Spring in Alaska isn't quite what it is down south. No flowers yet, nothing growing, snow still on the ground, and in fact, it still snows from time to time. It's "warm," though--above 20° most days--and we love it! The sunshine is beautiful to see again. The sun is rising at 8:15 when I'm headed to school, and it stays light until around 9:00. Soon we'll be back to long days.
I do have some pictures and videos, if they work, to upload, but I don't know if it'll happen today. As I write, I have nine of my 12 students still here enjoying free computer time. This is an important reward here, where most homes don't have Internet access.
At school, we have 11 days, as the principal reminded us this morning, until the dreaded "SBA's"--the state tests that determine so much about education in the modern American system. We're preparing daily, but I'm trying to keep it low-pressure, since I don't want them to be so nervous they can't test well!
At home, I've been keeping myself busy with language learning. Many of you know that I've always enjoyed learning languages, and I figured that was a more productive use of my time in the long winter evenings than video games or TV shows--although I have been doing some of that, too. I've done some beginning work in Arabic and Yup'ik. Arabic just because it's an important modern language and has plenty of resources for learning it; Yup'ik because it's the ancestral language of the people here. Arabic has been fun, and I've been making some progress; Yup'ik not so much. No one here really speaks it, as far as I can tell, and the best resource I could find is a university-level textbook with no audio component and no answers to the exercises! I've been reviewing a few of my "old" languages, too: Spanish by watching a telenovela with English subtitles--not high-quality literature, but it keeps my attention--and French by reading one of Robert Heinlein's novels in translation. Again, the goal is to pass the time with something that's not totally a waste of time.
I asked my seventh-graders if they had something they wanted to add. Here's what I got:
"Natives rule!"
"It's open space here--lots of tundra, and all that other stuff."
Here are the advertised photos; I'll work on adding the video later.
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| Before an assembly last Monday, students with perfect attendance or no missing homework got rewards. On the left is our principal, Carolyn Heflin. In the middle is Pauline Richardson, one of our "parapros," or teacher's aides, whose daughter is in my class; on the right is another of our parapros, Bobbie Andrews, who's also the mayor of the village! I thought it was neat that the mayor got to hand out the certificates, so that's why this picture made it. |
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| In basketball-mad St. Michael, a visiting former professional women's basketball player, Tanya Crevier, was a big hit. She did a number of Harlem-Globetrotter-type stunts that were truly impressive, and gave the kids some good advice about work habits and discipline that I'm sure sank in much better coming from her than if hey had come from us. I would have enjoyed the display even in the big city; out here, it was truly a wonderful opportunity. |
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| The altar in our church decorated for Lent. I may have been trying to capture the view through the windows as well, as it's been beautiful lately, but my limited photographic skills didn't allow that--obviously. |
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| Some of the Yup'ik elders at prayer in the church. The lady in the back is Rita Oyoumick, our parish administrator. She leads services when a priest isn't available, handles the church's finances, cleans the church, fixes the stoves (heaters) when they go out, but is looking to retire now that she's in her early 70's. No one has stepped up to take her place, though. Our average Sunday attendance in 2013 has been 13 people. |
Sorry if this was a bit random, but I figured stream-of-consciousness, at this point, was better than nothing. I hope all is going well where you live!
TM
P. S.: If you have any questions about St. Michael, or Alaska, or the tundra, or my seventh-graders, please ask them. It would be easier to post regularly if I knew what you wanted to know about!
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