It's the end of the long Thanksgiving weekend, and this year I certainly have a lot for which to be thankful.
First, I am thankful to have a job. At this time last year, I had pretty much already had my fill of subbing, and had come to the realization that I would do anything to avoid another year of being an on-call teacher. Well, wish granted. Here I am in the Alaskan bush, being a real teacher, getting some serious experience in a challenging and unique environment, and putting my college degree to good use (not to mention growing my bank account...ahhh, the joys of steady employment!).
I am thankful for my parents. Mom and Dad, you taught me the value of hard work, and for that I am eternally grateful. You enabled me to become self-sufficent by giving me the gift of a college education. You supported me in my decision to come to Alaska, both emotionally and financially, and you continue to support me with your love and encouragement. A mere 'thank you' cannot begin to express my gratitude!
I am thankful for my family and friends near and far who have made my day with a call, a card, a care package. Knowing that I have your support, even from a distance, means so much. I am thankful for my new friends here in Stebbins, too! It's always a bonus when you actually like the people you work with, and I am blessed to work with some of the coolest people I know :)
I am thankful for Skype. Being able to see and hear my family is a miracle of modern technology, and it has helped keep my homesickness at bay.
I am thankful to have Roman here with me. His prescence forces me to be less self-involved, and though he is very capable of getting on my nerves, he makes me laugh every day. And when I have days where all I can do is laugh just to keep from crying, that's when I am most grateful for the unconditional love of my silly poodle boy.
Finally, I am thankful for my students. Of course, without them, I wouldn't have a job, but it goes beyond that. Each and every one of them, even the ones that drive me berserk (especially those ones), are teaching me to be a better teacher. Every day I ask myself, "What went well? What could I have done better?" and I answer those questions based on how my students responded to my teaching that day. Some days the answers come easily. Other days, not so much. Some days, I get so caught up in MY teaching practice and MY lesson plans and MY expectations, that I forget that it's not about ME, it's about my kids. They are a constant reminder of why I am doing what I'm doing. Kids keep it real, that's for sure. And I'm thankful for that.
XOXOjane
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Traveling in the Bush
Most people don't have a concept of what "travel" is like up here...I certainly didn't, not really, until I came here and lived it. Getting from point A to point B in the arctic is never what I would call "easy", but then again I really don't miss sitting in traffic jams!
Here in the village, there are several different modes of transportation. Walking is pretty much always an option, as everything is so close. You can walk from one end of the village to the other in 15 minutes or so. If you want to get where you're going a bit faster, or if you plan on going anywhere outside of the village proper (the dump, the beaches outside of town, hunting/berry picking on the tundra, or even to neighboring St. Michael) you can get there on a honda (that's the general term for 4-wheeler) or once the snow falls, on a snowmachine. Most village residents have one if not both of the aforementioned vehicles. Hondas are good because you can use them in the spring/summer and in the fall/winter when it snows, so many of the teachers have them. When the weather is nice, going somewhere on a honda is no more of a hassle than going somewhere in a car - - all you have to do is hop on and go. When the weather turns colder, however, a honda ride becomes more of an excursion. This time of year, when the snow is falling, the wind is blowing, and temperatures are in the single digits, getting on a honda or on a snowmachine to go anywhere requires the full-on "getup" - snow pants/and or bibs, winter coat(s), boots, scarf, hat, gloves...really, as many layers of those garments as you can pile on while still able to move your limbs. Then, you need goggles to keep your eyes functional, particularly if you are going a longer distance or if you are going faster than say 5 or 10 mph.
There are a few people in the village who have automobiles, and the school has a truck, but I could probably count the number of cars in the village on my fingers. Honda and snowmachine are definietly the vehicles of choice here on our island.
If you want to travel any further than St. Michael (that's as far as our road goes), you will need to go by air. Both Stebbins and St. Michael have airports, St. Michael's being the slightly larger of the two. When I first came to the island back in August, I flew in on a larger plane with the new teachers from both Stebbins and St. Michael, and we landed in St. Michael because their airport could accomodate the larger plane (I think it was about a 20 seater). The largest planes I have flown out of Stebbins in have been Cessna Caravans - about 10 seats (depending on the flight/the amount of people/the amount of cargo). The smallest planes I have flown into Stebbins on are the little 207s, which can seat five but it's a tight squeeze.
Before I came up here, the thought of flying everywhere seemed slightly crazy. But now that I'm here, it seems just so normal; almost as normal as just getting in a car or on a bus. Flying in bush planes, even the tiny ones, is surprisingly enjoyable, especially when compared to the big airports and commercial airliners I was used to previously. I actually feel LESS claustrophobic in the little bush planes than I do in a big jet. There are windows everywhere and you can usually see out the front window as well. I actually got to sit co-pilot once, which, on top of the added leg room, was also the ultimate window seat. Bush planes fly low enough that you can actually enjoy the scenery below, which is another bonus. And the scenery doesn't get much better than the view flying over Norton Sound!
"Airports" out here in the bush were also a surprise to me. There is no such thing as going through security, for one. No one blinks an eye when you have a knife in your carry-on, because no one bothers to snoop through your stuff in search of bombs. The attitude is pretty relaxed at all the bush airports I have visited. Here in Stebbins, no one is really even around the airport unless a plane shows up. Of course, the relaxed attitude also means that the time a plane is scheduled to take off or land and the time it ACTUALLY takes off or lands are often two entirely different things. Flight times are always give or take an hour or two. Needless to say, there's a lot of "hurry up and wait" that happens whenever it's time to travel anywhere.
Even flying in the bush requires a proper dress code. Especially in the winter, or whenever the temperature begins to drop. It's pretty much expected that you will get on the plane wearing full snow gear. Ostensibly, it's because the planes can get kind of cold once you get up in the air, but you could also get stranded on the runway somewhere for hours on end, or, worst case scenario, your plane could go down, leaving you stranded in the Alaskan tundra. Did I mention I keep a knife in my carry on? ;)
Basically, what I'm getting at here is that travel in the bush is like no other place I've ever been. Like I said, it's hard to imagine it unless you've lived it, but I hope I was able to give you at least a sneak peek. I do not miss my car. I do not miss my commute. I love living 50 feet from my place of employment. I love not having to buy gas and I love not having to scrape the snow and ice off of my windshield. I love not having to worry about maintenance or snow tires or anything else related to vehicle upkeep. When you've got nowhere to go, you don't need any help getting there!
XOXOjane
Here in the village, there are several different modes of transportation. Walking is pretty much always an option, as everything is so close. You can walk from one end of the village to the other in 15 minutes or so. If you want to get where you're going a bit faster, or if you plan on going anywhere outside of the village proper (the dump, the beaches outside of town, hunting/berry picking on the tundra, or even to neighboring St. Michael) you can get there on a honda (that's the general term for 4-wheeler) or once the snow falls, on a snowmachine. Most village residents have one if not both of the aforementioned vehicles. Hondas are good because you can use them in the spring/summer and in the fall/winter when it snows, so many of the teachers have them. When the weather is nice, going somewhere on a honda is no more of a hassle than going somewhere in a car - - all you have to do is hop on and go. When the weather turns colder, however, a honda ride becomes more of an excursion. This time of year, when the snow is falling, the wind is blowing, and temperatures are in the single digits, getting on a honda or on a snowmachine to go anywhere requires the full-on "getup" - snow pants/and or bibs, winter coat(s), boots, scarf, hat, gloves...really, as many layers of those garments as you can pile on while still able to move your limbs. Then, you need goggles to keep your eyes functional, particularly if you are going a longer distance or if you are going faster than say 5 or 10 mph.
There are a few people in the village who have automobiles, and the school has a truck, but I could probably count the number of cars in the village on my fingers. Honda and snowmachine are definietly the vehicles of choice here on our island.
If you want to travel any further than St. Michael (that's as far as our road goes), you will need to go by air. Both Stebbins and St. Michael have airports, St. Michael's being the slightly larger of the two. When I first came to the island back in August, I flew in on a larger plane with the new teachers from both Stebbins and St. Michael, and we landed in St. Michael because their airport could accomodate the larger plane (I think it was about a 20 seater). The largest planes I have flown out of Stebbins in have been Cessna Caravans - about 10 seats (depending on the flight/the amount of people/the amount of cargo). The smallest planes I have flown into Stebbins on are the little 207s, which can seat five but it's a tight squeeze.
A Cessna Caravan
A cute little 207
This is what you get to look at when you sit co-pilot.
Even flying in the bush requires a proper dress code. Especially in the winter, or whenever the temperature begins to drop. It's pretty much expected that you will get on the plane wearing full snow gear. Ostensibly, it's because the planes can get kind of cold once you get up in the air, but you could also get stranded on the runway somewhere for hours on end, or, worst case scenario, your plane could go down, leaving you stranded in the Alaskan tundra. Did I mention I keep a knife in my carry on? ;)
Basically, what I'm getting at here is that travel in the bush is like no other place I've ever been. Like I said, it's hard to imagine it unless you've lived it, but I hope I was able to give you at least a sneak peek. I do not miss my car. I do not miss my commute. I love living 50 feet from my place of employment. I love not having to buy gas and I love not having to scrape the snow and ice off of my windshield. I love not having to worry about maintenance or snow tires or anything else related to vehicle upkeep. When you've got nowhere to go, you don't need any help getting there!
XOXOjane
Friday, November 5, 2010
How is it already November??
The first week of November is in the books - I just can't believe we are this far in the year already! We have had snow on the ground for more than a week straight and temperatures have been consistently below freezing. Our daylight is rapidly shrinking, and after we fall back this weekend, the days are bound to be even darker.
This past week was kind of an odd one in the middle school because we had a large chunk of our kids gone to the Jr. High cheerleading and wrestling tournament in Unalakleet. It was a good and bad thing, really - - good in the sense that we (the three of us middle school teachers) had a significantly smaller group of kids to tend so we were able to team teach together out in the middle school portables. It was also good in that we had a huge chunk of time to work one-on-one with students and get a lot of work done. I think we had 12 levels passed in three days, which is huge! It was a bad situation only because there was a large chunk of students gone for school travel, so other students just decided to play hooky, apparently. We averaged about 20 kids a day this week, when usually the middle school has about 50.
I must say, it was pretty thrilling for me to sign off on my students' end of level exams in recommendation of moving them to the next level. We are currently in a big push to get all of our students up to their appropriate BSSD levels and on track to graduate on time, so the more levels our students pass, the closer we are to that goal. We have even extended our school day an extra half an hour in the afternoon strictly for that purpose. After our first week of that schedule, I'd say that so far it has been a success. Granted, we were down a significant number of students this week, but still. The work our students accomplished speaks for itself :)
There are two and a half more weeks to go until Thanksgiving break. It will be strange spending this Thanksgiving so far from my family, but as we only have Thanksgiving day and the Friday after off (plus the weekend, of course), that doesn't leave any room to travel. I guess Roman and I will be keeping a modest Thanksgiving together here on the tundra. Maybe we will roast a ptarmigan, or something festive of that nature!
All the best from your correspondent up here in the arctic --
XOXOjane
This past week was kind of an odd one in the middle school because we had a large chunk of our kids gone to the Jr. High cheerleading and wrestling tournament in Unalakleet. It was a good and bad thing, really - - good in the sense that we (the three of us middle school teachers) had a significantly smaller group of kids to tend so we were able to team teach together out in the middle school portables. It was also good in that we had a huge chunk of time to work one-on-one with students and get a lot of work done. I think we had 12 levels passed in three days, which is huge! It was a bad situation only because there was a large chunk of students gone for school travel, so other students just decided to play hooky, apparently. We averaged about 20 kids a day this week, when usually the middle school has about 50.
I must say, it was pretty thrilling for me to sign off on my students' end of level exams in recommendation of moving them to the next level. We are currently in a big push to get all of our students up to their appropriate BSSD levels and on track to graduate on time, so the more levels our students pass, the closer we are to that goal. We have even extended our school day an extra half an hour in the afternoon strictly for that purpose. After our first week of that schedule, I'd say that so far it has been a success. Granted, we were down a significant number of students this week, but still. The work our students accomplished speaks for itself :)
There are two and a half more weeks to go until Thanksgiving break. It will be strange spending this Thanksgiving so far from my family, but as we only have Thanksgiving day and the Friday after off (plus the weekend, of course), that doesn't leave any room to travel. I guess Roman and I will be keeping a modest Thanksgiving together here on the tundra. Maybe we will roast a ptarmigan, or something festive of that nature!
All the best from your correspondent up here in the arctic --
XOXOjane
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