In no particular order:
- "What does Pennsylvania money look like?"
- [We were talking about what words start with o and, naturally, we picked octopus]. "Hey, that's like Octopus Prime." [In reference to Optimus Prime, of Transformers fame.]
- We were reading a story that showed a picture of Abraham Lincoln. And a little girl told me "Hey, I saw that movie where he was killing the vampirates" VAMPIRATES. [There was a movie that came out recently called Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.]
- For my talent show performance I sang a song by Adele. After the performance a student came up to me and told me "Hey I know Adele, he used to live here!" [Adele is a famous contemporary singer. She's also a woman. I know for certain she has never lived in Kokhanok.]
In other news, we had a 'school board' meeting the other day. Now, when you say school board meeting to me, I think that we're talking about making decisions for the entire district. But, out here, to try and get everyone together for that would be insane. So they have what is called the LSAC, or Local School Advisory Committee. It's comprised of women from the community. I think the main reason for the LSAC is to bridge the gap between the school and the community.
In attendance we had the elementary teacher, the middle school teacher, the high school teacher, one of the aides at the school, the VPSO, the Yupik teacher, two high school students, and, like I said, several very well respected members of the community.
It's a chance for it to be made public what's been going on in school. Each of the teachers gives a report about what's been going on in school and I even got to make a report on what I've been doing!
I talked about music lessons, including my students that were able to perform at the talent show.
I also told them about the radio station and told them to tune in to hear student produced work!
Then there was talk about things like the budget for next year, the school trip they're planning to take and the fundraising that needs to happen, and then we talked about the fuel crisis here in Kokhanok. Basically, they have not been able to get fuel, or enough fuel, in to the village and if this keeps up, there is the possibility that they may run out.
So I went to the KVC (Kokhanok Village Council) meeting where I knew the fuel situation would be discussed more. And it basically comes down to this. They didn't get as much fuel from the barge this summer as they would have wanted. Then, it's been a tough winter and they couldn't get planes to bring fuel in. If it's too warm, the snow melts and it makes the runway too soft and planes can't land. Or if it's too snowy, planes won't fly in. So the weather conditions have to be ideal. They have even called the Department of Homeland Security. We'll see what happens.
Here's a picture from the outside of the KVC building.
I always feel like I have to be careful when taking pictures of things because I don't want someone to think I'm gawking at them or at their lifestyle? Does that make sense?
Anyway.
Here are some beautiful pictures of the sunsets here in Kokhanok. I love to walk around as the sun is setting because it's just so beautiful.
Then yesterday I went out for a walk where I hadn't walked before and I caught another really beautiful sunset photo.
I even happened upon a horse!
Now, some of you may have heard that I saw the Northern Lights, and I did. It wasn't with all the colors like you see in the movies, it was just a green haze over the sky, but it was still really cool. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures because my camera wouldn't capture them, all my pictures just came out black. There's a website that will predict when you can see them, and you'll find it here. For me to see them, it has to be at least a 4. If you notice that it's at a four send me an email because sometimes I forget to check. It's looking like I might be able to see them again tomorrow night though!
I think that's all I have for this week. But I'm almost done here in Kokhanok, I fly home April 7th!
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