Merry Christmas!!

Merry
Christmas 

Determined

I made it home for the holidays.  It is safe to say that my roommate and I were determined to make it home for the holidays.  We wrapped up our last day of school.  We had our winter program and the kids did a nice job.  My kids were a bit shy about performing, but they still tried and that is all I care about.  Afterwards we decorated Christmas cookies and watched Rudolph.

At 3:00 we headed back to our apartment to get ready for our flight out.  Much to our surprise a fog had rolled in.  Jill and I made some calls to find out if flights were still going out.  We were assured that the flights were going out, but we would have to call 10 minutes prior to find out for certain.  Our neighbor had her plane fly over head and then turn around.   We were not convinced that we were getting out.  Then, thanks to the kindness of our co-workers, we were offered a trip on snowmobile to get to Bethel to make our flight to Anchorage.  We did not have much time to figure out whether or not we should do this.  The alternative was to wait and hope that the flight would make it.  That did not sound good, so we decided to go (thankfully we did not flights went out to the village).   It was a cold, long ride, but we made it (icicles in my hair and all).  We had 10 minutes till our flight to Anchorage.  Thankfully, the flight was delayed by about 30 minutes and gave us enough time to make it to check our bags and get settled.

We got in to Anchorage, parted ways, and another teacher and I made our way to get on our flight to Chicago.  It was a red eye and I was happy I did not have to wait around for long in the airport.  We landed in Chicago and I met up with parents (after grabbing a Starbucks).

I was sleepy and ready for a nap, but determined to get done what I need to get done.  I wanted to get some groceries and mail them back to my village.  After finishing my coffee I felt, mostly, ready to shop.  We made a group effort grabbing some essentials to mail off.  When my parents and I were finished we decided to get some late breakfast and some more coffee.  I ordered a coffee and went over to fill up the drink.  I was sleepy and excited to get some more caffeine.   I started to say "cofffffeeeeeeeee" and as I was saying it the worker handed me my breakfast sandwich.  I felt I should have explained to him where I just came from and my badly needed coffee break.   :)

Out of Place

This picture is going to look completely normal to most people.  However, it took me by surprise when I saw it yesterday.  I was in my room putting my laundry away when I had to do a double take.  Is that a vehicle, other than a snowmobile or boat, outside my window?

I guess someone must have called for a ride!

Thank You!!

Thank you Diane for thinking of my class.  My kids are over the moon about the items you sent.  They enjoyed the pictures and postcards.  Although I did hear a lot of "Is that you aunt, mom, grandma, brother?" and "Is that in Anchorage?".  I guess they think everyone is related to me.  They eventually got one right.

Here are some very happy kids:

35 Mph Winds

What is it like to walk to and from work with 35mph winds?   It is interesting.

Is it Break Time Yet?

I am counting down the days until break time.  I can't wait to get back home to see my family.   Today was very interesting.   The wind was howling all night and into today.  I did not get much sleep last night, so I am tired today.  I got to walk to school in 35 mph winds.  I feel like my room is a mess and I have a million things to get done with no energy to do it.  Sigh.

On the bright side.....

My kids seem to be learning their song they are going to sing for our concert (Rudolph!)

I received an unexpected package from someone for my kids.  This has them over the moon and willing to do some hard work.  (Thanks Diane!)

Tomorrow is Friday. (TGIF!)

My finger is on the mend.  (Woohoo!)

Baking and Cooking

Sunday, my roommate Jill and I, were baking and cooking up a storm.  We wanted to get a head start on all our cookie baking we have planned.  Then our creative juices got flowing.

Perfect man anyone?


I then went on to starting dinner.  We had a recipe for some potato salad.

After all that hard work this is the aftermath:

How do you stop your finger from bleeding after you slice it with a peeler?  Duct tape.
Thankfully my next door neighbor had some band aids.    Man does it hurt today.  Or should I say maaaaaaan?

Thanksgiving Weekend

It was so nice to be able to get away for a little while and catch up with family/friends.  I made the trip to Wasilla to visit with my uncle and bonus my parents flew in for the weekend.  Two other teachers from another village came with on the adventure and we stayed at the most amazing chalet in Wasilla.  It well exceeded our expectations (Alaska Adventures Unlimited-in case you are interested).  Here are some of the pictures from that fun filled weekend.

Some food after a loooong day of shopping.
Felicia, Kristin, me, and Jill.

The request from my roommate Jill was seafood with a view.  My google search of seafood, view, anchorage came up with this restaurant.  It was fit the bill perfectly.

Some spa time after an action packed day of shopping.

Are you yelling at me?

Let's try that again.

The carnage after being unable to shop in a department store for four months.  I swear that is not all mine!!

I just thought this was interesting at the Anchorage Airport. Bush Pilots Barbershop.

No Water

On Wednesday we woke up to no water in our apartment.  Luckily, we had filtered some water the night before.  We were good on our drinking water.  However, the showering situation was not happening.
Brainstorm on what to do.   Answer, melt a little snow!

That brings us to the afternoon and the water goes out at the school.  The kids had already left.  No school on Thursday (of course the teachers were still there working for some of it).  No school meant school on Saturday and here I sit today.