Turkeys, Blizzards and Vomit

Once again, a delayed posting. There has been a little excitement, but maybe not completely what we were after.

The week before Thanksgiving I had a pretty cool opportunity. My bosses approved my attendance of a conference in Anchorage. This time it was for the Alaska Association of Career and Technical Educators, and I was pretty excited for it. I was given a choice of "strands" which I could sign up for. The strand is basically a topic of certain seminars, and my choice was Alternative Energy Sources. It was to take place at the University of Alaska Anchorage campus in their Automotive and Diesel Lab. I was pretty excited for all the neat things I would be learning. As an added bonus, I would be receiving a college credit for attending all the sessions and writing an essay about it.

So the day came, and I flew into Anchorage, excited about my next four days. Once we landed, Jan, my co-worker, and I got her rental car and went and got some Thai food. Afterward, she went to attend her first strand, while I checked into my room at the Sheraton to rest a couple hours before I would be picked up and taken to my class in the evening.

A couple of hours later, it became obvious that the plans had changed. I found myself yawning in Taiwanese technicolor. Talking to Ralph on the big white phone. Nothing would stay down and I couldn't go anywhere. The plans had changed? The plans were totally screwed, that's what they were.

The next day I dragged my sorry kiester to the conference, despite my internal doctor's orders. The fact is, I went because this organization was refunding the school district for our air fare to Anchorage IF I attended at least 15 hours worth of sessions. So I needed to go, but I got about as much out of it as I would get from listening to Russian folk ballads. Less, probably. Unless we're talking about misery. Then it's back to about equal.

The next day, Friday, I manned up again, although it was easier this time. I actually ate a couple of normal meals on Friday. I still was nowhere near full strength. Saturday I finally got to attend a strand at the UAA campus again, and it was great. It made me even more sad that I had to miss the big class on Wednesday. As for that college credit-forget it. No chance, move on. Boy was I glad that trip was over with.

The next week, I finally made it back to Napaskiak and Oscarville to proctor the driving tests from Way Back When. I stayed over in Oscarville at Erin's on Tuesday, and took Wednesday off so that I could partake in the Thanksgiving Feast at Qugcuun School in Oscarville. We had turkey, caribou, potatoes and gravy, pie and juice. It was delicious, and a good warm-up for the official Turkey Day.

After the feast, we headed up to Bethel on snow machines up the frozen river. We stayed at the Tundra Oasis on Wednesday night and on Thursday got up to watch the Lions keep the dream of a perfect season alive, and with panache. Then we all sat down and enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast. Turkey, ham, potatoes, stuffing, corn and dessert were all served. We made pigs of ourselves and then snacked on leftovers. I love Thanksgiving!!! I did miss the family meal, but what we had at the Tundra Oasis was an acceptable substitution by Bethel standards.

The rest of the weekend was filled with rest, relaxation, fun, snow machine rides, sledding, and more rest and relaxation. Of course, all good things must end, and on Sunday I had to fly back out here to Chefornak, and even worse, I had to get back to work.

Yesterday we had ourselves quite a blizzard here. The winds were blowing 50-60 mph and it was a white out. If you opened the door, it started snowing inside the house. This morning we awoke to warm weather (mid 30s,) rain, and slush everywhere.

I'd post some pictures of Chefornak, but I don't have any. Whenever I've had time for photography, the picture would be a white and gray mess. Maybe next week I can post something for you to look at. Right now I'm ready for a turkey nap.

Get Back

For those of you who look forward to reading the new postings, I apologize for the drought. And, for those who don't particularly look forward to new postings, but feel some sort of a compulsory obligation to read them as a friend, then you are welcome for the break.

At the last posting I was working away in the village of Newtok. Things finished out pretty well. That village is a real diamond with all of the positive attitudes and good things going on. I also enjoyed my many opportunities to learn that I was past my prime in hoops. Way past...
On the 11th my charter plane showed up after a couple hours of delay. Once the plane radioed the school to say it was coming, two of my older and stronger students came and helped haul all the gear out to the snowmachine and sleigh to be dragged to the runway. The plane brought me and all the gear straight to the village of Chefornak.

I started teaching classes in Chefornak on the 12th. The plan was that I would start out the Chefornak gig, and then come back to Bethel, have the weekend off (finally!), see some friends (finally!), then work out of the office for a couple of days before heading in to Town for a professional development conference, and a nice Thanksgiving. Of course I was looking forward to all of this. After spending 3 weeks away and sleeping on the floor in a school, I wanted nothing more than to, as they say, get the Hell out of Dodge.

For friends and family in the lower 48 who wonder what Bush travel is like:
Friday afternoon in Chefornak was bright, sunshiney and nice. In Bethel, it was just the opposite. Planes were not coming. I called the local agent who handles reservations for 2 of the 3 airlines that come to Chefornak and said I wanted on, ASAP, and I didn't care which company. This is how you make a reservation. So I waited and waited. Luckily, the runway was right outside the window, so I could wait inside. As time passed I was starting to harbor some ill thoughts, damning the Bethel weather all the while, for keeping my airplane, my chance for some restful down time, on the ground.

Then suddenly a humming sound....A PLANE!! Not one of the ones I reserved with. So you know what I did? I grabbed my gear, boogied out there, chucked my stuff on the plane and got on for a mildly spooky ride back to Bethel. The first leg was a quick jaunt to Kipnuk. Because of the short distance and low ceiling, we were at about 100 feet for that part. After that we went high and quick on the Caravan, and after some searching, found a nice hole through the clouds into Bethel.

After a while, my pal Sarah came to pick me up. It took a while, (since I reneged on the plans to fly with the other airlines,) for her to locate me. I was pretty thankful when she finally did. I really needed a break. The weekend was so nice and relaxing. I got to watch a couple movies, take a frozen river hike, take a nice sauna, and catch up on sleep.

Some pics of the river, taken before poor Sarah fell through.

WWT

Another aeronautical code title posting, this time it's WWT which is PilotSpeak for Newtok. I was going to photo the airstrip for show, but then thought better of it, so as not to give my mother a heart attack. These bush pilots earn their money.

Now that I've completed my first week here in this village, I have to give this place high marks in terms of how nice the folks here are. Staff members have invited me into their homes for supper on three occasions, and another delivered supper to me here at the school in between classes. I have good groups of students that are pretty well motivated and fun to be around.

On Friday we had a Halloween carnival and dance here. Many of the kids and teachers dressed up for the day. I did not have a costume, but I worked at the carnival. Unfortunately, due to weather, the DJ couldn't make it in from Bethel, which meant they had to use the gym's PA speakers and a student's iPod as an alternative. Between the sound and the smell, I didn't spend a ton of time at the dance.

I've been playing some hoops with some of the kids, including a long game of 3 on 3 yesterday. Hence today I am feeling very sore, broken, and past my prime. Good exercise though.

The weather here has had a lot of fog and low skies. People traveling to/from here have had delays which can last several days. Finally today we had a relatively clear, sunny, and very nice day. So, I got out on my lunch break and snapped a few photos of Nelson Island and the ice floes of the Ningaluk River. Sadly, I haven't seen any seals yet, or really much wildlife out and about. Or Russians. But I'll let you know if I do, you betcha.





Lastly, a story I hesitate to tell. I thought it was kind of strange, but at first I didn't pay it much mind. A couple of the older ladies around the school and community here have been asking me if I'd met any women here at Newtok. It seems like once or twice a day, I get "Hi Brian! Meet anybody yet?" One woman even suggested putting me up in a raffle for the Halloween carnival. (Which was NOT done, by the way) I started to really wonder where this was all coming from. Well well well, come to find out that one of my esteemed co-workers decided to have a little fun at the expense of yours truly. So, they went ahead and spread word prior to my arrival that the new teacher was looking to meet a lady and settle down in a village. Ahh nice play there. That's alright though. Anybody who was ever on the Lancer Wrestling Team knows that when it comes to practical jokes, I don't ever get even.

I get ahead.

Mr. Rendall Goes to Town

My wonderful friend Erin Kavanaugh thought that would be a great title for my next blog posting. It sounds like a children's story to me, but I suppose it fits.

As some of you know, this past week I headed to Town (Anchorage) for a professional development opportunity. Now, opportunity....there is a word that I can never use in the same way after having taught and worked at Maple. Our principal there was a great man, and ever the optimist. He would use "opportunity" as a descriptor of some odd things. In that light, I might say that last weekend I had the opportunity to change the Big Red Fred's oil in the icy driveway of the Tundra Oasis when it was 15 degrees out. Or, I might say I had the opportunity to sit in a class being taught to teachers by people who don't teach. I also just had the opportunity to watch the Illini take a 17-10 lead over Bucky.

So the class was pretty much like having a tooth drilled-all day long, for two days. It was a good chance for me to reflect on how much it must suck for MY students when I'm having an off day. The benefit of this class was that I gained a core curriculum and endorsement from CEF (Construction Education Foundation) that is by no means limited to construction trades. At some time this could come to benefit my students, but probably not under the current configuration. Perhaps the bigger plus was networking with CTE teachers from all over the state. Some of the guys had some pretty interesting stories from the areas they came from. For example, one guy who teaches in Barrow was saying that the daylight changes by 20 minutes per day right now. Talk about rapid change...they will be in complete darkness very soon. From talking to some of these cats I got the sense of how unique each area of the state is, and some of the strange ins and outs that go along with them.

So I didn't want to give the impression that the whole trip was torture. This organization put us all up in a really nice hotel. Big bathtubs, down comforters, big screen TVs and drop-dead beautiful desk workers. It was a nice place. The view out the window wasn't bad either.


The mall was right nearby, which afforded me the chance to finally get a haircut (the first since mid-July) and I went ahead and tamed the beard as well, which I think was probably due.


I got to go out for a couple of good meals. One was take-out from a nice pizza joint at the mall. On the walk in, I noticed several dads with their little boys with little hockey sticks walking in to the mall. As I waited for my pie to cook, I walked over and watched the little kids' hockey practice in the rink that serves as sort of an atrium for the mall. I felt bad for some of the kids who couldn't do the drills. One kid was brought back to the side with a stick, like he was a big hockey puck in a green sweatshirt.


The next night, Thursday, I was feeling a little stuffy, so I went to a nearby Thai restaurant that came highly recommended from Wednesday's Foul Mouthed Latin Cabbie. He used so much profanity in describing the quality of food here that I knew had to go try it. The spicy curry I had really cleared out the stuffy head, and yes, Cabbie, I would agree that it was some kick @## mutha *#*$@# ! #!***, brother. Way better chow than what's in Bethel.

Also, I got to pick up some needed supplies before heading back. Some new shoes, some mitts, and some toiletries. And there is a Sportsman's Warehouse. That place is a little slice of Heaven right there in Anchorage. It's kind of like Gander Mountain, only dare I say a little better.

Finally, it was back to Anchorage International for my trip back to Bethel. Here's one of the many impressive mounts in the airport, a world record brown bear.


By the way, I found out that security really does not apppreciate if you lose your boarding pass in the process of taking off your shoes, coat, backpack, and emptying your pockets in a big rush. Security guy "Boarding pass?!?" Me "Umm...crap. Sir, I think it's in your X-ray box." Security guy "What's it doing in there? You need your boarding pass!" Fortunately it turned up in one of the plastic tote bins as I rifled through my stuff coming out of the X-ray box. I was becoming fearful of the "question room."

As I wrote this story, I had the opportunity to watch Bucky come back and beat those Illini. And tomorrow, I have the opportunity to head out to Newtok and start my next assignment.

An interesting read....

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/us/13land.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

HOLY CRAP!! THE RUSSIANS!!!

This morning was a nice, calm, sunny morning in the village of Napakiak. I deemed it the perfect time to get out for a nice leisurely stroll. And besides, it's part of my daily duty to go out and make sure there aren't any Russians roaming about. There was a HEAVY coat of frost on everything. The Kusko had some steam rising off the surface. The ravens were making new sounds I'd never heard before. For the information of folks back home, ravens make a lot of very bizarre sounds, unlike the crows we all know, which are just obnoxious.

I walked down to the Kusko, then veered off to the side and walked along the Napakiak slough. I could hear the ice that had topped now empty puddles along the shores cracking all around me. At first I thought nothing of it. Then I pulled focus and watched as the shore appeared to flood all around me. The rising tide was refilling all the puddles and breaking the ice everywhere. It was pretty surreal to watch and listen to.


Eventually I followed a trail towards the airport. Right about that time, I could hear this distant dull roaring sound. I looked up and on the distant horizon I could see what in all honesty looked like a huge rocket or missile taking off, followed by an enormous plume of spent rocket fuel and smoke. I did a double take, rubbed my eyes, and thought to myself, holy crap, it's the Russians. Then my mind started pontificating about what a brilliant place the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta would be for our military to conceal nuclear arms. So maybe this was one of ours. One thing was for sure. This thing was moving, rising, and I could hear it gaining intensity. After a couple of minutes, the 'missile' got closer, but not necessarily higher, and through the fog I could see it for what it was. I then headed back to the Kusko to watch the missile as it went by. I couldn't actually get the tugger in the shot, as it was about 400 yards ahead of the barge.

I have just 3 more days left here in Napakiak before I head back to Bethel to regroup and take care of some business. Then on the 20th I'll be heading out to Newtok, which some of you may have seen featured in the Tougher in Alaska show. It is the town that they are going to move/rebuild before it erodes away completely.

And don't worry, folks. I'll still be keeping my eyes peeled for any Russians.

At Napakiak, the Sky Falls Out of the Snow

That's right, people. We had our first official accumulation of snowfall this morning. When I saw students walking in with snow stuck to their clothes, I knew I'd need to skip out of school for a spell today. A mere dusting, but the first bona fide sign that winter is only a step away. Soon we will walk into it face first. What we had this morning was one of those beautiful winter wonderlands. I suppose partly because it's the first snow I've seen since the end of April. The other bonus was that all I needed to stay warm on my walk was a hooded sweatshirt. That first icing, for whatever reason, stirs some emotions in all of us. It's beauty, it's change, but it's the omen that our beloved summer sun is calling it a happening.
Here are a couple pics I snapped for you folks in TV Land. Then I put the camera in my pocket and enjoyed the rest to myself.