Birthdays, Snow-Gos and Bethel

I am sorry for the neglecting of blog entries. There are so many things I want to say!

First, a heartfelt thank you to Jill Phillips and Amy Orsborn's families. Your beautiful gifts and encouraging notes have kept me going! Andrea Murdick, thank you for your oranges and grapefruits! So yummy!

For an adventurous twist I decided to show you what life is like up here through some pics and video.

We threw a birthday party for a lovely fellow teacher, Ashley. We also had Teddy over, my postal worker,  who will be retiring January 1.

I am very lucky to live within snow-going distance to Bethel. Yesterday my housemate gave me a ride on the back of her brand new snow machine. It even has hand warmers!

First layer: scarf, head band, hat and hoodie of hoodie.

Boots good to -25 Fahrenheit.

Last layer is a big ass parka, which is the technical term.

Piece de resistance: goggles.

Sled with the dog.

Leah, another first year teacher, rocking the snow-go gear.

A lovely video of our trip into Bethel. I am behind Kristin, my roommate,  Christina (Vice Principal) is in the front and Leah is second.

http://youtu.be/f1y17wb4HUk

Leah and the sign that says "Kwethluk 10 miles" we see on our way home. It lied. No trail. No Kwethluk.  It took 30 minutes to get to Bethel, 3 hours to get home. Almost died. Twice.  Lessons were learned. Leadership was questioned. Memories were made.

Me at the end of the trip. My butt hurt, but I had fun.

Stomach Flu for Thanksgiving and Charlie Brown

I had the sweetest experience in my classroom on Wednesday and I just wanted to share it with you. I showed my seventh graders "Happy Thanksgiving Charlie Brown" and they laughed. Out loud. Spontaneously and happily. I was deeply moved by the innocent story inspiring such humor in my students. God bless Charlie Brown.

On a side note I did not get to go to Anchorage with my friends. My roommate, her husband and myself all came down with the stomach flu late thursday night. Krisitin (my roommate) and I were just coming off another flu/virus/mystery plague from the weekend before so we are both a little down right now. Icky ick ick.

On a happy note there are 25 days until I leave for Christmas!!!! YEAH!!! So get your xmas requests in now!

The long awaited pic edition (editor's cut)...

Sorry for the delay, I have been extremely busy. Here are the pics everyone has wanted to see:

Pat the bird- RIP you little biter.

View from my back door. This is the Kwethluk River.

Turn your head left and you are looking down river.

Turn your head right and you are up river.

My house, sans Franklin the Fridge. Sad times. RIP Franklin.

View from my house of the back of the school. Considering any way you come at the school you need to climb over pipes or stairs I still don't know why it is handicap accessible.

That white door leads into my classroom.

My classroom as seen from the boardwalk. 

Main road of Kwethluk facing down river.

The store, home of the Dr. Pepper.

The Post Office, home and job to my friend Teddy.

Kwethluk School

Other half of Kwethluk School.

View of my morning commute.

Pipe I constantly fall over.

Me on my super comfy bed!

Kristin on my super comfy bed.

"Why does your eye twitch?" And other questions...

As I am going through my day working with these kids who I coming to adore if for no other reason than I have Stockholm Syndrome I am asked questions. Lots of questions. Many mucho questions. All the time.  And I was thinking the other day they sort of tell their own little stories so here are some great questions and some that break my heart:

1. Did you know your eye is twitching? 
2. Why do you change your clothes so much?
3. How many kids will you have?
4. Will you get married this year?
5. When are you leaving? 
6. No, seriously, when? 
7. Like, are you staying the year?
8. That other teacher didn't stay the year, did you know that?
9. What is college?
10. Can my dog come to class with me? (This one was right after they found out I am sensitive to dog dander.)
11. I have to turn my work in to get a grade?
12. May I join cheerleading? (Bravest question- it came from a kind young man.)
13. Wait, you mean I have to give a speech if I join speech team?
14. Why are boys so mean? 
15. Why won't girls talk to me?
16. Why should I do my work?
17. Why can't I do my work?
18. What does "gorgeous" mean? How do you pronounce Dolce and Gabbana? Why is her hair that way? Ewwwww why does she have a fake nose? (I might be bribing math work in return for edited teen vogue.)
19. Can I go to the office, I think I have strep throat? (One inch away from my face.)
20. Did you know it feels really good to go number 2?
21. Why don't you like to fart?
22. May I use the restroom? 
23. Why can't I sit through gym?
24. What does the phrase "9/11" make you cry? -Because you don't know what it is and how it affects your lives. Especially I cry because so many want to be in the army/air force and you do not understand why the fight is taking place.
25. May I stay after school to do work even though I don't have detention today?
26. Powers? Powers? Powers? POWERS- why aren't you answering to your name? -Because my name is Ms. Diamond.
27. Why do you make us write about stuff that will never happen? 
28. Who cares what I want to be when I get older?
29. Why are you still here?
30. Why are you so loud?

I realized today as I sat down and prayed I truly love the kids. I am still struggling, but that is real and true to life and the struggle makes the success more sweet. Plus, I have selective oppositional defiance disorder and the fact they keep asking when I leave makes me want to stay all the more.

Heather

Why isn't the plural of moose meese and other quandries...

As some of you may know I have had an intense bout of ennui and culture shock this last week and a half. I am getting better, but I still am struggling with many aspects of the new life. This is to be expected so I have decided to just ride it out and suck it up. Some vignettes you may enjoy:

1. Children here are incredibly social at the younger ages and like to come visit. In order to avoid confrontation with a kindergartner I have taken to hiding on the floor when I really just want to be alone. This has made me re-evaluate my life choices as I dig my nose into our carpet.
2. At 28 I am considered quite on the the shelf and a little looney for not having a plethora of kids. I find this hilarious as students will still look at me and say "Are you sure you don't have ANY kids?" to which I reply "None that I know of." The humor is completely lost on them and several students are trying to figure out how I could have kids and not know it.
3. Having a student reply "Well, duh" when I say "If you are spitting I am going to assume you are chewing."
4. I sometimes forget that my colloquialisms do not work up here and when I tell students that the F word is off limits they immediately wonder what is wrong with saying the number five.
5. I got stopped on a walk yesterday and asked if I was the new teacher. I told them I was and I taught seventh grade. He smiled and walked away. As he was walking I heard him say "They are getting older and older."

Pictures to come, still sort of settling in but excited to share, Heather

First Week

Dear Family and Friends,

First, please allow me to apologize to everyone for my lack of communication. I can only say that between my classroom and adjusting to the culture I am very strectched thin. This may sound silly as I still live in the United States however the language, social norms and expectations of myself are so different than what I am used to in the 48.

I am teaching music this semester and the students love it. Everyone wants to participate and try new things. It is kind of funny to see some of the boys who are more macho fight to play the soprano part on the xylophone.  All students are willing to sing and want to learn about what the gaseqs (white people) learn in their schools.

I will also be the Speech coach for the Jr. High team this year. Obviously this is a love of mine after competing myself in high school and college so I am super excited about what the year holds. Our first meet is mid September so who knows what is going to happen. You should know the culturally polite thing to be here is extremely quiet and withdrawn so speech goes against all natural thought processes.

Finally I will be assisting the wrestling coach this year! YOOHOO! I cannot wait! 

Some random things that have made me smile:

à      “Visits” with children from the village. 

à      A student asked my housemate if gaseqs fart. Body functions are very free here and I am considered quite the prude for not spitting, farting and other things in public.

à      Learning that stinkhead is a rotting fish head buried in the ground for several days and is a village staple. It is supposed to be rather tastey.

à      I went to a beautiful wedding on my first weekend here at the Russian Orthodox Church and saw a gorgeous bride in a large white flowering dress.

à      Quspiq (sp?) is not “hello” but in fact a local hoodie-looking garment. Found this out after saying quspiq to everyone with a huge smile.

à      Seeing Daddy dancing with another elder. He is still asked about. HA!

à      Realizing I was staying in a beautiful, warm and in great condition house!

à     Watching boys gain new respect for the girl teacher because she knows wrestling and talked to them about the shift in weight classes this year.

à      Seeing about 50 kids on the cross-country team run through town.

à       Being asked what I mean when I say “when you go to college” only to have them then start telling everyone they are going to college and can be anything, except they don’t want to teach.

à      Making music with children. I love that smile they get when they accomplish “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” on the xylophone for the first time because they can play Mozart!

à      My favorite little girl is about 5 with literally one tooth who just gives me the biggest grin every morning.

à      Becoming the old woman who yells at kids to go home because it is 10 o’clock and decent people are trying to sleep =-)

0.

Love you all,

Heather

Look Before You Leap

Today I received my first Alaskan baptism. Getting out of the boat at "the beach" I decided to portray Superwoman and jump into the mud. Obviously it didn't work and I ended up soaked and freezing. I have never been so cold as when I was being driven home on the lake with soaked clothes. The worst part is my bruise is on my tukus so no one can even see how cool it was. Bummer.

Kwethluk, the final frontier

My house, the salmon colored building behind it is my school. I will actually teach in a unit next door to my house.
Chartered Flight to Kwethluk: $60; Flight to Bethel: $1500; One minute commute to the office: Priceless

Me on plane heading to Kwethluk. Longest five minutes of my life.

Kristin my roommate. Lovely woman who likes to cook and clean. Best roomy ever.

View from my house.

Final Goodbye!

Welcome to Alaska! This animal greeted dad and me at our hotel.

Home sweet home- with a view of the river!

I am safely in the tundra all nestled into bed blogging to you all. Up above you will see me and my house. The refrigerator in front is just decoration, I call him Franklin Fridge. No worries though about food storage: three freezers plus a fridge. I am able to freeze enough animals to feed a small country.

My first visitors came today and that was a real treat. I also got some of my boxes I shipped from Ohio. The best part of the trip so far has meeting so many great people and trying to learn Yup'ik, the primary language here. I still cannot say the name of my village correctly.

Just an FYI to friends and family: the cell reception and internet is spotty up here so calls will be dropped and lost and internet may not work properly. However I am happy in my home, love the school and now, thanks to the maintenance man, I have heat. Life is good.

So, here are some things I have learned:

1. I am horrible at all languages, including English.
2. I am easily thrown off my circadian rhythm by the sunlight which lasts until midnight currently.
3. Turns out my love of Dr. Pepper is shared with the buyer for the local store.
4. There is at least two local stores.
5. This is my favorite- time is a fluid thing in which there is no definite. Hakuna Matata my friends!

Last Week...

This is my last week in Bremen, Ohio! I officially am leaving July 31st for orientation and training. In answer to everyone's question about the sunrise/set times please follow this link: http://www.calendar-updates.com/sun.asp?PostalCode=99621. You can see the amount of sun I will be getting any day of the year. Currently I will be getting 17 hours of sunlight. Score!

So there is an addition to the Heather Diamond family and her name is Igloo Aurora Diamond, or Iggy for short. She is short and white and snuggly. My mother kindly gave her to me to protect me in Alaska,



The next blog will be from Alaska with pictures!

If you squish a spider with a full dehumidifier...

You get a big mess and have to call your daddy to clean it up. After this incident I googled spiders and Alaska and found they are pretty good in the spider department. I feel much better now. Because otherwise I would be running through the streets of Kwethluk trying to find a spider warrior to kill and remove carcases from my home.

First Confirmed Visitor!

I am so excited, my first confirmed visitor! A big shout out to Heather Rossi, the most lovely Heather ever! I just got all my paperwork and am pretty busy, but really heartened so many are willing to make the trek!

Getting Started...

Hello Family and Friends! This will be my official blog for the time I live in Alaska. Hope you enjoy this wonderful piece of literature. I thought I would start it now to keep you up to the minute on the moving process. Here's what I know so far:

• I will be in Kwethluk, Alaska.
• I will teach seventh grade, all subjects to about 15-20 students.
• My hair must be cut to the same length so it can grow out without me looking like a punk rocker.
• My mommy bought me a great polar bear named Igloo (Iggy) to help me make the journey.  
• Turns out moving to Alaska is exciting!

Love you all, enjoy the posts to come!