THaNk YoU !!!!

We have been getting so many wonderful packages from the people we love xoxoxo

Thank you Thank you THank you thank you Thank You thank you Thank you Thank you thank You

We've been able to capture some videos and pictures of our gift goodies, but some of them don't last long enough to take pictures of:)

Our parents have been SOOOO generous, giving us regular shipments of things we need and want.

The Buck parents know we NEED chocolate:) and have been trying to keep our house stocked with the wonderful treats like snickers bars, kit kats, turtles, reeses pieces, and Ghirardelli chocolate:) and other treats too, but they don't last long enough for me to remember and blog about, but THANK YOU !!! We love opening your packages so much, always so random :) We love the summer sausage, lotion, soaps, rice cakes, and nuts:)

The Gries parents sent us a wonderful smelling candle, fantastic soap, teas of all flavors, lots of magazines that has generated an obsession for me, I can't get enough gossip. I never was into it before, never bought magazines, but I'm reading them, and I don't even know who these new celebrities are, but I love it. We pass them around the six plex, so if you're going to throw out your magazines, ship them to Gambell teachers instead:) its our outlet to the crazy celebrity world. oh guilty pleasures:) Did Mariah Carrey and Nick Cannon seriously name their babies Roc and Roe ?!? I know it's short for Moroccan and Monroe, but are you kidding ?!?  I could not stop laughing and crying when I read this !

Speaking of weird obsessions that we've developed in Gambell...Derek has developed a shoe fetish. As long as I've known Derek, he's only owned 3 pairs of shoes...maybe...including flip flops...but before we left he packed older brown shoes and bought himself "teaching shoes" - his Birkenstocks; then on the way through Alaska he inherited these enormous musher boots from his uncle; and he recently just bought himself hiking boots. BUT these new purchases and all the conditioners and water proofers he has bought to lather his new shoes - and now old shoes as well, has triggered him to thinking he wants to re-sole all of his shoes and bring them all back to life with new laces, and inside soles...I know deep down its because he misses his shop, and shoes are the closest thing he can get to a project that gets his hands dirty (and smelly:) - just joking baby) the way his shop used to, but he is so funny....just ask him about any pair of his shoes and he'll talk about them for 20-30 minutes, and tell all your friends about them too:) in detail about the soles, the conditioners, the quality...He's too cute. I'm stuck in Nome this weekend due to weather, but when I get back to Gambell, I will take a picture of him with each of his pairs of shoes and post them. So funny.

BACK TO THE PACKAGES - My lovely girlfriends from high school, Jackie and Crystal, just sent Derek and I a box of wonderfulness. We took videos to share their gifts...

The package:

Showing the neighbors:

on the neighbor's scooter: (Jena - it's the new GOB)

*if you listen closely, Derek is talking about his new boots to Gerald !!!

our other neighbor:

THank you ladies!!! I wear my pj's every single night - and great timing because our heat went out a day after we got the package, Derek and I lived in them (I was tempted to wear them under my work clothes) love you so much and miss you like crazy !!! thank you thank you thank you !!!!

To everyone: Thanks so much for sending all your love in boxes to the middle of nowhere:) Can't wait to see many of you at Christmas ! Thanks for taking the time to read our blog and taking interest in our lives in bush Alaska xoxoxoxoxo

Hood River Middle School

Just before Thanksgiving we received a package from Hood River Middle School, the amazing school I worked at last year and hopefully again in the near future:)

It was filled with awesome gifts from the staff and lots of letters from the students ! It was incredible opening the box and finding wonderful presents from so many fantastic Hood River-ians !

HRMS is amazing!!!!!!!!!

Thanks so much to everyone for all these terrific gifts:

- Dried Jonagold Apples! I don't know who those were from, but they were gone by the time we had looked through everything in the box:)

we obviously didn't share them with Luna, but she also enjoyed the smell of them:)

- The dream catcher from Alison - thank you thank you thank you!

the dream catcher is now hanging above our bed:)

- the plethora of teas from Oregon (e.g. Hood River Marionberry, Wild Blackberry, etc.) we love it !

- Chai Tea/Chai Tea with pumpkin spice - definitely drank that for Thanksgiving:) delicious!

- Soap and Smartwool Socks from Mary Jensen ! Thank you so much! the socks are awesome and are perfect up here, and the soap smells so good!!!!

- Laurel, your cookies are amazing and I've eaten so many already ! Good luck to your husband sailing this summer ! Congrats on your brand new granddaughter !

chocolate chip with walnuts:) I was trying to smile with my eyebrows the way the kids do, but I look more frightened by how delicious the cookies are:)

I can't stop...

- Poppycock - also an item that didn't last more than 2 minutes

- Canned Pears ! Brent these are the best pears we have ever eaten ! inspires us to get a farm, grow pears, and can them ! It's a perfect gift:)

we had a tough time getting them open:/

best pears we've ever had!

 - The Northwest FRESH: Butter Toffee Almond snacks, Volcano snack mix, Dried Kiwis, and Cherry Creek treats are so wonderful ! Thank you Thank you Thank you !!!  The Cherry Creek is so good in oatmeal ! with the pears!

- Luna has a fan club ! She is sooooo in love with the Garden Indoor Adventures, I think there has to be catnip in it...

- The Hood River Marionberry Jam - puts us right back at home:) Thank you!!!

- The canned jam and pickled green beans are so good Patsy ! Thank you! When I saw your card, I said, "that looks like a Patsy card !" I totally called it ! Thanks for the book too ! Derek spilled vinegar all over himself:)

-sunflower seeds are a great snack! Derek especially loves them:)

- Arkansas crystals! I am going to guess these are from Sue...??? Thanks! They spark lots of conversations with the other staff up here:) Derek is excited to show his first graders

- The Lindt Dark Chocolate !!! These are my favorite ! Thank you !!!! I love them, trying to make them last

Rose - you are amazing and such a kind-hearted person! I miss you so much ! You say such nice things, your cards make me blush. Thanks for putting this together and thinking of us in Gambell. It is cold up here, a little too cold for us too. We're really looking forward to being back in Hood River - job or not! I love you all and miss you so much !!! Your package put me right back at home, exactly what I needed:) Your efforts this Thanksgiving gave us so much to be thankful for !!! 

Thanks Rose and to everyone else for being such incredibly nice and giving people !! 

The students letters were so wonderful and I loved getting updates on their new schedules and improved Lexile scores ! So cute, they almost had me in tears! Thanks to all the students who wrote to me:

Max - so proud of you how you keep raising your Lexile score, keep up the hard work! I'm so happy you worked hard and moved up in math!

Rain - There aren't any trees, its very depressing without them, I will definitely be giving the trees hugs when I get home:)

Sandra - your haircut looks very nice in your picture you drew, welcome back to Hood River!

Isaias - you remembered so much detail about last year - so impressed, Derek will definitely get a 16 oz. next time. Good luck with your butterflies, I appreciated the update, just be yourself:) Glad you enjoy 8th grade, you're going to do great as a freshmen too - you're growing up so fast !

Cassandra - It is very cold here, -18 degrees F yesterday, I loved being there for you last year, I hope to be in your life again soon, back in Hood River. Continue to work hard in school! Derek also loved his letter you wrote, he said that he loved coming to our class and meeting all of you, and definitely wants to come back again, hopefully more permanently:)

Kenya - it was great hearing from you. I'm glad you are trying your hardest in Language! and happy your Lexile has gone up ! Good job in math! Keep it up!

Chris - you're right, Alaska would be way more fun if you were here:) Great to hear from you, happy you're doing well in school, hopefully I will get to be your teacher again:)

Brallan - I was so impressed with your lengthy letter ! Thats so wonderful how high you got your Lexile up! I'm so happy you like 8th grade! I bet you're a wonderful big brother ! I'm so happy you liked our letters last year.

Secilia - I like Alaska, but I miss the trees, students, and staff in Hood River A LOT! It is very cold here, but it is fun getting super bundled up:)

Kaylee - I'm happy you and all the students really enjoy Ms. Lynaugh, Ms Tarzin, and Ms Perkins! They ARE super nice, I agree with you:) I'm glad you like your haircut! I like my job alright, its stressful, but I'm learning a lot. See you soon!

Salomon - Way to go on your Lexile score!!!!!! See all your hard work and working with Ms Lynaugh and Ms. McNulty really paid off! Good job buddy !!!

After opening our package, Derek was running around to all the staff members here telling them how wonderful Hood River is and about the amazing package, gifts and letters you all sent us!! We totally think you are the greatest and we are so thankful for all your generousity!!! xoxoxoxoxoxo I'm checking your website all the time and hoping something comes up in the spring ;)

The calm before the storm....

The weather called for a big storm to hit the island. Flood warnings, high wind advisories, and the biggest storm on record to come, had us evacuate our homes and camp at the school for a couple days. As a native put it, "The teachers are on the front line." meaning the teacher housing is the first thing those tidal waves would see, located the closest to the shore. The warnings were in effect from 1pm Tuesday, Nov. 8 - Wednesday at midnight. 

 

But were back at school now and everyone is ok; the waves did not even come close to our housing - thank goodness! There ended up being more damage in Nome and some of our other district villages on the mainland...

 

 

This was the beginning of the storm, it was a white out

Derek and Ty on the Honda. Derek loves his Musher Boots!

Luna at school !  She was so brave during the evacuation.

We found out that most of our students have never seen a cat before, that there aren't any in Gambell, so we let our student sneak a peak...he loved her !

Derek went out to check out the storm at 9:30am

We went out together at sunrise

11:30am

We were headed towards the beach to check out the massive waves, and one of our co-worker was at home standing on her porch taking pictures of us !

This was at noon on the beach with co-workers.  On the 4-wheeeler- Bria, Deb our principal, her husband Greg, standing in the middle is Donald, more right - Lacy in red, Derek far right taking a picture in the orange coat

We got a video of the craziness - I was filming at first, but I couldn't hold the camera steady because it was so windy - so when Derek takes over it gets a little easier to watch :)

For some reason the link wont work if you click on it, but it will if you copy and paste it into the adress bar!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dbl3HF2OnnA

It wasn't raining but we got wet !!!

Detailed weather report from weather underground:

St Lawrence Island and Bering Strait Coast

Coastal Flood Warning

Statement as of 5:27 AM AKST on November 08, 2011

... Coastal Flood Warning remains in effect from 1 PM this
afternoon to midnight akst Wednesday night...

A coastal Flood Warning remains in effect from 1 PM this
afternoon to midnight akst Wednesday night.

* Location... on the Bering Strait coast and on the south and
west coasts of Saint Lawrence Island. This warning includes
Little Diomede Island.

* Impacts... major coastal flooding and severe beach erosion is
expected on south and west facing coasts of St Lawrence Island
and along the Bering Strait coast. Sea levels rising 8 to 10
feet above normal combined with high waves will push water
onshore and flood low lying areas near the coast. This will
threaten the low lying portions of Little Diomede... Teller...
Brevig Mission... Wales... and the Airport at Gambell. Wind
speeds of 50 to 70 mph with gusts to 90 mph are expected.

* Timing... winds and seas will increase rapidly Tuesday
afternoon. Major coastal flooding and severe beach erosion are
expected from Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday night.

Precautionary/preparedness actions...

A coastal Flood Warning means that rising sea water that causes
flooding is expected. This will be one of the most severe storms
on record. Coastal residents in the warned area need to begin to
take precautions now to protect life and property... and be on the
alert for rising water levels. Do not delay in taking needed
precautions for this unusually severe and life threatening storm.

High Wind Warning

Statement as of 5:43 AM AKST on November 08, 2011

... High Wind Warning remains in effect from noon today to noon
akst Wednesday...

* wind... winds 60 to 75 mph with higher gusts. Strongest winds
near Savoonga.

* Timing... southeast winds will increase to 40 to 60 mph Tuesday
afternoon and to 60 to 75 mph Tuesday evening. Winds shifting
to south late Tuesday night and to southwest Wednesday
morning.

* Impacts... travel outdoors will be very difficult and dangerous
during this storm.

Precautionary/preparedness actions...

A High Wind Warning means hazardous high winds are occurring or
expected. Take precautions to protect life and prevent property
damage.

Special Weather Statement

Statement as of 4:14 PM AKST on November 07, 2011

... Severe Bering Sea storm expected Tuesday night through Wednesday...

A rapidly developing storm located about 600 miles southwest
of Shemya this afternoon will intensify into one of the
most severe Bering Sea storms on record as it moves northward
across the chukotsk peninsula Tuesday night. This storm
has the potential to produce widespread damage.

The storm will produce widespread winds of 40 to 55 mph
with higher gusts over the West Coast Tuesday night into
Wednesday evening. Strong west winds are expected to continue
over St Lawrence Island Wednesday night. Gusts to 70 mph can be
expected along the chukotsk peninsula and in areas near Kotzebue.
Winds of 60 to 75 mph are expected over St Lawrence Island and
the Bering Strait coast. Winds are expected to approach hurricane
force over the Chukchi Sea and northern Bering Sea. The strong
winds will generate seas to as high as 20 feet over the Chukchi
Sea... and to 15 to 25 feet over the northern Bering Sea.

The strong winds will push large amounts of water into Norton
Sound... raising sea levels to as high as 8 to 9 feet above normal
Tuesday night through Wednesday night. The high sea levels
combined with high waves will produce severe beach erosion and
major coastal flooding along the northern and Eastern Shores of
Norton Sound and along the Bering Strait coast. High water
levels will produce coastal flooding along the southern
shore of Norton Sound. Strong winds and wave action may push
ice in Norton Bay on shore.

Moderately elevated sea levels and high waves will cause
severe beach erosion and major coastal flooding along the
south and west facing coasts of St Lawrence Island Tuesday
through Wednesday night.

Along the Chukchi Sea coast from Cape Krusenstern northwest...
southeast winds gusting to a high as 70 mph will produce high
waves and some elevation of sea levels... resulting in severe
beach erosion and major coastal flooding. The Village of
Kivalina will be highly vulnerable to damage caused by
beach erosion and coastal flooding.

The storm will also produce significant snowfall and blizzard
conditions over almost all of the West Coast Tuesday night
and Wednesday. Snowfall amounts of as much as 14 inches
are expected along the southern Seward Peninsula coast and
in parts of the interior Seward Peninsula.

Again... this is an extremely dangerous and life threatening
storm which will be one of the worst on record over the Bering
Sea and the West Coast.

Hey There! Derek here-

We have been staying warm, drinking tea, playing with Luna, and reading plenty.

I thought everybody would like to see Lacy and I outside in the weather, High twenties and super windy. Snowing more and more everyday. The whales are incredibly close to shore, and sea lions are following them around. Everybody is going after the sardines or the plankton; I swear it’s all right out of Planet Earth. I use my best David Attenborough when we watch all the animals feasting.  This happens thirty feet from the beach.

Thanks For the Packages! Mom and Dad –Gries   and Mom and Dad Buck.

We love them, everybody was jealous of our pumpkin (it tastes great).   And our Buck snacks keep us happy when we get home. 

Pulled Pork, pumpkin, next to rice

Looking North

South

Frozen Lake

I throw the stick on the ice-video:
http://youtu.be/sIpGlRbdcyc

Lacy Baby,,,,,.,.,.,., She's there,., under six or so Layers

Video of the beach on a super windy day...so how it is every day...

http://youtu.be/MRtpfDXhzO8

Ohh yeah, Wild Pomeranian dogs are hilarious. Their fur grows huge and ratty, Lacy and I will try to snap a picture of one.

A parent jamming some blues on my axe

Whale at supper

Awesome whale video! We are standing just off shore, the water gets so deep super quickly...

http://youtu.be/87ZGxgb0I70

Random Question- Why don’t crows get cold?  We have massive crows here; apparently they stay all year too. Don’t they get cold!?

Lacy has been voted Miss. Gambell!!!!!!  She's so pretty

Our Christmas card

Leave comments !!! They make us smile :) 

The funny things kids say...

We've been trying to keep track of all the funny things the kids say, some of these phrases are not just the students but lots of people in the community...

"I never!" means "I didn't do that", or "I have never done that or tried that"

"I even!" and "Either me!" means "me too" or "I want to do that, too"

"I jokes" is a very popular phrase meaning "just kidding" or "just joking"

"Is it home time?" home time meaning "time to go home"

"This kind" is something the kids say when they are referring to anything; for example if a student hurt their elbow, he/she would turn to you and say, "I hurt my this kind" pointing to their elbow; or if they needed help with a problem on a worksheet, he/she would raise their hand and say, "I need help with this kind" pointing to the problem. Derek has noticed in the first grade that the students say, "Can I have one of this kinda?" meaning "sort of like this" like if what they are pointing to isn't exactly what they want, like if they were pointing to a pencil, but wanted a marker.

In the middle and high school, the older students will call flipping someone off "middle fingering" so when a student said, "Ms. Buck! He's middle fingering me!" I replied, "Johnny, stop middle fingering Bobby." HA!

"He's bothering!" is another popular one meaning, "He's bothering me"

"Annoying" and "Boring" are words each teacher hears 50 times a day; no matter what subject, assignment, or activity - I'm pretty sure the students don't even what these words mean because when I said, "Hey were are going to carve pumpkins now!" I heard, "Annoying"   WHAT??!! One morning, Derek was walking down the hall during breakfast, when all the students are supposed to be in the cafeteria. He saw one of his students running in the hall, with his mom walking behind him. Derek said to the student, "Johnny, you're not supposed to be in the hall, you need to go back to the cafeteria." Johnny replied, "Annoying." and the mother starting laughing at her son's cute response to the teacher. Derek looked at her, paused a moment, and said straight faced, "That's not funny."

Keep on truck'in......errr ... four-wheeling...uuuhhh...Honda-ing

We have now been living in Gambell for the last two and three quarter months. We are adjusting and staying busy. We recently had our first snowfall. The temperature was consistently in the 40's, but now the high is usually in the mid-thirties. These are pictures of us walking out our front door @ 7:30am to find the first signs of snow. For a little weather note,  sunrise is at 10:30am and sunset is at 8pm, dark by 8:45pm.

First snowfall!

On our way to school:)

This is one of Derek's adorable students

Music class!

He is so cute!

I think we've told some of you that a lot of the natives "speak" with their facial expressions; raising their eyebrows for "yes" and pulling eyebrows together for "no."  This is one of Derek's first graders who talks with his eyebrows the most, so I wanted to show you a video of what it looks like:)

I am interviewing him and Derek after school:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1_t89c1nAk

More of Derek's cute first graders

The community participates in the Yupik dance every Friday after school from 3:45-4:30pm. Here are some pictures and videos....

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR5jMe9kM2c 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9IQVvQVSk8 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQR957nt6l0 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AonYL7K2CEU

We went to the dump one day and stumbled upon this beautiful spotted seal skin freshly "dumped" just outside the pile of garbage. We were shocked that this wasn't used to make hats, mittens or boots. We were tempted to try and tan it ourselves...

tan

verb, tanned, tan·ning, noun, adjective, tan·ner, tan·nest.

verb (used with object)

1. to convert (a hide) into leather, especially by soaking or steeping in a bath prepared from tanbark or synthetically.

2. to make brown by exposure to ultraviolet rays, as of the sun.

3. Informal. to thrash; spank.

verb (used without object)

4. to become tanned.

Derek at the dump

This is where all the old Hondas go

A whale's jawbone just outside the village of Gambell; the mountain, village and windmills in the background

I posed for a stoic shot

National Geographic voice: "Lovers embrace next to the whale's jawbone."

We love the Honda...Derek got stuck in the snow this morning....on purpose

View from just off the shore of the GREAT Bering Sea...our house is the  gray six-plex on the right with the red roof

A beautiful day in Gambell!

Derek's parents sent us a hammock! Thank you!!!! We love it!

Hanging out at home, here are videos of little Luna Baby:

helping with a puzzle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGjDzAXWu58

She has never been a lap kitty...until Gambell...we are loving it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWnNpZ4G2_Q

oh she is so embarrassed...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apRfPhAGcB4

Derek's mom made us some jalapeño jelly to put on our homemade bread! SO good!!!!

Jena - like my tilde over the "n" - I did that for you so it wouldn't look like jalap I N O :)

learning to tie his shoes

Derek teaching

He is such a good teacher, the students love Teacher Derek!

Grading...

1st grader

This is a video of Derek and his class performing a song he has been teaching them. They just learned a new verse on pajama day at Saturday school:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JSApR-YeFI

This is the tree in my classroom that one of the amazing aides made. This is our reading corner and the students love to go inside the tree when they are independently working.

Alligator donated by Derek that he found in his classroom at the beginning of the year

This is one of the little guys I get to hang out with at the end of the day

He taught me a card game:)

School assembly

Here are our Gambell cheerleaders!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bynN5VrcQM

There aren't enough high school girls to participate in sports and be in cheerleading, so the elementary and middle school girls are the cheerleaders

This is our volleyball team waiting to be introduced by the cheerleaders at the assembly

I was away last weekend at a SpEd training in Unalakleet, while Derek and Luna held down the fort in Gambell:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ssaCE28Iog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8uPmNjbRLs 

My parents sent me an electric toothbrush and now every time I turn it on, Luna jumps on the bathroom counter and is fascinated by it:

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

The week before Halloween was Gambell's spirit week at school. Tuesday was crazy hair day and Derek went all out in addition to his three french-braided-side-ponytails:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-5zFMFMRpk 

We bought our tickets to come home for Christmas and we will be arriving in Portland Saturday, December 17th at 5:30am. We fly back to Gambell December 30th, so keep your calendars open:)

Thanks so much for all the packages! It feels like Christmas every time we get one! Always a wonderful surprise!