Adventures in Alaska: March 2012

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!