Happy Easter!

We had a good Easter! The church service was nice, but not really anything special or different than usual. They did have a hand bell group do a couple of songs and that was nice. It reminded me of my church back home. We always have a hand bell group on Easter, too. I got to thinking about the Easter service back home and missing it. Every Easter they do the flowering of the cross, where every member of the congregation goes up and places a flower in a wire mesh cross. When it is finished, it is absolutely beautiful. Which, of course, is the point...how something as ugly as a crucifixion is turned into something so beautiful as the Lord giving his son for us. Easter always gets me thinking about my great grandmother, Gran. She loved Easter and lilies. She was such a wonderful person and I miss her sometimes. It's hard to imagine that I can miss someone who passed when I was only 11 years old, but I do. It's as though I can still feel her love after all these years.

After church, we went to go see about buying a snow machine. One of my coworkers offered to sell me his for a really great price. So, Avery and I went over to help him dig the machine out of the snow and see about taking it for a ride. We shoveled the snow out from all around it. Put a little heater under the hood for awhile to thaw it out. It took awhile, but he finally got it started and the track spinning and got it pulled out on the driveway. He hopped on it to take it for a quick test spin. As we stood watching, the snow machine rammed straight into his neighbors truck. SMACK! Oh, man....turns out the right hand steering arm was still frozen and he couldn't turn. Busted up the front of the snow machine and his neighbors truck. I felt soooooooooo bad. It's such a bummer. For him and for us...I was really looking forward to buying that snow machine. Everything happens for a reason, right? Maybe this is not the snow machine we are meant to own. I'm just thankful no one got hurt, but I feel so bad about it.

After that, we went to Easter dinner at another of my coworkers houses. It was a nice little gathering and pretty typical of any big holiday dinner. The food and company were great. I've always felt very welcome here. People are very caring and gracious about making sure that you feel welcome. We actually had several invitations to Easter dinners by people who wanted to make sure we were not left out of the festivities. I made a cherry pie that I was going to take to the Easter dinner and when I got home from church, Taboo had eaten it. Geez...he's really a pain these days. More of a pain than he's worth lately.

Easter came so early this year. It is as early as it can get really. Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. This is to ensure that the day is celebrated around the same time it would have been in 30AD. It will not fall on March 23rd again until 2160.

Now, I am going to work on grading some papers. Grades are due tomorrow and I only have one assignment left to grade. Parent Teacher conferences are this week and then we get Friday off. All the first year teachers are coming in for the Camai dance festival and our last culture class. I'll write more on that later.

Mom has finally got internet and is reading the blog, so here are some Avery pics for her....

Avery and his friend hangin in his room. We've rearranged it now, so it looked a bit different. His friend is the neighbor kid. He's a good kid. His family is from Thailand, they moved here a couple years ago.

Here's Avery sleeping on Taboo's bed. He loves to fall asleep with the dogs on the weekends.
The puppy is so big already. She's already bigger than Mikey. I bet she weighs 25 pounds already. She'll be pretty big by the time summer comes around.
Awww...aren't they cute!?!

62 days until we're home...You know what I'm really looking forward to? Gardening...working the soil, caring for plants, having fresh herbs, eating tomatoes off the vine, picking strawberries in the morning

In other news...
Avery starts freestyle wrestling tomorrow which is good cause he'll be able to burn off some of his energy during the week. It's not good for Bailey though cause she'll be stuck in the cage more. When she doesnt get her energy burned off, she's a little terror.

I start as the environmental science merit badge counselor for Avery's Boy Scout troop on Wednesday. The badge is very involved, requiring 11 different projects to be completed and it's a required badge to move up to an Eagle scout. I'm looking forward to helping out he Boy Scout's and just having something to do.

Sunlight...
We had 12hours34minutes of sunlight today. It's really hard to get to bed early when the sun is still up at 9:3opm, but I love it! We are still gaining 5minutes40seconds each day. To give you some perspective...VW, Ohio had 12hours20minutes of daylight and is gaining 2minutes43seconds tomorrow.

Weather...
It's been clear, sunny, and cold lately. Temps are hovering around zero each day.

Latest read...
The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd. I loved her book Secret Life of the Bees and this book was written equally as well, but was about something teetotally different. This book explores our self realization, life fulfillment, and the ways in which we search for meaning in our lives. It also delves into the thoughts of a woman, how we handle crisis, and the ways in which sexuality are linked to mentality. I enjoyed this book very much.

Well, that's all for now. Enjoy this day of new beginnings!

You know it's cold when...

This is the dumpster on the next street over from our house. This is what it looked like up until about a month ago.Here is the same dumpster a couple of weeks ago. You know it's cold when even the dumpsters hibernate for the winter.

I know I've wrote and posted pics before about the dumpsters, but I took some new pics so I thought I'd post them. It's just one of the numerous quirky things that are part of Bethel.This is a Bethel thing. Almost all the dumpsters in the city are painted. It's kinda fun!

Basketball championship

Both the boys' and girls' BRHS basketball teams are at the state competition in Anchorage right now. The State champion BRHS cheerleaders are also there cheering them on. The whole school is abuzz. The games are being broadcast through the local radio station KYUK. You can listen by clicking on the KYUK link to the right. The game is on the PA system here at school so that everyone can hear what's going on. Everybody is all hyped up. It's just an interesting atmosphere.

Dont even say it

Just in case you are complaining about it being cold where you are and spring not being very springy....I just wanted you to know that it is -24 WITHOUT WINDCHILL this morning.

Spring? Where?

Ok, so...spring. It is officially here, but apparently nobody told mother nature. It is -14 right now and just too dang cold. There is more fresh snow on the ground from the last few days...about 4 inches or so. It was pretty dang dark when I left the house this morning.

What's the weather like in your neck of the woods? Has spring sprung? Oh, and, does anyone know if the groundhog saw his shadow on groundhogs day or not? Just curious.

This is a video of Avery playing in his snow cave that he built on spring break with the other kids in the neighborhood. I tried to post this a long time ago, but I was having problems uploading video.


In other news...
Latest read...Atonement by Ian McEwan. It was a good, but complicated book about how a child's perception of things really messes up some peoples lives. It is also about love, war, and the development of an authors mind. The story line itself wasn't extremely compelling, mostly, I think because I had just read another book with a similar plot. There were two things about Atonement that I really liked...First, the author wrote the book in layers, such that you got to hear the perspective of several different people overlapping to get to the whole story. Second, I liked the way the author wrote the book in the same way that the character in the book who was a developing author would have. It is as though you are reading a book by Briony, not Ian. If that doesnt make sense, then you'll just have to read it.

Sunlight...
We are at 12hours and 12 minutes today. Tomorrow will be 5minutes39seconds longer. Yesterday the sun was out and it was wonderful. This morning, I can see out my classroom window that the sun is coming up, but it is an overcast day.

Coming home...
I am officially planning a party for Sunday night, May 25th. We will have food, drinks, fire, and lots of stories. Be there at about 8pm. If you're coming, plan on staying...no driving will be allowed!

Then on Monday, May 26th, Memorial day. We will be having a BBQ get together at about 2pm. Most of you should just plan on coming on Sunday night and staying for the BBQ on Monday, but if that is not possible, then plan on being there at about 2pm for the BBQ.

I love you and miss you all. I hope to see you there!

It's Here! It's Early!

SPRING....WOOYOO! YAY!

We officially reached the 12 hour mark dead on....today was exactly 12 hours long. The spring equinox is not due until the 19th this year, but for some reason (one that i used to know, but have now forgotten...something about our tilt here in AK) we get ours early.

Although this is great and I love having all the extra sunlight, it is far from spring weather here. Today was a very blustery day with temps at just over zero and wind straight from the north, putting the wind chill factor at somewhere below -25. It snowed and blowed all day!

But, hey...at least the sun was shining! Kinda...somewhere behind all the clouds:)

What's in a name?

When I first got my student roster way back in August, I noticed right away that the names were different. They were unusual...to me. The names that I'm used to seeing on a student roster were not there...names like Black, Carpenter, Jones, Smith, Brown, Wilson, Evans, Johnson, Clark, Edwards, Davis, Miller, Sanders, Bidlack, Matthews, Myers, Baker, Martin, Hill, Childs, Good, Crawford, Adams, Gordon, Ricker, Frederick, Young, and Taylor. Now, I will say that if you look those names up in the phone book, you will find one or two listings. So, there are people here that have those names, just not very many. Not the usual number.

So...what names are common here then? Pete, Russell, Thomas, Andrew, Jacobs, Lewis, Tony, Moses, Oscar, Peter, Lindsey, Charlie, Paul, John, Jimmy, Nick, Jimmie, and Charles. Sound like first names, right? NOT! These are common last names. And, to beat that, many people have two first names, such as...Paul Paul, John Paul, Paul John, Charlie Lindsey, Thomas Jimmie, and so on....I actually had John Paul in one class and Paul John in another class at the beginning of the year....as if it's not already hard enough to learn all the students names. I'm not sure why so many people have first names for last names, but I imagine that it must have something to do with being settled by the Western missionaries and being given english names.
Other common last names that are more native in origins are Egoak, Yupakik, Angaiak, Waska, Nagasiak, Alexie, Kawagley, and Wassilie. Yup'ik language is very heavy on vowels and gutteral sounds. Even though these names are more native, they are still english names. Many Yup'ik people have an english name and a Yup'ik name. They get their Yup'ik name from a person who has passed on. The family of the deceased and the family of the person who is given the name become one.

Poker night!

So, Avery is off with the Boy Scouts doing some winter camping. I worked all day and got a TON done! Chandra and I went to dinner and had a great meal(Korean food). Just as I walked in the door from being gone all day with all of that, I got a knock on my door. The knock was an invitation to play poker. So, I doned my gear(it was snowing pretty good out) and walked with my friends to their house on the next street over. We had beverages and played poker for hours. It was a great time!

My friends had house guests. Friends of a friend from a village not far from Bethel who were in town for a doctor appt and needed a place to stay. Originally, it was supposed to be just the father and son, but the wife, daughter, and baby ended up coming too. Needless to say, they were making themselves right at home, helping themselves to whatever they wanted in the kitchen and not picking up after themselves. Messes were made in the bathroom because the kids didnt know that they were supposed to keep the shower curtain on the inside of the shower because they dont take showers, they just do steams. They were very musty smelling. The parents let the kids do whatever they wanted, including letting the 1 year old chew gum. When we suggested to the mother that letting the baby chew gum might not be such a good idea, she said it was better than the baby bugging her all the time. As long as the baby left her alone, it was fine. All the kids, including the baby, were still awake when I left at 1:30. When someone said to the baby..."Can you say pop? say pop!" and the baby started saying pop, the dad piped in and said to the baby..."Can you say drunk? Say drunk!".

I am just so floored this first experience with a completely native family from a village. Basically, they raise their kids with the premise that they have to make their own mistakes and figure things out on their own. I have heard many native people say that this is the way to raise kids. It's just so different. Even though it seems so wrong for parents (and house guests) to behave that way, I dont think they really see it that way. It is just the difference in the culture and their fundamental belief systems. Or maybe this family is just a bad example of native family values in action?

It's all about the hair!

As a preteenager, it's only fitting that Avery has developed an obsession with his hair. He has grown it out long and he loves it. It looks good when he does it with mousse or gel or palmade, but when he doesn't it ends up looking like a big, poofy 'fro. So, here is Avery being his usual dorky self...

The newest Scout!

Avery has been involved with Boy Scouts for a couple months now. On Wednesday night, he finally received his uniform and his first badges. We attended the badge ceremony in the old part of the Catholic church. This used to be the chapel, but now it is the social room. The really interesting thing about this building is that is does not face the street, but rather faces a little pond. The reason, I've been told, is because it was built before there were roads and the main form of transportation was boat or qayaq.
Most of the other Boy Scouts are my students. Here are a couple of the kids and their fathers, who are the Scout Masters.
The Scouts are going camping (weather permitting) this weekend on Saturday night. They are going up river a couple of miles to someone's fish camp. They will be staying in cabins so they wont be too cold.
It's back down to below zero, again. It hasn't been this cold for weeks. Brrrrr!