Equilibrium

December was a challenging month. I was gone for a week straight due to volleyball, and my class completed little work while I was away. The students were antsy with the anticipation of the Christmas program and break, and the lack of light was really starting to take a toll on us teachers, even though we didn't want to admit it. As a whole, we were exhausted and tired of dealing with kids whose focus had long ago turned to the events of the season, admittedly rightfully so. Instead of locking ourselves indoors, a few of us rebelled and took some time to take care of us. You see, we had begun to feel like this:

Mary captured this moment on one of our first ventures. I was struggling with the technique and hit a patch of ice. I don't know how I managed to end up in this position. I'm just glad I've made it this far in the school year with no serious injuries. 

Since January, we've been making an extra effort to take better care of ourselves. We do no child any service by confining ourselves to our classrooms with no break. In an effort to reach a better work-life balance, each of us has been finding ways to relax and find a little joy in our lives outside of the school walls. Nichole has been cooking and finding delectable treats for us on Pinterest; Mary and I have been skiing and working on ukelele and guitar; we've all been making an effort to read more just for pleasure. I do believe it's been paying off -- my classroom has been much calmer lately and we've been accomplishing more than we did in all of December. I'm a more patient teacher as well.


Cross country skiing has become a nice outlet to get out of the house and enjoy the beauty of this area. Here are some pictures from various ski trips so far...

Here's a shot of the frozen river. Skiing here is pleasant because the snow was nice and fluffy - it hadn't yet been packed down by snow mobiles.

The blowing the snow created a very cool sunset.

Another shot of the frozen river. Very faintly you can see some sticks; these mark the manaq [muh-nuck] holes, or ice-fishing spots. The same student who cured me with chaithluk has promised to take me "manaqing," literally translated as "sticking" for fish. 

This is a shot of the old airport road/clearing. The silence is deafening at this spot in town. I love it.

Several of you have asked about the amount of snow we have here. The truth is that I have no clue.  Putting a number to it is trivial. The wind is always blowing the lighter stuff away, and the remaining snow freezes solid shortly thereafter or is compacted by the traffic of the snow machines, so I rarely feel like I'm wading through too much. Above is the pile between the pictured teacher housing and the school. I am to the right, heading home with Nichole. There is a mini valley between these two structures, so I really do walk uphill both ways to and from the school. It isn't that bad, except there is really no wind block right here, and that hill gets very slick. I've slipped a couple times and another teacher actually hurt a rib on this hill. I've learned not to take the ice cleats off my boots because ya never know when you'll need them.

When we feel we need a more tropical escape, we have to get creative. Not having a TV, we use the conveniently sized white spot in our living room as a projection surface. It takes a little bit to set up everything, but that's part of the fun.

So here I sit, strumming and imagining that I'm actually on that beach. I think I remember the feeling of sun on my face. A few minutes of deluding myself does wonders. 

This is just to give a better shot of our actual theater set-up. To get the right angle for the projector, we employed some plastic bowls and two rubber hot plate things. Precarious? Yes. Ridiculous and therefore amusing? Absolutely.

I've been meaning to post some pictures of Eskimo dancing. Above is a shot of the small girl's First Dance, a sort of rite of passage marking that the young one has learned the traditional dances and will now be welcomed into any future dancing celebration. There had been some strife in the village, and this Friday night was a healing one in terms of community and giving. After all the First Dancers danced with their families, it was time for the potlatch, which is a generous distribution of gifts to the attendees, starting with the Elders. I was surprised when even I received a few gifts - socks, a manaqing stick, bowls, candy, gloves, akutaq (Eskimo ice cream), washcloths, and a giant box of Pilot Boy crackers. It was a beautiful moment, and I was grateful to be a part of it. It brought a sense of harmony that had been missing for a bit too long.

So now we head into March. I cannot believe how quickly the time has passed. Life is good; reaching some sort of equilibrium is a daily goal. Even though that doesn't happen every day, it happens much more frequently than it did last fall, so I look at that as an improvement. Baby steps, I suppose.  


As I write this, I'm on weather hold in Anchorage with the Academic Decathlon team. I had the privilege of taking the top 10 students from the district to the state competition, one of them hailing from my village. I'd do it again in a heartbeat, as these kids are delightful and respectful. It's truly a treat. I just hope we make it back to our respective villages at some point today...


I apologize for the errors in formatting in this post, but I've fought with it long enough. I hope you'll forgive me and that it finds you well! Thanks for reading...