Coming Home to Alakanuk

Sometimes you need friends to laugh at inside jokes, play a favorite game, or listen when you're torn and far away from family. And sometimes... friends are there for you when you least expect-- such as when you return from a trip (with a sore throat for the 7th day after sitting in the St. Mary's airport for 7 hours to finally make it home through a storm) and your room has been pranked.
I fumbled with my icy/muddy suitcase over the feet of a crowded living room where they were watching a movie and flipped on my light switch. My eyes widened when I found that my dresser and night stand were pushed facing against the wall. I surveyed the room and knew it must have been Josh. I had found diapers in someone's mailbox in the office at school and put them in his and they got passed around with a few laughs. I looked at the rest of the room and said out loud, "Where is my bed? It can't be in the clos-" as I opened my closet door and saw that, yes, it IS possible to fit my mattress and box spring into my closet.
Since I was too tired and sick to try put my room back together, I camped out in the guest room for a week. But, after Becca and Clark and Theresa decided to give me some oomph, we cleaned out the guest room and my room. Now, the guest room doesn't look like the backroom of a Goodwill and my room looks even more like a ROOM. As I was weeding out some junk I thought for sure I would someday need and never did, Becca thought to try using a shower curtain as an actual curtain. I'm impressed with her fine eye. So what if white tacks are a makeshift rod? And a nail and a rubber band can be stylish. Clark reminded me we live in the bush. We make do with what we have. And I think we did a pretty job.
I also had Clark screw in the hook for my rice lamp (Which by the way, if anyone ever needs to move 4000 miles away, a rice lamp can fold up to be quite petite and light!).
Yes, that is a burlap sack hanging on the wall. The walls get VERY white and plain at times. I thought I'd make of this "packing material" from one of our bush orders (a bush order is a large grocery order we all collaborate with and get shipping bypassed for supposedly quicker and cheaper shipping). Plus, it's from Brasil, which brings back fond memories of last summer!

Although the prank came at an inconvenient time since I was worn out, tired, and sick, some good did come out of it. Now my room feels a little more livable and also a little more lovable.

My trip to "town"

The morning of my flights to Anchorage, I awoke in pain. I tried to call the clinic to see if I could go in again to jumpstart my antibiotics with a "poke". My throat was getting worse and even though I had tested negative for strep, I knew it was bad news that it hadn't started healing. I also thought I would have time to get a quick shower in before heading to the clinic and then the airport. However, I thought wrong.

In bush Alaska, I wasn't surprised when I couldn't get through to the clinic or that the Era Alaska agent called me to tell me my plane was landing soon (almost an hour and a half early) and that I needed to get out to the airport. They also asked me that since I lived close to Amy (another teacher who had coincidentally scheduled doctors appointments the same weekend) and I knew she was flying, too, to let her know our flight was coming soon.
Since I have not perfected how to quickly throw on snow-clothes, I did it as quickly as I could and lugged my suitcase and empty cooler to the school in hopes of a ride to the airport. I waited for Amy to pick up a load of 5 puppies that she would be responsible for getting to the Anchorage Animal Rescue. (Another teacher wanted them shipped out of the village. The average lifespan of a dog is quite short in Alakanuk. Many of them that you see are stray, mean, or dingy.)

Once she had the crate of puppies, I continued the path to the school which meant I had to heave my magenta suitcase and blue ice-chest up and down a set of wooden stairs that go over the above-ground sewer pipes. Going up was a task since I had my awkward luggage. Going down was even easier. My foot slipped on the snow-mounded steps and my snow-clothes provided a thin cushion for my quick ride down the other side of the steps.
I felt a nice bruise forming on my gluteus maximus, but managed a grin as a student came running towards me. "Jana! Jana!" He came waving an oversized envelope filled with penpal letters I was planning to mail from Anchorage. When he offered to carry something and I handed the cooler over, the look of surprise on his face made me smile. I explained to him that I was going to bring back meat and a ham for my classroom aide, Helen.
(On a side note, the students call the teachers by their first names here. At first, it felt somewhat unnatural after being called Miss Kandoll in years past. I was worried about kids not respecting me. However, now I realize many are turned off to the formality of addressing me or another adult as Miss Kandoll or Mister Whomever. Who ever thought that me being called Jana or wearing jeans and a sweatshirt would actually gain me some respect? But, the kids do respect me and I respect them, too. Without the forced formalities, we've created a classroom environment with natural loving respect.)
So 20 minutes later at 10:30AM, we were taking off the icy runway on the small bush plane. I still have to get used to the darkness and late dawns. Here is a shot of the sun rising above the cold tundra and the white Yukon.

We flew to St. Mary’s and waited in the busy one-room airport. As I called the doctor to try move my appointment from Friday to Thursday, I realized I hadn’t had time to use the restroom before leaving Alakanuk. The restroom had a clear piece of tape and a sign stating, “Out of Order.” In the bush, planes do not have restrooms aboard, so I knew I wasn’t able to go for a few more hours. I was prepared to ask them where a private place I could go outside was, when I saw the sign on the door also said there was a bathroom upstairs. So I walked out the door and up some plywood steps. In a place where the pilots ate, slept, and even played guitar, I was able to find a door that might as well have said “Glorious Relief”.

Once in Anchorage, I had the freedom of a rental car to be able to drive on a paved road and get to a doctor. After an x-ray of my sinuses, my doctor came to the conclusion that the facial numbness I have been experiencing is not due to a sinus infection, or Bell’s Palsy, but she didn’t know what it was. If the numbness continues a “couple more months” I’ll get lab work done to see if there is a possible vitamin B12 or other deficiencies.

As for my swollen tonsils, she carefully prescribed me an antibiotic I wasn’t supposed to be allergic to (I have an allergy to Sulfa meds) to heal my tonsillitis.

In Fred Meyer, I had my new prescription and a cart full of groceries to ship out to the village to do my grocery shopping. With some water and a granola bar, I took the first two pills thinking it would contribute to a victory. However, later a flushed skintone and eyeballs the color of my lips proved that I was yet again allergic to one more type of antibiotic.

Meanwhile, I got settled into my hotel room which I would be sharing with my parents. While I was out to eat with my amazing Alaska State New Teacher Mentor, I told her about the girl at the front desk earlier.

The view from the hotel room.

In a world where 98% of the population cannot spell the last name Kandoll, I was taken aback when she cheerfully quipped, “K-A-N-D-O-L-L?” while snapping her gum. I kept one hand on my suitcase and the other on the counter, while I wished I had one more hand to close my open jaw. “Yes, thank you.” While I listened to her acrylic nails peck at the keyboard, I added, “And I want to make sure it’s okay that my parents will also be staying in the room with me. Is it a double bed and do I need to pay more?”

The next few minutes, I’m not sure what all she said. Between her quick words, I heard “Your mother called me today!” “Oh wait, I feel so bad. Did I ruin the surprise??” After I assured her that I had already known and that the no surprise was ruined I started to wonder if there was more to the story. However, the fact that my parents had wanted to meet me in Anchorage while I was at the doctor was already a big treat.

My parents didn't fly in until late Thursday night or as my dad corrected me "early Friday morning." While I was waiting, I hung out with Amy at the hotel (also a teacher at Alakanuk who had scheduled doctor's appointments that weekend). If you zoom into that picture, you can see my eyes were just starting to get flushed from my allergic reaction to the first meds.

But when the clock struck 1:30AM at the Tedd Stevens International Airport, there they were—my parents. With a hug and the story of how silly I was to think anyone else might be possibly coming, I turned to walk through the doors exiting the terminal. When I turned to see if my parents were still following me, my brother and sister-in-law were right behind me! In some embarrassingly childish reactions, I welcomed seeing them for the first time since the Eindhoven train station in July.

Nathan, Tricia, Mom, Dad, and I packed into one hotel room for an old-fashioned SLEEPOVER! Also, in the picture, I'm opening a present from Nate. I had let him know that my students (and I) would love some of his artwork in the classroom. Here is a poster of Spiderman that he had had quickly printed to give me.

The weekend consisted of a mini-roadtrip where we made it only 5 miles in 45 minutes due to pull-out sight seeing stops every 20 yards, waking up from sore throat pains, filling my limited appetite with scrumptious food, and even a trip to purchase a snowmobile. I felt bad that my family spent most of their first trip to Anchorage waiting for me at the doctor because I ended up having to play phone tag all Friday, finally got into an on-call doctor Saturday, was given a different prescription, and had to try take it quickly to see if I would react to that antibiotic before heading back to the village. A quick but precious weekend with my family flew by. And then I flew back home--Alakanuk home.

While picking up Amy from her appointment, my mom and I spotted a moose.

Nate wanted to inspect the frozen shore of the Cook Inlet.

Farrrty McFatFat and MouMaster

Oh the places you'll go!

View Larger Map

For those of you who are my visual learners (that would include me), I posted a map to show the relation of the villages I have traveled so far. You can zoom out on the interactive Google map to see the villages. [A] is Hooper Bay was south of Alakanuk along the coast. The flight took about a forty-five minutes. On the flight back, I got the courage to ask if I could sit up front in the co-pilots seat. Taking off along the shore of the Bering Sea was a bit sketchy. It was so windy that the pilot had to point the nose of the plane almost perpendicular to the runway!


Flying to St. Mary's took about thirty minutes. St. Mary's shows up on the map as [C]. I should have put a destination [D] for Anchorage.

I'll be flying there again today, to head out to Anchorage for a doctor appointment. After discussing my issue of facial numbness around my left cheekbone with a couple dentists, they both feel this issue is not dentistry related. I have no idea what types of tests or questions they'll have for me when I get to Anchorage, but going to the doctor is no quick or easy thing around here. Figuring out new insurances, making phone calls to doctors, buying flights, and planning subplans was not the funnest.

And on top of that, I've had an extremely sore throat for three full days and nights now. We do have a clinic here in the village, but they don't have nurses or doctors. The place is fairly clean and functional. The man who asked me questions while I was getting a strep test (which was negative), told me he had been in jail 60 days for a domestic violence case that happened while he was on the clock. However, he saved the part for last about how he was really trying to stop a guy from committing suicide. So, the clinic was an interesting experience and apparently a wonderful place to go if you need a "poke" to jumpstart your antibiotics if you do have strep.

On the bright side, even if I'm sick and will be going to doctors appointments, my parents will be meeting me there. My dad has had some health issues of his own lately and it's tough to be separated when you need family. I'm happy that I get to see them (as well as food, paved roads, and coffee) on my quick trip!

I've been up since 3:30AM and it is now 6:13AM. I think I'm done gargling salt water, drinking hot tea, and typing on my blog.

More pictures of the river freezing up and snow soon to be added to the blog!

Living in a Winter Wonderland

Welcoming Winter

At the dock, Josh and Clark play around with one of the million sheets of ice. The edge of the Yukon is full of built of ice as the middle of the river forges on. Loud cracks and tinkles sound through the air as the Yukon persuades the ice to move. As the purple sky said goodbye to the warm summer air, we decided to take advantage and have a box-burning bonfire.

Natural Helpers Retreat in St. Mary's

At Alakanuk, I am the sponsor for Natural Helpers. A group of students, grades 8-12, who are meant to be leaders and helpers for other students and community members. Our main focus is suicide prevention, counseling for victims of bullying, and many other topics pertaining to mental and physical safety. It has been a definite struggle to show them what leadership skills even are, but I hope that I can guide them to develop their skills, foster better friendships, and have a positive impact on many hurting people in the community.
In the picture above, we ladies helped the maintenance men unload and load printers for Alakanuk School. We had let eight Natural Helpers and chaperone, Clark, jump on the first plane, while this one was flying 15 new printers from the District Office in Mountain Village.
They seemed to enjoy the idea of helping the process go more quickly, so a few showed off their muscles. We got all of them to fit in one load with a little bit of jimmy-jamming and brain power! Natural Helpers in action!
We rode in a van with all of the windows intact and a heater-- a couple miles to St. Mary's. We actually got it up to 60! Our roads in Alakanuk have potholes the size of bath tubs. What's this? A hill? Hills in the background? A ROAD SIGN? I forgot what those looked like.
We were pretty excited about the white ground at St. Mary's! Alakanuk was brown for quite some time before gaining that clean layer of white.
We walked to the local store for some goodies. And they have a dairy aisle. Sour Cream and a whole GALLON of REAL milk!

The Natural Helpers retreat opened my eyes to the raw hurt that spreads to everyone in the villages. Suicide has been an epidemic which plagues villages. Hooper Bay has had about nine suicides this year. After almost an entire weekend of ice-breaker activities and sessions, all of us (about 85 people) sat in a circle around a candle on the gym floor. Students, sponsors, and chaperones shared stories of how they were affected by either someone who had committed suicide or how they had seriously thought about attempting it themselves. As the hour hand passed three hours, tears fell down my still face. (These quotes are not exact, but it will give you more of an idea of what I heard.)

"My sister threatened me to not call the cops or she would kill herself. She was saying she didn't care if she went to hell. Because hell couldn't be as bad as this life. After talking to her for hours, I knew I couldn't stop her and went to get help. She killed herself as soon as I left."

"I almost pulled the trigger. I would have killed myself to make [my parents] stop fighting."

"If only I had walked to his house to see what the explosion was. But, I just thought, 'Oh, boys will be boys.'"

"The kids still get things ready and run to the window expecting their uncle to come home from work. Then, they remember. And that's the hardest part."

Please pray for the grieving families and especially those who don't know how to handle such extreme stress.