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| A big group of students and warmer weather brings back the "real stink" shoe room |
Hard to believe, but I just kicked off the last regular high
school session of the year! Don’t
get me wrong, that still leaves two more sessions, one of which is an entire
month long, but the end is in
sight. This current group is
comprised of 25 students from eleven different villages, one flying from as far
away as Delta Junction, near Fairbanks.
Over 50 students applied to attend this session, allowing us the luxury
of choosing students that were genuinely excited and motivated to come and
learn. The theme of this session
was “caught being great!” as I witnessed many incidences of just plain kindness. I watched as one student began clearing
away dishes at a community event for everyone around him, even those not with
our group and at other tables. Another
girl woke up early so that she could help our House Parent with the dishes,
just because. I really enjoyed
working with this crew, and it was really special seeing my “frequent flyer”
students for what may be the very last time.
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| Caught being great! |
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| Caught again! |
Students were so well behaved this session that we had extra
free time in the pool each day involving relay races, diving for rings, and
even water pistols. It’s pretty
amazing to watch an adolescent working a water gun for the very first time,
figuring things out from a more mature perspective. Lots of devious sneak attacks! I worked with my most memorable student in the pool to date;
an 18 year-old girl that had never been submerged in water before, and is also
terrified of doing this. My arms
and neck are bruised from her clinging fingers, but my goodness, we’re making
progress. She went from hardly
being comfortable dangling her legs in the water, to holding onto the edge,
face down and blowing out, flutter kicking her legs behind her for a solid ten
seconds. All in just a few days!
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| Racing with Squoodles! |
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| Group race |
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| Armed and dangerous |
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| Ambush! |
I was also fortunate enough to join the students in a few
evening activities, one of which was the annual Dessert Night Concert. Nome High Schoolers put on vocal and
instrumental performances, as cakes were auctioned off between sets to raise
money for band equipment. Meanwhile, students patrol the audience dishing out delicious
all-you-can-eat desserts. One of
our town characters Richard Beneville (“Hello, Central!”) served as auctioneer,
and cakes went for bids as high as $250.
It’s all for a good cause, but it’s hard to explain to a student from
this region exactly why a lemon cake is worth more money than they’re likely to
see in a month. Nome and the
outlying villages are so close in proximity, but culturally worlds apart. Regardless, fun and enjoyment were had
by all.
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| Cakes started at $20 |
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| Sold! None sold for less than $75 |
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| The most expensive cake of the evening |
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| This one deserved a direct delivery |
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| Results of the silent auction - unbelievable |
Believe it or not, my favorite day working with students was
Saturday. I had to take two more
Praxis exams in the morning, so I worked the 4 to midnight shift afterwards. After running a quick lesson about
eating at a restaurant (imagine explaining the concept of leaving a tip to a
teenager that has never eaten outside of their house or school cafeteria!) we
all treated ourselves to dinner out at Airport Pizza. One student that has never been off of St. Lawrence Island
in all of his 18 years was especially fun to watch. He couldn’t get over the fact that he could just leave his
dirty dishes and garbage at the table for someone else to clear away. After dinner we attended a local teen
dance. The theme was duct tape, so
we spent over an hour making bow ties, hair clips, wristbands, and other
accessories for the party. Let me
tell you, these kids have spunk. I
watched my students transform into regular teenagers that could’ve been
anywhere in the world, breaking it down, doing the stanky leg and the jerk on
the dance floor. Not a single
student tried to leave the group, sneak tobacco or alcohol, or even steal a
smooch.
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| At Airport Pizza |
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| Cheesy goodness |
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| First restaurant experience ever! |
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| Decked out and Duct-ed out! |
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| At the mini-convention center |
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| Chaperones! |
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| At da' club |
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| Dance it out |
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| Limbo contest |
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| Duct tape contest by applause |
My birthday fell on a Wednesday this year, and unfortunately
I was pretty ill. A bug is going
around that’s a mix between the flu and bronchitis. As some consolation, a man from town assured me that once I
leave Alaska I’ll rarely get sick after building up immunities from these
super-bugs. Despite feeling icky,
I had a wonderful day, thanks to those that love me. My best friend from home sent me a box full of sunshine
themed items, to brighten my day. My
parents not only sent me a jam-packed care package, they had fresh flowers
delivered right to my door. I
can’t begin to explain how wonderful it is to have living, vibrantly colored,
delicately scented flowers in the house.
More of a mood lifter than a cup of coffee!
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| Flowers from home in Nome |
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| Can you believe how beautiful this is?! |
Along with thoughtfulness from the home front, I was treated
like a princess by those in Nome as well.
I was spoiled with homemade shrimp stir fry and brown rice, three-flavor
frozen yogurt pie, and an expedition to our gas station to get a king-sized,
soft serve, chocolate ice cream cone.
The first ice cream I’ve had since living in Alaska! Oddly enough, while walking around town
with my waffle cone I noticed a discarded cardboard box outside of Arctic
Trading Post where my folks got the flowers, with the words “perishable” and
“flowers” all over it – must’ve just gotten a shipment in! The sun was shining on me all day, and I
can’t help but think I deserved it.
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| Stir fry with fresh veggies! |
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| Blueberry, vanilla, and blackberry frozen yogurt pie |
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| First Alaskan ice cream! |
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| Displaying the flower box |
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| Close-up - thanks mom and dad! |
The sun keeps lingering for longer each day, but the weather
has remained cold, dipping into single digits once more. It’s a favorite activity of mine to
stomp the frozen puddles each morning, which sound like shattering glass. Mozel tov! By afternoon it all returns to a sloppy, muddy mess. I was told by an elder that the reason
it still gets so cold at night is so the snow doesn’t melt at a rate that would
cause disastrous flooding. It
makes sense when you see how high the drifts remain, especially on the unplowed
roads, which are just starting to be cleared away. I love seeing patches of ground that I haven’t set eyes on
in 7 months, but it’s hard to be patient.
I don’t need May flowers, but it would sure be nice to be rid of the
snow and ice once and for all.
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| Frozen ground, feathery each morning |
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| How can you resist stepping on this?! |
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| Clearing off the basketball court |
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| It's going to be awhile! |
