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.