Until We Meet Again

So, I have finally left Port Alsworth (PTA or PA). Today was  such a beautiful day to fly. There were some slight bumps along the way but overall it was smooth sailing. Last night was a ton of fun spending time with the ladies in the teacher house (Asha & Katie). We were out last night taking some fun pictures and having some girl time. It is amazing what you can do with some lights, 3 silly girls, and a camera.

I feel blessed to have met Katie and Asha!  Katie will not be there when I go back to PTA but when we were together she was an encouragement and great listener. Katie if you finally get around to reading my blog, I apreciate everything you did for me over the past 6 weeks. No one cooks quinoa, or cleans the house quite like you. ;) I am so happy for you with your new job and adventure to Sudan. The Lord has truly blessed you and I will definitely keep you in my prayers! Love you pretty lady!

 I am happy to be in Anchorage and will be even happier when I make it home to the lower 48. I am excited to spend time with family, and friends for the holiday season! I know I have not posted recently and I have not posted very many pictures around the area where I was living. I will be able to do that more when I return in January. I have had an amazing 6 weeks living here and am extremely blessed to come back with the title of teacher. 

I had quite the experience in Anchorage today. I did not have a ride from the one airport to the next as of last night. I quickly asked the secretary of the school if she could help me out. Thankfully she asked her son and daughter-in-law to take care of me. So far they have taken me shopping for food for next semester, driven me anywhere I needed to go, will drive me to the airport, they are going to ship my food out tomorrow, provide dinner for me, and will ship me anything that I might need next semester. Yet, again the Lord has provided and I am taken care of. 

Kokhanok

      This is just the perfect time for a blog. Thanksgiving break is finally upon us! Snow is falling! The weather is getting colder! Just grab your laptop, curl up by the fire, and enjoy my fun blog today. :) Well, maybe that will happen but if not, I just want to first say thank you for all of you who have kept up with me and read my blog over the past four weeks.

       It has been very busy over the past week with all the traveling I was able to do. I went to Kokhanok for the volleyball jamboree. Many different schools traveled to the central location of Kokhanok and stayed there for 4 days. We brought 3 planes because we had 17 students and two chaperons. I had no idea what to expect when we first got there. I had 7 high school boys, this made it interesting because we barely knew each other and I also did not know anyone at the school. All I knew was that I was suppose to make sure all the other students arrived. The boys started out playing volleyball but then ended up just working on homework. I was so impressed with their dedication and hard work with schoolwork and how much effort they put into it over the 4 days.

    

The gym was a nice size for everyone to fit in. We (all the girls) fit into the gym to sleep each night. I will say this, bring something soft to sleep on because the floor is not nice and comfy with just a sleeping bag. Somehow, I forgot to bring an air-mattress with me. Thankfully one of my friends Kasie found me a roll out pad so I had a little more cushion at night. The boys slept in the classrooms upstairs and downstairs.

Kasie and Me!

    During this week, we had 3 man mixed teams along with 6 man mixed team games. There was one all girls volleyball team that played but could not move onto states. We had an A and B team of mixed 6.  I was very proud of all the students who put up me sitting right next to the coach yelling "Get Low." They all began to listen to me and eventually it paid off because at the end of the tournament they took first place. They made an extremely amazing come back being down 2-0 games, As we came into the huddle after the 2nd game they had just lost, I made the comment of them having 3 more games to play. Well if they did not make that statement true because they won the next 3 games making it 3-2 for matches won. Port Alsworth mixed 6 team made it to states! I would love to go with them but that is the weekend that I am graduating from college. I wish them all the best and will keep them in my prayers. 

        While we were in Kokhnok I was able to go out and sight see with a few of my students. I was very excited to see what their store looked like so we ventured on out. Hope you enjoy these!

Just a few of them who wanted to come withe me.

This was such an unique experience and yes of course my students wanted to get ice cream bars. We waited outside for a good 15-20 minutes while the lady was away at another person's house. My students thought it would be a great idea to have snowball fights while we waited. Let's just say I ended up having quite a bit of snow in my face. High school boys did not tone it down for the student teacher.  

This one is for you Neeks!!! I know how much you love spam. This made me think of you!

This was a really neat looking church. I did not get to go inside or explore it too much because I had my students with me. However, I did get see this much.

     During this week, I also helped the coach warm up the team and get ready for games. I was a referee, homework enforcer, and I proctored tests. We had down time which was filled with eating, sleeping, volleyball, homework, and shooting air-soft riffles. Our team took 2nd over all for having the highest score in the riffle competition. We also had one student who received 1st place for having the highest of score for shooting. 

Just a few other pictures from this past week include the morning of our flight to Kokhanok and  flight home.

This is where I am living right now. The n shape in the picture is where the two airport landing strips are. The mountain in the background is Tanalian Mountain. I hope to hike it when I come back.Yes, I will be coming back to teach in the spring. I will start in January and finish out the year until May. This is a full-time teaching position within the school! I am beyond excited and blessed!

This was right after I had found out that I would be coming back to teach. Words cannot explain how happy I am to have a job even before I graduate.

Student Projects

I wanted to start this blog off with some of the work my students have been doing over the past few weeks. We do a lot of hands on projects and the students create quite a bit of their projects.

One House for the different civilizations the student's were studying.

My first grade students needed to do a recycling project. We made piggy banks.

My first graders started a new science book and our introduction was about a lady who has 4 giraffes living at her house. She took care of them and made sure they had a good home. The students were required to make their own giraffe pen and then make a giraffe to fit into their pen. They decided to split their pen in half and then make a mom and baby giraffe. The neatest piece of information I learned was that you can buy color pencils that if dipped into water become like paint brushes. You can then use these pencils to color on model magic, but not sure what else they can paint on. These are both really great for students and children.  

3rd grade project of the ring of fire. The student then proceeded to erupt it. 

My 1st grade student made their own volcano out of casting material, baking soda, and citric acid. This does not leave a smell like the apple cider vinegar does. Fun tip for anyone wanting to make a volcano with some students or children. My students thought it would be nice to put people near our volcano as well.

      This week has been more relaxed and less frustrating just with everything going on. I feel that I can finally breathe and I feel more confident in all that I have been doing. I have been working with a variety of different students on projects and papers throughout this week. I was also involved in playing against the A team volleyball team with our own elite team. I was able to work with the team a little bit warming up. I enjoy watching the skills the students have along with the encouraging, and positive attitudes. I was able to attend a Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) meeting. It was 5 parents, the principal and 6 teachers. It was very insightful and I was also able to share my opinion of how my experience teaching here has been going. 

         I also attempted to hike today and have some tips if you ever get caught in the same situation I did. I started out hiking and then ended up not feeling well. My stomach hurt so I told the people I went hiking with that I was going to turn around. Tip # 1. If you do not feel well, do not continue. Once Katie and I started walking back, I had to immediately stop because I ended up getting sick. At this point I did not think I could physically walk back. Tip # 2. Know your limits, and never walk alone. At this point I did not think I could walk back the little bit of hike we just did. I then asked Katie to come pick me up. She took off running and I ended up taking two of my jackets off and laid in the middle of the trail. I ended up following a trail to a house where I have only been one time. I laid on their chair until someone could drive me back to my house. Katie was searching for me with a few people while I was staying here to get my stomach to calm down. Since Katie could not find me she headed to Asha's where I am staying. By the time I got back to my house she was there and her an Asha were heading out to come and find me. Tip # 3. Stay where you are and where the person left you. Overall, I have no idea why I got sick or why it hit me so suddenly. All I know is that I hate the feeling of being out in the middle-of-no where and having to tough it out until I made it back. I am grateful to have the experience I did today and it is one that I will never forget. 

Lake Clark National Park

      This past weekend was absolutely amazing. Friday night into Saturday we had what my co-op says is a "school night." The one social studies group of 5th & 6th graders stayed after school Friday, spent the night on mattresses in the gym, and stay until Saturday afternoon. During this time the students are working on their massive projects they need to do. The students are required to meet specific standards throughout their grade level and one standard is to construct their own project based off of a specific civilization. The students not only created their idea of what they wanted to display but also another visual to go along with their project. This included: posters, I-movies, and power-points. After one night of working most all the groups were finished entirely. Today they presented their projects to the 7& 8th grade students. Having the students present their projects works on the students public speaking, confidence in front of peers, and an overall ability to work within a group setting. These are all skills that are extremely important in students as they become adults in society.
        I was able to a few other activities this weekend/week which included hiking, church, and parent teacher conferences. Asha's roommate Katie took me hiking for the day to what they call a waterfall.

This was an absolutely beautiful sight to see. We also went hiking up to see the mountains, part of Lake Clark National Park, along with Lake Clark. It was breathtaking. I was also able to drink from Lake Clark because the place we were at was glacier fed water. These are some pictures of the mountain ranges I was able to see while hiking.

This is a picture of Tanalian Mountain which I would love to hike this weekend if the weather permits. Tanalian Mountain climbs to 3,560 feet above sea level. If you look at the first bump in the mountain it is called the knee which is safer to hike due to wind and snow crossing over the side of the mountain to the top of the mountain.

This is a really interesting picture because this is exactly like a sauna. The natives use this as a shower room and go in here naked. I was told that when I came, that I could be asked to join the natives in this activity. So far I have not been asked.   

         As for the church aspect here, it was a blessing to look out the window and see the mountains in the background. As the pastor was preaching I kept looking out the window in awe. I was also impressed with how the church was really a body of Christ. There are about 60 people who attend church on a regular basis. These are people that really live out their faith on a daily basis. During prayer time, the pastor told all the prayer requests there were and had anyone pray for them out loud if they felt led. The men of the church really stepped up and lead in prayer. There was a worship and praise team and you could really feel the presence of the Lord there. Something that I feel goes along with the people and the lifestyle here would be this quote. "Our influence on others should be purposeful rather than haphazard. We ought to ask ourselves which people we are impacting. Are we in fact making a difference in anyone’s life? The truth is, we can turn our “ripples” into powerful waves for God that affect wide circles of individuals. For instance, consider the impact of prayer. There’s no end to its possibilities—your influence can extend to the remotest places on earth when you are on your knees before the Lord."  I really believe that we have a huge impact on those are around us and we need to choose how we are going to treat those people.

    The last I have to say about this week is about me going with my co-op on parent teacher conferences. Two of them were home visits because the mothers had just had a baby. My co-op has a great repport with the parents and they respect her and her teaching style. I was most taken back by the one mother turning to me and saying, "Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help you teach my son. I want to raise him to be the man of God he should be." This made me feel blessed to be here by meeting parents who want the very best for their children, wanting their children to grow up with the fear of the Lord, and parents who really pray for their children. There are a lot of students who are here because of adoption and the parents love on them just as much as they love on their children. It is a beautiful sight to see. 

      As for how I am handling Alaska, I am really being stretched in more ways than one. I have had no desire to work on school work because I have that desire to graduate and start teaching. I am trying to seek the Lord's will in my career and where He wants me after this is done. The Lord has also revealed quite of bit of crap that is in my heart and how I really need to be broken of it. I am at the early stages of really becoming hungry for the Lord and only the Lord. It has been a very emotional week and yet the Lord has comforted me through all of it. I know that there is a reason for me being here but it is not crystal clear yet. Looking forward to another busy weekend and finishing an intense week.