Adventures in Kokhanok

Today was the longest day of training. I felt like I was staring at the computer screen all day long! I had enough time to come home for lunch, and our first order of groceries was here! I worked on putting them away and headed back to school for more Zoom meetings. After we finished our meetings around 4 pm, Corbin, Conner, Gabrielle, and I drove to Gibraltar. On our way, we stopped at Gary's store! Everything in there is crazy expensive (just like everyone said). Corbin bought a small bottle of juice for $8, and I bought a jar of banana peppers for $11. They also had a bag of tortilla chips that was $16 (we didn't get it). Gibraltar is a beautiful place along Iliamna Lake. Some of the kids from school were camping there, so I got to meet them :) Corbin wanted to catch a salmon so we could have fish tacos, but we couldn't find a fishing pole. I really wanted to go in and catch it with my hands, but my rain boots weren't tall enough, and I chickened out. Connor (one of ...

This morning, one of the teachers brought me a cup of coffee!! It was so good! (I'm used to drinking my black coffee, and this had cream and sugar in it.) I had a few meetings this morning and then took an online course to learn about one of the reading interventions that the kids take, so I will be able to help out with that! This afternoon I chatted with Kimberly (my teacher that I'll be with all semester), we talked about IEPs and all things SPED. Tonight, Corbin made pizza for dinner, and then we took a Honda ride to the dump! It sounds lame to be excited about going to the dump, but it is the highest point, so you can see most of the village and a lot across the lake! It was beautiful. On the way back, Corbin taught me how to drive it, and it was fun! Also, I just found out that I passed all of my teacher certification exams so when I come back, I'll be able to teach! :)

First day of online training with the district and first full day with my teacher in her classroom!! My teacher is so great! She knows so much about all the kids, and I can really tell how much she cares about them all and wants what's best for them. I am so excited to learn from her :) We had one meeting this morning with everyone from the district, and everyone was introduced, so that was cool! (They pronounced DeMare wrong though) It was short, but we got to go into breakout rooms and get to know our small group, which was nice. After that, I sat with my teacher and the other teachers just in my building about student schedules. They make the school schedule just about a week before school starts, which is wild to me since I'm used to getting a schedule at the beginning of August. Since it is such a small school, the teachers work together to place students in classes based on their learning levels, not their grade level. I don't know any of the kiddos yet, so it was kin...

Today was the last day of nothing before my Inservice starts tomorrow. Corbin made egg sandwiches for breakfast. I went to school for a few hours and helped Gabrielle sort some books in her classroom.  We finished putting the bunk bed together and got Corbin's mattress from storage. Corbin made cheeseburgers and tater tots for dinner! 

Our flight flew out really really early really really early for me. It was only like 730 and we stopped at two other places on the way to Kokhanok. We stopped first at Non Dalton and dropped off one new teacher and then we stopped at New Halen and dropped off two new teachers and two student teachers, and then on the flight to Kokhanok I was the only one :) the pilot flew over the river and we saw a seal and a ton of salmon like so much it was crazy! I made it to the apartment and surprise Corbin somehow I forgot to tell him I was coming in early. Luckily he was awake when we knocked on the door. We went on an hour walk to the Point it was beautiful and there are so many rocks perfect for skipping. Corbin and I spent the day unpacking and cleaning up a little bit. Corbin was at the school for a while doing a little bit of work while I am packed most of my things and he gave me a little mini tour of the school. He made macaroni and cheese with bacon bits and chicken fingers in it for lu...

Today is our first free day we got to do whatever we wanted with no trainings!! We went to church in the morning. There was a really nice service in Port Alsworth. The same teacher that took us into the forest yesterday was the same teacher that drove a bunch of us in the big van a.k.a. the school bus to church. It was outside in a big outdoor gym it was really cool. After church, we went back to the school and one of the other teachers taught me in a couple of people how to smoke salmon so first we had to pick out all the bones then we had to slice it into like one to one and a half inch strips then we brined it for about an hour with one cup of salt and one cup of brown sugar just wrapped it all over it then I had to sit for an hour or two and then we smoked it for about an hour or two and then we ate it for dinner. We went to the runway around 4pm and we watched a few planes fly in. Samaritans purse has a cool lodge where veterans and their spouses can come and stay at a retreat for...

In the morning, we had a bunch of trainings and they give us a little break for lunch so a few of us walked to the Lake Clark National Park and preserve. One of our trainings was about cold water, safety, and bear safety. A guy from the nature preserve came in and explained what we should do if we somehow get stuck in cold water and also how to properly defend yourself against bears with bear spray. On Saturday, one of the teachers took a group of the student teachers out into the forest and we were able to harvest birch bark so we can make some more baskets.    

We woke up around 8:30 had breakfast and started training at nine again after a few trainings we had lunch around noon. Around 4 PM we packed everything up and got on a plane. while we were waiting to get on the plane I beat Natalie in checkers :)  We flew from Anchorage to Port Alsworth. It was about an hour and it was perfectly clear. With no clouds at all the flight was beautiful. When we made it to Port Alsworth, we were able to walk from the airstrip to the school. It was only like a four or five minute walk which was pretty nice and on the way we could see a mountain so it was really cool to walk to the school and see a mountain on your way. All six of the student teachers were able to stay in one classroom they had cots and a couple air mattresses for us to sleep on. Rebecca drove Natalie and I on a Honda so that Natalie could bring things to her apartment. Friday night after dinner and everything we started making birch bark baskets. For Dinner they made us fresh salmon for...

We woke up around 8 am and had breakfast and started our trainings around nine for lunch. We had Qdoba that was catered. After lunch, we picked up Corbin went shopping in small groups because the cars couldn't hold all our groceries. We went to GCI (the phone store), Costco, and Fred Meyer. In Costco Corbin and I filled a cart and it was not cheap!  Fred Meyer had anything you could ever imagine from jewelry to produce. It was pretty wild! After shopping, we came back for dinner. We had pizza and wings and salad. That was really good after dinner Corbin, Roy, Madi and I played basketball. We played PIG outside in the parking lot. It was fun. Natalie and I stayed up until like 1:30 in the morning just talking hanging out Natalie was playing on her new flip phone, and it was funny trying to figure out all the features in finding games on it. She kept on turning on the flashlight on without even realizing it. 

It was a really long day that started in New York at 2 AM my original flights got canceled so I sat in the Buffalo airport for about 5 1/2 hours before I even got to takeoff. I had two flights that were each about an hour and a half and I slept for the most part on both of them. The first one was Buffalo to Washington Dc, the second one was DC to Chicago where I meet Jenna. \ I had some pizza in Chicago before flying to Anchorage. My third flight was 6 1/2 hours long and I got to sit next to this really nice couple who was trying to visit all 50 states . They said that Alaska was their last state! When they were talking the woman mentioned that she lived in Florida, so I asked her where and she said that she lived in Apollo Beach and she was talking about the Winn-Dixie that got changed into an Aldi’s and I just thought that that was so crazy because I knew exactly where she was talking about so that’s pretty cool. Bill and Moon meet us at the airport to get our luggage. Corbin, Bill a...