Major workout!

Controlling a 700 pound machine is not an easy feat. After a full day of riding, I feel as though I've worked out every muscle in my body. When I got home from church this morning, Chandra was waiting for me in the driveway-snow machine in tow. My neighbor was out with her checkin' out our new machine. He and his friend mentioned riding over to Kwethluk, a village about 15 miles upriver, to deliver some supplies to the friends wife who is a teacher there. After much begging and pleading on my part, he finally agreed to let us tag along on our new ride!

He said they were leaving in a couple hours which gave us enough time to have lunch and go gas the snowmachine up for the ride. After lunch, Chandra and I drove over to her place so that she could get all of her winter gear on before we headed over to the gas station. On the way there, I finally managed to dump us off the machine. I hit the edge of the trail wrong and we tipped right over on our side, right in a mud puddle. The machine landed on my foot, but, thankfully, neither of us was hurt. We were going really slow when it happened. Chandra was not too pleased about getting back on the machine with me, but she did and I managed to keep the machine upright for the rest of the day. Hey, I'm learning...besides, Chandra's NEVER going to let me hear the end of it. To see what I mean...click here.
Here's Avery on our new machine. We are out on the river at the beginning of our ride. You can see Bethel in the background. I let him drive it for a few hundred yards and he did a great job. Remember, you can click on the pics for a better look!
Here's a view of the wide open trail on the river heading upriver toward Kwethluk. This is the way we took...up and around the bend to the left.
There were 8 of us that went for this ride. Me and Avery on our machine, Chandra on the back of my neighbors friends machine, my neighbor and his friend on his machine, and another of my neighbors friends and a girl that was getting a ride to Kwethluk on his machine. Notice...Chandra decided not to ride with me!
A few times on the way there and back, we rode through some trails that went through the trees pretty tightly. It was really neat lookin. This pic is from when we stopped so a rider going the other direction could pull to the side to let us through. These trails were super bumpy and we learned that our new snowmachine needs some suspension work.
There's Chandra on the back of the snowmachine behind us...just look for the pink helmet.

We spent most of the ride on the open river. I'm thankful that our neighbor let us ride with him because I cant tell any of the scenery apart...yet! On one stretch of open river, we got the snowmachines up to about 65mph. Let me tell you, riding that fast is a major rush. If you hit a bump, you bounce way up. Avery LOVED it. Every once and awhile, I'd purposely hit a bump and catch some air for Avery. Have you ever heard the expression "stuck in a rut"? Well, I know how that feels now. Sometimes there are major ruts dug into the pack snow from previous snowmachines and if you get stuck in one it is really hard to get out. I learned alot about riding today.
In this pic, you can see the snowmachine trail on the river. We followed some very heavily used trails much of the time. Today was a beautiful day for riding. Sunny and about 13 degrees. I was hot with all my gear on. The snowmachine that we bought has hand warmers and they do a really great job.
Here is our entourage stopped for a break. We would stop every 10 minutes or so to make sure everyone was together. Those guys have new, fast machines and would speed way ahead. Sometimes, it made me nervous that I would loose them and get lost. We had just come from the groove in the trees where the tracks lead to. I had a real great time today riding. We were out for about 4 hours and put about 45 miles on the snowmachine. It ran really well and seems like it's going to be a great machine for first time riders like Chandra and I.
My whole body aches all ready. I cant imagine what it'll feel like tomorrow. I'll be sore from head to toe. Or should I say from my thumbs to my toes?

I have so much to write about and a very busy schedule coming up. I am chaperoning the band kids to Kotzebue this week/weekend for the regional band competition. I will be gone from Wednesday until Sunday. There's so much to do to get ready to leave, though, that I dont know if I'll be blogging for the next couple days. I think I will have internet access and be able to post while I am there. I am so looking forward to getting away for a few days, seeing a different place in Alaska, getting a change of scenery, being above the arctic circle, hopefully seeing the Northern Lights, and just getting out of Bethel for awhile. One of the other first year teachers is coming over to stay with Avery while I am gone. I think it will be a nice little break for him, too. We spend SOOOOO much time together!

Because I have so much to share on the blog, I have resorted to making a list. I'm a list maker, I cant help it. Here are some upcoming blog posts to look forward to...

Your Homework
Kuskokwim Ice Classic
Avery sleeps with his eyes open
More Cama-i festival
Steam Baths
Boy Scouts
My First Kaspeq
The Village of Kwethluk
Kotzebue-Above the Arctic Circle
Couples Apart
Spring Parent/Teacher Conference
Aurora Borealis (hopefully)

Snowmachinin' Fools!

After much deliberation, we have finally purchased a snowmachine (AKA Snowmobile). Chandra and I found a great deal on this machine and decided to go in halves together to buy it. We are going to be roommates next year and so it was easier and cheaper to share a machine than to each buy one outright. There's Avery and I in the pic above. I got a bright yellow helmet. Chandra and Avery are in the pic below. She got a bright pink helmet! Avery already had a helmet that was given to him by our neighbor.It is a hauling machine, designed to pull loads behind it, not to go fast. We're thinking about getting a sled for it too if we can find a good deal. We took it out and rode for hours today. First, Chandra and I went out on it for a couple hours, then I took Avery out for about an hour or so. By the time we got home, my butt hurt from sitting on it.

It's big enough to easily fit three people on it and has that handy dandy little basket on the back for carrying stuff, which is great because Chandra and I plan to ride it to school next year. It's got a nice wide track for stability. I ONLY almost tipped us twice(Ok, fine, twice with Chandra and twice with Avery), but I always managed to keep us upright, which is pretty good for a first timer, I think. It is really, super hard to steer. My neighbor, who knows alot about snowmachines, came with us to check out the machine and he said that it needed some new runners and that that would help with the steering. Since there's not much of snowmachinin' season left, we thought we'd just wait until next year and get all that done.

While Avery and I were out riding this afternoon, we saw several small private planes parked behind peoples houses. I couldnt help but think how Alaskan this was. Where else do people just have planes parked in their back yards?

Even more Maori!

I just cant help it...these Maori dancers are so interesting. Here they are doing a dance with some kind of twirly thing. (Kale, do you remember what they called those things?) The music, singing, dancing, and outfits are so exotic. Makes me want to visit New Zealand. Who am I kidding? I want to visit everywhere.



I'm sitting here with my last round of state testing kids. I've been proctoring standardized tests for the 8th graders all week. Every kids in Alaska is testing this week. Most of them take the SBA (Standards Based Assessments) tests, while the 10th graders take the HSGQE (High School Graduation Qualifying Exam). While the SBA's are used to determine if students are learning what they're supposed to, if they are at grade level or not, and sometimes what classes they'll be in; the HSGQE is used to determine if students will graduate high school. They have tests in Reading, Writing, Math, and, this year, Science.

Thank goodness it's over. The kids are so mentally wasted after they finish testing all morning that trying to have class in the afternoon is a disaster. We always manage to make it through though. Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy!

Have a great Friday!

More Maori dances

Those Maori dancers were so cool. I just had to post more video of them. I'm not sure what this dance was about, but I love the facial expression of the women and how they each have their own motions. They are dancing together, yet separately. Very cool!

Pilot Station Dancers

I love the beat of this song. I find myself singing it sometimes now..."A yawyaw ayaw". Watch this video a couple times and I bet you'll be humming it to yourself too. The most interesting thing to me in this video is the little girl on the end of the left side. She is just learning the dance. This is how they teach the young ones and pass the dances down through the generations...through observation. Children learn by watching their elders.

Stebbins dancers

These dancers were one of my favorites. The dance uses many of the same hand motions as other native dances, but these dancers are more energetic and upbeat. You can see, they move their feet and lower bodies, not just their upper bodies, esp the guy in the red qaspeq. A kaspeq is a traditional shirt worn by the native people of Alaska (more on that in another post soon).

I believe this dance is about taking a steam(bath). You can see motions for washing in the dance. Notice...when the dance is over there is just enough time to wipe the sweat off your brow before the drummer starts the dance again. This is typical for all native dances that I've seen. They dance the same dance over and over, progressively getting more and more expressive and exaggerated in their facial expressions and hand motions. The drummers control the pace of the dance. Also, the dance usually starts off with a slow version and then has a fast version of the same dance right after.

The other science teacher in the classroom next door(she's native) said that she thinks this dance has something to do with subsistence and hunting. That over the head motion is when they are unloading their pack. And that wavy motion is the river.


She says that these dancers are Yup'ik dancers that have a Inupiaq influence. The Inupiaq are a group of native Alaskans that live up North, mostly above the arctic circle. On the map below, the arctic circle would run just south of Kotzebue. (I'm going to Kotzebue next week, more on that later). She says you can see the Inupiaq influence in their dancing and mukluks(native boots).
That's all for now...Enjoy!

It adds up!

1/2 hour running late +
1 morning detention kid+
130 copies made+
1 genetic engineering video downloaded+
3 grueling hours of state standardized testing+
12 LEP (limited English proficient) testers+
1 current science magazine+
30 minute lunch break+
2 Biology classes+
70 papers graded+
1 Kale Iverson album+
1 unfun phone call from the car insurance guy+
1 conference with slacking students mom+
1 wonderfully supportive principal+
75 dollars for
16 gallons of gas+
1 amazing box of veggies from full circle+
1 post office run+
60 dollars in my pocket from tax check+
2 snow machines dealers+
1 great errand running accomplice+
3 close calls walking on the ice+
1 sub sandwich+
2 runaway dogs+
10 Boy Scouts+
1 environmental science merit badge lesson+
1 bedtime tucking+
1 bowl chocolate brownie ice cream+
2 loads laundry+
3 greeting cards written+
1 friend on yahoo+
2 blog posts
=
1 really long, but productive day



Thanks to Reese-E for the format you see above. You can check her out at www.reese81.blogspot.com

Two Seasons

There are only two seasons in Bethel...mud boot season and snow boot season. After a long grueling snow boot season, mud boot season is back. We are having a major meltdown here. Temps have been above freezing each day for almost a week now. On Monday, it got up to 44 degrees and yesterday it was 38 when I left school. As I was walking out to my 'not new anymore' truck, I was trying to navigate around all of the major puddles and stay on high ground. As I stepped down on a patch of compacted snow, it gave way beneath me and I found myself ankle deep in frigid melt water. It was then that I realized that mud boot season had arrived. Today its below freezing again so everything was frozen, which is good because all the slush is really hard to drive in. I had to get through slush a foot deep on my road and a virtual lake as a driveway. Merry spring!

Our days are up to 13hours and 31 minutes. Tomorrrow will be 5minutes and 40 seconds longer . It is just amazing to me how quickly the days get longer. I am grateful for the extra dayligtht, but it really makes getting to bed (and getting avery to bed) at night difficult when it is still light out at 10pm. I've noticed that bedtime has been getting progressively later and later all the time.

The mayor of Anchorage was in town for the Cama-i festival. He is running for congress or senate or something and wants our votes. He had some nice things to say, but the overwhelming feeling I got from him was that he didnt really care about the festival or community, he was only there because he knew he could reach many people at this gathering. He and his wife seemed extremely out of place with there trendy clothes and proper English.Here is Avery and one of our house guests, Jake, at the restaurant where we ate lunch. My other house guest, Vicki, was craving sushi, so we ate lunch at the sushi place. Can you believe we have a sushi place?
I still have lots more stories about Cama-i. More pictures and videos to come, but I had to tell you about the weather.

April Fools Wish

I really wish I could say this was an April Fools joke, but it's not, even though it really feels like it should be. I was at the post office on Saturday waiting for a car to pull out so that I could pull in and the car on my right starts backing out. I blare my horn, but to no avail. The driver kept right on backing out and ran right into me. He hit my passenger front door and dented and scratched it up pretty good.
So much for having a new truck. I think this means I officially have to stop calling it new. It cant be new after having been hit. Geez...I have just been having all kinds of trouble with my truck here. Stupid truck!
Luckily, it's only the door panel that is injured. Hopefully that means that it can be repaired nicely. I'm thinking it's just going to need a new door panel. Have I mentioned that I sometimes wish I wouldnt have brought the truck here? hmmmmm....
So, the guy that hit me was driving this thing and, of course, no damage was done to his vehicle. The guy was 79 years old. This is why old people should have to retake their drivers exam at a certain age. I'm all for getting the elderly off the roads if they cant handle it. Too often I've seen accidents or almost accidents happen because of the elderly.
I hope you had a good April Fools Day. Any good pranks?

Maori stick game!

Here are the Maori dancers playing the stick game. This is so cool! I wish I would have recorded the whole thing. They explained that this game is mostly taught to their children as a way to teach them hand and eye coordination. How fun!