The day before the first day of school, or, the last day of my life as I have known it.

It all comes down to this. Months of preparation - packing, shipping, traveling, saying goodbye to family and friends, and leaving my old life (physically, at least) behind, and now I am here: on the eve of my first ever first day of school, in Alaska of all places!

Ever since my arrival in the state just two (is it even possible?!) weeks ago, I have been almost non-stop doing things I never imagined I would (or could) do. When I think about what I was doing at this time last year...well, if you had told me then that at the same time next year I would be getting ready to start my teaching career in the Alaskan bush, I would have laughed in your face. It's funny, the way things turn out, isn't it? As a friend pointed out to me just recently, you have to wonder if some things just happen for a reason. Life can seem really random and pointless at times, until you start to look back and connect the dots. I do think some purpose or plan larger than myself has helped me to reach this point, but at the same time, I have to give myself some credit. I also have to give credit to my incredible, supportive family and one very dear friend, who have in equal parts held my hand and kicked me in the butt. You know who you are, and I wouldn't be sitting here today if it weren't for you love and guidance.

I believe it was Eleanor Roosevelt who said "Do one thing every day that scares you." I have (almost unknowingly) made that my new life philosophy, and so far the payoff has been startling. And because of that fact, I am confident that no matter how nervous, stressed, and flat out scared I am about what is going to happen in the coming days, weeks, and months, I will only end up stronger for it. I will try to keep posting here as regularly as possible, but no guarantees...I am going to be slightly busy from here on out :)

Alaska snap-shots

I have been in Alaska almost a week and it has been a non-stop whirlwind so far. I have managed to take a few pictures in between shopping, flying, training, and overall acclimating to my new surroundings. Here are a few of my favorites so far - a mini photo-essay of my journey up until now.

This was the aftermath of our day of shopping in Anchorage. Jodi (my colleague and new friend) picked me up from the airport in Anchorage and I stayed with her at her aunt and uncle's house before we left for Unalakleet. We went from being complete strangers to being "bonded for life" after our experience shopping together at Costco and Wal-Mart. It was an experience I will never forget and I am so grateful that I had Jodi there to somewhat hold my hand through it all.

This is the Unalakleet airport on a beautiful summer morning. We were waiting for our flight out to Stebbins after our three days of new teacher training. The green plane on the right came to take our luggage, then a bigger green plane (bigger than the one on the left by a bit) came to take us to Stebbins. I was pretty nervous about the flight but we made it in one piece (and so did our bags)!

This is my view out of the plane. It was a gorgeous flight over Norton Sound. I think it took us maybe 20 minutes to fly from Unalakleet to Saint Michael, then it was about a ten minute drive from Saint Michael to Stebbins.

The view down the beach toward the bluff at Stebbins. It was a beautiful first day in the village and it was great to meet all of the other teachers I will be working with this year. I felt very warmly welcomed by not only the staff but by the village children as well. They were there to greet us when we arrived and were eager to "visit" our homes and play with us on the beach. The kids really enjoyed trying to get me to say Yupik words then laughing at me when I butchered them.

We set our net out in the sound in hopes of pulling in a big salmon catch the next day. It was an absolutely gorgeous night - the perfect end to an exciting day!

We pulled in the net this afternoon and found five silver salmon waiting for us. Usually they are caught and packaged so we can eat salmon all year, but since our catch was so small we decided it was salmon for dinner tonight!

I learned how to fillet a salmon today, and it was much easier than I thought it would be! We had the fish for dinner (as I said) and it was delicious. Does it get any fresher than this!?

My first two days in Stebbins have been fast and furious but lots of fun. None of my belongings have arrived apart from one bin of kitchen items and two bins of books. I guess they will continue to trickle in over the next few weeks. I am most anxious for my food (groceries here are killer expensive!) and for my bedding. My next task is to get my classroom set up. The school is beautiful, and my classroom is in what used to be the weight room (haha!) right off the gym. I found out I will be teaching everything but science - reading, writing, social studies and...MATH. Please pray for me on that one.

I am terrified yet terribly excited to start teaching! Everyone is so supportive and kind, I feel like I will be starting out with a pretty secure safety net. 

More to come later - stay posted! The fun is just beginning!

I AM OFFICIALLY IN ALASKA, PEOPLE. HOLY CRAP!!!!!

Ok y'all, in case you haven't heard, I am in fact now in Alaska. It is AMAZING!!! There is no way I can possibly describe everything I have done in the past few days just in this one post but I will try to give a brief overview.

SO I flew into Anchorage on Sunday night after saying a tearful goodbye to Roman (who I will be seeing in a month when Dad brings him up...still, it put me over the edge) and was picked up at the airport by one of my new co-workers who had generously offered to let me stay with her and her family in Anchorage and help me get fitted out for the bush.

It was a warm welcome, but after hearing some "horror stories" from life in the bush and coming to realize how vastly unprepared I am for the coming school year, no matter how exhausted I was from my travels, I didn't get much sleep that first night.

Yesterday we were out the door by 10am to start our day of shopping. We hit Costco ($450), then Wal-Mart (~$300), then we returned to our home base to pack up all of our food. I took some amazing pictures of that whole process but I will have to post them later because my poor computer just won't handle uploading any more of anything. We were able to take one load of bins to the post office last night but the others had to wait until this morning.

I sent 23 bins from Vancouver last week which contained all my worldly belongings. I checked three bags and carried on two for my flight. After shopping in Anchorage yesterday, I sent five bins filled with food out this morning. And my Wal-mart bush order will probably be at least 4 or 5 boxes. HOPEFULLY I will have some if not all (dare to dream) of my items by the time school starts. Until then, I'm living out of my suitcase(s).

Today we flew from Anchorage to Unalakleet, our district hub village. I will be here until Friday for new teacher training, then I will fly to Stebbins for the weekend. It's back to Unalakleet on Monday for the district-wide inservice, then back to Stebbins and school starts August 23.

My first impressions of Alaska are:
-Anchorage was gorgeous, like Idaho on crack. Panoramic mountains, lots of trees. Seems like a fun and welcoming city and I am anxious to visit again.
-Unalakleet is on the coast and it smells fresh and salty, not unlike the Oregon coast. The rain is also familiar. The hills in the distance are also reminiscent of Idaho and eastern Washington: golden brown with streaks of dark green trees. I haven't gotten out in the village yet, just holed up in the school for now getting my bearings.

Overall, I am doing pretty well here in my new home. Still feeling a bit daunted by the task at hand (my first year teaching, yikes), worried about my belongings getting here, but still having a great time meeting and getting to know the people I will be working and living with for at least the next year. I just can't believe I am finally actually here! Excited to get to Stebbins in a few days, and you can expect more updates and first impressions from that experience after I get there.

Stay posted, there's lots more to come!