Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Very cool article about our tribe...check it out!
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Sunday, December 4, 2011
November Happenings. . .
Well, after a very touching email from a past classmate – Annette Rost. I’m encouraged to blog again and share what’s been happening this past month of November.
The week before Thanksgiving I took a trip to Anchorage for the Alaska State Counseling Conference. It was a great experience. We are very fortunate to work in a district that values professional development and encourages us to travel and participate in opportunities such as this one. I attended all 4 days and learned a lot about ways to use google docs, behavior interventions, Alaska Ethics, college & career planning, and body language. What I enjoyed most though, was making connections with other school counselors.
I remember in my internship Linda, my elementary school supervisor, told me that this can be a very lonely job. You don’t realize that during internship when you have supervisors, advisors and weekly group supervision with classmates. You are constantly reflecting and sharing with other counselors – or soon to be counselors. Well, now I am the only counselor in my district – and the closest school counselor is an hour and a half ferry ride away – I get it now. It was comforting to meet a couple of the school counselors from Ketchikan (our closest neighbors). It was also nice to get some perspective of how counseling works in Alaska. Although at times it seems we are in a remote area, we are definitely not the most remote.
I can’t imagine working in the bush of Alaska, where you might have 13 different schools that you spend two weeks at a time at, flying to each and every one. . . and sleeping on the floor of the school you are visiting. Not to mention working in an area where there is no police station or social service agency. That is reality for some Alaska School Counselors. Thankfully, that is not my situation here. While we live in a small village of 1,200 or so people, we have most everything that we need.
The conference was really enjoyable. It was also nice to be in “The Big City.” I stayed at the Marriott, which was just a couple blocks from the mall. It was also close to coffee shops and best of all. . . Allure – the day spa. I treated myself to an 80 minutes massage, which was heavenly. I have decided that this is a MUST whenever visiting Anchorage again.
I also got to visit with some of Jason’s family who lives in Anchorage and my friend Alisa who is currently living there. Alisa introduced me to Mooses Tooth Pizza – delicious. And The Bear Tooth Theater, which is a lot like the Kennedy School. Jason’s Aunt Chris took me to Target and Costco so that I could stock up on Luna Bars, Starbucks Coffee, & Dave’s Killer Bread – you know, the important stuff. As peaceful as our life is in Metlakatla – I definitely appreciated being in the busy city for a week. Despite my efforts though, I still haven’t seen a real moose – but I’m sure another trip to Anchorage will be in my future soon enough.
When I returned we had a short week due to Thanksgiving (and my birthday, of course). We planned on spending Thanksgiving with our friends Rachel & Joe. Rachel’s Dad came from Indiana and so she was hosting the holiday at their place. It turned out pretty unforgettable for Rachel as her and her Dad spent a few days in Juneau and had a difficult time traveling back to the island. Weather was pretty stormy all week and their float plane was cancelled the day before Turkey Day. It would have not been too big of a problem, except that then the ferry broke down (this almost NEVER happens) on Thanksgiving and they were not able to get back until about 5pm – and only because a local lady offered them a ride back in her family’s boat! Ah, the joys of traveling in SE Alaska! They were VERY glad to be home and I have never seen a Thanksgiving dinner put together so quickly!
Jason and I also made our own turkey, as a backup because none of us had ever cooked a turkey before and because leftovers are AWESOME. It turned out delicious if I do say so myself.
We also enjoyed a nice beautiful WHITE Thanksgiving because it snowed! We had about 6 inches of snow on Thanksgiving, which was fun. It melted within the next few days, but it was definitely a nice treat while it was here.
After Thanksgiving we took Rachel’s Dad to go explore the island and checked out the fish hatchery (pictures to come soon). This was also my first trip to the hatchery. It’s a long drive, probably 30 minutes outside of town, but only because you are driving on a long dirt road that is full of pot holes. It was well worth it though, to see where they raise the fish and just to explore another area of our little island.
Since then we have been busy getting back into the groove of things. Jason left this week for another mapping/science workshop in Fairbanks. I’m looking forward to his pictures, because I know he was able to see the Northern Lights last night! I’m jealous.
Since Jason’s gone I’ve been keeping busy, learning how to can and make kippered salmon. We are lucky to have a dry day today and I’m sitting on the couch now watching kids 4-wheeling on the beach and our high school scuba team dive with snowy mountains in the background, right outside our living room window!
It’s hard to believe that in just 2 short weeks we will be home for Christmas Break! It seems impossible that first semester will be gone and done with. I am always surprised how fast the school year goes. Anyways, that’s what we’ve been up to! I’ll post some pictures soon, when Jason get’s home with the camera. Hope you enjoyed reading about it. . .
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
What we've been up to. . .
It’s been a while since we’ve had time to blog about our experiences here. We have been hard at work. Jason is certified in scuba again, heading up the yearbook/photo club, and running detention after school. I have finally started a conflict management program at the elementary school (which I’m really excited about), been busy giving the SAT and other tests, and I’m going to be running the student government at the high school. I’m also getting ready for my trip to Anchorage on Monday for the Alaska School Counseling Conference.
Life’s been busy! But we are still really enjoying it here. Even at the most stressful times it’s neat to think that we are helping form the next generation of this little community. It seems when you are working in a larger area, like Portland/Milwaukie, you forget about that. One of our 81 high school students will be the next mayor, or police officer, or own the grocery store here. It’s a really neat feeling that neither one of us has really felt working for a larger district.
This last week we got our first bit of snowfall in the mountains. It's really going to be beautiful when the mountains are all covered in snow. It was also parent/teacher conferences. About 40% of our student population showed up with their families. One of the parents brought Jason and I a deer leg as a thank you. Their son had been out hunting and killed it earlier in the week. We took it home and packaged it up into a couple different food saver bags. We cooked one package in the crock pot with some cream of mushroom soup and onion soup mix, oh boy was it tasty! What a treat it was too, now that we eat fish for almost every meal!
I don’t want to forget to tell you all about last weekend too! Friday night was the kick off to Native American Heritage Month. The school worked together with the community to put on a presentation in the Long House. This was really neat because from what we’ve heard some Native American communities do not allow visitors in their Long House. It is reserved for special ceremonies. This community however, is very welcoming and went out of their way to make sure that teachers would come and join in on the celebration. It was really fun watching presentations by the elementary school students singing and counting in their native language, watching dance groups preforming, and they served home made fried bread (which is DELICIOUS). Jason and I even joined in on some of the couple dances – which if you know us . . . we are not dancers! But it was a lot of fun to sing and dance, and celebrate with the community. We are looking forward to many more opportunities like this one.
This year is going by so fast. First quarter is over. I leave for Anchorage on Monday. The following week is Thanksgiving and my birthday. The next week Jason leaves for Fairbanks for a mapping seminar and then he goes to Juneau for a lego robotics competition (he’s been helping out with the lego robotics team here too), then we’ll only have 2 weeks until we head home for the holidays! We are really having a great time, but are also really looking forward to coming home and spending time with all of you! We’ll be home before you know it!
Miss & Love You All!
Saturday, October 22, 2011
A Tour Around Town
A beautiful sunset right outside our front door.
Purple Mountain
The Duncan Cottage
A little park, near "the ball field."
The dock where the float planes come in.
Church next to the high school.
The wellness center - which includes an almost olympic sized swimming pool & about 10 treadmills.
The clinic.
The post office.
The police station.
The middle school.
Covered basketball court.
The elementary school.
The high school.
A grave, beautiful decorated.
The cemetery.
Our beautiful ocean.
The town hall.
The abandoned airport. 
Another view of the mountain.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Puppies!!!
