Chevak Art!!

Now that I've been here for a while, I'm starting to collect some authentic Chevak art! The artists here are very eager to share their art with us! I officially have THREE pieces of Chevak art!! : ) I definitely need to pace myself because some of it can be pretty spendy, but it's absolutely worth it! I am slowly compiling a list of all the things that I want to get while I'm here. 

Since I've bought my pieces of art, they have been really good at decorating my very plain and boring walls! Here are some pictures of the art that I've gotten...

 My doll that I got! She is a dancer and even has the fans!

 My dancing fans that I can use at the next Yuraq ; ) It's made of Caribou beard and Musk Ox!

My bracelet that one of my kiddos mom made for me!

I'm really going to post about my time here teaching...I've just been SOOOOOOOOOOOO busy/swamped/tired that I haven't been able to get on and type it all out. But believe me I LOVE MY KIDDOS and I want to share them with you! : )

Seal Gutting!

This weekend while I was working in my classroom I got a text message from a fellow teacher that someone had gotten a seal and I could go watch them gut it if I wanted to. Of course, I jumped on that bandwagon. 

I instantly thought of my very first day in Alaska EVER. I had just moved to Alaska from Las Vegas (yikes) and my uncle had called really early in the morning. He had filled his moose tag on his property and he wanted my grandpa to bring me out there to witness it. I didn't know what to think about it and all I really remember was having to hold up one of the legs while they were gutting it. I also got to shoot the stomach when they were all done.

Anyway, I had never before seen a seal being gutted. So I was really excited to experience it. 

When we got there they had already started...but it was a younger boy (highschool I would guess) that got the seal. I want to say that it was his first one. With that being said the meat went to the elders in the village. It was a very neat thing to experience...Here are some pictures...

 Skinning the seal..

 Getting all the important stuff and here that's pretty much everything!

 It was a very neat experience! I'm glad that I went!

"You're Sprinkling on Me!!"

School officially has been in session for a little over a week. Last week was pretty chaotic! For most of the week, I spent most of the time trying to get to know my kiddos and install the routines. I just love my kiddos!! I have 17 in the morning group and 16 in the afternoon group. They all bring something different to the class. It was a challenging beginning of the week, but once Friday came around I was very proud of not only myself but also with my kiddos! It's been a long week but we ALL survived! : )  

As I've gotten to know my kids, I am really amazed on how much I've seen myself as a teacher develop. There have been some rough days/times so far and it's all become a great chance for me to learn. I've learned that not only are my kiddos going to make mistakes but I'm going to make them too. I've also learned that I don't stay upset with any kiddo for a long time. I guess these are things that you learn and realize when you have your own classroom! I'm learning more as a person than I think I ever have. 


I've also had a lot of laughs with my kiddos.


Last week we were taking our afternoon recess (to get the jitters out) and one of my little guys (bless his heart) had to go to the bathroom but he didn't want to have to go inside and miss out on all the "playing". He choose to just pee off the side of the playground equipment. The next thing that I hear is "Hey! You're sprinkling on me!!!" Another little guy was standing under him at this moment and for whatever reason DIDN'T move! I couldn't help but laugh! 


It's moments like these that I think about when things aren't going so well. 


I'm looking forward to this year and spending time with my kiddos!! : D