Update

I know its been a long time since I've written anything. You guys are used to me putting something new up everyday, but life has just been busy this last week and I havent gotten around to blogging. Plus, nothing particularly noteworthy has happened lately. It's just been kinda of 'business as usual' around here.

So, the state audit team was at our school last week and they did end up making it in to my classroom to watch a lesson. We have been studying chromosomal genetic diseases in Biology and the assessor was there to watch a lesson where the kids where giving presentations. The funny thing is that in order to talk about the topic, the words sperm, egg, sex, penis, breasts, testicles, ovaries were used frequently throughout the lesson. The kids where used to talking about these things(they were past the giggling phase that comes with embarrassing topics like those) because we had been studying them and they were all a part of the context of what we were learning, but the state assessor was not there for all of the lessons that led up to talking about those things and it just makes me wonder what they thought of all of that talk? :) The good thing about them being there for that lesson though is that those are the kinds of conversations that the kids actually get involved in, so they were very engaged and asking alot of questions and generally just being very good students and paying close attention. That was Thursday.

On Friday, I had a friend over for dinner and drinks to unwind a bit after a long (but good) week. We sat around and vented a bit and it was good. Then I spent the rest of my Friday night doing a bit of cramming for the Biology Praxis Test that I had to take on Saturday morning.

Saturday I woke up early so that I could leisurely drink coffee and do a bit more studying before I had to go take my test. Then I went and got mentally brain whooped by a few pieces of paper and a scantron bubble sheet. MAN, WAS THAT TEST ROUGH! I dont think it was hard so much as it was just ALOT to do in 2 hours. 150 questions in 120 minutes. I feel confident that I did fairly well, I am pretty sure that I passed. I was certainly bubbled the answer to the last question just as the test proctor was telling us to put down our pencils.

After I was done testing, I went and walked around the saturday market for a little while to see what was going on. It was really a happening place this weekend. Every table was full with someone selling their goods. GCI, the telephone company, had a booth set up trying to get people to sign up for their new "bush" cell phone service. They were giving away free Burger King hamburgers to people who would enter a raffle to win an ATV. I just think it is interesting that that is what would be a big enough bribe to get people over to their table. And it sure was working! It was the most popular table at the market!
After that, I went home and took a nap. after getting whooped by that test I was feeling pretty sleepy. I had a friend over for dinner who helped my get the battery in my truck charged back up. Later, I got together with some friends and had a fun evening. I even got to meet some new Bethel people who are around my age, which was nice because it can sometimes be hard to network with anyone besides teachers.

Sunday I spent the day in the bathroom wrapped around the toilet feeling more sick than I've ever felt. I threw up violently all day long for hours and hours. I couldnt keep anything down...NOTHING. Not even water. It was awful. I was running a fever and shaking with chills. I would go from sweating, then shivering, then back again. I tried to sleep but couldnt because I would wake up and be sick again. I dont know if it was food poisoning or a stomach flu or what. Whatever is was, I hope I never EVER get it again. Today I am not throwing up anymore and can actually function a little bit and I have been able to eat a little bit, but my whole body is sore from all of the retching that I did yesterday and I was still running a fever this morning.

I got to use some of the time in between trips to the bathroom yesterday to finish reading my March book for the birthday list:Number 2. It was Obedience by Will Lavender. It was a conspiracy theory type of book and the first book that Lavender has written. It was pretty good for a first book. Good enough to keep me distracted as to how terrible I felt all day. It was an easy read and I enjoyed it. Speaking of the birthday list...We had two vegetarian nights last week for number 16. One night we had zucchini quiche, baked sweet potatoes, and a salad. Another night we had vegetable stir fry. I've also got my ticket booked for my trip to Vegas this summer for number 7. And I have been working on finding a job in Vegas to complete number 9. I have also still been riding the snow machine almost everywhere so I've been continuing progress on number 11.

An opportunity to go to the SIOP II conference this weekend turned up at the last minute today. I got a phone call from the district office saying that two of the people who were supposed to go to Denver, Colorado for the conference had family emergencies turn up, so I was called to take one of their places. Now I am going to be leaving Friday evening to fly to Denver. We will be gone 5 days. We will get to spend the weekend in Denver before attending the conference on Monday and Tuesday, then flying home Wednesday. I am pretty excited about this opportunity to learn more about SIOP and to see a city that I've never been to.
Let's see...what else?
Avery had all A's and B's on his grade card for the 3rd quarter. He has joined NYO (native youth olympics). It is basically where there are all these events that kids compete in that are supposed to mimick movements that have a link to the native culture, such as the stick pull, seal hop, one foot high kick,two foot high kick, and wrist carry. so far he seems to enjoy it.

Only 9 weeks of school left now. i cant believe how fast this year has gone. I really have alot to get done in and out of the classroom in those weeks before leaving Bethel for the summer.

My truck is not running very well and the snow machine has started giving me a hard time too. It has been cold again lately, which is why. This morning it was down to -9, with -38 windchill. The wind has been rocking Bethel for about 4 days now. There has been a windchill advisory in effect since Friday or Saturday. It is cold! After a week of being in thaw mode and having temps above freezing, this cold snap really seems colder than normal. We are up to 11 hours and 53 minutes of light. The spring equinox is only 2 days away now. It always comes a few days early way up here. We are gaining 5 minutes and 40 seconds each day. It is really nice to have the extra daylight, but it sure does make time fly by.