Because there are Roads Here. . .

I thought I would take some time to fill everyone in on what an Alaskan teacher does when she's not teaching.

1. Visiting friends. I have eaten more meals out in the past 3 weeks than I have in the past 6 months! Evidently, as we get older and want to spend time with friends, we know how to do two things: eat and drink. I have done plenty of both of those things. I'm not complaining though, it's nice to have the option.

2. The camper. For those of you who don't know, I bought a 1984 Yellowstone camper. It works about halfway. The hot water heater needs fixed and the air conditioner doesn't work. Although, I've been told to suck it up because it's not real camping any way. I decided to insure the camper because I'm a practical person. My car insurance is over $300 a half, my camper is $19. That should give you an idea of how much it's worth!

3. Family. One of my main activities has been visiting family and friends. I have watched my niece dance and graduate preschool. Alex, my niece, was performing in a street fair. So, my family went out to support her. It had to be 90 degrees and my thickened Alaskan blood wasn't having it! It was so hot and so uncomfortable, but I told myself it was worth it for Alex. Her group went and started their dance. It was maybe 30 seconds. . . All that sweat for 30 seconds. But, she was happy.

4. Deals! I have spend so much money since I've been home. But, the best deal, by far, is Diet Coke. Many of you know that I love this stuff and often call it Diet Crack. But, I refuse to pay $14 for a 12 pack in the village. So, imagine my delight when I found it at Wal-Mart for $5!!!!!! It was amazing! I almost bought 3 cases, but then remembered that I can go to Wal-Mart any time- because there are roads here.

48 Hours and Counting

So, here it is May 20, and I can hardly believe it. But, first, I must apologize for being absent for 6 weeks. We had internet trouble, then I couldn't upload pictures, and frankly, I've been SUPER busy! But, here I am again.

Moving up here has been such a wonderful experience. I am looking forward to next year. In case you haven't heard, I did sign my contract for next year. I've done thing I never thought I would.

I like lists, so here is a list of things I've done that I probably never would have done in Ohio:
1. I relearned how to sew. I made a quilted table runner!
2. I cut a moose and a caribou. The caribou, if you'll remember, was on my kitchen floor.
3. I've learned to love aqutaq, or Eskimo ice cream. It's pretty much Crisco and berries, but it is delicious!
4. I rode on an ice road in a truck, and secretly prayed that the ice didn't break, even though I know won't!
5. I ate raw beluga whale. It was pretty bad.
6. I attended my first graduation as a teacher of the graduates. I cried a little.
7. I learned that prom decorations are a terrible idea, and that you need an engineering degree to assemble them!
8. I own snow gear, so I don't freeze to death when traveling for work.
9. I paid $10 for a bag of flour.
10. I've made lifelong friends who I never would have met any other way.

Just to illustrate how different things are here, during prom decorating, some high schoolers and I were putting together the Eiffel Tower and you needed to cut a hole in a piece of cardboard with a craft knife. Well, we couldn't find a craft knife to save our lives. So, I said, "Ok. Who brought a knife to school today?" Two boys took knives out of their pockets. I assigned one of them to cut the hole. That is something that NEVER would happen in the Lower 48. I'd have to suspend them both!

A few other things to note: I moved to a different apartment. A fellow teacher, Dirk, and I decided to switch houses. I now live with Traci in a nicer, newer apartment. We've been roommates for about a month, and so far so good. This will come to a surprise for those of you who know how much I hate roommates!

We are getting a new principal next year. He seems like a good guy, and I'm excited for him to be here. Frankly, he has to be pretty good; he's also an OWU grad!

I bought a 1984 camper to use for the summer. So, if you're near Atwood Lake Park, look me up. I think I'm lot 693. Tony, my brother, got the lot for me.

Those are all the big things I can think of. I'll be arriving home at 8:23 PM EST at the Akron/Canton Airport. It's a full 24 hour trip with plenty of stops in between. So, Portia, my cat, and I will be leaving Eek at 4:30 PM tomorrow and heading out. Keep looking back as I'll update this summer. I'll try to do it more often.

Native Arts

A week and a half ago I had the opportunity to go into Bethel for the last art retreat of the year. This one focused on Native arts. I was a little nervous going in. I'm not the most talented person, so I was worried about how my art would turn out.

I was pleasantly surprised that the activities were geared to use in the classroom teaching students. This was good news to me because I should be able handle an art project meant for a 10-year-old! They split us into four groups and explained that there would be four sessions: beading, weaving, sewing, and carving. Each one took a half day to complete.


This is a spoon I carved using a Haida (another Native Alaskan culture) knife. The most difficult part of this was holding the knife correctly. You had to hold the knife in your palm facing up with the point on the opposite side of your thumb and pull the blade toward you. Our instructor claimed it was safer. This is probably true, but it wasn't easier. This was probably the hardest craft because I had never carved anything ever before. The head was supposed to be round, but you can see mine looks more like a stop sign. Of course, I did better than some. One guy carved the bowl part so deeply that he went right through and put a hole in the middle of his spoon!

This is a Yup'ik yo-yo. Traditionally, it's made of leather, animal skin, and sewn together with caribou sinew. Mine is made with leather, fake calf skin (not native to the area), and imitation sinew. Basically the thread is a waxy string. I sewed the two little mittens with brown leather on one side and calf skin on the other. When the workshop was almost over, we were supposed to try out our yo-yos. So, I asked the carving instructor for help because you don't use them like Lower 48 yo-yos. He started to try it and the one end fell off! Evidently, my sewing was not very tight. Live and learn I guess!


This is the basket that I wove. Traditionally, this would be made of grass, but ours were yarn. I think this might be the best (or second best) product I made. It took me awhile to get the hang of it, especially when I started weaving backwards. The instructor had a hard time getting me to do it right, but I learned!

This is a Yup'ik dance necklace. The brown stone looking things were traditionally made of bone (ours were plastic). I think this is my favorite thing that I made. It would be worn during Yup'ik dances.

I think the most interesting thing I learned during this retreat was that this was a common time for women to talk and socialize. In many ways, this was the most enjoyable art retreat I have been to. I learned about how tough it was to complete these in an untraditional way, let alone with caribou sinew and hide! Enjoy the pictures!

Ice Road Erin!

A few weeks ago I had the chance to go into Bethel for two trainings. One training (an art retreat) was Friday and Saturday and the other (about classroom management) was Monday and Tuesday. This meant I had a day free between them. So, I decided to call Segue and see if I could visit her. Segue lives in a semi-suburb of Bethel called Oscarville. Although it is a short distance from Bethel (less than 10 miles I'd say) there are no roads. So, nobody can drive from Oscarville to Bethel. Unless of course, you don't mind driving on a frozen river. . .

So, that is exactly what I did! Well, I didn't drive, I rode along (or followed as they say here). It was a crazy experience! The "road" was well traveled. We saw at least a dozen other vehicles on the river as Segue, another friend, and I made our way to Oscarville. The road is really just two tire tracks leading from Bethel to other villages. This is fine until you see a truck coming the other way. When this happens one person, has to drive in the untouched snow and try to get back in the tracks once the opposing traffic passes.

This happened a few times in my short trip. The whole trip took about 15 minutes. But, some people drive from Bethel to much further off villages, like Kasigluk, which is about 2 hours! There is even a business called "river cabs" that take you from Bethel to other villages.

For those of you reading this who think I'm crazy for trying this because the ice could crack, let me educate you a little further. The river here freezes from top down, but it also freezes from the bottom up because it's so cold here. At a certain depth, the ground never thaws. So, even if the top layer did crack, the water might not be too deep, like a few inches. Don't worry, Mom!

Although, there are dangers. For instance, on the way back to Bethel, I saw a snow mobile that had caught on fire and burnt to the frame. But, as the driver said, "Well, there are no bones, so the person must have gotten off in time". That's optimism. Enjoy the pictures below of the ice road and Oscarville!

This is the view going from Bethel to the ice road.
You can see there is a truck coming at us from the other direction.
Ice Road to Oscarville. A view of Oscarville from the river.
Totally a different topic-- This is the sunset in Eek!

Modes of Transportation

Every small town has a sport that they love. Here in Eek, and most of the tundra, it is basketball. This weekend it was my job to accompany our junior high basketball team to Kwigillingok, another village in our district. The junior high team is coed, and therefore they needed a female chaperone. It started out with a fun plane ride. The students asked me if they could ask the pilot for a "roller coaster". I said sure. I like thrill rides, so I figured this would be ok. A roller coaster is when the pilot nosedives the plane toward the frozen tundra, and then pulls up and goes higher than the usual flight track. It was so much fun! Trash, paper, clipboards--everything-- flies into the air due to the lack of gravity. Of course, we had to have one on the ride home too.

The highlight of the weekend was meeting Bill, a teacher at Kwig, who builds kayaks in the Native American traditional way.

This is a kayak that Bill is working on.

These are the frames for kayaks that are a work in progress.

This is the inside of a kayak. Notice how the "ribs" are bent? They bend those with their teeth!

This is a kayak made in the most traditional Native American Way. The skin of the kayak is seal skin, and the colors are made with crushed rock and water.

This is another traditional kayak. Notice the vein running down and forking out at the bottom. That's where Bill and his sons patched together two pieces of seal skin. It's held together with moss and seal fat as the "glue". This is one of the most interesting experiences I've had since I've been here. I'm really glad I got the chance to see this work.

This last picture is just a pretty sunset on the tundra.

Class is in session

I've been thinking about a topic to blog about. I tried to think of the one thing that people asked the most about while I was home for winter break. And, I have to admit that most people asked lots of questions about school up here. So, I'll do my best to point out, what I consider to be, the main differences between Ohio schools and here in no particular order.

1. The students call me Erin. Not Miss Schalk or ma'am, but Erin. It truly is a village feel here. We all live together and are "in it" together, so we're all on a first name basis. It's true that in Ohio, I have given students detention for calling me Erin, but here it's normal. And, I have to admit that it doesn't bother me. It's made me realize that respect is more than a title, but your character.

2. We don't give traditional grades. Although teaching isn't different, and learning is the same, the way we structure curriculum and grade is different. It's more holistic. For instance, students aren't really in grades. They have indicators to meet for a "phase". Once they finish, they can move up. Therefore, motivated students can move quickly through curriculum and less motivated students don't move. In some ways, I think this is great. I think it allows for a more individualized education. On the other hand, there is a high turn over rate here, and therefore spotty record keeping. So, it can backfire on us.

3. Students come to my house-a lot. They always want to visit, and it's considered normal to let them sometimes. In Ohio, I NEVER would let a student in my house, but here it's ok. They'll come in for a little while, watch TV, play cards, whatever. In my opinion, it's just something to do in a town with very little to do.

4. Student behavior has different standards. The students here often come tired, and sometimes, we let them sleep.

5. I don't give homework. Ever. It's just easier not to, and frankly, I can't say my results are worse than they were in Ohio.

I really feel like I work twice as hard here. I had 2 or 3 different classes to prepare for in Ohio, here I have 6. The lesson plans that are required are more involved, and the classes are longer. So, I work every weekend. I could count on one hand how many days I have been in the village and NOT gone into work. But, I also think it's more rewarding. So, in the end, it's worth it.

Heading Up North

I'm currently sitting in the Anchorage airport awaiting my next flight. Despite a Midwest snowstorm, I managed to get out of Pittsburgh on time and even made my flight in Phoenix. When I arrived here in Anchorage I attempted to check only to find out that 1 AM is not the beginning of a new day. In fact, the new day starts at 4 AM according to Alaska Airlines. So, I'm sitting here waiting for a few hours to check in. I thought I would use the time wisely to reflect on the past month. Here are some highlights:
1. I got to see just about everyone on my list of friends and family. It always amazes me how much people can change in a few months. Between new significant others, pregnancies, and hairstyles. I was shocked by my friends multiple times. Although, I found myself saying that I didn't realize how much I'd missed everyone until I saw them.
2. My nephew, Caleb, has grown so much! When I saw him at calling hours, I had to ask if that was him. Of course, anyone who has kids or knows kids understands that 5 months makes a big difference with babies.
3. My niece, Alex, is still the same sweet, lovable, stubborn kid she always was. I was ready to come back to Alaska until I said goodbye to my niece and she clung to my leg begging me not to leave or to take her with me. Although, she does fit in my suitcase, I didn't feel that I should bring her.
4. Prioritizing while packing has a whole new meaning when you have to ship everything instead of just throwing it in a car.
5. Procrastinating is much easier when you're far away from responsibilities. I definitely did not get as much work done as I'd hoped. Oh well!

I had a great time at home, but I am definitely looking forward to seeing all my Eek friends and getting back to work. Here's looking forward to May!