I'm in Bethel for the night. We (my Pop & I) fly to Anchorage on the am jet (7:45am departure, ugh!).
Sat. we'll start our hike on Crow's Pass. Yay! We plan on camping & hiking leisurely. After the hike we have until June 3rd to piddle, yes I said piddle, around in ANC, Seward, & Homer.
June 3-12 Pops will join me in Juneau. On the 5th I start a field based geology class (EDGE) learning about GPS & a computer map making program; that ends on the 17th. We might meet up some during that time, but he's going to be exploring the area.
June 18th I'll go to Cordova, AK (Prince William Sound, Copper River area) to take another field based class. I guess we'll leave promptly on the 19th to go to mile 25 & settle into camp. This class deals with oceanography, ecology, & wetlands study. All going back to how we can use this in the classroom.
June 23rd, I'm homeward bound to NC. I haven't been there since August of last year!
August 7th I'll be homeward bound again for AK & my 4th year teaching! Woah...
For those of you who are non-Alaskans, it's 11pm & fully bright outside.
The midnight sun has begun!
25 May 2006
Pops 1st time in AK
Schools out. Summer's in.
My Pops came to visit the village for a couple of days. We walked just about every stitch of boardwalk there is on our side of the river. He went ice fishing (aka jigging, manaqing) for the first time & caught 3 pike, all over a foot long. We're all on ice in that jigging picture, no land for another 30 feet or so.
Our ride to the airport consisted of: walking to the post office dock, through the slush of the river, onto the needle ice, walking behind a boat, jumping in the boat as it was sliding into the water. Then, paddled over to a dock across the river, waited while the agent went to get his 4-wheeler & trailer to take us about a mile over the boardwalk on that side of the river. Fun times. I'm glad none of us fell through the ice!
My dad took the other 2 photos.
15 May 2006
C a r l
Photo take by S-Mac (by birth Sara MacDonald) 2004
This is Carl Abalama & his typical grand smile. He's always willing to make someone smile or crack a joke. A Really great kid! I was able to see Carl when we visited Quinhagak over Easter break. Unfortunately, Saturday afternoon he was acidentially shot while bird hunting with his uncle & cousin. He is the youngest son of Kathy & Curtis Abalama.
The family has been hosting a 'wake feast,' in which people bring over food, sing, and visit in the main home for 3 days after a death. This happens during all hours of the day. The body was brought from the clinic to the church to be viewed yesterday. Today his casket arrived. The funeral is tomorrow. I will be attending along with Christina and Eric and Sherry Pederson.
August 23, 1995 ~ May 13, 2006
07 May 2006
10 days of school left
Yes, we have 10 days of school left & then the summer games begin. For me this means continuing to try to get them to higher reading, writing, & math levels. I am pushing those tests a little bit more. After all, we do only have this week to torture them with these! Then, it is all about record keeping for me. For them, it means games and art projects and driving me up the wall. Summer fever has definitely set in. I love them!
05 May 2006
Typical
Unlike 3 weeks ago when I went to Bethel for an uncommon 3 day, 2 night leisurely stay. Today I went to Bethel just for the day (10:10am-5:00pm).
Thursday ~
*Prep. for a sub & write sub plans. I Still hate doing this!
*Pack a light backpack to be entertained just in case I am detained anywhere.
Friday ~
*Wake up later than a typical school day.
*Watch an episode of 'Starting Over' while having breakfast.
*Freak out when it's 9:15 & I haven't heard anything from the agent. I Know that the plane leaves Bethel at 9!
*Call agent & get on his nerves the moment I say 'hi.'
*Freak out at 9:30. I just talked to the new agent & he refused to pick me up until he heard from the airline. All the while he was saying to expect the plane at 10 or 10:30, which I just knew was wrong. 10am appointment at the chiropractor's. (I know I'm more patient than this!)
*Call airline in Bethel to be told that the plane left at 9:27. Whew! But, they don't have my name listed on the flight & the flight is full. What?!
*Freak out at 9:40 when I hear a plane overhead. I was hoping that if it was Yute I could hop on, but I didn't have a ride to the airport. Just as I started to call Bethel to see if it was them, the Hageland agent beeps in saying he's going to pick me up.
*Stopped being a freak.
*Picked up to ride a sled behind a snow machine. It's been warm at 30-40 degrees all week, so we have a lot of melt action. Aka deep slush on the river on top of a layer of ice on top of flowing river beneath.
*Drenched by the time I get to the airport a mile away. Very glad I have a good coat & wore the snow pants. Tomatoe plants are seriously tramatized from being taken out of the hydroponics unit, bumped about on the sled & now they're in for a plane ride.
*10:20
Arrived at my chiropractor's appointment 20 minutes late & he could care less. I loved my first session! All the cracking is cool. He even hooked me up to send some sticky electric pads to relax my muscles. There was also this table that had rollers go down my spine to stretch the vertebrae a bit. To boot my insurance pays 90%, so my bill will be around $20.
*11:30
Off to drop off my precious tomatoe plants that I grew from seeds. The tallest one is about 2 feet. I gave them to Sara's dad because I'm not taking them with me for the summer.
*I see Sara's mom at her house & she tells me they are having Yup'ik foods at the LKSD district office. Then, she hands me a dish & tells me to take it down to the car, I'll go have lunch with them before my dentist appointment.
*Upon arrival at the D.O. I see a few people that I haven't been able to talk to of haven't seen for a while. Ate food, chatted a lot with a some people (new & old), ordered an NYO shirt.
*12:55
Jump after looking at the clock because I'm due at the dentist's office at 1. I've been trying to see this man since September, at least! But, at this point I have one other person I have to say hello to & I have to call a cab. Yes, I called to tell him I was going to be late.
*1:15
Arrive at Dr. White's office. "Ready kiddo?" I had a filling replaced & bought one of those crazy big toothbrushes that massage your gums while you brush.
*2:30ish
Cabbed it to the Bethel Family Clinic. I had to get a form signed saying I had a physical a month ago. Otherwise, LKSD was going to send out the dogs after me. Done.
*3:00ish
Cabbed it to the YKHC (hospital) business building to get a receipt from an ER visit. Last time I went to the ER my insurance paid for my plane tickets. So, I'm going to try to get another $80 out of my insurance company.
*Walked across the street to the main hospital to go to the release of information office. They have what I need, but they have to mail it to me.
*Cabbed it to the craft store that is going out of business because of their $3000/ rent not inculding utilities (the lavish life in Bethel). There I bought some beeds & lovely ivory & muskox horn earings shaped like Uluqs.
*3:30
Walked to the ajacent grocery store to pick up some milk, grapes, lettuce, & goodies to bring back as little presents.
*4:15
Back at the airport to go home. I saw a couple from Quinhagak there, so we were able to chat until 5 when I left.
*5:30ish
I find out that we're having a staff appreciation pizza party. Put away milk, etc. & trudge up to the school hoping that I don't loose my shoe when I sink into the soft snow past my knees. Walk flat, walk flat I keep telling myself.
*Shop online for camping gear after our sware'. I begin this virtual expedition at school & then I relocated to Jenny's apartment. I still didn't buy anything until Sat., errrr, early Sun. am.
*7:45
Go home to unload my backpack some & start the snow machine to go over to Sara's in Akiuk, one of our neighboring villages 2.5 miles away. Luckily Eric was there to start it for me. I still have not mastered that blasted pull start! We followed Eric over.
*8:00
Funny how driving a snow machine over deep slush in places can feel like a jet ski. Basically I tried to keep the speedometer at 30 over the sludge. Once we (Christina was on the machine with me) hit some dryer snow boy did the speed pick up quickly! That was fun! At this point in the year, I'm pretty comfortable after hearing that the ice hasn't broken through yet. The ice shelf is actually still thick enough because it's just been slowly melting & rising. Once it gets thin, then it will start opening up the river at the surface again.
*Played a mad game of Settler's of Catan. We changed the rules a bit, on of which was that the winner had to play All of their pieces first. This was a three hour game. Chocolate banana bread (Sara's specialty), red grapes, & hot tea were our treats for the evening.
Saturday ~
*1:30am
Drove back to Nunap, which was a bit more unpredictable due to not being able to see as far ahead.
*Watched another recorded episode of 'Starting Over' with Christina while she started some laundry.
*Watched some actual music videos on vh1. KT Tunstall rocks!!!
*ZZZZZzzzzzZZZZZzzzzzZZZZzzzZZzzZz
Thursday ~
*Prep. for a sub & write sub plans. I Still hate doing this!
*Pack a light backpack to be entertained just in case I am detained anywhere.
Friday ~
*Wake up later than a typical school day.
*Watch an episode of 'Starting Over' while having breakfast.
*Freak out when it's 9:15 & I haven't heard anything from the agent. I Know that the plane leaves Bethel at 9!
*Call agent & get on his nerves the moment I say 'hi.'
*Freak out at 9:30. I just talked to the new agent & he refused to pick me up until he heard from the airline. All the while he was saying to expect the plane at 10 or 10:30, which I just knew was wrong. 10am appointment at the chiropractor's. (I know I'm more patient than this!)
*Call airline in Bethel to be told that the plane left at 9:27. Whew! But, they don't have my name listed on the flight & the flight is full. What?!
*Freak out at 9:40 when I hear a plane overhead. I was hoping that if it was Yute I could hop on, but I didn't have a ride to the airport. Just as I started to call Bethel to see if it was them, the Hageland agent beeps in saying he's going to pick me up.
*Stopped being a freak.
*Picked up to ride a sled behind a snow machine. It's been warm at 30-40 degrees all week, so we have a lot of melt action. Aka deep slush on the river on top of a layer of ice on top of flowing river beneath.
*Drenched by the time I get to the airport a mile away. Very glad I have a good coat & wore the snow pants. Tomatoe plants are seriously tramatized from being taken out of the hydroponics unit, bumped about on the sled & now they're in for a plane ride.
*10:20
Arrived at my chiropractor's appointment 20 minutes late & he could care less. I loved my first session! All the cracking is cool. He even hooked me up to send some sticky electric pads to relax my muscles. There was also this table that had rollers go down my spine to stretch the vertebrae a bit. To boot my insurance pays 90%, so my bill will be around $20.
*11:30
Off to drop off my precious tomatoe plants that I grew from seeds. The tallest one is about 2 feet. I gave them to Sara's dad because I'm not taking them with me for the summer.
*I see Sara's mom at her house & she tells me they are having Yup'ik foods at the LKSD district office. Then, she hands me a dish & tells me to take it down to the car, I'll go have lunch with them before my dentist appointment.
*Upon arrival at the D.O. I see a few people that I haven't been able to talk to of haven't seen for a while. Ate food, chatted a lot with a some people (new & old), ordered an NYO shirt.
*12:55
Jump after looking at the clock because I'm due at the dentist's office at 1. I've been trying to see this man since September, at least! But, at this point I have one other person I have to say hello to & I have to call a cab. Yes, I called to tell him I was going to be late.
*1:15
Arrive at Dr. White's office. "Ready kiddo?" I had a filling replaced & bought one of those crazy big toothbrushes that massage your gums while you brush.
*2:30ish
Cabbed it to the Bethel Family Clinic. I had to get a form signed saying I had a physical a month ago. Otherwise, LKSD was going to send out the dogs after me. Done.
*3:00ish
Cabbed it to the YKHC (hospital) business building to get a receipt from an ER visit. Last time I went to the ER my insurance paid for my plane tickets. So, I'm going to try to get another $80 out of my insurance company.
*Walked across the street to the main hospital to go to the release of information office. They have what I need, but they have to mail it to me.
*Cabbed it to the craft store that is going out of business because of their $3000/ rent not inculding utilities (the lavish life in Bethel). There I bought some beeds & lovely ivory & muskox horn earings shaped like Uluqs.
*3:30
Walked to the ajacent grocery store to pick up some milk, grapes, lettuce, & goodies to bring back as little presents.
*4:15
Back at the airport to go home. I saw a couple from Quinhagak there, so we were able to chat until 5 when I left.
*5:30ish
I find out that we're having a staff appreciation pizza party. Put away milk, etc. & trudge up to the school hoping that I don't loose my shoe when I sink into the soft snow past my knees. Walk flat, walk flat I keep telling myself.
*Shop online for camping gear after our sware'. I begin this virtual expedition at school & then I relocated to Jenny's apartment. I still didn't buy anything until Sat., errrr, early Sun. am.
*7:45
Go home to unload my backpack some & start the snow machine to go over to Sara's in Akiuk, one of our neighboring villages 2.5 miles away. Luckily Eric was there to start it for me. I still have not mastered that blasted pull start! We followed Eric over.
*8:00
Funny how driving a snow machine over deep slush in places can feel like a jet ski. Basically I tried to keep the speedometer at 30 over the sludge. Once we (Christina was on the machine with me) hit some dryer snow boy did the speed pick up quickly! That was fun! At this point in the year, I'm pretty comfortable after hearing that the ice hasn't broken through yet. The ice shelf is actually still thick enough because it's just been slowly melting & rising. Once it gets thin, then it will start opening up the river at the surface again.
*Played a mad game of Settler's of Catan. We changed the rules a bit, on of which was that the winner had to play All of their pieces first. This was a three hour game. Chocolate banana bread (Sara's specialty), red grapes, & hot tea were our treats for the evening.
Saturday ~
*1:30am
Drove back to Nunap, which was a bit more unpredictable due to not being able to see as far ahead.
*Watched another recorded episode of 'Starting Over' with Christina while she started some laundry.
*Watched some actual music videos on vh1. KT Tunstall rocks!!!
*ZZZZZzzzzzZZZZZzzzzzZZZZzzzZZzzZz
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