Thankfully it's over...

Thanksgiving break - a time to be thankful and reflect on all that we have been blessed with. Believe me, I have been very blessed this passed year. I have a new job, new friends, a family that loves me even though I am thousands of miles away, and a great number of other things. For all of those things and more, I am thankful! I am also thankful that Thanksgiving break is over! It took a lot out of us.

Thanksgiving in St. Michael is celebrated much as it is anywhere. Most families have relatives over to join the feast. Here in St. Michael, the majority of the teachers do not have families here. Norm and Kathleen, managers of the AC, adopted us as their family just for the day. We were all invited over for the turkey dinner with all the works. It was a great time.

Another tradition in St. Michael is holding the annual "Turkey Tournament". I had no idea what this was until I asked. It is an adult basketball tournament that lasted four days. Patty and I volunteered to help Jeannie with the concessions. It was fun and made the time go by quickly, however, after the third day, I was beginning to wonder where my Thanksgiving break was. The Championship games were Saturday night. We were finally home about midnight. We had originally planned to go ice fishing on Sunday but opted to stay home and relax!

Needless to say, it was a Thanksgiving like none other. We did enjoy it but it really wasn't the same as we are used to. I think Patty and I have also decided that we will start a new tradition next year!

Ice Fishing... for rock bass and mud puppies!

Sunday, November 20th, we headed out on the ice. (Dad, the ice is at least 18 inches thick!) The Yoopers have been ice fishing before so we knew what we were doing... Well not actually but we had asked around and had at least some clue what to do and where to go. By the way, we took our fearless leader, Jeannie, out with us. We had been told we could catch some tomcod out in the canal so that is the direction we headed. We set up "camp" and hunkered down for some time on the ice. We chopped a hole til we reached dirt. We filled in that hole and moved out about half way across the canal. Again we chopped our hole and came up with... mud! We decided to pack things up and head back to ask someone that might know what was going on. As we were about to leave, we saw some people coming across the ice. They passed us and stopped just up the canal. We waited to see what they were going to do. We were sure they were laughing at the dumb "kass'aq" who were fishing in the mud.
Patty noticed immediately that they had an auger. We rode down the canal to where they were fishing. It was some of the natives that we knew from our village. They offered to drill us some holes so we were in business. I am not sure how long it was before they decided to move on to another spot but we stayed on for a bit. Jeannie made the comment that the fish just weren't biting when Patty let out a shout that she had one! It was a pretty good size one too, for a smelt that is. Alaskan smelt are huge compared to the little Michigan ones we are used to.
It was an exciting experience and I am sure we'll do lots more fishing but this time we are going to attempt to forfeit the mud puppies and rock bass!
(I'll post some more pictures later.)

This was taken about 10:00 a.m. on November 12th. The dark blue building on the left is the elementary building. The gym and high school are right of that, blue with red roof. The schools are connected by a boardwalk. The library and one teacher apartment are in the building "in front" of the high school building. The tan building is the Catholic Church.

Good Morning from Saint Michael

Yep, here it is Monday morning and all is well. It's a mere 1 degree out there but the pipes aren't frozen and the 4 wheeler started. What more could I ask for.

Saturday Patty and I took off on the Hondas for some tundra riding. We went out to check out the ice. Don't worry dad, it is quite frozen by now. We rode along the canal for a ways. We did find some new volcanos that we didn't know existed. Someday when it is warmer, we'll investigate those further. Sunday we put our carpenter skills to work. We are building a "shelter" for the 4 wheelers. We are having fun but who knows how it will turn out. We will take photos when we are done.

Many people have asked about the length of our daylight here. Just like everywhere, it is getting shorter each day. Right now the sun comes up about 10ish and is usually setting somewhere around 5-6ish. I do not find it depressing at all. I rather enjoy looking at the stars and those Northern Lights are showing from time to time. Another added bonus to this... I don't have to get up early to watch the beautiful sunrise.

School continues to go well. We have all survived our first go round of evaluations. Those dinners we make for our principal are beginning to pay off. (The blackmail tapes haven't hurt either.) Just kidding, Jeannie is a great lady and friend.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. I believe there are a bunch of us getting together for dinner that night. Patty and I head to Nome on December 2nd. We have a SpEd Cadre there. Hopefully, we'll be able to get some Christmas shopping done there as well.

Until next time...

Parent Teacher Conference

It's November 10th, about 2:23 p.m. and I am in the middle of conferences. The teachers all sit in the gym at tables. Parents circulate from table to table visiting the teachers. It's pretty exciting so far... as you can probably tell. (Being that I am working on my blog.)

We did have some exciting days here lately. Our wrestlers and cheerleaders went to the district finals in Unalakleet this week. It was an awesome experience seeing the students all group together watching the broadcast. Our Storm did a fantastic job. Thadius came away with first place. The smile is much larger than the medal. We had many second and third places as well.


Thadius breaks the hold!













Randy showing them how to do it!











Kyle facing off with his opponent.











The voice behind the guys.

Pictures from our week in Unalakleet

Here are some photos from UNK


Betty, Carolyn and Jill - fellow Stormtroopers

This is Captain!

Amy - from Stebbins

Here's Jodi, from Stebbins, and Denise, from Shishmaref

This was last Saturday. Patty and I collected starfish out on North Beach

This was taken from our front porch. The sunset is usually beautiful. This morning we got some of the sun rising... believe it or not, up before the sun... on a Saturday even... Thankfully, the sun comes up much later than it did! We were up and out on the tundra before 9a.m. this morning. Will work on some more pictures soon. (We did get some more of the seals this morning too.)

It's November....

It's hard to believe that we have been gone for over 15 weeks now but the calendar says it is so! Time is just flying... and we are still loving it here.
It seems that winter is here. The temp is usually about 10-15 degrees but it hasn't been too bad. We are getting used to going out and starting the Hondas and all the same things we would be doing at home. It has just started that much earlier here. The ice is starting to form on the bay. This morning when I took my writing class out on the front steps there were 4 seals playing on the ice. We watched them for a bit and many of the kids did their writing about seals. Hey... whatever motivates them!
Last night we had our first wrestling matches here. The SMK Storm wrestlers were very excited, even though our opponents didn't show up. They did have matches against each other. It was pretty neat. (Diomede was supposed to fly in yesterday but the helicopter pilot was unable to make the trip.) Our wrestlers and cheerleaders go to Stebbins tonight, while the Storm volleyball team takes on Savoonga here tonight. I am thrilled to be able to see some sports again. (I miss FOOTBALL though!!!)
I'll get at those pictures I promised just as soon as possible. We are having some computer issues at home.

To all the DDW's .... have a great time! Wish I was with you!