I woke up today, had breakfast and headed to the school. After checking with Max to make sure everything was okay for the Government lesson today that I would be teaching, Casey and I decided to go into town. We hopped a ride into the village of Manakotak, a 5 mile ride away. I rode in the back of a small, white, Izuzu truck which curiously, had the steering wheel on the right, as opposed to the left that I was used to. It was a fun, and surprisingly relaxing ride in. I sat with my back against the cabin of the truck, wa
tching as we drove past trees and mountains. We entered Manokotak itself. The buildings and houses were of the rather drab but sturdy style that one can see in most Alaskan villages. We made several stops in town, going to the post office, the general store, and the government office among several other places. Everywhere we went, Casey was snapping pictures. Buildings haphazardly sat along side the few, narrow streets. The village reminded me a lot of Aqtasuk, one of the villages I had been in when I worked as a translator for the North Slope Borough School District. Discarded car parts and scraps of metal lay everywhere. Here and there, cars, still intact, lay partly buried in the snow, forgotten, until summer perhaps. Snow-machines and four-wheelers were more numerous than cars or trucks. Our first stop was the government office, a gray building, long than most of the others around. A sign above the doorway announced the building's title, and a white poster, seemingly made of canvas, was hammered to the outside, the words “Pebble Mine” surrounded by a red circle, with a line superimposed over them.
The next stop was the town store. I stepped inside, into a large dim room. Shelves were spaced evenly, but still gave most of the floor area a cramped feel. Cans and powdered drinks lined the shelves. In the corner, several stacks of sweatshirts were placed, all of them, unfortunately, too small for me to wear. A series of store refrigerators with the glass doors were set up by the cashier's desk. Only the center shelf on two out of the three refrigerators was occupied by two different flavors of soda. We didn't buy anything, but stepping into the store just to look around was well-worth it.
On the way back, we stopped to refill the air in the back left tire of the truck, while Casey and I got out and took pictures. I took several pictures of a boat that sat on several blocks. It was christened “Natasha”, and I planned on adding the pictures to the collection of photos I already have involving Russian names in Alaska. I later saw that the camera was set to sepia tone, so the pictures were more or less useless. I'm planning on going back into town on Saturday or Sunday with my camera to snap a few more pictures of the boat. On the way back out of town, we stopped by the post office to pick up several packages, and I ended up riding with them as company in the bed of the truck all the way back to the school.
The rest of the day was spent doing more observation. However, I did get to teach a lesson to Max's Government class. It was one of my favorite lessons to teach, court cases and how students believe the decisions should go, based on their arguments using the Bill of Rights. The lesson went over much better than I had thought it would. Though several students were very quiet and didn't participate except to vote on which way the court case should go, eventually, I managed to get every student to give their reasoning on at least one court case by simply asking them what they thought. The students really seemed to enjoy the lesson. One student who sat in the front will forever be fixed in my memory. I learned that this student had a disability a day or two prior. However, this student's points were some of the best out of the class. Though he took his time to make a clear point, everything he stated was on topic and relevant to the discussion. It was a very interesting experience. I had to give some extra time for the student to work out his answer, but I was glad I did. His points were very solid.
After the lesson, I grabbed my camera and did a quick video recording of the school. It's below (the video is split into two parts so I could post it on the blog):
Upon finishing the video, I walke
d the halls of the school, intending to simply observe a few classes, when I ran into one of the students from Mr. McDonough's second and third grade class, the class that I had interacted with the day before. He told me that they were going to the gym for P.E. I ended up joining the kids, running a few laps with them, and showing them the “crocodile” trick that I sometimes do, where I balance my body on my two hands, elbows resting on my stomach. I also played basketball with the, did some jump rope, and kicked a soccer ball around, among other things. Casey came in part of the way through, and did a very fun activity with the kids. He held his arms at his sides, but angled his elbows out. One kid grabbed each arm, and Casey proceeded to spin around, the kids hanging on to his arms, their legs leaving the floor.
Not much else to report on today. The same day as yesterday, except with the added bonus of teaching a lesson. It was quite an interesting experience. Herman also handed Casey and I mock applications for the school district. We apparently will also do mock interviews.
This weekend, Casey and I have tentatively planned to hike the mountain that was pointed out to us when we first got here, Acorn Peak. I've gotten in contact with several teachers who will let me borrow their gear. Now it all depends on how much work I have left to do.
