Will I ever be warm again?

image credit: Anne Taintor

This afternoon, I returned home to Vancouver from a weekend in Tacoma at the state track meet. I have been to the state track meet six times now, and all I can say is, this was BY FAR the worst one on record. Even worse than freshman year when my throwing arch-nemesis beat me by one inch and I got 5th! I had no idea a worse state track meet was even possible, but I was very wrong.

When we arrived on Thursday afternoon, things appeared relatively normal, though slightly overcast. As the afternoon wore on, the clouds rolled in and the sun became obscured, and it became necessary to don a sweatshirt or light jacket. Still, with the unpredictable weather we have been experiencing lately, I think the general feeling in the community was that the clouds would blow through and we would be back under sunny skies shortly. This was not to be born. Rain began falling as the sun set, and our team took refuge first under our orange canopy, then, as conditions worsened, in one of our large eight-passenger vans. As soon as the evening's competition ended, we rushed back to the hotel and cranked our room heaters on high, confident that Friday would dawn fresh and bright.

Ahh, the naivete! Friday was a long, wet slog through running, jumping, and throwing events, with athletes, coaches, and spectators struggling to stay dry and warm. As we affixed more tarps to our canopy and squirmed into more layers of clothing, it began to dawn on us that we had gone from being at the state track meet to being on a really crap camping trip.

If I were to make a list of my top five most hated activities, camping would likely be in the top three. I hate, hate, HATE being cold! This is troubling to me because, as I mused aloud multiple times this past weekend, I am, in fact, moving to ALASKA in 2 short months.

This is what I'm in for...do you think I can handle it?!
http://www.wunderground.com/US/AK/Stebbins.html

P.S.: Yes, I knew when I signed my contract that it is really cold in Alaska and that I am a wilderness wimp. It's no use complaining about it...I just keep telling myself, "it's ok...you're getting PAID." ;) That one warm, happy thought will get me through the coldest of cold days, I think.

Parting is such sweet sorrow...well...maybe not.

As I have begun organizing and packing all of the items I have been lugging around for the past five or six years (longer in some instances...teddy bear Sparky, I'm talking about you), I have come to realize that I have WAY too much stuff. A lot of it was piled upon me by forces that were out of my control (my mother), but then there are just some things that I have not been able to part with...up until now. It's funny how preparing for a big move to the ends of the earth can prompt one to shed some weight in the belongings department.

As I sort through my clothes, books, and movies, and catalog my furniture, decor, and kitchen gadgets into four piles (pack, chuck, store, sell), I have noticed that tossing items into the 'chuck' and 'sell' piles is an unexpectedly liberating feeling. I've never really thought of sorting as being this cathartic, but it feels good to discard some of these superficial, material, layers of my life.

I will be the first one to say that I have a pretty cute apartment. I may not have top-of-the-line stuff, but I have configured my hand-me-downs and Ross finds into an arrangement that feels homey and looks pretty nice (compared to the living spaces of many of my peers). The thing is, I would never choose most of this stuff for myself. All my furniture was either cheap or free, and it is all in decent shape, but anyone who has spent much time in my apartment knows that I have the MOST uncomfortable couch on record in this world, and perhaps even in other worlds. It is also old and heavy and honestly I can't believe I have moved with it as much as I have.

The couch in question...even Roman looks uncomfortable on it!

The point is, it's really easy to get rid of this stuff because I am now moving on to that new chapter of my life where the next time I furnish my living space, I will be able to afford the kind of furniture I actually like and want. Who cares if I get rid of the stuff now or later -- it's gotta go sometime, so it might as well be now! If anything, this move is just a great excuse to flush out the sandy eyeball of my life and move on, Visine in hand (how often do you get the chance to use THAT metaphor, I ask you?!). There is one thing, however, with which I will be sad to part...

...and that would be this little nugget, my not-so-sweet cheatie, Polly. 

She is an absolute terror, but for some reason I just can't get enough of her vicious fangs and lovely lady lumps. She's the best frenemy I've ever had, but somehow I think she would find Alaska disagreeable. Or, at the least the bears would find HER disagreeable. Either way, I am trying to find her a tranquil new home which will include an option for me to take her back if anything should prevent her new owner from caring for her at any point in the indeterminate future. Because just look at that fuzzy tummy...could YOU say goodbye to that forever? Not that I've ever been able to touch the fuzzy tummy without being seriously maimed, but sometimes that's the price you pay for love.

Likeable Links!

For those of you who would like to do some IN DEPTH RESEARCH, or who just want to know more about what I'm talking about in my posts, you might want to check out some of these:

Here is where it all began, the Alaska Teacher Placement website, an AMAZING resource for anyone interested in teaching in Alaska.
http://www.alaskateacher.org/doku.php

This is the website for my new district, the Bering Strait School District (BSSD). Lots of info!
http://www.bssd.org/

This is the BSSD Wiki site, where both teachers and students contribute content. If you are interested in learning more about the villages, the standards we teach, and a slew of other interesting topics, you might want to check this out.
http://wiki.bssd.org/index.php/Main_Page

And finally, a shameless plug for Southfork River Ranch, the place I am privileged to call my second home, and where I will be spending the majority of the summer. It is a working guest ranch, where activities include horseback riding, hiking, hunting (or just wildlife viewing, for the non-bloodthirsty), fishing (the South Fork of the Clearwater River = fly fishing paradise), swimming (in the river if you are crazy enough and in the pool or hot tub if you prefer heated and chlorinated)...and really the list goes on, depending on your personal tastes. Chuck, Lana, and Anderson are amazing hosts, and if you don't have a good time here, there is something wrong with you. This is also the birthplace of my poodle boy Roman, and if you are a poodle enthusiast, there are plenty at the Ranch!
http://www.southforkriverranch.com/

Cowgirl up!

Steelhead - Feb '10

Poodle Pajama Party!

This is what you look like after a few days at Southfork...tired but sooo happy :)

Let's start at the very beginning...

So, pretty much ever since I announced to friends and family that I was leaving civilization to pursue my teaching career in the Alaskan bush, they have been vehemently requesting that I keep them updated SOMEHOW (postcard? telegram? smoke signal?) about what I am up to, 'up there'. So, TA-DAH! Here it is: my own personal blog, where I can ramble on about the important(ish) goings-on of my life and keep everyone in the loop.

I first began my search for a teaching job for this upcoming school year way back in January. It was a New Year's Resolution, of sorts, because at the time I was not coaching, getting very few calls to sub, and in general, feeling pretty downtrodden and pathetic. I knew I could not go another year living the same way - - the unpredictable, unreliable life of a substitute teacher was not agreeing with my routine-loving personality. My sister and my mom both suggested that I look into Alaska...my sister because it had been suggested by the parent of a friend of hers, and my mom because she had just finished reading Sarah Palin's book and was super inspired. So, on January second, I submitted my application to the Alaska Teacher Placement website, where it could then be accessed by every school district in the state.  Imagine my absolute surprise when only a week or two later, I got my first call from an Alaska school district! After spending the previous August and September submitting countless applications to the local school districts in SW Washington, applying for every position I felt even vaguely qualified for, and not even receiving an e-mail of rejection, to suddenly be getting calls from superintendents and HR people and to have my references telling me they had spoken to "so-and-so from ALASKA" was shocking, but in a good way! I finally felt like I was breaking through, and that I really had a chance.

I did a few over-the-phone interviews in late January/early February, and actually had one interview after which I was nearly certain I would be offered a contract, but suddenly it seemed the lines had gone dead.  I would spend days sitting here in front of this computer screen, searching job listings in Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Texas, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico...and applying to any job that fit my certifications. Of course, I also continued to keep my eye on the Alaska Teacher Placement site as well. All of my efforts towards job applications in the lower 48 states mentioned were about as fruitless as my previous attempts to find work in the Vancouver area: not one phone call or e-mail.

Feeling discouraged, I finally reached for the contact info my mom had given me a month or so ago for a relative of one of her co-workers who was a principal in Alaska. I hoped he might be a resource in giving me some advice about how best to secure a job in Alaska, in case there was something more I could do. After e-mailing Mr. Pickner, who I came to discover was the principal at Stebbins School in the Bering Strait School District, a district I had interviewed with in late January, I received a call from him which was very informative, and very encouraging. I appreciated that he didn't BS with me about the crappy retirement system I would be coming in on, or the challenges of working with a mostly native population in the bush. And the best thing he told me, after I expressed my concern at seeing the number of candidates listed on the ATP page grow exponentially day by day, was that if I REALLY wanted to teach in Alaska, I would have no trouble finding a job. Well, that made me feel better, though I still wasn't hearing anything back from any other districts at that time.

Track season started in March, my second year of coaching discus and shot at Washougal High School, and it was nice to have daily work, even if it was just an hour or two. Subbing seemed to pick up as well, and the stress of the job search lifted a bit. I was banking on the ATP job fair that would take place in Seattle in mid-April as my big chance to secure a position. A decent number of districts would be in attendance, and I would be able to interview right there and maybe even be offered a contract on the spot.

That was all well and good until I picked up a voicemail after school on a fairly normal Wednesday in the middle of March. It was from Mr. Pickner, the principal I had spoken to a month or so earlier, telling me that his district was going to offer me a position at his school for the upcoming school year and that he really hoped I would take it. I was quite shocked, and listened to the message over again a few times, to be sure I had heard correctly. When I had originally contacted Mr. Pickner, I was not stumping for a job, I was just looking for some friendly advice. To receive that message from him was the very last thing I expected! Even though I had done a phone interview with the district, having not heard from them since January, I had pretty much counted myself out of the running for their hiring pool. It was like going from zero to sixty in a second, and I was feeling slightly whip lashed!

Well, to wrap things all up, I got a hold of Mr. Pickner the next day, and was then contacted by the BSSD's HR department that weekend. I was e-mailed my contract, which I signed and faxed back a few days later. And that was that! My job search was over, and my journey to Alaska had begun.

I got to meet my new principal, Mr. Pickner (aka 'Pick') at the Seattle ATP job fair in April. After meeting him in person, and other district personnel with whom I had had contact over the phone and online, my confidence that I had made the right decision was solidified.

At this moment in time, I am focused on finishing the track season (we have a week and a half to go), getting moved out of my apartment (stuff to store, stuff to sell, stuff to send to AK), and getting out of Vancouver and on the road to our ranch property in Stites, ID where I will be spending the summer as a quasi-ranch hand for Chuck and Lana Melgin. Two months of summer, then on August 8th, I fly from Portland to Anchorage, and the adventure REALLY begins!