School's out...and it's snowing?

Yes, my friends, today is a memorable day.  It's the last day of school in SMK, and it is not yet spring, anywhere in Alaska.  Anchorage, for example, expects to get three inches of snow today, and we had a mini-blizzard this morning around 7:00.

The last day was relatively peaceful and very enjoyable for all, though.  I held a sale in my classroom for the students to spend the rest of their classroom money, and they left laden down with pop, candy, and other similarly unhealthy junk.  We followed that with a performance by some of the classes (not mine) showcasing what they had learned from our percussionist-dancer-actor Artist-in-Residence, Eddie Wood.  I remembered to get a picture during the high school's performance:

The boys on the left put a little Yup'ik flair into their drumming, and the three on the floor were very concentrated on their rather complex rhythms.

After the performance, we had a balloon-stomping game, which most of the kids thoroughly enjoyed--I only saw one Kindergartener in tears from the loud balloons--and then hot dogs, french fries, and pop for lunch.  The kids' day was done at that point, and we resumed working on our checkout lists.

At a brief faculty meeting, the departing teachers were given going-away presents, which also had an Alaskan flair:

Aside from being very cool, I always had a rabbit skin growing up as a kid, and it's nice to have a souvenir that doubles as a "comfort object."

We have a work day tomorrow, and are expected to check out of school by tomorrow afternoon.  Anyone who knows my work habits knows this will cramp my style considerably--I'm not sure I've ever been done at school before a week after the last day of classes.  But the principal leaves early next week, so it's gotta be done.  I even have to "check out" of my apartment on Monday, though I won't leave until at least Friday.  Again, anyone who knows my housekeeping skills (or more precisely, my poor housekeeping habits--my momma did train me better) knows it's gonna be interesting to see if my house can be presentable by then.

For those of you who don't already know, I won't be returning to SMK next year.  I had to make the decision in February, since the village schools try to hire in March and April, but I didn't want to make it public until the school year was over.  It's been a great experience, but some of the challenges one faces in many village communities are ones that I don't think I'm the best person to help solve.  So where will I be next year?  Please tell me if you know!  I've applied throughout Southcentral Alaska (ANC and environs), but they (I think? I hope?) haven't started hiring yet, so I haven't gotten any more than one interview, and haven't heard back from them.  I'm not officially worried about next year--I'm quite sure that somebody will need a teacher right before school starts, so if I haven't gotten a job by then, I'll fill that need.

If I end up in another of "Earth's imagined corners" next year, I'll continue this blog (at least as sporadically as I have this year).  At the very least, I'll post once more to let interested parties know where I end up--you have to know how the story ends.  Thanks for reading!

AMDG

Tim Main