Dogs, Cars, and Funny Photos

Two cute things of the week: I have a pair of awesome llama earrings from Peru that I wore to school the other day, and when I asked my students what they were, they kept saying reindeer- each and every one! And then I realized that I live in Alaska, where reindeer actually exist...

One of the many labs I saw as I walked around the Valley this week!

Dog companions are also a huge thing here. I was crossing the street the other day, and there was a large yellow lab sitting shotgun in the car at the stop sign, just staring and smiling at me. It was probably the fourth dog-in-a-car scenario I had seen that day, but what made it even better is the man started talking to the dog and was trying to get it to wave to me as I walked on by. It made my day. :)

Hello from my new home! I honestly can’t remember if I’ve written about this or not, but I have been offered the opportunity to housesit for the loveliest couple in Juneau for the next month! Seriously- they are the best, and I am so thankful for this gift that just dropped in my lap. I am now staying in the Valley (instead of in the Highlands near downtown), which is right by Glacier Valley and Thunder Mountain. I have a house to myself for the first time in my life, I have a CAR to drive, and a place to host my awesome friend, Jana, who will be coming up here in a couple weeks (YAY!) and my parents a couple weeks after that (YAY!). I am beyond excited for them all to get here, and they now have rooms to stay in. :) Praise the Lord!

So I am living on my own in a new neighborhood until April, and I am already loving this change of pace. I totally love my place with Rob and Koren, but this feels like a good test-run of full-fledged adulthood! And it helps me get a clearer picture of what life would be like if I lived in Juneau next year (because my two requirements for next year are to live on my own and have a car). Today was a busy day because of the moving in process, but also because I took my Praxis Music Content test- and I passed!!!! That was such a relief. :) I had to take the Core Content Area test as part of my application process, which included math, reading, and writing, but this test was all about music education. So I took a walk down memory lane as I zipped through the test, listening to excerpts, doing music theory notation, and answering music pedagogy questions.

My students are amazing!
Can you spot me??

I’ll keep working backwards; Saturday and Friday were very musical days! On Saturday, Lorrie and I played a piece called Silent Woods by Dvorak at a piano masterclass as a way to prepare ourselves for our performance of it at the Symphony Showcase in two weeks! I will also be playing two pieces with the quartet: a beautiful Mendelssohn quartet and a piece composed by none other than Tyree, my host teacher at Thunder Mountain! He has his Bachelor’s in composition and is a truly great composer. The quartet has greatly enjoyed working on his piece, and he is even giving us a coaching this week. :) I then had a couple hours of cello ensemble rehearsal, a group that consists of other Juneau Symphony members! We are putting on a huge cello choir concert in April that will include any cellist in Juneau of any age who can come, and it’s going to be epic. :) I also got to play an hour of music on Friday night at a Red Cross fundraiser that also featured a dessert auction from our JAMM kids and parents to help them fundraise for Sitka Fine Arts Camp. This music camp will host 15 of our fifth graders this summer and will give them an unforgettable musical experience before they enter into middle school (if you're interested in helping support them, you can donate here)! The fundraiser was a success and was also a blast- we were received so well as a quartet, as was our small ensemble of JAMM students who performed their favorite pieces, “Dragonhunter”, “Simple Gifts”, and “Old Joe Clark”. After that, a fabulous local jazz band, The Ron Maas Big Band, performed, and our students showed off their ballroom dancing skills (because remember, they’re currently doing a unit on ballroom dancing!)! It was so neat to see our fifth graders be strong leaders, as they ran to the dance floor and encouraged the adults to join them. And I think my and my students’ favorite part about the event (besides the delicious food!) was the free photobooth and costumes!! I got so many adorable group shots with my students and with the quartet. :) It rocked!!

I feel very fulfilled after playing so much music this weekend. I am seeing more how much playing means to me, which I didn’t realize until I wasn’t doing it every day. Every time I play my cello, a part of me comes alive again. :) Another part of me that has been awakened is my personal fitness- it’s a miracle!!! I have made the decision to try to make it to the gym at least a couple times a week! Do I have time for it? Not necessarily!! But I can make time. And the great thing about my new location is that I am a close drive from the UAS gym, which my tuition pays for! So I will be exploring that gym tomorrow after school and rehearsal!

You know what ELSE I did this week? I COOKED!
A big shout-out to Sophia for pushing me to eat like an adult. :P

Speaking of personal health, I had another physical therapy appointment the other day after taking a break for three weeks, and I received great news- I am much stronger than when I first came in! My PT had me do the same exercises she initially gave me to test my strength, and I passed many of the tests I couldn’t do before. I still have work to do- she gave me new stretches and exercises to target certain parts of my upper body to continue strengthening my shoulder- but it feels so good to see how much better I am doing! I am barely ever in pain when I play, and my posture has gotten a lot better. So thankful!! I also really look forward to my appointments because my PT is the BEST. Mostly because she’s really easy to talk to, and she laughs at ALL my jokes! Even when I’m teasing myself for not being able to do some of her more intense exercises. :P

Check out how far Unalakleet is from Juneau!

And the final big thing I wanted to share is that I learned this week that I will be going to Unalakleet, Alaska (YOU-nuh-luh-kleet) for a Spring Break Rural Practicum in just over three weeks!!!! This teaching immersion experience is all set up through the university, but Sophia, Heidi, and I are being sent to this specific school because an awesome leader of the arts in Juneau used her connections to make sure we were sent to a school with a music program. :) This trip is meant to encourage pre-service teachers to experience teaching in rural Alaska to give them the chance to develop an interest in living there upon graduation. I am super, super excited to visit Unalakleet and work at the school there for a week!! I found out they have a cello there, but the school principal told me he has not heard a cello played in Unalakleet in the ten years he’s been there...whoa! I don’t know many details about the trip or this village, but I do know that it is right on the Bering Sea, all the way on the west coast of Alaska, AND it is the first checkpoint for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, the infamous dog race that goes all the way from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska! Check out the map to see the distance between Juneau and Unalakleet, and also click here if you’re interested in reading more about it!

It has been a really good couple of weeks. It’s definitely busy, and I feel incredibly behind on my schoolwork. And my jazz unit plan finally starts a week from tomorrow- eek! But I am working hard at putting it on our JAMM website and am pretty proud of my work. :) I’m loving life in Alaska more and more. :)

I just casually saw a rainbow over Egan Drive/Glacier Highway the other day, which is our only highway in Juneau. :)