The Story of Cat's Life: CrAzY Week

Oh where do I start!? "As great grandpa Alphonse always use to say, 'When you don't know where to start, go back to the beginning."

The beginning starts Friday when everyone was on their way to their villages, while Jori and I got to stay in Unalakleet until the next day. In the morning we were split into two groups: group 1) did DART training, email, and other computer usernames and passwords & group 2) did paperwork: insurance, direct deposit, and other important documents we need to teach. I was in group 2, in case you were wondering. After training it was lunch time and they were telling people when it was there time to get going to the plane, and that didn't matter if you were eating you went! As the day subdued Jori and I were one of the last people, along with a teacher couldn't get on the plane because there was no room for his dog; so he had to stay at the school until Monday evening. Poor guy, but I wouldn't wanna leave my dog either; although I wouldn't travel with a dog, but that's just me; too much hassle and worries. Any who, after dinner we heard that everyone was still at Era waiting to get off the ground. We had to check that out!

Jori and I walked up to Era and sure enough almost all the newbies were sitting waiting to get on a plane! Some of them waited from 1:15 pm to 7:15 pm to get on a plane. That had to have sucked, but that's the thing about flying bush Alaska: you hurry up and wait. Oh and this waiting was all due to fog around the other villages. To continue the adventure Jori and I heard from our principal that the district office had a miscommunication about our arrangements in Nome: no one booked a room for us and Nome was sold out. Ooops. So our principal called an old friend, who was also an ex-major of Nome and owns a bed and breakfast, for a place to stay. He was pretty much booked too, he had one bed open and a living room we were welcome to. Thank goodness he let us stay even with the limited space.

Now before I get to Nome I have to tell you about our night in the school alone. I've been showering at night to help save time in the morning, so I grabbed all my stuff to shower and walked down to the showers. We stayed in the elementary wing of the school and the showers were in the high school wing, so basically on the other side of the school. I'm walking along no problem until I get to the high school wing. The. Lights. Were. Off! So I decided to put the big girl panties on and walk down there by myself. I was fine, but when I got to the girl's locker room both doors were locked. Crap! But the boy's locker room was open. Well, I yelled hello to make sure no one was in there. Of course there isn't, but in case the other teacher or custodians were there. No one was in there so I figure why not. So get all my stuff set down and was getting ready to shower, I noticed my luffa was missing. Great!

So I had to walk all the way back to the elementary wing to get it. So as I'm walking out the door of the boy's locker room the glass shows a reflection of me, but at first I didn't think of that. So I thought there was a person standing there, so I screamed pretty loud; but not loud enough that Jori couldn't hear me. I basically ran back to the elementary wing after that because I was freaked out. In the end Jori came with me so I wouldn't walk and shower alone. You're probably wondering if we put up a sign to warn guys that girls were in the guy's locker room. Nope, we just shut the doors since the doors were locked and just propped open. Good times, good times.

Next day we get on a two prop plane to Nome. First we went to Airport Pizza, which if you are ever in Nome, Alaska you need to go to Airport Pizza and order the Baker's pizza! Oh so good!! Nome was a cute town with lots of history. We walked around, saw the museum, library, and some various shops. Also if you are in Nome you need to stay at the bed and breakfast we stayed at, Sweet Dreams Bed & Breakfast. Even though Jori camped out on the recliner and I on the couch, it was such a neat place and Leo, the ex-major, is an awesome guy with some good stories. Also a really good breakfast and no pressure to check in or out. Just a really cool place.

Next day was the big day; time to go home to Diomede! Also it was a day to ride in a helicopter, which I was excited for, but also nervous about. So Jori and I headed to Wales, where we had to wait for the helicopter to take Joe and Sandra (teacher and principal) to Diomede then it would come to Wales to pick us up. So we got to hang out with Stacey, a newbie who met me at the airport in Anchorage. Then a little over 2 hours later it was time...the helicopter ride.

As we're getting ready for take off Jori asked our nice pilot how long he's been flying. He said he flew helicopter for the Navy for 20 years and then been doing this for four years. After I'm all strapped in and we are starting to take off I was thinking oh my we are going strait up without moving first. It was a little weird, but I was ok I had my Dramamine and I just kept thinking 'he's been doing this for as long as I've been alive', I said that over and over again in my head. Our pilot was so great he told us before when we were gonna hit some high winds, which was nice because I prepared myself for it. It was so cool as we approached the island, there were a lot of things going on in my head, like "this is home" or "wow I'm here". As we were coming around the mountain there were tons of birds flying right next to us. It was SO cool! Plus it was so pretty; the water and the rock is was just amazing!

We land, safely, and there's a crowd of children hugging us and grabbing our bags. We felt like rock stars! It was so cool. Well, I see my bags going on without me so I start walking and fallowing all the kids all the way up to our house, which does have a lot of steps! (But it's not too bad) We get inside and the kids were all over going crazy and Jori must have told them who's room is whose because the next thing I know kids are carrying totes, boxes, and bags into our rooms. It was so nice of the villagers to take our totes and boxes we mailed up to our house:) After we can see the living room floor the kids were going crazy: jumping on our beds and going everywhere in the house! It was time for them to go because there were too many of them. So Sandra came to help get them out so we can unpack and process everything that just happened. They were so cute, but if they would have stay a minute longer they would have started fighting because there wasn't a lot of wiggle room in our house.

The kids left and we started unpacking and getting things organized. As we are unpacking the kids kept coming back and banging on our doors because they wanted to visit. I wanted to get unpacked and settled, as did Jori; so we just ignored them, which felt very bad and rude, but the kids have a different mind set here. Jori and I have to be blunt with the kids because they don't understand polite suggestions. It's their way and there's nothing wrong with it because they are such a tight-nit community; like Cheers, everybody knows your name and they're always glad you came. But it was a little scary when the kids kicked in the outside door, so we used the door jam we found in the storage room after that.

Yesterday, Monday, was a crazy day. We had to be to school at 9 so Jori could get ready for her VTC conference at 10. Mind you we went to bed around midnight, which is looking to be the same tonight again, because it's so light out until midnight. So I walk in and see the gym where my classroom is and I have a mini panic attack. There is stuff stacked taller than me and just boxes everywhere! It was very overwhelming. But by the end of the day it was ok, because I at least had an outline of my classroom and the gym was starting to come together. But I still didn't know where everything was because on move out day everything was just thrown into boxes and brought to the gym. No organization, which was a little frustrating.

Then today was a little frustrating because technology was not on our side. Joe and I had a VTC social studies curriculum seminar and that was three hours! Yuck! But teaching isn't always fun, there are some things you have to do that aren't fun, like sit through things like that. I think that the conference could have been an hour tops, but not everyone learns the same so we had to accommodate every one's learning styles. The curriculum is so laid out and helpful on its own, but there were some pieces of the presentation that I learned something. Then at 1 we had a Webex seminar to show us how to use the curriculum's website. That was just a crazy two hours of people trying to get signed on and get codes to get signed on. Also the seminar wasn't loading correctly so I could see the presentation, but not hear it. So I had to call so I could hear, but they were busy getting everyone registered and online. Long story short there were like 20 minutes of no one speaking so I hung up and called it a day. I didn't get to spend any time getting my room ready because of silly slow technology. Plus school starts Monday and still have lesson plans to write!

But tomorrow's another day and it'll be better, at least I hope. I just have to keep in mind that this feeling of drowning is normal for first year teachers. Lots of things to do and remember and little time to do it in and remember at once. In spite all this I am excited that I'm here and I can't wait to work with the kids because they are really cute!

*Sorry so long, but the title says it all: CrAzy Week