Still Sick

It was suggested that I go to the clinic, because I'm still sick. I know what will happen. They will tell me that I am sick, and to drink plenty of fluids, and get enough sleep. I can handle this on my own without going over there. While I'm in this mindset, this is as good a time as any to explain how the clinic here works:

First, you must make an appointment. Usually not for today. Usually for two to three days away. Sometimes for tomorrow.

When it is your appointment time, wander over to the clinic. If no one is behind the glass window, don't worry, I don't think anyone's assigned to work there.

After hanging out in the waiting room for a while, watching daytime television, you'll be called back to one of the exam rooms. If you're lucky, you'll get a parent-teacher meeting done while waiting. After all, in a town this small, the chances of knowing the other people at the clinic is pretty high.

After making it to the back, the health aide will give you a basic physical. Temperature, blood pressure, etc. Then they sit down with THE BOOK. Now, the book looks an awful lot like the self diagnosis pages of the Mayo Clinic's Family Heath and Medical Guide.  But it's not. It's much more specific. It's, umm, laminated. Yeah, let's go with that. Laminated.

Typical conversation:

Me: I think I have strep. Six kids at school have strep, and I'm susceptible.

Health Aide: Well, you have a fever, so, Any aches, headache, cough or runny nose?

Me: No, just the throat.

HA: Any nausea, vomiting or diarrhea?

Me: No.

Okay, I'll let you figure out the rest.  Eventually, they do the swab, and it turns out that sure enough, I have strep.

Then I get some pills, and get to spend a day at home.  Good times.

Well, devoted readers, that's enough from me for today. Happy spring break, everyone.

Sick

Don't you hate it when you go to bed with a runny nose, and sometime in the night you wake up to find your face crusted to the sheet by your own mucus?

No? Yeah, me either.

Snow, what else?

Today, it was so cold outside that my shoes actually squeaked while I was walking between the NACTEC house and the Nome school. As far as I remember, this is a first for me.

Angie is going to be in Unalakleet this weekend to take the Praxis II. Therefore, our birthday party has been moved to Sunday. Reports of the festivities will not be reported until after that time.

Also, my middle schoolers are better than Gambell's middle schoolers. I'm so proud of my kids.

NACTEC

I'm in Nome now, at NACTEC house. With 9 of the 7th graders. The other two are: 1) Moved to Buckland with the family, over the weekend. and 2) Burned out on traveling after being in Kotzebue for six days playing middle school basketball.

So far, we've only had one break down and cry because of homesickness. The battery in the van is dead, so only half the kids got to go to the rec center, and the rest got to hang out around here. Between now and Friday morning, we have 8 field trips lined up to teach us about different careers.

I will accept all luck, prayers, and well wishes.

SUNLIGHT!!!

I know that many of you have to be at work before 8:30 in the morning. And for you, I would like to extend my sincerest condolences.

This morning, at 8:28, as I was leaving my house for the commute, I happened to notice that it was light enough outside to see without the outside lights.

That, my friends, is pretty awesome.

Paper Crafts

Inupiaq days are coming up. In April. On the middle/high school side, this means inviting elders, setting up times with the military and dentist, thinking up service projects, and talking to elders about them sharing stories or helping us butcher an animal.

On the elementary side, it means finding the tagboard. The little kids need to do more hands-on crafts, which means preparing more hands-on crafts. The actual elementary teachers are full to capacity this week. Since we're pretty empty over here on the high school side, I agreed to help trace and cut out a few projects.

Project One:

Traditional Eskimo Sunglasses. They used to be made out of wood, and were used like all sunglasses: to block the sun. Currently, we use tagboard, and string. And of course, what good is a piece of paper without some markers, glitter, rhinestones, or paint.

However, these paper pieces don't just come that way. First, a pattern must be procured. We asked the bilingual teachers to sketch one for us, and it turned out very nicely.

After it was traced 106 times, the individual units were cut apart from each other, then trimmed to the right size. Then the eyes were cut out, and finally, two holes for the thread were punched on the edges. Of course, for an authentic look, we'd make the kids bore holes in it, but that could be tedious, especially with the kindergardeners.

Here are the ones we have done as of right now, in the four stages of done-ness.

Project Two:

Little Eskimo people. These little guys work pretty much the same way as the glasses, except that they're bigger. We can only make 9 little guys per piece of tagboard. Understandably, we don't yet have 100 of them done. Not even close. Maybe 40, and those aren't even all cut apart yet.

It's hard to see the pencil marks with this picture, but that second to the right pile is actually little paper dolls I've cut out, except for the tricky part under their arm, in their necks, and between the legs. One of the kids is willing to do it.

These little guys are going to get felt or fabric kuspuks, followed by fir trim. I'm going to guess this is more for the little kids than the bigger ones. (Bigger being 5th or 6th grade).



I was cutting today while my kids worked on their research papers. I'm only needed for clarification while they gather resources, so it worked out well for everyone. One of my girls asked if she could help, instead of working on her writing assignments. I told her that if she studied hard, stayed focused during college, and came back with a bachelors degree, then she too could cut.

Yeah, I'm not laughing either.

And for those of you who think that my life is all fairies and roses, here is my cutting injury:

And that's not a "I just pulled the scissors off" sort of mark. It's still on me, and I've taken pictures, done a job search, and written this whole post since I took the scissors off, and it's still on me. No wonder people like my mom get arthritis in their hands first.  I'm not even thirty yet, and I have caught myself rubbing the joints on my hand like I used to see my grandmother do when she was SEVENTY.

And on that note, I just realized that my other gramma's birthday is today. Which means that my parents' anniversary is also today. And I spaced until just now, at quarter after nine at night, Alaska time. There is a special room in hell for people who forget their parents' anniversary. It's right next to the one for people who leave their cell phones on during class.

Ghost Town

I know that my school is small, and I know that we don't have the largest classes in the world. But I normally like to have more than I've had today. We've lost a dozen kids to junior high baskteball, another 8 to high school boys basketball, and five to girls baskteball. Here is the rundown of my classes so far:

First period (writing) 8 kids.  (Bob in math only had 3)
Second hour (Reading) 4 kids (Bob had 4 also)
Third hour (writing) 3 kids. (Bob had like 6)
Fourth hour (reading) 5 kids (I don't know how many Bob has, I haven't been over there yet)

On Friday, we lose several more middle schoolers to skiing.

I don't know what's going on over on the elementary side, but it's pretty lonely over here. Luckily, it gives me the time to work one on one with more kids.