First Week Done!!

The first week of school is over I made it through! It was a tough first day or two but by wednesday everything seemed to smooth out and sail straight. My class schedule is 6 hours no prep period. Woodshop, P.E., Inupiaq crafts, Mechanical Drawing, Power Technology and facilitating long distance learning. There are many challenges for planning for 6 classes a day. Most teachers teach 5 classes a day with one prep period and slome of the classes overlap e.g. 3 periods of 8th grade social studies. With my schedule its 6 different classes with 6 different subjects with lesson plans required every week for every class. Needless to say i'm busy! On the positive side the kids have warmed up to me and they are great, for the most part. Before starting the week we had to fly back to Kotz for some more "training". Luckily we were able to fly in a Cessna grand caravan (instead of a Navajo) both ways, which means a much roomier flight. Kiana looked beautiful from the air.








While in Kotz i talked to my CTE director and told him about not having any materials for the shop so i was given a $1500 spending spree at the local hardware store! That sure was fun, not worrying about prices just grabbing things I wanted :) So now my shop is stocked for a bit and almost cleaned and organized, it was wreck when i took over. I also was given 5 brand new Briggs and Stratton engines, spare parts, tool kits, repair manuals, text books and work books! An entire small engine course and curriculum! More packages came in the mail, dishes, bedding, bread maker. It felt like Christmas this week. My house is now complete! My mom would be proud of me for making my bed every morning! Once my bread maker arrived I made my very first loaf of bread and boy was it delicious! By the way did you know that an empty dish rack makes a great bread cooling rack?







I also found time to go up river with one of my neighbors, we went to his low camp up the Kobuk river (10 miles) to try and save two new anisaks (fish drying racks) from the flood waters. The Elders are saying this is some of the highest waters they have ever seen for this time of year. Unfortunately we started picking up some rubber totes that were left on the beach at his camp about a mile downriver from his camp. One anisak was totally gone the other was on it's way but we were able to save it. Then we did some berry picking on the tundra eating some low brush cranberries and some amazingly plump blueberries.
The week ended with some of the first caribou of the season being donated for the kids to cut up (with staff help) and deliver to the elders of village. These animals were harvested about 50 miles up river at a place called onion portage. It was awesome to get down there and help the kids with this substiance activity that is a way of life here. This is the meat market here, today we were the best butcher shop in town :) I hope you enjoy the pictures and as always thanks for you interest and reading.

Starting to settle in.

Well after months of planning and anticipation i am finally in Kiana for a few days before i travel back to Kotz for more "training".

What an experience already! Upon my arrival to the village i was picked up by the Stewarts and taken to my apartment. I am pleasantly surprised with my apartment it seems to be very well appointed and very livable! I have an apartment that is located in a complex where other teachers live as well. It will be nice to get to know my neighbors. You can see i have included pictures of the the complex, living room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom.



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Next order of business, see the school and hopefully retrieve all of my goods i sent out weeks earlier. I was escorted the school and given a set of keys with the directions "find out where these work". Ok, to the shop! Naturally i wanted to see my shop space where i would be spending a fair amount of time. My shop is located in a separate building than the school. It is a mess but hopefully will clean up easily. One side of the shop is for woodworking the other side is for mechanical working. After surveying my new shop and finding that some keys worked, i needed to find my stuff. The principal came and helped me track down my stuff. When he opened the storage connex box it came to my attention stuff was missing! I was really worried about stuff missing especially with nobody to talk to about the missing items. After talking it over with other teachers a wait and see approach was adopted. After that there was nothing else to do but go home and start unpacking. I have included pics of the school, shop, and post office.









I have to be honest, the gravity of my situation and location came crashing down on me my first day here. I called many family members and sent many texts to friends expressing my dismay at being so isolated in the Alaskan bush. What great family and friends i have to reassure me in my decisions. Those feelings soon passed with a great dinner hosted by the Stewart's, one of the families that live and teach in Kiana.
After a hearty dinner and much needed rest i was ready to start some work the next morning. I took a walk around town and went to one of our 3 stores and killed the morning fiddling around town. I went back to the school and explored the shop more and found a few more key holes to try. I then met many more staff members today and my spirits were lifted. Then to top off my day the "lost" totes were found at the post office! Now i am sitting in my classroom trying to find some curriculum to teach and posting to my blog. I hope you have enjoyed reading, it's dinner time and I'm hungry! As always thanks for reading.

In Kotzebue

Well i have left the big city, Anchorage, behind me and have made my way to Kotzebue . I have been in Kotzebue for 2 days and i head to Kiana tomorrow. Kotz(Kotzebue) is the main hub for the villages in the Northwest Arctic borough. I have come to realize that Kotz does not have much to offer according to most people's standards. There are two grocery stores, fuel stations, a hotel and even a Chinese restaurant that is rumored to be very good! I am in Kotz with all of the new teachers that have been hired for the new school year. Unfortunately while everyone is bonding with their fellow new teachers in their same village i am the only new teacher from Kiana. Thats not to say i haven't made friends but cliques have formed and i often find myself being the 5th wheel but i just roll with it. We have been going through training for the district and of course paperwork! There are stone beautiful views in kotz. I find myself often looking crossed the bay wondering about Kiana and the adventures it may hold for me. I will post again soon with pictures of Kiana and my house and school. Here are some pictures of Kotz. As always thanks for reading.

Almost There

It has been a crazy week of events in Alaska. I went on the longest bike ride of my life, 26 miles along the Seward highway!!! It felt awesome to accomplish that feat! I finished work at Holland America Princess Alaska on the 31st of July. I had a great season and was very happy the managers could work around my schedule. I also did a lot of packing!

The first order of business was to ship out my "Alaska Totes" to the village of Kiana. To make these totes I used rubbermaid roughneck totes and some other heavy duty totes. I then filled them as close as I dared to 70lbs with food, appliances and clothes, some were very close in weight(6 of my totes were 68+ lbs with the heaviest being 69lb 12.4oz). Next I zip tied the lids so they will be sure to stay shut during shipping. I had to load and shrink wrap them on a pallet for the USPS. The cost to mail was $250 for parcel post to Kiana.






With that task finished I could go have some fun. The morning of the 3rd I woke up and wanted to exercise. I called a friend that didn't have to work and we climbed Flat Top mountian in Anchorage. It was a beautiful day and a great hike.



I also went to the shooting range with my new .338 win mag trying to sight it in for hunting season. Much to my chagrin one of my scope mounts broke and now that has to be fixed in short order.
It has been a busy week and I feel like there is still a lot to do before I leave, a list must be made and followed! I'm almost ready for my new adventure! As always thanks for reading and the interest in my life!

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