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!
Monday, April 30, 2007
Friday, April 20, 2007
Pictures Have Arrived
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.
Monday, April 16, 2007
We're Moving...
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.
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.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Going through the Checklists
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.
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.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
We're Off!
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?!
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?!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Alaska Tundra
The Tundra