three weeks, still standing...sort of

You know, people lived a long time without things like electricity, lice shampoo, and penicillin. We should be lucky right? Day 2 of the school year, we were without electricity until noon. No worries, read by the windows, oh, and here's your flashlight-on-a-string for the bathroom. Last week, there was a lice uprising that took the hairdos of about 20 kids hostage. Reinforcements were called and the battle was soon won by the hair-checkers, the clinic, and the steam carpet cleaner. Rest assured, my own rats nest was not captured by the encroaching lice warriors. My throat, however, was taken prisoner by General Strep in a subsequent battle. Forces from the Penicillin Army are in the process of taking it back.

Perhaps I'm not getting enough adult conversation in my diet. Oh right, because they're all busy moving all of their classrooms to the new school as I should be doing if I weren't cooped up in my house. Feeling better by the day, though, and am hoping to make one fell swoop to at least get the wall of boxes into one general area for loading. We have been given extra work days so we'll get it done. And the new school is beautiful and huge! We are setting records, too. Our principal told us that he's never heard of a school moving buildings three weeks into the school year that wasn't the result of a fire. So there's the silver lining, I'd say.

Just a glimpse of the wall of boxes that greeted me and had to remain in my classroom until The Great Move.

feeling like myself again

After moving, labeling, and organizing the mass of boxes and storage in my classroom, I arranged some desks, and had a cozy, but functioning classroom. The first full week of school proved just as hard as I imagined it would be. The resilience of these kids is awe-inspiring, which is why teaching them comes with its curve balls. They are really great kids, though. I love them already. And I'm ready for a new week.

I chaperoned my first all-school dance on Saturday night. I may have uncool teacher status now, but that didn't stop me from throwing out a few dance moves of my own. I even did the limbo (mental note: I am much better at limbo when I'm 8 and on roller skates). Sunday was some great bonding time with the other teachers over a lovely meal, complete with moose stew (delicious!). Tonight, Anna and I were on a leisurely walk, when my students came by and picked us up on their 4-wheelers. I got a little shooting practice (don't worry, the soda can never came close to danger) and then a wild ride up and down the side of a gravel pit (impressive cat-like speed and reflex and I'm not even on my way back to the hospital). Okay, girls. Take Miss Mary home now. She still needs to plan your lessons for tomorrow.

adventures in teaching...

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.

it begins

Ten days of teacher inservice in anchorage and we were on our way, each of us flying away to our villages . The flight was incredible. It's true-this place really exists. And it's spectacular. 

We landed in Marshall and were soon at the steps of our new home. The Yukon River is literally a stone's throw away. It's a shame about my view. :-) 

I am living with another new teacher to the village, Anna, who has taught in Brooklyn for ten years. It's debatable which one of us has a louder teacher voice. We get along famously. It's as if we've know each other for years. Strangely, people are way more interested in New York than Oregon. What gives? 

We weren't in our house 20 minutes before the kids started knocking on our door, wanting to meet (or perhaps just see) the new teachers. They already knew where we were living, who we are, what we'll be teaching. As you can imagine, word travels pretty quickly. Their giggles and smiles were all the greeting we needed.