Happy New Year!!! It's 50 below 0
Trip Start
Unknown
1
15
23
Trip End
Ongoing
Arctic Village,
Alaska,
United States
Saturday, January 12, 2008
New experiences with cold:
We are 12 days into the new year and we had our first official dip to -50 below 0. It dropped from -5 below to -50 below in one day. It was startling. Our pipes have not frozen again so I am thankful. Holiday break was interesting because it was dark most of the time. The family sleep patterns started to shift a lot. I personally started staying up until 3 or 4 in the morning and sleeping until at least noon. It was almost a sub conscience shift. It was just hard since there was no day and night to speak of. Getting back to school has helped and Ive never been one that hates sleeping a lot so it was all a good thing.
Mikes into Nature:
Mike walked across the frozen river today and finally saw the caribou first hand
Teaching some Middle Eastern drum
. He has really wanted to see them close up and they are out quite often but we are always in the wrong place at the wrong time. Finally, he walked up on them and had a sighting. He will write more on this in his own post later. He is really communing with nature more than I am but that makes sense because I am more into the wildlife you see at the local mall but he really enjoys his daily hikes and his trips into the wild life refuge across the river. He even enjoys himself when he hikes to burn our trash. For all you teachers:
School is in swing again. Before break I suggested a new weekly enrichment program. They do not have resources like music, art, and band here so I thought on our early release days we could do a school wide enrichment day. The students move between 4 centers by grade level where they get a 30 minute dose of music, native culture, spoken word, and art. We started the first Wednesday we got back and it went very well. I did the music center. So, of course, I did Middle Eastern drum rhythms and finger cymbals. The native culture center had Todd, our math and science teacher, tanning the hide on a caribou leg. Becky the Principal did art, origami snow flakes and Mary the early elementary teacher did oral story telling in a talking circle. It was very cool and gave us all a chance to be creative
Boys drumming
. Whats to come:
Mike and I will have the chance to travel a bit in the new year. I will be leaving for Anchorage the 24th due to a Yup'ik math training Ive been invited to attend. I will be gone four days. I am excited to travel and see another part of the state (time for another hair cut). A week later the entire family is going into Fairbanks for our teacher in service. The kids are excited to go into civilization as a family. There is a Tai establishment we are eager to try! The end of February has Mike taking a turn in Anchorage for a Tech conference. He will be a man about town with no wife and kids, no hauling water, no burning trash, whatever will he do with himself :) Immediately after his return I am scheduled to chaperon a school trip to the Federation of Native Americans conference in Fairbanks (again) Our students are dancing in the Native Dance Expo and I get to be a part of a really cool event. Very Excited! That will take us into April and wow the school year will be almost at an end.
The Kids:
Bradie has a new digital camera that she is excited about using. She has been taking photos constantly. She is also doing her own blog on Dogster.com and really getting involved with he snow dogs up here. Mary and Chance are still into Club Penguin on line and also sledding and getting pulled by the snow go. Marshall is in the kitchen a lot helping his teacher with projects like Pizza, cookies, and pancakes :)
Check in for all our travel experiences!
Comments
Hello from Sunny Florida
It is great to continue to read about you and your family. I do remember the fifty below times while I lived in Russia, and coping with the dark days. It is a lot for your body to get used to. But it sounds like you are doing great. I'm excited about the travels you get to do it sounds wonderful. Things are going the same around here, school is in full swing and we are gearing up for accreditation. You are missed terribly and thought and talked about often! Tell all hi!
Melissa