Shopping in Anchorage...

URGH!!!!  I already wasn’t looking forward to flying for 31 hours to Michigan…who would?  But when I landed in Anchorage, everything seemed to be going well.  I booked a car pretty quickly.  That’s where everything that was going well, stopped going well.

I was given directions to Wal-Mart (the one with a Bush department)…however when I got where I needed to be, there was no Wal-Mart.  Luckily there was a Fred Meyer.  However, I hadn’t eaten anything all day, so I figured I’d go straight for a couple miles and there’d have to at least be a McDonald’s around.  Luckily…I saw the golden arches ahead.  Less than 2 miles away.  However, I also saw a Chinese restaurant.  Awesome!  I haven’t had restaurant food in months, I’ve been craving this, and I won’t have to eat the nasty, greasiness.  However, when I walked in…they were out of power.

I went looking for another Chinese restaurant for a few miles, but it really wasn’t worth it.  So off to the golden arches I was.  I pulled off into the parking lot and sat for about 10 minutes, ate, and just relaxed.  Then I was off.  As I was pulling out of the parking lot, I saw that the Chinese restaurant had their power back…urgh.

Then I was off to Fred Meyer.  I got there, went to customer service to make sure they had a Bush department…nope.  Well, I bought a few gifts and movies anyway.  Spent about $100.  Oh well.

Off to the second Fred Meyer (they gave me directions).  However, as I was driving, they told me to turn right on Minnesota…it was a highway.  You take the first right to go south or the second right to go north…I chose south because that’s the way it kept going.  Nope.  Wrong.

After about 45 minutes I got out my phone and used the map to get me to the Fred Meyer that was by where he was telling me to go.  I got there in about another 20 minutes.  I walked in, grabbed my cart, but I was going to make sure it was a Bush store…nope.  Urgh.  They gave me directions to another Fred Meyer…definitely this time.  I start going…after about 15 minutes and being next to the airport, I decided I needed my phone again.  It told me she told me to leave the parking lot to the left instead of turning right.  Urgh.

So I spent 25 minutes back tracking and finding a new place.  However, on my way I passed a Wal-Mart.  Great!  The original plan!  I walk in, go to customer service, ask if it has a Bush department….nope.  urgh.

Out to the car I go.  I get my map back out and follow the directions.  10 minutes later, I arrive at Dunbar Ln.  It’s a neighborhood…urgh.  I finally figure out which Fred Meyer they want me to go to, look it up on my phone…it’s Dubarr Rd that I’m supposed to be going to…urgh.

Now I have actually pulled off to the side of the road to write all of this down because I know I’ll miss a step or two with all the comical aspects.  Wow.  What a good start.  I’m gonna need a lot of Jack when I get home…

In case you were wondering: I did make it to the store that was correct.  I did buy my stuff.  I was in the  store shopping for no more than 20 minutes.  I spent almost 5 hours looking around the city for the store with a Bush department...Oh Bush...How I love thee.........

Christmas Program

Tonight was the Christmas Program at school.  It was great!  All the grades participated, including the high school (who participated for the first time thanks to Sara), and even the staff joined in!  We did The 12 Days of Emmonak...it was great!  Here are the lyrics:

On the first day of Christmas Emmonak gave to me
A big village by the Bering Sea.

On the second day of Christmas Emmonak gave to me
2 hundred children

On the third day of Christmas Emmonak gave to me
3 months of sun

On the fourth day of Christmas Emmonak gave to me
4 hours of daylight

On the fifth day of Christmas Emmonak gave to me
TOO MUCH SNOW!

On the sixth day of Christmas Emmonak gave to me
6 foot drifts

On the seventh day of Christmas Emmonak gave to me
7 days of wind

On the eighth day of Christmas Emmonak gave to me
8 months of teaching

On the ninth day of Christmas Emmonak gave to me
9 Hondas zooming

On the tenth day of Christmas Emmonak gave to me
10 canceled flights

On the eleventh day of Christmas Emmonak gave to me
11 loose dogs running

On the twelveth day of Christmas Emmonak gave to me
12 Eskimo Dancers

Visiting Michigan

Just wanted to let everyone know that I will be back in Michigan at 1pm on December 20th.  I'm going to stay until January 1st at 1pm.  Thanks!

Snow Day!

Waaaaaahoooo!!!!  We had a snow (lack of water) day yesterday.  How exciting!?  Well, it was exciting that we got to have a day off from school, and to watch 200 students who don't know what a snow day is, try to figure out what to do on a Wednesday.  It was not fun to not have water all day long.  They never cancel school here...it's kind of like college - where it's implied that you don't ever cancel school.  For instance, it's been snowing for three days, it's -18 degrees, with a windchill of -35.  You would normally think that school would be cancelled...nope.  The kids just say it's better weather to go outside and play.  I bought them two footballs to play with during gym (and I want to have a game sometime soon!), so they are playing with that sometimes on the river, too.  We had a warm spell for a few days earlier in the week so we got a bit of snow.  It was cool.  I never realized that it could be too cold to snow.  You learn everything living in Alaska!

Sunset on my way to Mountain Village

On Sunday we had our second Thanksgiving/Christmas/Holiday Celebration dinner (Sara, Nathan, Laura, and me).  Mom and Dad were nice enough to send a bunch of holiday food for us to cook, and we bought a turkey cheap at the store before Thanksgiving.  ($2 a pound...I know you were wondering what cheap meant up here...) Let's just say that we cooked the same amount of food for the four of us (three kind of because Sara is vegetarian) that Mom usually cooks for the 25ish people who come for Thanksgiving in Michigan.  We love leftovers!  I made a lot of Special K bars, so I was able to take them back to my classes and let the kids try them.  Mom, you're going to have to make a 5X's batch for me to bring back after Christmas.  They were very excited about the treats!

We're having a Talent Show on Friday that the kids are doing.  I'm so excited for it!  We have 17 acts - many of the kids are singing, 2 are rapping (one is an original song that the student wrote-he's really good!), a kid playing piano, one lip syncing and dancing (I'm so excited for this one...it's the funniest), Eskimo dancing, NYO kids doing some events, a kid playing his guitar with a song he wrote, and our MC's are doing some comedy between acts.  It's going to be amazing!  We're going to videotape it, so hopefully I can bring a video back to Michigan to show you how talented they are.

We also have our Christmas Program on Tuesday, so I'll bring plenty of pictures of that, too!

What's Wrong with These Pictures?

Alicia said that it looked perfectly fine on her end...Jerk. :P

NYO

Wow.  I had an amazing week last week.  Our Elementary (and Middle School) NYO Team finally got to travel to Alakanuk on Wednesday until Saturday to compete in the Native Youth Olympics.  They did AWESOME!  We came in 1st place for best banner, 3rd place for Knowledge Bowl, and 3rd place for Live Performance.  We had 22 1st place finishes, 15 2nd place finishes, and 11 3rd place finishes. The team took 1st place in Best Banner (and we got a trophy!), 3rd place in Knowledge Bowl (with trophy), and 3rd Place in Live Performance (and a trophy again!).

They still owe us 7 ribbons and a medal:)

We spent 3 nights, and 4 days with the kids in a strange village.  Some of the students had never traveled without their parents before, so they were very homesick.  A few tears were shed, but we made it through it.

On our way home on Saturday, we were supposed to be on the first flight home (which was dumb because total time in the air is less than 5 minutes...it's 8 miles away from our village).  However, we got our kids up, got them packed, FINALLY found all their stuff, and the office informed us that we were on weather hold from St. Mary's.  So we decided to change to the airline that's out of Emmonak.  However, by the time we got everything sorted out with that airline, they went on weather hold, too.  Urgh!  So, for the next 45 minutes Laura (the other coach) and I (and Joel, the boys' chaperone) were calling every parent of the 20 kids we had and making arrangements to get the 22 of us home by snow machine.

Joel, our other chaperone.

The river is basically like the highway up here.  In the summer, they go by boat to get from village to village.  In the winter, it's frozen, and we ride on snow machines (snow mobiles).  So, we were able to go the 20 minute ride by snow machines.  We had to wait for each parent or volunteer to come at different times, so I was the last to get home, at about 4:00pm.  I was supposed to be home at 10:20am.  :)  I love the Bush!

One of my kids drove

In my sled

The best part is that we didn't have to take snow machines for everyone-they have sleds that they put on the back of the snow machines.  Okay, I thought the little plastic ones were the ones they had pulled behind the snow machines.  Not so much.  The Eskimos build them (they are the same kind as the dog sled kind), and they're usually built out of wood.  They are big enough to hold at least 5 people and they are attached to the snow machine.  Yes, this is what I rode home in for 25 minutes, back to Emmonak.  Davis and I talked and had fun going over what happened all week long. 

A homemade sled we rode home in.

New Blog!

Yes!  Here is my new blog spot.  They put a limit on how much space I can use and so I needed a new one, or I had to pay each month.  Soo...Here's part 2! :)

I was a little proud of our kids...