Busy Busy

Life is so busy these days! I’m loving every minute of it though, and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else than my little village out in the middle of nowhere. 

Work-wise, I’m so thankful that we have a plan that I can work with - the kids are finally started to get the picture that everything they do counts for a grade. I’ve mentioned the phase system we’ve had in the past - all they really “had” to do to phase up was pass a few tests, and they knew that - so they were understandably not concerned with any of the work leading up to those tests. Now, though, it’s like most schools anywhere else. Everything will go in the grade book, so if they don’t do it or just guess the answers, it will affect their grade, which might cause them to fail the class, and get further and further behind from graduating, and that’s their ultimate goal. So to say the least, everything is easier on my behalf - they listen more because they care more, and of course they are learning more.

This year we decided to keep the sixth graders down in the lower wing, so the four teachers we have in the upper wing share the subjects to teach the 7th - 12th graders. Cross country just finished their second week and it’s going smoothly, except for the fact that we don’t have any decent ground to run on. It’s either the bumpy, muddy, and sinking tundra or the boardwalks with broken, missing, and cracked boards. We warm-up in the school gym but there’s only so much you can prepare for indoors, especially when you’re going to be competing outside. 

I’m glad Audrey is experiencing the Eskimo way of life. We’ve had several people share their first hunt of the season, so our freezer is full of moose. Now we have dried halibut, herring, pike, and seal too. They eat a lot of dried fish that have been left out in the sun, and I can stomach the fish, but when I put a hunk of seal in my mouth and blood gushes out, it’s not very pleasant. I have to cook that! But I guess if you were hungry enough you’d eat it, or in the Eskimo’s case, if that’s all you’ve ever known, there’s nothing wrong with it.