getting darker

From the Nome Nugget for last week:
Sunrise 8/16: 7:03am
Sunrise 8/25: 7:25am

Sunset 8/16: 11:05pm
Sunset 8/25: 10:39pm

By next week it'll be dark when I go to bed AND when I get up.

cracking up

I have to share this excerpt from Bill Bryson's book, I'm a Stranger Here Myself, about his lack of luck with air travel.
"I always have catastrophes when I travel. Once on an airplane, I leaned over to tie a shoelace just at the moment the person in the seat ahead of me threw his seat into full recline, and I found myself pinned helplessly in the crash position. It was only by clawing the leg of the man sitting next to me that I manged to get myself freed."
He is not a small man and picturing this makes me laugh. He then goes on to tell of a time when he spilt his drink on the woman next to him and the attendant cleaned her up and brought him a replacement drink--which he then spilt on her.
Funny.

days 12-17, or something like that

I want to be all bloggy-blog-a-day but then I start reading or interneting and then it all goes out the window.

Soooo, let's see. Last week we had NACTEC training and I learned lots. Super excited to get the kids in here and teach them a thing or two! My focus in on life skills with some career skills thrown in.
Some things happened last weekend that I failed to put up pictures of. Here they are:

Mark and I drove up to see this--White Alice communication system. For more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Alice_Communications_System

This is what Nome looks like from White Alice on a regular day.

It was quite windy.

Rumor has it they might be tearing it down.

There's a muskox herd in town right now. Here they are by the new hospital. (Two days after they were across the main road from by my house.)

My awesome boots arrived in the mail.

Good up to -100 supposedly.

AND--I snipped a couple starts from a plant at school. The air feels cleaner already.

Back to the week in question:
Thursday night we had a cookout at Nathan and Aprille's house out past Dexter. Nathan and Aprille both work for BSSD and are housed in our office. Beard and I live in their old house.

Carl and Aprille

Doug (NACTEC director) and Adrian who is moving to Diomede

Katie in the "hot tub"

Katie and Aprille by the river

Nathan and Aprille's house and greenhouse

Saturday Katie and I picked some berries and then Mark and I met her, Nathan and Aprille at Airport Pizza for the 5th annual Singer/Songwriter night. Donations go to the Nome Children's Home. We met a woman named Opik who is originally from Diomede and who invited us for a traditional dinner Tuesday night. Mark and I stayed out later than we thought.

Sunday Mark and I took a drive to Teller. I'll be counseling there 5-6 times this year for a week at a time. We visited Thomas who I met at Welcome Wagon and we also hung out with in Unalakleet for new teacher training. I think I'll be working with a fair deal as he teaches HS math. Teller is tiny--about 200 people I think.

King Island--In the 60s (I think) the residents of this island were moved off and relocated to Nome where they lived on the east side. Here they are still knows as the King Island Community.

Lights on for safety.

Kids in Teller

Me waving to my Brevig brethren

Brevig from Teller

Thomas and Mark in front of Thomas' apt house.

Teller Post Office

Graffiti on the side of the water tower/tank. Thomas said the water level had been low recently and equipment had to be brought in. In his apt there is running water but it is salt water. He gets his drinking water from the school and showers there as well. I, too, will soon be a school showerer when I visit Teller.

James C. Isabell school.

My office while I'm there.

The side of the community building shows the history of Teller.

View off the main drag.

Teller from the airport

zoomed. off to the right is the spit. brevig mission has a spit as well and if one wanted to, one could probably swim between the two. however, the town of brevig mission proper is located about 7 miles to the left of the spit.

The airport where I'll be flying in and awaiting transportation into town.

days 9-11

Friday night (day 8) Mark and I checked out the scene downtown. He was interested in finding a room to rent and I was happy to have someone to go out with. We went to Mark's first--you can do you laundry, get a drink and even have a meal. Then we crossed the street to Board of Trade. It was much more lively than Mark's. We didn't stay long b/c it was pretty loud and getting louder. We walked up the street to the Polar Bar and Mark got a lead but the room was above the bar...not the best location for someone who has to work in the morning.
Saturday I slept in and putzed around the house. Mark borrowed the truck for some errands and later he picked me up to go check out a different room with him. This one is further down on Front St and seems to be a good fit. He's practically right on the water. We stopped in at the Anchor Tap (bar, saloon, whatev) to celebrate.
Sunday Mark was having an issue with Skype--he forgot to log in--so I went to help him out. After we went blueberry picking and got almost a gallon! woo hoo! those will be great in the winter when we're jonesing for berries. I also learned today that we can eat the little black berries that aren't blackberries. We were lucky to not get rained on but it was pretty cold. We shared a pair of gloves and when I lost feeling in my fingertips of my right hand and started smooshing berries I had to switch the glove over.
Today we had our first day of NACTEC training. We learned about internal operations--email, timekeeping, POs, vans, etc. One fun thing we got to do was split into teams and try to get as close to $500 as we could while shopping for groceries. Both teams did very well--total $999.74.
Tonight I ate leftover salmon and spanish rice. I finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and started a book of stories--Say You're One of Them.
Bird is the Word--I'm off.

days 6-8 training and back to NOME!

I'm back from being trained! I learned about the reading system Success For All, our school district's wiki , and the DART system where we have access to kids' records. We also worked out paperwork, ate well and even had a bonfire. Here are some snaps:

interneting on our new MAC laptops while waiting for training to start. Mark, Thomas, Lauren, Barnabas


1:30am and still fairly light. it was completely dark by 2:30


Greg and Mark try to get chess to work.


Barnabas chilling in Camp Brevig


Camp Brevig--yes it was co-ed sleeping and yes we were in a classroom.


Barnabas, Lauren and I did the 3 mile walk and Mark did the 5 mile run on the last night. Snaps from the "race."

Lauren is standing by the first windmill but you can barely see her.


the pond was so reflecty


PRETTY


Lauren and I at a pretty place--also where the mosquitoes hang out.


sled dogs


Mark


Lauren, Me, Barnabas


ted


Ron and other walking


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