My first year of teaching is halfway over! December was a great month; the school had a door decorating contest and a Christmas program. The janitors go out in the tundra every year and choose a huuuge tree to put in the Elder Hall. Each student makes a decoration to put on the tree. My class made reindeer faces out of popsicle sticks. My door decoration was a reindeer with Christmas lights on his antlers. My kids also had fun cutting out hands for our handprint Christmas tree and making snowflakes for our hallway bulletin board. Each elementary class and some of the high school students preformed in the Christmas program. (Check out some of the high school kids singing and dancing a traditional song with Yup'ik drums in the second video.) My class joined kindergarten and sang Going on a Bear Hunt and We Wish you a Merry Christmas. They wore cute little bear hats while they were singing. I was expecting low attendance for the program, but I had 8 out of 10 students come and sing. I was absolutely beside myself when I saw them all dressed up. Just check out the pictures and video below and get a look at how adorable they are. The twins looked like princesses with their poufy dresses and curled hair, and seeing the little boy with the vest, tie, and shiny shoes was killing me. The last day before break, we had fun coloring, watching movies, and opening treat bags. I set the videos to private on Youtube, so that only people reading my blog will have access to them. Let me know if they don't work for you, and I'll see if I can fix it.
A couple weekends ago, there was an arts and crafts bazaar at the school, were local artists came and sold jewelry, clothing, and food they made. There were beaded bracelets and earrings, crocheted hats and headbands, fur hats, and qaspeqs (a Yup’ik garment worn by male and female Alaskan Natives). Collin and I went and admired the items for sale and just happened to come home with a puppy. He was there with one of the ladies selling things and he was free. We were holding him while looking around and just couldn’t part with his sweet little face. (I mean, just look at him!) I think he was about a month old when we got him. Keeping with our engine theme, we decided to name him Windsor, the name of a Mustang engine (or so I’m told). He’s grown quite a bit since we brought him home, and Hemi and Diesel have grown used to him. He has a feisty little personality and is way too cute to get mad at when he pees on the floor. Ugh.
Christmas break has been really, really nice. Collin and I decided to stay in the village to save money. We haven’t done anything too exciting, but sleeping and relaxing has been really nice. We Skyped with our families and I made a Christmas dinner for the both of us. We have the rest of the week to relax, and then it’s back to school next week, with an in-service on Friday. I’m excited to get the second semester of school under way. If it goes by as fast as the first one did, we will be back in Kansas for the summer before we know it! I hope all of my lovely readers had a Merry Christmas, and I hope you have a great 2016!
Christmas break has been really, really nice. Collin and I decided to stay in the village to save money. We haven’t done anything too exciting, but sleeping and relaxing has been really nice. We Skyped with our families and I made a Christmas dinner for the both of us. We have the rest of the week to relax, and then it’s back to school next week, with an in-service on Friday. I’m excited to get the second semester of school under way. If it goes by as fast as the first one did, we will be back in Kansas for the summer before we know it! I hope all of my lovely readers had a Merry Christmas, and I hope you have a great 2016!