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

Tundra Fest!

Yes, I know that it's been a very long time since I've posted. I wish that I had more time to actually post about my time here. I have a lot that I've been wanting to share so this could be quite a post. 

Last weekend was Tundra Fest and it was a great opportunity for me to learn more about Chevak. Tundra Fest was Friday, Saturday and Sunday and there were different events to watch and participate in each day. Friday night started with a potluck where members from the community brought food to everyone to enjoy. There were a lot of new foods there that I have never tried before and I was a little nervous to get ahead of myself that night...but I did try something new. 

This was one of the new dishes that I tried. Seal meat and rice. I was very hesitant at first because of some food allergies that I had, but I figured that it couldn't hurt to try. I was surprised that it wasn't fishy (not even at all) and it was actually pretty good. I think that the next time I have the chance to eat seal, I won't be hesitant at all. 

That night was also the first night for the Yuraq (Eskimo dancing) and OH MY it was so AWESOME! I couldn't stop watching, it's nothing like the dancing that you'd see now and days there was so much emotion behind each of the dancers/drummers that I felt like I was really apart of the story they were telling (and I had no idea what the story was they were telling because it was all in Cup'ik) it was emotional for me as well! Here is some photos and video clips from the Yuraq (These pictures/videos are from both nights of the Yuraq)

 

 

Also, on the first night there was a bird-plucking competition! Stephanie and I had decided that we were going to try our luck at it. We both knew that going in we weren't going to do very well, but we just wanted to have that experience. I was hoping that it wasn't going to be as hard as I initially thought..boy was I wrong! I finished second to last (only beating Stephanie by a short period of time) It was definitely an experience that I won't forget..

The finished product...like 10-15 minutes later. The woman that won was done like 8-13 minutes BEFORE I was. Maybe I'll get the chance to practice sometime again! ; ) I was pretty proud of myself!

OHHH and yesterday I found out that some fans (the dancing fans the native ladies are using in the pictures. They are made with Caribou) have already been made for me! I wasn't expecting to get them so quickly! But I'm SUPER excited to get them and maybe next time I'll get to participate in a yuraq : )

Akutaq and Berry Picking

This has been yet another busy week here in Chevak and it's only Monday! Professional Development is underway and there is a lot of information to gather. It's a little over-whelming but I'm thankful that all the people seem to be really committed to helping the new teachers! 

Today, after lunch one of the village elders came to speak to us. It was very interesting. He is the older elder that is left in Chevak. He used an interpreter (He only speaks Cu'pik) to give us encouragement and to help us realize just how much support we'll have during the school year. It was very comforting! 

Also, today we got ALL our literacy materials. Let me tell you there is a TON! Just when I thought that I had my classroom almost completely set up, there is so much more now that I have to find a home for. Tomorrow the presenter is going to come in my room and go through all the components with me! That makes me feel better because otherwise, I'd probably just sit there for who knows how many hours trying to figure out all the components! I was also excited to hear about the leveled library...might be something that I'll have to check out sometime soon! 

Okay, now for the exciting news! 

I have officially eaten Akutaq (eskimo ice cream)! This particular recipe (pictures below) had

• Cristco
• Instant Potatos
• Berries 
• Sugar

And I'll have to say it wasn't terrible (my pictures might depict otherwise) it had a very funky texture and it definitely wasn't something I would have expected "ice cream" to taste like. It's definitely nothing like traditional ice cream...

 This is what the Akutaq looked like!

 Here we go...

 Still a little unsure...

 Wasn't a huge fan of the texture! 

I also got the chance to go berry picking today. I probably should have stayed and working on my classroom but it was just too gorgeous outside to stay at school. However, that's exactly where I'm at right now (ironic) Here are some pictures from that journey...

 On our way to berry pick! It was just beautiful outside!

 This is the old airport "runway" a lot of people ride their four wheelers on it!

 We were debating on whether this was the river...we decided it wasn't

 A view of the village from the old airport

 A dead crane. Zoe made sure to pay it respect before we went any further.

 The FIRST Salmon Berry

 Salmon berries and blue berries!

Me with my loot!

 We didn't get to stay out there too long. Mary and I both had work to do in our classrooms so this was all the berries that I got to pick!

 So gorgeous!

I'm glad that I choose to take some time to get out and do something! I'm excited for this weekend and the festivities that will take place. Kiddos come on Friday here comes some very busy preparation days...

Just A Little Snapshot

I've posted these pictures on facebook as well, but I wanted to have it documented on here! Who knows, maybe someone doesn't have facebook! There aren't very many pictures yet but I wanted to give you a little sample! 

 The view from the bush plane on the way to Chevak

 The weather was kinda cruddy but it wasn't a bad flight..

 A view of the village from behind the school

 The school and the playground

 Mary capturing some photos as well

 One of the churches in the village

 The Health Clinic

 So groceries are quite expensive! This P.F. Changs was over 20 dollars!!

 7 dollars for a bowl of noodles

 15 dollars for a jar of mayo! :S

 It's official! This is the name plate outside my door! This is also when it really hit me that I was going to actually be a teacher!

 What my classroom first looked like..

I've been doing a lot of work in my classroom so I'll be posting pictures when I'm done! One more week and the kiddo's will be here (yikes!!)