Amy & Eros in Alaska

The final post?

2005-07-22T12:01:00.000-08:00

Sorry to everyone who needs closure on the blog. I think that since we got back we haven't really wanted it to end so we just put it off. But I really wanted to put some last pictures and the narrative of our valdez trip before we forgot everything.

So as I said in the previous post, we were finishing up with the kids and going on a nice river boat cruise. The cruise food was REALLY good...quite a surprise for some reason. The kids had a lot of fun and it was a great way to end the program. After the awards banquet, we got back to the dorm and had everyone packing up their stuff. They all had to clean out their rooms and vaccuum and all that stuff that we had to do when moving out of the dorm. Pretty much everyone was out of their room by around midnight. So all the doors were locked and all the kids were down in the common areas either watching a movie or playing pool, or just hanging out on the floor trying to sleep. A lot of people were also going around getting yearbooks signed (the program puts out a yearbook for them). Amy and I were hastily trying to pack up the office because we were trying to get out of there once the kids were gone and we said we'd do a little extra work so we didn't screw the other RMs. THe first batch of kids left at 5am and once that started all the kids starting getting emotional and crying because their friends were leaving. I think it finally hit them that it was over and that they had to go home.

We were finally able to get out of there by 12:30 (much later than we expected, but that was alright). So we were on the road to Valdez by around 1:30 (still no sleep remeber). The drive down was (as everyone said) amazing. The coolest part was that our cheapo rental car got upgraded to a small SUV (Ford Escape) so we had a bunch of room and 4wd. So we were able to take some side roads couple of times on the way down to Valdez. That way, we were able to see some really neat landscapes. There was also a really cool glacier that we were able to go right up to and touch. I was trying to convince Amy for us to grab some glacier ice to put in our cooler, but she wasn't going for it.

Our plan was to get to Valdez and camp, but, our camping drive died as soon as it started raining and we realized we hadn't slept in 40 hours...so we bit the bullet and found the cheapest hotel we could, 85 bucks! And our room had a boston baked bean permantly melded with the carpet...not pleasant, but they had a soft bed. So we ended up sleeping until 12:30 on Saturday and woke up to and overcast, foggy, rainy day. But after being refreshed with sleep, we went out to start pricing some kayak trips. Valdez kayaking in one word...EXPENSIVE! to go to one of the glaciers cost 125 bucks! The two cheaper ones were 75 and 55...but those were essentially just kayaking around the valdez harbor. So we didn't get to go kayaking, but we did find a cool wildlife cruise that included lunch for 85 bucks, so we did that instead. It was very cool, we saw otters, puffins, bald eagles, sea lions, seals, and humback whales (pretty much everything on the list)!! We also went up to a glacier and were able to see all the icebergs and the ice field and everything...it was well worth it. I got ahead of myself though...we did all that stuff on Sunday, on Saturday after we booked out awesome boat trip, we went and did some fishing. The salmon were literally jumping out of the water...it was hilarious. It took Amy about 3 minutes to hook one. Who said fishing was hard? This things were just begging to be caught. So we caught about 10-12, but we only kept 6. Then we found out that it was going to cost something like 85 bucks to freeze it and ship. So we just had them freeze them and then we carried them on the plane. So we do have some fresh salmon here in Chicago.

After our wildlife cruise, we began our drive back to Fairbanks for our flight. The drive back from Valdez was a little brutal...there was a lot of fog and it rained pretty much the whole time. Plus, we didn't leave until 9pm and there was actually some darkness so it was hard to stay awake. We were able to alternate napping and driving though and we made it back safe and sound, although I did almost hit a rabbit, Amy almost hit a owl that was just sitting in the middle of the road and a moose was hanging out on the shoulder which was pretty scary.

So that's pretty much it...we ended our Alaskan experience in a great way. We saw some great wildlife and the terrain is just beautiful. The sad thing about Alaska is that it's pretty expensive so there are really no young people there. The expense is a huge part of why it's all cruises with old people. It's also kind of sad because there are soooo many cool things to see and do and a younger cheaper traveller could make it that much cooler. But alas, I don't see it getting cheaper any time soon.

Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting, it really made us feel loved and missed (whether that's true or not doesn't matter I guess). It's great to be back, but now the next adventure of moving to NY begins.

We're going to post some pics here, but the entire trip will eventually be posted at http://photos.yahoo.com/amyloufaust

2005-07-22T10:30:00.000-08:00

Humpback whale!! Yes, I know it looks like any grainy picture of the loch ness monster...but it's a whale really. We couldn't get them to breech for us...I was very dissapointed.

2005-07-22T10:29:00.000-08:00

This is the ice field. It's the area before the glacier that is pretty much taken up by the glacial ice that has broken off (same as what an iceberg is). We couldn't get to the face of the glacier because of it.

2005-07-22T10:28:00.000-08:00

This is on the way to the glacier...the blue on these icebergs is amazing! This was just floating around in the water.

2005-07-22T10:27:00.001-08:00

Here are some real fisherman. That's a lot of fish!

2005-07-22T10:27:00.000-08:00

These are mostly male sea-lions that weren't good enough for the females. I'd lie around all day working on my tan too.

2005-07-22T10:26:00.000-08:00

Makes me want to go mail something right now.

2005-07-22T10:25:00.001-08:00

Aren't otters cute? A group of them is called a raft...awesome.

2005-07-22T10:25:00.000-08:00

The fish were definitely biting...that's called a "stringer o' fish" for the non-fisherman out there.

2005-07-22T10:24:00.000-08:00

Amy posing by the glacier on the way to Valdez. That's like 500 year old ice people!!

2005-07-22T10:22:00.000-08:00

Eros' awesome boobie trap. Ain't nobody foolin' the old man tonight!

Let the Insanity Begin

2005-07-14T07:21:00.000-08:00

Amy:
I don't have much time, since I have to take a student to the dentist this morning for last-minute fillings, but the insanity of the next 30 or so hours is about to begin. We are not allowed to sleep more than a catnap until tomorrow night. No kidding.

Finals for students ended yesterday, so they've been wired since. Last night, after our last clan outing, was spent setting booby-traps for students and other staff members, and dishing out creative punishments for students that pissed us off. Yes, RM revenge, it was. I turned in around 2, but I'm sure Eros will have some stories about stuff that went on later. Ha. Just try us, punks.

Eros:

Last night me and 2 other guy RM's decided to cut the crap that happens at night. So we stayed up until 3am watching the rooms. Everytime someone came out we made them sit outside their door for 20 minutes without talking. That only happened 4 times. At around 1am I strung some twine connecting everyone's door to each other. Then I put a little cup full of coins all along the long strand. So everytime someone opened their door, it made some noise to both scare them and wake us up. That only happened twice, but it was pretty funny to see their reaction.

Now today we are going on a fun little river boat cruise and will have an awards banquet for the students. The river boat is supposed to be pretty cool with some really good food. The cafeteria food was getting a little old, even they were running out of ideas. Today for lunch they had burritos stuffed with lasagna, creative use of leftovers guys. So we can't wait for that.

After the river boat and banquet, we are going to be kicking everyone out of their rooms and we are all staying up all night in the lobby watching movies and singing a little kareoke. The first batch of students leave for the airport at 5am. So we plan on being awake for at least 36 hours. We also need to be packing up stuff because Amy and I are going to leave early to take a road trip to valdez. So until then...I hope you all sleep well. Stay tuned for "Sleep is for Suckers Part 2".

2005-07-13T23:48:00.000-08:00

I may not have a boyfriend after posting this, but this is possibly the cutest and funniest picture I've ever seen of Eros. We will have another contest to see who can post the funniest caption. Hell, I don't even know who took this, but it was truly my second Moment of Zen for the day.

Last Day Off...

2005-07-12T20:23:00.000-08:00

...Well, until the big month-long period of unemployment that follows our stint up here in Alaska. Another one of my students went home yesterday, bringing the grand total of students in my clan to six from ten. This one had a death in the family, so I'm not taking it personally just yet. He was very upset, but by the evening he really didn't want to go home since there's only a few days left. Eros and I went biking all over town again today to try to buy some gifts to bring home, but everything was touristy crapola and since we're practically natives we scoffed at the prices for smoked salmon and decided to just catch some ourselves and have it shipped home instead. Seriously.

We got caught in a deluge on our bikes on the way home, which was fun, and then went over to Ken & Chelsea's place for a big salmon BBQ. Sweeeet. Seriously, Midwest salmon completely, utterly, 100% sucks. We dined on a freshly caught 30-pound king salmon that Chelsea's dad grilled to perfection. Oh, that was tasty.

So now Eros ran off to play a pick-up game of frisbee with some local frisbee geeks (he's had a sick craving to play frisbee the whole time we've been here), and I'm just trying to lay low so no one bothers me. We might sneak out for a beer later, but don't tell anyone, ok?

Oh, yeah. We're coming in on Monday night. Anyone want to pick us up at the airport? Hmm? You'll get the first crack at whatever wild game we can bring on the plane...

R.I.P. Chirpy :(

2005-07-11T13:58:00.000-08:00

Yeah, Chirpy, my little birdie, died. I forgot to mention it earlier, but he went to little birdie heaven on Friday. I have no idea what happened - he was strong and happy Thursday night, and I found a lady to take him on Friday afternoon, but by the time we were set up with a time and exchange location he kicked the bucket. I was very sad and made Eros dig the hole. That was very nice of him.

The last fun-filled weekend.

2005-07-10T23:26:00.000-08:00

Amy here:
I'd like to start off by wishing my friends Heath and Kylee a very happy wedding day. Yay! Anyone have news about that? I actually looked a newspaper yesterday and saw that there are like 3,000 hurricanes heading toward the three places in the south where I know people are vacationing, so that was a bit disconcerting. Although I find it a little funny that we're in Alaska enjoying beautiful sunny summer days while everyone in the tropics are being evacuated and such. C'est la vie, non?

So Friday was pretty normal, just took the group shopping at the "mall", and then got them up early on Saturday for some sweet community service. We went out to a migratory bird sanctuary and worked on some boreal forest trail building, and though everyone bitched about getting woke up at 8:30 on a Saturday they all felt pretty good about it afterwards. Saturday night was Girls/Boys Night Out, so we kicked the boys out to go get sweaty and play video games and the ladies had a spa night. Nothing like reinforcing gender stereotypes while they're young. Ours was really fun until we decided to have an open panel where the girls could ask us any questions they wanted via an anonymous question box. This was amusing until a couple of the RM's turned it into an STD awareness program (?). I was incredibly pissed because everyone was having such a great time, and then it's like, "So, Joanne, how exactly CAN you prevent the clap?". It was a bit of a buzzkill, and I was enraged that the male faction wasn't expected to do any kind of awareness because, "They're boys." What kind of bullshit is that?

Then we watched Coyote Ugly. Girl Power!
(That was NOT, I repeat, NOT my choice of movie.)

After everyone went to bed I sulked for about two hours and then went to sleep. Eros - any comments?

Yes...first off, boys night rocked!! It was waaaay cooler than STD girl night. We started off the evening playing dodgeball...well actually we started off dodging wrenches then we moved up to balls. After about an hour of that the kids and 3 of the guy RM's played kickball while another RM and I went to the big auditorium to set up the game consoles (2 PS2s and 2 Xboxes). If you'll notice on the pics below, the setup in the middle and the far left are each playing Halo 2 (they were networked together so we had 5 people playing at once). The big screen on the far right is playing a basketball game and the tiny screen on the left is playing a racing game. It was an awesome setup. Plus, the funny part was that we had them all convinced that we were going to the opera. They were so pissed before they got into the room.

Today was pretty low key, Amy and I spent about 3 hours at a coffee shop with 4 students so they could study for ther upcoming finals. The coffee in Alaska really isn't the best, but this place has a cappuccino that will rival Chicago. That was about it.

Since we are on our last week, I'm looking forward to coming home to Chicago to see everyone. Plus the big move is going to be going on which will be horrendous. If anyone has heard of any jobs in the NY area, please let me know because at this point I may be working at a coffee house myself once we get there.

Later

2005-07-10T23:23:00.000-08:00

Ladie's night. Super cute.

2005-07-10T23:22:00.000-08:00

Pre-boy's night out. Yep - we have some trannie's on our hands. But, geez, aren't they lovely? One was being punished, but the other two did it of their own volition.

2005-07-10T23:20:00.000-08:00

This is the Boy's Night Out X-box/Playstation super-setup projector arcade. They were so cool.

2005-07-10T23:19:00.000-08:00

Our community service - it looks rickety, but this is just a little path for the wheelbarrows. We lost at least a pint of blood each to the mosquitos.

2005-07-10T23:18:00.001-08:00

That's us in our raft - can't you just see our guide's bulging triceps from here?

2005-07-10T23:18:00.000-08:00

Here we come, ready either to save the world or go for a moon walk. Or just go rafting - either way, we looked totally rad.

2005-07-10T23:17:00.000-08:00

This is Eros attempting to fish on our day off last week. Doesn't he look like a mountain man though?

This job is like - A rollercoaster baby, baby

2005-07-07T23:59:00.000-08:00

Amy:
Today was a beautiful sunny day in Fairbanks. Recent rains have chased away the icky smoke. I got to go kayaking with Eros's group (he'll tell you about that). My birdie is still alive and well. My tan had a chance to rejuvenate after basking in my kayak all day in the middle of the Chena River. Ahh...

Then two girls had suicides in their families and I was the random first responder to both. Messy. I won't go into that.

Congratulations to my brother the ranger for winning the Mystery Animal Contest, by indentifying the furry little creature as the hoary marmot. When I told someone here that I saw a hoary marmot in Denali, they thought I said it was a whorey marmot and was making a joke about the animal's promiscuious mating habits. Fun with homonyms. Anyway, Jake, your prize will be a piece of the king salmon I plan to catch next week.

Eros...

Yes, today we got to take a float trip down the chena river through the beautiful town of fairbanks. I went with my clan and my co-RM was supposed to go but this morning she mysteriously decided not to. Since I am always thinking of Amy even though she doesn't return the favor :-) immediately told the teacher that I'm sure Amy would do it if he wants another adult...bingo Amy is on board. We had a nice float and got to see some VERY nice houses on the river. The excitement on the trip was with the canoe that the instructor was in. He had a non-swimmer in his canoe, one that weight about 225-250. They were racing with the other canoes and as they were turning around the flipped. I, in my paparazzi fashion (see post about the midnight sun baseball game) starting to take a picture when the teacher yelled at me to get over there to help. I forgot that our big friend couldn't swim. So I feel like a big dumb ass. But in the end, he was ok and in good spirits.

Enjoy the pictures.

2005-07-07T23:51:00.000-08:00

Amy and Chirpy. He just ate like 10 grasshoppers so we're starting to give him a little exercise outside so he doesn't get fat and can actually fly someday.

2005-07-07T23:49:00.000-08:00

Amy and a couple of the girls checking out rocks at our exit point. The rocks were sparkly like gold.

2005-07-07T23:48:00.000-08:00

The canoe race that ended up in a capsized boat. The one that flipped and can't swim is the guy whose life jacket is teeny-tiny. Guess which one?

2005-07-07T23:47:00.000-08:00

Hey Dad - there are Masons up here too!

2005-07-07T23:46:00.001-08:00

Eros looking equally as darling in his watercraft.

2005-07-07T23:46:00.000-08:00

Amy looking cute in the kayak.

2005-07-07T23:45:00.000-08:00

A house on the banks of the Chena. It is pretty.

...And we're up again

2005-07-06T23:58:00.000-08:00

Eros here...

So today the students were fine. Yes they miss the 7 that are gone, but tonight was clan night and my clan had a great time. My co-RM has a cousin that runs a bed and breakfast here and he let us use it to cook dinner for them tonight. So I made some souvlaki and she just made some spaghetti. It was great though, the place is up in the mountains above Fairbanks, it's called the Grand View B&B and it certainly has a grand view of the valley where Fairbanks sits. They also had a hot tub which we dangled our feet in. They just had a great time exploring this huge house. If you go to the website, you'll see what I mean, this place is huge! So a quick plug...if you're ever in Fairbanks, stay here. It's kind of odd that such a small thing as a new big house could get them so excited, but it's so new and special to them that it does. Plus, on the way back I let them all say 2 cuss words so they were letting loose with the f-bombs and such. It was pretty funny. I know I'm old because I don't understand teenagers. Such small things give them such joy, and then when we try and get them to do something big and fun...they're bored. Oh well...now here's Amy...

My clan night was really good too, even though 3 of the 7 kicked out were from my clan, so we were a pretty small group. We took them to the Large Animal Research Center up in the woods, where the university has a herd of musk ox and a bunch of caribou. It was pretty neat. Then we took them all downtown to have Thai food, which was very successful. Seriously, it was better Thai than I've ever had in Chicago. Then we walked down to the riverwalk and hung out by a big fountain, where the girls were practcicing their native dance moves and getting stared at by tourists and town drunks (creepy - they followed us for a little bit. I felt like a mom who had a perv leering at her daughters).

Earlier today I got made fun of by the cafeteria workers because they were watching me and another RM in the yard running around trying to catch grasshoppers for my birdie. He is alive and well by the way, and has this cute little thing where he flutters his wings when he wants a grasshopper head. Precious.

2005-07-06T23:35:00.000-08:00

This is Eros's clan at their clan night, being all classy at the B&B. Note the antlers. They once belonged to a big-ass moose.

2005-07-06T23:34:00.000-08:00

This is a caribou eating some willow. Nice rack.

2005-07-06T23:33:00.000-08:00

This is a baby musk ox, before growing old and musky. Cute, no?

2005-07-06T23:32:00.000-08:00

Mystery animal! Find out what it is and win a prize.

2005-07-06T23:31:00.000-08:00

The boreal forest of Alaska. Pretty sweet. This is the stream that Eros didn't catch any fish in, so we haven't been able to eat for a few days. He is a poor hunter for his squaw.

2005-07-06T23:30:00.000-08:00

Baby oil slip n' slide curling. No, we're not grooming the next generation of fraternity boys.

2005-07-06T23:29:00.000-08:00

This is water balloon volleyball. Try it sometime.

2005-07-06T23:28:00.000-08:00

Check out this dude getting a hose massage at the hot springs. I think it's a member of ZZ Top.

2005-07-06T23:26:00.000-08:00

Beaver. He's taking a break from his dam to put on a show for the hikers.

2005-07-06T23:25:00.000-08:00

Amy drinking from a babbling glacial brook. Pretty.

Clarification:

2005-07-06T17:17:00.000-08:00

The "grizzled man" that Eros described as our rafting guide was actually a totally hot southern guy named Dan, who had the most defined triceps I've ever seen. As he was helping me into and out of my drysuit (twice since the first one didn't fit quite right), he said that he was happy to help since he's from the south where chivalry isn't dead yet. Just wanted you all to know that. Eros, you're just mad that Dan's arms were so sexy. Admit it.

Fun!!...Trauma...Fun!!...Trauma...

2005-07-06T01:10:00.000-08:00

Amy here...
Yeah, well, the last few days have been interesting. We'll start on Saturday, when Eros and I got all pissed-off about the apathetic attitudes of the majority of our students, and had a trip planned which only 5 signed up for because - gasp! - walking up a hill was involved. The weather was crapola but we didn't care because we were getting off campus even if there was a freaking blizzard. Lucky for us, the sky cleared wonderfully about 30 minutes out of town, and we started a a hike at a trailhead about an hour away. Our little group was fantastic - we hiked up to some really cool rock formations, and they climbed around and felt like mountain men and women. We stared at the sweet view, ate nuts, and had a grand time.

Oh, and we saw a beaver too. He was working on his dam.

Then we took a little jaunt up the same road to a place called Chena Hot Springs, which was very cool. It's a resort-type area where you can just pay $10 and bask in an amazing rock pool that's like a big fat bath right out there in the mountains. Sweet. We damn near passed out in there.

Nothing much to note on Sunday. I did a lot of shopping errands and Eros and Ken started a big water-balloon war. Hilarious.

Monday, oh, Monday. Independence Day. I was an idiot and volunteered to coordinate holiday festivities with another RM. Great idea, Amy. Hey - way to overachieve. You win a freakin' ribbon. Anyway, we had all this crap planned for the afternoon with a theme of a "Crazy Olympiad" that was supposed to go down after a big BBQ dinner. I got up early to work on stuff, and while a few people were sitting in the office helping we all turned around to a thud on the window. Kamikaze bird. Shit. They all callously went about their business (Eros, I'm talking to you too), so I went out behind the building and, yep, bird was still alive. Taking a lesson from my mother, I wrapped it in my shirt and sat around with it on my lap until it would recover from shock, be miraculously healed, and fly away sending me some good karma. After about 15 minutes he got a little frisky and I was ready to let him go - well, until his neck went limp and he stopped breathing, that is. So I had a little bird kick the bucket in my lap. I convinced three students to go out back and dig a hole. By the time they were done the bird leaked dead bird juice on my shirt, so that went in the hole too. Eh.

About 30 minutes later, and I'm not kidding, I'm told two girls are looking for me and as it turns out they have found a little baby swallow by their classroom building and were instructed to bring it to me. Jesus. I have bird death on my hands and they want me to be responsible for this little creature? Ok, so I make a little box for Chirpy and send more kids out to catch bugs. Chirpy won't eat. Fine, Chirpy. Go ahead and die on me. I have a f*#$%ing Crazy Olympiad to coordinate anyway.

That said, it's now pouring down rain. The plans for the Crazy Olympiad are not looking good. A baby bird's life is in my hands. It's nearing time for some stupid Clan Pride competition that no one gave a shit about....

So 3:30 rolls around and I decide to rip apart some grasshoppers with my eyebrow tweezers and offer the dismembered bug parts to my foundling. He chirped! He opened his wee beak! He choked it down! Yes! Suddenly there's a Pride competition and my clan did fantasic (they took 2nd place, thank you). The BBQ was great, and the Crazy Olympiad starts after some Alaskan Native dancing outside (the rain has stopped too). We played water balloon volleyball, oiled up kids and pushed them down a Spongebob slip n' slide in a brand new picnic gamed called "Slip n' Slide Curling" (I made this up - no kidding), and we performed a host of other ridiculous things that culminated in nailing mile-race runners with water balloons and then having a Napoleon Dynamite Dance-Off. We all bonded. Chirpy ate more grasshoppers. Things were good.

Then...seven students got kicked out of the program. Right after the medals were announced for the Olympiad (Eros's team got the silver!). It was all minor stuff that they were busted for, and none of us really realized the mayhem that would come of it. It was non-stop bawling amongst the kids until about 1 a.m. from the ones getting sent home and their friends, and one of the kids in my clan pretty much had a nervous breakdown and was dry-heaving into his trash can. I can't go into details, but it was very disturbing. Still processing. So, the remaining kids are upset, angry, confused, and a lot want to go home again. YAY! We've come full-circle.

I'll let Eros tell you about today, and whatever else. Thank God it was our day off.

Eros...

Yes, we're all a bunch of mixed emotions here in teenager land. Before I get to today, amy forgot to mention the dog show that we "forced" 6 kids to go to. It was on campus and was an agility course. It was pretty cool seeing the dogs run through all the obstacles.

So today began with both Amy and I being exhausted because we were up all night with crying, puking, scheming, students. I'm amazed at how close these kids got so fast. Maybe it has something to do with their culture, but these kids were really depressed last night that the 7 were going home. Even people that I didn't know hung out with them were sad. It was quite the experience, and since I was 1 of the 2 people that actually busted them, I felt like an asshole all night. Alright, back to today...

We decided that were going to go rafting and do some fishing today. Chelsey (Ken's wife) has a friend that works for one of the rafting companies in Denali and said that we could just come by anytime and they'd take us out (sweet free rafting!!). So we left the beautiful sunny day in Fairbanks and drove 2 hours to Denali where it was cold and rainy. We made arrangements to go rafting at 6:30pm and tried to go fishing for a few hours. In the rain, Ken and I tried unsuccessfully to catch some arctic grayling. To give an idea of how knowledgeable the two of us are about fishing, one of the lures that we used (we borrowed Chelsey's dad's stuff) was about 3 inches long and shiny...grayling are about 12 inches long. We were later told that the lure was meant for king salmon which can be about 3 feet long. But even though we proved our fishing experiences didn't mean didley squat, we still had a nice time because the place we were fishing was very scenic. It was up in the mountains above the tree line and was very beautiful. Amy saw some sort of mammal that she thinks is a marmot, but it may just be a ground squirrel. We have a picture that we will put up. Maybe we'll have a contest to see who can identify it.

After fishing, we headed back to the rafting place were we donned out dry suits. We totally looked like the astronauts in Armageddon (I was Bruce Willis of course) walking down the hill to where the rafts were. So the river we went on was the Nenana. It is fed by a glacier so the water is pretty freakin' cold, hence the dry suits. Our guide was a grizzled man from Georgia who comes up to Alaska in the summer to run the river. So the first big rapid where we got splashed was a little shocking because the water was so cold, plus it was overcast and raining, but overall the trip was a blast! We went through some class 2s,3s, and 4s and nobody fell out or anything. When we finished the rapids and were just floating along, I even jumped in the river and floated along side the boat. It was a bit chilly even through the dry suit, but when am I ever going to swim in a glacial river? The only bad thing is that I also discovered that my drysuit had a leak in it. Not fun to be wet and col inside a dry suit.

So we ended today on a good note. Hopefully tomorrow will be fun as well and the students will not be so bummed out. I hope everyone is doing well.

Oh yeah, I also wanted to give a shout out to Mama Mach who gets to hear how her son is doing through this blog. By the way Mrs. Mach, Ken wasn't really feeling up to the rafting, so he didn't go.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day, sorry this is such a long post.

2005-07-06T01:02:00.000-08:00

Doggie agility competition. That dog is flying down the ramp.

2005-07-06T01:01:00.000-08:00

Amy taking some of the girls up a rock crevasse at Angel Rocks

Happy 4th Weekend!

2005-07-02T10:23:00.000-08:00

This posting is for you! Forget about us for a minute and either post or email what you're doing for this Independence Day weekend. Allow us to live vicariously through your grilling (we'll do that, but there's no pork steaks up here - boo hoo), your fireworks (pretty explosions are not impressive in Alaska because it's not dark enough), your sweet alcoholic beverages (contraband - sets a bad example for the youngin's). So please drop a note and let us know what's up with your plans and festivities. Send pictures too if you like. I'm really wanting to make a big, fat pitcher of Freedom Mojitos for the occasion, and I was thinking to do a non-alcoholic version, but, geez, what's the point of a rum-less mojito?

Anyway, have a great weekend, don't melt from the heat, and celebrate the birth of your country by blowing up a small part of it!
Amy

There's a rocket in my pocket

2005-07-01T14:12:00.000-08:00

Eros...

So last night while I was waiting for Amy to finish her post, I fell asleep. I'm still recovering from the 21 hour driving marathon to Anchorage. So this is a day late. The only thing I wanted to share was how these kids are pretty much like other high school students. They don't live in igloos, they don't wear mukluks everywhere, sure they may hunt the occasional moose, beluga, or seal, but people hunt down in the lower 48 as well. I was talking to a few of them and they thought it was funny that when they get pen pals, everyone asks how it is to live in an igloo. These kids have playstation, x-box, internet, and all that jazz. The only difference is that they come from towns that range from 400-1000 people. It's just something that continually surprises me as well so I thought I'd reiterate it.

On to today...

So today we went out to Poker Flats. What? You've never heard of it? It only the largest and sole university owned rocket range in the world. It's owned by the University of Alaska Fairbanks and it's about 45 minutes in the mountains.

Here is a picture of the entrance...pretty fancy huh?

Now they SAY that it's primarily for studying the Aurora Borealis, but we all know that it was built to launch nukes at the commies back in the day. It was really cool though. We got a tour of the facility including the launch pads. There were even a couple of rockets laying around

that the kids got to look at up close...

Then the kids all got to launch their own model rockets that they made in class.

Not a bad launch pad huh?

This one burned up on re-entry

I didn't think Amy would be able to get this shot, I was wrong and I'm sorry to everyone out there.

So it was a pretty cool morning. Now we're waiting to see the kids perform some Alaskan native dances. They have a class and today is the recital. It should be interesting. Look for pictures later this evening.

I hope everyone is having a nice day. It's 2:30 here so I'm assuming nobody will really see this until tomorrow, unless maybe Jonathan since he's probably still at work.

Day Court

2005-06-30T22:45:00.000-08:00

Amy:
As I sit here staring out of Eros's dorm room window, five seagulls are fighting over a hamburger bun that one of them scavenged from the dumpsters across the parking lot. They're making quite a racket. Eros is snuggled under his blankies reading peacefully. Just wanted to give you all a visual.

So today I went on a little field trip with my class to the Fairbanks court (they're the Justice League, after all). We watched some arraignments, which included getting to see the perps on closed-circuit TV from the jail, and I must say that they all looked like your typical characters from Fox's all-time classic "COPS" (scraggly hair, stained t-shirts, going overboard with the "Yes, sir's"). All of those being arraigned really sincerely promised not to drink and drive or beat their girlfriends ever again. And they all missed their last court date because they were working. Right. Most interesting was my students' chatter before the court was in session. For being aged 13-17 they sure do have a lot of experience being wrestled by police, knowing people that are in jail, and shooting guns.

Other than that, I totally made friends with one of the cafeteria ladies, concocted a delicious sandwich for lunch from what bland provisions the cafeteria offers, and forced the students to watch "Whale Rider" tonight and was impressed with how they were transfixed by much of it and clapped at the end.

2005-06-30T22:31:00.000-08:00

Another student and my co-clan leader. The student has been wrestled by the police before.

2005-06-30T22:30:00.000-08:00

This is the jury break-out room, where our Language Arts teacher is putting the smack-down on my co-RM.

2005-06-30T22:29:00.000-08:00

A budding attorney or is she on trial? Time will tell...

Moose on the Loose

2005-06-29T23:01:00.000-08:00

Check it out - moose can have the best senses of humor. The video is pretty cool.

Also, if you're interested in the Alaskan forest fires, read this one.

Amy Writes, Eros Naps

2005-06-29T10:41:00.000-08:00

Shhh....Eros is sleeping again. I guess he deserves a nap this time since he drove the entire way from Fairbanks to Anchorage and back again in one day yesterday (about 700 miles). I couldn't drive since, while licensed, I am currently uninsured and our rental place didn't sell insurance. Oh, well.

So I've basically put our day in pictures below, rather than write an essay up here. Anchorage was a cool town, though I wish we would have had more time to hang out and do the neat-o nature stuff that's in the area. Although all of that is incredibly expensive since it's not so geared toward shoestring-budget travelers such as we are, so we couldn't have done that much anyway. You can follow our little day-off road trip below. Enjoy.

That said, I would like to ease some of your concerns about Eros's health - he has been eating a steady diet of salad, cookies, ice cream topped with breakfast cereal when they are out of sprinkles, along with whatever other surpises they offer us in our daily cafeteria-food diet. So, while he does skip breakfast, he is well-nourished and isn't wasting away like he might appear in that sleepy picture. Also, I would like to congratulate my brother on getting a job and moving out west! Yay Jake!

2005-06-29T10:39:00.000-08:00

On the drive from Fairbanks to Anchorage - Eros looks so tiny compared with the majesty of Nature, no? This is Hurricane Gulch, which was very impressive. The haze is from the fires, but if you look closely you can see some snowy mountains in the back and a little ribbon of river waaay down below.

2005-06-29T10:38:00.000-08:00

Eww. This is the car after arriving in Anchorage, littered with bug corpses. Yep - that's blood.

2005-06-29T10:36:00.000-08:00

Ok, so this is a little scene from downtown Anchorage. They have tried, like many others, so copy Chicago's "Cows on Parade," but they have salmon on parade in the streets instead. This one pays homage not only to a ubiquitous gambling trend but also to a tasty basket of fried fish (which we later ate).

2005-06-29T10:34:00.000-08:00

Oh, you think this is a boring picture? Well how many of you have touched ice from a glacier? Hmm?

2005-06-29T10:33:00.000-08:00

Here Amy is in the flowers again. This is along a bike path right behind an icky industrial area and next to the creek, and the wild daisies were quite nice. We were taking a break from looking for salmon.

2005-06-29T10:32:00.000-08:00

Salmon, up Ship Creek without a paddle. No, really, it's called Ship Creek, and Eros and I couldn't get over how big the salmon were. You can walk across a dam bridge and watch them try to flop up the spillway. They were apparently tired by the time they got there because none of them made it :(

2005-06-29T10:29:00.000-08:00

Fat man in skin-tight waders trying to catch a salmon while talking on his cell phone. Moment of zen, people.

2005-06-29T10:27:00.000-08:00

For you Chicagoans - we thought of you all while sitting in the "Air Crossroads of the World". Oh - that's what Anchorage calls itself. Wow. I just noticed Chicago is farther away than Honolulu.

2005-06-29T10:25:00.000-08:00

Yes! Moose! 9 hours and 550 miles later we finally got to chill and spend quality time with Bullwinkle-ette at 1:00 a.m. She was very cooperative at posing as we wrestled with camera settings to actually get a photo to turn out in the lack of light and forest fire smoke-haze. Eros would honk the horn and Amy would yell, "Hey - moose!" and she'd look right at us.

Sleep is for suckers

2005-06-29T02:45:00.000-08:00

Short post by Eros...

It's 2:45am AK time on wednesday, I woke up at 5:45am tuesday. Amy and I have been up for 21 hours. Today was our day off so we decided to rent a car and drive to Anchorage. It took 6.5 hours to get there, we spent 5 hours there, and it took us 5.5 hours to get back. No sleep, but we saw some MOOSE!!! Pictures to follow once I sleep.

Smoke and Drama

2005-06-27T12:29:00.000-08:00

Sorry if there are a lot of typos in this one, but Eros turned off the lights to go to sleep and I'm typing in the dark. Well, it doesn't really get dark here but the shades are down so close enough.

Anyway, Our Sunday was event-packed and fun. Eros and I took about 10 kids to see the finish line of the Yukon 800. What? You haven't heard of it? You weren't following the stats and placing your bets online? Geez.

Ok, so it's like the Indy 500, but you make your own racing boat with a stock outboard motor, aluminum sheeting, and plywood, and then you and three other dudes race it at speeds topping 75 mph 400 miles up the Yukon River and then back down to Fairbanks (or maybe it's down the river and back up to Fairbanks - whatever). So we had a little picnic on the river with out 15 kids and watched the big finisher, who has actually spoken to our group so we're totally tight with the guy, and then after that the students managed to get two Baci balls, a football, and a frisbee tossed into the river while waiting for second place. McGyver-style methods were used to procure the submerged items.

After that we went to Chena Lake and buried our students in the sand. See pix below. Then one of them lost his glasses and ruined everything.

Just kidding. He was blind, but pretty cool about it. He has a better excuse to do poorly in his classes now.

Today was a brilliant, clear morning, so Eros decided to go on a field trip to the Upper Chena River with the Wildlife Biology class, where they put on their hip waders and fished around for little river creatures. He learned a lot about what a good-lookin' river looks like, which I'm sure he'll share at a later date.

Right after he left and I went to sit outside in the fair Alaskan sun and bake like a cut sockeye salmon, a haze drifted in. Panic has ensued among the students, for fire season is upon us. Fairbanks is in a valley of sorts, and there are apparently some decent-sized fires going on up north. Last year the fires were so bad that the students had to wear masks all the time and were generally miserable for a few weeks, so now they've started getting freaked out and it doesn't even smell like fire yet.

In student drama news, the two kids that were caught in the room together on Saturday that caused all kinds of mayhem are being sent home tomorrow. Sad face :(

Theft report: some punk stole a bunch of stuff from another kid's room, so now they're all on lock-down until the guilty party gives up the contraband. That spells b-o-r-i-n-g for us and them. Eros and I both gave stern speeches to our floors, and we both enjoyed it immensely.

Tomorrow's our day off , so we're going to try to rent a car and drive to Anchorage. We don't know what's there, but for me it's mainly to find some big-ass vegetables and maybe see a moose along the way. I swear I'm not leaving the state until I get pictures of both.

2005-06-27T12:28:00.000-08:00

The first place winner of the Yukon 800 race - they make the boats themselves and ride them 800 miles on a big river, going about 70 mph. Would you trust your homemade boat?

2005-06-27T12:15:00.000-08:00

The 2nd place winner coming into the finish, and one of his fans giving a congratulatory fist-shake. Yeah!

2005-06-27T12:10:00.000-08:00

Later in the day we went to Chena Lake, and we interred some students in the sand. Here they are, pre-burial.

2005-06-27T12:05:00.000-08:00

Now here they are, post-burial.

2005-06-26T23:54:00.000-08:00

A couple of girls fish for invertebrates in their hip-waders. Aren't they cute?

2005-06-26T23:50:00.000-08:00

Eros's students stole his camera a took a picture of the tired old man on the bus ride home.

2005-06-26T11:55:00.000-08:00

Today (Monday) Eros went on a field trip with his Wildlife Biology class. They went to a river to learn what a healthy one looks like. We in the lower 48 have no concept of this, and as he learned Alaska is a model for healthy rivers.

Those gyrating, lying, puking youngsters.

2005-06-25T00:46:00.000-08:00

Eros's long day (friday)...

My day started at 5:45am to a banging on my door. One of my students, let's call him Jonas, felt nauseous. They had mid-terms on friday and I know he hadn't studied much so I just figured he was faking it to get out of the test. So I gave him some pepto and we let him sleep in the nurse's office. At around 6:45, he started throwing up, hard. He had asked to go to the hospital before, but I didn't want to go there if he was faking. But at this point, he wasn't faking. So we went over to the clinic where he puked another 6 times, twice on the way, and 4 times in the office. They figured he just had a virus and that he should take some stuff to keep him from puking and drink fluids. At this point, Jonas said that this happens to him when the weather changes and that they should just put him on an IV. But the physician's assistant (PA), who was seeing him didn't want to do that right away. So he injected him with the anti-nausea stuff, and then gave me a prescription for some suppositories because he couldn't keep anything down. Jonas didn't know what a suppository was and when I explained it to him, he wasn't too thrilled with the idea (surprise, surprise). But we were both hoping that the first dose that was injected would do the trick and that he wouldn't have to do the deed (and for a while I thought I might have to).

We got back to the dorm (he puked along the way) and he rested in his room. He tried drinking some gatorade, but everytime he did, he puked. So after he started puking blood, I decided that maybe it was time for the IV drip. So back in the shuttle bus (that's all we have, so I had to drag one person around town in this thing) to the clinic. This time we went to a different clinic that was specifically for Alaskan Natives. It's actually a pretty cool place that is named after the chief that was able to secure land from the government and take care of the Native populace. If you're interested in a little Alaskan Native history, his name is Chief Andrew Isaac. He was a pretty cool guy. One of the things I'm finding as we're up here is that I know jack squat about this group of people. Hell, I don't even know anything about the indians that were in the midwest. They were really screwed by the government. Alright, enough about that...we went to the clinic where he puked up some more blood (about 4-5 times) and they put him on an IV. They also gave us the anti-nausea drug, both rectal and oral, for him to take at night. He was a bit worried about it. We got back and he slept for about an hour and then woke up hungry and feeling pretty good. He puked twice, but after that, he started eating like a mad man and kept it down. So in the end, he didn't have to do any inserting in that area. It was still pretty scary for a while there. I don't know if any of you have seen puked up blood, it isn't pretty. It kind of looks like coffee grounds...very gross.

After that, there was a dance that we put on for the students because they just finished mid-terms. So we had to chaperone. So basically we were making sure nobody was getting too freaky with each other. Nobody got freaky with each other, but they definitely got a little freaky! I mean these girls were gyrating and pulsing...I felt old because I just kept thinking that no daughter of mine is ever leaving the house without her bodyguard. I guess for now I can just be glad that I don't have any daugters.

After the dance, there was some more fun...after we called lights out we discovered that one of the boys was missing. We all saw him come in the building so we knew he had to be here. He's dating one of the girls so I immedietly went to her room, went inside and asked where he was. She said that she didn't know. Then I check the room and didn't see him. So all 12 RM's searched everyone's room, all the bathrooms, hallways, kitchens, everything. In the end, he was in his girlfriend's room. He wasn't found until the 3rd time it was checked. He was in a corner under some blankets. So that was bad news because after he got a talking to by our boss, he came out crying. We don't know what's happening yet, but it won't be good. It's all fun up here folks, let me tell you. I'm especially pissed off because I trusted his girlfriend. She's in my clan and I didn't think she'd lie to me like that. I guess I gave the teenagers too much credit and they're all just lying, cheating, brats. Is that right all the parents out there? I mean there are good times where we talk and they're funny and I think we're on the same level, but in the end, I'm just a old guy who can be decieved. I always thought I was smarter than that...I'm sure I'll learn some day.

So now my day ends, at 1:19am...I'm going to sleep.

Amy now:
Eros about covered it. But now I have to go to bed without brushing my teeth because one of my students comes up to me and says, "Amy, did some girl commit suicide in our bathroom? Every time I use the paper towels, I see her behind me in the reflection, and sometimes I see her when I come out of the stalls. Karen sees her too." She was very nonchalant about it, and now I don't want to go into the bathroom alone at night :(

Oh, and the skanks that were gyrating (for the most part) weren't even students. They were staff members for the other camp, and it wasn't pretty.

Update on the happy couple that was found lying: they're not getting kicked out of the program, which is good because I like them, even though they're dirty liars.

Sun, Fun, Tests and Yoga

2005-06-23T23:36:00.000-08:00

Amy's highlight of the day:
Watching 12 students try their hand at a yoga class. Especially since three boys showed up, who schooled all the girls, who were rolling around giggling in the back. Once they composed themselves, they were great. Honorable mention highlight: Seeing students outside practicing their salsa steps.

Aside from that, your tax dollars paid for me to get a good amount of sun today, so my tan is coming along nicely. No, really. We have downtime during the day for a few hours while everyone is in class, but our afternoons and nights are hardcore until 11 or 12. So don't go and write your senators or start an online petition or anything to cut the program. Oh, wait. Our President already did that.

Midterms are upon us, and half of the kids are cool with that, a quarter are scrambling to cram as much as possible, and a quarter either gave up or don't care. Tomorrow they will be rewarded with a dance along with two other similar programs that are on campus. They are not allowed to dress like skanks, grind, or make out. Me, Eros and the other staff are there to enforce these rules and laugh at them. Sweet.

The Rubber Ducky

2005-06-23T11:18:00.000-08:00

Since we failed to explain the relevance of the giant rubber ducky, let me explain...

Here in Fairbanks there is a rubber ducky race down the Chena River (runs right through town). They let hundreds of little rubber duckys with numbers on them float down the river and people bet on them (yes, just like horses). The winner gets $10,000. They taking bets at the festival so that is why there were two giant ducks.

It's all about the darkness from here on out.

2005-06-22T23:55:00.000-08:00

What? You didn't know that yesterday was the summer solstice? There wasn't a festival down there in the lower 48? Ha. You people are missing out. Lucky for me and Eros, our day off happened to be on this most blessed of days. After a very long and slightly traumatizing week (for me, anyway), it was fabulous to have a day to ourselves again. We stole some bikes from the program and rode around town, rummaged through an antique store, saw Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Eros liked it, I thought it a bit lame), showered, and started the midnight sun festivities. Fairbanks has a big festival that goes until midnight, right in the downtown area on the Chena River.

Following is what we ate:
Halibut Thai eggrolls
Locally-made ice cream
Reindeer crepes
Cotton candy
Sugar corn
Lemonade
Bolivian empanadas

I find it neat that some enterprising immigrants have Alaska-ized their native foods. Some locals didn't take to this well, however. We overheard some people looking at the Bolivian's empanada trailer say, "What's that? If I can't pronounce it, I ain't gonna eat it." Clap it out: em-pan-a-da. Geez. It's not like it's Yupik or something. (If you can tell me what that is you get a prize).

So we gorged on food, walked around stuffing our faces like big fat slobs, and people-watched. The bellydancers (pictured below) were fabulous and a definite favorite. All in all, it was very pleasant. Crowds here are apparently well-mannered. I didn't have the urge to trip, smack, or make faces at anyone behind their back. Rare.

So after that we walked to the Midnight Sun baseball game between the Fairbanks Goldpanners and the Omaha Strike Zone (yeah, yeah - that's their team name. We heard enough heckling at the park by a big Comicbook Store Guy in front of us). The game started at 10:30 and the park was packed. We found a teensy spot of grass behind some old people and staked our claim (pun totally intended - get it? They're the Goldpanners?). It was quite fun, aside from the old guy getting nailed by a foul ball and bleeding everywhere (also pictured below). Since I like lists, I will now list the top 5 reasons why a Fairbanks Goldpanners game is MUCH cooler than a Chicago Cubs game:
1) The people there actually know that they're at a baseball game rather than a frat-party
2) The bathrooms are porto-Johns and are still more sanitary than the Wrigley flushables
3) I didn't see one person on a cellphone
4) No trixies
5) The beers are $2 - $2!!!

So that was the solstice. It would be nice if it were that cool everywhere.

This evening we had clan night, and my group got a salsa lesson and made a generic version of fried ice cream, and Eros's group saw the fine film "The Longest Yard", which he is glad that he did not have to pay money for. Thank you for your tax donation to pay for this outing - Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, and Burt Reynolds appreciate it.

2005-06-22T23:21:00.000-08:00

The crowd at the solstice fest. While it was just as packed as the Taste of Chicago, I have to admit that people were a lot more polite. Granted, there was no beer.

2005-06-22T23:20:00.000-08:00

Eros enjoying some hard-earned cotton candy. Seriously, he whined about it for like an hour but the wait was so worth it. Just look at that face.

2005-06-22T23:18:00.000-08:00

Fairbanks is the belly-dancing capital of the Arctic Circle. It's where many a retired bellydancer goes to live out their golden years. We had to admit that they were quite...captivating.

2005-06-22T23:16:00.000-08:00

Pretty self-explanatory. Amy forced Eros to stand next to the gigantic rubber duckie.

2005-06-22T23:15:00.000-08:00

Oh, the midnight sun. How we worship thee during America's favorite pasttime.

2005-06-22T23:14:00.000-08:00

Some old dude took a foul ball straight to the nose. Eros's first instict is to photograph this, rather than to help the old man. He was later taken away by medics, but he was given the ball that nailed him as a souvenier.

2005-06-22T23:11:00.000-08:00

The clock strikes midnight on the solstice...and the sun shines on. Eros turned into a pumpkin shortly afterwards.

Clarification of the Underwear Thing

2005-06-22T22:44:00.000-08:00

Ok, let's just get one thing straight - when Amy assumes her superhero identity, she does not wear superman "underwear." She wears her superhero briefs, which give her superhero powers. Got it?

Happy Father's Day

2005-06-19T23:40:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to say a quick happy father's day to my dad. Plus, no he's made the blog. Maybe I'll post a picture if I can find one here.

Happy Father's Day to all the other dad's reading this too.

Eros (and Amy)

Eros and Amy go to White Castle (alright it was Mcdonald's)

2005-06-19T02:55:00.000-08:00

Eros' post...Amy is sleeeeeeping

Alright so tonight was the Midnight Sun Run. Up hear, in the land of the midnight sun, the solstice is quite the event. So every year there is a race that starts at 10pm the weekend before the solstice. We here at Upward Bound participate. One of the fun things to do for the MSR (as the cool kids call it up here) is to dress up in some sort of costume and run the 10k. So we, of course decided that our students should all dress up. Each clan had to come up with their own theme of costume and dress up, then we had a contest. My clan was a group of dead runners that got run over by cars. We took some brand new Walmart bought t-shirts and ran over them with a van. It was pretty fun. Then we had the kids put some fake blood on them, tear them up, and write funny things on them. Some of my favorites, "Got Blood?", "Need the number for 911", and "Run or Die". See the picture below of the entire clan. Amy's group were all dressed up as superheroes. I think Amy pushed that one because she just bought a pair of superman underwear from Walmart (what a mecca) and really wanted people to see them. Her pictures are below as well. So we got all dressed up and them each clan got judged. Amy's group came in 3rd, mine came in 2nd, and Ken's group of Rambo's came in first. They did have some good cheers though. His picture is also below. After our contest, we went to the starting line, which was conveniently located about 200 yards from our dorm. Oh yeah, minor detail, the weather for Midnight Sun run, was NOT sunny, it was raining and 55 degrees...very shitty.

The run went very well. I had never run a 10k before and was fairly happy with my time. I was the second one to come in from our group, one of the students was less than a second before me, and Amy came in third. Granted, most of the kids and Resident Mentors walked, but we still kick ass. So then we were sitting around in the cold rain with our wet clothes waiting for people to finish so we could start driving them back to the dorm. Unlike in Chicago, the start and finish are in way different places. So after freezing for about 25 minutes, we found enough people to make our first trip back. Went back, changed and returned to get another group. By this time most of the walkers had finished so loaded up quickly, dropped them off, and came back. This time, the park was almost empty and we figured that the other 3 vans had taken care of everyone else. So Amy and I left with no kids...at this point we looked at each other and decided we needed to go get food. Since there was no Bennigans or Bacino's pizza in the area, we went to McDonald's. It's 12:45 at this point, but since it seems like 8:30 we figured they'd be open. We got to the McD's and saw people in the drive-thru and inside. So we went to the drive-thru and ravenously decided that what we would order. Then we sat there for 8 minutes. I honked the horn of my kick-ass van, nothing. So we drove up and they said they were closed...ouch. I haven't felt dissapointment like that in a long time. It hurt. So we decided that we didn't have time to try the 24 hour McD's the guy told us about because we had to get back to help everyone else.

We returned to the dorm and after making sure everyone went to bed, Ken said that he and Chels were going to Wendy's. We promptly went with them only to find that the drive-thru at Wendy's closes at 1:00, it was 1:13...more pain. So we went to a different McDonald's, again with people in the drive-thru...getting food mind you. We again waited at the order window for about 5 minutes, then we just drove up to the first window where they take your money. There was nobody there, but we waited. After about 3-5 minutes of incessant cursing at the McDonalds' staff who were obviously laughing at our painful hunger and at the fat people in front of us getting food who obviously didn't need it, some guy came to the window and said they were closed. We asked if there was any place open at this time, and he said the Burger King down the street. At this point, it's 1:38am. We go to the Burger King and it's been closed since 10:00. We peeled out of that parking lot, contemplated kicking the guy at McD's ass and then went to the last McDonald's in Fairbanks...thankfully, it was open 24 hours and there was a bit of a line, but we got our food!!! Hallelujah!!! Then, as we were driving home, we picked up Doogie Howser all messed of on Ex...he was all, "Let's go find some chicks", and were like, "No way! That's Doogie Howser!" (Just checking to see if you're paying attention). We returned to the dorm at 2:18am, finished off our food by 2:20am and then we went to bed. If anyone has seen Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, the way the look and feel when they finally get their food...that's who we felt when we got our food. It was the best damn piece of soy/meat/sawdust I've ever had.

So now it's 3:12am, I'm full and tired. It's time for bed. I hope you enjoy the pictures. We had a good night tonight.

2005-06-19T02:49:00.000-08:00

Ken's clan marching into the contest to take the top spot. I particularly like the horn of balloons coming out of Ken's head...how does he do that?

2005-06-19T02:47:00.001-08:00

This is Jesus preaching from the rock. By the way, this kid is 15 years old, not 23.

2005-06-19T02:47:00.000-08:00

Amy's group of superheroes posing outside in the cold cold rain. Notice how Amy is STILL in her undewear...should she really be working with kids?

2005-06-19T02:46:00.000-08:00

Eros' group of run-over dead runners posing together. Eros looks like Archangel from Airwolf (whoever gets that reference better post something)

2005-06-19T02:45:00.000-08:00

Amy posing in her undewear as Super-something

Quickie...for you silly drunks

2005-06-18T11:51:00.000-08:00

For all you silly people that went out for Tina & Michelle's birthday, thanks for the fabulous drunk dial. We got the message Saturday morning and were very pleased. We're not really sure what language you all were speaking, but we did pick out the words, "birthday," "margarita," and "me encanta gasolina."

How did we make it out alive?

2005-06-16T23:32:00.000-08:00

Amy here:
It's starting to amaze me that with each day I work with teenagers, the more I absorb what their mental state is like on a daily basis. It's a total emotional rollercoaster, which I of course remember (as does my mom), but wow. I wish we could all have a little compassion for those tormented by teendom because just working around them is starting to emotionally exhaust me and I'm supposed to be mature enough to handle complex emotions. There are these absolutely horrible emotional lows, then things will level out, then someone will do something hilarious and be in stitches, then someone cries, then laughs, then they get a phone call and freak out, they hold 10-minute grudges, fight and make up at the same time, and we're dealing with 60 of them going through all of this at once. Some students were affected by a suicide today, the girls are swooning over the boys basketball camp on campus, two ladies were caught smoking (after talking to some of them about this, most of them have tried smoking by age 12), quite a few are failing their classes, some are doing great in class and encouraging their peers, but everyone was able to share in the pure, unadulterated joy of Napolean Dynomite tonight (I'm so surprised they found it funny). In an essay my students have to write about their personal utopia, almost all of them said that their utopia would be without alcohol or tobacco. They all wanted peace and equal rights too.

Eros...

To follow along with what Amy said...teenagers are little punks. While she was experiencing the highs and lows, I caught one student with a lighter. Let me replay our conversation after it fell out of his pocket...
Eros: Why do you have a lighter?
Student: Because I used to smoke.
Eros: Why do you have a lighter?
Student: Because I wanted to make this a smoke and drug free experience.
Eros: Why do you have a lighter?
Student: Because it was in my coat pocket.
Eros: Why do you have a lighter in you pocket now?
Student: Because I didn't have anywhere else to put it.

I also camped outside the door of one of the guys because I thought he was in there with his girlfriend (a strict no-no) and was waiting for the door to open. Then I saw them come up the stairs together. I had a girl spill water on a boy and when I told her to clean it up, she walked away so I had to yell at her to come back and clean it up.

But tomorrow is a new day I guess.

Everyone loves bowling

2005-06-16T01:10:00.000-08:00

The one that didn't see Batman...

So tonight was our clan night and instead of going to see batman begins, we went bowling with our students and then made them study because they are all behind with their math and reading. Bowling was really fun. A couple of them had never done it and they did really good. Well, the highest score was a 76, so it's not like they were Earl Anthony or anything, but we had fun. As you can see from the wonderful form of some of them, we have some potential pros out there. Afterwards we came back and had a really good study session. I was surprised at how much of their homework they hadn't done. So me and my co-mentor of the clan helped them study. I even did a little high school algebra which I was proud of. Granted, when I tried to help the kids in the lower level math class, I forgot how to multiply fractions, but I can still do algebra dammit!! So like many of the experiences here so far, I am amazed at how these kids react to things that I know I would have thought was crap when I was in high school. They complained before we went out bowling, but on our way back everyone was pumped up about it. Same thing with studying, they complained, but when we finished, a few of them thanked us and said it really helped. So just when I become apathetic about this job, something like this happens which makes me excited about it.

Plus, I saw and took a picture of a vole yesterday which was cool. I'm planning to catch it at some point, that should be fun.

2005-06-16T01:09:00.000-08:00

A vole in the wild!! They're everywhere here. I call this one Flash.

2005-06-16T01:08:00.000-08:00

Evil long ass freight train that wakes me up in the morning. Note how it disappears in the horizon.

2005-06-16T01:07:00.001-08:00

They had never seen a bowling pin up close before...let's pose with it!!

2005-06-16T01:07:00.000-08:00

One of my students showing the proper time to release the bowling ball...at least 3 feet from the lane

BATMAN!

2005-06-16T00:49:00.000-08:00

Batgirl says:
Batman Begins totally rocked my world, as well as the worlds of my 10 teens. We were all wired after seeing it. The girls squealed. The boys aspired to be superheroes. Sweet.

Zen

2005-06-15T11:51:00.000-08:00

Amy here (again, Eros is apparently a lazy blogger):
We had our day off yesterday, which was fantastic. We drove a couple of hours to Denali National Park, which was, in one word, beautiful. We barely scratched the surface of what the place had to offer, and even that was impressive. We did a 3-hour hike up to a 3,400 foot peak, which isn't that big but not bad for a day hike in sandals. Plus my arse is sore today so it must have been challenging enough. We hit a bit of a rain shower on the way down, which was pleasant and we were still pretty high on nature at that point so it we didn't complain. We saw lots of moose poopies but no moose, although I bonded with some little squirrels who are just the cutest little things and very friendly. After the hike we went to sled dog demonstration, which was cool. They use the dogs in the winter since much of the park is roadless and motor vehicles of any kind aren't allowed, so if someone is in trouble or needs supplies they bring it in by dogsled.

Did you know that Alaskan natives were hauling things around by dogsled 2,500 years ago? Bet you didn't. There will be a quiz at the end of this blog.

So we got back and had a beer on the Chena River in Fairbanks (don't tell anyone), and ran inside the dorm and hid until everyone went to bed. Today we're back to RM life, and it's Clan Night so we'll all be doing interesting things with our students. Although before that they'll be getting a good talking-to on why it's not cool to be failing math.