Souper Bowl

Another fast week. I started doing tutoring after school for Nome Eskimo Community (a Native Corporation). It's tutoring after school at the school for junior high kids that the teachers work at (and get paid extra for). It's great for the kids as it doesn't give them an excuse not to get their homework done. Andrew is actually my boss, as he's the supervisor for all of the tutors (all 4 of us). The only reason that he got it is because he is a high school teacher and they are finished earlier than the jr. high so he can tutor both high school and Jr. high. I think it will be good for us and the kids.
Tonight we had some people over for a soup cook off which was really fun. We made Chicken Enchilada Soup which came in second place, but the winner was Moose Chirizo and Sweet Potato soup. All of them were super yummy and it was nice to get together with people.
Friday and Saturday nights were spent at the wrestling meet. It's the only home meet for Nome and it was fun so see a lot of people out to support the kids. Nome didn't win the tournament, but several of our students placed individually.
Still no snow yet, which they say is pretty unusual. It keeps getting foretasted, but nothing. The mountains have snow on them so it shouldn't be too long.
We will be thinking of everyone this MEA weekend, wishing we could be with both sides of the family, one in Park Rapids, the other in Aitkin/Duluth. Sorry we won't be there for the leaf raking and hauling! Have a bowl of soup over the fire for us.

Erin
Current Temp: 16 Degrees

Posting Comments

If you tried to post a comment the past couple of days, I'm sorry I must have done something with the setting last weekend when playing around with it. Now, all you should need is a Google Account and it you should be able to post. Please let either Andrew or I know if that doesn't work!

Open House vs. Palin-Biden Debates

Why oh why are there debates on the same night at the Open House?! While waiting for our to go order at Airport Pizza tonight, there was on the big screen TV the debates and for once, the place was silent. I only got to see the fist 20 minutes of the debates before we had to go to the Open House. Fortunatly I was able to watch it when I got home.
Open House was great. Last year the school had 11 parents total for the both jr. and sr. high come (out of about 300 students). I probably had 20 parents there tonight so a big improvement!
A big thank you to Mom, Dad and Mackenzie for the awesome package we got in the mail today. There are very few gluten free options in town and I am very thankful to have a few more options! A thank you to Charlotte and Grandpa for the mini Alaska coffee cup and to Anna for picking out the "Thank You for Freckles Amen" pillow.
I was just thinking today that we have been here for (almost) 2 months and it will be just a little over 2 months until we get to come home, or so I tell myself.
Happy Fall to everyone,
To Cassie: I hope you find your apple cider and enjoy it.
To Steve and Dar: Good luck to both of you tomorrow morning
To Lauren: Let's catch up this weekend?
To Mac Hanna: Still waiting to see pics of the braces!
To Anna: Going to the Bison game this weekend?
To Charlotte, Marty, G and G: Have a great last pontoon ride this week.
To Mom and Dad: Talk to you this weekend.
Current Temp: 32

Moose Meat

Our friends Tara and Loren, brought over about 30 pounds of moose meat for us today! Tara is a Writing teacher in the jr. high and Loren is the president of the Wells Fargo bank in town. Loren got the moose and they have spent the whole week cutting it up after work. Their freezers are full and they brought over the stuff that they can't fit any where for us, Caleb and Sarah, Maile and Doug and his wife Crystal. They still have another leg to finish butchering and will share that with us too. It's really nice cuts too, roasts, steaks, jerky strips.
As a thank you we bought them a Penzey's Grill and Broil spice kit. Hopefully they'll be able to use it with some of their steaks!
Andrew just went to school and I will hopefully get some lessons written here this afternoon. Tonight we are going to a potluck for people in our building. We're bring enchildas and rice pudding.
Sorry we won't be able to be at the lake raking for MEA, it will be sad to miss it. Mom asked if Alaskans do anything in the fall, and from what I can tell it's mostly hunting and gathering. People were out looking for blueberries and fishing, then moose season came, now it's crane season.
Happy Sunday!
Current temp 37 degrees (feels like 28)

Friiiiiiiiiiiday

It's Friday! Andrew and I both have our employee physicals today. Mine is in the morning, and I have been warned that it can take several hours to get through an appointment at the clinic here. However, after the crazy week that we've had, sitting in a waiting room might be better than watching 80 jr. highers run wild between classes!
Andrew and I both are really enjoying our jobs, the other teachers, the school and (most) of the students. That being said, the 7th grade class has offically become priority #1 for the entire school. The jr. high has had more kids suspended than the high school this year, and not for stupid little things. Yesterday a 7th grader was suspended for extorsion (spelling?). His probation officer said he probably won't be back. We have the "Phantom Pee-er" who is leaving his mark around the school, my student who was picking his nose in class, and loudly yelled "look at this, it's red!" during a lecture, and the girl who punched another guy in my classroom because he wouldn't give her back her hair tie.
Most of the kids are great, especially on a one-on-one basis, but it is stressing out the entire school staff.
Hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful fall weather and colors. The tundra changes colors too, and it is beautiful, even without trees. Happy Friday!

Random Pics.

Anvil Mountain and other outdoor adventures

It's been about a week since our last post so we thought it was high time to add another one. A lot (there you so Steve :)) has happened this past week. I (Andrew) took a hike up to the top of the big hill behind our apartment to check out the big old satellite dishes. It was a lot further than I thought it was going to be but was unbelievably beautiful. The satellite dishes are mammothly huge, and you could see forever in just about every direction, which was why they built them there. Then on Friday, Erin and all the 7th and 8th graders took a hike up to the top of Anvil Mountain. She said it was a lot of fun but she had to stay with one of the slower students and it took them 30 minutes longer than the other groups to get to the top.

Friday night we went over to another teachers house for a get together. There were abut 14 people there by the end of the night. It was really fun, and nice to know that we have a community of friends here to hang out with. At the party I was invited to go Moose hunting on Saturday the 13th with two other teachers. It was a long but fun day. We were out on ATVs for about 12 hours trying to find a moose. We did see 3 cows but no bucks. We also saw four brown beer and about 8-10 Musk Ox. All in all it was a great weekend.