Today was beautiful, sunny and warm; there was a slight breeze so the no-see-ums(little gnats that come in swarms and they bite) weren't bad tonight. :) Filled up my water tank and put away some of my groceries that I ordered (sad when you get a box of groceries and are excited) :) Kat, Joann and I went for a lovely walk tonight.

Yesterday I brought some of my girls over to bake--we usually do this once a week. We made two batches of chocolate chip cookies. They had some to take back to school for staff and some to take home to their parents. They have been asking all week when they would bake, and today they asked again if they were going to make cookies. I had to tell them six more sleeps. :)

This was a LONG week at school, I think everyone is a bit tired trying to readjust to the school schedule and trying to get organized. Sickness has started to plague staff...Kat has been sick all week, Greg and Melissa, and the new teachers have all been sick or are getting sick.

Yesterday our new speech and language pathologist came for a visit. She is very sweet, helpful and efficient. We've had almost an entire turn over in our SpEd staff from the district office this year. It'll be interesting to see who the new staff is and how policies may change.

Saturday is considered a work day for us in preparation for parent teacher conferences. However we have Monday off....most of us are ready for a three day weekend; still getting back into routine. :) Next weekend I start some of my SpEd. meetings and then parent teacher conferences and back to Bethel for inservice.

I had a four wheeler lesson the other day from Maat, will be expecting another one in the near future ;) --Jo you'd like it.

The tundra is turning more and more red, the little white tufts that look like cotton are starting to disappear and days are getting shorter. Days have been warm and breezy, great to go for walks and to air out the house.

Some of the high school students have transferred out and some of them are getting ready to start classes at Mt. Edgecombe boarding school in Sitka. There's been a lot of discussion among staff/community about the phase system lately; wonder where things will be 3 years from now.

Today found some of my students and I out on the playground in an intense game of tag, Was a lot of fun and a welcome break. Speaking of TAG's the TAG game Kat and I started last year has resumed. Kat got me the other day, she thinks we should tag the new teacher-I'm not so sure about that; at least until I know her a little bit. All and all the mischievious duo has been pretty laid back this year. We're hoping to get some better reactions out of certain people this year. :)

Kat came over tonight and we hung out for awhile, it's nice having our own places but we miss getting together. We made homemade pizza and just chit chatted light heartedly.


I get my computer back on tuesday and hopefully will be able to post some more pictures of village life.

Have a wonderful week. :)

Oh..I've been reading the book and doing the study "Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul" by John and Stasi Eldredge--I would recommend it for all my female friends, it's an excellent book.

Friday :)

When I woke up this morning and peeked outside the sky was breathtaking--there was a haze across the village and hues of pink and blue were poking through. Pictures can't begin to do the beauty of a sunrise or sunset justice. The temperatures have been warm today and it rotates from cloudy to sunny.

Upon arrival at school I was greeted with a chipper "Hi Marie" from one of my little gems. This is a common greeting however this morning, this student had a very blue mouth, black fingers and dark blue spots on her sweatshirt...(hmmm, what do you suppose she got in to now?? :)...a bit later I noticed the bulging pockets. With a little prodding she removed handful after handful of tundra blackberries from her pockets. I notified her mom later in the school day; her mom said I could keep the berries and make a pie or something with them.

Berries have been very abundant...salmon berry season is almost over and the blackberries are just coming out. One of my staff members had over 35 gal. of salmon berries. I am going to use some of the strawberries I picked when I was home to make a strawberry pie for some of the staff in exchange for something with salmon berries.

One week of school has come and gone, today we had our first Friday staff meeting. We tested out the new smart board (very nice) had training on the teacher evaluation system which has changed a little bit since last year; they also added a new packet for special ed teachers to be evaluated on. This is nice for us as it is more appropriate for assessing what we actually do. Amongst other things Frank has done a lot of work to make things more organized and easier for the staff; we have a principal interm this year which is also nice.

Should get going...Nick has volunteered to help out with a project once again. Rocky went under the house the other day, and cut my cable for the TV in half. Nick called and asked if he could fix it, again I am blessed with great co-workers. :)


Hope you have a wonderful weekend :)

A few more pics

Here are a few more pics of the house. Notice in the picture of the bathroom there is a big gray tank, that is my water tank, it is filled by rainwater or I run a hose from the school--I have learned that my house wasn't designed for short people :) In the arctic entry (porch) you'll notice rocky's favorite place to curl up. :) The pic of the house was taken from the top of the school steps.

some new house pics

It's been a busy week since I last posted.

Nick came the other day and installed a rain gutter on my house, the rain gutter feeds into my water tank in the bathroom. The next morning it rained and my tank was full of beautiful rain water. I am blessed to work with so many wonderful people, people who genuinely care and who just do random acts of kindness.

Last week was filled with the monotony of inservice and a work day. All staff was invited over to Josh and Melissa's on Thursday night for an all staff potluck, we had some tasty berry akutaq (eskimo ice cream) and numerous kinds of salmon.

School started on Friday (the 18th) and we only went until noon. The weekend was way too short and I didn't get nearly enough done. I think the new teachers are feeling overwhelmed, they spent all day saturday and all day sunday in the school.

My computer was acting goofy and the district tech. person sent it in to apple...i'm hoping it will be back before long. All of our SpEd. scheduling is done..WHOHOO!! this was a HUGE headache last year. I'm very excited about this year and the way things are balanced out it shouldn't be nearly as stressful.

It is amazing to come back as a second year teacher. We (Kat and I) see the village in a whole new light. The village is viewed as home and it is so beautiuful, last year we missed the natural beauty of the fall. We have seen the importance of stopping and taking time to enjoy things, and though school is important it's not our life.

This past weekend Travis hooked up the first radio to ever be broadcast from Tunt. Yesterday we were listening to what I call Travis FM. He is very excited and it's fun to be able to turn on the radio and hear something.

On saturday someone called and asked if I wanted a salmon--I said sure. Needless to say I know nothing about cutting or cooking fish. Nick came over and showed me how to gut the fish and cut it up, we'll see if I can figure it out next time. :)

The new thing in Tunt...is the game Nick brought back with him. It's called "settlers of Catan" or "seafarers of Catan" we have played at least one game every day (minus one) since we've been back.

Well I'm just rambling now, Enjoy the pictures.

Bethel to Tunt--Airports

Here are some pictures from the flight we had returning to the village after inservice in Bethel. They show some of the Bethel airports, one in the plane,some pictures of the tundra, and some as we were flying into land in Tunt. Sorry the pictures aren't so good.

The start of the school year is quickly approaching. 1st and 2nd year teachers went to Bethel for inservice this past week. I was pleasantly surprised to find that one of my former peers at Northwestern is now teaching Special Ed. in a village in our school district..nice to visit with her for a bit. Inservice was monotonous but a great chance to chat with fellow teachers.

We saw our new special ed. director (my boss in the district office) for a bit yesterday. He seems like a great guy and from the little bit we saw, he really knows his stuff. Yesterday morning Span Alaska (one of the places we can order groceries from) gave away four door prizes. Kat recieved one and I recieved one...Tunt was well represented :)

It was nice to shop a bit in Bethel and get some produce that we didn't have, nectarines were on sale for $1 a pound and they looked nice. :) We also received 5% off from our total order at one of the stores in Bethel. The stores are prepared for teachers and have boxes on hand and will box up all your food so it is easier to haul to the village.

It has been a bit rainy around here and cool (the cool weather is a relief after the HOT weather we had in the lower 48 :) Nick, Kat, Travis and I all flew to Bethel on Tuesday afternoon, the weather was bad in Bethel so we landed in Napaskiak (another village...a stone throw from bethel) for awhile until the weather was clear enough. Yesterday when inservice was over, many of the planes weren't flying. The bigger planes started flying around noon, and the 207's started flying a couple hours later.

We loaded our plane for the village at the expected time, but sat on the runway for awhile, the ceiling was too low, and 15 planes were waiting to land and four more were waiting to depart before us. The flight from Bethel was a nice flight we were on a bit bigger plane (Cessna 208 caravan) so we had more room and the flight only took 20 min. :) I took some arial photos and will try to share those later.

will write more later. :)

Back in Tunt

As most of you know, I am back in the village. It is so good to be back, and to see all the teachers. Rocky is thrilled to be home and has adjusted well to our new house. :) No messes and he is sleeping all night.

I am almost settled into the house, have cleaned everything and filled my water tank, and now have nearly everything put away.

The weather has been beautiful, today it is overcast and drizzly and about 50 degrees. The last few days have found mornings that are foggy and drizzly and afternoons filled with sunshine. The sun is starting to set earlier and is dusky by about 11:30. It's nice having longer hours of daylight again. Salmon berries are thick this year, many people have been picking, and the blueberry season is just starting. Someone I know recently sold a 5 gal. pail of salmon berries for $300.

Today all second year teachers will fly into Bethel and we will have two days of inservice in Bethel next week we have two days of video inservice here in Tunt. and two work days before school starts.


Airfare to and from Tunt to Bethel has jumped a bit and is $50 one way or $90 round trip, about the same as it was last year when we arrived in the village.

Will write more later. :)