Four to Alaska

Welcome Back! School Starts Tomorrow?

2009-08-16T21:27:00.006-06:00

Yup! 8:30 tomorrow morning ---- all little people living on the Alaskan tundra will be in their classrooms. I am exhausted already! We got back to the village on August 5 and we've been on the go since August 7. I stayed home for 2 days just to get the house ready to live in again. You know there were some things I just knew we had cleaned before we left, but.....

Okay.. new year. I am teaching kindergarten and first grade. I have 16 enrolled. 14 boys and 2 girls. I will have 9 k's and 6 first graders. My room has a Dr. Seuss theme and I got a new circle time carpet. The room has changed a lot this year. I'm keeping the Lego table out for building --- Lincoln Logs and K'nects, too. And, we have a reading tent. We'll see how it goes.

The mister is teaching jr. high and high school math, biology, jr. science and U.S. History. I think he has decided he's all big now that he's over in the other building. He will hardly step foot over in my classroom now!

The girl is going to high school --- ninth grade. The boy will be in seventh! Where have my children gone to? They have both been TERRIFIC helpers with bulletine boards and moving furniture. I couldn't have done it this year without their help.

Ok --- truthfully --- have I really not written since January? I didn't think it had been that long.
Well, we'll just have to do better.

We bought the truck and fifth wheel in Oklahoma. Started back to AK on July 12. IT IS A LONG WAYS TO ALASKA!!!! We saw Yellowstone and Banff, Glacier National Park. We didn't see much wildlife. The ice heaves were dreadful. We bounced pretty good several times.

We arrived in Tok, AK, on Sunday, two weeks after we left. On Monday, the Mister went and tagged the vehicles. It was going to be $3000 in OK but in AK it was only $160 (for 2 years!)
Then we took off for Valdez.

Never turn down an offer to go to Valdez.

We were only going to stay a couple of days. We stayed a week. We plan to stay a month next summer!

We took a glacier / wildlife sightseeing cruise. Nine hours --- it was great. Next year we want to go halibut fishing.

All the pictures were taken in Valdez. From our campground --- downtown --- you can count 18 glaciers. Those are otters on the ice. We saw a glacier calving during the cruise --- now I can say that I've seen the glaciers in South America and in North America ..... another lifetime goal accomplished!

Another Trip to Bethel

2009-01-18T17:02:00.003-06:00

I don't know why we went... I needed out of the house and the Mister will be busy with basketball until March and I knew if we didn't go yesterday we might not....

So, when the game was over he and I loaded the snow-go and took off to Bethel. We left the house about 1:00pm. The ride was good to town. The sun was still low and the sky couldn't decide if it was clearing or getting worse. We got to town and ate at the Chinese place across the street from AC ---- one of the larger groceries in town. Oh, the snow-go did get hot about 2 blocks from the restaurant. Actually, we don't know how long it ran hot as the Mister didn't realize he wasn't getting a clear look at the light.

We bought groceries and warmed up at the same time. There were no bananas, oranges, potatoes, lettuce --- well, some leaf --- there were a few carrots, onions, about 6 yellow peppers. They were really cleaned out. Cake mix was $3.00 and we paid $7.65 for a bag of Doritos. Background ---- Bethel (and us) have had crazy weather these last 2 weeks. Two weeks ago we were freezing way down below 0 with windchills in the 40's. This week has been warm and Anchorage even hit 42 on Friday morning. Anyway, snow turned to rain and rain to ice -- so much so that Bethel's airport was closed for 2 days. So, no planes, no food. I wouldn't have gone if I had put some thought into it. Live and learn.

The trip back was another story. We left town with about $750 worth of food on a $300 plastic sled. We went a little ways and had to stop to pack snow --- the snow-go is water cooled and the trail was icy, not snowy. Two guys went by with sleds and since they weren't traveling at breakneck speeds, we stayed right behind them. THEN, (I didn't see them until we were right on top of them!) we went by a group of people just standing around their snow-goes. We were in some hills and bandits have been known to stop people traveling around there. I leaned up to the Mister and yelled that I didn't care if it got hot ---- JUST KEEP GOING!!! Well, the other two guys we were following went a ways and then pulled over. We went soaring past and waved thanks. A while later we had to pull over for more snow. The mister got off and got the small shovel and put some in on the right side, then walked behind me and put some on the left side. Then he walked back behind me to put up the shovel and he said, "Our sled is gone!" We decided that we had to go back --- yes, we discussed it --- it was cold! He told me that if we went to 24 on the odometer we'd gone too far. At 25 , he stopped. We could see Bethel lights. He asked and I said go on. We went just a little farther and there it was. Those people hadn't bothered it or anything. Then (((read this quietly --- we had to pee))))) and I was hurrying to get dressed and lights came over the hill. I about died. There I wasn't quite finished dressing and the bandits were coming and I was sure we'd lose it all and get killed, too! BUT, it was a man who serves on our school board. His headlight was a great help and soon we were on our way. It was 9:15 when we walked in the house. We were exhausted and slept until 10:30 this morning.

Yep...we'll go again.

New Year's in Anchorage

2009-01-02T19:58:00.002-06:00

2009....Who knew that nearly a decade could go by so fast? I have moved more times and more miles than I ever dreamed....I've been self-employed in a job I swore I would NEVER do when I was growing up and my parents MADE me take piano lessons (thanks Dad, I appreciate them now that I've grown up a bit)....I've been a minister's wife and a substitute teacher --- NEVER planned on those two....and now I've moved to a fly-in only village in a state that really made Texas mad about 50 years ago.... Wonder what the next ten years will bring....

Our family spent Christmas at home this year. We went to the Moravian Church across the river on Christmas Eve. It was beautiful. The Mister got the snow-go out and hooked up the sled. We put on the clothes we could possibly find and then.... just as I headed out the door.... it started snowing. What more could we ask? By the time the service was over it was like an Oklahoma blizzard. We raced home and opened the gifts from the community gift exchange. It snowed all night and day on Christmas Day, which was truly wonderful as we were getting rather short on snow around the village.

I fixed turkey and dressing for lunch and another teacher came to eat with us. We had invited V. from across the river but the white-out conditions made it impossible for her to come over. After eating, we played CLUE - the DVD version. The Boy got it from his grandparents for Christmas. He LOVES to play Clue and this version was a lot of fun. We played again on Saturday since we couldn't get to Bethel due to blowing snow.

Blowing snow --- ice fog ---- strong winds --- these are the things that shape our lives. We finally got out of the village on Sunday morning. Up here you just have to live with it... no reason to fuss.... you can't control it.... however, I'm not so sure that there's not a weatherman somewhere who just likes to tick us off!

Anchorage is gorgeous this year. There is WAY more snow this year as compared to last year. The trees look like they've been painted in icing. The mountains have been out everyday but yesterday -- the day we took off driving. I will miss the trees and the mountains next week. But the tundra has its own beauty.... you just have to look a little harder for it!

We've seen Twilight, Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Valkyrie and something else.... actually parents saw two and kids saw two..... none are worth seeing again but most were entertaining at the time.

This post is becoming sort of a menagerie of stuff. So what does the new year bring to our family? The Mister and I have 3 classes to finish this semester. The Mister will begin classes in May for Site Administrator certification (lower 48 principal certificate). The Girl is working on finishing phases in Reading and Writing so she can take college classes next year. She and her dad will be busy with basketball until March, as well. I have to get jr. high Pentathlon together. The Boy has purchased so many video game and books that I doubt we will see him before the snow thaws. I have started a Christmas quilt that I promised to finish before class begins on the 14th and I've bought fabric for a quilt for our bedroom that will keep me busy for a while. The girl wants to get started on her quilt, too. We'll see....

Happy New Year to all. Come see us when you can......I know..... you're really busy...... :)

Weather Plays a BIG Part

2008-12-03T19:07:00.002-06:00

The top picture is today. I took it after school at 4:00 from my classroom door. That's my house over there with the porch light on. I can just barely see the high school across the bridge from my class. It's about 24 degrees and the snow is blowing like crazy. I love it.

The second picture is from last week. Friday was my birthday and since I had never gone snow-going on my birthday.... we went. The kids rode in the sled behind us. It was beautiful but cold still. I tried to drive but I can't see anything without my glasses and I don't dare take off the goggles.

We're going to Bethel tomorrow afternoon if the weather clears enough. Right now I'm sitting here stewing because the Mr. won't go check the post office ---- of course, no planes have flown today... so, I knooooowwww there's no mail, but...... and since I didn't get a birthday present and I KNOW he ordered something..... I'm pouting. Maybe it will be there on Saturday when we get back.

Notit and Bat

2008-11-30T21:39:00.003-06:00

The Mr. and I have P.E. with our students every day. We spend 30 minutes a day in the gym and play games and run races and whatever. We have found that most games here are the same as the lower 48. However, names are different. Take for instance the name of this post. Read it. Say it. It took us a while to figure the first one out. Do you know what it is? Sure you do... Say it again. Say it slowly ..... one syllable at a time..... Not..... It...... it's what they call "tag" up here in the Bush. Cracked us up when we figured out what they were begging us to play.
Notit -- one word, don't ya know!

Bat..... this is indoor baseball / softball. Two teams.... one bat.... one foamy ball.... Team A is in the outfield and Team B lines up behind the batter (but out of the way of the bat).... Team A's pitcher stands beside the batter and throws the ball up in the air.... the batter hits or misses.... only gets one try..... BUT... he can run or get back in line....OR he may decide to run later.... There are no bases..... just run to the end of the gym and back without getting hit with the ball....You can run to the end of the gym and wait, too.....just don't get hit. Now, if someone does get hit, then team A and B change places.... unless someone from Team B hits someone from Team A before they can get lined up! Runs don't count and no one keeps score.... the winning team is whichever one is up to bat when time is called. It's crazy.... but they LOVE to play it.

Thanksgiving is over.... I'm working in my room at school... it's 6:55pm and I'm now going home to eat dinner. Kids will be here tomorrow --- 15 days of class and then it's Christmas Break! YAY!

Pilgrims, Fire Drills, Yup'ik Dancing

2008-11-25T18:30:00.002-06:00

My class celebrated today with Pilgrims and Indians and Friendship Salad. A really good friend from Holdenville so very graciously shared her patterns and ideas. We all had a VERY good time. The fire alarm went off in the middle of it all. So you can see we were all in a hurry to get back inside.

Yesterday we ate lunch with the community. Turkey, dressing.... all the good stuff. I asked one of the teachers what a traditional meal would be this week in a Yup'ik household. She looked at me kind of funny and said, "Turkey, of course!" However, it will be white bread --- no cornbread dressing up here. Except at our house. We are going to eat with some other teachers and watch the parades and ballgames and generally veg out.

After lunch today (which was leftovers from yesterday) the kids danced for us. They were great. They wore traditional headresses and fans. The boys always sit in front and the girls stand behind. Three or four boys play the drums and sing. This picture is not typical of Yup'ik Dancing but they enjoyed themselves. It has been a good week and now everyone is out and going visiting.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!! from your Alaska Friends

Trip to Bethel

2008-11-25T18:09:00.002-06:00

We did it! The Mr. and I made our first trip to Bethel. He plotted the trail last week when he brought the snow go back from town. We got up Saturday morning and it was -18 with no windchill. We got dressed and waited to see if the temp would go up. It didn't. So... we left Akula at 11:00 and got to Bethel at 12:54. Two hours to go 28 miles. I WAS SOOOOOO COLD!!! Wow! My helmet froze from the inside so I couldn't see the second half of the trip. I got motion sick. I couldn't tell if we were turning or going up or down. It was like being in a white balloon. I couldn't lift the face mask because I couldn't stand the cold air.

The first thing we did was go to the new Chinese restaurant across from AC. AC and Swanson's are the two grocery stores in Bethel. I walked in and ordered hot tea ---- I "never" order hot tea; but, I was frozen. We ate lunch and I told the Mr. I had to have more clothes. So we walked over to the grocery store to get some. We had planned on buying groceries at the other place. We ended up buying everything at AC. It was just easier.

Here's a glimpse of what we paid:

box of cornmeal $6.49
Honey Bunches of Oats (2) $10.00
3lbs. Folgers $17.55
Gallon of ice cream $15.99
Whole Boneless ham $20.50
Little Smokies $7.39
Tomatoes $3.99 lb.
Potatoes $1.48lb.
Celery $1.50 lb.
Lg. Tostitos $9.99
Lg. Ketchup $4.35
Eagle Brand Milk $4.65
Evaporated Milk $2.29

And, had we not gone after ourselves we would have paid a handling charge and air freight. (about a 1/3 of our total bill.)

We got home about 7 that night. We were exhausted. My back is sore all over. We have a back rest and it makes the ride so much better, but my back.....

We can't wait to go again. However, we'll probably hold out for over "0" degrees for next time!

Fire, 15 Years and a New Snow Go

2008-11-21T15:53:00.002-06:00

Two weeks ago we had a fire in the village. The home burned completely. We stood on the deck at school and watched it burn. That's what you do when you live in the village. Finally, someone called a neighboring village and they brought a submersible pump, cut a whole in the ice through the pond behind the house and pumped some water on to the fire. The family of 5 lost everything. That house will cost about $250,000 to rebuild. That's what my house cost 5 years ago and it was put together by the shop class so there wasn't so much paid out for labor. Everything will have to be shipped in by barge next summer when the river thaws.

Yesterday was our fifteenth anniversary. We sure have done a lot and gone a lot in our 15 years! Poteau, Louisville, Poplar Grove, Henderson, Holdenville (3 houses there) and now Kasigluk. I never would have imagined..... The Mr. gave me a necklace and bracelet made here in Alaska from jade and walrus ivory. They are beautiful.

The snow go (can't decide how that should be spelled!) arrived last Friday night about midnight. The Mr. had to go to Bethel and drive it out here. We bought it in August from a Physician's Assistant there in Bethel --- check out her blog for more info about where we live. She has a GREAT blog: TundraMedicianDreams.blogspot.com

Anyway, the Mr. couldn't bring it out here until the rivers froze. Well.... they are plenty frozen now. Last night's temp was -17 and so was the windchill. It's much colder this November than it was last year.

The natives call a snowmobile a snow go. Ours is a Polaris and it's dark red. It a touring model with an extra long seat. It rides great. Saturday when the Mr. took me out I was hanging on for dear life but now I just ride. We are going to Bethel tomorrow for groceries. 28 miles and we figure it will take us at least 2 hours to get there and 2 to get back. I hope it warms up some...

Native Dress - Kuspuq

2008-11-20T19:44:00.002-06:00

This is Teacher Vivivan and Teacher Georgia. I caught them visiting in the gym during Eskimo Dance one Friday. Every week the kids get to practice dancing and everyone is encouraged to wear their kuspuq. They are like hoodies but are made of cotton and have the sleeves, big pocket and the hem are decorated with matching rickrack. Sometimes they are waistlength and sometimes they have a ruffle and are longer, almost like a dress. The design of the shirt and the way the rickrack is put on will let onlookers know where you come from. Different regions use different patterns. I have 2 and I love to wear mine. I hope to bring back material back after Christmas for another.

Georgia is from Oklahoma... in fact, she's the one who got us hooked up with this school district in Alaska. Did you know that Lower Kuskokwim School District is as large as the state of West Virginia? We have about 20 villages in our district and Bethel is our hub. Bethel has about 5000 people..... with about 2.5 grocery stores..... our village has about 600 people and we have a small store. Walmart is 428 miles away.

Robotics, Basketball & Sirens

2008-11-18T17:49:00.002-06:00

This is what our family spends time doing nowadays. The Mr. is the coach for our robotics team at school. It is open to fourth through eighth graders so the Boy is on the team but the Girl opted not to join. The kids spent the first part of October playing with the Legos and getting the board ready. They also played around with the robot and the computer. They will have to learn how to program the computer and connect the robot to it. The team has to plan out how they will have the robot accomplish its tasks on the playing board. PLUS, they have to research and make a presentation on the year's theme. This year's theme is "climate." They're supposed to do a project on how climate presents a problem in our community and what would be a possible solution. Needless to say, enthusiasm was much higher before the research started! The meet is set for Bethel on Dec. 5 - 6.

Basketball practice begins on Monday after Thanksgiving. The Mr. is going to coach and I'll be team mom. My job will be to tutor kids who want to play ball but are ineligible. They will be able to work-out (exercise) with the team but when practice with the ball starts each day --- they will go to tutoring. This will be new to them and I'm sure some of them will be very unhappy this year. Eligibility is dependent on attendance and grades. Don't come to school = you don't play ball, or go to movie-night, or whatever.

Which somehow makes me think..... Have I told you about the siren? Every night the VPO (village police officers) runs their siren to signal curfew. Weeknights right now close down at 9:00. Weekends are 10:00. In the summer it will be 11:00. Kids wander the village until these times and sometimes even later. During Slavik (Russian Orthodox religious celebration) kids and adults will be out all night, even though the siren will go off. Anyway, we love the siren at our house. The playground is right outside our front door and kitchen window. Some nights it's a real relief when everyone goes home.

Out on the Tundra

2008-11-16T14:54:00.004-06:00

I took these pictures back in September. We borrowed the school four-wheeler and trailer and went out to Fox Lake. We picked berries and went sight-seeing. The rest of the family had been out there last year but it was my first time. It was very interesting walking on the tundra. The ground was VERY spongy - sort of like the moonwalk at the fair. You really can bounce. And the colors were gorgeous. These pictures don't show it but when you're out there and looking down at the ground, it's amazing how many different plants there are and each one is a different color. So... our fall here is much different than Oklahoma. No trees but still a lot of color if you know how to find it.

We got the snow-go on Friday night. Joe hitched a ride into Bethel with a couple of teachers from a nearby village. We are 28 miles northwest of Bethel. The trip on a snow-go is almost 2 hours. He said the trip there was pretty rough and it wasn't much better on the way back. Closer into Bethel they ran into overflow --- where the tidewater pushes up through the ice. And, he said they actually saw open holes in the ice on the river at one place. Auggghhh! Anyway, we had to work at school on Saturday but when we finished ----- we were out and playing on the snow-go! It's great. Now we are so bound into the village. At least we can visit other villages and go to their stores. Yay! It costs about $240 to charter a flight into Bethel. Now we can for a lot less.

Family

2008-11-14T20:08:00.002-06:00

Grandma and PaPa came to visit us last month. They flew to the village and stayed with the grandkids while we were in Anchorage for J's hand surgery. Grandma got to substitute for me that week. I was so glad she was here and able and willing to help out. My students really enjoyed having them here. We talk about D and C a lot now in class.

The bottom picture is from the summer. Those are the grandkids. Two in Oklahoma, one in Missouri and two in Alaska. That will keep the grandparents busy in retirement---- just traveling!

He's My Helper

2008-11-14T12:16:00.003-06:00

The boy is my really good helper. Many times he will dry while I wash the dishes. Here he is helping out all by himself. Last night he was all lovie-dovie with me on the couch. He's a special boy.

Akutaq

2008-11-13T15:36:00.003-06:00

This picture is from earlier this fall during berry picking season. These are basically blueberries from the tundra. The kids picked them one day and we made Eskimo Ice Cream (Akutaq) the next. You mix crisco, sugar and berries and in this instance fruit cocktail to make it go farther. Sometimes they will add white fish to it. You mix by hand --- no spoon --- whipping it until it is creamy. Then you add the berries. Everyone enjoyed it.

Sarah Palin

2008-08-30T17:23:00.002-06:00

Sarah Palin ..... now that's a name you are going to hear a lot in the next few months. She's governor of Alaska and we think she's going to be great. We especially hope that she can shed some light in Washington about education in our state.

It's Saturday and I'm at school laminating all the stuff I bought over the summer. It's amazing. I went to the store and oohhhed and ahhhhed and then we shipped it out. Now we've spent this week opening tubs and oooohing and ahhhing once again. What fun! Of course, I don't have space in my room for all this..... gonna have to get creative.

It's 53 degrees and wet and rainy. Joe's hoping for early snow. I want freeze-up so he can go to Bethel and pick up the snow-go!

Back in Alaska

2008-08-28T17:37:00.002-06:00

We arrived in Anchorage on August 6. We spent the summer in Oklahoma and enjoying the heat. NOT!!!! I definitely do NOT miss that Oklahoma heat. We did like getting to see all our friends and relatives. Everyone wanted to know more and more about Alaska so I will try to blog more regularly. No promises. :)

We bought groceries and such for a few days in Anchorage and shipped them out to the village. We flew out to Bethel (400 miles west) and spent a couple of days going to 2nd year teacher orientation. We rented a van in Bethel this time and really enjoyed our freedom there. Otherwise, we would have to pay for a taxi everytime we wanted to go somewhere. They charge by the person so the fare for the four of us was $20 one way anytime we wanted to go some place. And out to the airport was $28!!! So with the van we got to see how the city is laid out and we spent some time at the port just watching the fishermen.

We arrived in Akula on Wednesday night, August 13. Oh! It was soooo good to be home. Everywhere we went people would come and tell us, "Welcome home." They were right. It is home for us.

The sun is still up at 10:00 and it is light at 11:00. The kids play basketball for hours and hours after school. It has been cool here all summer and dry. A front came through yesterday and we got some rain. Today has been beautiful and the temp is around 50 degrees. It feels like Oklahoma fall. I love it.

I have 21 kids this year so far. They are kindergarten, first and second graders. They are wonderful. I have lots of help and my schedule is great. 8:30 to 12:00 nearly kills me but we get so much done. I love my classroom, too, this year. I finally got rid of all the extra stuff and got it arranged so that I am comfortable with it. That helps a great deal.

Joe has 16 kids. He is teaching 3rd and 4th graders. He is SO HAPPY this year. Yes, there are problems but not like he had last year ---- we moved THOSE kids over to the main building for somebody else!!!! ;)

Son and daughter are doing very well. S is in a new class and she is letting him fly so he is not bored. Also, the new high school teacher is going to give Nathan drum lessons. D is in high school reading and writing. She is working very hard to finish phase work in math so she can be called a full-fledged high schooler! Not so happy about that (for myself) but glad she is doing well. She plans to write another speech for contest this year and is looking forward to basketball season.

Okay --- I'll stop for now. I need to save some of the more exciting stuff for tomorrow! If I really watch it, we could get 5 or 6 blogs about life here in the village! Ha!

Hannah Sings

2008-05-12T11:44:00.003-06:00

This is Hannah singing her song, "How Beautiful," which she hopes to sing at Falls Creek Children's Camp in a few weeks. My apologies that it is long and in 2 screens. I'm buying a new camera this summer and I AM GOING TO LEARN HOW TO USE IT!!!!!! (at least that's my plan:)

Comments

2008-02-21T12:43:00.002-06:00

I've changed a setting so I'm hoping that people can post comments now. Will someone please try to comment? My apologies for having it set "funny." I was wondering why no one was commenting! Kinda hard when the blogger-person has her settings out of kilter...

Playing Basketball

2008-02-16T12:43:00.002-06:00

We are in Nunapitchuk today. It is a village that we can see from our front door. Usually. When the clouds settle in and I can't see it, I get kind of panicky. Just seeing this village keeps my mind from freaking out about where we are living. Kind of like a reminder that there is still more world out there than our little village.

We brought the junior high kids over yesterday by sno-go. Joe drove and I rode behind him. We had 7 kids with us for the first trip. About a third of the way here we hit a huge snow drift and over we went. He basically threw me off the machine! The kids came running up to see if we were all right. We were but I did get a little panicky. I couldn't tell where we were and if we were on land or the river. There is something about riding on the river that makes it okay. BUT, stopping on the river really bothers me. I do not want to get in the water. Not that I think there's any water out here but what if .... Anyway, I got in the sled and one of the kids rode with Joe and we finally got here. Then Joe went back for the rest of the students and H and N.

We played 2 games yesterday and will play 2 more today. We lost both of them. And we had 20 -30 point leads at half-time. I know that sounds crazy but EVERYBODY got to play. We are struggling with kids who think they are God's gift to Yupik basketball and so we are working to expand our players to a team and not just a few show-offs. Of course, better planning on the coach's part would have helped in the first game and in the second game if they had just dribbled and passed the ball around for the last 20 seconds we WERE winning. Just had to try that last shot.... Oh, well.... we'll try it again this morning.

We spent the night here. When you travel, you have to be prepared to stay over. And now this morning it is blizzarding. I think the temp is okay but you sure can't see much. Supposedly, we don't travel with temps under -25. That includes wind chill. I want to go home to my bed.

Little Girl

2008-02-11T16:11:00.001-06:00

Where did my little one go?! This young lady can cook, do laundry and is fast becoming a basketball demon. She's taller than her mother and she loves to laugh. She'll be an eighth grader next year. Oh, my.

White Out

2008-02-09T16:28:00.000-06:00

It's cold ---- temp. is at -9 and windchill is bouncing down around -60. I saw it get as low as -69 last night. The local cable channel this info across the screen on the our village channel.

It's been so "white" that standing at the window in the school, I could hardly see our houses at about 70 feet. It was rather impressive.

We had 5 schools here in Akula for games yesterday. One team was able to sno-go over so they went home. My guys went home, of course, so that left three teams overnight. Plus our 16 or so dentists and staff who are here from NYU. Right now everyone is hoping for a break in the weather and they'll get to go home!!!! The earlier weather report was predicting that this stuff would last until Wednesday. If they don't go, and they're still here on Monday, then we still have school and they will spend the day in the gym. That won't be fun. I'm glad I will go home to my house this afternoon!

Pizza Party!

2008-02-06T17:31:00.000-06:00

Yay! Our social worker brought pizza from Bethel in on Monday. They are half-baked and frozen. My students are very excited. They have all brought back their permission forms and will be back in my classroom at 5:30 tonight. If you teach..... you know this has been a l-o-n-g day.

Our social worker is hired by our school district. He travels to several different schools and tries to help keep us all alive and safe. No kidding. When he has been around for a couple of weeks our school "gets bushy." The kids really have no adults to talk to and Jim has worked very hard to establish relationships within the village. When things happen in the village ---- we call Jim.

It's still cold and now I'm hoping it sticks around. We are hosting two other schools for basketball. If the windchill is below -35 we will have to cancel. You can't travel with school kids in those conditions. In fact, two weeks ago we missed our Saturday games because we had come back home and on Saturday morning the windchill was too cold. Couldn't travel. I was sooooo sad....... HA! A free day! We were so happy.

Another thought

2008-02-05T14:05:00.000-06:00

I've been thinking about this. The mud and muck was pretty icky when we arrived last August. We wore our rain boots and got around okay. Most of where we want to go has boardwalks.

Then it snowed. And it got icy. We learned that snow is good. Ice is not. Snow lets you get a little traction going. We ordered ice cleats for that other stuff. When the snow melted off, we were all a little sad.

Last week it snowed and snowed. Three foot drifts. Walking in it was hazardous. Better than ice but still rather treacherous. And while I thought the more snow the better ---- NOT!!! Almost all the snow up here so far has been D-R-Y. Thank goodness. If it was sticky we'd all be cold today! Frozen! Instead, it just blows and blows. You can't tell if it's snowing or blowing. Well, today you can because it's absolutely beautiful. The skies are clear.

I've decided that 2 or 3 inches at a time is okay. But when it snows and drifts --- I'm in trouble. I put my foot down but it just keeps going. Then the twisting and turning that comes from the slipping and sliding puts me on my rear. Deep snow is not a good thing. Give me a good packed path any day.

What's for lunch today?

2008-02-05T13:46:00.000-06:00

For those who may wonder? Our school lunches are JUST LIKE the school lunches in Oklahoma and every other state, I suppose. Yesterday we had egg rolls with sweet and sour sauce, peaches, rice and steamed carrots. Today, it's meatloaf. I guess two things are a little different --- we have white steamed rice in place of mashed potatoes. Potatoes are a luxury up here. Good ones are hard to find. When we do have them at home --- we eat the wholes thing. Skin and all. And if someone doesn't eat it all --- we save it for potato skins in the microwave later.

Also, fruit is hard to come by. Apples are pretty easy. Oranges, a little harder. Bananas are a treat and grapes ----- WOW! We get excited about grapes! I've seen watermelon in Bethel but was scared to price it. I'd hate to pay very much and load it on our plane just to have it turn out bad. We are all excited to get home this summer and buy some peaches from Porter.

We also have to ship in all our meat. We've learned what not to order from Span Alaska. Their hamburger is not so good. Our next meat order will probably come from Mr. Prime Beef in Anchorage.

We have decided that this is definitely the way to live. We make very few trips to the store and it's usually only for eggs and ice cream. Yes, we can get ice cream--- something about it being easy to ship --- don't have to worry about it freezing this time of year! Anyway, having groceries delivered to your front step will spoil you. You can get anything you want up here --- as long as you're willing to pay the price.

It is cold now

2008-02-04T18:29:00.000-06:00

This morning the mister and I left the house at 7:15 or so. Dark. Cold. Windchill was -30. I now measure cold by whether my nose freezes up. If my nose feels like the sides have shrunken in ---- then, it's cold. It only does it if the temp. goes below zero. Anything over zero now feels very pretty good! I'm ordering a parka from Cabela's today or tomorrow. We have one more sno-go trip with the basketball team. My old coat has been okay but I really don't want to take my chances for that last run.

Speaking of sno-goes --- we've done our taxes and whooopeee! we just might buy our first sno-go this spring. We'll see. We'll have to watch for sales. We've been researching and are beginning to narrow it down. That will be a lot of fun. It would really open up the villages to us. We could even sno-go to Bethel. That's 28 miles southeast of here.

We finally got eggs in on Friday. There haven't been any eggs at the store since before we left for Christmas. Do you have any idea how many things require an egg?! We had scrambled eggs this morning. Yum. Yum.

We cut Hannah's hair on Saturday night. It's just below her chin. Really cute. We did make-up on Sunday afternoon. Too grown up.

Hannah is taking the 7th grade test tomorrow. If she passes, she'll be an 8th grader next year. YIKES!

The cold and the dry are taking a toll on my eyes. Apparently, my eyeballs are L-O-W on moisture and I can't see well at all. Thank goodness for Bausch and Lomb.

We have a team of dentists and students from NY at our school this week. They evaluated all the students today and will do cleanings and fillings for the rest of the week. There are about 16 of them.

If anyone is counting --- we have less than 15 and 1/2 weeks left. May 21 will be here soon.

Pride and Joy

2008-01-19T16:54:00.000-06:00

They are so thrilled when I ask them to pose! That's H's new kuspuk --- traditional clothing for the Yup'ik people. I apologize that it's sideways but I'm tired of messing with these pics today.

Basketball

2008-01-19T16:36:00.000-06:00

Akula Schools is hosting the basketball games for our neck of the tundra this weekend. Three villages came in yesterday and played ball until 10:30 last night. Then we all played again this morning. Now we're all tired and want to go home -- more on that down below.

Akula won both games yesterday and even went into overtime. It was exciting and I didn't get any technicals! Then this morning we got romped..... so sad.

Now, everyone has had lunch, the bags are packed,the rooms are cleaned and no airplanes are flying. Sooo.... two of the teams are stuck in Akula. Which also means that our high school team is stuck somewhere. One team used snowgoes to get here so they are gone and of course, my team just walked home. Now we're trying to figure out what to serve for supper. And find someone to cook it.

District rules require travelers to bring bedding and clothing even if you don't plan to spend the night. And that's the same if you fly or snowgo. You must go prepared to stay overnight because the weather can change so quickly. During winter everyone must wear heavy insulated boot and snowpants. You cannot fly without them. You must be prepared for a crash. If you snowgo you are supposed to carry weapons. If it is below -35F you cannot travel.

So.... we wait.

It is 36F and raining now. We need snow and cold! Who would have believed I'd be begging for that!!

The Christmas Saga

2008-01-07T13:47:00.000-06:00

School was out on December 21. That was Friday and by Sunday morning all the staff were out of the village. Except the Ward Family. We opted to stay in Akula over the holidays. Since we were getting three weeks, we decided to take the middle week and fly to Anchorage. We're back in Akula and this is our story.

The first weekend we all just slept. Something about being tired from school! Then Christmas Eve we borrowed the school's snow-go and went over to Akiuk -- that's the other half of Kasigluk (across the river and about 1 1/2 miles down the Johnson River.) The Mister and I rode on the snow-go and the two kids got the sled behind. We went down through "town" and out on to the river. Trucks passed us by. Kids on snow-goes passed us by. It was like a super highway -- right on the river! We were having a ball! We got to the Moravian Church and watched the Christmas program. Then they did the gift exchange. We came home and had dinner about 9:00 that night. It was -12 for that trip.

On the 27th it snowed and the wind did blow. No planes were out at all. On the 28th Yute Air picked us up and off to Anchorage we went. Ooops.... not yet.... We missed the morning flight on Alaska Air so we sat at the airport for half a day. Yay! Finally arrived in Anchorage.

We were renting a car but when the Mister checked in they offered him a Ford 150 --- guess what he picked! By lifting one leg and hopping as close as possible to the truck and having the Mister grab my hand from the other side --- I, too, could ride up high with the rest of the family!

Fifteen minutes later we're on our way downtown. Oh, a car is stopped. Oh, look there are 2 cross-country skiers crossing the street. Oh, what was that? Yep. We'd been rear-ended. Not a mark on the truck but the poor guy's car is a mess. And guess what? When you rent, you HAVE to have a police report. Two hours later we were checking into the hotel. Later that night we actually had to change rooms because the tv didn't work.

Saturday we shopped and drove south to Whittier. We went to Portage Glacier --- which wasn't there. And then, we drove through a tunnel (2 1/2 miles!) to see Whittier. This is a port that a lot of cruise ships sail into and then they bus passengers into Achorage. The tunnel was extremely interesting and the mountains were ----- spectacular.

On Sunday we drove to about 80 south of Denali -- the BIG mountain. We got a late start and darkness caught us too soon. We did get to see our first and second moose.

We spent our week mainly shopping and learning our way around Anchorage. On Thursday we drove down to Seward. It was a beautiful drive and we went to the Marine Aquarium / Research Center. Had it almost to ourselves.

We got back to Kasigluk on Saturday night. No running water. No sewer drainage. It's been as low as -19 since then and today the windchill is -30. The school maintenance man has been working to get heat to the pipes. We have water and sewer at the school but it sure is a pain to get dressed for the arctic just to go pee. Oh, and last night the sewer backed up and it's all over bathroom. And the phone hasn't worked since Thanksgiving.

Well, Happy New Year to all. We really do like it here. We are happy and safe and usually warm. We are making friends slowly but surely. We are on our way to surviving our first Eskimo winter! Come see us!

Where did October go?

2007-11-07T20:10:00.000-06:00

At the end of this week we will have completed 1/3 of the school year. We are into the third week of the second quarter. How can we be looking at Thanksgiving!?!

We are all doing well. We've adjusted to the schedule and we're figuring out the phase grading system.

We had a Native Youth Olympics meet (NYO) here in Akula last weekend. About 150 kids came and competed. There are almost 10 different skills and they are ALL very impressive.

I spent Friday night watching the two-toed kick. The competitor may walk or run a few steps but then must kick with both feet together a ball that is hanging at a specified height. Then they must land feet together. The winner kicked 90 - something inches. That's way over their heads!

Well, Joe's here to walk me over to the grocery store. They have been out of eggs and now we're almost out. I hope some came in today.

We really are here

2007-09-05T19:36:00.001-06:00

I know..... some of you out there are thinking , "uhmmmmm hummmm.... I knew she wouldn't write." Well, let me tell you ..... it's been a little crazy in the Ward household for the last month. Things we never dreamed about have happened and the big things we had planned on.... fell through. BUT, we are in Alaska and we think most of our stuff is here, too.

I am teaching K, 1, 2, and 3 grades. My youngest is 5 and my oldest is 12 1/2. We start school with breakfast at 8 and class at 8:30. Joe teaches 3,4, and 5 grades. Kindergarten gets out at 2, 1-2 out at 2:30 and my third graders leave my classroom at 3:00. When all my kids leave me they go to computers for 30 minutes. Joe's kids have Mountain Math from 3-4 and then computers until 4:30.

All of our kids are considered to be ELL. First language is Yup'ik. Yup'ik is NOTHING like English. Hannah has already received her Yup'ik name from her teacher. It was her mother's name. It starts with a Q and that's as far as I get. I still cannot say it even though my high school choir kids have tried to teach me. They have a good laugh when I try. Oh, I tried some handbell jokes on them ----- fell flat. It was sooo sad that even though they can speak English and read English but inuendo just doesn't make it. Makes me wonder how much they enjoy television. It's all in English.

I have choir for high school from 3-4. We have some handbells but hope to receive more this next week. They just pass materials around from school to school depending on whether they have a teacher that can use them. If anyone is reading this and has handbell music (easy) or easy piano music (esp. Christmas) arrangements and wouldn't mind sending them. We would really be grateful.

The days have gotten shorter here. We can tell. It is dark when we come to school at 7:30. It is dark before 11:00 at night, too. Neither of those statements were true 3 weeks ago.

We ordered meat last week from Bethel. We had bought food before we came up (see previous post) from SpanSalesAlaska. Then we bought food at Sam's and Wal-Mart and brought it with us on the airplane in coolers from Anchorage. Last week we ran out of meat so we called Bethel (our hub) After 3 calls we had ordered chicken, hamburger, roast, potatoes and apple. Oh, and bacon. YUM! Anyway, we now have $12 chickens + shipping in our freezers. Shipping for 28 miles was $40. Total cost $270.30. Ouch. And they had no lettuce. Haven't had a salad in a month. Don't know why we bought Ranch Dressing.

Okay, enough for now. Please write. We miss everyone. We talk about you ALL all the time.

Seven pages will cost $1705.24

2007-07-01T19:28:00.000-06:00

Grocery shopping. I despise going to the store. The mister does our shopping. He follows the list very well, thank you. However, the Alaska shopping list fell to me. How does one plan for four people to eat for three to four months at a time? Well, we're working on that one.

We have struggled for months with making out menus, planning every morsel and then we also thought about just buying by going down the aisles. I've looked at a couple of online grocery places and compared and such. We finally decided on Spansalesalaska.com. I even made "purchases" just to see how much it was going to cost. I would put things in the cart but then skip out. It gave me a sense of what to expect. Today we made it all the way to the checkout. I cannot begin to say how many hours I've put into this project. For me personally, it was a huge event. And apparently my stomach knew it. For the last week or so I have just plain hurt. I finally pushed the button today and now I don't hurt. Stress.

So how much do groceries cost in Alaska? Today I got seven pages for $1705.24. That does not include meat or dairy. Here's a little taste of what we got:

C&H sugar #25 $29.89
Dr. Pepper 24/12 oz cans $19.99
Chef Boyardee Pizza Mix 12/16.6 oz $42.31
Flavorite Mushroom pieces 24/4 oz $26.31
Tide Mt. Spring 4/87 oz $55.93
Cottonelle Bath Tissue 8/12 roll $58.30
Prego Sauce 12/28 oz $49.78
Pinto Beans 12/1 lb $20.31
Carnation Milk (dry) 12/25.6oz $105.70

Basically, we've discovered that if you'll pay for it, you can get it. Most of our groceries will be bought by the caseload. We will still have to hit WalMart for items we would only need 1 or 2 of -- such as jelly --- I can't imagine buying a case of jam! We can buy and check out at the Bush Counter and they will package it up and mail it for us from WalMart.

So... this is taken care of. It's a relief. We can relax and enjoy our day or 2 in Anchorage. Maybe next year we'll try the guerilla shopping experience with all the other incoming teachers to Alaska.

MmmHmmm.... Yep, that'll 'bout do it

2007-06-24T13:02:00.000-06:00

Oh, my.... Our house is nearly empty. The Boy's room is full of tubs. Each of us has 3 tubs. One to ship now, two to take as luggage. The Girl's room is empty, painted and cleaned. She has an air mattress and that's it. Closets are cleaned out. Cabinets are getting there.
Then the whole south end of the living room has boxes and tubs for storage. It will all be gone by July 5. That's when we're moving to Wilburton.

Wait.... there are about twenty tubs in the middle of the living room. All addressed to us. In Kasigluk! I really didn't think we would have so much STUFF. How can we need this much stuff? It's amazing how you can stuff garbage bags and suck the air out them. You can really pack a lot in when you do that. But the game tub is full. Even when we took every item out of the boxes and put all the pieces into a zip-lock baggie. The Mister says we'll have to spend one whole evening just figuring out what goes with what game.

Actually, those twenty tubs are going to the post office tomorrow. At $45 - $50 a tub, it will run us about $1000 to ship our "can't live without this goodie" tubs to Akula. I'll let you know how we do. We will ship media rate. Someone at church today said they knew someone who sent their belongings "priority mail." WOW. That would be terribly expensive!

I have butterflies in my stomach. And my legs. And my arms. My head is a little on the light side. We're on the countdown. 41 days until we fly out from DFW airport.

It disappeared before my very eyes!

2007-06-14T07:40:00.000-06:00

A lot is happening in our lives right now and yet it seems likes it is moving in slow motion. We had the big sale. Just about everything is gone. In just 24 short hours we sold nearly everything we had. The stuff that is left will be put in storage or the trash. It's amazing what your house can hold! It's also amazing what those gray tubs from Wal-Mart ($4), and seemed so humongous two months ago, can NOT hold today. We've filled up about 8 of them and no clothes have been packed as of yet.

So what are we taking? Well, bed sheets and comforters. Also, kitchen pots and pans and utensils. One tub is full of games. We took all the pieces and put them into zip lock baggies. We took all the boards and stacked them together. The Mister says that we'll have one big game just trying to figure out what goes with what! We have to take bathroom stuff - towells, wash cloths. And then there are some things like our living room clock we want to take just to make it seem more like home for us. All the furniture and large appliances are provided.

Some things we will wait on until we get to Anchorage. Like a set of dishes. It's cheaper to ship from Wal-Mart there than it is here. Each 50# tub will cost around $45 dollars from Oklahoma. In Anchorage, it will be more like $12.

For anyone who is REALLY interested in reading about where we're going and such, I found a blog written by a PA who is living in Bethel -- our district hub. The writing is terrific and it provides a great insight of the culture in which we will soon find ourselves. It is www.tundramedicinedreams.blogspot.com . Go back and read the archives. They are full of information.

What's New?

2007-05-19T07:17:00.000-06:00

So what HAS happened for us lately, you ask? Well... yesterday was the last day of school for the kids. The mister and I have three more days of inservice. I suppose we could just use sick days as we both have a lot left over and we can't take them with us, but I think we both want to see people just a little bit more and have some more closure for this part of our lives. We've lived in Holdenville since January of 2000. We've been here longer than any other place in our married lives. Roots were getting deeper than we've ever been able to go before. We still have to clean out rooms and turn in keys and such.

It's onward ho with the packing and decision-making at the homestead. We have three piles going in the living room. Sell or give away, pack it up -it's going to storage and finally, keep it out-we're taking that to Alaska. That last pile tends to get bigger and bigger. Sometimes we have to stop and re-do that one. I will have to check on shipping costs. Last time I looked it was $42 for a 50# box. And that was just from here to Anchorage.

We've made the hotel reservation. Yes, $170 for one night!! Ouch! However, our site administrator has told us we can stay in their condo for two nights and another teacher is letting us use her Expedition instead of renting a vehicle. Just remember that May - September is tourist season in Alaska and you're going to pay dearly for a room. It's half that amount in December!

Oh! We found a program called "Google Earth" --- my dearest brother told us about it. It is soooo cool! You have to download it -- it's free. Then you can see anywhere on the planet from a satellite view. Kasigluk is so clear, it's unbelievable. If you use the program, remember that Kasigluk is actually 2 villages. Ours is Akula. Akiuk is about a mile and a half away and looks more like an island. Akula has the airstrip and the school looks like a fat T. Our house sits just north of the school. There's a row of three or four and our's is the fartherest on the left. Directly in front of the house is the playground and just west of that is the basketball court. Our building is separate from the main building and is south of the court. The mister has the north half and I have the south half. It is .02 mile to our building from the front door. If you go out our back door and head north, it's about the same distance to the river.

If you get a chance, try it out. Some places aren't clear at all but in Buenos Aires I could tell you what roof tops had on them! It's amazing --- and scarey.

New News

2007-04-30T19:19:00.000-06:00

Airline tickets are bought. Wow. That was a big step. Yes, we've sent off the contracts and such but actually getting the tickets.... after more than a year of watching prices dip and soar.... It's a relief to finally have them in hand now. We leave DFW on August 4 at 2:56 and fly to Seattle. Then it's on to Anchorage where we're supposed to arrive at almost 10:00 that night. Of course, it will feel like 1:00 in the morning to our bodies.

We'll spend three nights in Anchorage and then on to Bethel for 3 days of teacher inservice. We'll fly out to Kasigluk on Friday.

Our school district will pay for $1000 moving expenses for the Mister and for myself. That is going to help out tremendously. Not all districts help with moving costs. Plus, we will get an advance on our pay, to be held out in May. We also get laptops for each of us at inservice so we don't have to ship our computer if we don't want to. However, we think we'll go ahead and ship it in the fall for the kids to play games.

Thoughts about groceries --- Some teachers wait and buy all their food in Anchorage or Fairbanks in August and then ship it out to the bush. My thoughts are.... this is my first time in Anchorage and I want to look around. I don't care about spending my days in the stores. So, we'll be ordering most of our stuff online and having it shipped ahead of time. I'll go to Mr. Prime Beef that week and set up an account. Then they can ship our meat out when we really get to the village. I'll let you know how this all pans out later.

The Boy and the Girl are excited about the class list we received today. The Girl will be in junior high ---- yes, her daddy nearly flipped! --- and there are 14 in grades 6,7,and 8. The Mister has 20 on the roll and I have 16. However, as our principal wrote --- this may all change until May 17 of next year! Be flexible. Be adaptable.

We attended a Winters family reunion last weekend. So good to see people. Our beloved Windstar had a major arterial attack of some sort and died on the way to the party. We will miss her terribly but hey --- how many people can say "our major mode of transportation has died but it's okay, we're moving to Alaska and there aren't any roads there anyway?!" Still, I wish we had gotten to Bates earlier and got to visit more. Don't forget the Sanders' reunion next month!

Pictures Have Arrived

2007-04-20T15:50:00.000-06:00

We received pictures of our village this week. Apparently, the playground is out our front door. The village clinic is out the back. Our building is very close to our house. It's the red one. The house is about 1200 sq. ft.

We will be renting from the school. The new housing went in about 2003. I don't know who is in the picture by the stairs. I assume it's one of the people who currently live there. They were so nice to send us some pictures of the house and school. I plan to ask that the handrails be added before we arrive! The present occupant asked that they be left off so the dogs wouldn't get tangled up in them.

Our house in Oklahoma is up for sale. We've had 4 lookers in the last 2 weeks but no takers. We will close it up in June and spend July with family.

Everything we own just about is for sale. We will have to mail any boxes to the village and that comes to about $45 for a 50 pound box. The house is furnished and the occupants are selling us quite a few things. That way they don't have to ship them "outside" (that's Alaskan for the lower 48!) We are shipping dvd's, games, kitchen supplies and clothes. We will order food from internet companies as well as shipping stuff from Anchorage in August. Also, most of our cold weather clothes will be ordered after we get on site.

Okay, this is enough for one day. If you wish to comment on the different posts, just click on "comment."

We're Moving...

2007-04-16T17:33:00.000-06:00

To bring everybody up to date ---- two weeks ago the principal from a small village in Alaska called to let us know they would be sending out our contracts that week. We've received the packets and most everything is back in AK where it needed to go.

Where are we going? To Kasigluk/Akula. Find Anchorage on the map, go west 400 miles to Bethel and then northwest about 20 miles. It's a village of about 600 people. There are about 100 students, K-12. There are 9 teachers.

What will we do? Melissa will be teaching first and second grade --- combined class. Joe will be teaching fourth, fifth and sixth grades. We "think" he will have mostly kids that are below grade level in their performance. We will be working in the Lower Kuskokwim School District. See:
www.LKSD.org

How will we get there? We will fly to Anchorage and buy groceries to ship to Akula. Then we will fly to Bethel for teacher orientation. After 3 days there, we will fly in a Cesna plane to the village.

Summer plans: We will stay in H. until the end of June and then go to W. and stay at my dad and C's place while they go to AK for a cruise. Then we will probably fly out on Monday, July 30 from Dallas.

Keep checking this blog for further updates and pics and such. I really intend for this to be a way to keep family and friends informed about our great Alaskan adventure.

Going through the Checklists

2007-01-23T18:20:00.000-06:00

We lived through the ice storm last week. It finally cleared out enough that we could drive into Oklahoma City (OKC) and get our fingerprints done for certification. Of course had we known all the hassle it was going to be.... first, you have to supply your own cards. Now Alaska's Department of Educationa and Early Childhood (DEED) will gladly send these to you. But no, I didn't need to get their cards. Oh, no, I just thought one could walk into the police station and THEY would have the cards that we needed. Was I ever wrong! We had to go to the OSBI's main office and pick up the cards and then drive downtown to the jail. The Boy and The Girl's eyes sure did get big when we went inside. The Mister had his pocket knife and sent the metal detector off first thing. Then we had to get someone to unlock the elevator and send us to the basement. Fill out the cards that we had brought with us and then go through two more locked doors. Oh, and pay $5 a card -- the state of Alaska requires 2 per person --- and finally got fingerprinted. The lady who did it was nice. She said her brother used to live in Alaska. Where? Oh, Juneau maybe... or somewhere close to that.... maybe Fairbanks? I was nice and didn't share with her that Alaska is twice the size of Texas and those two cities are not close to each other.

The Mister got his Oklahoma certificate on Saturday. He has more endorsements than I can count nearly. Anyway, that's another step in this process.

We still need two sets of transcripts for him. Isn't it funny how no one in college ever tells you that if you take a class here or there from different universities, it will haunt you forever? The Mister needed 5 and I had to have 4. Everybody wants original, official transcripts. Bummer.

We have to take papers to the OK Dept. of Ed. , too. There's a paper in the application to show that you are "highly qualified" by the state in which you already have a teaching certificate. Then there's the notary thing and finally, but definitely not least is the check. One hundred and ninety-one dollars --- per application. When you count the cost of the PRAXIS tests, we will have spent nearly $700 just to be able to apply! And that doesn't count travel expenses, food or time.

I think that will cover the checklists in the applications. Then we can focus our attention on the other lists.... house projects that have to be completed in order to sell the house, recipes for cooking from "scratch" (and not cheating by combining already prepared soups and such), clothing for 4 people to make it through an arctic winter, the lists just keep coming.

We're Off!

2007-01-18T15:58:00.000-06:00

Alaska -- I knew someone who went there to teach. A long time ago. I never in a million years dreamed that I would be heading there one day. With two kids, a husband, a dog and a complete household. Okay, the dog isn't going to Alaska. And neither is most of our household stuff. But it is amazing what four people can accumulate over the years. I see a huge moving sale in the not too distant future.

Actually, the Mr. and I started thinking about AK a long time ago. Then we hit a wall last year with certification and everything came to a screeching halt. This last summer (2006) brought about some changes in Alaskan certification for teachers and now we're planning on going in August. If... we get certified and if.... we can get a job.

This blog is about our journey to Alaska and eventually our lives there. We hope you enjoy reading about us and this exciting trip of a lifetime!

The Mr. and I are both teachers. We've been teaching for about 4 years now. Previously we were in ministry in a Baptist church. Now I teach K-3 music and he teaches emotionally disturbed junior high students. We have two kids --- The Girl is in 5th grade and The Boy is in 3rd grade. They are just as excited about moving as we are.

So ... here is the beginning of our story:
The Mr. and I completed our PRAXIS tests three weeks ago. We check the mail as soon as possible everyday now. As soon as we recieve our papers and get fingerprinted we can send off the certification papers. It should be any day now.

I've started going through the house and cleaning out closets and cabinets. We're trying to get the house ready to sell. So we're cleaning, cleaning, cleaning --- and with two kids --- we clean some more. All the little projects that we started 2 years ago when we bought this place are now coming together. If we don't get to move at least the house will be in top order! We're painting, landscaping -- you name it. We plan to put it up for sale as soon as possible. Talk about scarey. What if I sell it and then don't get a job? But what if I wait too long and it's not sold before we go? So many questions.

I could go on and on but what would I write about tomorrow? Besides, it's time to tackle The Girl's bedroom. I wonder what treasures we'll find in there?!