Noorvik wrasslin' tournament (well... part of it)

Hello Lower 48,

I spent this past weekend in Noorvik chaperoning three girls for an elementary/middle school wrestling tournament. When I was asked, I jumped at the opportunity - since it was a big tournament, it meant that friends from inservice the first week of school would be there so I would get to see some good friends and share battle stories - but quickly realized it meant spending the entire weekend surrounded by kids. As you might figure, weekends are a safe haven for me... a time spent regrouping and keeping my sanity. This did not happen and yesterday afternoon I finally found my bed and spent a few hours in peace and quiet reading, sleeping and simply listening to the silence. It was something I hadn't heard in awhile and had forgotten how much I appreciated.

Chaperoning is an odd thing - you spend all your time with the students, you sleep on the floor, you eat cafeteria food, you get no work done.... and I love it. I go to a new village, I see new classrooms, I talk to people from all over the region, I get tips on how to make my classroom run more efficiently, and I get to spend time with new kids and know them a little better. I really do think it is the greatest thing ever, even if I wake up with my back hurting just a little bit.

Getting to Noorvik proved to be quite the task though. We were supposed to leave at 1:00, so I was prepared to get geared up and head down the hall around 12:30. At around noon a person came over the loudspeaker and said "If you're going to Noorvik for the tournament this weekend, your plane lands in four minutes. Get to the office immediately." One of my third graders was wrestling (she took first by the way!) and jumped to her feet. Well I scrambled around... I had all these great ideas and plans for my kids and I wasn't going to have time to present them to them... so finally I'm all geared up with no adults in the room. Well they send someone down and out the door we go on the sno-go. Heading over to the airport in about -27F weather flying on a sno-go meant it was the first time I had a brain freeze from simply breathing. My body was so warm.... my face freezing. My head hurts now just thinking about it. This is a picture of a sno-go with the sled behind it. We cruise around on these now that it's winter.

We stood at the airport (well on the gravel landing strip where airplanes land) for about 20 minutes in the cold and decided that it was a fluke call and loaded back up on the sno-go. I was able to go in and get my class settled before we were called again. I felt so much better about heading out... and my kids did quite alright on their turkey project I must say!

I got on the plane and sat co-pilot. Seriously! It was the coolest thing ever. I didn't fly the plane or anything, but I sat up there with my headset on and chatted with the pilot about anything and everything. I of course got my picture taken.... and felt like the coolest kid ever. I was a pretty scared the entire time my leg would hit the controls or my foot would hit a brake or something, but I proved smarter than I realized and was able to avoid any major castrophes. It was pretty freakin' awesome.

So many more stories from my trip from Noorvik, but I must sleep first. Wow... I'm stopping before we even get there. That's how you know it was some adventure.

Peace, love and hugs, hugs, more hugs,

Cristina

First bah-lizzzzzz-ard of the yeeeear.

Today was our first blizzard. It wasn't near as intense as I was thinking. I can still hear the wind whipping about outside my apartment though. Seeing that all of our houses are on stilts, I feel like I should be concerned. Then I remind myself that houses and people have been here for years, and life is still happening out here, so I must be safe.

As I was thinking about the blizzard and looking around, I realized that before coming up here I had this idea of the people here were almost 'sub-human.' I mean they live in the arctic so they must never get cold, right?!??! They would sweat at 50 degrees and run wild and free in short sleeves at 20 and then at 0 think about putting on a coat... obviously. I was wrong.
My eskimo friends and kids get cold just like I do! Seriously - who would have thought?! At 30, each child grabbed their coat, wore their boots and a beanie hat just like I would! At 10 degrees with the wind blowing we went outside and they complained just like I did! It was then I realized that wait! these people get cold just like I do!
I know this seems obvious to so many people, but it was a huge realization to me.

So the blizzard - Jenny and I got to test out all of our cold weather gear and we were warm and cozy. I might look like one big puffy burnt marshmallow, but at least I'm a warm puffy burnt marshmallow!

One week and one month until I'm homeeeeeeeeeee where no burnt marshmallow look is necessary :)
Cristina

So you had a bad day.

You would think that after the day I've had I would have gone to bed the second I walked in the door, but alas, it's almost midnight and I'm still awake and only thinking about dreaming. It's been one of those days where I woke up knowing that absolutely nothing would go my way. I woke up exhausted already, with the red eyes to prove it. I was doing the 'wow these jeans really shrunk in the dryer' stretches when my jeans ripped. Thank you second pair of jeans for staying strong until I could find myself to a close Express. Then I was late to work and the day with the kids was long. I came home ready to just lay on the couch and watch bad television until.............. the satellite doesn't work. hmmmmmmmmm.

The roomie and I called our local satellite expert, Brian, the seventh grade teacher, who said his was working fine. We did some inspecting with Brian outside in the 6 degree temperature only to realize that our coax cable had been cut. Twice. Once right by our apartment and once right by the satellite. Obviously whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing. As if the gods were speaking, my new neighbor walks by and we tell him what's going on. He was like, well that's pretty funny because I just got city cable today. Wait a minute!!! We put two and two together to realize that the moron cable guy cut our line going from the satellite to install our neighbor's cable. I couldn't believe it! WTF!!! Who does that?!??!??!?

So after I'm livid and convinced my day can't go any worse, Jenny and I sit down to watch Frost/Nixon. I, of course, burn the popcorn, but I still have high hopes for the movie. No kidding - during every climatic part the movie stopped. The dvd was bad. And then we didn't even get to watch the last two chapters because the dvd would NOT PLAY. I was just like... seriously? seriously? I'm going to bed now. Right now.

But I'm still awake. So I'm going to bed now where I will hopefully dream about a better day tomorrow. And life in around 40 more days because then I'll be getting off a plane in sunny South Carolina!

I will sleep good tonight, in a nice, warm comfortable bed with no one beside me. For all of this I'm grateful for though, and I have to keep reminding myself this - because a lot of my kids will sleep on the floor tonight maybe sharing a blanket with their multiple brothers and sisters in a cold house. It's sad, but it's reality here.

peace, love and lots and lots of hugs,

Cristina

poop in the shower

Why yes friends, you read that right.
Jenny and I experienced something tonight that we have never experienced. ever. poop. in the shower. and we laughed.
So about a month ago our toilet broke. It was no fun at all... the toilet simply would not flush. When this happened tonight, I didn't think twice about it. Nothing to drastic was in the toilet, so we would just tell the maintenance guy Chester in the morning. We went about life as normal in the apartment until.....
I'm exhausted. I'm beyond exhausted and it's 9:15. I can barely stay awake so I decide to succumb to eyelid pressure and stop reading to wash my face. My face soap hangs out in the shower, so I pulled back the shower curtain to grab it and screamed. Needless to say I was no longer tired. There was water in there! And not just some water - A LOT of water. Like four or five inches of water. And it was not clear my friends. No not at all. It was not a pretty sight. So I started yelling for Jenny all while laughing. I mean seriously... who does this happen to?!
Great. So now not only do we not have a working toilet, our shower doesn't work either. Welcome to the village life my friends I keep repeating in my head. I try to think clearly... my old apartment - the one we're linked with - I still have keys and there is definitely a bathroom in there, so we're safe. So I find myself in my parka, pj bottoms and boots ready to take the 100 feet walk to the door next door in the 1 degree temperature. I'm in and I'm stoked. We're freeeeeeeeee!!! I turn on the light, turn the corner and scream again. The toilet is in the shower!!! How does this happen?!
How is there poop in one shower and a toilet in another??
And why do these things only happen to me?!?!??!
Jenny and I have not laughed like this in a really, really long time. I'm bent over cracking up. I call my native friend, Alice, who laughs a lot and says, "Oh, I guess your vacuum is frozen." Apparently this is a somewhat common problem out here. The good news: it can be fixed quite easily - and only takes about 30 minutes to 'thaw out.' The bad news: The high was 7 and the low was 1. There will be plenty of days when the high is -30. Not good if the thing's freezin' at 7. hmmmmmm....
So needless to say I called Chester who told me not to worry - we'll be shower clean and clear tomorrow. He'll contact the city guys and they'll take care of it.
Oh yeah - there's a toilet in the other shower because it was leaking and he had to order another. So apparently the shower is an ideal place to store it for now....
So I always have pictures that kind of go with the topic, but I figured you would be happy if I didn't take or share those. So I'll leave you pictures of the cutest Halloween kiddies ever:
and yes, I was a 'glowing pregnant mom-to-be.' The kids were stoked - I"m not sure if they were more excited about my make believe baby or my straight hair. Oh mom - you would be so proud!

Here's a picture of the class the day before Halloween. We're just precious I know!

Three scary witches proved to be quite the entertaining photo.

Yep.. that's me as an expecting mom. Looks realistic, right? Look - beggars can't be choosy out here in the bush!

So I'm the pregnant one, obviously.. and Jenny's the cat.. and apparently Michelle went as someone from Kiss. I don't know... I don't really ask to many questions when it comes to her... but it's Halloween and we look good. Right.....

The last one I'm leaving you with is of Rainbow Bridge at sunset. Gorgeous... I know...

Hope everyone had a super fabulous Halloween! We did the best we could to celebrate... and had a good time!

Cristina