I spent the weekend with the kids who made it to state for music. We had four kids perform solos...a piano solo, clarinet solo, and 2 vocal solos. one of the girls who did a vocal solo got a superior rating, which is the highest they give. The music festival was a really great time and again I find myself wishing I would never have given up the sax when I was younger. We spent alot of time shopping with the kids. They were picking up things for prom and just doing some general shopping. We went to severals malls, walmart a couple times, and fred meyer too!
One of the girls was talking about some guy who dances at a gas station for a couple hours on Friday evenings. She wanted to go see the guy dance and maybe dance too. So, as we were driving toward downtown, sure enough, there was the guy dancing outside of some gas station. So, we stopped and the girls took their iPods and got out and danced too. They thought it was the coolest thing ever. It was pretty fun! and funny! But the question that continues to plague my mind is...when you live in Bethel, 400 miles away from Anchorage...how do you know about these things? The answer? Basically, going to Anchorage is the highlight of life for many people here. It is not unusual for a person or family to hop on a flight on a Friday afternoon and head to Anchorage for the weekend. because of this, the kids travel easily and know their way around the airport pretty well. Anywhere you want to go from bethel, you have to fly. it's just one more thing that is really "no big deal" when you live here.
Anchorage is a nice little city. It reminds me alot of Fort Wayne. The population is about 250,000 and there is alot to do. The city is pretty spread out and provides most of the opportunities of any other city that size. As we were sitting at a stop light on a corner, I thought to myself, this could be any other city in the US, except for the mountains. Anchorage has a glorious mountain view. It's wonderful. right now, when the mountain are only half covered in snow, it really adds a dynamic contrast to the background scenery. I have pics that I will post as soon as I figure out how.
This week is finals week. My kids are almost done with finals, then we have an awards ceremony during 5th period, and the 8th grade promotional dance tonight. Tomorrow I have a field trip with my 10th graders. We are going out the airport to the flight school to play with the flight simulator and sit in an airplane and learn about the controls. we also will get to take a tour of the control tour and go to the national weather service to launch a weather balloon. We have graduation on Friday. Our last day of school is Monday and we are having field/picnic day. Then we have a workday and an inservice day. I'm done with school completely on Wednesday and so is avery. My classroom is pretty much completely packed up for the remodel this summer, but I still need to pack the apt. Then I fly out of here next friday...I cant believe that in 10 days i'll be back in civilization again. I cant wait to walk through the grass barefoot!
Weather update...
it's been in the 50's these last few days. It has rained a little bit here and there, but mostly it's been sunny. This morning I didnt even wear a jacket or anything and when I got to school, the digital announcement board read 36degrees...i was surprised that it was that cold. it certainly didnt feel like it. I think i have become somewhat acclimated to the climate and cold here so that a sunny 36degree morning feels really warm to me.
Sunlight update...
It basically stays light out constantly. sunrise is at 6:02am, but twilight starts at 4:55am. Sunset is at 11:23pm, but dusk goes all the way until 12:32am! so really it's only dark from about 12:30 until 5. We officially have 17hours 21minutes of sunlight with 19 hours 37minutes of visible light. It is really hard to get any good sleep and everybody is soooooo ready to be done with school so that they can enjoy all of the light.
River update...
The river went out at about 8am yesterday morning...none of my ice classic tickets were close enough to even consider being a possible winner. Tonight they will have a celebration with live music and food down by the river. Hopefully i will be able to go for a little while, but with the 8th grade promotion dance, i dont know if i'll make it. The river break up has caused some major flooding, but thankfully, none in Bethel (yet). Here is the statement by the national weather service...
Statement as of 6:02 PM AKDT on May 13, 2008
The National Weather Service in Anchorage has issued a
* Flood Warning for Kuskokwim Delta
* until noon akdt Wednesday
An ice jam has occured on the Kuskokwim River at the Village of
Akiak. The river has reached bankfull behind the ice jam and is
beginning to flood low lying parts of Akiak.
A Flood Warning means that flooding is imminent or has been reported.
Stream rises will be slow and flash flooding is not expected.
However... all interested parties should take necessary precautions
immediately.
If you live near or along the Kuskokwim River near Akiak stay alert
and be prepared to take action.
Lat... Lon 6099 16126 6112 16094 6092 16110 6088 16123
time... Mot... loc 0202z 180deg 0kt 6091 16120
apparently break was not as dramatic this year as it has been in past years. the ice melted away pretty slowly and there was much open water in the last few days.
latest read...
are you kidding me? I dont even have enough time to think about reading.
Cultural phenomena...
As a part of the Yup'ik culture, it is common for someone to just raise their eyebrows to say "yes". I read about this before coming here, but never really noticed anyone doing it. i figured it was just another cultural link that the people of bethel had lost and that people here didnt really do it anymore. about two months ago, I got a new student in my class who was from a village and I finally noticed it. I would ask him a question and he would just silently raise his eyebrows. after that, I started noticing it more often in kids that I had had in class all year. many times they would do the eyebrow raise along with a verbal answer. maybe this is why i never picked up on it before. NOW...I am catching myself doing it! More and more I am realizing that when someone asks me a question that I will do the eyebrow raise to indicate and affirmative answer.
laptop update...
My new laptop wont let me load pics onto the blog, so I'm going to have to figure that out before I can offer you any pics to look at. I really dislike iPhoto. It has given me lots of problems and probably the piece of software that I like the least on Mac. Did I ever mention that I'm using a Mac now?
The school gives all the teachers laptops to use. The are all Macs. My experience with Macs before I came here was pretty limited, but from what I had experienced, I didnt really like them much. Now...I LOVE MAC. I never thought I'd say it, but I do. They are so much more intuitive than PC. Basically, you can just click and drag just about anything. It is so much easier to find files on a Mac, everything is just so much easier.
Well, I think that's enough for now...hopefully I'll have some pics for you soon. And some of you I'll SEE SOON!
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