The Iditarod

The night the Iditarod leaders came through a teacher and I stayed up all night in her room waiting to see them. She had purchased the GPS tracking for watching the mushers come in, so we knew where they were going to be at what time (pretty much). We stayed up until about 4:30 am before Jeff King came through, and Aliy Zirkle wasn't too far behind him.

I got bootie. 

Aliy's dogs got tangled around some wires, which was cool to see. She just laughed and got them untangled. I was glad to see she had a good sense of humor about it, especially for trying to get first place. When she left, there were two booties left behind and I got one! It is currently living in my jacket pocket right now because otherwise Merlynne tries to eat it.

Making it across the ice

The dogs had a really hard time getting across our bay because of the ice. The sleds kept fishtailing or getting stuck. Some of the dog's feet were bloody by the time they reached our shore. It was sad to see that, but they kept going because their next rest was White Mountain - which isn't too much further from Golovin.

Tiny musher

One of the mushers stopped in town to get food and to let his dogs rest after the bay. The kids got really excited and loved looking at the dogs. One of them even climbed on his sled.

Chillin'

As soon as the sled stopped, the dogs laid down and slept. They must have been exhausted.

Going through town.

 One of the mushers, Kelly Maixner, scratched out on our bay one evening. It was too icy and too windy. His dogs couldn't get across the bay. One of the villagers had to drive out and get him. Kelly stayed in the school for a night.

Snow bike

It was interesting to me that some people bike the Iditarod trail. Some of the bikers stayed in the school, too. Their bikes were crazy!

White Mountain

So, events are going to be out of order in my blog. I wanted to get a post up before I lost track of time. I will have a post more about the Iditarod later. I want to share all of my pictures and I even have some video!

But first I'll tell you all about my spring break.

Over spring break I visited another village and drove a snowmachine (snowmobile) for the first time. The village, White Mountain, is just a 30-45 minute snowmachine drive away from Golovin. It is actually the village I thought I would like to be placed at before I got to Alaska (don't tell anyone in Golovin! ;) ) Although, now I wouldn't trade being at Golovin for anything. Darn kids winning me over!

White Mountain

White Mountain was very nice. I went with two other teachers and we stayed with the guidance counselor who floats between our schools. The store in White Mountain was a lot bigger and had slightly better prices. The items on my receipt were also consistently priced and didn't feel completely random. However, still more expensive than Wisconsin.

I could look at this all day.

I had a few spills in/on the way to White Mountain. On the way there I drove a snowmachine, which I also flew off of accidentally after going over a big bump. I am actually kind of surprised I didn't break or sprain anything, but I did bruise my elbow really badly. I was going to post a picture but the bruise doesn't photograph well.

While in White Mountain we climbed a very steep hill to look at beautiful things, and I also may have fallen down while going up the hill. It was very icy.

Food waiting for mushers to come.

White Mountain was a stop on the Iditarod. I got to see where the mushers slept as well as all of the dogs. I think there were ten there at once at one point!

Resting puppies

They were the last bit of the Iditarod I got to see. It was sad that it had to end - I enjoyed watching all of the mushers come through. The dogs were so cute. I did worry about their health a little bit, but it seemed like all of the mushers I heard put their dogs' health above their own. They care so much about their dogs.

SO TIRED

SPRING BREAK

This past week was regionals for basketball, so we only had five students total on the secondary side. It was a lot of fun because we did a collaborative unit on volcanoes. We made our own volcanoes, which the kids absolutely loved. We also visited the elementary side and helped them with a coin counting activity as well as made anemometers. 

Chillin' in the middle of the bay. No big deal.

One of the other teachers, my neighbor, and I have been going for walks every day this past week. It has been very fun and nice to get out of the house. I enjoy talking to my neighbor. She is from Hawaii and was in the army, so she has lots of interesting stories!

Found a bike.

This week is spring break. I plan on sleeping in and working on a library project I have started at the school. I might go to White Mountain, another village, with some teachers later on this week.

Waiting for our walking buddy to come out of the store.

The Iditarod is going to be coming through here either tonight or tomorrow - I can't wait! I did meet one of the men who is biking the Iditarod trail. He was British and seemed very cold and tired. It was super neat.

You Can Count on Me

The song by Bruno Mars called "Count on Me" has been in my head lately because it is the song we are using for the morning meeting. Every morning the students gather in the gym and dance to a song, say the pledge, and hear any announcements from the principle. I think it is fun, but some of the boys act like they are too cool for it. I have a feeling they'll miss it after they graduate though. That's usually how those things go.

Teaching in a small, rural school can be a challenge. Last week students were pulled from class to go to the dentist. So one day my class of three students was down to two because one person was sick, and then the other two got pulled to go to the dentist. So I planned lessons on my own for a class period.

Another view of Golovin

I also had to sub for another teacher because the substitute was sick. So I taught in various rooms throughout the day because three of us switched rooms to teach various classes. It was sort of nice to be doing different things throughout the day.

My largest class here has about 10 students and my smallest class has 3.

The Magic of Merlynne

My roommate here (who is a kind, wonderful person) has a dog. Which, as anyone who knows me knows that the dog is the most important thing to me here. I love animals a lot and it has been very nice having one here. I think the change would be a lot harder if I didn't have a pet to cuddle.

Merlynne

Some of the students have decided that they think my eyes are very pretty. Which is kind of them, however I've been asked:

"Can I have your eyes?" and

"Can I pop your eyes out of your head and put them in mine?"

which slightly concerns me. But I will still take the compliment.

What I wish I was doing 99% of the time.

Some of the younger kids told me I had a pretty laugh and that I giggle a lot. Which made me feel like I was some sort of Disney princess. They also noticed a skin bump I have on my nose and asked if it was a pimple. Which did not make me feel like a Disney princess (but it did make me laugh like one).

I was walking past some kids playing after I bought some things from the store (a can of coke, a single serving bottle of apple juice, and two loaves of bread for $16) and they told me
"We're playing Zombieland, but we only have one baby."

Which also made me laugh.



I have been slightly stressed lately. It can be hard sometimes to keep the students motivated and every weekend I spend hours at the school for basketball. I have also still been having trouble sleeping at night.


I did get to see the Northern Lights. That was really cool. They were pale and they stretched over the entire village - I missed them when they were bright green. Still cool though.

A Three Minute Tour

Here is a brief tour of Golovin/where I live.

This is my bedroom.

Walking home from the store. The school is on the left.

Home of the Lynx.

Another beautiful sky.

Merlynne, the dog.

I wanted to take some pictures of inside the store here, but I didn't want to be the weirdo taking pictures of a grocery store. I got ketchup, a quart of chocolate milk, butter, and Kraft American cheese from the store the other day and it cost $26.

Today I'm going to show the kids a slideshow about myself. Hopefully it's actually somewhat interesting!

More of Golovin

It is finally starting to get colder in Golovin. I am almost wanting to wear my snow pants when I walk across the street to the school. It is -15 degrees right now.

Everyday after school my roommate has basketball practice, and I wouldn't mind walking around outside but it is too cold! I do poke my head out the door when I let the dog out and take a picture of the sunset. I can't get over how beautiful the sky is everyday.

Some of my pictures have been turning out blurry. It is probably because I poke in and out so fast so I don't get cold. I'm also worried that I might wreck my camera if it is too cold.

This weekend the girls have an away game and I'll be helping out with the boys' game here.