Again, with FEELING this time!

It snowed! Covered up the dirt!

OK, so we've had plenty of snow already. Problem is, our incidences of snow have been broken up by rainy icy crap that has beaten it down and kept things a delightful shade of mud.

This is not to say that I'm a romantic snow-loving person. Really, it's purely aestheic at this point... winter in cold places, if it doesn't snow, is just plain ugly.

Also, if it's warm enough to snow, it can't be THAT cold!

Anyhoo, our mentor teacher is visiting for a few days. She's great. I really like that the state of Alaska recognized that new teachers need more guidance and support if they're going to stay in the field past the magical five-year mark. I also like that the teacher they found us (she serves a bunch of other villages in our district and others) has experience in the bush. Teaching here... the rules, the expectations, the responsibilities... is (and I feel like a broken record saying this AGAIN) totally different than teaching down in the lower 48... or even in anchorage... or even in Bethel...

Example: Roomie and I approached her with a specific predicament involving student-teacher boundaries. Now I was taught that the student-teacher relationship, while a potentially close relationship, remains somewhat distant, professional, and purely educational. I think I broke that rule my first week. That accomplished, I had to find my own boundaries, partly based on what was the community norm, partly based on what I personally want. Like most things in life, a compromise. Anyway (right, I was going somewhere with this) we approached her, expecting that (as a semi-authoritative figure, although now that I think about it she has no power over us beyond the fact that she knows a lot more than us about a lot of useful things) she'd advise we not get too personally involved. Nearly the opposite, however: she explained that she had been in strikingly similar positions during her tenure as a bush teacher, as had most of her colleagues, and that the rules aren't just more relaxed, here... it's an entirely different set of rules.

It's really hard to get things done without "knowing people." This is good and bad. As a (still) new teacher, I'm somewhat powerless. I'm at the far end of the news grapevine. I haven't figured out who's related to whom (which could be a job in and of itself, I swear). I do, however, know the postmaster (postmistress? she's a woman, but that sounds so... I don't know... never mind). That is one connection to have. She magically makes my amazon.com orders appear from behind her mystical little counter. But it's still very person-based, not profession-based, which is actually refreshing in a Post Office employee. She lets me go behind the PO boxes to check our mail if I didn't bring the key (SHH DON'T TELL). She'll go digging through yet-unsorted mailbags to find a greatly anticipated package if there's not a line and we ask nicely.