Adventures in Alaska: 2012

Hello Old Friends!

First of all, I should probably once again apologize for my horrible upkeep with this blog! That being said, it is a new year (school year anyway!), so hopefully I will do a little better this time around!

I have been back in Ketchikan for almost 3 weeks! And what a wonderful, busy, yet relaxing 3 weeks it has been.

Before I jump right into Ketchikan, I should probably talk a bit about my summer. As I’m sure most of you know, but some may not, I visited “the lower 48” for about 2 months this past summer. I flew into Pittsburgh right at the begging of June, and so began my crazy busy summer. The first thing I did was go to a Pirates game! Which they won, and it was an awesome way to kick off my summer. I visited with my dad as much as I could on the weekends and through out the week I worked and stayed with my Uncle Tom and Aunt Heather. It was a really wonderful experience being in Pittsburgh ( I was so close to PNC park!), and it was fantastic to be able to spend time with family.

I was only in Pennsylvania for about a week before I headed to St. Louis. Really the visit was all about me, but there was this side wedding thing going on, that I was kind of a part of, so I needed to make an appearance. HA! Of course I am just kidding! As I am sure you all know, Natalie got married this summer to her wonderful new husband Frank! They got married toward the end of June, and I got to be there for the week before the wedding to try to help out in any way possible. I of course am a little partial, but it was the nicest wedding and reception I had ever been to! It was very small, very family oriented, and very well put together. The wedding was remarkably homemade, and I am still astounded by all the things Natalie, Alexis, Frank, and all their friends and family were able to accomplish to make the day so beautiful. It was really wonderful to see everyone. Most of Mom and Dad’s siblings made it to St. Louis for the wedding, and those that did not were able to make it to the Pennsylvania reception that took place later in July. I got to see some of my Mom’s family that I had not seen in years(at both celebrations), and I also got to finally meet my new cousin, Alex who lives in California. I told Natalie that she picked a very convenient time in my life to get married, because I could conveniently fit family into my jam packed summer! If you would like to see some of the wedding pictures, click here! (these are not all my photos, Special thanks to friends of the bride and groom (Rebecca and Jen), my cousin Trish, Christine Olsen, and Scott Catllin Photography for the photos that I didn't take myself!)

When I came back from St. Louis, I worked a bit more for Uncle Tom, and then took the train to Philadelphia for two weeks to continue my Orff Training. I took Level I last summer, so this year I continued with Level II. Most of my classmates from last year were there as well. It was really nice to visit and see everyone, but it was a really intense long two weeks! I learned so much, though, and I am really excited to apply it to my teaching. While I was out there, I got to spend time with my cousins, Allison and Dan, who live in Jersey. I can’t tell you how nice it was to see them and just relax! Truly a great trip!

After my class in Philly, my PA summer was winding to an end. I managed to squeeze in a few more Pirates games, and a few more visits with people, but I flew out about a week and a half later, back to the beautiful state I now call home.

When I got off the airplane and was taking the ferry to the Island, it was of course, raining, but I would expect nothing less from Ketchikan. I probably would have been disappointed if it wasn’t raining. With the help of some friends, I got my car, and moved all my stuff from my storage unit into my apartment and began unpacking. I was exhausted, but couldn’t sleep! I think I finally fell asleep at around 11pm AK or 3AM ET time. I slept EXTREMELY well!

The next day was the annual Ketchikan Blueberry Festival. What is a Blueberry Festival, you might be asking!? Well, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you about a month ago, but now I can. Think any kind of arts festival (your choice: Riverfest, Heritage Days, Folk Festival, etc...) but put it in a parking garage and surrounding parking lots, add a ton of local artist, sprinkle on some blueberries to any traditional fair food, add the ocean nearby and lots of mountains, and there you have it...The Blueberry Festival. It is only one day, but it was a lot of fun. Matt, A friend of mine who I teach with at Tongass School, is running for State Chair. He was doing some campaigning at the festival, so I went down to help and to spend sometime with him, and his wife and kids. Being away from home is hard sometimes, but when you meet people like this family...well, it makes it a lot easier. They have been truly wonderful to me, and I am so grateful!

I was still a little tired, but the next morning I had my first official Ketchikan visitors!! Ryan and Suzetta (We were in the same class at Karns City) flew up to spend the week with me. It was so awesome to get to show them around, and they had pretty nice weather for most of their visit..YAY! When they first arrived we just drove around the island and viewed some of the scenery, and then we went back to my apartment and relaxed a bit. We went to church later that night and visited with a few friends and then came back. We were all pretty tired at this point.

The next morning we got up to go hiking and spent most the day in the woods or on the beach. Later that night we had a campfire on the beach with most of my Ketchikan friends, Edelweiss and Brett; Matt, Niki, their children and a few of their friends; and then myself, Ryan and Suzetta. The weather was excellent and it was a lot of fun.

We took a skiff out one day, which was an interesting experience, but all in all it was a fun adventure. I caught a small silver salmon, and I was REALLY hoping Ryan would take it off the hook for me, but he was on the other end of the boat dealing with something else at the time, so I had to do it. We didn’t have pliers or anything, but I faced my fear, and just grabbed the fish and tried to get the hook out of its mouth. I was so proud, but I couldn’t get the hook out! He was NOT cooperating and I really didn’t want to hurt him, but every time I started to get the hook, he would wiggle around! THEN HE THREW UP ON ME! Yeah, I was trying to be nice and gentle and then I see the tail of another fish in its mouth. I look at Ryan and Suzetta, and I was like... “What... is...that!?”, and then a whole fish flops out of it’s mouth!!!!! I was freaking out, because seriously, who would be expecting that! The fish took my hook! If he had a whole other fish in his stomach why would he take my hook! It was SO GROSS! I kept trying to get the hook out and I just kept saying “I can’t do this, I seriously can’t do this, this is disgusting” I am pretty sure all of Ketchikan could hear me. Looking back it was a good laugh, but man...that was NOT fun!

The rest of the week mostly consisted of hiking, fishing, and we did enjoy walking around and viewing the tourist shops, AND Ryan taught me how to change my oil on my Explorer. With the exception of my getting them to the ferry 2 minutes late, which caused them to be 2 minutes late to check their baggage (it is currently in my living room) It was a wonderful trip. I can’t thank them enough for coming to visit. It was so nice to have people here and just enjoy the island.

After they left, the procrastination (for school) began! I finally went to see “The Dark Knight Rises”! My new roommate, and fellow teacher, Lori went with me. It was AWESOME, but I had to remind myself it was just a movie when Heinz Field was being blown up! Lori and I have been finding many reasons to avoid Tongass School. These include, unpacking and cleaning, napping, reading, napping, FINALLY setting up the internet (now I can blog!), napping, watching movies, napping, visiting with people, napping, hiking, and...napping! Have I mentioned that I have been napping!? I would like to credit this back to Uncle Tom and say I learned how to nap well from him, but I would be lying. He is able to limit his naps to 30 -45mins (It is a house rule!), I on the other hand, have not mastered that technique yet, and some of my naps are have been longer then a full nights sleep I get during the school year... On a more serious note, I have been slowly getting ready for school, but I have also been taking the time to enjoy some of the AMAZING weather we have been having, visiting with friends, and RELAXING! I am taking advantage of the relaxing time while I still have a chance, because next week...it will be gone for a while.

Before I sign off, let me leave you with one final story. The other night, I was making dinner, and I looked outside and there in my front yard, eating something was a black bear. Obviously I have seen a bear before, but it was just standing there, very casual. It was a bit crazy, but I got a few pictures!

And on that note I think I’m going to sign off. Hope you all enjoyed this post, and I will try to be better about posting! To view my Alaskan Pictures click here, and I hope to see you all at Apple Butter!

Always,

Katie

This morning I woke up and decided I wanted Ego Waffles for breakfast. As I was putting them on my plate and adding all the fix-ins I had a flashback to when I was staying with Gram, and how we used to eat Ego's in the morning. "Do you want syrup, Gram" "Oh, just a little....a little more than that!" It really made me smile, but also miss my family, both the ones who are no longer with me and the ones that I am horrible at staying in touch with, very much. I started to make a mental list of all the people I really needed to say "Hello!" and "I love you!" to, and I figured this would be much more productive. Especially because I haven't updated since October!! (opps!)

Things in Alaska are going, surprisingly well. I am very very happy here, and I am planning on staying here for at least another year. My principal and the APC (our own little school board) are trying diligently to find a way to give me full-time certified next year, and I really think it is going to work out! I have been looking and applying else where, not because I want to move, but I do want full time.

I love the Tongass School. I work with the most amazing, kindhearted people daily, and I really have a great relationship with my students. One of my students drew me a minion (from "Despicable Me" - one of my favorite movies) playing a trumpet! To quote Vector, "OH YEAH!" I also had two kids ask if they could eat lunch with me the other day. That really made me feel good, and you know, I really enjoyed myself. They are great kids, and they have such wonderful interesting things to say, that in the classroom, they don't normally get the opportunity to share with you. It was really nice to sit around, singing "Silly Songs with Larry" and just ... talking.

As many of you know, I went to St. Louis for Christmas to visit with Dad, Nat, and Lex. It was so wonderful. It was really nice to interact with people on a daily basis, and not have it be focused around work or some kind of obligation. It was so weird to be in a car for more than 10 minutes, to travel faster than 35mph, and to travel further than 30 miles. It was also incredible that when I got picked up from the airport in the late afternoon, early evening, the sun was still out! While I was there I got to sing at an open mic night, watch the Pens play on a regular basis (the girls have center ice), Socialized with a ton of different people, lost horribly at Mexican Rat Race (it's a card game, that I RARELY lose), also won a few times, got an iPhone(Whoo!), helped Natalie pick out her wedding dress(!!!!), received a visit from Justin from Youngstown, got mocked for my new 99901 zip code, Skyped with the Kijowski's, and spent some much needed quality time with friends and family. It was really wonderful, and I was not ready to leave; however, I did have to come home.

When I got home, I decided that I really needed to put in more of an effort to be social. It was one of my goals for this year. So far I am doing pretty well at it, though it is hard to be social when I am so busy! One of the biggest improvements I have made is to go to the rec center, pretty much every night after school, with one of the other teachers at my school. We decided that it was a healthier and cheaper way to socialize than going out to get something to eat after school. Sometimes, she literally has to drag me there (you all know how much I LOVE exercising), but it has really helped. I feel better, and I get so much more accomplished.

I am still staying very busy. In addition to Community Band, I did join Jazz band. Man, was that a kick to my self esteem! Jazz is...HARD! It's a completely different style than what I am used to, and I've never played jazz before. This is a huge shout out to Dr. Krummel, my trumpet professor. You were right! I totally should have practiced my scales and arpegios more! I should have listened to more Jazz, I should have played with the Jazz band, I should have....well, I could go on and on. Kids, listen to your professors, they know what they are talking about....*sigh* Darn it!

I also started helping out with a Girl Scout troop up here. It is kind of crazy to be singing all those songs, and participating in all those activities again. Today, I am going to one of our grocery stores to help sell cookies. I guess 15 years of scouting will do that to you. Ann, if you are reading this, expect a call, I have tons of questions for you. I can only remember bits and pieces of some of the stuff we used to do, and I need someone to fill in the blanks.

I guess I have been doing a lot of reminiscing lately. I think that is my brains way of saying "Katie, you are allowed to miss people, just do something about it!" I miss you, terribly. Even though I am horrible at staying in touch, I think of you all very often, and I hope everything in your life is going well. For those of you who do not know, I will be in the Western Pa area for June and July! I am coming home, and I am going to stay with my Aunt Heather and Uncle Tom in Pittsburgh. It's going to be a crazy few months with Natalie's wedding, summer classes, Pirates Games (Woot!) and trying to visit with everyone, but I am really looking forward to it. I can't wait to sit around a campfire and just...be.

Well, I suppose I should sign off and try to be productive on this sunny Sunday (that's right, it is sunny!!) Once again, I leave with with a huge apology, I will really try to be better at keeping people updated. I love you all!

Katie

P.S.
A few pictures:

The waterfall! One of my favorite places to visit in Ketchikan.

This is a Christmas gift I gave to one of the other teachers at TSAS. He is a Flyers fan, and thought it would be "funny" to send some students into band class wearing Flyers Jerseys. So I decorated his room with Pens logos, and a team roster. Merry Christmas, Matt!