Reflections on the Weekend

On Saturday I went walking with several other teachers out on the south beach (against St. Michael Bay).  We had fun enjoying the sun and letting Jodi's dog, Ootagoo, run around and wear himself out.  We talked, laughed, collected sea glass, and took pictures.

Ootagoo (Oo -Chi- Goo) loves playing with Juliet and Romeo.  Juliet enjoys it too.  Romeo still freaks out though.   

From left: Ootagoo, Jodi, Jill, Julie, Me, Bonnie, and Jessie.

Jodi, Julie, Jessie, Ootagoo, and Me. There are a lot of rusted bins, gears, chains, etc left on the beach on St. Michael Bay from the Gold Rush.  St. Michael used to be the home of 10,000 people.  Now there are 500 people living here.

Jessie, Jill, puppy, Bonnie, Jodi, Ootagoo, Julie, and me.

After our walk we went back to Jodi and Bonnie's house (mine too), made popcorn, and watched a movie.  By the time I walked across the hall to my apartment, it was dark outside.  This was the first time I had stayed up until the sun went down.  It was 11:45pm when I went to bed, and it was dark.  When we came to Alaska, Ellen and I did some calculations using hours of daylight vs darkness and discovered that everyday we will lose 10 minutes of daylight.  The sun will rise five minutes later and set five minutes sooner.  Try to wrap your head around that.

On Sunday I attended church in St. Michael.  Katie, one of the teachers at the big school, came over to my house and walked with me to the church.  It was a blessing.  There were teachers and natives all worshipping together.  The most memorable part of the service was listening to the testimony of a young man who accepted Jesus in April.  He was able to be a witness for Christ's amazing grace to the people in that church by telling them, "You knew me.  I was bad, I was messed up.  You knew what I was like."  His interactions with the people in the village are now completely different because God has "wiped his slate clean."  What an amazing introduction to God's work in St. Michael.

Nome

Another Alaskan landmark has now been visited.  As teachers for the big school finalized their schedules and put finishing touches on their classrooms, I prepared for a week in Nome.  I packed on Sunday morning for my flight that afternoon and spent the rest of the day putting away clean dishes, washing dirty dishes and then drying them to put away.  I put out extra food, water, and litter out for the cats and arranged with Jodi to come and take care of them.  My flight was scheduled to leave at 5:05pm on Bering Air.

At 3:30pm, Jodi knocks on my door and tells me, "Stop cleaning!  You're not going anywhere!"  Apparently the hotel where we had reservations lost them or mis-scheduled them even after Julie confirmed the dates with the hotel.  A few teachers had arrived in Nome and the problem with the reservations was discovered...they had no where to stay.  Everyone who was still in their villages was called and told not to board any planes.  At the moment our training was cancelled.  I spent that evening kind of wandering around the house.  I made dinner, did dishes, finished my book, started a puzzle, and wondered what I was supposed to do on Monday.  The Kawerak teachers were in Nome already and our program doesn't start until the 31st.  I didn't feel comfortable hanging around the big school because students would be there.

So on Monday I went to the Kawerak building.  I hung up posters that I had laminated on Saturday, I labeled the cubbies with students' names, cleaned up more around the room, and took pictures for the blog.  Then I sat in a tiny chair and read through the first week's manual for Curiosity Corner.  It's a scripted program so as I was reading though each day's activities I was able to picture how it would look once the students came in.  Around 11:30am I started running out of things to do.  Fortunately, the phone in the office started ringing and I decided to answer it.

Carolyn was calling to let me know the training was back on and I was leaving for Nome that afternoon. She said Bering Air usually comes to St. Michael around 3:30pm.  If I needed to repack I could go home now and get ready.  I stayed at the Kawerak building until 12:30pm when I usually go to lunch, then I headed home.  I repacked my suitcase, weighed it, my backpack, and myself (when traveling on small planes weight is very important and they are not shy), and made lunch.  After lunch I had more dishes to wash, dry, and put away.  I took out the garbage, resupplied the cats with food, water, and litter, and made sure the windows were all closed and latched.  Then I settled on the couch with my curriculum and continued reading through it.

At about 2pm I checked my email and saw my new revised itinerary which said my plane would leave St. Michael at 5:05pm just like the original flight.  At 3:00pm, Elias from the big school came by in the truck to have me call Bering Air because they have been trying to get a hold of me.  I had to use his cell phone because I don't have a phone yet...still waiting on the phone company to activate our landline.  I gave them the weights and asked when the plane was supposed to be in.  He said between 5 and 5:15.  I told that to Elias and then settled in to wait again.

At 4:40pm the truck returns and Tim (the new vice principle) jumps out in his slacks and tie, and hurries up the stair to the main door.  I had already grabbed my backpack and suitcase and locked the door by the time he was knocking on the main door.  He said, "Good your ready, your plane is almost here!"  He said about 4:30 Carolyn had made an announcement on the PA system at the big school that the plane was seven minutes out.  Ten minutes later she ran into Tim's office and said, "You need to go get Megan!  No one showed up to get her!"  As we are driving toward the airport everyone else is driving back to town.  We get within view of the airstrip and see the plane sitting there.  As we pull up to the plane, the pilot is outside pacing while he waits for me.  We stash my stuff and I sit down and the teacher next to me asks, "So you're Megan?"  We take off and land 11 miles later in Stebbins (my first view of Stebbins) and pick up two more teachers, then we are off to Nome.

The rest of the flight was uneventful.  We landed in Nome, picked up our bags, and called a cab.  I road with my two roommates, Treca from Unalakleet and Prophetess from Stebbins.  Two wonderful, experienced teachers who are full of stories and advice.  It has been great staying with these two women.  We spent two days (it was supposed to be three, we missed the first day) learning a new assessment tool that we will be using this year and the last two days being trained on Curiosity Corner.

On Friday we completed our Curiosity Corner training before lunch and I had time to go to the Nome DMV to get my Alaska ID card, eat lunch, buy stamps at the post office, mail letters, and visit the ATM at Wells Fargo before heading to the airport for my 3:30pm flight back to St. Michael.  The last few times I have flown I choose seats in the middle of the plane, over the wing.  This is usually where I sit on the big commercial plane also.  This time I realized that I can sit in the front of the plane, so I chose to sit in the first seat right behind the empty co-pilot's seat.  I was able to watch the runway as we taxied and took-off, I was able to see exactly what the pilot saw including all of the dials, lights, and alarms.  I really enjoyed this flight.

Pictures of Nome

The Nome Saloon and casino

This polar bear protects the building that houses the DMV and other government offices.

The main street in Nome.  We walked down this road from the Aurora to the convention center and back everyday.

Each year in March, dogsled teams race from Anchorage to Nome, a distance of 1049 miles.  This is the Iditarod.

The Nugget Inn

The Nugget Inn.

The great view from my seat flying from Nome to St. Michael.

Stebbins from the runway.  Unlike in St. Michael, the airstrip is right next to the town.

The land around St. Michael and Stebbins is dotted with swamps and marshes.  This makes travel other than by airplane difficult.  However, around October this water will begin to freeze and when it snows, it will be easier to travel by ski, snowshoe, and snow machine.

Looking at the canal that make St. Michael an island.

Coming to St. Michael from Stebbins.

Flying over the St. Michael reindeer herd.

Kawerak Classroom

Here are the pictures of the completed classroom.  It started out completely empty and last week we moved over everything from the other building into the renovate building.  We spent a week unpacking, sorting, and organizing.  This is the finished product.  We will have 17 four-year olds coming in for school starting August 31.

Circle Area

Blocks Lab

Writing Lab

Dramatic Play Lab

Manipulatives Lab (puzzles and unit blocks)

Computer Lab

Library

Art Lab

Science Lab and Water/Sand Table

Our program has kids for seven hours, from 9 to 4.  So after lunch we have a nap/rest time.  Each child has a cot with their name on it.  Also after each meal (we serve breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snack) the children brush their teeth.  They have their own toothbrush with their name on it.
What you don't see in the picture are the two large kidney tables that are in the middle of the room.  These will be used for meals and small group lessons with a teacher.

Rudolph's Vacation

Ellen left Saturday morning.  I got to drive the school's truck and take her to the "airport".  This is a large gravel "+" on the top of a hill about two and a half miles outside of St Michael.  The pilot will decide which direction to land depending on the wind.  Once the plane is on the ground, the pilot will turn the plane around, taxi back to the intersection between the two strips, and pull up right next to the trucks waiting for the plane.  Then we load the plane (all the luggage/cargo goes behind the last row of seats (at least when flying Bering Air, their smallest plane, that I have seen, seats 10 including the pilots).  My last few flights have been with Era Alaska on a little 6-set Cessna.  In the plane the small carry-ons go in the nose of the plane behind the propeller and the large bags (weight-permitting) go behind the last two seats.  When the plane is loaded the plane taxis down the gravel strip, turns around, and takes off.  

Saturday, I left school in the truck, drove home to pick up Ellen, and drove out to the airport.  The gravel road to the airport slowly climbs up the hill in a variety of ups and downs.  After one such hill, I saw what looked to be a rock wall ahead of us.  As we drove closer I realized that wall was in the middle of the road.  And that is wasn't rock....it was reindeer!  The large herd of reindeer I had seen earlier this week from a distance was slowly making its way to the airstrip also.  As we pulled up right behind them, some would look back, but none of them really cared we were there.  There were some reindeer with amazing racks--any hunter would be proud to have that on his wall.  After about 5-10 minutes following the herd, they decided to move off the road and let us pass.  (Of course I left my camera at home.  Ellen had the video camera so she did some filming which she will share back in Oregon.)  We pulled onto the airstrip and waited.  We got out of the truck and enjoyed the panoramic view we had of the wilderness outside of St. Michael.  A few moments later we turned around and the reindeer herd was walking up the curvy road to the airstrip.  From inside the truck we watched them walk around the truck and onto the runway.  They took their time getting out there.  By the time the plane arrived they were down at the far end of the runway so the pilot didn't have to bother with them.  The plane pulled up, we said goodbye, Ellen boarded the plane, and I went back to school.  

According to the Era Alaska pilot I have flown with twice, reindeer are a common sight on the St. Michael airstrip. Sometimes the pilot will have to buzz the runway to scare them off before he can land.  Our pilot also said that in Stebbins, the village 11 miles away, children are a common sight on the runway.  I guess that is why the airstrip for St. Michael is so far outside of town.  

I haven't heard anything else about the bear that lives between us and Stebbins since it was in our dump earlier this week.  I'm sure we will hear about it again when the blueberries ripen.  

Preparations

Monday:
Monday I helped the Kawerak staff move their boxes and materials from the IRA (Tribal) Building to the old school where we are going to be this year.  By the time our work day ended we had all the boxes moved in and stacked in organized piles.
I am beginning to get myself on a teacher schedule.  I am trying to be in bed by 10pm so I can get up at 7am.  This is not how time works in Alaska.  We were on the Alaska schedule the first week that we were here.  We stayed up until midnight when it starts getting dark, or as long as we could, and then slept until 9am or later.  On Friday we stayed up until 1am and I didn't start my day until 2pm.  Having to get up in the morning to go to work is helping me get on the right schedule.

Tuesday;
Tuesday was another teacher work day and I spent my time at the old school helping unpack.  I met Flora and Trevor,  the Head Start teachers I will be working with.  I also me Nora, the third teacher with the 3 year-olds.  Flora helped us get organized and worked with me to draw a floor plan for the room.  We marked out where the different stations or labs will be in the room.  After that we started setting up the room.  We used the shelves to form dividers between the different areas, then we began unpacking boxes directly into the specific areas.
After lunch I walked over to the big school and talked to Carolyn about phone service and my district paperwork.  I completed my forms and gave them to the Special Ed teachers to take with them to Unalakleet.  Mail can take three weeks so anything important should be hand-delivered to where it needs to go, if possible.
When I returned to the old school, Flora and I began setting up stations with materials for the first week of school.  At the end of the day, we had our curriculum cabinets set up and we began organizing our curriculum and separating it into the different weeks.  By the time we left for the day the room was looking like a classroom and we just had a few curriculum boxes left to unpack.
After dinner, Ellen and I made brownies!  Yum.  With lots of chocolate chips!

Wednesday:
Wednesday involved going through my new curriculum kits and sorting the materials into the various units and then labeling the materials.  This took us the whole morning.  After lunch I met with Jill, kindergarten teacher, and she took me to the big school to look at her room, schedules, etc.  Today has been foggy--low, soupy clouds that hang on the hills.  When Jill was taking me back to the old school on her Honda, I looked at the hills by North Beach and thought to myself There could be a bear right over those hills.  It could just walk into town as it eats berries.
The rest of the afternoon I went through the materials that Cody, my predecessor, ordered before he went home.  There were a lot of different charts that will be very helpful in the classroom.  I went through each chart packet and punched out the pieces that go with each one, then I put all the pieces back in the bag.  When Alma was about to leave, she came over to say good night and to mention that there was a bear in town....who called it!  Yep, there was a bear at the dump.  So I grabbed my backpack, coat, and camera and.....finished what I was doing at work and went home.  It's stupid to go after a bear!  :)

Thursday
Thursday dawned bright and clear.  Visibility on a clear day here in St. Michael is amazing.  There is no smog at all.  I can look across St. Michael Bay and see the mountains behind the mountains.  With the sun comes the wind.  While the temperature on Thursday was above 60 degrees (a nice summer day!) the east wind was blowing at 15-20 mph.  The wind whips around our house and makes the stove whistle and makes a jacket necessary when walking outside.
In the classroom Flora and I began hanging up our decorations and charts and removed the extra materials from our room.  It is really beginning to look like a classroom...actually it looks like a classroom now.  There are just a few more boxes and materials present than there will be when school starts.  At the moment I am expecting 16 to 18 four-year-olds.  We start school on Wednesday,August 31.  The big school starts on Monday, August 22.  Flora created posters with the Yup'ik alphabet and the numbers, days of the week, months and colors in Yup'ik also.  I am really excited to be able to incorporate the native language into the classroom.  It is important to Flora and I believe it is important for the students.  I am beginning to learn a few words.  I had Flora pronounce them for me.  There "r" sound is the same as the French "r" sound so I already had that right.  Now I have to learn the rest of the sounds.
While we were working in the classroom Trevor came up and asked me if I'd seen the reindeer.  I said I hadn't and he took me outside and pointed them out.  There was a large herd on a peninsula that juts out into the bay.  They were cooling off on the rocks where the waves were crashing.  They were far away so I couldn't distinguish the individual animals, but I could see them moving.

Friday
Kawerak building (the old school) we continued setting up our classroom.  We began organizing the little details like putting names on the cubbies, hanging posters, putting names on toothbrushes, labeling cots, etc.  We just have a few lesson planning things to do before the kids come on the 31st.
It was another completely gorgeous day today!  The sun was bright and warm, the clouds were white, fluffy and in the distance,  the temperature is climbing toward 70 degrees, and the wind is blowing, whistling, and howling away.  It was windier today than yesterday at 20-30 mph.  The heavy front door to our house gets caught by the wind and stays open when we leave or come inside. We have to pull (hard) to close it.  While the wind might bother some people, it is keeping all the bugs away.  Gnat and mosquitoes are the big pests around here that we need to watch out for.  So far we haven't experienced them yet.  The wind and the rain has kept them away.
Tomorrow begins with a Staff Meeting and then I have a pile of papers to laminate for my classroom.  I worked longer today so I could take it easier tomorrow.  The rest of the day I will be going over the teachers manual for Curiosity Corner, the preschool curriculum I will be teaching.
Sunday is the start of the next adventure.

The House and The Sun

I finally got around to taking pictures of the finished product:  Our house rearranged, unpacked, and organized.

Our entry hall and dining room.

Our living room.

Our kitchen.

Nathan's office/guest room/ mother-in-law suite.

The master bedroom.

The bathroom.

Our first storage room.  To the right when you enter the door are the laundry machines and a utility sink.  There are cupboards above the washer and dryer. 

On the wall opposite the washer and dryer is our bulk foods pantry.  This is where we store Costco-size cases of food.  We also have two shelves of laundry necessities.

If you continue through the laundry room you enter the back room.  To the left as you enter this room is the large freezer (which we haven't even plugged in yet), the boiler (the rectangular metal box), the hot water tank (which only works if the boiler is working), and some storage shelves.

To your right in the back room are more storage shelves that are holding empty PartyLite candle boxes.  We also decided to store our good boxes back here since we have so much storage.  This room is also where we put bread dough to rise before we bake it.  With the boiler in here and all the pipes this room is usually 90 degrees.  This is normal.

 Today was the first teacher workday.  We met at the big school (Anthony A. Andrews School-K-12) for a 8:30am staff meeting.  Then we had breakfast together.  After breakfast the teachers who had trainings to attend went to trainings and the rest of us worked in classrooms.  I met with Jessie (the Special Ed teacher) and will meet with Jill (kindergarten) in the next few days to go over curriculum.  Around 10am, the maintenance staff helped me move boxes from the big school to the Kawerak (Head Start) building.  I had eight boxes of new curriculum and maybe six boxes of orders to inventory.

When I arrived at the Head Start building (right outside the back door to my house) I met Alma and Luanne, the teachers for the 3-year-olds.  They were busy moving in all their boxes from the old Head Start building.  I spent the morning checking my boxes and then went home for lunch.  When I came back I help bring in boxes from the truck and put them in their designated areas.  We finished unloading the truck around 3pm.  We began unpacking and putting away.  I went home at 4:15pm.  It was a good first day!

Today was/is beautiful!  This morning it was very foggy when I walked the quarter of a mile to the big school.  As the day progressed the fog burned off and the sun came out in full force.  It might have reached almost 60 degrees.  

To celebrate this beautiful day, Ellen and I went for a walk on the beach after dinner.  We walked on the beach that borders St. Michael Bay.  There was a lot of pottery shards on this beach compared to North Beach.  North Beach had more colored beach glass.  I found a shard that was made it Prussia!  There were also pieces of china and some homemade pots.  We had fun exploring and digging and came home with a lot of pieces of pottery and beach glass.  The sun was so warm I wore a T-Shirt outside.  I think I'm beginning to acclimate.  

Around St. Michael

My collection of shells and rocks from the beach in Unalakleet.  Can you find the tiny starfish?

The weekend is coming to a close.  Fortunately the weather was nice for us and we were able to get out of the house.  On Saturday I browsed around on the Internet looking at rain gear and winter gear.  The teachers at the training in Unalakleet were really helpful and gave their opinions on different stores and brands.  I took notes and spent Saturday researching the different sites and trying to plan where to get the things I need.  Ellen and I also went through some hypothetical budgeting and in the process got a good idea of the paychecks that I will be getting each month.

That evening Jodi (neighbor) came over and invited us to there apartment for a movie night.  We went over with our dinner and met several other teachers: Bonnie (Jodi's roommate), Julie, Jessica, Jill, and Pam.  We watch Lincoln Lawyer.  I really enjoyed it.  After the movie, Ellen and I came back to our apartment, did dishes, and decided to watch another movie.  (We are on Alaska time which means we stay up till the sun goes down--after midnight--and sleep late.)  We watched Nothing But The Truth.  Then we went to bed.

Grader:  The largest vehicle in St. Michael was out today evening out the gravel on the roads in preparation for the school year.

This bird decided to rest on my Internet dish.

Barge waiting off St. Michael Bay.

 On Sunday we met with Jodi and Katie (another teacher) and went for a walk on North Beach.  While we were walking Katie told us about the rich history surrounding St. Michael.  I plan to research more before I post anything specifically.  I want to get it right.  On the beach we gathered beach glass, which is abundant.  We found a lot of light blue, light green, white, and brown beach glass.  Dark blue glass and red glass are rare.  While we were walking the sun broke through the clouds and the air warmed up quickly.  The temperature probably reached 55 degrees.  It was enough that I took my coat off.

North Beach faces east out into the Norton Sound.  We are looking out toward the Bering Sea and Russia (although we can't see Russia from St. Michael).  This is the area where a pod of beluga whales was seen two weeks ago.  I intend to do more beach walking both on this beach and the beach off of St. Michael bay next to my house.

Ellen and I on our walk with Jodi and Katie on North Beach.

Looking down North Beach toward St. Michael.

Beach glass and pottery shards found on North Beach.

More beach glass.

Romeo and Juliet have made themselves at home.  They did great traveling for five days, but they are glad to be home.  They have more space to run around so hopefully Romeo will drop a pound or so.  16 lbs is a lot of cat.  Especially on the small planes where we pay by the pound for our baggage.

Romeo at home in the hallway outside the bedrooms.

Juliet on the leg rest of the recliner.

Tomorrow is the first day of on site teacher training.  I have a staff meeting at 8:30am at the big school.  We have training until Saturday.  Then I get to have another adventure.

Flying in Alaska

Yesterday was the last day of the New Teacher Training in Unalakleet.  We were given all our additional paperwork and forms from the district that.  After lunch the different villages began heading to the airport to fly out.  St. Michael and Stebbins are connected by an 11-mile road, which makes it easier for the teachers to share a plane.  When I left St. Michael for Unalakleet the plane picking me up stopped at Stebbins first, picked up three teachers then came for us. 

The first Stebbins flight was scheduled to depart at 1:00pm.  The pilot would drop them off then come back and pick up Carolyn, Tim, and I and the rest of the Stebbins teachers at 2:30pm.  At 4:20 we are all still at the airport in Unalakleet.  The villages are fogged in.  As we waited, more villages came in to wait expecting to fly out.  No luck yet. 

While we were waiting five of us played Rummy on a cardboard box.  We played two games before we got too sore to sit on the floor.  At 4:45pm the chatter at the check-in desk at the Era Alaska airport got our attention.  St. Michael’s airstrip had cleared up enough to fly out.  Carolyn, Tim, and I, along with Denise and Ed (from Stebbins) grabbed our bags, put our small bags in the nose of the plane and left everything else to be loaded on to the next plane.  We boarded the Cessna (with six seats) and John (our Era pilot) started up the engine.  We turned the plane and faced the runway…. and sat.  John took a glove and wiped the steam off the windows and waited. 

30 minutes later, he revved the engine and turned the plane around.  We taxied back to the airport and he turned the engine off.  There were planes coming in from Anchorage and we might as well save fuel and wait inside.  We walked inside and had to explain to everyone why we were back/still there. 

The flight from Anchorage was bringing in returning teachers, mostly for St. Michael and Stebbins.  Meanwhile, the airport had filled up with people waiting to board that plane back to Anchorage.  We waited while that flight boarded and left.  At 6:00pm we boarded the Cessna again and the returning teachers boarded a different plane.  Both planes headed down the runway.  We turned at the same time.  Then the plane with the retuning teachers took off followed by our plane. 

We flew at about 110 mph at between 350-500 feet.  At 350 we were well below the clouds and at 500, they swallowed us.  As we got closer to St. Michael, John reached between the front seats and retrieved a manual with maps of the different airports.  It was interesting watching our pilot fly and read with the book on the controls.  At 6:45 we landed on our gravel airstrip in St. Michael, unloaded our bags, picked up or other bags that were left from the flight ahead of ours, said goodbye to the Stebbins teachers and watched as the plane took off toward Stebbins. 

Steve picked us up at the airport in the school’s truck and drove us home.  I got home at 7:00pm, only four hours after I was scheduled to be home.  This is how we travel in Bush, Alaska.  We must be flexible.

Sights Around Unalakleet

On Tuesday evening after dinner the sun came out in full force.  When I was walking with Carrol and taking pictures of the sights around Unalakleet.  Here are some of the interesting and unique sights around the village.

Someone's storage shed. 

Fireweed:  Apparently when it blooms there are six weeks until the first frost.    (By September 20th)

The new group of cross-country runners.

A pony and a garden.

Unalakleet Wolves:  The school mascot.  Those are Tundra Wolves.  There are six total about the gym at the school.