Whenever fellow river guides and I found ourselves doing things for our job that had seemingly nothing to do with actually running the river (broken axles, flat tires, no propane), we would just look at each, other, shrug, and say, "adventures in rafting." As it turns out, this holds true for teaching, as well.
We weren't in our new home, but a day and a half when my roommate, Anna, fell through a hole in our floor (no vent cover), and cut a deep gash in her arm. After a visit to the village clinic, we opted for a flight back to Bethel for stitches, rather than the duct tape remedy that we feared was the village solution. Our principal dropped us back at our house, telling us to pack an overnight bag and be ready--bush planes leave when they leave, sometimes it's an hour BEFORE they're scheduled to. In the five minutes we ended up having before the plane showed up, we packed a bag for Anna and instead of packing even a toothbrush for myself, I sat down at my computer and purchased medical evacuation insurance for $100 a year. Nothing like a large opening in someone's arm in a remote village to make you throw some money at the "just in case" cause.
We made it to Bethel, were delivered to the hospital, and six hours later, Anna was all sewed up. Found a hotel for the night to wait for the next flight back to Marshall the next day. Made a quick stop at the store for a box of fresh fruits, vegetables, and milk and headed back to the airport, a mere 12 hours later. Anna's request for an attractive, single pilot was halfway fulfilled when French (but married) pilot, Francois (no kidding) came to retrieve us. As he laughed (in a French accent) at our story and what we were getting ourselves into for the next year, we sensed his lack of confidence in our coping abilities. Hey, Francois, your sarcasm is duly noted, just fly low, point out the moose when you see them, and take us home. And that he did, a full 360 in a small plane (those things bank like a champ!) to point out our first moose sighting since we've been here...[shrug]... adventures in teaching.
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