Man, So Scary!

A phrase you will hear about a hundred times a day out here is "Man, so (insert any adjective)." The phrase of the day is so scAAaary. That would be the reaction of any one of the girls in my driver education class as they embark on their first "drive" with the simulator I have set up here at Chief Paul Memorial School (home of the Falcons) in Kipnuk. With some of the panic stricken reactions I have seen here, you'd think this is the real thing. Thank goodness it's not, or else I would be demanding hazard pay. The best so far was a would-be left hand turn, where our pseudo-driver crossed over into the oncoming lanes, turned up the opposite side adjacent street's right turn lane into oncoming traffic where we were all met head on by an eighteen wheeler. It sort of reminded me of my first family vacation to South Dakota. Aye aye aye....man...so scary.

Things are getting moving here in Kipnuk. The first week is in the books, and it feels like there is too much to do and not enough time. If I'm not at school, I'm generally eating or else asleep. Hopefully we reach our goals.

In other village news, our girls high school basketball team was supposed to travel to Scammon Bay to compete in a tournament this weekend. But, of course, the weather caused their charter plane to cancel. Likewise, the Falcons were to host a middle school tournament today and tomorrow, but the other teams couldn't make it yet. As of now, the high school girls time is scrimmaging the middle school girls. It's up in the air as to who will win. The gym is on the other side of the wall from this room and the floor/wall/ceiling/lights all shake with every burst down the court. So loud.

So long.

Grumpelstiltskin

It took a whole week, but me and all the stuff are now out in Kipnuk. Our weather decided to go ahead and stay ridiculous for just a little while longer. We had plenty of freezing rain, and then rain on top of that, which made the act of coming to a complete stop a thing of the past in Bethel. I didn't do any driving in this stuff, but was on a couple of hairy rides around town. And if it wasn't rain, it was wind. Have you ever said this to the driver of the vehicle you are in?: "hey, watch out for that sheet of corrugated steel that's flying at us." I have. Apparently high winds and freezing rain are even worse for air travel.

Because of the hot and weird weather, the K-300 was actually postponed. The start time was moved all the way back to Sunday at noon. Sadly, due to a variety of slow-ups, including my giving up on people coming/not being bundled up when they arrived, we missed the start. Even worse than missing the start was the disappointment of Erin at having missed the start. She assumed the darker, sinister twin of hers which I call Grumpelstiltskin. I hadn't seen anything like that since we took a road trip and I was slow to understand something called the Thumb-O-Meter. But that's another story. The point is that we were on disappointment level orange.

Fortunately, not all was lost. The K-300 is not the only race that takes off from Bethel each year. We were in time to see the start of the Bogus 150, but it was too cool out for us to wait another hour to see the start of the Akiak Dash. For me, the experience was still great. It was amazing to see how excited some of the dogs were to be able to run. I never made it up to the Beargrease when I lived in northern Wisconsin, so just seeing the teams in action made quite an impression. Erin and Macy seemed happy to see it too, especially Macy. I held her pudgy little rump up where she could see the teams of dogs. She looked and shook. Erin says that Macy gets big ideas and dreams big after the K-300. So we were having a better time at this point. I still wasn't about to hand Erin a flamethrower.

I think the end of the race would be even better to see. Maybe some other time. I do hope Erin and Macy find a way to make it there tomorrow for the finish. She was sweet enough, despite everything, to bring me a delicious cheeseburger. Erin, that is. Macy gave me nothing but bad attitude.

A few doggie pics, and then that's enough for today, I need to make a good impression in the morning. I would have some better pictures, but for some reason my camera decided to have a mind of its own when the race started.

Doesn't Look Too Good For Flying Today

Well here I am, back in Bethel. Erin, Macy and myself got in on Saturday afternoon. We spent a couple of days in Anchorage where we were able to pick up some groceries at a tolerable price, and watch the Badgers rally back from an 0-2 deficit to out-puck the SeaWolves 3-2. It was about as cold in Anchorage as you have it now in Wisconsin, but not mind-numbingly cold like Bethel was. Luckily we missed the nasty cold snap of Bethel for the most part, just catching the tail-end of it on Saturday.

Getting out of the cold stretch has presented me with a new problem: warm weather. That's right. It's too dang warm for me to do my job. Here's the rub: Monday I was to charter to my next village assignment, Kipnuk. I went through the usual routine of hauling a cube van full of gear and equipment out to Yute Air, having pizza at Brother's upstairs, sitting around and waiting. They called me, we got on the plane. We taxied (sp?) out to the runway, at which point the pilot took off the headset, used a mid-level expletive, and taxied back over in front of Yute. We were called back because other planes were icing up in the freezing fog.

So I went back in and sat down and waited for an hour or two before falling asleep. Eventually a young lady tapped my knee, giggled at whatever look must have been on my face as I woke up, and told me we were canceled and I should go home. Feeling a little under the weather, this wasn't the worst news I'd had. Nothing compared to the Christmas Flying Catastrophe of 12/21/08.

Tuesday I stayed home sick. Ironically, planes were flying to the beat of the band on Tuesday but I was in bed where I needed to be.

Wednesday: Freezing rain and temps in the low to mid 30s turned Bethel into a skating rink. Schools were closed because the buses couldn't get out of their parking area. If you drove over 10 MPH, you were going too bloody fast. Kipnuk had a blizzard warning. The phrase of the day was "We're still on weather hold. Call us back in maybe an hour."

And ditto for today. Freezing rain towards Kipnuk, and a runway full of glare ice in Bethel. Who knows when I'll get out. I just accept the fact that there isn't a damn thing I can do about it other than stay comfortable and wait for it to pass. Kind of like this darn cold I have. I focus on the positive in that I get to recuperate at home instead of away.

It turns out I may be in town to see the start to the K-300 afterall.

To and Fro

Well, we made it.


Those ridiculous storms in and around the Seattle area were the bane of many itineraries, including those of myself and Erin and Macy. This is how it felt, just so you know:

When we loaded up and flew from Bethel to Anchorage on the night flight on the 20th, everybody on the plane was so excited. Just about everybody on that bird worked either for LKSD or else YKHC, and we were all on cloud number 9 thinking about the vacations lying ahead.

Once we'd all de-planed at Ted Stevens Int'l and had a chance to eat at Chilis and then look at the boards, only to see that our late night connections into Seattle were cancelled, we all were deflated. I think a few times I actually saw people look at the board and heard the audible sound of a balloon being let go.

When we waited in the customer service line for an hour, only to find out that the soonest our flight could be rescheduled would be on the 25th....well that was kind of like being slapped upside the head with a cold dead carp. THWACK!!

Throw in some personal problems, and add to that the fact that my friend Macy (Erin's dog) was puking constantly, all night long, and you get a couple of haggard and emotionally drained travelers in Erin and I.

Luckily we made the decision early on to try and make the best of it. So, we got a free flight back to square one, Bethel. From there we were able to have fun with friends, do some skiing and snow machining and eat some nice meals and enjoy not having to work.

Take 2 of Return to Wisconsin went quite well, everything was on time or else early. We got to Madison around 8:30 pm on the 25th and everybody slept like a stone at the Rendall house. The next day, the 26th, we headed to Racine and I un-stored the pickup. What a feeling it was and is to be able to drive my pickup after it sat for all those months. I think the Chevy was really happy to see me too.

From Racine, Erin, Macy and I headed up to Kaukauna to Mary & Jerry Kavanaugh's home. We went out for some terrific fish, and the next day I stayed for part of the Kavanaugh family christmas fun as I waited for the fog to improve. (which it did not) The Kavanaughs really made me feel at home with their fun, hospitality and conversations. There were a couple of exciting moments, but overall everyone had a nice time, and I was thankful to have been a part of it all.

Today my family and I finally got to celebrate our Christmas. We had more delicious food, fun, racket and chaos. Also, a couple of exciting moments. I always have kind of thought that my family was nuts. And we may be that. But this holiday I've sort of come more to realize that any family worthy of membership would and should appear a little crazy to an outsider, and totally nutso to a sane person. So I'd suppose mine qualifies and I'm glad for it. Traveling 4,000 miles with travel hiccups was completely worth its reward.

Hopefully it was for the rest of you weary travelers out there too.

ABBA-ZABA

I've been struggling here for days. I am really at a loss, disenfranchised, disillusioned, disheartened....disgusted. It just kills me. I mean....$161,000,000 for SEVEN FREAKING YEARS are you kidding me??!?! Baseball was really getting to be great. Not just because the Brewers made the playoffs last year. Not just because we have aspirations of doing it again, either. Over the past few years, the Yankees finally butted out of the scene (success-wise) and October mystique came back. Now Junior Steinbrenner is out to wreck it all over again. I hope CC finds success in new york, but not as much as I hope that that ridiculous contract comes around to bite the yankees in the ass.

I have but one more day teaching class here in Chefornak. It seems like a long time I've been here, due largely, I'm sure, to the fact that this visit has been drawn out longer, punctuated by a couple of sorties into town and several little adventures.

Thoughts on CYF:

Interesting people here. Folks are friendly and there are definitely some characters about. Not the easiest groups of students I've taught, but by and by I think we accomplished a good amount. I had to cancel my morning class today, as I had no students. They had flown to Newtok (boys) and Toksook Bay (girls) for basketball tournaments on Friday, and got weathered in up until today. Shamans basketball had a pretty good weekend on the court, by the way.

Speaking of weather, the wind can really rip out here, as I had mentioned earlier. Yesterday we had it blowing steady 50-60 for a while. People like to tell me about a couple years ago when it gusted 100. The seal hat does an unbelievably great job of cutting that wind.

The staff here is a pretty good mix, personality wise. I came to feel like part of the group, and this past weekend was even invited over for some delicious meals and fun games. I would have liked to spend another weekend here and hone my dominoes game, but there's always next time.

The store here, Chefearmute (aka Store) is quite the place. There are, of course, plenty of things you can't get there. Which makes the things you can get there that much more surprising. I treated us to some Dunkin Donuts coffee from Store. And, they have about any kind of candy there you could want. I got an ABBA-ZABA there tonight. I thought those things were long long gone. They also have Zagnut bars. Who'da thunk?

Aesthetically, this village is a looker compared to many. There is actually some topography in the form of Tern Mountain, which, sadly, I never made it out to. The ocean is very close, and when there is a clear sky (fairly uncommon) the sunsets are neat to look at. I'm going to be a double camera clown and post some pics of tonight's too. The reason being, when I looked out and saw it it nearly blew my face off. Pictures never do anything justice though, as we all know.










Well tomorrow classes come to a close, then Wednesday it's time to shine it and ship it.

Already.

Come See the Tundra Oasis Christmas Cabaret!! One night only!

These are the roomates at the TO, and this is how we celebrate the holidays. I guess.

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/9QO2zcLb6EZ7il9NT5OO

well...enjoy

It's a Wonderful Saturday Inservice

This past weekend I flew back to Bethel for my 2nd of 5 fly-in Saturday inservices. I've yet to meet a teacher who likes inservices. Across the profession, people harbor various levels of hatred for an inservice.

As I sat there I started to ponder on what life would be like if this inservice had never been mandated. With my mind's eye I saw myself wandering the icy boardwalks of Chefornak, alone and cold, taking with me only the small comfort of anticipation of a can of Nalley chili that awaited me upon return to my quarters. Afterwards I came to realize that I was glad to be at inservice instead of in that sad little daydream. It got me a free trip in to Bethel, where I got to (briefly) see friends. We had a nice lunch served. I was learning a few new tricks, and besides...I would have been working on Saturday anyways.

At about the time I came to this acceptance of the inservice, I really was perturbed by what took place before me. The presenter was showing us how to use an online resource that brought forth myriad teaching materials, and a lot technical things that would relate directly to what I teach. But, I don't know how to use it, or really what the presenter said at all. That is because 2/3 of the people in the room were getting up and leaving to go catch their planes (which were on weather hold anyways.) And, they were talking about all of their plans and griping about the weather hold, worrying aloud about how they would get back home. All while somebody gave a presentation. I've seen teachers display the undesirable characteristics of their classes in the past, but this took the cake. It's one thing to hate inservice, and another to be plain rude about it. I'll bet Jimmy Stewart would agree.

I had a nice flight back to CYF. It was clear and sunny and crisp outside. From the air, the tundra looked like a black and white painting done by a lunatic. It was very easy to tell from looking which direction the winds blew last Wednesday.

I snapped a couple pictures of the awesome color spectrum that comes from a good sunset here. The bump on the horizon is Tern Mountain, which I am hoping to take a trip out to while I'm here.

Have a nice week, everybody. And for the folks back home...It is only 2 weeks before I get to come visit!! I am so excited to get to see you all soon. Especially the newest addition to the family...my youngest nephew Evan, born this past Monday morning.