Week One- Done (Almost)!

It hasn’t even been a week?!

Downtown Juneau!

So, I wasn’t going to write another entry until after this weekend, but then I realized that a LOT has happened since I last wrote! And instead of following my usual pattern of waiting too long and spending two hours writing and editing each post because it’s four pages long, I thought I’d bite the bullet and update you all. Plus, multiple people have been asking me, “When is your next post coming up?!”. I love that you all are just as excited about my Alaskan adventure as I am!

So, let’s talk about how amazing this week has been- because it totally has been! As I wrote in my post on Saturday night, I kicked off my first complete day in Alaska with a breakfast with my quartet-mates and Lorrie. One of the violinists in our quartet won’t be joining us until the Fall, so for now, I met Sophia, the violist, and Heidi, the other violinist. It was funny to walk into this woodsy-feeling, welcoming coffee shop, scanning the large room for faces I had only seen through mild Facebook stalking! We found one another quickly and all exchanged hugs. It was strange to meet Lorrie in person because she was exactly how I expected- energetic and so enjoyable to be around- and it felt like I had already spent months with her, after the amount of emails we had exchanged back and forth! We sat at the table in this coffee shop (called Heritage), sipping our hot drinks to keep warm in the 55-degree Alaskan summer. Lorrie and a couple members from the Juneau Symphony who stopped by to say hi presented us with adorable gift bags full of tokens from each place with which we will be working: JAMM, the Symphony, and University of Alaska Southeast (UAS). So I received some free pencils and pens, a signed card from the JAMM kids (adorable!!), and a gigantic “Symphony” chocolate bar- whaaatttt?! And that’s why the Juneau Symphony is the best one in the country!

My Extratufs!

So after our meeting, Lorrie graciously drove us around town and took us to lunch at a local place frequented by both tourists and residents, called the Hangar. I had coconut prawns...enough said. Hey there, Alaska. Nice food. At that point, I was definitely feeling tired from the traveling...and because I had stayed up until 1:30am unpacking (oops. Was it worth it? Yes.), which felt like 5:30am for me! But exactly as the first Alaskans did when they crossed the landbridge over from Russia, I pressed on. And went to IGA. What a journey. Sophia, our violist, has been a huge help to me this week, as she has driven me to school every day and has helped me run errands. So after stocking up on groceries at IGA, Sophia and I entered into my version of heaven: the Western Auto Marine store. You may think I was enticed by the smell of rubber and fish or that the appearance of large hooks and hunting rifles appealed to me, but my true purpose of this mission was similar to that of Orpheus’ when he entered Hades: to capture my true love. The beloved Xtratuf boots. For those of you who haven’t heard about these yet, I promise you that you will get to know about them extremely well after reading my blog entries this year. I had found out about this classic Alaskan boot brand from Lorrie, as I prepared for my move. She told me that I should wait to purchase my pair of rain boots I’ll inevitably need almost every day until I arrived here. Because apparently Alaskans wear Xtratufs. It’s because they’re extra TOUGH. I looked up pictures and discovered that the boots only came in an ugly brown with a tan accent, and it felt freeing. No more fashion rain boots with heels (I’m sorry, but I never understood why someone would wear heeled rain boots when it’s already slippery out...and I wonder if the added heel makes an accented squish-squeak as you walk around inside?! Is looking cute worth annoying everyone?) or color-coordinated outfits on rainy days. Plain brown, rubbery boots with the label “Xtratuf” on them was what I was destined to get. And so, about 15 minutes after arriving at the Marine supply store, I walked out of there with my very own pair, after taking a picture with them on, of course! I’ve already worn them twice and plan on wearing them tomorrow. I actually look forward to the rainy days, just so I can wear my Extratufs!

So, skipping ahead to the big part: classes! It has been a fantastic first week (out of two) with the Juneau Basic Arts Institute. So while I am in classes all day for it, this is not technically “school” school yet. This institute is for Alaska teachers, and its focus is on providing core subject teachers with tools and knowledge of how to integrate the arts into their lesson plans. So Heidi, Sophia, and I are the only artists there! And we are also the only ones who aren’t official teachers in Alaska yet with extensive classroom experience. It has been such a great time to see people with decades of teaching experience still be interested in being more creative with their classes in order to better serve their students. I’ve also noticed a significant difference in the maturity level of this group, compared to my classmates in my college classes! Even though our schedule has been from 8:30 to 5 every day, we are all remaining positive and engaged. It’s really exciting to keep going, knowing that we are all exhausted (both mentally and physically) and are still giving it our all to make the most of this time to learn.

The people are great, and the classes and instructors are just as fantastic! I really like how the institute is structured. The long days are divided into small chunks of 1 hour and 15 minutes, so we move around rooms and teachers often. The four main teachers are Lorrie, Katie, Ed, and Nancy. Lorrie leads us with movement and song in the morning, showing us different songs, dances, and exercises we can use with our kids to keep them engaged, wake them up, teach a content standard, and more. I have walked in late a couple times this week, and it’s always funny to walk down the hall and hear full-grown adults singing kids’ songs and doing dances together. We have also been learning different songs that incorporate body percussion (which can involve stomping and clapping), and we actually had someone who was in a superintendent meeting directly below us come upstairs and ask us to stop because the whole building was shaking. Seeing how Lorrie respectfully apologized but also explained what we were doing in a joyful, inviting way gave me tips on how to handle future conflict without changing who you are. The superintendent didn’t seem too enthused when Lorrie suggested she inform her colleagues (in a light-hearted way) that we were teachers, learning new things for our students, so we ended up putting that activity on pause until later in the day when they were gone!

Lorrie, teaching her Arts and Cognition class!

After our movement in the morning, which Ed also helps lead, we sit down for a class with Lorrie, where she discusses a variety of reasons why the arts support more effective learning for students, sharing studies and reasons as she talks. She has provided us with a phenomenal packet of all her “nuggets” of wisdom she has discovered as a teacher, which has already been helpful to look through. Yesterday in her class, we had learned about the seven character strengths for academic achievement and were split into groups and each assigned one trait. We then had to create a two-line rap with certain guidelines that we had to perfect, put to a beat, and present to the class this morning. Want to hear my groups’?!

Finish what you start, even when it's tough- that's grit.

Climb that mountain, you might fall, but just stick with it....WHAT!

We decided that I would say the rap because I was the most comfortable with fitting the words into the beats, and the group joined me at the ends of the lines. It was hilarious!

After that class, I go to my Visual Arts class led by Nancy. If you have seen any of my little art projects on Facebook, that’s where those beautiful creations are born! From day one of the class, Nancy said, “You are all artists. Don’t say you can’t create art. You can!”. I was a bit skeptical, knowing my drawing skills, but felt motivated to at least try because of her excellent artistic pep talk. And I have to say that while my creations aren’t exactly up to the standard I was setting for myself, I have learned a lot about not only how to create art, but also how to teach it. And I’ve had fun! Seeing Nancy interact with us, a bunch of adults who are set in our ways and feel very awkward developing such foreign, new skills, provides me with examples of how to be a fantastic teacher. I can only imagine how she is with kids! She has provided us with great tools, giving us paintbrushes and information on certain projects we can lead our class through. So although it may seem like we are just reliving our childhoods and are doing all these artsy projects for fun, we are learning how to do these things in order to teach our students, as we apply it to our subject area. And I can totally see a connection between the visual and performing arts. I would love to experiment with watercolors with my class, letting the students paint what they hear in the music! And Nancy has given me great ideas, such as showing them how to draw their instruments, which incorporates visual arts skills while also helps them know the different parts of the instrument.

After lunch is my favorite class: Digital Storytelling. It is something I find so fascinating and wonderful for students to learn to do! Katie, our teacher, has great experience with using accessible apps and tools to create neat projects. She has been guiding us through a project where we have to write and audio record a poem about some aspect of nature and then create a stop motion film that accompanies it. Isn’t that super cool?! If you don’t know what stop motion is, think Wallace and Gromit. But instead of clay, we are going to be using objects that we collect from nature!!! I’m so excited. So we recorded our poems today and learned how to use the app we will be using on iPads for the video (called iStopMotion) and will be collecting materials for our filming, which I think will start on Monday! We are free to collect materials from nature anywhere and at any point in time- remember that, because it will be part of an entertaining story I will tell later on in this post!

After that class, I have my Tlingit culture class with Ed, which has been a huge learning experience for me! If you are unfamiliar with the Tlingit culture and language, please look it up! Tlingit culture is fascinating, and its people make up a significant portion of the native populations of Alaska. As far as I have learned and seen this week, Tlingit has a very beautiful culture of storytelling, tradition, respect for its ancestors, and music and dance. We have been learning some Tlingit songs, basic Tlingit phrases, and the vowels and consonants of the language. Let me tell you, it is not Spanish! Well, duh. But it is very difficult to pronounce because it is all about breath as well as placement of the sounds in your mouth and throat. Some vowels are in the back of the throat and are said with fast, short air; others are the opposite, and still others are mixed. It’s intense. But the songs we are learning have great melodies and are really fun! We stand in a circle every class time and do our dance to the two songs we know fairly well at this point. It’s amazing what you can learn in a week! But as Ed continues to say, this class is not an instructional course for learning the Tlingit language. As a Tlingit Native, though, he has shared his stories and knowledge with us, which has been an honor. We were having a discussion about his Tlingit name (don’t even ask me to spell it!) yesterday, which dove us into a discussion of the Tlingit peoples’ view of names. Ed told us that to his knowledge, most people are named after someone in their family; if not, at least after someone in their clan. And that child, as it grows up, has the duty of representing the essence of his or her previous name bearer. Ed is named after his grandfather, and his parents actually referred to him as “father” when they spoke to him at times, as a way to honor and respect the person whose name he was given. Another Tlingit person described their name tradition like this: Your name carries you, until you carry your name. I thought that was really beautiful. It actually struck a chord with me because I am named after Ruth, the woman who rocked so much, she got her own book in the Bible. The story of Ruth shows her unending loyalty, faith, beauty, and love as she remained with her widowed mother-in-law when she herself became a widow and even followed her to a foreign land that worshipped a god different than hers. I often think about how I want to embody those characteristics of Ruth, and I feel honored that I was given the English version of her name. So this class has been a great lesson about a culture with which I was not previously familiar, and it has also provided us with ways to incorporate this very important, prevalent cultural aspect in our classrooms.

The potato monster I made in the guest teacher's class!

The end of the day is full of other presentations. For example, today we had a fabulous guest teacher come in and talk about using the arts to work with people of all disabilities- art and music therapy for the win! That hour is also built-in lesson planning time. The final assignment that suitably ties together all we have learned is, of course, a lesson plan that integrates the arts with our core subjects, as well as incorporates the Alaskan cultural standards. Since we already teach an arts subject, my two quartet-mates and I have to choose a core subject and create a lesson plan using the music we know we will be teaching. So while I am glad we already have the performance aspect figured out and are not nervous about incorporating that, I am still trying to figure out how to teach a core subject...I was a music major! I don’t know- more cowbell?!?! But Heidi, Sophia, and I have been brainstorming together and are coming up with good ideas, so I am hoping we can solidify our lesson this weekend!

Speaking of this weekend, the three of us are planning on hiking together, and I’m so excited! But tonight when I got home from class around 6:30, I was feeling the adventure itch and wanted to go explore (and also exercise, after sitting still for 8.5 hours for four days straight), all by my lonesome. So I talked to Sue (my amazing hostess and basically Alaskan mama), and we agreed that I could definitely find the Perseverance Trail and hike it. Armed with her instructions and my Google Maps, I geared up and walked out the door with pockets containing a bag of pretzels and an empty grocery bag so I could start collecting natural materials for my stop-motion project (See- I finally brought it up! Keep waiting for the entertainment. Good things really do come to those who wait). I walked down my street and turned right. And then left...both of which I thought were correct directions because it’s what I thought my Google Maps had said when I checked before I left. And I had these directions so “in the bag” that I refused to check the maps again to make sure I was going the correct way. So I kept walking. And every time I heard or saw a car about to pass, I would jog a little bit so I didn’t look ridiculous in all my running gear. But honestly, I was walking and stopping every few steps to take pictures like a tourist. And then I got to a trail map for Mt. Roberts… wait- didn’t someone just die up there last week? Yeah, maybe not today...when I’m alone and am apparently directionally-challenged. Because this is definitely not the right way. So I looked at the map and noticed the trail I was looking for. But the map was upside down and backwards, which just really confused me. I tried to reorient my body to see what I was seeing on the map, but the idea of turning the other way and standing on my head was just not working for me (have I mentioned that I’m directionally-challenged?? I’ve decided to just own it at this point; it’s hopeless). So I just kept walking straight, going off of my memory from when Lorrie drove us down that road the other day...except my memory isn’t super sharp either. Perfect. After a few more curves in the road, I passed a gorgeous backdrop of mountains surrounded by fog, several spotted with gorgeous waterfalls trickling down amongst the trees. I kept walking. And then there was a bridge. And I looked to the left and remembered Lorrie saying something about a flume trail that led to the downtown area. So I thought, “Why not? I haven’t heard of any casualties here at this point, and I’m interested to finally see what a flume looks like”. So, there are a couple things you need to know. First of all, if you need a refresher on what a flume is, it is a man-made channel for water, and it is in the form of an open declined gravity chute with walls that are raised above the surrounding terrain. Yes, I copied and pasted that from Wikipedia. The second series of things you need to know are my biggest fears: natural bodies of water (especially waterfalls) and bridges. I don’t care if that sounds irrational, but my fear of waterfalls was definitely signed, sealed, and abruptly delivered when I nearly drowned under one in Ecuador last summer (yeah, not the best day of vacation...no wonder bungee jumping the next day didn’t feel like such a big deal!). So I go down this flume trail to find this raging, loud waterfall created from the flume. Terrifying. I had to cross a bridge over it to get to another bridge that would apparently be my trail for the entire remainder of the time. Talk about panic! To make matters worse, I had no idea how long this slippery-wet bridge trail next to the gigantic waterfall surrounded by large trees and sharp rocks would be. Also, bears. I’m sure my fear about the bears attacking me is slightly founded but mostly irrational, as multiple people here have told me to just let my presence be known as I walk, and I will be okay. Apparently, the bears don’t want to see me either. They don’t want to maim and eat me unless I provoke them. Well, the “inside Ruth thoughts” forgot all that. And all of a sudden, I was sliding my feet across this scary bridge for a mile, nervously singing and talking to myself to keep the bears away while looking back every 8 seconds or so. I was more afraid walking down that “peaceful, calm” trail in the forest than I was walking down the streets in Chicago alone, late at night. Maybe having my pepper spray with me on my hike would have made me feel better.

The beautiful, scary Flume Trail.

If only someone could have heard me talking to myself. I was saying things like, “I am talking right now because I am afraid of the bears and don’t know why I chose the trail that makes me face all my fears in just thirty minutes…’Face all your worldly fears in thirty minutes or less!’- that should be its slogan in a commercial…” As I went along the path, I would get to a part of the bridge that was all of a sudden drowned under a smaller waterfall. So I would take a few minutes each time to situate myself on the rocks in order to leap to the other side or just quickly make a break for it. Every time I approached a waterfall, I would go through my whole panic mode again and try to find the path that kept me the farthest away from the rushing waters! And once my waterfall-jumping days were over, I heard a noise. I was actually bending down to pick up some fallen leaves (I began collecting objects along the bridge path for my project), when I heard nearby sounds and quickly jumped up and turned around to see...two people. Who didn’t seem scared at all. And here I was, some random girl all of a sudden prepared to run and scream, when just seconds ago, I was being equally as strange, bending down and putting things in a grocery bag while singing to myself to ward off the bears that won’t attack...but just might! Yeah, they seemed weirded out. I eventually let them pass me and followed them at the end of the trail because I didn’t know where to go. And then I finally looked up directions to home (I gave up on the whole Pocahontas, follow-the-colors-of-the-foggy-misty-wind idea once it was 8pm and I was hungry), thinking, “Oh, I must not be too far from home, since I’m supposedly close to downtown!”. Wrong. I was still somehow over a mile from home. It really is impressive how impossibly lost I can get myself. I truly have a knack for looking at my final destination and walking in the complete opposite direction. I’m like a broken compass that never learns to right itself. So I walked through all the curvy, hilly roads in the transformed misty-now-downright-rainy weather state, taking pictures along the way. At least I got good pictures! And I finally made it home. Bearless. I checked behind me all the way up to the front door. So that is my entertaining anecdote for the night. I know most of this “getting exercise”, nature-gathering experience was centered around my irrational fears, but I was able to laugh at myself during it and am still laughing.

I am looking forward to tomorrow, not only because it means the weekend is almost here, but also because we are going on a field trip, which will include a performance by my trio! We were able to rehearse together last night and made it into a fun belated birthday celebration for Sophia, making our own pizzas (gluten free, dairy free pizza for me, of course! Yay for cardboard with goat cheese! Just kidding- it was actually good, but that was probably because I smothered it with olives!!!), and baking cookies! So, we are ready and all sugared up to perform for the class tomorrow.

This weekend, I am also planning on trying out my first Alaskan church. First on the docket is Chapel by the Lake, which is a gorgeous, tiny church right on UAS’ campus, overlooking the ocean and the Mendenhall Glacier! I’m really excited to check it out!

So if you saw how incredibly long this post was (see- it still ended up being long!) and decided to just read the first and last paragraphs of the entry, here’s a quick recap for you: I am incredibly happy. I’m learning a lot. Alaska is beautiful, rainy, and bear-infested. Just not apparently anywhere I am (just kidding- they really are in my area!). And, of course, I am just as silly as ever.