Oil Change and Mountain Range

Howdy!

Hasn't been that long since I last posted. A few things have happened:

• I turned 24 (Jack Bauer)
• I'm now the official Site Tech and Study Hall Fun Coordinator (the last one I made up, but it's true! Its my job to tell the kids how they will have fun after study hall. Typically it involves me dancing to Moves Like Jagger on Just Dance 4 on the Wii.)
• I spent an hour changing the oil in the four-wheeler (those hidden, enclosed oil filters...)
• I finally got out hike Red Mountain and rode to the southern tip of the mine

Birthday Pics

Linae is on the left, she is the Site Administrator and Henri, the elementary teacher, on the right

Ham, homemade applesauce, corn pudding, scalloped potatoes and a cake that my mom shipped! Yum!

I was able to pull the ATV into our shop. ALOT better than lying out on the frozen ground.

So, the drain plug and dipstick were easy to find in their normal places, but that elusive oil filter? Its not like your typical car one, its enclosed in the engine block. I had to watch a few YouTube videos and do some picture searches to find it. It is so great having a mode of transportation!

This is around 1pm. The sun is so low in the sky!

Part of the way up (I stopped to catch my breath, a bit out of shape). Looks like they mined or did something on this part of the mountain

Sorry about all the wind noise

Right at the end I was about to say, "That's Goodnews Bay village in the center."

Map of my adventure


Ever heard of Khan Academy? It started out with a guy taking a video of him solving math problems to help his cousins. His videos have exploded in viewer-ship and his site is now a full-blown educational resource. Since I'm teaching 3 math levels at one time I thought I'd try my hand at it, do some instruction on the SmartBoard and record it on video. Here's the result: (Don't feel compelled to watch the whole thing unless you want to take notes too)

Whoa, it's already November!

Time is flying by up here. I don't just mean that the days are getting shorter but that it's hard to believe I've been here for 3 months! I've got a few pics and videos for you all from the past week or so.

My part of a catch of ptarmigan (a close relative of the grouse). Two students took me on a spur of the moment hunt just a few hundred yards outside of town. It was a blast, to say the least.

Got the kids hooked on Bill Nye while learning about cells. Definitely brought me back to my childhood.

Coming up next is my adventure to Bethel last weekend. I was scheduled to fly in the early afternoon but the plane landed with no seats available, so I was bumped to the later flight. Bush planes are much more like a taxi service than your normal air travel. I was hoping to go in early, get a hair cut and get some shopping out of the way. But, I will be coming home looking like I walked off the set of Duck Dynasty.

I fell asleep after this picture.

When we fly in to Bethel for new teacher in-service on Fridays, we stay the night in the district office. Last time I stayed at someone's house on a nice comfy couch. This time, it didn't work out that way and I wanted to spend some time with the other new teachers. While packing, I remembered that there were these awkward poles in the middle of one of the conference rooms. Now, I knew that there weren't any tress up here but I still brought my hammock anyways (telephone poles? volleyball poles?) It beat sleeping on the floor.

A bigger picture of the dredge at the platinum mine. The maintenance man and I got an ATV started up that has been sitting in front of our house. The owner said we could use it if we could get it started. This allowed me and the other teacher the opportunity to drive up to the mine. She hadn't seen it yet and we finally got the chance the other day after school when the weather was decent. But, once we got behind the mountain without the sun, it was a bitter cold ride back to town.

Finally got some colder weather. It didn't stick around for long. Being on the coast is delaying the lasting cold temperatures but they will come and stay soon enough.