1st week back

Hello Everyone,

 Hard to believe that a week has already gone by. I was very eager to get back to school Monday morning and see the kids. I missed them so much over break and wondered how they were all doing. It was nice to see their bright smiling faces on Monday morning. The little kids seemed happy to be back and ready to learn. They came up and gave a lot of hugs. Karina, my little shadow spent the morning hanging all over me. If I were to have a daughter, I would want her to be just like Karina. She is smart, funny, adorable, just everything I would want my daughter to be. Anyway, I was very happy to see my little Jalen come in. He was happy to see me too and gave me a big hug. His twin sisters were also eager to give hugs. I think it was safe to say they all missed us. I was worried that with 3 weeks off, Jalen would come in and not be ready to work and it would be like starting back at square one. I was blown away though to see that he not only came in with a great attitude but he also remembered everything I taught him, if not more since we last saw each other. I was speechless. We had such a wonderful day. I was extremely happy. He has not had a day like that ever. Usually he gets an attitude and ends up spending some time during the day in time out. This was the first day, that I  can remember, where he did not go to time out or need to be corrected on anything. I was so very proud of him.
 The week continued on well. Jalen missed 2 out of the 5 days being sick so I had a chance to work with the other students. I always enjoy getting to work more with other students and I think they enjoy working with me too. When Jalen was at school he did hit a few speed bumps along the way but I have been trying a new approach with him and it seems to be working pretty well. I hope the rest of the year continues like this week has.
 The village has no gas. The plane that usually delivers to us here has not been able to fly in. We're not sure if it's because its soooo cold or if it's the winds or what. We luckily have a village that is not terribly far from here (It's probably about an hour by four-wheeler) so one of the villagers went to New Halen and picked up some gas for our school vehicles so that we can get around for the next week. I'm not sure what the rest of village is doing for gas but hopefully they will be flying in some gas soon because it is way too cold to be walking everywhere. We have been in the negative numbers since I returned. It's so cold that when you go outside you can literally feel the stuff in your nose freeze. Gross picture, I know, but just so you get the visualization.
  We had a lovely staff dinner tonight at Ron and Linda's. Linda made an amazing chicken marsala with noodles, salad, homemade bread (their bread is absolutely amazing), green beans with pieces of bacon in it. For dessert we had homemade apple pie and a strawberry cheesecake. Now I don't normally like cheesecake but this was wonderful. It was nice to get together and visit for a bit and catch up. These are all wonderful people I work with and I consider myself to be incredibly blessed to have been able to have this opportunity and met these people. This has been one heck of an adventure.
  Last night I got all packed up and did some laundry. Today I finished the laundry, packing and cleaning as I moved out of my apartment and into Danielle's apartment. She and I will be living together while the male tutor is here. He will be coming in next weekend and starting work on the 30th. He will be working more with the upper grade students but it will be nice to have another pair of hands around. His purpose is to come in and help the students who struggle with state testing and help better prepare them for the upcoming tests in April. I wish him the best of luck.
 Anyway, the truck would not start this morning and luckily one of our district maintenance guys, Tim, just happened to be visiting the village and was able to take a look at it. Ron and Tim did their best working on the truck for several hours, trying to warm up the engine. I'm still not 100% clear on what is/was wrong with the truck but I know that it is being stored in the generator building for a day to keep it out of the cold. I'm hoping that it will be good enough so that we don't have to walk to school in the negative 22 degree weather. BRRR!!
 OH, how could I forget. On our first night back in the village we lost power. Luckily, we have generators for the teacher housing and school so it's not a terrible thing for us but it still a bit of an inconvenience. We are supplied our electricity from a place in New Halen I believe. It powers both that village and ours. There supposedly was a break in the line which runs underground. They were talking about there not being power for up to a week but luckily the power people found the break in a quickly fashion and we were only without power for a little over a day. Phew! Haha Nothing like saying welcome back to the village was all I could think.
 Well I believe that about sums up my week. I hope you all are having a lovely weekend!

xoxo