Finally we had made it to Anchorage! Mr. Barr, my principal from last year, picked us up and we stayed the night at his house in Eagle River. He also took us to Wal-Mart and we stocked up on meat and cheese. The next morning he took us back to the airport and we ventured to Bethel. Eventually, our old neighbor, David came to Bethel and took us back to Akiachak on his boat. Then we spent the rest of the day unpacking, as we moved into a different house than we lived in last year. Our new house is by the district office and other teacher housing. The following morning I started work! (Nothing like waiting until the last minute to get back, haha.)
Fast forward to today, and we have had 16 days of school. Yesterday, today and Tuesday are inservice days, and we have Monday off for Labor Day. This little fall break for the students helps with attendance, as moose hunting season opened on Thursday and a lot of the students go out camping, hunting, and processing meat with their families. The biggest surprise that has happened so far this year, is finding out that another first grade teacher was not hired, leaving me with a class of 22(!). 22 might sound like a normal sized class in the lower 48, but I have the biggest class in Akiachak. Village students are different than students in the lower 48. Parents aren’t quite as involved in their students’ education as they are in Kansas or any other place. This is due to cultural and historical reasons that I’m not going to get into here. Luckily, I have a para in my room all day, and things are going pretty smoothly. I don’t have any huge behavior issues and I’m already falling in love with my new kiddos. They’re a pretty fun group. It’s also kind of neat that I have a few siblings of some of my students I had last year!
Since arriving back in the village for my second year of teaching, Collin and I have been warmly welcomed! We received many hugs and handshakes from our native friends, and even from Elders and natives we don’t know! Rural Alaska teaching positions have high turnover rates, so the longer you stay in the village, the more respect you get. I have definitely noticed a difference from last year.
Another thing I have noticed is that we have had several days in a row where we have reached 70* or close to it! The mornings are getting a bit chilly though, so the weather change is on its way! We went fishing with a permanent resident teacher who just bought a new boat a couple weekends ago. Unfortunately we didn’t catch anything, but it was fun pole fishing again for the first time since I went to 4-H camp in grade school! I’m fine without having any salmon in my freezer. I’m not particularly a fan of it, but we ate it last year because it was free and healthy. Hopefully Collin gets invited to hunt moose and we get some moose meat, because I did enjoy eating moose and caribou last year.
I plan on blogging more frequently this year, so stay tuned, and happy back to school season!