Alakanuk at last!

Four-wheelers rumble by on the gravel road outside my window, dogs bark and howl without a break of silence, as little bugs fly in my face. Yet, I'm finally in my new Alakanuk abode. (Yes! I also just finally squashed the bug who acted like a stalker to my glasses.)

My journey started up again, as my bags were loaded into the cars going to the Anchorage airport. We were expected to find our way to the village-- which meant dealing with Grant Airlines. This is a place difficult to describe. When I called to make a reservation, I was asked for my name. But, when I asked if they wanted me to spell that and they replied, "No." I wasn't sure quite what to expect.

Our day of flying was incredibly sunny and blissful as we left Anchorage. Our Alaskan New Teacher Mentor, Mary, took us to see this sight of Denali before we pulled into the airport.

We first flew on Alaska Airlines to Bethel. Bethel was a tiny airport, but Grant airlines was small and definitely had more character. Since they don't have a website, we called them many times to remind them we were on the 2:30pm plane to Alakanuk. Their entire airport consisted of one little building and an entire crew of people who ... had illegible handwriting (which caused me to "LOSE" my reservation--THREE times). An untrained customer service (which means filling out a receipt for a plane ticket took 30 minutes each). And terrible phone etiquette ("Hello? Uh. Can you call back?" Click.) Not to mention, after she weighed us and our luggage, she asked us where we were going. Then she turned around, looked at a sloppy board behind her, and faced us again to state, "We don't have that on the board."

Through what I'd like to call some "Flexible-Not-gonna-care" mentality, mixed with "PowerPrayer," and a couple hours to do so, our name was called off a list to get on the next plane. He was a scruffy younger person I thought may be a mechanic based on his flannel shirt and unkempt appearance. He led us out the double doors out to an eight passenger plane and hopped into the pilots seat.

I was excited to be able to be close enough to the dials and to be able to see out on such a warm, clear day. Suddenly, I realized he wasn't able to turn on the propeller on the right side of the plane. With a putt, and a sputter, the engine struggled with its idle. Slowly he turned on the left one. By this time, my roommate and a returning teacher from Emmonak were giving each other nervous looks. My face winced as I looked out the window and tried not to appear as if I was listening to the revolutions of the engine. The pilot adjusted the throttle open and closed. We finally started moving the plane to the runway.

The back end of the plane felt like it was hydroplaning and drifting on the runway and even in the air. With a small plane you could feel turbulence pretty easily. Small little clouds are like hard white opaque rainstorms to fly through.

I put my headphones in to block out some of the droning engines. The terrain from Bethel to Alakanuk was drastically different from Anchorage to Bethel. It is much flatter. Surprisingly, I was able to match up our village from Google Maps. It was almost like zooming into the actual satellite map.
When we landed among green shrubbery, short trees, and Fireweed, we already knew our luggage hadn't made it. It felt weird to hop off the plane with no luggage, but we had been promised our luggage would be on the next plane that came in. (That was hard for my roommate because she paid seat fare for her dog and he didn't even make it on the flight with us.) No one was there to pick us up, but my roommate knew where our house was. I was surprised at how green everything was as we walked past tall green bushes to teacher housing along a rough gravel road.

This is the little engine that could take me to Alakanuk! It's leaving the Alakanuk airport towards Emmonak to drop off the rest of the passengers.

The left side of that duplex is where I live.
All housing faces each other with boardwalks running to each of them because it's technically a swamp.

Sorry if you're reading this, but I'm going to go ahead and publish what I've got. It's 12:51AM, and I'm beat. (By the way, it has only been dark for about 45 minutes. Although it doesn't look much more North on a globe, we are!) Good night!

Home Stretch

The in-service training is now completed. It's a good feeling, because this week and a half in Anchorage required a very intense concentration. With only included two days off, my trip consisted of mainly classes, staff meals, and multiple trips to stores, DMV, phone company, and post offices. However, I did have some good touring pictures.

I'm now in the lobby of the Hilton. My ride is here. My bags are packed and I'm ready to go! Love you all.

Anchorage

When the weekend came, I wanted to take hold of the opportunities and go explore this place everyone knows as the beautiful Anchorage. A couple who taught their last year in Alakanuk this past school year, picked up a few of us to go for a late evening drive. We rode in their van past Cook Inlet and old houses abandoned after the tantalizing earthquake in 1964. On our way back, we stopped at a beautiful wood lodge in Girdwood. Music spilled out of the building into the peaceful surrounding of scientifically labeled gardens and fountains. A tram led people down from the restaurant at the top of a hill, thousands of feet in the air. We wanted to ride it, but tickets were sold for the night and the clock was ticking close to midnight.
Just before returning to Anchorage, we went to the base of Flat Top mountain to take in the sparkling lights of the cityscape. The waning moon led our way as we walked along these log fences back to our car.
This display is in the main entry for the Girdwood lodge. Although Polar bears aren't too common all over Alaska, we did hear that two ended up near our village. I never got to see the picture, but two polars bears floated on a piece of ice down the Yukon all the way down to a little place by Emmonak and Alakanuk.

The next day, my friend, Amy and I, took a bus/boat tour to see Portage Glacier. We got to ride down the Seward Highway again in daylight. We spent the day with seven other older people on an over-sized tour bus. I learned that glaciers are blue because they're made of snowflakes that are undergo extreme pressure for at least 10 years. Then, they are able to absorb all wavelengths of light except blue. I was also intrigued how the Glacier silt blocks out ALL light, meaning there is sometimes no life in the lakes Glaciers feed into. Our driver let us stop wherever we wanted-- even to take a picture of mountain goats and a video of a mama moose eating Alder leaves! Our eyes were heavy by the time that seven hour tour pulled back into the Hilton.






Wind tried to keep us from climbing the hill to get a good look at these goats, but we didn't back down from being so close!

Pictures-- worth a thousand words.

On Wednesday, everyone took a break from our conferences. Our Alakanuk teachers hopped into the big white Dodge van on a trip to the DMV to get ID cards. We ended up lacking sufficient necessary documentation, so we went on to Costco to make the best out of our trip. I decided I had enough food to last me a lifetime (or more likely a couple months). For some reason, I was being very frugal and literally had 1/8 of a cart full until I realized how crazy I was being. Food for the year is not going to come from 1/8th of a cart at Wal-mart! Finally I started going around grabbing things like tomatoes and mushrooms and pineapples and pasta and rice... things I'd eat for at least a few months. When we were done, the Alakanuk group and I went back to the hotel for lunch.

After lunch, I was more than ready to escape the confining walls of the hotel and/or shopping centers. So, instead of taking a nap I've been needing for weeks, I had the opportunity to go hiking with some of the staff of the district! Please enjoy pictures. I've got plenty of new things to share about my training, my fellow staff, and my experiences so far in Anchorage, but that will have to wait until I have more down time- AKA the village (at the rate I'm going)!











One interesting tidbit of information is the price of Moose tags. If I wanted to go out and shoot a moose this year, it'd be $5000. That is word on the streets (or Hilton hallways). I spotted this moose on our way back down from Flat Top. She didn't have a baby with her, but I got this picture through the lens of binoculars.
I'll hold off on the hunting, since I didn't grow up with any hunters in the family. (Sorry, Dad. I know you're excited to come up to hunt and fish and I'm sure you're very good at it. We just didn't ever do it while I was growing up!) I'll stick to shooting moose with my camera. Once I get residency, I'll be able to buy a fishing license for $24!
More training tomorrow. I want to sleep in this weekend, but how many times am I in a place like Anchorage? I'll probably go to the DMV, shopping for gear still, and hopefully some tourist attractions!

Random quotes I have heard today

"Cotton is not your best friend. And say goodbye to your jeans."
While shopping for subzero clothing gear, we were talking to a sales girl who said this. She had some funny terms, such as something like, "super-sauna-sweaty" when describing body temperatures. I learned that lots of wool socks, snow cleats, and mummy-sleeping bags are needed as well.

At Helly Hansen they had told me layers were good. I mean, I know things in layers are good. Like coats. Cakes. Onions. Apparently even gloves, though! I suppose buying layers for everybody part with some wool and waterproofing is probably the safest and most comfortable, so I have been working hard to find quality gear on our nightly shopping trips.

"We are the Fun Group. That's our name."
This was said by someone at our loud, humorous, table of teachers (and assistant principal) who will be working at the school in Alakanuk. We realized many other tables were much quieter. During the door prize drawings, other tables weren't slapping high fives or encouraging rail-slidings down the fancy banister, like we were. As soon as I get the picture from one of my colleagues, I'll post it on here. (I didn't have my camera with me.)

Tonight we went to explore an Alaskan museum of history and ate a wonderful dinner there, also. In the museum, they had exhibits of many of the tribes, as well as examples of influence of materials used in different cultures throughout different time periods. The most interesting things were artifacts of things like Japanese money or teacups left over from WWII on an island that the Japanese had taken over. Or the whale bone that helped line a European frame in a formal dress. Or the buttons, shells, and colorful fabrics brought over to the Tlingit in exchange for beaver pellets (which they in turn sold to the Oriental people who paid large sums of money for them.) I also liked seeing all the woven baskets with tiny pieces.

One thing that also stuck out in my mind was the design of clothing and gear. Since I've been researching what is best to use, I stumbled across some interesting finds in the museum. Maybe I should give them a try! Looks like animal intestines make some interesting rain gear. Or wooden eye goggles with slits to keep out the cold snow and wind but allow people to see. Since I don't have pictures from the museum, I'll try to find some online.

These are similar to the museum goggles. They actually stick a few inches off the face.

Today, I accessed the main program for us to use and found out more about the students I'll be teaching. I am excited to announce (this is not set in stone) I have 7 boys and 6 girls. It was interesting to see that I could also access old history and see Disciplinary Reports from the past. It was clear to see many have had repeated offenses for "T*** threw R**** against the wall. R****'s glasses broke and he has a bump on his head." or "S****** repeated refused to cooperate..." I even found one that showed a girl brought cigarettes to school and tried to light them. I looked at her birthdate and date of offense-- she was 7.

We are warned that pretty much ALL students have some degree of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. (This is also why the village is now a dry community, meaning 100% of sales and possession of Alcohol is strictly prohibited. I even heard from another principal that mouthwash is difficult to mail due to the alcohol content.) Also, there were a couple suicides within the district last school year. I'll make sure that I try as hard as I can to build relationships with the students, help develop and participate extra-curricular activities, and encourage positive education.

"I'm exhausted."
I've said that. More than once. I need to get some sleep. At it again tomorrow, except no classes or conferences! Instead we have options to go to the DMV and around town for shopping/mailing/errands and maybe even a hiking trip to Flat Top Mountain.

Goodbye Washington, Hello Alaska!

Before going to Alaska, it was fun to be able to see my home state and visit friends and family. From Mt. St. Helens to the Pacific Ocean, I was grateful to have time to revisit my beautiful state.

I had a very nice sending off party the night before and a lunch the day of my departure to Anchorage. Since I had gotten choked up a few times before leaving WA, I thought for sure I'd break down at some point. But, I think my mind was somewhat exhausted and already trying to think of the positive aspects of my adventure, so I really didn't cry. (A little heartless, I know!)

After four hours, I arrived in a very wet city with a population roughly half the entire state population (which Alaska's entire state population is really only just over 600,000 people). While waiting for my principal to pick me up (I had no idea what she looked like, what she was driving, etc.) I was studying the drivers who pulled into the arrival area of the airport. Most had SUVs, trucks, or Jeeps. One-third had dogs as passengers. Weather is, and has been, similar to typical Pacific Northwest rain which I'm very used to. However, it is interesting to have full daylight after 10pm.

I will summarize my experience so far. All of the people in the district, hotel, bank, and Wal-Mart are all very open, welcoming, speaking slowly and casually, yet quick to help or even hug. I'm feeling very welcome and at ease in all these processes. I did wake up a total of 8 times at night due to the NightEbefore-Christmas-Excitement Syndrome. But, 8 cups of coffee kept me awake through lecture-type curriculum/technology/Professional Learning Community sessions non-stop from 7am-7pm. All of us were exhausted and tired after all the excitement, plus a hurried shopping trip tonight. A dip in the little pool and a hot shower was nice tonight. And hopefully I'll add a good night's sleep as my cherry on top.

So far, I've heard some big news about the village. There IS a restaurant that is new there. Very exciting news for an isolated village. I've heard many good and bad things (info about school supplies, school building, classroom, internet connection, food costs, shipping costs, residency cards, etc.) that I didn't know. But, it's to be expected.

And.... I will warn you. These people seem very genuine, compassionate, and tough. I'm beginning to think maybe one year will be just enough to hook a person. Uh oh! :) We'll see what happens.

I miss everyone already just thinking of that. More on my adventure soon!

So here it starts.

So here it starts.

I woke up with the sense of belonging. I am comfortable in my bed, my room, my view of Mt. St. Helens (a novelty I've appreciated at my parents and while living in Vancouver), my family, my friends. I'm hesitant, yet excited for today. It consists of packing/cleaning/errands/paperwork/Clark County Fair/a "See you in December" bonfire with loved ones/probably little sleep/church/lunch with family/Plane ride/Anchorage/meeting all new people-- today runs into tomorrow. Somehow, somewhere in that schedule, I'll have a few hours between saying goodbye to everything I know to meeting a brand new place. In one plane ride I'll be transported from familiar hugs to foreign hellos.

My life for a year is packed in:
2 boxes (bed/bath/kitchen)
(clothes/winter gear)
1 smaller box (books, lesson plans)
1 suitcase
1 guitar

In Anchorage, I'll buy lots of dried food and supplies to ship to the village. It's much cheaper with subsidized shipping from there, rather than the Lower 48.

Mom has been drying fresh vegetables for me to take in my suitcase.

While I'm in Anchorage for a week and a half, I'll have new teacher training and district-wide training. So far, the only person I've officially met is the HR director who hired me. I haven't met anyone who will be living in my village yet, but I'm sure I'll get to know them very well by the end of this trek.

I'm blessed to have this journey ahead of me. People have asked me so many questions about the village, the culture, the school, etc. You are wondering what adventures I'll experience and what stories might paint the walls of this blog. I am, too.

In all honesty, I'm a little overwhelmed. If I could have it my way, I'd like to make it through the day without any tears. However, that spell was broken already at 9:45am. It's hard to avoid emotions when you don't know they're there until they spill down your cheeks. Today, this quote will be in my head on replay.

"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."
-Annie

It's true.

Tomorrow, I leave behind wonderful people, places, and friendship. But, I'll take with me memories. And, for heaven's sakes, I'll be back before I know it!

Dad took me for a little cruise on his motorcycle.
My home.
My mom's beautiful plants!