Sometimes I forget that I live in Alaska and then I walk outside in my winter coat and hat and gloves in September and I am quickly reminded. : ) This past week has been sunny and clear but definitely colder! Last night we could even see our breath.... apparently there's been some frost in the mornings, too. It's only a matter of time before the snow starts falling and things start freezing....
This week was a crazy week. I mean most of the time in my classroom is crazy but this week is even more so. I don't know about anyone else but most teachers will know what I'm talking about when I say it's been a full moon almost all week so that has not helped. Pair that with MAP testing an hour a day for the kids and their schedules are ALL sorts of off.
And call me crazy but on the most chaotic week so far this school year, I let some of my kids visit AND even bake while they were over. I had about 10 of my students - all boys but one - in my kitchen baking muffins from scratch while I was trying to make a dessert for the teachers. It got a little chaotic while some of them were running around with Macy at the same time but all in all it turned out just fine... however, someone put a little too much salt in the muffins so they weren't so edible but it was fun. And of course I made them do the dishes and help me clean up and with a little push, they did!
My kids have started calling me mom so now when I leave them for lunch or at the end of the day or when they leave my house from visiting, I hear "Love you, mom!". Some people may think it's weird that I answer but they know I love them like my own kids and if they want to call me mom, of course I'm going to answer them. I spend all day with them and then usually see most of them after school at the playground until the 9 pm curfew. The started quite the trend so now the kids in the 4th/5th grade classroom have started calling me auntie.... I was even called grandma at one point this past week. Hey, whatever works for me! : )
"Marisa, let's run away!" Was also said to me this week... along with, "Why aren't you married? You should be by now..." I swear I get that every single day. I also get asked if I'm 40 on a regular basis. Last time I checked, I didn't look near that age but hey, I could be wrong.
One of the girls that's been here since I got here is Tara's cousin who was babysitting Tara's daughter while her husband was working, left yesterday to head back home so Thursday night a group of us got together for a going away bonfire! It was a fun night of just sitting around the fire and talking/hanging out. Fires really are my favorite!
A Macy update... she is doing well and getting big! We're still working on the potty training thing but she is getting better - a little bit! I talked to the vet in Dillingham on the phone and she is sending me the shots that Macy needs and she said she's probably about 8 weeks old if her puppy breath just went away so she's still young... I'll need to be patient on the potty training! But she's so stinking cute that I let her get away with too much, she's a tad spoiled. ; )
Today we did our weekly trip into town to the store and the post office... this morning we came back with all the usual things, frozen pizza, soda, odds and ends, fruit (they actually had some apples and oranges!!), and eggs, bread, etc. But we also came back with a cute little puppy that Amanda and Scott are now the owners of. There was a whole CUTE liter right behind the store so we walked down there to see them and we ended up walking away with one that looks just like Macy only a little darker carmel color! Macy of course loves him but he's so tiny he doesn't love her yet! After a day of cleaning and laundry, we'll do our weekly dinner with the four of us. One of my students brought me a big bag of caribou meat the other night so I'm going to take some of that up and we're going to grill it! This kids are so great to me!! I haven't had caribou since carnival time in Port Heiden so I'm excited to eat it again! I love it!! I'm also hoping for a fire tonight because it's a gorgeous day out! : )
Still waiting for the crate to come in the mail for Macy for during the day... she's getting better at going in the house but I still want to get her crate trained. It's been almost a month since it was supposed to be here!
Thank you to those who have sent me packages since I've been here... I really, really appreciate it and like all the other teachers, I check the mail every day. We all joke that we get so excited about checking the mail but as I've said before, it's like Christmas morning for us when we have a package in the pile of boxes that arrived!! So thank you guys!!!
Also, I'm welcoming visitors at ANY time ; )
My girl
Here's a better picture of all of us. All fourteen of them were finally here!
We have been studying landforms so we made our own landform maps out of graham crackers and colored icing! I tried to tell them that we don't eat maps when they were all done but they put up a good fight and got to eat them. ; )
Some beautiful days recently!
My new handmade Yupik earrings that I LOVE! They're made out of beads!
I made muffins with my berries I picked! They weren't the best but not too bad for my first time making muffins from scratch!
Kennuth and David at our fire the other night. Kennuth is one of the guys who is in charge of this whole road redo project here in Manokotak. He is here along with a bunch of other construction guys and they work around the clock to redo the road and other things from here to the main village. He lives across the hall from me in the other apartment while he's here! He's super nice - so are the other guys I've met! David is a student here in KMO.
There's a few of the boys who were baking! The other ones were running around at that point...
Well only about 92 days until Macy and I come home for Christmas. Keeping our fingers crossed that all of our flights can get out because of weather but our flights are officially booked! Very excited to get home to see everyone and for Macy to get to meet everyone. : )
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