Recent Happenings

12-9-03

Greetings!  I've added some weather info to the front page of the site so you can get up to the minute conditions here.  Actually its the weather in Bethel, they don't have an official weather station here, but close enough.  Kasigluk tends to be a little bit windier than Bethel, so the pilots tell me.  Things here are good!  We are excited for Christmas vacation to come!  After school on the 23rd, we'll be flying to Bethel, and then from Bethel to Seattle on the 24th.  We'll get to see family (AND The Return of the King!☺) in WA for about 9 days until we leave on the 3rd.  Then we'll have until the 7th in Anchorage, where we'll do some shopping, go to the doctor, dentist, etc, and see some good friends.  If all goes according to plan (hah!) we'll get back to Akiuk on the 7th for the start of Slavic, the week-long Russian Orthodox celebration of Jesus' birth.  Then its back to school on the 14th.

Tammy recently got back from a whirlwind trip to LA for a wedding over the  Thanksgiving break.  I subbed for her for the 3 days prior to the holiday.  After she got back, she spent some time at home sickLand I got to sub for her some more.  I actually enjoy her kids, they are so well behaved!  She is feeling better now and has been working hard, as usual.  Her kids love having her back, she is always making them laugh with her teasing.

I'm coaching junior high basketball, and we're in our second week.  I'm having fun with it!  I'm trying to really focus on teaching the game.  "Athletes first, winning second".  To me this is particularly true at the junior high level.  When you're 12 years old, winning should be a goal, but totally secondary to learning the fundamentals, sportsmanship, respecting each other, and having fun together.  Unfortunately, it can be easy to forget these things in the heat of competition with the entire village in the gym.  Especially here where basketball transcends its normal boundaries, existing as a big part of what makes our neighbors who they are.  I'll try to get some pics of the players and put them up soon.

Tammy is signing up for a conversational Yupik class that begins in January.  I can't enroll because it is done over the phone right in the middle of the time we have basketball practice.  Tammy is excited to learn some more Yupik (and I'm jealous!)!  I'm still taking the grant-writing course through UAF, and I'm looking into taking some distance classes in SLP (Speech Language Pathology) beginning in January just to see what it is like.  We'll try and keep you updated on how these things go.

Quyana (Thank you) for reading our latest news!