Welcome You All! I have had such a cultural experience this week. If you don't mind I would like to give you a short history lesson on Alaska. Alaska is comprised of five Native tribes (Athabascan, Yup'ik, Inupiaq, Unangax, Tlingit). Alaska is the largest state of the USA. It is a little over two times bigger than the state of Texas. Over 40% of Alaskans live in Anchorage. NY City is the only other city where the a houses over 40% of its residents. I teach in Anchorage School District (ASD). ASD hires over 3500 teachers every year. Shelby county (which is twice as large in area) hires less teachers and has less students than ASD. A major earthquake hit Anchorage (9.2 on the scale) in the 60's. Since then, all the schools were built or rebuilt so that they can house 2000 people sufficiently with 5 weeks of supplies!!! Each school has an emergency septic system, food supplies, kitchens and oxygen tanks for any emergency. The director said, "we did this because if we are ever in need of emergency help, who will come find us in time? So we built it ourselves!" Pretty neat. I teach two weeks a month at Susitna Elementary school, which is about 4 years old. They are on cloud nine right now because 4 of their former students are on the World Series Softball Team and they are winning! The other two weeks of the month, I teach at Airport Heights Elementary school. This school is famous because when Arnold Schwarzenegger was Mr. Atlas, his one and only stop in Alaska was at Airport Heights School! I drive by Elmendorf exit every day. If this doesn't sound like a Harry Potter dorm I don't know what does. The Air Force Base, Elmendorf, is proud of their name, I just giggle at it. The picture of the mountains is the view from my classrooms. It sure makes any day better when you have such a spectacular site to look at every day. The picture of the house is in my neighborhood. I giggle at the garages!!! You can tell immediately that Alaska is the home of outdoor activities. Look at their garages. The one on the left is a tandem four car garage (two in first and two in behind them). The middle garage is for the RV to travel around the state and lower 48. The far right garage is for the boat. It is a big boat (I saw the door up). What you can't see are the snowmobiles and 4-wheelers parked on the right-side of the garage. There is also a mother-in-law apartment. This 5 bedroom, 2 family room,big backyard and all these garages is going for a mere $499K. That is a steal! Any takers?
The last picture is from the Native American Cultural Center (about 2 miles away). It was so awesome. It is a hands-on museum with Native tribe houses to enter. I spent three hours there and didn't cover but a 1/3 of it. I watched them do native tribal dances, the native Olympic sports (I can't pronoun the names) but they have Native Olympics yearly. The one that amazed me was at ball (made out of seal or whale) hangs 9 feet in the air. The boys and girls sit on the floor, hold one foot and push off with the other foot into a handstand and kick the ball. One young man has won this competition at over 9 feet for five years running. That is amazing! I know what I want for Christmas. Seal skin moccasins. The seal fur is the softest fur known and it is wonderful. These wonderfully warm items go for about $200 a pair. I better start saving my money. Alaska is not like China. Things are authentic and expensive. There is a special seal on items that are authentically made by the natives so you don't throw your money away.
The kids start schools on Wednesday. I can't wait to see my little ones. There are 49 different languages spoken among these children. School is taught in English but there are resource teachers for non-English students. I don't know how to speak Athasbascan but I am going to try to learn some words. I met one of my 4th graders and his name was Rain. I have one girl named Sonnet, and one boy named Half-moon. They were registering when I was getting my classroom ready. Well, that's about it. I will post again after school has started. I am sure I will have plenty of funny stories to tell. I think of you often. I am so appreciative of my wonderful husband. He is the best!! Hugs and smiles to all of you. From Sheryl the nanook of the North!
No comments:
Post a Comment