Getting Chilly!

Well it is most certainly getting chillier by the day here on the Rez.  This morning, woke up to a brisk 17 degree chill - but it does feel good actually!  There is nothing like a cold fall morning with that wonderful fall SMELL.  It even exists here in Arizona.  Anyways, another week in the books with the students.  

Last weekend as I mentioned before we ran in the Duke City Team Marathon in Albuquerque.  What a race it was too - we all did great and finished with a total time of 3 hours and 44 minutes which placed us 25th out of 63 co-ed teams.  Not too shabby!  We also had the chance to make stops at Best Buy, Target, Olive Garden, and an Irish pub for the Packer game while there which was quite the treat!  The little things are what counts! :)

However, the weekend did take its toll on me and I think I am just fully recovering from a pretty nasty cold.  It was a little tough teaching on a few of the days though - But, Tuesday was the 6th grade retreat  in Ganado (about 35 minutes away) so I didn't have to do too much that day.  It was a pretty neat day for the kids with the chance to hike on a hill by the parish.  Neat stuff

Parish in Ganado

Anywho, turned in report cards on Thursday for the first quarter so we are full fledged into the 2nd quarter now.  And, Mr. D. is kicking it up a notch with the sixth graders in particular.  No more messing around!  Time for book reports, US state reports, etc.  I have come to realize the one question that will stump middle school teachers worldwide :  How do you get the students to care about other students and the class as a whole?  Even when they know that their own behaviors are costing the class certain privileges?  haha..I'm still searching for an answer..

Last night, our house put on a little get together for fellow co-workers and teachers and was quite fun.  Some good costumes including these Three Blind Mice that kept bumping into people all night...It was a fun night to say the least!  On to watching a little football later tonight and constantly checking my phone for updates on Cotter football in the section semifinals!  Go Cotter!

Remember Window Rock?  Climbed up the back yesterday!!!

Only three weeks until Thanksgiving break already! Crazy!  Alright, peace!

Where has October been going?

Hello!  Today marks the official end to the first quarter of teaching at St. Michael Indian School! Wow. Pretty crazy how fast that went by.  The students have really started to come around a little bit lately - or maybe I have backed off?  haha I'm not sure...we will have to see how the second quarter goes now.

Good news in regard to the classroom, however, is that I finally have a vga adapter for my mac so I have a somewhat functioning projection and Smart Board to work with!  Used it today with my science classes and they loved it....that could really help from here on out!!!! Woohoo

Anyways, I wanted to quickly catch you all up on a few things:  First of all, I don't know if I ever stated that the hot air balloons didn't even go up two weeks ago when we went to Albuquerque....it was "too windy" apparently.  Let's just say that turned into a little bit of a disappointing trip but we made the most of it and hit up the balloon museum and a secondhand book store!  I did hear that there is a miniature balloon festival in Gallup (25 minutes away) the last week in November too, so we might be able to get a little taste there.  Oh well!

Last weekend as I stated we took a nice hiking trip to a place only about 30 minutes away and enjoyed the fall weather and scenery as best as we could.  Here are a few more pictures from the top of the mountain that Mary Rose and I made it up - apparently there was a path, but we chose (unknowingly) to simply go straight up....and it was quite the hike...but the views were astounding:

Now, on to this coming weekend where we will be heading to Albuquerque once again for the Duke City Marathon!  We (Mary Rose, Stacy, Dan, and Mary) are running in the team marathon on Sunday morning so we are heading to town tomorrow sometime and staying overnight in a hotel!  I am getting quite excited for this because I have actually been training quite a bit - trying to get my stamina up to 5 miles instead of the normal 3.1 miles (5k) I have always run before.  Hopefully, I surprise myself a bit, but then again, I don't know if I will be able to put up a time like the little bro (TIMMY - 19:40 - wooooohooo! - 5k...but still!)  After the marathon, we plan on heading to some sort of pub and grill and treating ourselves to a nice lunch and perhaps PACKER GAME?  Speaking of, they need to pull it together.

Well, I think that's all for now.  We are headed off to Basha's (grocery store) to get our pictures taken! haha...NaShia and I got scammed into some sort of customer appreciation picture package!  But hey, look for a nice picture of us all sometime in the future.  Should be fun!

The days are flying by here in AZ and I just try my best to take it all in every day (even the tough ones).  The experience is something else - colder weather is definitely on the way so preparing for that as well!  Alright perhaps I'll check in from Albuquerque this weekend!  Keep checking and sending prayers - always welcome.  PEace

Last week of the quarter

Well it's the last week of the quarter! I can't believe how fast this first quarter has flown by! Now hopefully the students can just turn in everything missing in the next few days....I can wish right??

This past weekend was exciting! We had the opportunity to take yet another short Hiking trip to a place about 45 min from our house! It wa here that we had the chance to see some TREES with beautiful leaves...a real taste of fall! It was beautiful of course and just the changing of the air itself is really quite amazing...in the morning it's only about 25 degrees and by mid afternoon it's back up to 75! Pretty crazy...well I'm off to bed...thought I'd check in From my new sweet blogpress app before bed... Work pretty well! Pictures to come soon from past couple weeks and surely from the upcoming weekend when we head to Albuquerque for the team marathon!!! Peace to all from the Rez!!





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Location:Oljato Dr,Window Rock,United States

Looking towards the balloons!

Well, almost complete with another FULL week on the Rez.  This week, much of my time after school was taken up by the Transitus of St. Francis play that was put on at the Mission last evening.  Mary Rose and I were asked by Noel, one of the postulants, to help act in the depiction of St. Francis's life (whose feast day was today!).  Needless to say, after the couple nights of practice, we nailed it and the audience loved it!  I was told I made a pretty darn good soldier and an even better bishop...haha - with the mitre on my head I had to be close to 7 feet tall so I had a "commanding presence" according to Fr. O'Connor.  haha!  It was a great show and really provided for an opportunity to reflect on the life of quite an astounding man as I have learned the past week - go St. Francis.

Anyways, school this week has been kicked up a notch by Mr. D.  The sixth graders have probably been wondering what all this new work is that I'm throwing at them, but really - it's time for them to get going...For the most part, they have taken it in stride and are really turning in to a fun class (most days). However, I am extremely grateful that tomorrow is Friday.  The weekend is needed right now!

And quite a weekend it has the potential to be - we are headed to Albuquerque tomorrow afternoon for the Hot air balloon festival!  Apparently, it is going to be spectacular and from the pictures I have seen, I would have to agree.  The plan is to stay at a faculty's house tomorrow night for a few hours before getting up at 3:30/4 AM to get into the festival grounds for the "Dawn glow" in the sky.  I'm pumped.  Then, we are heading back tomorrow afternoon - going out to eat for the fifth grade teacher (and former mercy volunteer) Ann's birthday!  Sunday = Packers.

Should be a good time - I believe the Cotter football team has a big game tomorrow night as well - Go Johnny boy!

Norbs folks - miss ya greatly!

Alright peace! Off to bed!

Busy week indeed

Well I made it through parent teacher conference week!  It was quite a week - Wednesday and Thursday were the conference days, and overall, they really went quite well!  The 6th graders are beginning to shape up more and more each day.  I think they are finally starting to realize that their parents won't stand for them not turning in homework either...which is good!  Now, we are heading into the last three weeks of the first quarter already.  Beginning next week, I am starting a novel with the sixth graders which I am quite excited about - they are voting on Monday to decide between The Giver  and Sign of the Beaver.  I think it will be fun to really engage them in a book together as a class - and see how they do with that.

I didn't even get a chance to mention anything about our day adventure to Canyon De Chelly last Saturday.  The Canyon is a sacred place for the Navajo - Spider Rock (pictured below) is symbolic for their Holy Spider Woman who taught them how to weave!  It was quite a day to say the least - we had the chance to hike down into the canyon and look at some more ancient ruins.  And the craziest thing about the whole day was the fact that we only drove about an hour or so from our house - there is just so much beauty in the land all around here!

Currently, I am sitting at the other volunteers' trailer watching the Packer game...it isn't exactly the same watching it by myself in Arizona - but hey Go Pack Go!  Earlier today, the parish held its annual Harvest Mass outside which was a beautiful mass indeed.  And was of course, followed by a potluck! YUM!  Then, Mary Rose and I stayed after to rehearse for a short play we are going to be in on Wednesday night.  Wednesday is the feast of St. Francis and since the priests here are Franciscan, the four Postulants (novitiates) are putting on a short depiction of Francis's life and death.  We were asked by Noel, one of the postulants, to help out, so we said sure!  I will be a Soldier and a bishop and Mary Rose is going to be St. Clare.  It will be a pretty neat experience.  And, I am happy to have met the four postulants - Noel, David, Anthony, and Patrick.  Hopefully, I can take some time to hang with them from time to time.

Anyways, on to another week of teaching - Days go by pretty darn fast but there is never a shortage of work to do as a new teacher.  I just try my hardest to make sure I find some time for myself every day - for my own sanity.  Alright, I'm off to cheer on the pack - check in again sometime this week hopefully!

Enjoy the pictures:

Spider rock

First REAL full week almost complete!

Well, the first REAL full week of school (even though its actually the 5th week) is coming to a close tomorrow!  It has been a pretty darn good week to say the least.  It started off a little rough on Monday, but I believe my 6th graders in particular are really beginning to realize that this is school...and Mr. D. will not stand for not turning things in or turning things in that are clearly not even close to sixth grade standard.  Bit by bit they are coming along...and I'm just trying to keep a hold of myself while it happens! :)

But really, I am starting to truly enjoy coming to school on most days which is definitely a plus!  Life at our house is great - we had a wonderful spirituality night last night in which we watched the movie Crash and then I led a short discussion!  Great topic of discussion to say the least.   Mary Rose, Stacy, and I are really starting to get going on our training for the team marathon we are doing in Albuquerque next month!  We will be running with Dan, a high school teacher, and Mary, a volunteer from last year who stayed at the special ed school this year as a paid employee!  It will definitely be a great time, but getting myself up to running longer than 2-3 miles is a challenge....especially in this altitude!  Seriously, it makes a difference...I don't care if you don't believe me!  Anyways, we are getting excited.

Coming up this weekend, we are planning on taking a trip to Canyon de Chelly - an extremely sacred place for the Navajo people as I understand.  Should be a good day trip on Saturday!

Alright, just thought I would check in.  Thanks for reading - look for another post sometime this weekend!

Another week on the rez!

Well hello to you all once again.  I am happy to announce that I am currently writing this post sitting in my living room!  Yes, we have internet at our house!  It is definitely a little weird to have the access and am still getting used to it - woke up today and said to myself, "I better go in to school to get some work done on the internet."  Then, after sitting at the table for a few minutes, laughed to myself because I realized I CAN DO IT HERE!  And that's exactly what I have been doing for the past hour and a half or so.  Anyways, here are a few updates from this past week:

Last weekend - the Navajo Nation Fair engulfed our little town of Window Rock / St. Michael's, Arizona.  It was a weekend to remember to say the least.  From seeing multiple Fry Bread contests to watching a pow wow to experiencing my first real Rodeo to you name it - the fair had it all!  What an amazing opportunity it was to share in the culture of the Navajo.  I don't really no what else to say about it but that. I even spent quite a few hours at the fair just walking around by myself...thousands of Navajos as well as travelers from all over.  A few pictures:

Right above our house Saturday morning! Woke me up - I said Good Morning to them and they talked back! haha

Pow wow grand entry last Friday night - wow!

Parade - Navajo Nation flag on the right 

RODEO!

Now, the weekend didn't really end on a strong note with a Packers opening day loss, but it was still great!  And they ended up making up for it with a nice win on Thursday!!

Anyways, in regard to school, the week was good.  We finally have all of our Specials for the students up and running - the art teacher arrived this week.  The students are a challenge from time to time but truly are a joy to teach.  And, I feel as though I am starting to really get to know more of the staff as well which is great!

I'm still trying to figure out what kind of resources I have to work with in regard to science materials though.  Here's a little plug - if you have any or know of anybody who has any type of science materials laying around - send them my way!! seriously!  But, so far I have been doing alright - one week at a time!

Cathedral in Gallup

Last night, I did get a new phone after our teacher in-service in Gallup at the Cathedral.  The church itself was beautiful - the art in the churches here is so unique to the culture which I absolutely love!  I love seeing the intertwining of Catholic and Navajo spirituality.  Alright, well I'm off to school just for a little while to check out my new WHITEBOARD which was installed yesterday!  OH yes, I am excited because using chalkboards constantly is a bit much so even a whiteboard is an amazing addition to the classroom.  And hopefully, I can find some magnets lying around to use this week in science as we move into magnetism.

Please know that I continue to think about all of you a lot and hope all is well.  Maybe with the internet at our house now, I can give a few more quick updates about events at school or something.  This past week did end with quite a bang as I took the classes outside to throw their paper airplanes in science.  Which design flies the farthest?  The kids seemed to love it! and so did I!

Alright, peace to all!