Marisa's Alaskan Adventure : Another week down!

Another week of my first year of teaching is done and I have officially been back in Alaska for a month, as of Sunday! Time is going by quick, on most days. I do have days that drag on that make me miss home but that's normal I think. This week was much better than the last and we're getting into a good routine in my classroom.

My kids are really sweet and continuously try to do their best and make me happy - most days, they are still kids though ; ) We have a lot of fun and they quite comical most of the time! Especially those 10 boys of mine!

This past weekend after our weekly trip to town on Saturday morning where we stop at the post office and the store, we came back and it was a pretty nice day out so me, LeEsia, Chisana (who is one of the teacher's cousins who is up here watching her daughter while she's in school) and LeEsia's son Reilly decided to go berry picking out behind the school. I had never gone berry picking but always wanted to go. We missed some of the berries but we were able to collect a bunch of blackberries/crowberries/huckleberries - they have multiple names around here - as well as a handful of cranberries! This is a really tideous process and it takes an awful long time but I got enough to maybe make some muffins or a loaf of bread with. I may try that tonight! The one down side to doing anything outdoors this time of year is the bugs. They are TERRIBLE. I can't even describe how bad they are. There is always, always a swarm around your head/face and they all bite! Needless to say, that made it somewhat miserable. I'm waiting for the colder weather so set in just for them to disappear! (And tomorrow is picture day and I have five visible bug bites on my face - more on my neck and ears btut they can at least be covered!) Macy also went along for the berry picking - her first real Alaskan adventure and she did really well. Some parts in the tundra were too overgrown that she couldn't walk through or she got stuck so I had to carry her a few times, along with Reilly's help

Later that night I headed over to LeEsia and Ryan's for dinner with them and Jason again - of course Macy joined along in that, too! She's a lucky little puppy! It was spaghetti and homemade bread for dinner and oh my goodness was it good!! I love, love homemade bread. And then I took over brownies for dessert and they were pretty good as well. It's always a fun night of the weekend when the four of us hang out - lots of laughs and I need that!

Sunday was spent cleaning my floors and doing laundry as well as a few hours over in my classroom getting work done and I even had two students come help me check some work and pass out papers - I can't turn down helpers?! ; ) I ended my Sunday with a nice FaceTime session and then cuddled with Macy for bed! It has been pouring ever since so that was nice - I always like falling asleep to the rain! I'm sure I don't have too much longer until that rain turns to snow. It's been chilly!

For all of you wondering, Macy is doing really well! We're still working on the bathroom issue but she's getting much better. She knows how to sit for treats when I say sit and boy does she love to eat... and play. She's a crazy puppy but I love her. : ) We're still waiting on her crate to arrive so that she can go in that during the day while I'm at school because she has continued to get out of my bathroom every single day - I can't seem to make my blockade good enough to keep her trapped. I watched her today before I left and she has now gotten just big enough that she can jump in the totes and then out of them to the other side! Crazy, smart girl! My plan is to bring her home for Christmas so hopefully everyone gets to meet her : )

She loved just hanging out and being able to run - well kind of run.

The clouds started rolling it at one point and we made it in right before it started to pour!

That's not a bird - it's a bug!

Another gorgeous sunset!

At one point I thought I lost her - turns out she just burried herself in a hole in the tundra, haha.

Chisana, Reilly and LeEsia picking away -- Macy was down there somewhere with them!

The blackberries/crowberries/huckleberries... kind of bitter but they were a nice snack while we were picking. ; )

I don't remember if I posted this picture before so I'm going to post it now... this is where Macy thinks she can sleep at night.

My hard work got me these berries... : )

Macy loves the mud puddles which means she's gotten lots of baths lately - which she does not love!

My kids and I made a thankful chain... it has 102 chain links on it because it's a countdown to Christmas break (so there's 102 days until I come home - just fyi ; )). On each link, the kids and I and our aid wrote things we loved and things we were thankful for so each day when we take a link off, we read them and then hang them on the wall. They loved doing this and it's a good little countdown for us all!

Every other day my kids go to Yupik class (the native language) and I go with them and I've been sitting in and trying to learn some words. I've gotten a few down and the Yupik teacher has even been great at helping me. I wanted to incorporate some of the words into our classroom so she gave me a list of the Months and days of the week in Yupik and I printed them out for the kids to paste and cut out. I laminated their work and we hung them up in the classroom so we can all practice them. : ) We also have the numbers one through ten written and they're hanging up above the countdown chain and the windows!