A-W-E- S-O-M-E, awesome, awesome, awesome are We!

I did cheerleading for 10 years on the game and competition level throughout middle school, high school, and college, BUT being a coach in South East Alaska has been a brand new experience.  Two weeks ago, we wrapped up our cheerleading season at the SE Basketball Regionals Tournament; where we ended with a bang.

I left Metlakatla High School Tuesday afternoon on a school bus with all the students and athletes attending Regionals.  We proceeded to fill up the ferry and arrived to Ketchikan. The chaos began.  I was about to let my cheer squad depart to their housing for the night and regroup in the morning, but that quickly changed when I received word from the school that we were scheduled practice time in their auditorium, which began in 15 minutes.  The 8 of us were frantically trying to gather rides. Luckily, my assistant coach and good friend saved the day with her little Jetta and hauled all of us up to the school...in 2 trips.  It took us awhile to all re-locate, figure out how to get into the auditorium, and find practice clothes for everyone.  After that process was completed, practice began.  With stress building up and the tension from the chaos, we were all a bit weary and not exactly the most peppy cheer squad, to say the least.  As they always do, they were able to separate the tension and pull it together and prepare for the competition that was ahead of us.  Nonetheless, no amount of energy bars or caffeine could have truly helped by then end of the tournament.  In 4 days, we cheered at 9 basketball games. We had two 8 a.m. games and attended a 7 am cheer clinic.  2 games were back to back and the cheerleaders were to perform their competition routine twice.  

Once again, I have done my fair share of cheering at Regional and State Tournaments, but did not have the extra kicker of being judged for an entire game.  The judging started during the 20 minutes basketball team warm up, continued through half time, and all the way till that last buzzer ended.  Not to mention that by time we were getting judged, we already had cheered at 5 games in 2 days and had to squeeze in stunt practices by stairways and vaulted ceilings in between class times, since their school was still in session. Also, with our sport being as unique as it is, there are regulations on hair length.  Therefore, we all made a run to Walmart for hair sponge rollers.  Thank goodness we only had 5 girls' hair to do because our hair train system lead to a late, but hilarious night.  I, of course, had to join in on the sponge rollers parade, reliving my HS cheerleading days.  All in all, the squad once again pulled it off and did a great job with their routine.  We competed with 6 other schools.  I have provided a link of their routine below. A quick side note... One of the girls on the team hurt her ankle and had to be pulled out of the routine a week before we left for regionals.  The whole team stuck with me in changing the routine for about the 6th time. Therefore, what you see is a squad adapting to change like true champions!

Metlakatla High School Cheerleading- Regionals 2012

Our cheer squad was one of the smallest, but in the end it didn't matter, because they were always confident stepping out on the gym floor, never ceased to yell and cheer their hardest, and in the end had fun while doing what they enjoy.... even got their picture on the front page of the Ketchikan Daily Newspaper!

Oh, and did I mention how they announced me at one of the home games, gave a speech to the whole crowd, and gave me a bouquet of pink roses?... ya they are pretty A-W-E- S-O-M-E!

Adventure Club in Alaska's winter...

This is where the ferry docks; however the ferry couldn't run for a few days because all the ice in the bay...that would be all the broken up sea ice.


"So Beth what exactly do wolf tracks look like?" "Ummm like that!"





Beth and I went on a hike and look what we just happened to find!  More fresh wolf tracks. We took a second to think like adults and asked eachother if we should head back....Noooope!




Enjoying the beautiful Alaskan winter!

Going on a Float plane to Ketchikan for cheerleading... No need to ride the sea dragon at elitches this summer ;)

It was snowing all day in Ketchikan so I couldn't fly back to the island.  Then the sun started to shine over the mountains as the snow continued to fall into the ocean.  Felt like Colorado, minus the ocean :)



Oh how the time ticks

Holy Cow!  It has been quite awile since I have updated you all.  Life has been super calm and relaxing since getting back from winter break......HAHA ya right.  Fellow teachers feel free to laugh, since you all know getting back from a break is nothing but relaxing.  I was so excited to see all my kiddos, but it was a whirlwind getting back into the swing of things.  Then, add cheerleading practice and games on top of everything.  Let's just say I haven't had a minute to be bored!  It truly takes a talented individual to do everything teachers do with such large class sizes these days, plus have a family and a social life.  I would say that's superhero material...especially without supernatural powers! (or so I think) I consider myself one in training and thanking my lucky stars that I have a small, wonderful, and adventurous class :)

When I make it to superhero status, I hope that my immunity system will be more aggressive and keep me from getting sick. Between my 6 year olds and the HS cheerleaders, I can't seem to fight these germs quick enough.  One morning, I was reading a story about going to the moon to my 1st graders.  I'm only to the second paragraph and I am quickly interrupted with "Miss B you've got something going on up here ( as he points to my nose) and it's affecting the story, can I get you a tissue?"  I burst into laughing and try to clear everything up before I continue the story to my little buddie's satisfaction.  If I called in sick I would miss all my students hilarious remarks.  I wish I could record everything they say, because they are miniature comedians.  This week, my students were getting into line to head to lunch and I start to watch the clock to time them.  The clock is frozen and not moving seconds, then all of a sudden it rapidly speeds up the 5 seconds it missed.  Very surprised, I said "Guys watch the clock!"  They watch it all freeze and speed up.  One shouts out, "IT'S A GHOST!" And my little boy very calm and assured says, Yep, it's my Grandma she watches over us."  :) Haha so no worries about us in Metlakatla, we've got family ghosts in our classroom!

Alaskan in the Making

A teacher calls Katie and I one night and asks if we would like some fresh salmon.  Katie, says ya!  So she swings by our place and sure enough she hops in the back of her truck and scoops out 4 huge salmons by their tails.  Katie and I look at each other and immediately start to laugh at the misunderstanding of "fresh" salmon.  We carry the fish into Katie's apartment and plop them into her sink.  We try to use whatever materials and tools we can find to begin gutting the fish.  First off, we only had a steak knife and a cutting board that was about a cm thick. At the first cut, blood starts gushing out all over the counter.  Katie is gagging and walks away.  I take a few deep breaths and begin scooping out guts and organs.  After the first fish, Katie are on the edge of crying between gagging and laughing so hard at the things we get ourselves into.  Long story short, we tag teamed cutting off the heads and tails and scooping out the goodies with a steak knife, thin plastic cutting board, and survived and conquered the Alaskan Salmon Massacre.

Two weeks later...I was feeling like we were due for another adventure. Our friend Devin picked us up and took us for a drive around the island.  Of course, it is pouring rain out but we still go searching for whales, seals, or whatever we can find.  Sure enough, Devin sees a buck in the distance up the road and pushes the pedal to the medal.  I was so excited and quickly reach for my camera to take a picture. Well Devin had other plans in mind and reached back for his rifle. Before I could even look at the picture I just took, I hear a big blast and feel a casing plop in my lap.  He got it first try, even shooting through a tree!  I had images of Bambi flashing through my head but Katie and Devin we're imagining dinner.  Guess, I'm still working on my Alaskan "ness".  No such thing as baby steps in Metlakatla!



Before..



..After



Oh the things they say and do

It appears to be on a daily basis that I have another hectic, crazy, hilarious story to share after being with my first graders a whole day.  Even one of the high school teachers commented about all the stories we accumulate over the school week. Everything happens so quick and spontaneous that I forget to write them all down.  Mostly because I am busy laughing, playing freeze tag, or holding kiddos fingers with blood pouring out of it.

Monday:
Last ten minutes of class, I am trying to get all my kids to their correct center and of course all the headphones are tangled up, so I am quickly trying to untangle, when I hear Miss B!  I look over and a little guy is poking his head out and waving for me to come into the bathroom.  Sure enough, now I am trying to find an extra pair of pants in my classroom.  I run him to the office, run back and frantically get all my kids packed up as the bell is ringing.  Thank God I only have 11 students!

Friday:
First 20 minutes of class, the class is reading from our library, and I hear Miss B she's PUKING!  She comes running up to me, cheeks wide, and hands out in front cupped and ready to catch.  I swiftly guide her to our bathroom in our classroom and help her release her breakfast that she was holding in her mouth.  I explain to her she can just run to the bathroom when she feels sick. So, I get her all cleaned up and she tells me she feels all better.  So she goes back to her reading.  10 minutes later, I am teaching a lesson in front of the class, as she runs up to me.  Her cheeks try to contain it, but instead more of her breakfast is spewing out of her mouth and her poor little hands are trying to catch as much as they could.  I am pushing her towards the bathroom as she is making a trail the whole way.  I once again get her cleaned up, for the most part, send her home, and make a fun phone call to the janitor.  The kids were loads of fun to deal with after that.  I am just glad there were no chain reactions to our little show we had that morning.

The following Friday:
I am at my desk and a little guy comes to my left with his writing to work on.  He opens my drawer to get a marker.  I carefully close the drawer and explain to him not to touch Miss B's things.  I then have a kiddo that comes to my right with their writing and I turn over to them for about 10 seconds.  I turn back over and I have a finger right in front of me dripping blood.  I rush him to our sink, run it under water, and apply a paper towel to his little finger.  I ask him what happened, and he shows me the utility knife in my desk that he found burried under all my items in my drawer.  He starts to shake and cry and shouts "Am I gonna die?"  It is times like that where you immediately start to smile because they are truly cute and innocent, but you have to stop yourself from letting out a laugh when they are still panicking at the blood rushing from their little finger tip.  Thankfully, it wasn't that deep, but it was a first at filling out an accident report.  He told me later, "I won't be touching your things anymore Miss B".  Sometimes we gotta learn things our own way :)

Bottom line, you want a job where everyday will be an adventure and life is never boring??  Become a teacher!

Potlatch of the decade

The totem pole has been carved, the gifts are prepared, the people have arrived....now let the festivities begin!  It had been one year since David's grandmother had passed away, and the potlatch is a big celebration in the native culture to honor her life.  It began early in the morning by visiting her grave site and then raising up the totem pole in front of David's house.  There were native dancers that drummed a song while David danced, bringing the totem pole alive.  

David Boxley with his father David Boxley.  David's dad raised his first solo totem pole when he was 30 and David was doing the same on this day, as he was also 30.

I didn't get to take a video of the toem pole raising up because Katie and I were on the end of the ropes pulling it up! The totem pole is  now up, thanks to us ;) so we headed to the town hall for lunch, dinner and a day full of rich culture, traditions, and beautiful sunsets.

David's native dance group from Washington

Telling the origin story of the mosquito.  David made the mask and got to scare the living wits out of  people, especially little kiddos.

Dancing for the wolf clan

Dance team from Anchorage

A portrait of David's grandmother, painted by a famous and very talented artist in Washington.  They were presenting the portrait to the Mayor of Metlakatla to be hung up in our Museum.

Katie and I helped serve dinner to everyone that attended the potlatch, which was around 600 people.  After dinner, I noticed the beautiful colors of the sky shining through the windows of the town hall. I ran down to the beach and this is what I saw...

It was such a wonderful day and I felt very blessed and lucky to be a part of it.  Around 1 a.m. the potlatch was coming to an end and they passed out gifts to everyone as a thank you for coming and being a part of the celebration.  Not many can say they have attended and participated in a potlatch, and am told by my kiddos in my class that I am part of the butterfly clan :)

If you are interested, here is a link to hear David Boxley explain more about the history behind the potlatch and the Tsimshian culture, from a true expert.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIfpVqaxOFI

Purple Mountain

We had a beautiful weekend a few weeks ago, so we jumped on the opportunity to go exploring around the island and go hiking.  I went with a few HS teachers up Purple Mountain.  We followed the pipe lines that transfers the town's water from a big lake.  The lake also feeds into a waterfall that you can see as you enter Metlakatla on the ferry.  With the pipe line on my right and the waterfall to the left of the trail, it was a beautiful hike and I'll show you some things I got to see.

Once we got to the top of the waterfall, one teacher and I decided to climb to the top of the mountain. Little did I know there would be some rock climbing involved, but the best way to learn is right on the top of a mountain and no other way to get down! This climb exceeded the ability of my tennis shoes, so I got a little scraped up, but the views were absolutely worth it!



My shadow at the top of Purple Mountain



Metlakatla from high above

More photos from this hike are in the photo gallery :)