So life around here has begun to remind us of the differences out here compared to home. On Wednesday, we had an assembly for our high school and kindergarten students to share their pictures and information from a field trip they had. At the end of the assembly, the kindergarten students presented a Yup'ik dance that they had prepared to share with all of us the uses of the plants they discovered on their journey. It was complete with a drummer and singer, and the entire community was invited to join them in the dancing. I was so disappointed I didn't bring my camera to share with you the beautiful music and dancing, but hopefully I'll be able to get pictures from Sophie to post.
After that assembly, we had one somewhat normal day, and then came Friday. Friday at school, we had an early release. Why, you may ask? Well, with Halloween on Sunday, the school and community needed to have their costume parade, door prizes and raffles Friday afternoon. Upon getting to school, I realized I just might be the only teacher without a costume. So I went to the storage room, found an empty box, and took the time I had before school started to create a costume. The only thing I could think of making was a box of crayons. Seemed simple enough, right? So I wrapped the box, and found my own box of crayons to replicate. It drew a lot of attention from students in the hallway, who were all curious to see what I was doing. Most of them came to assure me that my head was not going to fit through the hole I had made, but some of them came in and wanted to help. Even if I would have never put the costume on, I really enjoyed how the box grabbed the attention and forced a visit from some of the students who have never visited before.
Brandon, Tara, Peter (not real sure if that was his name or not) and I were the judges of the costume parade. And while we loved getting front row seats to see all the children and community members in costume, I decided I'm not a very good judge. I wanted to give everyone a certificate.
At the end of the show, teachers and adults with costumes had to walk and show off their costumes. They judged the winners of this walk, and I received funniest costume award. I'm guessing it was because I couldn't do much in that box. I couldn't clap, couldn't get into it very well, and I sure as heck couldn't get out of it on my own. The little ones loved the box, and kept telling me their favorite crayon color, so I enjoyed their attention as well.
And finally, the snow. It seems every day for a week now, at some point in the day, we have had some form of precipitation. And while we thought we loved snow in the beginning, we're beginning to hate the idea of it. It's beautiful and will allow for travel out to other villages with snow machines, but it interferes with our ability to communicate with the lower forty-eight. What we mean by that is our Hughesnet dish gets coated with the big white flakes, and as a result of this interference, we're forced to sweep it off about every twenty minutes if it's a heavy fall. I guess is a little interference is the worst of our problems, we'll enjoy it while we have it.
We've attached a couple of pictures. We'll get more pictures as things freeze up over here. I don't trust where I walk without a trail unless everything has had time to freeze so it may be a few weeks. Brandon just informed me that it's 16 degrees outside. Maybe it won't take as long as we thought for this grey world to harden up.
Love you,
Brie
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