine, came in from Toksook Bay to participate in the festivities.

I really don't have too much to say about Thanksgiving. Not because it was boring but because we were so incredibly and wonderfully lazy the entire time. Dirk and Traci treated us all to such good food that they had ordered from Full Circle Farms and we cooked our brains out. Traci really knocked herself out with the Thanksgiving meal. We all helped cook but Traci headed everything up and we had a huge feast prepared by the time everyone showed up.

We also got to listen to Traci and Dirk play a bit too.

Dirk and I went for one run. The weather was warm and it was a great run!

We did a lot of playing with the baby and a lot of sitting around. It was GREAT!

3. Just Desserts

Every year the Bethel Council on the Arts holds a fundraiser called Just Desserts. Guess what they serve at Just Desserts...that's right a shit ton of desserts! This year I was asked by my friend to make a dessert and I made an Apple Upside Down cake with tundra berries on it.

I arrived and delivered my dessert and met up with Traci and Dirk (a.k.a. The Squeaky Eeks) who were preparing to make their debut!

Squeaky Eeks I from Erin Kavanaugh on Vimeo.

Sqeaky Eeks II from Erin Kavanaugh on Vimeo.

In addition to musical acts there were some dancers and this little girl is a buddy of mine. I cannot remember her name right now...but she and I became friends when I attended a brunch theater not too long ago. We both agreed that the food was excellent and kept bumping into each other at the dessert table.

4. Visit to Aniak

Much to my friend Emily's delight I finally made the journey to Aniak to see her and her family. I also got to meet their son, Ryder (a.k.a. Miguel), for the first time. I got to spend Halloween with them and had a blast. I really cannot go into
too much detail about how much a
blast I had due to the fact that a large portion of my blog readers are former students. Those of you who know me know how much fun I had...lol.

It was nice to see a change in scenery also. Save for Goodnews Bay and Toksook Bay everywhere around here is flat and kind barren. I actually got a bit giddy when I saw TREES and HILLS.

It was wonderful. Macy came with me (of course) and she was GLUED to the airplane window. She couldn't quite remember what trees were since it had been so long since she's seen them but really liked them. She would like to see more of them and I promised her that I would take her to play in some woods sometime soon.

First Socks!

2009-12-17T13:44:00.005-09:00

Thanks to my good friend, Traci Buckle, I can now say that I know how to knit socks! She helped me start a set over Thanksgiving and was kind enough to allow me to use her size 7's DPNs (that is knit speak for 'double pointed needles') and patiently helped me through the pattern. When I left at Thanksgiving I had one sock all done. I meant to work on the other sock but ended up taking a bit of a break due to traveling and just being busy in general.

My good friend Dirk (yes, Dirk from Eek, yes, Dirk who I go hiking and camping with, that Dirk) came to Bethel a few weekends ago to get his dog's shots updated and to get her health certificate so she could travel to Maryland over the holiday break. Dirk intended to stay on Friday night and I convinced him to stay Saturday night as well. We watched the movie Up each night of his visit and just hung out and had a good time. I'm super happy and grateful that he brought a small little bicycle maintenance kit and helped me get my nifty purple bike functioning better.

Dirk left on Sunday and we hugged good-bye and I stood by the door and waved and everything as his cab pulled out of my driveway. That was about noon. About six I heard a car pull up and I looked out to see Dirk getting out of a cab with his dog. His flight had been canceled due to the crappy weather and he ended up spending ANOTHER night.

Sunday night pretty much consisted of sitting around and movie watching. I may have cooked something for us to eat, I don't remember. Dirk coached me through a training session on my bike (which he enjoyed...he kept scolding me every time I slowed down) and after I finished knitting my little socks. Dirk was very supportive of my sock knitting and was very happy I was finally finished with them. He didn't have to listen to me swear and watch me pull rows of stitches out any more.

I already gave the socks to my favorite little Przybylski.

I was informed that Isaac loved the socks and had in fact worn them on a number of occasions. As soon as Sara gets the socks washed she's going to send me a picture of Isaac wearing them!

I Caught A Noodle...

2009-11-20T13:31:00.008-09:00

I was chatting with my good friend Paul Dhaemers today and we were discussing a trip I took to Goodnews Bay earlier this year. It sounds like we're going to be heading out that way again within the next few weeks and Mr. Dhaemers and I were discussing which fun winter activities will be fun for us to do. He informed me that there probably won't be any noodles in the Goodnews River this time of year but that I was welcome to come down and fish anyway. I was then reminded that I hadn't shared my noodle story with my blog readers (hi Mom...lol).

Soooo...

Paul Dhaemers was nice enough to bring us all fishing (me, Brian and Paul's friend, Ken, who was here visiting from South Dakota). South Dakota doesn't have it's own professional football team...fyi. Anyway, that's all beside the point.

It was pretty chilly when we headed out but we were all excited. Paul kept telling me how many fish we were going to get and how much fun we were going to have and all that. He really built it up that it was going to be the trip of a lifetime.

Heading to the Goodnews River...

Dhaemers driving his sweet marine rig...

We got out on the river and went to Paul's favorite spot. We fished for a bit and I think we may have caught one there but we definitely weren't slaying them as Paul promised. We moved a couple of times and tried our luck elsewhere. As we fished I was successful in snagging some things. Mainly logs and the other shore. Every time I snagged something I'd try to unsnag myself. Paul would then saunter over, reassure me that it's about having fun and that everyone loses lures and then tug until it came free or the lure came off. He'd get me set up with another lure and I'd start casting again. I even caught the same snag twice. That's how awesome I am at fishing. I lost the lure. Paul put a new lure on. I cast again (in the same exact spot mind you) and lost the lure again. Paul never even wavered...he was super patient and kind to me.

Anyway, we ended up in the spot where we initially started out and then we began catching some fish!!! They were super feisty and put up a great fight. We were just really getting into 'catching' when I reeled in the best catch of the day...a noodle...a fettuccine noodle to be exact.

I wasn't sure at first what it was hanging off the end of my lure. I kind of stared at it a bit and yelled, "Hey...this looks like a noodle!" Then I touched it, immediately started laughing and yelled again, "I CAUGHT A NOODLE, I CAUGHT A NOODLE!" (the caps lock was on purpose...I was trying to show how excited I was). Paul, Brian, and Ken came over and were all amazed at my super cool noodle. We figured someone must have dumped their lunch in that particular spot in the river and I was the lucky one to catch the dumped noodle.

We also saw a bear. Paul was super tough and fired a round off to scare it away. That bear just wouldn't go though. Paul ended up guarding us and watching for the bear. Ken and Brian quickly cleaned fish and I...well, I continued to fish. I had protection, I didn't have to get my hands dirty and I got to continue to have fun. It was a great trip and a wonderful adventure! Lookin' forward to my next Goodnews adventure!

Scary bear...go away!

On to Mekoryuk, AK

2009-11-19T08:42:00.002-09:00

I was super stoked when I heard that we would be heading to Mekoryuk, AK after our work in Newtok was done! I had never been to Mekoryuk although my good friend Kale worked there for the past couple of years. Although I had promised him several times I would come visit I never made it out there...sorry Kale.

Mekoryuk is a cool place simply because of it's location. The village of Mekoryuk is located on Nunivak Island about 30 miles or so from the coast.

Our original plan was to take a scheduled flight from Newtok to Toksook Bay. We were to spend the evening in Toksook then fly to Mekoryuk the next morning. However, the wind in Newtok was blowing hard and many flights that day were canceled. We decided to try to make it back to Bethel instead and to try for Mekoryuk in the morning.

Grant, the principal at Newtok, brought us up to the airport and we boarded the caravan that we were told was enroute to Bethel. It took a few minutes after the plane took off for me to realize that we were not flying in the direction of Bethel, in fact, we were flying in the direct opposite of Bethel. I looked out of the plane windows and through a break in the clouds I saw we were above the ocean....we were heading to Mekoryuk. When the plane landed the three of us kind of laughed and Lee went to talk to the pilot to see if we could stay in Mekoryuk. The pilot of course agreed and we grabbed our gear and exited the aircraft.

By a sheer stroke of luck, Gary, the Site Administrator at Mekoryuk was at the airport also and we threw our gear in the truck and were in the school in no time. After we got settled Tony and I decided to walk around the village a bit. The wind was still blowing like crazy. Sand was pummeling our faces and in no time we could feel the grit in our mouths. We still got some pretty awesome pics though...

Tony...he's such a poser

After we went for our walk Tony, Lee and I combined our food and had a pleasant dinner of various things. We did this both nights we were in Mekoryuk and we ate like kings. Tony introduced me to canned oysters which I now think are the cat's meow.

I made some super awesome soup that my mom sent to me! Thanks Mom! We all loved it.

Over the next two days we worked with teachers and students and had a blast! I love seeing kids get so excited when they get a computer in front of them. Look at how into their projects these kids are.

Tony and I went out into the village to take more pictures of various points of interest. The students then used these pictures to use in their projects.

Tony in front of the church. He wanted to ring the bell but I told him that was probably a bad idea.

Da skool.

There is a stop sign in Mekoryuk. Here it is in all it's glory. People tend to stop here.

This was another little store...I think they sold candy. Tony was super excited about it. He likes candy.

Inside the store...

Outside the store

Mekoryuk was awesome. We all had so much fun! I met some really cool people there and I enjoyed working with the kids. Tony did a great job working with the students and I do have to say that this week was one of my most favorite weeks since I started this gig. I am looking forward to working with Tony and the other Apple trainers some more in the near future!

Newtok, AK

2009-10-21T16:10:00.007-08:00

The past few weeks have been busy busy busy!

LKSD was awesome enough to buy some days for Apple to come out and train students and teachers on how to use some of those Apple programs.

A couple of weeks ago Tony (a.k.a Apple Tony) met Lee and I in Bethel and we quickly departed to Newtok, AK. This was my second visit to Newtok and I had just as much fun as my first visit there. Upon arrival in Newtok we were immediately put to work and we spent the entire time teaching students and teachers how to use iMovie, Keynote and other Apple Apps as well. I really like Newtok...the teachers are great there and the students are great there too.

One of the teachers in Newtok also had his kids working on a really fun project. Their task was to dismantle a dead copy machine and to create a toy. The class was totally into the project and the room was entirely destroyed. There were little pieces EVERYWHERE and all day long you could hear the kids pounding away on the copy machine! It was so fun. When I went in there to take pictures some of the kids didn't even notice I was in there.

Here are the pics from Newtok!

Apple Tony going over Keynote!

Look how excited the kids are! And they're working together! Ahhhh...technology.

The Repair Shop! I love this quote!

Nayagaq Goes to NYO and Flies a Kite

2009-10-19T16:18:00.004-08:00

I just lived through a really busy weekend. I was so busy this weekend that I felt entirely exhausted as I crawled into bed on Sunday night. I fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow and I awoke with a start some time later. I felt I had been sleeping for hours and hours and hours and when I got up to check the time I was surprised to learn that I had been sleeping for only about an hour! What a glorious feeling to realize I could lay my head back down on the pillow and have seven more hours of sleep before I had to get up and get back to work.

This weekend was so awesome. I traveled to Kongiganak to work with some teachers there. I had a great time in Kong...the staff was great, the students were great and I was busy the entire time. The school was all a flurry on Friday due to the NYO meet that was happening there.

If you've been keeping up with my blog over the last few years you will know not only how much I adore the Oscarville students but also how much I love NYO. Over the years I have made some really really great friends through NYO and it was so great to see them all again.

Many of you may not know this but I received an official Yup'ik name last year. It took three years but I finally got one. My lack of a Yup'ik name would become a talking point every once in awhile but after a day or two the thinking of what my Yup'ik name would be other more pressing issues would demand more immediate attention and I would continue to go nameless. One morning, while we were doing our morning meeting, I was watching one little girl at the table. This little girl and I had much in common as she was the little sister of only brothers. I leaned over and asked Olga if there was a Yup'ik word for little sister of only brothers. She leaned over to tell me then immediately got excited, "Nayagaq! Nayagaq! That's what we'll call you. It means little sister of only brothers!" (For those of you who don't know, I have three older brothers and am definitely the little sister...no matter how old I am.) She then proceeded to announce my new Yup'ik name to everyone there. The only problem is that since I had gone without a name for so long I kept forgetting what my name was. I kept having to ask Olga or one of the other ladies. They would patiently remind me and spell it for me.

Earlier this year I received an email from my good friend Jimmie Tulik in Nightmute. In this email he asked what my Yup'ik name was and I we had to exchange a few emails before he could figure out what I was talking about. Since then, Jimmie only refers to me by my Yup'ik name and I'm finding others, especially Yup'ik folks in the village, are using my Yup'ik name more and more. When I go to schools I tell students they can either call me Erin or Nayagaq. I'm getting used to responding to either.

Anyway, that whole long explanation about my Yup'ik name was so everyone could make sense of the title of this post. I went to an awesome, awesome NYO meet. The kids were great, they performed well and as always, amazed me with their skills and abilitites. The coaches, who are mainly Yup'ik men from the villages, spent quite a bit of time teasing me. However, it felt so good to be sitting around with a bunch of them on Friday night eating dry fish and a mixed veggies from one of those premade veggie trays from the grocery store.

Macy and I left Kong on Saturday and the rest of the weekend was an intense flurry of activity. It was absolutely beautiful out and I quickly showered (I always feel gross after sleeping on the floor of a school) and packed up my knitting stuff and rushed to the library where I joined some ladies for a little knitting circle. It was my first time in a long time making it to the knitting group and it was fun. I felt I had enough support and wisdom around me to start a HUGE project that I've been putting off for some time now.

After knitting I went for a run but had kind of a bad run. It wasn't totally bad, I just didn't feel it on Saturday. I had better runs on Sunday and Monday. After running I went to a nice little dinner party with some friends and ended by day by falling into bed completely exhausted.

Sunday was another busy day. I woke up and biked over to a friend's house for a small little brunch get together. I was biking home after brunch when my phone rang and I pulled off to the side of the road to answer it. I was so stoked to hear a fromer student's voice on the other end telling me he was in Bethel and asking if he could come visit. I biked home and shortly after met Patrick and his little brother Jeffery at my house. The three of us sat around for a bit when suddenly I had a great idea! We'd go fly the new kite I bought the day before at a rummage sale.

I called a couple of other friends to see if they wanted to come fly a kite with us and soon we were all down by the water watching the kite soar higher and higher. A great time was had by all. One of my friends got some picures of kite flying and I hope she shares them with me so I can post them.

I had a great weekend. It was super fun and I loved spending so much time with such awesome people. This week my coworker, Lee, and I are going to be traveling with a trainer from Apple and going to Newtok and Mekoryuk with an overnight is Toksook Bay! I look forward to seeing and meeting even more friends. I have my camera back so the next post should be nicer to look at! lol

Howdy!

2009-10-14T18:45:00.004-08:00

First things first, I lost my camera. I know where it is...it's just not at a location I'm usually at and I need to get on my bike and go over there and get it. To say I misplaced it or left it at a friend's house is not dramatic enough. I want to make my blog readers feel sympathy for me and my "lost" camera. Anyway, there is going to be a huge lack of photos on this post. I'm working on a really cool video that I'm hoping to post soon....ohhhh...just you wait and see!

Anyway, there has been lots of traveling to villages happening for this little lady. I took a few days off due to a cold. I then got antsy to get traveling and went down to the beautiful village of Quinhagak where my cold promptly came rushing back and lasted well into the next week. I don't think it was Quinhagak's fault...I probably should have taken more time off before I traveled. Sleeping on a school floor doesn't always promote the best health.

I had a pretty great weekend after traveling to Quinhagak. I did a day trip to Nightmute and worked with some really rad teachers there. Some of the Yup'ik teachers in Nightmute are really working to interview and collect oral histories from the elders in the village. They are also doing many other projects with technology in their classes and are eager learners. Even though it's a long flight I was happy to go down there just for a few hours to work with the Yup'ik teachers. I also saw my first snowfall in Nightmute while I was there. Then it turned to rain. While I was in Nightmute I really started to not feel well. My good friend Jimmie Tulik stayed with me until the airline called and said that plane was landing in a few minutes. I got my 4 wheeler ride to the airport and was heading home in no time.

I was scheduled to go down to Oscarville last Wednesday and decided to go by boat. This fall has been really weird and although it's mid October it's still super warm up here...upper 40s or low 50s. I convinced one of the guys from the technology department to ride down with me and we had a fantastic ride down river. Although the temps have been warm the hours of darkness have been creeping up on us. I went for a run this evening and had my headlamp on the entire time. It's funny how in the darkness things look so different and sometimes even scary. I usually run along the river bank and take a back road up to the main highway. However, this evening as I was running I started to turn right to head down my normal route and in the dark it looked so much scarier. I started to imagine scary people lurking in the bushes and all that and turned around and went the other way. In all honesty though, I really think I was smart to not go down the dark pathway. There are some shady characters in Bethel and when intoxicated they aren't afraid to let you know how they feel. It's also odd how much I've gotten used to such people. The other day I was biking home from the store in broad daylight and as I was walking out of the store I was saying hello to everyone and smiling at them as they walked past. One man was approaching me as he headed into the store and I could tell even from a distance he was intoxicated. Every few steps he would erupt in giggles, he'd take a few more steps and then giggle again. As I passed him I said hello. He took a few more steps and as I walked away I heard him say "F- YOU!". Now, the smart thing for me to do would have been to keep walking but perhaps it was all my years of teaching, perhaps I felt a bit miffed that I was nice to him and he wasn't nice back, whatever caused me to do so, I turned around and yelled back, "That wasn't very nice AT ALL! You don't have to be mean!" then got on my purple bike and rode away. Super tough, huh?

I'm in Kongiganak right now and was asked by Chris, the Site Administrator in Oscarville if I would be willing to stay an extra night and chaperone the kids. There is an NYO tournament happening here this weekend and I just super giddy waiting for it to start. There is tremendous engery in the school right now and everyone is super pumped for the other schools to arrive. It's only a matter of time! I've asked Christina to send an extra camera so I can take pictures.

Fashionable Macy Part Duex

2009-09-30T14:05:00.003-08:00

Last Sunday evening I invited Iain over to taste some yummy Apple Upside Down Cake. I actually made two cakes, one with straight apples and one with apples and tundra berries. According to Iain they were both absolutely disgusting and quite horrible (me thinks Iain lied). Out of politeness he choked down the cake. It was during this awful time that Iain discovered a tiny little baby hat I had just finished. Don't worry the baby hat is not for me...it's for a friend who just welcomed a little girl into the world. Anyway, Iain snapped this picture of Macy modeling the hat. I think she looks quite cute and now I'm going to make one with little holes for her ears. She also looks kind of pathetic.

Berry Picking and Fall Colors

2009-09-22T11:14:00.006-08:00

First things first, I've had berries on my mind. I've been traveling so much and KEEP FORGETTING MY BERRY PICKER! However, I've been just using my hands and one of my friends in Nightmute was kind enough to loan me his picker.

September has really flown by and I've been kept pretty busy up here. The new job is going ok. I'd lie if I said I didn't miss the classroom. I miss Oscarville, I miss the kids, I miss the people I work with and I miss all the every day successes and achievements I've had the pleasure of sharing with my students on a daily basis. I don't miss having to deal with behavior issues, attendance issues, and all that other fun stuff that kind of sucks about being a teacher.

This new job has been interesting so far. I've been traveling a TON and feel like I'm constantly moving and going. Which is good. However, I also feel like there's an endless amount of work at my house that I am failing to get done. There's always wash and dishes and now I'm working on revising a baby blanket I started for a friend last year. On top of the normal amount of stuff I have laying around I now have various colors of purple and pink yarn balls scattered about my living room.

Fall has definitely arrived in the Delta and winter is close on it's heels. When we were approaching Nightmute the other morning there was a light dusting of snow on the mountains. I was told by the Site Administrator in Nightmute that the snow just arrived that night and that it was new. It also took me about a half hour in the school before I had two good leads on some great berry picking spots. I picked about a gallon and a half of red berries the other weekend but it seems that the more berries you pick, the more you have to clean! Go figure.

Anyway, when I walked into the school in Nightmute there was a man sitting on the couch in the teacher's lounge. His name is Iaso, he was from Japan, and I later found out he was touring bush Alaska in his plane. I asked Isao if he had gone out berry picking yet and if he'd like to go with me that evening. My friend Jimmie was nice enough to loan me his berry picker and since I forgot my bucket I had to use my hot pot for a berry vessel. Iaso and I were on the hill picking berries when we were joined by two professional berry pickers. The girls showed us where the cranberries were and we had a ton of fun playing around on the tundra, laughing and enjoying the crisp fall evening. Below are some of the pictures Isao took of the evening.

Incidentally, this was the second consecuative time a photographer/someone with a fancy camera accompanied me berry picking. A few weekends ago my friend Jennifer and I met a guy on the road who had all sorts of fancy camera equpiment. We invited him to come along berry picking as well and he took a TON of pictures. Although most of them were of Macy to make her the most photographed dog in the Delta, I think he got some berry picking action shots of Jennifer and me as well. However, he still hasn't posted them to his flickr page and I'm axiously awaiting them.

I know this was just a quick update but I have to get back in the blogging mood. I'll do another post soon and keep everyone updated!

More fish...

2009-09-04T09:28:00.005-08:00

After the lucky day fishing with Lucky Bob, Shaun, and Dirk we decided to try that same spot again the following weekend.

This time it we Iain and Bethany and Brian and me who all headed upriver. Since it would take Iain's little boat 13 years to get up to the spot we were heading it was decided we shall take my boat.

The fishing this time started off a bit slow but then they started hitting. It wasn't as bountiful as the previous weekend but we got enough to keep the excitement rolling and ended up having a ton of fun!

A quick update and photo dump!

2009-08-29T11:36:00.007-08:00

For spending as much time as I do online and playing around with computers you'd think that I'd update a bit more often. Here's the update.

After a rough first week in Bethel (and all my close friends can attest to that) I settled down a bit and found my groove.

I got the boat ready to go and made a few trips upriver to do some fishing. Brian, Dirk, Rachel and I all went fishing that first Saturday we were all back. Except for a tiny little pike we came back empty handed and were sad.

The next day I took Dirk, my friend Shaun and Shaun's father in law, Bob, out fishing. Bob was visiting from Tomahawk, WI and was exited to put his new Cabela's rod to the test. Bob said that if he only caught one he would be happy. Well, on Bob's first cast out he landed one and all of use breathed a sigh of relief. The pressure was off and now it was all about just enjoying ourselves.

The most popular spot to fish around here is the Kwethluk River. We go up to a place called the "Y" and I guess that's where the action is supposed to be. Well, for all the times I've gone I've never really caught a ton of fish. However, on this particular day we had Bob along and it was only a matter of time before we found a sweet spot and started landing fish left and right. Bob was near giddy with excitement and we were all yelling excitedly every time one of us landed a fish. By the end of the day we had a boatload of fish and huge smiles on our faces. It was by far one of the most exciting fishing trips I had been on in quite some time. Even just looking at the pictures I am about to post make me want to go back and catch even more!

I'm still here...

2009-08-06T22:27:00.004-08:00

After my friend Mya reminded me that my blog was lacking an update I realized that it was in fact lacking a HUGE update as I have had to deal with some major life changes.

First, I'm done with classes. I am still in the midst of writing my thesis but I'm almost 60 pages closer to finishing than I was at the beginning of July. As much as I hated devoting almost an entire month each summer to school I have really appreciated everything that I have learned. I met some really awesome people and know that I have made friends for life with the ladies in my program. We really became a family and it was very bittersweet knowing that this was our last summer together.

After classes I came back to Bethel and moved into my place. My awesome friend Iain met me at the airport and helped me bring all my boxes over. Amongst all the boxes and Rubbermaid totes Iain and I shared the first meal cooked in my new house, a wonderful Digorno pizza. It's been almost a week now and things are slowly finding places in the house and it's starting to shape up. Brian brought some of his stuff over the other night so now the big task is reorganizing all the crap I threw into drawers and closets so it's a tad more organized. Anyone who knows me knows that organization is not my strong point so it will be a challenge to keep organized and make sure everyone has enough space in this tiny little house.

I started work this past Monday. I'm not going to say much about it yet. This week has really been a hard week for me in quite a few ways. The hardest part for me has been not heading to Oscarville and my house there. It's all been very different for me and so far my thoughts about Bethel have not been the most positive. Today, I watched as planes zig zagged across the sky taking all the new teachers to their respective villages. I'd be lying if I said I didn't get a bit choked up. I knew the whole leaving Oscarville thing would hit me but wasn't sure when. Well, it's hit me...in kind of a big way.

So, we'll see what happens in the next few months. I have the boat in the water and it felt awesome to get out on the river a bit. I'm really hoping to head down to Oscarville tomorrow to visit people. I wanted to go today but was too tired and exhausted. Brian, K.C. and I went out fishing with a drift net last night and was up pretty late cutting fish and then cleaning up the mess. We only got about 15 but it's nice to see those fillets in the freezer. And the best part is that we now know what to do for next time so we can hopefully get even more!

That's about it. I'll have more funner (I can say funner, I think it's an awesome non-word) things to say after this weekend. Dirk will be here tomorrow and since everything that Dirk does is extreme I'm sure we will have an extremely fun weekend!

WEIO!

2009-07-24T13:43:00.010-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I went to WEIO (World Eskimo Indian Olympics). WEIO was awesome and I loved all the crafts that were for sale as well as watching the events. We got to see the Women's Blanket Toss, Eskimo dancing, Fish Cutting Contest and the Seal Cutting Contest. Speaking of that...I'm going to throw in a disclaimer here. I caught the Seal Cutting Contest on video. It's the last video in this post and if the idea of butchering a seal bothers you please don't watch it. Also, please don't comment that the seal cutting is gross or wrong or anything similar to that. Part of WEIO is the celebration of the subsistence lifestyle that exists in this area of the world. This is an important aspect of Native culture here.

One of my former students and me.

Fish cutting contest...

Getting ready for the seal cutting contest.

NALUKATAQ (BLANKET TOSS)

Several walrus skins are used for this event. The skin has holes on the edges so that rope can be looped through all the way around and used for handle grips. One person gets in the middle of the skin and stands there while being tossed. With a good coordinated effort on behalf of the pullers, the person being tossed can get as high as thirty feet in the air and lands on his/her feet without falling down. This is quite similar to a trampoline, with the only difference being that people are the springs and they can move to catch an errant jumper.

The Nalukataq is done in the whaling communities in the spring if there has been a successful whaling season. It is been part of the whaling feast activity as long as people can remember.

There are two schools of thought as to why this sport is being done. One is for the simple exhilaration is provides, and the other is for spotting game over the horizon. The judges look at balance, height, movements in the air - sometimes you can see jumpers dancing or running in place - and all around form and grace when determining a winner. Sometimes, flips and somersaults are done to the delight of the pullers and spectators.

During Christmas, jumpers used to throw candy and other goodies from their height above the children.

Blanket Toss 1 from Erin Kavanaugh on Vimeo.

Blanket Toss 2 from Erin Kavanaugh on Vimeo.

After the blanket toss a dance group from Anatuvuk Pass performed. They were excellent and it made me want to join the Bethel Dance Group when I get back into Bethel. I especially loved the elders dancing.

Dancing from Erin Kavanaugh on Vimeo.

Dancing 2 from Erin Kavanaugh on Vimeo.

Elder Dance from Erin Kavanaugh on Vimeo.

Untitled from Erin Kavanaugh on Vimeo.

Seal Cutting Contest from Erin Kavanaugh on Vimeo.

Captain Macy!

2009-07-20T17:04:00.005-08:00

I was informed this morning that my dog made the front page of one of our local papers. My friend Iain took this pic and I blogged about it awhile back. Apparently Iain submitted a few photos to the Tundra Drums and this was one of those submitted.

According to Iain he had no idea that the picture was going to be used and was quite surprised to see it on the front page of the newspaper as well. In case you couldn't tell, I'm quite tickled about the whole thing as well.

Might as Well Blog

2009-07-15T17:55:00.005-08:00

I'm feeling a bit lazy and unmotivated today. I'm trying so hard to finish writing this thesis thing but I'm constantly distracted. The weather here is lovely and I'm annoyed that I just can't seem to meet the goals I set for myself each day. I have been spending more time watching people sit outside and enjoy the sun than actually writing something. Today I had to attend a short little class like meeting and then ate a sandwich. After my sandwich I felt quite motivated to get some stuff done. Armed with a plum in my pocket and a bottle full of water I headed to the library where I envisioned myself burning up the keyboard on my MacBook with all sorts of insightful and meaningful thesis-like statements.

What I have accomplished so far is that I ate my plum. I tried not to get juice on my keyboard but was even a bit unsuccessful in that. I have been successful in searching for my lost firewire cable and was unsuccessful in finding it.

I was going to check out a book from the library that piqued my interest yesterday but when I went back to claim it the shelf where it had been sitting yesterday now had a big gaping bookless hole. I was unsuccessful in checking that book out. I was successful in locating about 7 other books to peruse and possible glean enough material to write the rest of my thesis. I forgot my student ID so now I have to figure out where to stash them when I go eat dinner. I hope I'm successful in that.

Overall, this has been an ok day. Some successes some unsuccesses. Now that I've blogged perhaps I can go back to work.

I'll have a better post soon. Promise.

I love this...

2009-07-09T13:47:00.001-08:00

Summer Update

2009-07-08T20:29:00.009-08:00

So much has happened in the past few weeks I don't know where to start. I'm actually in Fairbanks right now but I really don't feel it appropriate to blog about any of this stuff until I've caught all of my faithful readers up.

Oh! I know where I'll start. I'll start by describing the sick feeling I had in my stomach when I realized I had deleted ALL the pictures from this summer. I was at a very special event (keep reading..I talk about it in more detail) with my dad and was messing with my camera trying to figure out the most optimal settings to document the event. What then ended up happening was I realized I deleted ALL the pictures and movies and such I had taken up to that point. I feel terrible and I had some really, really, awesome pictures. Nothing I can do about it now though. I'll have a few more things to say about this later on in the post.

Sooo...where to begin....

Friends and Family

This summer has been PACKED with family and friends. It's been great to see so much of my brothers and their spouses and all their kids. My brother Matt is reenlisting in the Marine Corps and will be leaving at the end of this month for North Carolina. It's hard telling when we'll all be together again (my brother Dave is already in Iraq) so it's been great hanging out. Both Matt and Dave have some special ladies in their lives and it was so awesome getting a chance to meet and hang out with these kick ass ladies.

Campfires

I love campfires and this summer has been full of many nights sitting around fires with cans of beer and just talking. I attended my first summer campfire about an hour after I arrived home. There's nothing like sitting around a fire. It's the best. I also love messing with the fire. I call myself something when I start poking around and messing with a fire. However, I don't think that nickname appropriate to post in my blog. Messing with fires is a bad habit but I like burning things.

Cigar Smokin' With Matt and Dad
My dad isn't a smoker but he occasionally will smoke a cigar. I had a really great picture of my brother and my dad smoking their cigars...but I deleted it. I also smoked a cigar but could only get halfway through the thing. I then tried to quickly throw it in the campfire to dispose of it before my dad saw me. The only problem was I threw it not in the campfire but PAST the campfire where it rested on the ground right at my dad's feet. When he found it he gave me endless amounts of crap. Actually it wasn't too bad but he still gave me a bunch of crap because I didn't finish the cigar. He also gives me crap when or if I smoke cigarettes as well. Can't win with that man.

The Gile Flowage with Brian
Brian Rendall and I took a big trip to the Gile Flowage at the beginning of June. Macy and I met Brian in Bruce, WI at this amazingly awesome place called River's Edge Resort. My friend Brandon's dad just bought it and it's a pretty sweet spot. Dennis (Brandon's dad) and his wife were super sweet and let me park my bus in their yard while Brian and I were gone. After reaching the flowage we put all the camping gear in Brian's boat (I had some pretty nice pics of his boat but I deleted them) and drove around on the lake until we found a nice little spot to camp in the woods. For the next few days we fished, cooked, and threw sticks for Macy. The weather was pretty good and I think it rained only a small amount while we were there. Other than that the sun was shining and the weather was great. Not only did I leave the Gile Flowage with a pretty rad funk going on but I also left with a pretty not cool case of what I like to call "The Ivy". I apparently walked directly through a patch of poison ivy while exploring the woods around our little island. It has finally gone away but I had to get some medicine from the doctor to encourage it to leave my skin. Brian and I didn't catch much fish but we had a lot of fun making campfires at night and cooking awesome camp food. Macy had a great time as well and spent a lot of time trying to fetch sticks or rocks out of the water. I had some pretty amazing pictures of the lake and the beautiful scenery but...I deleted them.

GREASE with Heidi

My sister-in-law, Heidi, surprised me with tickets to go see the Broadway version of Grease. We knew it was going to be an awesome show when we were allowed to take a large plastic cup full of whiskey sweets into the theater. Even more amazing is that Taylor Hicks was part of the show. Both Heidi and I thought he was going to be Danny, the lead (John Travolta in the movie). When Taylor Hicks failed to emerge as Danny, Heidi informed me that he had been ill earlier in the week. I was a bit bummed...it's not everyday someone famous is three rows in front of me but I was having a blast (whiskey sweets, remember) singing along with the songs so I just shrugged it off. However, much to our surprise Taylor Hicks did make an appearance. He was the Teen Angel who sang "Beauty School Dropout" to Frenchy. After the show Taylor Hicks sang a song from his new album and then was signing autographs. I had some really great pictures of Taylor Hicks signing autographs...but I deleted them.

Matt's Going Away Party
Immediately after Grease, Heidi and I went downtown Kaukauna to attend my brother Matt's going away party. The party was in full swing when we showed up and it didn't take us long to catch up to everyone else (whiskey sweets, remember?). The party was great. Lots of people came. It was great to hang out with my brothers and cousins and even my mom and dad stayed out till almost 1 in the morning. See...Mary and Jerry still have it in them. I had some really great pictures of the party. My cousin Steve grabbed my camera when I was out on the dance floor and everyone made sure there were some really great pictures on there.

I think I was most upset about deleting those pictures. I'm not even going to make a joke about those...I really was sick about the whole thing. Here is a pic my brother posted on Facebook of us at his party.

President Barack Obama
I know this is what you all have been waiting for. This is the BIG event where I deleted all my pictures. President Obama came to Green Bay and I was lucky enough to receive tickets to attend the event. I asked my dad to go with me and although the President wasn't speaking until noon my dad and I went up to Green Bay super early to make sure we had great seats. Turned out we really did have some great seats. I was about seven rows back from the President and could see him quite well. It was pretty cool to be that close to a President. I also was only a few seats away from the young girl Obama wrote an excuse note for. Here's the video from CNN. If the camera had been at just a slightly different angle you would have perhaps seen me or my dad.

Here are some of the pictures I took.

Racing!

One of the most enjoyable things about Kaukauna are the Thursday night stock car races. I haven't gone to a race in quite some time and I was able to attend two this past summer. My friend Brandon calls the stock car races the "roundy round" races simply because the cars just go around and around. However, the last event every Thursday evening is the Figure 8 races and this race is loved by all. When those crappy, beat up Figure 8 cars come out onto the track everyone gets excited. What is even better is that all the guys who race are local guys so we know quite a few. Many also would frequent the bar up the road where I used to work so I know quite a few from my bartending days as well. My friend Liz's brother Danny races in the Figure 8 races and it's always great to yell and cheer for him.

P.S. Sorry for all the babbling and talking of me as well as other various people in the videos. Miller and Bud Light are common staples at these racing events. I think there is at least a three drink minimum when one attends races.

Windshield Wipers and Camping in Door County
The windshield wipers went out on the bus. The motor smelled hot and like burning so I disconnected it. The mechanic couldn't take a look at the bus until Monday so Jon, Chad and I decided to chance the rain and still take the bus to Door County. Jon and Chad arrived at my parent's house on Friday morning and we loaded up the bus.

Rocking the Poison shirt I intended to wear at last year's concert but never got the chance. Think I'd fit in with the ladies on Rock of Love?

Jon and Chad brought their bike rack and we loaded the bikes onto the back of the bus. I had never had a bike rack on the back and Chad and I were very worried the bikes were going to fall off. We decided to chance that as well. So, we drove the bus sans windshield wipers and with bikes dangling precariously off the back to the grocery store to stock up on all the necessary supplies. We then drove up to Pensinsula State Park for our weekend of fun.

Driving makes Macy tired.

That's one happy Pomeranian!

After getting to the park we took the bikes off the rack and set up camp. We then biked into town for some necessary supplies for Jon (John Lennon wasn't with us...Jon Schroeder needed the smokes). After arriving back home we had a nice campfire before hitting the hay. I got a chance to sleep outside in my new hammock although Jon tried to convince me not to. The hammock was super comfy and wonderful and I woke up the next morning refreshed and feeling great. As I cooked breakfast Jon, Chad and I had early morning cocktails and then we had some more early morning cocktails. We then went back into Fish Creek to meet my parents and my Uncle Dave and Aunt Cheryl for lunch.

My parents and me!

After a trip to an antique store Jon, Chad and I decided to sample some of that famous Door County wine. After securing our wine it was off to the campsite where all my other aunts and uncles were. We had a ton of fun there and let's just say it was an early night for all of us. The next morning we had our breakfast and coffee from the camp store then went for a quick little paddle on Lake Michigan. We climbed the look out tower and then it was off towards home.

Unfortunately we had to pull off the road due to the lack of windshield wipers and abundance of rain. We made it home though and it was a great weekend.

Birthday
I was actually able to celebrate my birthday at home with my family this year. My mom organized a little birthday party for me and my brothers and their significant others and kids all came over as well as Jon and Chad. Jon's birthday is the day after mine so the cake was for both of us! It was a great birthday and although I didn't want a party or any sort of celebration it was a really nice dinner. Thanks mom!

Ok...that's it for now. I have much more to talk about but this is shaping up to be the longest blog post ever. I still have the other half of June to talk about! haha

Home

2009-05-26T05:32:00.004-08:00

After a long flight I made it home. The flights all went well, just long and boring. Brian and some other LKSD folks were all on my flight into ANC and it was nice to share a few drinks with people. My flight for Seattle left at about 1 am. I was hoping to snooze during the flight but just my luck I sat next to a young man who wanted to talk the entire time. Usually, one thing I love about traveling is meeting all sorts of people. I call the people I meet on planes my "plane friends". I once sat across the aisle from a mattress salesman from Fairbanks who, by the time we had landed in Seattle, was certain we were destined to get married and have a family. I had told him earlier in the flight I would buy him a coffee once we reached Seattle. I ran like hell when he went to have a smoke. Another time I sat next to a guy who was an amateur ultimate fighter. He was pretty cool. One of my most favorite plane friends was a young man who had just gotten back from Iraq. He had told his family he wouldn't be able to come home to Georgia for Christmas but was going to Georgia to surprise them all. He was nervous as hell about seeing his family and was all sorts of fidgety. At one point we started talking about Macy and as soon as the cabin lights went out we pulled her from her bag and he sat with her the entire flight, just petting her. Soon, he was calm and he fell asleep too.

So, I usually enjoy making plane friends. However, I was EXHAUSTED and just wanted to sleep. The guy sitting next to me told me he was from Seattle but had a very thick accent I couldn't place. I then asked him where he was from origianlly and he said Georgia. The accent though was definitely NOT a Georgian accent. Eventually it came out that his father had been in the military and this guy grew up in Belgium. This man, Serge, then decided that we needed to talk the entire flight. Not only did his accent make communication difficult but his low, mumbled, quiet voice made it near immpossible. He would ask a question and I would stare at him trying to process what he said. Then I would apologize and ask him to repeat what he said. He would repeat and, still not having any clue what he said, I would just smile and nod my head. He was a nice man but every time I was near the dozing off point he would ask me another question.

On my flight from Seattle to Chicago I made plane friends with a nice doctor and his wife. They were just coming back from Hawaii and after spending some time talking to them I know now where my next vacation is going to be. They were very nice and wonderful people and I enjoyed sitting next to them very much.

The final leg of my trip home included a bus ride from O'Hare to Milwaukee where my mom and dad were waiting to pick me up. After some confusion about whether Macy could actually ride the bus we were on our way. Turns out sitting about two rows up from me was a Site Administrator from one of the schools in the Barrow School District. He tried his best to get me to come work for him next year and he did pique my interest. He made it sound pretty damn nice. He and his wife were wonderful people and our conversation made the bus ride go by pretty fast.

I think my mom spotted Macy first in Milwaukee then looked to see who was holding her! IT WAS ME! haha...

Anyway...I'm home and it feels great! I'm looking forward to the next few weeks!

Last blog from Oscarville...

2009-05-22T23:53:00.009-08:00

It sounds so sad...it really does. However, this is my last blog from Oscarville. Tomorrow I will be running around trying to get the rest of my stuff moved, mailed and packed for the summer. I have to take the boat out of the water and get that all stored for the summer. I still feel like there's so much to do but I'm at the point where I know I can come down in the fall and gather any stray items that I left behind. Then, I'm off on the evening flight to Anchorage and should arrive in Chicago sometime early Sunday afternoon. I should be home in K-town sometime that Sunday evening. It feels as if the last week or two has just been a blur.

I am so excited to get home. I cannot wait to see my family. I always look forward to my parents picking Macy and me up in Milwaukee. I think they like it too...the drive from Milwaukee to Kaukauna gives us some time to catch up. Although I sometimes just want to get home and rest I'm really happy for those two hours alone with my parents. My mom keeps telling me how big Claire and Marin are getting and I just cannot wait to see both of them. I can't wait to have a beer with my brothers and sister-in-law and I cannot wait to get to know, Melissa, my brother Dave's new wife, a bit better. I'm hoping for one or two fun and wild nights out with Jon and Lizzie while I'm in town. I have an appointment for my VW to get all tuned up on Tuesday and I'm looking forward to plugging my iPod in and going for a drive. I have a few camping trips with friends already lined up. I'm hoping to hear the roar of Steve's or Brandon's (or both!) Harleys in the driveway this summer and I hope for some long rides. I have a ton of work to do on my thesis and I'm itching to start a more regimented running program to get in shape. So far, it's shaping up to be a nice but busy summer. Although I'm anxious to get home I know I'm going to miss this place.

One thing I love about the spring and summer in the Delta is that the sunsets are amazing. Tonight as I drove from Bethel to Napaskiak I looked behind me and couldn't believe how red and how big the sun was. Now, as I look out my window the sky is streaked with pinks, blues and purples reflected on the water. I remember how during my first year here I would run out almost nightly to take pictures of the sunsets. I'm glad that I still find them amazing.This village is beautiful in so many ways that I hate to leave it. I have met and lived with some of the kindest and most generous people in the world. Although things always haven't been smooth sailing the last four years overall I've loved living here and loved the lifestyle in Oscarville. I've been fortunate to make some really, really good friends here and I know those friendships will last a long time. The kids are amazing. Smart, respectful (most of the time), and eager to learn. I know that a group of students like that is rare and I've been so lucky to have had so many wonderful experiences with them in the classroom.

These kids have changed and grown so much and it's been a pleasure and an honor to see that happen. I look back on the pictures from when I first started and we ALL look so much younger. I was a much different person then too and over the years I've learned how to laugh at myself more, take more risks and believe more in myself. I know that the kids and the people here influenced me just as much as I hope I influenced them.

It's weird...I thought leaving here would be more emotional and more difficult. Perhaps I've been so busy with all the getting ready to go stuff that the actually going hasn't really sunk in yet. I think tomorrow will be hard. I think that saying good bye will be hard. I know I'll be back to visit but it will be as a visitor. It already feels different. It's going to be hard to "visit" a community I feel so much a part of. I think that leaving here has been one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make but yet one that I know I had to make. I know that I have to move on and that there are so many other opportunities out there. I need to do this.

This evening I was giving Brian and another teacher from Kong, Rachel, a ride back to Bethel. Rachel asked how I knew which way to go on the river. I sort of stumbled for words and said, "I've walked around a lot." It's true. I remember the first time I went for a walk in the wilds of Oscarville. I was petrified I would get eaten by a bear or lose my way and wander around and die. I stuck close to the trail and was only gone for about 20 minutes before fear made me turn around go home. Over time I became more confident that I would be able to find my way home and that nothing would eat me. I started to wander further and further away from home. One of the first times I went for a long walk I was gone for about six hours. As I approached home I could hear people yelling and screaming my name. I popped out of the willows where I had been walking and said, "I'm right here!" Apparently, my roommate at the time had alerted the locals that I had been gone for quite some time. I had arrived only moments before they called Search and Rescue. As the years went on people got used to me wandering around and consequently I got really familiar with this little island. Although it's a small little island there are many things that make it special. I've grown to love it more and more with each year.

Enough rambling. I need to get my sleeping bag out and get ready for bed. I packed all my linens and blankets and have been down to my sleeping bag the last few nights. I keep telling Macy that we are just practicing for camping this summer.

So...for my friends up here...I'll see you all in the fall. For my family and friends at home...I'm hoping to see you all on Sunday or Monday and...Mr. Rendall...I'll be seeing you tomorrow!

Captain Macy

2009-05-21T18:37:00.003-08:00

My friend Iain snapped this picture of Macy last night on our way back up to Bethel. Macy gets super confused as to who is supposed to sit in the Captain's chair in our new boat. Every time I stand up she sneaks onto the chair and sits proud as can be. That leaves about one or two inches for me to perch on as I try to steer the boat through the water! Either that or I'm left standing as rain pelts me in the face.

Thanks so much to Iain and Brian for helping me move all my stuff. It was much appreciated. You guys rock! Thanks also to all the folks who have been riding with me back and forth between Oscarville and Bethel. I'm sure it's been quite amusing and fun for you guys to see my super novice boat driving skills in action. However, thanks to all the tips I've been getting from people I've been feeling much more confident now on the river by myself.

Ladies Night -- Bush Alaska Style

2009-05-21T12:33:00.002-08:00

The other evening I invited all the ladies that I work with to go to dinner in Bethel in my new boat.

We dub nights such as those as "Ladies Night" (some, like this one, are more tame than others).

The evening started off a little after 6 when everyone arrived at our house. I had already went out and started the boat to make sure that everything was ready to go. I didn't want everyone to get out there and see me fumbling with switches and trying to figure out how to hook the gas up. I got all that out of the way before they came. That way, when it was time to go I looked like an old pro.

We all climbed in the boat and began our first leg of the journey...a stop at Barbara's house about a 100 feet away so we could get her life jacket! It was a short trip but one that was still fraught with anxiousness on everyone's part as I'm not so good at parking and unparking. I worry about slamming into the beach full bore ahead and can never seem to understand which way to turn the motor when I'm backing up. This worry then results with me cutting the engine too soon and someone having to stretch toward the beach or grass or another boat to pull me into the parking spot. This time was no different. I cut the engine and people stretched and yet everyone assured me that it was ok.

After Barbara felt secure with her personal flotation device on we were ready to go. I was told to travel up the slough and with my boat load of women I started to maneuver through the twists and turns. What I loved most about this trip was that the use of hand signals quickly became the norm and only a few minutes into the trip I saw Eliza Meier frantically gesticulating and pointing towards the left. Then I saw what she was seeing, there was something floating in the water. To me, it looked to be a stick and not one of the many logs that tend to float downriver at this time. However, with her wild gesturing and her years of experience in boats I quickly swerved to miss whatever it was. It was a stick.

Once we arrived in Bethel I parked at the hospital parking lot. This time I not only cut the engine too soon and we again have to drift our way into the parking spot but I also chose to park in the muddiest area. The ladies were all champs though and no one said a word as they tiptoed through the mud and onto the sandy areas.

Olga had the foresight to procure a truck for us and after parking the boat we trudged up to the hospital parking lot to get the truck. On the way, Eliza Meier received wonderful news, the seals her father had sent to her from Tununak were at Grant Air. Before we knew it, we were parked outside of Grant Air waiting for Eliza's boxes of seal.

After receiving the seals we picked up Daphne and Barbara from Daphne's sister's house and we were off to DINNER! Of course, no ladies night would be complete without a male and this time Eliza Joekay's husband joined all of us girls. We put him to good use though and he was our photographer for the evening.

Two of my favorite Joekay sisters...

All the ladies enjoying all the fine dining Bethel can provide...

After dinner we shared another common female bonding ritual...we went shopping. After our trip to Swanson's we were ready to get home. Barbara's husband was patiently waiting for us to arrive so he could go out hunting and I still had lots of packing to do at home.

We saw a beaver while we were waiting for Christina!

As you can see..cell phones have hit the Delta in a BIG way...

Still waiting but Daphne's loving the trip!

Here comes Christina after parking the truck!

The boat ride back was something else. Shortly after we were on the river the gesticulating once again started from the front of the boat. This time Eliza Joekay was waving to the left. I looked at Olga, who was riding shotgun, and asked, "Should I go over?" Olga said, "No. You're good." Still, though, the waving motions from the front of the boat continued, but much more persistent. Again, I looked at Olga, desperate for some direction. Again I was assured I was good. Almost immediately after this, Barbara joined Eliza in her gesturing and others started yelling. What I then saw in front of me was what I assumed to be a brown log but found out quite quickly that it was part of a large sandbar. I quickly swerved to the left and everyone held on for dear life as we skimmed past the sandbar. Once out of danger I started pointing at Olga and trying to pin the blame on her. As we pulled into Oscarville Slough we were all laughing.

You can see the boxes of seals...coffins as Eliza M's brother called them.

I parked the boat and we began to unload our groceries. All in all it was a great trip and I once again am amazed at how awesome all my friends are down here. In four years I feel like I've really bonded with the people in this community. It's great knowing that I won't be so far away from them! I'm sure going to miss these women. They are the cat's meow.

How I'm Spending My Last Day At Work

2009-05-21T10:45:00.001-08:00

I'm drinking a lot of coffee and eating Trix. Occasionally I'm moving things so it looks like I'm busy.

What?!

2009-05-18T09:17:00.002-08:00

I woke up this morning to snow. It's snowing out. And it's sticking. I wonder when summer will come to the Delta.

Graduation 2009

2009-05-15T23:35:00.010-08:00

Whew. We made it. We survived Graduation 2009. Things went smoothly and everything went according to plan.

The ceremony was scheduled to begin at 4:00 o'clock and at 4:15 all the graduates were filing in. We had one little kindergarten graduate, four eighth grade grads and, Andrew, our lone high school graduate.

Here area ll the grads waiting for the ceremony to begin. Look how cute the little kindergartner is! She's so tiny compared to all those big boys.

Here is Jamaica, our kindergartner with her diploma. She did a great job this year and worked very hard. We were all amazed at her progress and everything she did.

After the kindergarten promotion it was Christina's turn to speak on behalf of each of the Junior High students.

After Christina's speech the staff members got up and talked about Andrew. Here is Andrew's mom having her turn talking about her son. It was pretty emotional for the both of them. I kept thinking of if my mom had to speak on my behalf at my high school graduation. I don't know if she would have gotten through her speech! Haha!

After Eliza's speech it was my turn to get up and speak about Andrew. I did ok...I only got choked up once and got through the speech without any major issues.

After my speech it was Andrew's turn to speak. He got pretty choked up during his speech. He did a great job though and again, he made me proud.

Chris said a few words and I came back down to present Andrew with his diploma. It was a great moment for me and I was so proud of him.

After that Chris presented the Qugcuun Memorial School Class of 2009!

The graduation ceremony was followed by a wonderful feast of home made bread, akutaq, short ribs, turkey, potatoes, gravy, stuffing, and a big huge salad. It was wonderful and the community did a hell of a job eating stuff up.

With bellies full we went back into the High School classroom to get about a million pictures taken with the grads.

Here's the Junior High.....

and the high school....

Andrew's mom, Eliza, made kuspeqs for her sons' teachers and here we are sporting them!

We then had a large group picture of all the ladies wearing their kuspeqs....

Andrew and I (both of us are relieved this is done!)...

Patrick, an eighth grade graduate and his little sister, Jamaica, our kindergarten graduate.

Andrew and his grandfather....

The staff all chipped in and got Andrew a nice tool set for his gift. He seemed to really like it.

Congratulations to Andrew and the rest of the students. I'm proud of you all. Andrew, I'm looking forward to seeing what you do the next chapter of your life.

Oh Don't You Know Rug Co.

2009-05-14T13:00:00.001-08:00

Short Version of this post: I finished it. It took almost four years but I finally finished it.

Long Version:

Oh Don't You Know Rug Company was born after a quick trip to my favorite store in Kaukauna. That's right...many of you out there know where you can see my bike or the Topaz many days as you drive through Kaukauna...right outside of the St. Vincent DePaul Thrift Store! I love that place and have found many treasures there over the years. Jon Schroeder, my best friend in the whole world can attest to some of the gems I've found. Remember the blue ring, Jon? I have that at home in a safe place...wouldn't want to lose that. Or how about the time we were on a biking trip and I emerged from the store wearing a beautiful golden broach in the shape of the letter "E"? I know you were outside waiting for me but the wait was worth it, wasn't it? I think both pieces cost me a quarter each.

One day, I went to St. Vinnie's to see what sorts of treasures I could find. I started off by searching through the craft patterns and books that were in a box by the door. That's when I found it...an old copy of Better Homes and Gardens Rug Making. It was a quarter and I bought it. That's when Oh Don't You Know Rug Company was born.

After finding a pattern in the book for my first rug I made numerous trips to thrift stores in Kaukauna, Kimberly and Appleton trying to find enough material to actually make the rug. I made friends with an old lady at a thrift store in Appleton who got so excited when I told her I was going to make a rug that she told me, with a wink, that they only put material out on Wednesdays and if I wanted, I could come in before they put it out and have first pick. I informed Jon what I was doing and he donated some old sheets to the cause.

The preparation process for my first rug was fun but tedious. It involved taking every piece of fabric I bought, tearing it into 1-2" strips, tying them all together, rolling the tied fabric into a ball and only then was I ready to crochet. I had lots of help from Jon and my mom.

My first rug was started in Kaukauna and finished in Vermont. It took an entire summer to finish. I remember sitting in our little apartment in Montpelier and working on it at night, surrounded by strips of fabric as Andre read. There were times he would help me sort through and tie the strips of fabric together. He was quite supportive through the whole process, even when he saw me tear out the stitches that had taken me a week to put in so I could start over. As the rug got bigger I would sit in the middle of it and spin myself as I crocheted. I still sometimes wonder how Andre could walk in the door, see me sitting in the sweltering heat, spinning myself in circles as I crocheted a rug and not run like hell.

As the summer drew to a close my first rug was completed. As I packed my car for the return trip to Wisconsin to prepare for my move to Alaska my first rug was packed away safe and sound. After arriving in Wisconsin it was quickly packed into a box and the next time I saw it was after I had arrived in Oscarville.

Because I'm a bit insane and because I like creating things I knew I wanted to start another rug when the first one was done. It was then I started on my next rug, my jute rug.

I had a few days in Wisconsin and I scoured the stores for enough jute to make the rug. I could only find a few rolls and I figured it was enough to get me started while I kept searching. After I moved to Alaska I did a quick eBay search and found a lady selling some jute. Shortly after, two priority boxes full of jute arrived from Winter Park, Florida.

For fours years I've been working on my jute rug. The jute is quite rough to work with and I can only crochet with it for a little while before my hands get sore. I had decided after my first year here to make the rug project something that I worked on twice a year during freeze up and break up. The rug is known in many circles as the Freeze Up/Break Up Rug.

I decided that this year was the year that the rug was going to be finished. As break up approached I sat down and began crocheting like mad. I knew I'd probably only have a few days to finish it so I hunkered down and began the final steps towards the completion of the project.

Here I am connecting the final row...what a long process.

So...here it is. The finished rug. I was going to block it but I don't think I'll have to. I may add a fancier border at some point but I'm going to leave it as is for now.

So much has happened to me in the years I've spent here. Many people have seen and walked on the rug as it was created. So many memories are wrapped up in this rug. So much of myself has gone into it and as it grew I feel I did as well. I'm a much different person now than I was at the beginning of the project. It's amazing how much things can change in a short amount of time.

**I already have the pattern for my next rug!

Boat Lady

2009-05-13T11:11:00.002-08:00

I am buying my friend K.C.'s boat. I know nothing about boats. I only know that they are fun. This is the weirdest thing I've ever bought. I'm sure everyone will be in for a treat as I figure out how to drive the damn thing.

Here's a picture of my new boat.

Breakup 2009

2009-05-11T17:20:00.010-08:00

So the big excitement for the last few days/week has been breakup. The word “flood” (as I write this I am noticing what a strange word "flood" is. I don't know why that is looking strange to me right now but it looks weird...I even looked it up to make sure I was spelling it correctly) was on everyone’s lips and minds. Due to ice jams upriver a few places have already flooded and everyone in this area was just waiting for that ice jam to clear and for all that ice to move downriver. Complicating the situation was the fact that the Johnson River, which is below Napakiak, hadn't yet broken and if that ice didn't go we were all going to be up some sort of creek. (Don't worry though, we all have paddles....and boats.)

Today was the big day. We got word before lunch that the ice was starting to move upriver and there was a bolt of excitement that ran through the school. Napaskiak and Napakiak both released their students before lunch but we held on until 2:30. At that point Chris made the decision to let the kids go home.

As of right now, I hear the Johnson is in fact breaking and the anticipated flood (that word still looks weird) is not likely going to happen.

While we wait to see how all this pans out I'm going to post some pictures from the last couple of days to give everyone an idea of what it looked like here.

Usually there is a small hill here and a beach where boats are parked. As you can see now, it's completely filled with water.

I think this chunk of ice just looked big. What a big chunk of ice! Goodness.

We've been watching chunks of ice like this float by for days now. Last night I pondered aloud what it would be like to jump on a chunk of ice and ride it downriver. Christina seemed to keep a closer eye on me after that...lol.

The cool thing about flooding is that everyone has been out and about to check the river. It's been quite nice to meet up with people and go walking with them this past week.

Here is what it looked like behind the school and by some houses today. So far this is as wet as we are getting...let's keep our fingers crossed that it doesn't get any worse.

Today as I dismissed my high school I gave them all a little lecture about how although this is all really exciting it is super important that they use their heads and be safe. I told them how they had to be role models and help their parents if need be.

Shortly after I saw some Junior High students in refrigerators on the lake that had formed in back of the school.

(It actually looked like a lot of fun!)

Ten minutes later Christina and I were at the river and I was contemplating jumping on a make-shift raft and floating out to the ice. I gave up that idea after my "raft" sunk when I stepped on it.

A few minutes after that Christina and I were reenacting the famous log scene from Dirty Dancing.

**(Andre-if you are reading please pay attention to the footwear I am sporting...I would fit in quite well with any lady in London or Boston, wouldn't I?)

Based on the next picture I'm sure everyone can guess how successful the reenactment was.

As we were walking home I went a different way to avoid kids and elders seeing my wet legs. I actually saw them standing all around and headed off in a different direction, much to the amusement of Christina. The last thing I wanted was to be scolded by an elder for playing around while the kids were all standing there watching.

One of my most favorite things is watching the boats all go out when the ice comes downriver and watching people collect logs. It always looks so scary and dangerous but it's pretty fun to watch the boats as they drift and dodge chunks of ice. I'd like to do it just to do it.

As of right now I'm sitting in the sun and the water doesn't look like it's getting any higher. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that it stays that way. I have a lot to get done in my classes and I need every second I can get with my kids. The end is quickly approaching and I'm not at all ready.

Ohhh boy!

2009-05-08T16:31:00.000-08:00

KUSKOKWIM DELTA AK-
316 PM AKDT FRI MAY 8 2009

...FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 400 PM SUNDAY
FOR ICE JAM FLOODING FROM AKIAK TO NAPAKIAK...

THIS FLOOD WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THE FOLLOWING
COMMUNITIES...AKIAK...AKIACHAK...KWETHLUK...BETHEL...OSCARVILLE...
NAPASKIAK AND NAPAKIAK UNTIL 400 PM AKDT SUNDAY..

Congratulations and Good Luck!

2009-05-07T17:43:00.003-08:00

I just wanted to give a shout out to my brother, Dave, and his new bride, Melissa. Congratulations to the both of you.

I also wanted to wish my brother the best of luck as he starts his second tour in Iraq. See you soon Dave!

Breakup Upriver

2009-05-07T17:09:00.001-08:00

Breakup at Kalskag from CY HO on Vimeo.

Ridge...Tundra Ridge

2009-05-06T18:15:00.003-08:00

That's right...I'm now going to be a resident of Tundra Ridge!

I am so happy right now! I found a place for next year and I'm signing the lease as soon as the lady faxes it to me. There is a possibility that she will be able to find some short terms renters to rent the place for June and July and if that happens I will get reimbursed for whatever the renters pay.

I haven't even seen the place yet. I saw an ad for it via email and I called the lady that night. It sounded like a pretty good deal but I still wasn't sure about the whole thing and not really sure if I wanted to rent a place that sounded good but that I hadn't seen. I mentioned all this during a Skype conversation with my friend Iain and he offered to go check out the place. Not only did Iain offer to check the place out but after getting the phone number of the lady who was renting it went ahead and set up an appointment to check it out. Through a series of events which included organic vegetables another one of my friends, Lee, agreed to go with Iain to check the place out. I was really nervous because although I knew the place was almost brand new, in a location I'm pretty sure I'm going to love, Macy was welcome to stay there, and looked nice from the pictures I was worried that it was too small. I sat by my computer awaiting word from Lee or Iain to hear what it actually looked like and what they thought of it.

Suddenly, my little Skype icon bounced and I saw I had a message from Iain. He said the place was nice, new and would be perfect for me. I called the landlord immediately and next thing I knew I had a place to live for next school year. When Brian is in town he will be staying with me as well..so it's technically its not really "my" place but "our" place!

I'm really excited about it all. I was super worried about finding a place to live and rent and all that stuff...however, I'm feeling pretty good right now. Things feel like they are coming together and my mind is at ease.

Stand By Me

2009-05-02T09:59:00.003-08:00

Someone posted this link on our district wide email the other day and I didn't watch the video. Then yesterday, I saw someone else had a link to it on their blog and I decided to sit as it slowly downloaded and see what it was all about.

This video is one of many that are part of the Playing For Change project. This project connects musicians from all over the world and breaks boundaries through music. They have done something similar with many other songs and have brought their mobile recording studios all over the world to capture musicians playing. Then they lay all the tracks and video into one final project.

I'm not sure if it is just the song or what but I found myself tearing up within the first minute or so of watching this video. I think what touches me most is the raw emotion of the musicians and how although they are on opposite sides of the world the song makes them all feel the same thing. Maybe, as Brian Klein would say, I'm just a Nancy, but there's something really touching and emotional about this video.

Sneaky Sneaky

2009-05-01T10:53:00.003-08:00

Someone snuck into the school this morning when the principal's head was turned. She is becoming quite literate.

Things

2009-04-27T22:48:00.004-08:00

I have been in a funk the last week or so. I always seem to get a bit down this time of year. I don't know why. I think one major reason is that I love winter so much it's hard to see it go. I had a really great winter and it's hard to see it go.

I have a number of things to share at this point. Here they are.

Thing #1 -- Brian's roommate Joel and I drove up to Kwethluk to get Brian a few weekends ago. The trail up was good but the ride up was slightly marred by my inability to accurately know directions. I sort of led Joel around an island, past some people manaaqing and then proceeded to go about two miles towards Bethel again before I realized I was heading back to Bethel. We stopped the snowmachines and after the third time Joel suggested I stop and ask someone which way to go I gave in and stopped to ask which way to go. I pulled up next to some guy manaaqing and asked if I was heading in the right direction for Kwethluk. He sort of smiled at me and said, "Are you lost?" and, not admitting that I was lost I answered, "Not really, I just want to make sure I'm on the right track." He smiled again and asked if I wanted to go to Akiakchak. I replied with, "No. I want to go to Kwethluk." The man then smiled some more and gave me some advice on how to arrive in Kwethluk. I thanked him and within minutes we were headed on the right track and everything looked familiar to me. When we arrived in Kwethluk Brian let me try out the simulator he uses for Driver's Ed. I got a similar score on the simulator as I did my first two times taking my driver's test!

The next evening I headed back to Bethel to return Brian to Kwethluk. Since it was so late Brian's roommate, Lee, was fairly adamant that he would like someone to ride with me in case something happened. Again, Joel accompanied us upriver. We were driving along I noticed something kind of loping across the river. At first I thought it was a fox and I pointed to it as I drove along so Brian would see it. As we got closer I saw it was much bigger than a fox and had different coloring. I then thought it was a dog but as we got just a bit closer I realized that what I was looking at was a lynx. By this time it had already made it to the edge of the woods and had stopped to stare at us. As it turned it's head I could see it's catlike face and pointy ears. I near shat myself as I realized I was staring at a lynx. I stopped the snowmachine because I was hoping that it wouldn't run off and we could sit and look at it for a bit. However, seconds after I stopped my machine Joel, not aware that we were looking at something, came whizzing by on his machine and the lynx ran into the woods. Later on, as Joel and I were come back home I saw a fox run across the river. Of course, there was also the usual amount of ptargamin floating around as well. So, it was quite a day packed with wildlife.

Thing #2 --I went into Bethel this past weekend for a round of thesis writing stuff. So far, I have almost 18 pages of my thesis done. It was most helpful to have my professor there to help me and to give immediate feedback. I felt motivated and although I've offered people money to write my thesis (purely in a joking manner) I feel like this task can be accomplished and feel more optimistic about it happening.

Thing #3 -- The river is turning kind of cruddy. Actually it's turning really cruddy. We were informed that yesterday will be the last day we will be getting mail until the river breaks. Christina and I headed up to Bethel on Monday to do two things. The first thing we had to do was stop at ID Variety (the local pet store) and donate most of Christina's mice. Well, we donated all but two mice. Christina, the softy, couldn't bear to part with the smallest, runtiest mouse of the bunch and that one is currently residing in a massive cage all by itself. The other mouse is a talented escape artist that has been on the loose for a couple of days now. There was a Mouse-dini sighting last night and we at least know that Macy hasn't torn the mouse apart somewhere. In fact, we kind of think that Macy is probably cuddling with the mouse during the day.

101.5

2009-04-22T16:37:00.005-08:00

That's not my temperature or anything like that. That is the amount of miles I put on my snowmachine yesterday.

This week is our Culture Week and the students participate in a variety of cultural activities. Students have been checking nets, fishing, beading, knitting, sewing, crocheting, skin sewing, designing and making story knives and making wooden spoons.

So far, it hasn't been a bad week. I had some issues with a student on Monday that greatly soured my attitude for about 24 hours. I won't go into it on my blog. Just let it be known that no matter how tough one is or how many years they have been teaching it still kind of hurts when students call you names and throw snow at you.

On Tuesday I got to take the 7-12th graders down to the Johnson River for a bit o' manaaqing. The sun was shining and the weather was beautiful as we loaded up and headed out. Macy was able to sneak into the sled and come with us. Although we didn't catch as many fish as we would have liked we still had a lot of fun.

After I arrived home and dropped the kids off I headed down to Napakiak to meet KC. He is going to be interviewing for a site administrator position in Akula later in the month and wanted to go check out the school. We followed the Johnson River from Napakiak and arrived in Akula after a short stint across the tundra. We stayed and drank a cup of coffee with Kyle and helped Kyle "fix" his new kayak. When I say we helped him "fix" his kayak I mean that KC accidentally pulled a piece off of it when trying to figure out what was wrong with it. What was wrong with it was that that piece needed to be pulled off. It took us a second to realize that KC had actually solved the mystery instead of breaking it.

The ride home seemed to go much faster. KC and I stopped for a bit on the bluffs and talked about life and other interesting subjects. I then headed home.

When I got home I saw my odometer said 101.5 miles...by far the longest I've gone on a snowmobile since Brian, Heidi, Jay and I went snowmobiling in Michigan over Christmas break. It's too bad that the weather will probably get cruddy soon and I'll have to put my machine away. I really enjoyed my ride and was reminded again why I love living here.

District NYO

2009-04-06T10:47:00.004-08:00

This weekend I attended the District NYO meet in Akula. It was most widely attended meet in LKSD history. There were 22 schools there and over 150 athletes. Schools from other districts were invited as well so it was nice to meet some new coaches and students.

The students did very well the entire weekend. I am always so happy that the Oscarville students are so polite and well behaved. I only had to shake my finger in a scolding manner once or twice when I was there!

My camera batteries died early on and I didn't get to take a lot of pictures. Mr. Bodily had my spare batteries in his GPS and returned them to me yesterday morning. I also didn't feel like going to the store to pay four times what I would pay for batteries anywhere else in the world. Alas, I have no pictures to share with my readers. Sorry.

The most unpleasant portion of the trip came from Akula's inability to provide water for everyone there. Apparently, the village has some issues with their well. I'm not sure if it isn't dug deep enough or what but they have to conserve water as much as possible. What that meant is that most of the water in the school was turned off including the toilets and bathroom sinks.

Now, I'm not one to complain about "building" on someone else's waste in toilets and such but there was one point when I was reminded of my first ever Phish show. After one night in the campground at this show every single Port-O-Potty was overflowing with waste. I eventually just started peeing away from our tent because it was more sanitary than using the actual facilities designated for waste.

Akula at one point reminded me of this show. Enough about poo. Let's move on to sugar.

One of the downsides of NYO is that the students always load up on sugar and junk food from the village store as well as from the student store. This meet was no different. The first thing on our agenda was to go to the store to get some snacks which included full size bags of Doritos, candy, pop and energy drinks. My snacks were multi-grain crackers and some slices of cheddar cheese. I'm so lame and uncool! haha

In addition to the snacks the students bought at the store the student store pumped out Slush Puppies by the gallon and acres of cotton candy.

I'm not a super duper health nut but I do try to eat healthy and to eat a balanced diet. I hate going to athletic events and seeing nothing but sugar and junk food consumed by kids. We did have apples for a snack on Thursday evening. That was good. I'm not getting down on the school at all or the coaches. I just really wish that apples and oranges sold as quickly and as rapidly as Slush Puppies and cotton candy.

The District meet went quickly (we set a record for the least amount of time needed for a district meet as well as for the most number of schools and students) and we were on the plane heading for home before noon on Saturday. As we flew home in our little 207 I looked back at my students and saw that ALL of them were crashed out. It took about 5 minutes in the air for the kids to be lulled to sleep.

I also want to congratulate two of our athletes, Chinace and Jackie for being chosen to represent LKSD in the state NYO tournament. I'm proud of them and they worked hard for this chance. Way to go ladies!

Just some ramblings about the past few days

2009-03-30T23:57:00.004-08:00

This weekend was a blur.

It all started Thursday afternoon when I mixed up some bread dough on my lunch hour and then ran back and forth between the school and my house the rest of the afternoon checking on the bread. Alex, the NYO coach, had informed me the previous day that I should cook something for the NYO meet on Friday. Although we make the kids eat crappy cafeteria food during the meets the coaches get treated to a wide array of wonderfully delicious Native foods. During the dinner break at every meet the coaches stuff themselves on dried fish, baked fish, fish soup, meat (caribou) soup, akutaq, and bread amongst other things. So, it was my turn to provide some food and I was EXTREMELY nervous as I diced up the caribou I was going to turn into soup. I kept trying to think about all the times I've had meat soup and how it was prepared. I put in a little of this, a little of that and let the slow cooker do it's job.

The next day I woke up and went to work. There was a career fair happening at the Cultural Center in Bethel and I was in charge of taking my two high school boys, Andrew and Carl, to check out some career options. As Carl was gathering his winter gear Andrew came to my house to start my snowmobile and to stay warm while we waited for Carl. I gave him a tiny little taste of my soup and he deemed it high quality. After reminding Chris, my site administrator, not to forget the soup when he drove the kids over Andrew, Carl and I took off for the career fair.

The career fair was pretty good. Although I was told many organizations didn't make it in to present I felt that the ones who did make it in were pretty good. I think it helped Andrew and Carl to realize how many options really are available to them and I'm hoping that they have a few more ideas about what they want to do after graduating.

By about 2:30 or so we were all Career Fair-ed out and we hopped on our snowmobiles to head home.

I arrived home and quickly checked in with Chris. The soup had not made it across the river with the kids so I brought it over to Eliza's house to bring with her soup. I then grabbed my backpack which held my overnight stuff, jumped on my snowmobile and headed to the NYO meet.

At about 4 my soup showed up with Eliza and her soup and I became instantly nervous. I really wanted it to be good and was hoping that people liked it.

I told Darren Kellerby, one of the coaches from Napakiak, that I made the soup and that I was really nervous about people eating it. He reassured me that it would be fine and I had to stifle a big laugh as he proclaimed, "This is such good soup!" after one bite. Later on I asked a coach from Kwethluk what he thought. He responded with, "It didn't taste Native." I'm not sure if that was a compliment or not.

NYO went well. I was glad that it was close to home and although I couldn't go home PKA feels familiar enough to me that I actually slept fairly well on the floor of the school.

Mr. Bodily stopped by to say hi. I like seeing him so.

On Saturday I rushed home and after showering and changing my clothes I went up to Bethel to meet up with my good buddy Kale for an all out exclusive Erin and Kale Day.

A little bit about Kale. He is a teacher in Mekoryuk and over the past couple of years I've really grown to be good friends with. He's really become quite a close and dear friend of mine and although I understand his rationale for doing so it saddens me that he's leaving our school district to head home. Kale has really been a wonderful friend to have out here the last two years and there are times when I was about ready to lose my mind and he was there to help me cheer up or feel better about my job and life in general. His positive energy and loving nature really are going to be missed up here.

So, Kale came to Bethel to hang out with friends one last time before the end of the school year. I was honored that he made sure to spend some time with

Erin and Kale Day started with some hanging out at Erin, Angie and Sadie's house where he was staying. We then got on my snowmachine and headed to the District Office. I was supposed to help a woman do some iMovie stuff but she had already gone by the time I got there.

We then went to Swanson's to get him some groceries.

After the groceries we headed to the Tundra Oasis to see what the folks there were doing. It was then decided that Kale and I were going to head to Oscarville to get Macy and bring her back to the Tundra Oasis.

So...we headed down to Oscarville on my snowmachine to pick up the doglet. Then we went back to Bethel.

After bringing Macy to the Tundra Oasis Kale and I headed to the Cama-i festival to do some shopping for Native crafts. I found a really kick ass pair of seal skin mittens. The woman who made then didn't speak much English and became very excited when I told her I was from Oscarville. She then communicated to me that she had once lived in Oscarville herself and that pretty much sealed the deal for me. I felt like I had to buy the mittens then! I absolutely love them. However, due to warmish type weather and my lack of getting outside the last few days I haven't been able to wear them yet! I want to post a picture of them on here soon.

The Cama-i festival was interesting. You can read about it here (thanks Alisha!). There was also an incident that happened to Brian that Kale has accurately and hilariously recounted. Then of course, there is always Brian's response to said situation.

That's enough. I'm blogged out for now.

Geocaching is STILL fun!

2009-03-26T10:49:00.005-08:00

Last spring my class and I planted a geocache out in the "woods". We took the coordinates using Christina's GPS and I registered our geocache on the geocache site.

I received word later on from the geocache people that our coordinates put our geochache somewhere in Greenland! Well, using my power of logic and my sense of direction I surmised right away that the coordinates we submitted to the geocache website were probably in some way...incorrect.

I meant to go out last spring and check the coordinates of the cache again but life got busy and the geocache got put on hold.

It's funny that with all the really important things I have to think about geocache coordinates keep popping up inside the mess of thoughts I have running around in my brain.

On Sunday K.C. did a surprise stop by and I told him I had something really really fun for us to do and he agreed to accompany me. It was only after we got his GPS working and got ready to go out that I told him we were going to tromp through the woods to look for our geocache.

Since it was so bright we both put on sunglasses. Not only were we being pragmatic, but we also looked hella cool as we set out in search of my geocache.

We didn't find the geocache but we did have fun digging around in the snow. Well, I had fun digging in the snow. KC just took pictures of me and complained.

What do you think? Think I was close?

EEK!

2009-03-23T22:23:00.010-08:00

When I was a kid I remember reading a book with my dad. I may as well be making this up but the memory I have is of us in his bathroom and me reading to him as he shaved. I'm not entirely sure what the book was about but I remember at various points throughout the story the main character would yell "EEK!". My dad then pointed out that my initials (Erin Elizabeth Kavanaugh) spelled EEK and I felt very special seeing my initials in writing.

Throughout the years other people have figured out that my initials spell EEK and some have chosen to call me that as a nickname. Other people have cool nicknames but I got stuck with EEK. I also got stuck with some of my brothers' nicknames as well. My brothers' friends would just add Lil' in front of whatever my brothers' nicknames were. So, I went through high school as Lil' Kavanaugh, Lil' Kavy, Lil' Shaft, and the worst one Lil' Fatty.

When I arrived in the Y-K Delta I was surprised and amused to find out that there was a village here called Eek. When I asked someone here in Oscarville what the word Eek means in Yugtun I was told that one day a man was traveling on the tundra when he encountered a huge rabbit/mouse hybrid. This man then apparently screamed out "Eek!" I still have no idea what "Eek" means and apparently no one else around here does either, but it does make for a good joke.

The whole point I'm trying to get to is that this weekend I got to see for myself the village of Eek when I accompanied our NYO team to their meet. Although small, our NYO team is always a force to be reckoned with at meets. This week's past meet was no exception and our team did quite well. Our high school team took second overall and we had many athletes who took first in many of the events!

The schedule for NYO meets is always the same. We begin with the Kneel Jump. Here's a bit more about the Kneel Jump:

The Kneel Jump
Similar to the Scissor Broad Jump in that the hunters must develop the skill of quick movement to be successful in jumping from one ice floe to another. This game also develops leg muscles necessary to lift heavy game and carry it back to the village.

Here is one of our students doing the Kneel Jump.

Next up was the Wrist Carry. I love the Wrist Carry simply because I am amazed at how long the kids can hang from a stick by their wrists.

The Wrist Carry
A test of survival. This event has origins based on hunters being able to carry their game back to the village. Hunters had to develop endurance and strength in order to carry the game over a long distance.

Here is one of our Junior High athletes doing the wrist carry. It was her first meet and she did a great job. She looks so tiny compared to those guys carrying her. She kept looking at us and smiling because she knew she was doing really well. If she concentrates a bit harder next time she will totally take first.

I took quite a bit of pictures and movies this past weekend and it would take me forever to go through and explain what was going on in each one. So, I just made a big slide show.

Of course, what NYO meet would be complete without a puppet show! haha
This is what we do while we have some down time between cleaning the room up and waiting for the awards ceremony to begin.

This weekend is the annual Napaskarville NYO meet. This is a meet co-hosted by the folks from Napaskiak and Oscarville. It's really fun. I love NYO and it's a bit sad that my time with the NYO team here is winding down. Perhaps they will still allow me to travel with the team next year if they need a chaperone. Sigh.

Package Smackages

2009-03-19T17:04:00.010-08:00

Today a plethora of wonderful completely amazing packages came in the mail for me!

First, let's start with the not so exciting one. In fact, this one downright ticked me off. I received a package from Apple today. We have had numerous power cords go to pot this past year and I finally devoted to an hour and a half of my life to talking to the Apple people on the phone ordering some new ones for the school. What I received today was not what I had in mind and I am not looking forward to talking to the Apple people again any time soon. But it must be done. Here is a picture of all the useless stuff Apple sent me.

Package two is kind of cool. I received a package from the State of Alaska Department of Health and Social Services Division of Public Health Section of Chronic Disease Prevention & Health Promotion. Inside were surveys I am supposed to have students fill out and as a "thank you" for the time I am going to put into this the State of Alaska sent me a nifty little satchel. Thanks State of Alaska!

The last two packages were from very special people in my life and I cannot possibly rank them. So, I hope no one reads more into which package I talk about first because the order carries no meaning whatsoever.

A belated Christmas present came for me today. After watching me nearly chop my fingers off with the dull knifes I have around my kitchen Mr. Brian Rendall, concerned for my safety, ordered and sent what looks to be a very professional and very SHARP Japanese chef's knife. I love it! It's all shiny and new and I'm almost tempted to display it rather than use it. I wish I had had it on Sunday evening when I cut open a spaghetti squash with an uluaq and a hammer! Thank you so much Brian! I cannot wait to cook a meal for you with my new knife!

Finally, a much anticipated package came today and after tearing many, many layers of tape off (you did that just to annoy me -- didn't you?) I discovered many lovely things that had been packaged with care and sent all the way from Afghanistan! According to the letter inside, this particular box contained everything I need to have an proper Afghan tea party. There were little tea glasses, figs, almonds, and pistachios! I was also very grateful for the detailed instructions on how to prepare the tea! I cannot wait to try it.

Thank you to all who sent me lovely things today (except Apple)! I am so spoiled! It means so much to have such caring and wonderful people in my life (except the State of Alaska -- you're just trying to bribe me). After a long day my heart has been regenerated and I feel great! Thanks so much for making my day!

Life Update!

2009-03-16T23:29:00.004-08:00

I never intended to stay in Oscarville or even Alaska this long. When I first arrived here my intentions and my plans were to simply work a year and to pass some time until other things panned out.

Well, thanks to some guy named Todd in Tennessee (I still harbor unkind feelings towards that man) life took a different turn and the plans I had desperately hoped would work out fizzled out instead. Once I accepted that my life wasn't going in the direction I had anticipated, I accepted another year here in Oscarville.

I guess what I'm saying is that my move to Alaska was supposed to be completely temporary and that I never intended to be here as long as I have. However, various thing have kept me here.

I know I complain about my job at times and I get upset or cranky when things don't go quite my way but I really have been blessed to live amongst such wonderful people. I truly have found a second home in this community. People here have done so many wonderful things for me. They've listened to me when I've felt completely alone and needed someone to talk to, they've laughed with me, cried with me, supported me, invited me for dinner, included me in their family celebrations and have just overall welcomed me into their community with open arms.

However, in the past year I've really started to feel that I am ready to start exploring other opportunities and to try something new and different.

A few weeks back a job was posted on our district email. The job was for a Teacher Technology Trainer and I went ahead and applied. I had my interview almost two weeks ago and I was offered the job. After tossing and turning on the decision and a late night email to a friend about my dilemma (which has gone unresponded to -- you know who you are!) I went ahead and accepted the position!

So, what does a Teacher Technology Trainer do? Well, a Teacher Technology Trainer goes from village to village and helps to train teachers on how to integrate technology into their curriculum. A large portion of my job next year is going to be playing around on these snazzy computers we have here in LKSD!

What else does this mean? The hardest part of accepting this job was the fact that I have to move into Bethel. Don't get me wrong, Bethel has it's up side. There are plenty of pros to living in Bethel. I also have some friends moving to Bethel and Shaun does a much better job verbalizing the pros. Thanks Shaun.

The biggest con to moving to Bethel is that I really, really, really like living in Oscarville. I love being able to put my kayak in the slough right outside my house and to while away time just floating around. I love walking to "Erin's Tundra" (it's my secret berry spot that I'll show anyone if they want to see it) and picking berries and occasionally camping there (although I haven't been camping back there for quite some time -- not after being kept awake one night by Macy's continuous cacophony of little woofs and barks). I love exploring the area around Oscarville and have come to feel confident and comfortable setting out with no destination in mind and never feeling lost as I wander. I love having to take a boat to Bethel to shop when the river is unfrozen and even more so, I love driving my snowmobile in the winter.

Even more important than all that other stuff is the fact that I love my job. I truly, truly love my job. I never wake up in the morning dreading entering Qugcuun Memorial School. Sure, there are mornings I wish I could lay in bed for a few hours longer but I never wish that I didn't have to go to work in the morning. What makes my job so awesome is that I get to spend my day working with some really, really kick ass kids.

These kids are amazing. I know I complain and get frustrated at times but that's because I know how awesome they are and I get pretty ticked off when they don't work to their full potential. When I walked into my room four years ago I not only had on way nicer clothes than I wear to work now but I also have zero experience. That first year I worked late quite often, cried at the drop of a hat, and learned from my students how to be a teacher. The second and third year got even better and this year has been phenomenal. Even some of the students who tend to frustrate me the most have really matured and pulled it together and I'm optimistic we are going to get a TON of stuff done in the last nine weeks of school.

Oscarville really is a tiny little paradise in so many ways and that is what has made it so hard to walk away.

Two Fridays ago I sat the Junior High and High School down to tell them I was leaving. I got about three words into my little talk and started crying. They just sat patiently and waited for this wave of emotion to pass. They all know me quite well at this point and I think there are many times they are more in tune to my moods and emotions than I am. The emotion did pass and I sopped up the tears and I broke my own heart as I spilled my guts about my big old fat secret.

The reaction was mixed. Some looked sad. Some were excited about getting a new teacher (which I understand) and others had many questions. At one point I told them I had not broken the news to Macy yet and was open to any suggestions as to how I could do so! One young man told me to keep throwing a ball from Oscarville to Bethel and when we get to our new home to lock the door once she's inside. Another student suggested breaking the news with a treat. He told me to hold up a treat and say, "Here's a treat...we're moving to Bethel." All those are good suggestions and I'm currently working on finding a place that is suitable for Macy.

So...that's my big news. It's a total change and I am hoping it won't be a decision I regret. If anyone has some leads on places to live I'd be interested in hearing them!

Stuck

2009-03-10T14:26:00.004-08:00

For the first time this winter I did just what I always hate doing. I got my snowmobile stuck. I'm not really sure what happened. Christina and I were heading to Bethel and it was a beautiful day. I was flying down the trail and I guess my thoughts were elsewhere. Anyway, I wasn't really paying attention to where I was driving and I suddenly realized that the path I was on was not the true path that would bring me safely into Bethel. With that realization I did the stupidest thing one can do when they find themselves off trail. I stopped....and my machine sunk into the snow.

Christina and I then proceeded to try to dig, lift and shove the snowmachine onto some solid ground. Nothing we seemed to do worked. With every step we took we sunk into the large drifts. After about an hour I climbed on Christina's machine and headed to a friend's house to get some help. My friend told me I could borrow a couple of shovels and then told me her husband was outside and he would probably help. I thanked her profusely and walked outside. On my way towards the shovels I ran into her husband and he promptly jumped onto his snowmachine and followed me.

I watched in awe as he made three circles around my snowmobile and created a nice packed down path for it to ride on. He then got off his snowmachine, grabbed my front left ski and with one hand pulled mine into position (remember, Christina and I had been trying to do this for an hour). He then kind of motioned at me and told me to ride it out of the hole. I got on and rode it out of the hole. What we had spent an hour and a half on with no progress had taken him about 15 minutes (including the time it took him to get there and back to his house) to complete. Feeling like a complete idiot I thanked him and made a mental note to bake that nice man and his wife some cookies.

Hey Rendall...

2009-03-06T13:28:00.002-09:00

Look what came today! I'll find a safe place for them!

Happy Birthday Dad!

2009-03-04T18:38:00.003-09:00

I did call. It was late (your time) and you were still out partying...lol.

Hope your day was great! Talk to you tomorrow!

CAUGHT!

2009-03-02T12:42:00.002-09:00

I was informed this past weekend that the snowgo thief has been apprehended and will be charged.

I still have to call the Trooper back and get more details but from what I gathered it sounds like a young man stole it.

FOUND!

2009-02-26T22:46:00.006-09:00

This evening I was preparing to head to Bethel to pick up my veggie order and as I was heading out the door a phone call came in from K.C. in Napakiak. K.C. informed me that a woman named Lucy had contacted him and said that the VPO had found my snowmobile in a snow drift by the sewage lagoon (which was thankfully frozen). K.C. said that the VPO was calling the State Troopers to make sure it was mine and shortly thereafter the VPO called me to tell me that was indeed my snowmachine.

I quickly put my vegetable plans on hold and asked Christina if she would run me down there to pick my snowmobile up. Christina was quite agreeable about dropping everything she was doing at the moment to run me down there. Quite sure that the hooligans who had stolen my snowmachine had driven it until it was out of gas I borrowed a couple of gallons from Chris and rode down with a gas can on my lap.

It was so great to see my snowmachine parked next to K.C's when we arrived at his place. I ran over to it to assess any damage and I immediately noticed my gauntlets were gone. A string of swear words then escaped from my mouth until I heard Christina laughing. I looked up and saw K.C. standing on his porch chuckling at all those horrible things coming out of my sweet innocent mouth. He chucked the gauntlets down off the porch at me and I was surprised and pleased to see that they survived the theft. In fact, my gauntlets not only survived but the thieves actually took them off and put them in the trunk for safe keeping! I was a bit pissed that my gauntlets apparently weren't "cool" enough for the pirates to keep on as they flew out of Oscarville on my snowmachine. I mean, who thinks to themselves, "Wow! What a cool snowmachine but those gauntlets have GOT to go! I can't be seen riding a stolen machine with those things on!" K.C. did point out that gauntlets tend to make it a bit more difficult to maneuver the machine when you are airborne. Touche.

Another pleasant surprise was that there was 3/4 of a tank of gas left! With gas at almost $6 a gallon that is something quite amazing. I had filled it up on Tuesday evening so the tank was completely full when it was stolen. I'm guessing that they hot- rodded from Oscarville to Napakiak via the bluffs, got the machine stuck in a drift in Napakiak and just left it there.

There are a few things very minor things wrong with the machine. I'm sure it needs a new belt and I have to fix the whole "it now starts without a key" issue. Also, some of the rubber things that hold the hood shut have been torn off. I'm sure that Dave, my regular mechanic, will be more than happy to fix that stuff for me. I have to get a new windshield anyways (that was my fault) so I'm sure he'll help me out with that other stuff. He's a pretty rad dude.

This whole situation could have been much worse and the fact that the Troopers and the VPOs think they know who did this makes me feel much better. I'm sure it was just a young kid making stupid decisions (and I'm not really one to talk about being a teenager and making stupid decisions...am I Mom and Dad?). I do hope that this person is caught. As much as I understand that sometimes people just screw up I believe that people also need to take responsibility for their actions and come to realize that their actions affect many other people around them. It's all about personal responsibility.

Christina and I were just talking about how we should hire someone to come in and help clean around here. Perhaps that could be the thief's restitution. He could be our personal little slave for a few weeks. I'll suggest that to the Troopers and the Alaska Court System to see what they think of that!

STOLEN!

2009-02-25T23:20:00.001-09:00

I walked out of my house around 6:15 this evening only to find that the place where my snowmachine usually sits was empty. It felt like I was in a movie. I looked left, I looked right and I just kind of stood there. The keys in my hand felt quite useless and I just laughed in disbelief. I walked back into the house and told Christina three times that my snowmachine was gone. She finally had to step outside to see for herself and, the space was indeed empty.

Unfortunately, we have had wind and snow all day so any footprints have been covered up and even if there were identifiable footprints my English degree unfortunately has not given me the type of skills that would be useful in drawing any sort of conclusion about the footprints. After calling the local police (he was out feeding his sled dogs…I was told to try back in an hour) and the State Troopers (they have Bethel PD answer after 5…I was told to call back tomorrow) I hopped on Christina’s machine and went to meet my friend.

I’m not really sure how I’m feeling right now. I tend to trust everyone in this village and I know no one here would steal it. My students are respectful and I know none of them would ever think to do something like this. The conclusion I come to is that someone from one of the neighboring villages or Bethel had something to do with my machine’s disappearance and the fact that people of such little morality were literally right outside my door really unnerves and angers me. I love the community in which I live and to think that someone has breached the little circle of trust that exists here really gets my goat. People here have been great though and are really trying to put the word out that it was taken. It feels pretty awesome to have that kind of support!

I love my snowmachine and yes, I do realize that it is just a machine. As Christina reminded me, it could have been worse, what if they had taken Macy or something. If that had happened I would have my bags packed in a second and I would be out the door. However, in the last three years my snowmobile has been a life-line and a sign of independence for me. It is easy to feel stuck living in a place such as this and although the walk to Bethel isn’t bad it does take just about 4-5 hours roundtrip to get back and forth. Sigh. I really hope it turns up.

I posted this on our email system today. Christina helped me write it and it helped me to laugh a bit about it today!

Amazing Things

2009-02-19T18:03:00.007-09:00

The last fews days in Oscarville have been packed full of amazing things and discoveries and learning.

Amazing Thing #1

I have a meal worm that is still alive. When I arrived home after Christmas break I noticed that a well intending person had "watered" my meal worms for me. Apparently, instead of dampening the paper towels this person directly poured water into the container. Since paper toweling can only hold so much water at once the water that was not absorbed in the towels soaked into the oatmeal that the mealy worms live in. Apparently it takes about three weeks for wet oatmeal to grow mold and after four or five weeks the moldy oatmeal gets hard. After examining the wet oatmeal I decided nothing could possibly survive in that stinky horrible mess. All the tiny little beatle and mealy worm corpses in the container backed that idea up. I then reached in and dug out the moldy oatmeal, added some fresh stuff, and waited to see what happened. What happened was that I thought I subsequently killed everything in the jar. Lo and behold..I saw this wriggling around in there yesterday. My hope is that my meal worm population will replenish. We are all waiting in anticipation.

Amazing Thing #2

Macy can clean up after herself. I don't know how this escaped my attention for so long. All this time I've been picking up her toys, washing her blankets, putting her blankets on the couch just right when it turns out she is more than capable of doing chores herself. The other evening I filled up Macy's water dish and then went to bed. I figured she might get thirsty at night and might like some water to drink. The next morning I woke up to this sight. Macy must have thought I spilled some water or something and wanted to help me clean it up. She, ever so carefully, got a washcloth and made sure the water was all cleaned up for me. What a nice dog! She showed me that she really is ready to take on more responsibility around the house and I feel that she just might be ready. She is oozing with personal responsibility.

Amazing Thing #3

We had a visit today from Dr. Kenji Yoshikawa, leader of the UAF Permafrost Outreach Program. The amazing and wonderful thing from Kenji's visit is that he single-handedly captured the attention of all our students in grades 5-12 for 45 minutes. Short of setting myself on fire and doing cartwheels across the room I really have not been able to accomplish that feat. Not one student stirred through his entire presentation. All were quiet and all were respectful. Kenji is a pretty neat guy. He travels via snowmachine to many of his participating schools and villages.Yesterday he showed up in the rain and was soaked to the bone. Nevertheless, he did his work and moved right on home to Bethel. Kenji presented in my room and I was a bit embarrassed about how much stuff that he picked up and moved or even cleaned up as he presented. At one point he noticed that the box of Pilot Bread I keep in my classroom was open and the crackers were spilling out. He picked it up and set it back upright. Then he turned around and put a bunch of writing prompts that were lying on the floor back in their box. When he finally he realized he had about 4 Post-It notes stuck to his sock he peeled the Post-Its off and put them back near the poster they had fallen from. Thanks Kenji for being such a cool guy. The students are really excited about this project and are excited to be monitoring the permafrost tube for you.

Book Update

2009-02-17T10:48:00.012-09:00

Here are some more books I have recently finished reading.

What is the What by Dave Eggers

This is the story of Valentino Achak Deng. Although his story is true, the book has been placed into the fiction/novel category because there were so many things that Valentino was not able to accurately recount so many years after they had happened. The story begins in pre-war Sudan when Valentino is a boy and takes us through his survival through the war up to his early twenties as a young man chosen for resettlement in America. This is a great read and I found myself choking up numerous times as Valentino reflects on the life he once lived and lost, the hypocrisies of America and how living in America, in some ways, is much harder then living in war-torn Sudan. More importantly, all proceeds from this book go to the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation to help the Sudanese in America and in Sudan.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Although this is a young adult novel I thought it was extremely entertaining and would recommend it for anyone. This is the story of a young boy, Junior, who lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Junior decides on his own to attend an all white high school 20 miles off his reservation. Not only does Junior have to deal with all the normal woes of adolescence, but he also has to deal with trying to find his place in two vastly different societies and cultures. To add to the charm of this book Junior is a cartoonist and the book is full of his reflective illustrations about the situations and events he experiences. This book is extremely honest and heartfelt and can make you laugh and cry all at the same time.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

This is the story of Melinda, a young girl who has been ostracized by her entire high school for summoning the police to an end-of-the-summer party. What the students in her high school don't realize is why Melinda called the police. Feeling that she has no one to confide in and to share her secret with, Melinda slowly withdraws into her own world until she hardly speaks to anyone. As time passes, Melinda finds solace in her artwork and comes to terms with what happened to her at that party and is finally ready to speak about that night.

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

I read this to see what the fuss was all about. I don't know what the fuss is all about. It definitely does not even deserve half the hype it's getting as a book or as a movie (unless they make the movie a heck of a lot interesting). The plot is mundane and predictable, a man reads characters out of books and the characters he accidentally reads out of the book are greedy villains who are after the man and his daughter and the man and his daughter have to flee the villains but get caught and then have to escape and then get caught and then have to escape and at some point the young girl learns she has the same ability as her father and the villain then tries to get her to read his evil friend out of the book but then the man has to save the daughter and so on and so on. It was 544 pages of predictable plot and way too much description. I recommend reading it if you have a student or kid reading it...just because it is always good to be able to discuss books with them, but overall, I wouldn't spend my precious time reading it again.

Catching Up

2009-02-16T11:11:00.012-09:00

I realize my blog has been without a new post for some time so my purpose today is to inundate all my lovely readers out there with an extremely long post full of fun, fun stuff. Be aware...this post will be fun.

I left off almost a month ago (yikes!) with a long post describing my test taking woes. I'm delighted to inform all of you that our tests have not been graded as of yet although the promise of this so called "grade" has been repeated over and over again. Whatever..the tests are done and now it is on to thesis writing!

This first little video is from way back to the K300. I was sitting in my house the evening after the start of the K300 and heard all sorts of commotion outside. Curiously, I poked my head out the door and saw a group of children watching the K300 fireworks on my doorstep. Every time a firework would explode the riffraff on my steps would erupt into a cacophony of sounds.
Unfortunately, when I showed up to record this spectacle the kids started to ham it up a bit. However, this is fairly accurate in terms of what I heard from these kids.

In early February we had some visitors from Juneau come to Oscarville. The Juneau guests were visiting Napakiak as part of the Rose Program. The purpose of this program is to foster cross-cultural understanding between urban and rural Alaskan residents. The guests from Juneau come to a village for a week to experience what life is like in the Bush and then village students go to a city to experience life there. I would love to get my students involved in the program but I just don't feel like I have the time to organize everything. It is a ton of work and I commend all the teachers involved for the time they put into the program. My good friend K.C. works his tail off to ensure that the program goes well and that the students from Juneau have plenty to do while they visit. For the past few years K.C. has made a trip to Oscarville part of his program. He tells me that the Oscarville trip has been a favorite amongst his guests in the past. This year the weather was beautiful out for their trip upriver and after a quick tour of our little school, many of our students took the Juneau kids out skiing. The ski trip was followed up by cupcakes and hot chocolate and fun was had by all.

My students have been working hard. Here are some pictures of them working hard.

We have also had lots of visitors so far this month. At the beginning of the beginning of the month we had Mr. Lee Sundby come stay with us for a few days. He helped me out with some website stuff . I was finally able to devote a small amount of time to updating our school website. Check it out! Thanks for all your help Lee!

I also attended a Fiddle Dance in Napakiak earlier this month. One of the teachers there, Darren, is raising some money to send some of the students to Colorado. The entertainment for the evening was provided by the Akiak Jasper Band. They were pretty good. One of Brian's roommates, Joel, came with Christina and I and although we were surrounded by men only one male was brave enough to ask me to dance. After that one song I was done two-stepping for the evening. My favorite part of the evening was the Broom Dance. I really wish I had had my camera for this event because it really was something to see. The Broom Dance begins with all the women choosing a partner and begins to dance. One woman walks holding a broom amidst all the couples. After walking around for a few minutes the woman throws the broom to the ground and all the women must run and find a new man to dance with. Of course, one woman is left without a partner and must pick up the broom and dance with it until the feel like dropping it again. Then, the women all switch partners again. The whole point of the Broom Dance is that you don't want to get stuck with the broom. When the broom drops women hurtle themselves toward the first available man (which isn't really that uncommon in the Bush). It really was quite a comical spectacle to see. The Fiddle Dance was fun and was a great way to spend a Friday night.

Students in my English Language Development class have been working hard to create some movies to enter into our district wide multimedia competition. Some also entered movies in the Alaska Society for Technology in Education (ASTE) iDidamovie competition. It's amazing to see how much effort and work it goes into making a movie. We spent four weeks planning, scripting, filming and editing all the movies and we still had a few that just barely met the deadline. I'm so proud of all their hard work! They don't know it but today we are going to celebrate all their work with root beer floats and popcorn!!!

Here are some pics of them getting all their stuff together for the Multimedia Competition. Between you and I...we have the competition in the bag. I hope some of my students post their movies to their blogs so everyone can see their awesome work!

I'm also happy to report that we have been getting a nice amount of snow within the last couple of weeks. I came home from the school one evening and went out skiing with Macy. It was so relaxing and nice. The snow was perfect for skiing, it wasn't too cold and we didn't see another human the entire time we were out. The middle picture is of what it looks like on the slough when I don't use a flash...dark, eh?

Then, of course, there is Valentine's Day. I have discovered that many more people than I originally thought hate this holiday but I am always amused at the effort that goes into Valentine's Day in Oscarville. Maybe that is because so little really happens here that every little holiday becomes a big deal. Christina, knowing that I would be a Valentine's scrooge, bought some little candies for me to give the kids. I appreciated that very, very much. I usually do give the kids something for the big heart day, but this year I completely forgot. The kids had fun at our "party" and it was fun.

Macy also came to the Valentine's Day party. I was in the middle of taking a picture of her when a student stepped in front of me. Here is the resulting picture of Macy at our Valentine's Day party.

This past weekend Mr. Rendall was in town and we had lots of time to hang out. He had off of work one day last week and spent his time with Macy. I brought her up on Wednesday evening and she spent all day Thursday there. You can read more about their Play Day here. I traveled back to Bethel on Friday evening and Mr. Rendall made us some wonderful pizza pies and we just sat around and talked. Saturday was spent lounging around and drinking coffee and other various early morning liquids. We then traveled to the A.C. to get some food stuffs for our breakfast. Since it was so late in the afternoon Brian had to work extra fast to get breakfast on the table!

We came back to Oscarville on Saturday evening to find my house full of students preparing for the Science Fair this week. Brian and I decided to make ourself useful and unburied Christina's snowmobile from the drift she had buried it in earlier that morning. After that we were asked to join other students in the school to partake in some experimentation that the Junior High students were conducting. One experiment required us to eat a ton of noodles. We left the school tired and all sorts of pasta-y.

All in all the month of February seems to be dragging by. Next week I am heading to the ASTE conference in Anchorage. My friend Emily from Aniak is going to be there as well and I'm looking forward to some fun times. Never a dull moment with that girl around.

Here are some pictures of Macy enjoying life...what post would be complete without a few images of my awesome, awesome pup.

My Weekend

2009-01-19T16:36:00.008-09:00

I ended up going into Bethel this weekend to take my tests. It was kind of a last minute decision and probably wasn't the best one I've ever made (and I've made a lot of bad ones over the years). I am happy that I went and got those tests over with. It was a good feeling to put my books away last night and to know that it should be awhile before I need to get them out again.

The river was horrible to travel on when Christina and I headed up. It actually reminded me of what it is like right before breakup. There were a few inches of water everywhere and I almost swamped my machine a few times. I was reminded of a couple of years ago when I had crashed my machine in similar conditions heading from Bethel to Oscarville. Just thinking of that got my heart pounding and made me extra cautious.

When I finally got to Bethel I was a nervous wreck and my clothes were soaked through to my underwear. I parked my snowmachine in front of the library and decided to walk over to the college. That was a bad idea as it was slick ice between the library and the college and I took quite a digger on my way in. So, not only was I soaking wet, but my ass and my hand were hurting like hell. Plus, I had to do quite a dance on the ice as I tried to retrieve all the gear that had flown in the air as I went down. As I entered the college I was near tears.

I walked past the room where some of my classmates were taking the test. Since the weather was so cruddy the only person to make it in from any of the villages was...that's right...me. The rest of the test takers were my classmates from Bethel. It took a few minutes to get all my gear off and get it hung up so it could dry. After shedding my clothes and hanging them up in a different room I was finally ready to join my classmates already taking the test. With my two soggy backpacks full of books I walked into the room and took my place at the very back of the room.

When I had taken my enormous digger outside the college I had been more concerned about my computer than with my own body and I held my breath as I turned it on. I pushed the button, heard some whirling noises from deep within the machine and then....a black screen. I stared in disbelief at the black screen. Sensing a breakdown of one of his students, my professor was instantly by my side asking me what was wrong.

"My computer...it's,"sniff, sniff, "it's black. I fell and...it's black!" I managed to get out.

"Hmm...and I suppose all your notes are on there, huh?" he responded. When he said that the damn of tears broke. I held my swollen hand over my mouth and just nodded. Although I recognize he was trying to comfort me and assess the situation it was completely the wrong thing to say at that moment.

"Ok...let's see....ummm," was his response, "well, there are other computers you can use and I know the technology people are still here. Why don't you get settled and then we can figure this out."

I simply nodded. Just to be sure that it wasn't working properly, I turned my computer off and then turned it back on. I held my breath as I heard it start up. I again heard some whirly noises happening inside and then...YES! the login screen popped up.

"It works now." I managed to croak out suddenly embarrassed about my leaky eyes.

I got settled in and ate the two pieces of chocolate my professor had put at my place as a little "brain food". Still sniffling I then ate the other two pieces he had put at my neighbor's place. I then stood up and grabbed the two chocolates at the place in front of me. I figured no one else was going to be making it in so the chocolate, by default, was mine. Finally, after some self medicating via chocolate, I was ready to take my test.

The next four hours of my life involved shifting continuously in my chair because my wet corduroys were making my already sore butt even more sore. I shifted constantly looking for some relief. That was pretty much my main concern. I also wrote an answer to the essay question that was posed to me. I was so happy when my professor told us time was up. I emailed my test and got a ride to my friend Brian's.

At Brian's I changed into comfy clothes and was finally able to relax. Although there was a terrible windstorm going on it felt good to be inside a warm cozy house surrounded by friends. We also took a ride in a suburban all the way across town. It was crazy to be out in such strong winds. The next morning I had to wake up early so I could take my other test. Brian and I compared dreams and came to the conclusion that the wind makes us dream some pretty crazy things.

My ride to the college showed up early and I had to run out with a mug full of coffee. I spilled the coffee all over my corduroys on the way to the college. For the second day in the row I walked into to take my test with wet pants.

Over the next four hours I answered some more essays questions. This test was a bit harder and more time consuming so I had to devote less time to eating the snacks my professors had sitting out. A little after 2:30 I emailed my test, packed up my stuff, hugged my professors good bye and was out the door.

I got a ride around the building and my friend dropped me off at my snowmachine. There I found that the wind had torn my little trunk hatch off the back and I found it laying in some bushes. What had been a little broken before was now officially really broken and it's been causing me annoyances since. It blew off again on Sunday but luckily Christina was following me and was able to retrieve all the stuff that flew out.

On Sunday morning we headed up to Bethel to see the start of the K300. We missed it though. We did see the start of the Bogus Creek 150 and it was fun to see all the dogs lined up. The two teams below are two rookie teams. The picture on the left is of the youngest rookie and the picture on the right is of the oldest rookie.

I brought Macy in hopes that she would finally understand the concepts of pulling. I still see her all harnessed up ready to gracefully pull me on skis. It's a dream of mine to soar through the snow with my trusty little dog pulling me. Usually when I harness her all up she starts to move and looks back meekly every three seconds or so and then tries to run away from the approaching skis. She never runs forward though and always ends up running to the side and then trying to get behind me. That doesn't work too well. We never really get too far before I unhook her and just let her run. Macy enjoyed the race very much.

It was too cold for her though and some friends brought her back to Brian's.

The rest of Sunday was a lazy day. I arrived back home after watching some football at Brian's house. After a nice hot shower I sort of lazed around. Christina convinced me to watch Mamma Mia and although I still prefer the live version the movie version wasn't too bad.

So, that's it. My weekend. It wasn't too bad but I did find myself wanting a "re-do" at about 9 p.m. last night. There's always next weekend though.

A Repreive?

2009-01-16T11:03:00.006-09:00

I'm supposed to head into Bethel this weekend to take my FINAL final exams for my Master's program. As much fun as two four hour essay exams sound I'm really not looking forward to it. I don't think I'll do badly, I just am not looking forward to it.

The weather here is atrocious. Really bad. It has warmed up quite a bit and we have had loads of rain. This has caused some pretty slick conditions. Apparently, the Bethel airport is closed today and I also heard that flights haven't made it out since Tuesday. Another friend said a cargo plane landed yesterday but since then...nothing.

A classmate and I have been chatting back and forth trying to figure out if our profs can make it in from Fairbanks to give us our exams. A part of me just wants to take the damn things and get them out of the way. Another part of me would like some more time to study and prepare. On top of the weather our internet was out last night so my classmate and I lost the opportunity to study via iChat.

The weather has also been causing me some frustration. I've been wanting to run outside ever since I got back and haven't been able to due to first cold weather and now this rainy wet weather. Last night I decided to try running anyway and had to turn around after about a half mile. I was hoping that I would be able to get out to the ice road and run on that. I made it part way out there when I noticed a truck driving down the road. I watched as water sloshed up over the front of the truck and realized that the ice road was probably a bad idea. I then went home and tried skiing, I got a bit farther on skis but it was still quite frustrating. I haven't tried my bike yet. Perhaps this evening I will take it out on the river.

The extreme change in weather has totally affected all of our moods as well. It's weird how the weather affects people. I think my mood has been a result that I haven't been able to exercise as much as I would like to.

I was also looking forward to attending the K300 with some friends. As of right now the start of the race has been delayed.

Sigh.

The rain has stopped at this point but the skies are kind of crazy looking and the wind is BLOWING. Take a look.

Christmas in O-ville

2009-01-13T10:42:00.004-09:00

Christmas in Oscarville is always a good time. This year was no exception. This was the first year I didn't have my students do something huge and time consuming...simply because we didn't have the time to do something huge and time consuming.

So anyway, Christmas went well. Here are some pics of our Christmas program and Santa's visit to Oscarville.

Oh yeah! Congratulations to my former student, Samantha, on the birth of her baby girl back in November!

Book Update

2009-01-12T14:28:00.010-09:00

I just finished The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb last night. After reading this 723 page work it is obvious why he only writes one book every ten years. It was pretty good and I enjoyed it quite a bit and I really like Lamb's writing style.

There were parts that I did end up skimming through (it's 723 pages for crying out loud!) but in all I thought it was a pretty good story and is quite entertaining. It really made me want to go back and reread some of his other books again.

Another book I read recently was The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Where do I begin with this one? I have a few friends who are really into the whole Hitchhiker's Guide Books and although I really did enjoy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy I think I am just continuously perplexed by the comedy science fiction genre. Not perplexed in a bad way..I just think it is a completely unique genre. I do enjoy the crazy characters that are in all the books and I do enjoy reading about all the crazy places they end up. My favorite part of this book was right at the beginning when poor Arthur Dent requested a cup of tea and jammed the Improbability Drive on The Heart of Gold which then set into motion a series of crazy events. I do think I will probably read the next book in the series. It was a good read.

I read Whirligig by Paul Fleishman and really, really thought it was a good book. It was a quick read but the content and the story itself was so powerful. This story begins with a young boy accidentally killing a young woman when he tries to kill himself. The mother of the young woman asks the boy, Brent, to construct four whirligigs in her honor in the four corners of the United States. Brent agrees to this restitution and armed with tools and a Greyhound bus pass goes on his journey. This was a really great book and I would really like some of my students to read it.

Finally, last but not least, I read Palestine (thanks Carey!) by Joe Sacco. I don't know where to begin with this book. It was powerful, emotional, insightful and completely opened my eyes to the plight of the Palestinian people. The drawings were beautiful and conveyed the emotions and feelings of the people Sacco encounters made lasting impressions on me. Considering the recent events and the current situation between Israel and Gaza I would definitely recommend this book to anyone. In fact, I would encourage everyone to read it. It was definitely a great read.

I'm baack!

2009-01-12T11:01:00.004-09:00

After a short three weeks off of work I am back in Oscarville and school has resumed.

Christmas break was pretty fun. Due to the weather in Seattle I lost about a week of my vacation. Since my friend Brian and I were traveling with the companion fare we were stuck with each other for all of our traveling. You can read all about our start to our holiday break here.

It was pretty good to get home. As always, I was amazed at how big my nieces had gotten. Mairin, turned one in November and Claire will be four in June. My family was pretty good. Compared to other Christmases it was relatively calm and free of any sort of fighting.

New Year's was fun. My friends Jon, Chad, Tim and I made dinner at Jon and Chad's house and then went out for a bit. We counted down the New Year in Chad's brother's garage and were also witness to a man almost getting knocked out by a huge belt buckle. In fact, I do believe the belt buckle wasn't a belt buckle at all but a Chevy emblem converted into a belt buckle. Which meant that it left quite an egg on the dude's head. It was also better than other New Year's because everyone was more concerned with getting all the champagne bottles open as quickly as possible at the stroke of 12. Other people seem more concerned with making out with someone at midnight and it was refreshing to be surrounded by people who had their priorities straight!

The following weekend I went snowmobiling in Upper Michigan with my brother and sister-in-law and our friend Jay. We drove up to Ishpeming, MI and stayed at the Best Western there. I'm not sure how many miles we put on that weekend, but Jay said that we put on 210 on Saturday alone.

It felt so good to see soooo many huge trees. I really really miss those things. It was also a bit scary for me to see so many huge ones. I kept having images of myself flying around the corner and slamming into one. I did alright though. The machine I was using was a bit powerful for me and I couldn't seem to keep a straight line on the trail but I did pretty well. I only went into the "pickers" once when I veered off the trail to miss hitting a rabbit.

On Saturday we stopped at this really cool restaurant to eat and when I said "really cool" I mean really freaking cold. It was almost colder inside the restaurant than it was outside and none of us could get warm. At one point some guy started lighting the little decorative candles that were on the bar and we all were trying to warm our hands over those. There was also a small little gas fireplace in the building and people were huddled around that trying to get warm. It would have been a much cooler place if it were warm. I did leave a suggestion in the suggestion box to "Please turn the heat up, we are cold! Thank you!" I loved seeing all the snowmobiles outside. It was pretty rad. Thanks Brian, Heidi and Jay for letting me tag along! Always the little sister, huh? Some things never change no matter how old we all get.

My oldest brother, Brian, got me some pretty sweet pink snowshoes for Christmas and I took those out a few times while I was home. I was amazed at how much of a workout I felt I got. It had been years since I donned snowshoes. I couldn't fit them in my luggage when I came back up so my mom is sending them to me.

I also got to see my friend Jenny's little baby, Olivia. I took my niece with me to see the baby and Claire was so fun. I love that she is so outgoing and bubbly. In no time at all she was running around and exploring the Schroeder home and was "helping" Jon's mom and dad make us drinks. After that we went out to eat and after watching that little girl eat a cheeseburger, fries and a small ice cream cone I thought for sure she was going to puke. She didn't though.

Brian and I left on Thursday evening from Chicago and spent two nights in Anchorage. On the second night we got to see the Badgers beat UAA in hockey.

We rented a little Forenza and although I could see that the Forenza would probably be a nice little car in the summer it didn't perform all that well on the icy roads. We had fun with it though (although I drove like a little grandma).

I arrived here in Oscarville two nights ago and it feels good to be home. Macy is loving it as well and I hope our warm weather (0 degrees!) holds until this afternoon so we can go bike riding on the river.

Friday Nights in the Village

2008-12-08T16:45:00.004-09:00

This is what we do for fun on Friday nights in the village. That is a head massager. It tickles. We took turns tickling each other with the head massager. It was fun.

What the crap?

2008-12-04T16:59:00.002-09:00

Last week was cold...like -30 (with wind chill) cold.

Today it is raining and is 38 degrees outside. I'm watching the snow melt and the slough outside my window is full of rushing water. My plans to go bike riding on the river have been scratched now. Maybe I'll get my kayak back out.

The Perfect Game of Fetch

2008-12-03T21:50:00.003-09:00

Macy and I just played the perfect game of fetch. The river is quite slickery with a fresh layer of frozen rain and the wind is blowing out there at about 20 mph or so. What that means is that with just a small amount of force a stick can slide for quite a bit along the ice before a little dog can catch it. There were even a few times I didn't have to do anything. Macy would bring the stick back to me and would unknowingly send it on it's way again. Hopefully conditions will continue into tomorrow and I can take her outside with her Chuck-it and some tennis balls. I'd love to see how far those things can go.

Franksgiving

2008-12-03T13:23:00.003-09:00

Thanksgiving (a.k.a. Franksgiving by Brian Rendall) was one of the most enjoyable weekends I have had in quite some time.

On Tuesday of last week Brian came down to give our students their Driver's Ed tests. We are anxiously waiting for the results and I kind of wish I had a car so that I could take the kids who did earn their permits out for some driving lessons. The river is nice and flat and since there isn't anything out there to hit learning how to drive on the river would be ideal for any beginning student.

Brian spent the evening and we passed the time eating a yummy dinner of spaghetti and watching Christina season a turkey for the next day's feast at the school.

The next morning I awoke at 6:30 and threw the turkey in the oven and then promptly went back to bed.

School that day went exceptionally considering that 5 turkeys were roasting in various houses throughout the village and meal prep began almost the second breakfast was over. Have I ever mentioned how awesome my students are? They even took a quiz in biology (which everyone got A's on).

The meal was great. Brian brought our turkey over at noon. The students all know what they need to do to help set up and a half hour later our table was set, people were in the school and were ready to EAT!

After we gorged ourselves on food we quickly cleaned up and went home to get a little rest before the REAL turkey day approached.

My snowmachine had been in the shop (which is a whole 'nother silly story) and my friend K.C. agreed to bring me Bethel to get it. We went up there, we came back and then we ALL (K.C, Christina, Brian and I) all went back up.

I dropped Brian off at home then met K.C. and Christina off at V.I.P. for a Thanksgiving sushi dinner. After dinner, K.C. went home, Christina went to Anchorage to meet a friend and I went back to Brian's for a few beverages and to rest my stomach.

The next morning I awoke at...noon. We got up and had some breakfast and then proceeded to sit around for dinner to be ready.

At one point, the cook asked Brian and me to go to the A.C. to get some cranberry sauce. It was there at the A.C. that a very philosophical discussion took form. Which cranberry sauce would be the preferred sauce for our guests? For some reason, I suggested "get both" but then for whatever reason I figured that our guests would like the whole berry cranberries. BOY WAS I WRONG! Sliders folks, always opt for the sliders. (Sliders are the kind of cranberries that slide right out of the can.)

Thanksgiving was a blast. I ate dinner with Brian and his roommates at the Tundra Oasis. Jimmy, the master chef of the house, prepared a meal that was fit for the gods. Turkey, potatoes, stuffing, whole berry cranberries...it was all there. We stuffed ourselves silly.

After dinner we proceeded to sit around and laugh. Brian and I indulged in a little "champagne of beers" and the conversation with all the people there flowed freely. I met quite a few cool people at dinner and it was after one when Brian finished his taco and Dorito snack and we crawled back into bed.

It was noon again by the time we got up and we were quite slow to start our day. We finally got it started and decided to take the snow machines for a ride. The only problem was that Christina's machine decided not to start and once it did start it really didn't want to stay started. After a quick phone call to Christina in Anchorage we dropped her snow machine off at the shop.

With nothing much else to do Brian and I headed back to Oscarville where we spent the night watching movies and hanging out.

The next morning, Mr. Bodily (K.C.) joined us for some moose meat breakfast burritos and we all waited to hear news from Christina's machine. The news came...and it wasn't good. Her machine was sick and would take much longer than a day to get well.

K.C. left after we got the bad news and Brian and I headed back up to Bethel. I can't remember what we did but we headed back to Oscarville later on and Mr. Bodily joined us again later on that evening and we headed out to the bluffs for some good old fashioned sliding.

The next morning was Sunday and I brought Brian home early. I spent the rest of the day getting caught up on work and I ended the weekend feeling great. All in all...it was a great, restful and relaxing weekend and I don't think I have a single picture to prove it.

Winter

2008-11-18T17:52:00.002-09:00

It's cold outside today and in an attempt to dawdle some more before I head out for some exercise I thought I would write a little something something.

Winter is officially here and is quite early this year. The trail to Napaskiak has been open for what seems like a few weeks already and we have been traveling up to Bethel for about the past two weeks. The trail is smooth and wonderful which means that my snowmachine and I can get up to Bethel in about 10 minutes or so now. It's a great feeling to have that sense of freedom again. I appreciate all the boat rides I get but I love being independent.

The kids are all out skiing and seeing the ski boots lined up (or strewn about in most cases) in the entryway of the school is a good feeling. I have only been out a couple of times this year on skis. On Sunday, I accompanied a friend of Christina's back across the river to Napaskiak. It was almost 9 pm when we arrived but the ski across was so nice and it was a great evening to be out.

The ski back was great as well. On my own, I had the opportunity to just enjoy the night and to go at my own pace. Macy loved being out and ran around the entire time. The Packers won, the dinner was great and the ski home was wonderful. I couldn't ask for a better start to the week.

Time to head outside now. Today has been one of the coldest days we have had so far this year and I think Macy and I are going to bundle up and head out for a run.

Mystery Meat

2008-11-13T17:24:00.004-09:00

This evening I returned home from my school only to discover that Christina had fulfilled her personal assistant duties for me. I really think she should add "Personal Assistant to Erin Kavanaugh" on her resume. Her duties include "taking phone messages, directing phone calls for Erin to the school, listening to vents, offering insightful advice, reminding her of time, reminding her of calling people back, reminding Erin of pretty much everything, giving her food when she doesn't have time or is too lazy to cook, etc, etc."

Christina rattled off the couple of people who had called and then she looked at me and said, "And some guy dropped off some caribou meat for you."

I stopped for a second and replied, "Who?"

"I don't know, " she said, "I had never seen him before."

Christina then described him and since the description fit almost every Yup'ik man I know (except Raphael, the security guard at the courthouse -- I knew it wasn't him) I was still stumped. We put in a few phone calls to find out if someone in the village had gotten a caribou and asked around a bit. Still nothing. No clue who had dropped it off.

I walked to the sink and found a gallon Zip-Lock filled with fresh caribou meat. I was surprised and pleased at the quantity.

Of course, teasing from Christina immediately ensued (she should add "keeps Erin humble" to her list of duties) and as I divided the meat into smaller bags I felt my face burning a little.

However, I thought the whole "mystery meat" thing was pretty cool. I felt pretty honored that someone had thought to share their catch with me. And although my face was a bit red with embarrassment, I had a huge smile on my face.

**I have since found out that the meat was delivered by a nephew of a coworker of mine. He stopped in this past Sunday to say hi and have some tea. He has since been invited down for caribou stew when I have some time to make some.