It's true

this picture needs no explanation

Wow. I’ve been really busy….ridiculously busy if you will. The only reason I have time to write this post is because I’m traveling from Hollis to Ketchikan in hopes of getting to Anchorage and then down to Kenai by tomorrow morning for a conference. Oh the life of Alaskan teacher. Where do I begin?

So yes, I moved to Thorne Bay. I am now a proud full-time teacher, which is pretty great. I’m currently teaching a 3-5^th grade reading, math and spelling group in the morning and 6^th grade Language Arts, Middle School Health, and the real kicker, Entrepreneurship in afternoon to high schoolers. I am busy, to say the least, but I am SO happy to be out of Coffman Cove and in the great city Thorne Bay. Here’s why (in order of greatness):

1. Thorne Bay School has a Principal and a secretary, which mean, I DON’T HAVE to play either one of those roles. HIP HIP HOORAY!!! I hate, hate (HATED), HATED being Lead Teacher and everything that entails. I am so HAPPY to be focused on TEACHING.

2. My living situation has improved by approximately 1000%. Not only is there running water, but the apartment has heat, Internet, cable, cellphone reception, AND my rent is cheaper. I WIN.

3. Thorne Bay Market (aka Alaskan & Proud = awesome grocery store): a grocery store in town. What!?!

I still think that it’s GD ridiculous that I was asked to move and take on a whole new course load over night but it makes me feel a lot more secure about next year. Our district lost a bunch of money from timber sales this year which means that we are looking at cutting at least 4 fulltime teachers. I was def scarred for my job and didn’t think that fulltime employment would even be an option. There are still no guarantees but I feel better about the future.

listen to this

Check out the big move on this map

Times like this, I'm really grateful have a blog, because nobody would believe this shit if I tried to tell them in a year from now. So in the past week I've been without power, without running water in my bathroom, I have termites in my kitchen, and the final blow was yesterday with the furnace and the whole carbon monoxide fiasco. Last night I took a scolding hot shower and then jumped into bed.....hoping that I wouldn't wake up until morning. It was freezing in my house (literally), we got two new feet of snow yesterday, in fairness, the temperature is significantly higher than last week, my guess is anywhere between 32 and 34 degrees Fahrenheit.....whatever it doesn't matter. It should also be said that I had a small space heater plugged into my room courtesy of the one and only COP (Cass on Pegs). Thanks Cassie, you literally probably saved my life.

As you might imagine, I had to question my life (again) this morning as I had on several layers of clothing, huddled in my room drinking my coffee. Again, whatever, the furnace will probably be fixed today...my thought was this: well atleast I will get a lot of work done at school, since I can't really can't be anywhere else. Fast forward to school, I get a call from Superintendent, he's kind of asking me but mostly telling me that they have a full-time teaching position available in Thorne Bay teaching 3-5th graders and a couple of high school classes. When does this position start/open-up, a logical person might ask?? Oh, tomorrow, "We need you to come to Thorne Bay tonight."

So I talked with James, like I said I really didn't have much choice, when you're superintendent asks you to do something, it's kind of like the pope or the president, it's more of a order disguised as an amazing opportunity.

The long and short: this report is coming from Thorne Bay. I start teaching full-time tomorrow, seven (7) classes. My housing is also taken care of AND I get 10 teacher days, which I think just equates to more money. I think that I'm actually experiencing shock right now. I have no idea what I'm doing....I'm both excited and super sad. I saw one of my students before I left and he started crying, and he's a seventh grader and he's a boy!?!

Who knows what will happen tomorrow!?!

my life keeps getting better

Plank Pose on a sheet of sea ice?
It's harder than you might think.

Yay, the pipes thawed. I have running water in the bathroom again. The temp has been above 20 degrees all weekend. The power has been on pretty consistently. We've got two feet of snow, things are look up. Oh wait, what's that sound?? Just my carbon monoxide detector going off. Awesome. So while there is indeed power here, I had to turn off my furnace and air out my apartment. Landlord? Out of town for the foreseeable future. Shit.

Somebody might be able to come look at it on Monday.

I give up.

Let me tell you a story about satellite radio

Spartan Training

Let me start with when I first realized that I wanted a satellite radio. It was way back in October when it became very apparent that I would NOT be able to get any Internet access at my house….I never really understood the need for satellite radio before this. I personally hate listening to the private/commercial radio and love listening to my own music. Furthermore, if the desire arose that I did need to listen to the radio, I could always stream it from the Internet, easy peasy. Okay, so a couple of things, first, there are no FM channels where I’m located so I can’t listen to the FM radio if I wanted to, which is find except for one little thing that actually proved to be really important, most of you know what I’m talking about…..there is a three letter acronym for it, you guessed it, I can’t live without a healthy does of NPR. Call me what you will.

Any who, last fall I tried to buy a radio online, but got really confused. I usually prefer to buy stuff in a store because I like to do my research, talk with people, and touch the product before I make a purchase…it’s called being cheap, I get it from my Grandmother (Lorraine). No worries though, because last October I went to Anchorage (for a conference), where I went to a Radio Shack or Best Buy in the mall to make my purchase. Except they don’t sell satellite radios in Anchorage because they can’t receive satellite radio transmissions that far north. F! Now, I know that I can get satellite radio here in Coffman Cove because everyone has one. I literally live thousands of miles south of Anchorage so I know that I can overcome this geographical obstacle.

Okay, back to the original plan….online, still can’t make a decision on which one to buy so I decide to wait until I go home at Christmas to make my purchase. This is truly where the drama begins. Before I go any further I have to mention that I had several people here tell me that I HAVE to buy a Sirius Radio and NOT XM because XM does not work here.

Tacoma Best Buy, Christmas time, is pretty much my definition of hell. Tons of people consuming at an alarming rates, whatever, I need this f-ing radio. I talk with one of the sales people….I tell him my situation, I’m living in rural Alaska, I need to buy a radio and a docking station before I leave, I don’t have access to a Best Buy where I live, blah blah blah. I ask him which radio I should buy, he tells me any of them, I tell him that I have to buy a Sirius Radio, he tells me, NO you don’t because Sirius and XM have merged, they are one in the same, synonymous if you will. Okay, great (I think to myself), I’ll buy this fifty-dollar XM radio and a docking station to go with it. Decision made, problem solved, let’s get the hell out of Best Buy. Except its Christmas and naturally they are out of the radio I need. NO worries he says you can buy it online, FREE SHIPPING. Great, go home, try to purchase it online, EXCEPT they refuse to ship it to a PO Box, and we don’t have a mail delivery service on the island so I literally cannot get it shipped to me. F! Okay, so I’ll just have it shipped to the store and then pick it up and take it back to Alaska with me. Naturally, the radio arrived at the store the day after I left. No worries, Shane Costello (long time friend and number one hommie) agreed to pick it up and send it to me. Yay!!

Two week later, my radio arrives!!! I’m way more excited than I should be. I leave school and rush home to set it up. NPR at last! Oh wait, there’s a problem. I call SiriusXM customer service only to find out…….that while Sirius and XM have merged, they are officially one company, XM radios are only able to receive transmissions from XM satellites and as I was repeatedly warned, we can only receive transmissions from Sirius satellites. OMFGGDMF!?!?##$%$Q%#

I cried. I am so f-ing pissed off. I tried to explain to the person at Best Buy who I was talking to that it’s not so easy to just return it and buy a new radio. I live in rural Alaska, we’ve had exactly four mail planes since Christmas AND you MFers won’t ship me a new one because I don’t have physical mailing address. Furthermore, I can’t get a newspaper here, there are no radio stations and I don’t have Internet at my house. This radio is a lot more than access to 5,000 stations; it’s my connection to the outside world. I actually had visions on going back into the Tacoma store and hurting the asshole that sold me the f-ing radio in the first place, which is highly unusual for me.

Any ways, I’m almost over it. I’m going to buy a Sirius radio from the nice people at Amazon who still ship to PO Boxes and start my campaign to run Best Buy out of business.

PIC: kids doing yoga on icy rocks = danger disguised as Spartan training.

This is not MY life X 2

my running sink (always)

I think that we’ve all had those moments, when our life takes a turn and we don’t even recognize it as reality. This happens to me frequently, it can be good or bad, but sometimes you’ve got to ask yourself, “Is this really my life?”

The answer this week is yes, this is your life Emily, get use to it. I’ll start by telling you that it’s cold here. No, let me start with a phone call I received this morning:

Me: Good morning, Moody Residence

Chrissy: We’re F@#Ked

Me: Go on…..

Chrissy: Our water, it’s frozen in the bathroom. No more showers.

Me: F!!

So yes, it happened, our pipe froze, but just the one in our shower. LUCKILY, and I truly am grateful for this, I still have water in my bathroom and kitchen sink. Okay, fast forward to this evening, I’m finally warm after being cold pretty much all day, finishing up my dishes when my electricity goes out….back to the beginning of the story, it’s cold here. Like it didn’t get above 10 degrees today and it’s probably hanging out around zero right now. Oh yeah, and I heat my house with an electric furnace. So I don’t have heat, and it’s freezing, and I can’t take a shower at my house. THIS IS NOT MY LIFE!!!!!!

long underwear, always

And now a more upbeat, “This is not my life” story…..right after I got back from Christmas I inquired with a company that leads yoga and kayaking trips in SE Alaska. Now, at this point I had already decided that I was coming home this summer, but I was interested in perhaps doing some type of work exchange to be able to participate in one of their tours (as they are really expensive). I never considered working for them because I figured that my season would be too short (June-mid August) and, as previously mentioned, I want to come home this summer. Any who, the owner of the company contacted me and told that while they’ve never done work exchanges before, he thinks that I (ME) would be a good candidate for a guide position. (Insert lots of profanity and a happy dance). This is a real honor as this guide company is super legit and offers amazing tours and AND they are based out of Gustavus, a place that I have ALWAYS wanted to visit. Seriously, google that shit, it’s amazing. Long-story-short, if we can work it out with my teaching schedule, and if I can manage to get my Wilderness First Responder before June, I think that I have a job…..leading kayak tours in Gustavus, I know right? THIS IS NOT MY LIFE.

Check this company out here:http://www.seakayakalaska.com/

This quote came from an education magazine:

"If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job. ~ Donald D. Quinn

Truth!

Loose Lips Sink Ships

மி "வ்ஹீல்ஸ்" அக தி டிச்ற்றிச்ட் டஹொஎ

திஸ் இஸ் எ டைரக்ட் கியோடே பிரோம் அன் ஈமெயில் இ காட் பிரோம் மி சுபெரிண்டேண்டேன்ட் லாஸ்ட் வீக். இ'ம நாட் எவென் சுரே வாட் திஸ் இஸ் இன் ரேபிறேன்சே டு. இ தினக் தட் இ'ம போர்தேர்லினே பிங் ஹரச்செத், அண்ட் இ'ம கிந்து ஒப் கெட்டிங் சிக் ஒப் மி சோப் பிங் டங்க்லேத் ஓவர் மி ஹெட், பட் இன் தி சமே ஈமெயில் ஹி திட் மேண்டின் தட் ஹி திங்க்ஸ் ஹி தாஸ் எ பொசிடிஒன் போர் மீ நேசத் இயர். சோ தட்'ச குட் நியூஸ்! இட்'ச ஹர்ட் போர் மீ டு எச்ப்ளின், பட் திஸ் குய் இஸ் நாட் எ ஜெர்க், இ அச்டுஅல்லி ரேஅல்லி லைக் ஹிம், இ ஜஸ்ட் டான்'த உண்டேர்ஷ்டந்து தி வே தட் ஹி டோஎஸ் திங்க்ஸ்.

Everyone in the district by this time in the year starts to get nervous about whether or not their contract is going to get renewed. The problem is that a lot of our schools (mine included) are hovering around that 10 student mark and are risk of being closed. Given the reality that I don't have any children puts me at a special risks. It's insane, I know, பட் இ டான்'த ரேஅல்லி கேர். இ'ம ப்ரெட்டி சுரே தட் இ'ல் ஹவே எ சோப் நேசத் இயர் பட் இ'ம ரேஅல்லி ஹோபிங் தட் இ கெட் மொவேத் டு தொர்னே பே வ்தேரே இ வான்'த ஹவே டு பே லேஅது டீச்சர். சோ if everybody could send a positive thought my way, I would appreciate it. I should know by next month.

Still lovin' the Southeast. It's snowy and sunny here.

and I'm BACK!!!

Oaks drew a picture of me :)

Happs:
அப்பறேன்ட்லி எ பாதர் ஒப் ஓனே ஒப் ஒஉர் ஸ்டுடென்ட் காட் தி நோடியன் தட் சம்ஸ் இஸ் எ "த்ரீ-ஹுக்கேர்." திஸ் குய் இஸ் அன் இர்ரதிஒநல் தருணக், சோ வாட் டோஎஸ் ஹி டூ? ஹி புட் எ கிநொர்மௌஸ் ரவுண்டு ஒப் வூட் பெஹிந்த் ஹிஸ் திருக் இன் ஹிஸ் டிரைவ்வே சோ தட் ஹி குல்ட்ன்'த லீவ்.

திஸ் இஸ் புன்னி போர் எ வரீட்டி ஒப் ரியசொன்ஸ் பட் மோஸ்ட்லி பெகுசே சம்ஸ் இஸ் ஜஸ்ட் அபௌட் தி புர்தேஸ்ட் திங் யு கேன் கெட் பிரோம் பிங் எ த்ரீ-ஹுக்கேர். குட் டைம்ஸ். லுக்கில்லி சம்ஸ் சா தி பீஸ் ஒப் வூட் பெபிபூர் திர்யிங் டு லீவ் ஓர் ஹி வௌல்து ஹவே சுச்டைநேத் சீரியஸ் தமகே டு ஹிஸ் திருக். தேசே பெஒப்லே....

Quotes:
Student: Miss Moody do you always try to sit in the same seat during lunch?
Me: No, I try not to attach myself to a seat or outcomes, attachment is the root of suffering, you know.
Student: No, I didn't know that.