Hmm. . . What's there to do?

People often ask me, What's there to do in the village? I don't know. I'm always so busy, I haven't had time to even ask myself that question. Usually, school takes most of my time. And, then there's the class I decided to take from the University of Alaska - Fairbanks: The History of Alaska, Its Land and People. I thought a class might be a good idea to keep me busy. Now, I struggle just to find the time to do the class. And, then there's all the school activities.

So, here's my typical day/week. Our school day starts at 8:45 and ends at 4:30. It may sound long, but it goes by quickly. I have eight hours in the day with a 25 minute lunch break. All of my classes are exceptionally small. I may have only one student, as I do for three of my classes, or I may have six students as I do for my advanced reading class and intermediate math class. My other three classes have two students in each of them. You tend to know your students well.

We are on a first name basis - no Mr. or Miss at this school. Grading is not a problem. Preparation is not a problem. And, for the most part, discipline is not a problem. I really do like each and everyone of the students I have met here at Akiuk Memorial School.

When school ends, I usually stick around and talk to the staff and students. We are now getting ready for our speech tournament in November. So, since I am the high school speech team coach, these next three weeks will be very busy. I also am in charge of the prom, which is May 14. We have chosen our theme - A Hollywood Night and our colors - blue and silver. Now, we will begin the process of ordering our decorations. We are also trying to decide on our senior class trip. Washington, DC sounds good to me!

In the evening, I am usually busy. I run the student store. Our hours are 7:30-8:30 PM on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. We don't have the store on Wednesday out of respect for the local church services. On Monday evening, I also do my wash at the school. Remember, I have no running water at my house, so I do most everything here at school.

And, then, there are the extra activities that just appear! This week on Thursday, our school librarian hosted a cake walk with the proceeds going towards the decorations for prom. The senior parents were asked to donate. So since I am sponsoring the prom/senior class trip/student store, I went home after school and made brownies. As soon as I put the brownies in the oven, there was a knock at my door. "Can we come visit?" So, I opened my door to my three visitors. They came in and instantly smelled the brownies. Since I had just put the brownies in the oven, I offered them the next best thing - the bowl. They certainly enjoyed themselves. After about 30 minutes, they left. They knew the brownies were for the cake walk and they certainly would be there!

As soon as my brownies cooled, I put them in two large bags, and I was off to school. The cake walk was to begin at 7:30 with the student store opening after the cake walk. Now let me explain how the cake walk works. You don't walk. Instead, you buy a raffle ticket for 50 cents and if your ticket gets pulled, you get a choice of which "goodie" you would like. And, we don't always just have cakes. We can have brownies, cupcakes, cookies, a six pack of soda, a bag of candy, or a box of juice. It really doesn't matter. But if there's a cake, it will always be the first item chosen. We all love the cake walk.

This week, we had three cakes and two large bags of brownies. No extras - this week was all the real deal! We had a huge crowd - at least 50 or 60 people! Everyone lined up and bought their tickets. A number was pulled - Fanny our kindergarten teacher won! She took a cake and left. So, we lined up again and bought our raffle tickets. We did this process a total of five times. Then, we had a 50/50 drawing. We made $213! And, then I opened the student store. We were swamped. Our business was booming. Not only did we have everyone from the cake walk, but we also had an open gym for men's basketball. It was a great night for the senior class!

Friday night was also another busy night. It was Bingo Night! Since we are in the midst of a freeze-up, our village women could not go to Akula for bingo. Instead, we decided to host one here. About 30 women showed up for the event. Students are not allowed. One of our male teachers pulled the numbers and joked with the women. And, yes, the student store was open.

And, then tonight was Movie Night. On Friday when I came to school, one of the teachers came up to me and asked me if I would open the store Saturday night for Movie Night. Sure, why not! So, from 6:30 to 7 I had the store open and the movie started promptly at 7:05. The kids were so excited to see a movie on the big screen! It was wonderful.

So, that's a fairly typical week here at Akiuk. We work hard and we have lots of fun. The kids are great, and the world seems wonderful.