I arrived in Mountain Village this afternoon, after spending 8 nights in Anchorage. First, it was about 14 hours from Orlando to Anchorage, with a layover in Seattle. Not bad, actually. Anchorage was a much bigger city than I realized. It is nestled between Cook Inlet and the Chugachi Mountains. Very cloudy, so hard to see much. The temps all week were around 45 degrees, dipping to freezing at night, but, dirty, melting snow all over. My hotel was on Lake Hood, a long time favorite of Bush Pilots (has changed hands many times over the years), It presently is frozen, but I watched a couple of planes take off and many guests flew in. Lots of memorabilia throughout the hotel, along with life size models...stuffed???..animals and birds. It is the headquarters of the Iditarod, which will be running the first weekend in March. The lobby was filled with many temptations which I managed to mostly avoid. One day I took a shuttle downtown, hoping to see the Museum. As luck would have it, it was closed! However, the tourist shops were all open. Again, I exercised great restraint and bought only a fleece jacket, which I wore every day as it was too warm for my parka, and a couple trinkets. There were some beautiful ice sculptures in the town square (melting). The next 3 days were spent in a Reading Workshop for Principals and Reading Specialists. One morning I met a young lady from Arkansas, passing through on her way to another village out here. Friday, I walked around, found a thrift store and bought a couple pair of jeans. Silly me did not bring any ..what is that about?...and all people wear. Saturday, after doing laundry at my high dollar hotel, off to a marathon shopping/mailing experience. Keep reminding myself that once it is all there will not be spending anymore money....just paying back those who helped....I thank you sincerely! Sunday morning, after checking in at the airport, we (my new boss and I ), made one more trip to the post office, then back to the airport. Had to give up my carryon as we were going in a 15 passenger plane. Thankfully, they did not charge me any more...had already paid extra for my frozen food. That flight took about an hour and a half, bringing us to St. Mary's. Our flight out was scheduled around 3:30, however, soon after we arrived, about noon thirty, it started snowing. The first I had seen.....discussion followed....ended up when the snow quit and the skies cleared, 6 of us jumped into another plane for the 10 minute flight to MV. Gear to follow later. That was around 1:30, 2:00. In other words, be ready to travel when weather permits, despite what the schedule may say. Our luggage arrived around 3:30. Meanwhile, I got a tour of the district office, the town, a visit to the local store ( $7.00 pizza for dinner). It was on sale. Bought Mac and Cheese, 2 cans of soup and the pizza...$16.00.... Brian, boss, got me checked into the "hotel." It is a converted trailer..???..Many small bedrooms. Bathrooms on one end. Kitchen on the other. Laundry in the middle. It is Itinerant Teacher Housing. One woman was here, hard at work. She is a Psychologist who comes up from Oregon, spends 2 weeks travelling the villages, testing students. She has given me great tips on how to survive with all the travelling, what to bring, what doesn't work, how to pack, etc. All the things she has learned in her 6 or so visits this year. There is another woman who lives here full time, but is in Anchorage now. This is where I will stay when I am here. In Nunam Iqua, I will have a residence. Likely, I will be sleeping in the school at the 3rd village...hence, the sleeping bag! The plan for now is to go to NI on Tuesday, get settled, explore, start getting acquainted and go to the third village next week. Brian is extremely busy and trying to adjust his schedule to do it all. Sounds like I have a meeting with State representatives soon, along with the preschool people. At the moment, I am connected to the wireless, but it does not sound like I will have in residence. I can see already I need a much smaller laptop....along with many other lighten the load measures. Will need to bring food, towels, etc as I travel, along with sleeping bag, and District mandated...travel in boots, parka, snow pants, face mask, hat, goggles, etc.
Next time, I will try to write like I know how. Meanwhile, as I stood looking at the frozen tundra...think National Geo pics...I was struck with the idea...Florida with BIG sand dunes...or in the case of Bartow, mining mountains...NO TREES! Plants. In fact, they reminded me of mangroves. Not exactly the same, but since this is marshy area they are likely the same family, sort of. Lots of clouds, so very hard to see. River is 1 mile wide and frozen solid. This is the "mountainous area", hence , the name.
It is nearly 10 pm, which in your world means 2am. Still not fully adjusted. Has been a long day, so going to wrap this up and post. Will go to FB to note there. Thanks for all the good wishes. JS PS Pics soon.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
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