Catching Up

My how the year has flown! Who would have thought this time last year that we would be 3500 miles from home within the year! It really has been quite an adventure so far. So while I am at a school where I have internet, let me get you all up to date on the happenings of our lives…

We finally got moved into our house in the middle of August! It still needs to have many things completed (like, I still don’t have a shower at this point but at least we have a bath!) but it is quite nice despite this. The house was purple when we moved in but we have since painted it… now it’s sea foam green! (I preferred the purple to this strange shade of green but the landlord wanted it painted, so paint we did… hey it’s the paint HE chose…lol.) So then there was the adventure of finding furniture for the house. Luckily we had found a bed rather easily but other furniture was a little more difficult (that is a story for another entry so stay tuned…). The end of August had me taking my first trip to a village (Arctic Village) to handle a crisis situation.

That brings us nicely to September. Andrew got a job at the store in town (lovingly called the AC – for Alaskan Commercial that is). He is now a manager there and works many crazy hours but it definitely keeps him from getting bored. We spent our anniversary in yet another unique way, but that is for a later time. We had our first viewing of the northern lights. They really are something that is almost impossible to describe. (Hopefully I will have the chance to do some photography of them soon and then I will write more about them when I have pictures to show somewhat of what I am talking about). Then it was time for inservice. Andrew came in for a day beforehand with me so that we could buy our winter gear. There is so much more that is needed here for the winter (ok well that was an obvious statement). After a whirlwind shopping trip for him, he heads back to the Fort and I stay for inservice. I spent my evenings shopping for things that we needed for the house as well as food items that we seriously underestimated the amount we would need. And then began my traveling counselor duties… First stop, Venetie. Next up, back to Arctic Village.

October I started by going to Anchorage for a weekend for training with the union. I didn’t really get a chance to see much of the city at that point cause the trainings were exhausting. Next stop – Chalkyitsik! I spent a couple of days in this village then back to the Fort. At this point Andrew came to Voc Ed to fill in as secretary until a permanent one could be found… nothing like working in a building full of men, literally I was the only female staff member! The end of October brought the Career Pathways trip to Anchorage. This was an entire week with juniors and seniors touring various schools. I did get to spend time in the city this time and I can’t tell you how excited I was to return to the village! But there were quite a few hilarious moments while in the city (unfortunately you had to be there to understand the hilarity).

With the end of October came winter. Yes you read that right, WINTER!!!!! It started with snow, snow and more snow (just like back in PA, several storms of annoying amounts, you know, 3 inches here, 4 there…). And then the temperatures DROPPED! Apparently it has been colder than normal this year but I wouldn’t know. Now, when I say dropped, I mean dropped. We went from 30 about to 40 BELOW! The funniest thing about this was that while it was -40 here, it was 100 degrees warmer in PA! (that would be a sultry 60 degrees for those of you who don’t want to do the math). By the middle of November, we had accumulated quite a bit of snow and that means the snow machines are out in force.

Speaking of November, it flew in out of no where! (ok well we knew it was coming but it sure did come awfully quick) November started with me taking all of the Voc Ed teacher’s classes while he was at a conference. So I spent the week teaching math and career planning (I liked the first part but the career planning part was no where near as much fun, serious!) I was to go to Beaver after this, but this trip was postponed. I went to Circle for a few days and on my way back took a day off in Fairbanks. And the next week was Thanksgiving! This week I have spent in Venetie and Arctic again (those two villages are always done together as they are on the same flight schedule).

So there, in a nutshell (more like a coconut shell…) is the story so far. There have been many things that we have encountered along the way that we will tell you more about in the upcoming posts but I don’t want to take your entire day reading about us ;) So on that note (I think it might be C#), I bid your farewell from the frozen north.