Sunday, November 18, 2007

Crash and Burn

Well my personal lap top has decided to crash and burn and thus at least until Christmas I can't up load any photos. So you will have to use your imagination. As I describe some of the latest events. I am hoping to buy a new computer or get mine fixed at Christmas when I am in Michigan. Camera soft ware is in my storage unit so I can't even load it on to my school computer.
First of I was not able to keep my birthday a secret and since it fell on Saturday night - Girls Nite - there was a cake- Thanks to Kendra. The four of us finished it in two days I think. It was a great night we played with Legos. Kendra had never played with them so she kind of observed for a while but started getting into it and helped sort the parts by color. We were suppose to have a Legos Robotics Team but when the kids learned how much work was involved they lost interest (plus it was still hunting season when we needed to start in order to compete). Insert Pictures of Cake and Legos.
Last weekend I got to leave the village for the first time since August - I took our NYO (Native Youth Olympics) team to another village to compete - So I slept on a school floor and hung out in a school for two days. It was very interesting and I learned a lot. I had 5 students 2 JR High and 3 High School (2 girls and 3 boys) The boys did pretty well earning 5th place in a couple of events and one of my girls learned a lot even though she was in high school she had never competed before. -Insert Pictures of Students competing and hanging out in the gym - Due to a low ceiling in Bethel we almost got to spend a second night.
MaryJane Alecia and I have been working out about three times a week - Those of you use to working out in a gym would die if you saw what we have - 24 times around the gym for a mile (talk about stress on the knees), a set of three tier bleachers, a set of free weights 3-20pounds, an exercise ball, a couple of exercise bands and a nasty old gymnastics mat. So we have become very creative. Oh I forgot jump ropes - We all miss the gym.
well that's it for now. Have a good one.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Happy Haloween

Just a quick note on this Holiday. They got another walrus and I was able to make down to the river just as they were hauling it in so I added more pictures to my flickr account.




Also a big thanks to Aunt Marilyn for the Apples the kids loved them a couple of them said they were the best ever. Obviously we don't get much fresh produce here in the village so it is always a treat. I remebered to take at least one phot of my Histroy class enjoying the apples - should have gotten my middle school class they realy went nuts for the apples I almost got one of my students who hasn't done any work all year to atleast open her Social Studies Book.



Hope everyone had a great Halloween. Yes, all the kids tricker treated tonight, so I had lots of visitors.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Walrus

The sun finally arose at about 9:30am and I found the Walrus. Actually I lucked out one of the Dad’s from school was taking his 1st grader down to see it and so he gave me a ride on the four wheeler. They had covered it last night thus MJ couldn’t see it when she went looking. As you can see they gutted it and removed the fins last night. After I got back Alicia was at my door looking for me to see if I wanted to go check it out so back we went. Again another kind parent gave us a ride on the four wheeler. By time we got back down to the beach they had started butchering it. As you can see they are removing the fat which they will use for oil. You can also see from the photos that they basically remove the innards all as one. And finally notice the kids just hanging out. I will/have uploaded more photo’s to my flickr account. Well back to my lazy Sunday afternoon. I keep thinking maybe I’ll head to school and do some work but naaa, maybe I’ll just read and watch a movie or take a nap.

Fun Filled Day

Well it was a busy day here in Kongiganak. First we had the Halloween Carnival at the school and some how I ended up helping with the Haunted Hallway. A new experience for me. It was totally student run - so not very organized. Ruthie you would have killed someone for sure. They key thing is the kids did have fun and for the most part were pretty good about cleaning up. We also had games in the gym and concessions - over all I would have to say it was a success.















Saturday evening "Ladies Night" followed. We all agreed that after the Carnival we could all use a nice relaxing drink. Diet Coke and Ice Tea would have to do. It was a two Can Diet Coke night for me - I also made pizza and an apple bake with fresh Michigan Apples thanks to Aunt Marlyn (everyone loves the apples). Kendra made brownies with extra Chocolate Chunks and Almound (very yummy) and of course we had left over chips and cheese from the carnival. Good thing we started the night early - 3:30 instead of 7pm - with all the food. Kendra introduced us to a new game called PIT. It is faced paced and exciting. I loved - well I won so of course I thought it was a great game.

After Kendra and Alecia left MJ and I decided to watch a movie and about half way through there was a knock on my door. It was Daryl our Site Administrator. He came to tell us that Lewis Beaver one of our teachers had gotten a Walrus and the village was planning on butchering it in the morning. So the three of us set of to see if you could find it and take some pictures before hand. Of course it was dark and foggy. And as you can see there are no pictures at this time so we didn't find it. So I am waiting for the sun to come up - about 9:30am - and I'll head back down to the beach to see if I can find were they landed it.

Okay that's it for now hopefully I'll add more later today.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Proof that it SNOWED!!

Just thought you would like to see proof that it really has snowed here.





















Otherwise life goes on. It is Saturday so that means laundry and a trip to the lagoon (to dump the honey bucket) and a nice walk through the village - stopping at the post office, and the store (I need a couple of eggs for corn bread).

I informed my students that I bought my ticket to Michigan for the Christmas Holiday and it is a non-refundable, round trip ticket. They only groaned a little, not sure if they caught the meaning - That I would be back in January.

Well, I guess I will go run my errands. Have a Great Day everyone.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Good Morning

Good Morning friends and family. It once again Saturday morning and I am taking a moment to enjoy my coffee before I head of to school to do laundry and grade papers. Believe it or not next Friday marks the end of our first quarter here in Kongiganak. WOW!!!

Last Sunday I went for a walk and remembered to take my camera and so I have included a few photos of the Tundra - as you can see it has changed colors and is now a beautiful gold color.





When I returned to the village from my walk I noticed some activity and upon investigating it discovered that a barge full of wood had arrived and as you can see from the photos they are unloading it. I have been told that the barge comes through twice a year - once in the spring and once in the fall. This is the first time the village has purchased wood. This wood will be used for steams (like a sauna) a very popular activity.




Well, it is almost 9am and I want to get my laundry started so I will close for now. When the sun comes up this morning I hope to take a couple of pictures to show you that we actually have a light dusting of snow on the ground. Have a good weekend.

Saturday, October 6, 2007

IT SNOWED!!!!

Yep, That's right it snowed yesterday! I am so excited YEAH!!!!! It didn't last long but we really did have snow. It was a "white out" for about 5-10 minutes. Just long enough for all the packages I was hauling back from the post office to get wet. Wished I had had my camera.

It is 8:30am and I am probably one of the only people in the village awake. I am pretty sure that at 7:15 when I went to school to start my laundry and go the bathroom I was the only person awake. It is still dark outside and the temperture is a comfortable 38 degrees no wind so it's not bad. We do get some increadable wind here.

Anyways thats about it for now. Same old same old. School and sleep that's about it.

Oh a couple people have asked for "wish list" items. Paper back books (to read since I have no TV) and cheep school supplies or novelty things (for give aways to my students (pencils, erasers, silly putty...)I am now set at least until Christmas with coffee I think. There was a momentary scare but it turned out okay. The US Postal Service wasn't living up to their standards of getting somethings delivered in a timely manner.

Okay I am going to watch a movie and grade some papers -

Monday, September 24, 2007

All Dressed-up and No Place to Go

What do three single female teacher do on a Saturday Night in rural Alaska – What else is there to do they get dressed-up in their finest, they eat and they play cards. Please note NO alcohol was consumed during this evening. (remember this is a dry village)



This has become a Saturday night thing for the three of us, getting together, teaching Alicia to play Euchre and eating dinner. This week it was great food – Homemade pizza (MJ makes great pizza crust) chips and cheese and a few fresh veggies, the cupboard is getting bare when it comes to fresh veggies we had to throw the lettuce out it was slimmy. Soon after this picture was taken someone got a craving for some dessert (a chocolate milk shake was mentioned) so we decided to make blueberry short cake. Alicia was sent to the store because someone remembered that they did have CoolWhip (step 1) I had some Bisquick and blueberry’s MaryJane ran home for starch, blueberry’s and the recipe for blueberry sauce. YUMMY is all I need to say as to how it all came out.

Well I hope all is well with everyone everything is the same here in Kongiganak It continues to rain most days and I can defiantly notice the change in the amount of daylight. It was still dark at 8am this morning and will probably be dark before 8pm tonight.

I have taken on the challenge of starting and coaching our Lego-Robotics team. It should be very interesting and fun. I currently have three students on the team and two of them are very excited and want to work on it all of the time. I will be learning along with the kids what it is all about. I also seam to be being prodded/recruited into coaching a girls basketball team – Paul has sent me the information on getting certified as a coach – I have been telling him I would help him or volunteer to help as long as he coached. We haven’t had a girls team since the early 1990’s and Paul coached them to the State tournament. In 1987 (I think) they actually one the state tournament. Plus I am teaching math twice a week for half an hour in our extended day program so basically I live at the school.

Again I hope everyone is well – keep in touch. I love reading most of your comments.

Friday, September 14, 2007

It's the weekend

It is Friday night and what I am I doing sitting home alone with a smelly dog watching Charlie’s Angels and it is a great night. It is the weekend and that means two days with out kids in the classroom. Hoping to get more things organized and set for my classes. Life is still good here in Alaska - The temperature has defiantly started to drop. Almost sweater in the classroom weather - I have been wearing a sweater vest over my shirt and have even worn a turtleneck a few times.

The smelly dog is MaryJane's (my fellow teacher that went on the Fishing Adventure with me). The smelly dogs name is Justice and she is hanging with me because MJ headed to Bethel with 4 students for the final cross-country meet - Yes it is the end of the season. The word I have heard is that it could snow in September but usually it holds off until October. Justice is a Golden Retriever that loves the water/mud which we have in excess of and with limited running water she has a slight odor. But you have to lover her - she is a Happy Golden Retriever.

Today was pay-day - Yeah - That means I am putting together my monthly dry-goods grocery order. I think we (me and a couple of other teachers will be placing bi-weekly orders into Bethel for fresh produce and dairy). We did that last week and it worked pretty good. I also ordered a new sleeping bag - rated for -40 degrees for my next adventure - Although this weekend should be pretty quite I do hope to go pick some cranberries to my a cranberry relish.

Today was a somewhat of an exciting day - I had a student "slap" or "tap" my face so I took her right down to the office and she was suspended for 5 days. She is in my 7/8 grade class. Another one of my 7/8grade students will be in Anchorage for two days having has tonsils removed. Due to the lack of medical facilities iin the villages this is typical for kids and a parent to stay in a "Ronald McDonald house incase something comes up until they are healed. So it may be a little easier in a couple of my classes. We will see. I will say that I really like our site administrator. He and I are on the same wave of not putting up with much from the students. He really supports the fact that I have high standards for the students and won’t lower them - I currently have 2 out of 14 students passing Social Studies simply because they don't do the work - They haven't had a test or quiz yet. I also have 8-10 HS students failing History for exactly the same reason.

Well that's about it for now - Life continues on here in Alaska - I love all of the comments keep them coming - you can also make comments on the photos on Flickr

Friday, September 7, 2007

The Battle Continues





Well I think I am ahead in the battle of the students. I am not sure they might be just giving me some false hope but I was actually able to let my 7/8 grade Social Studies class leave on time yesterday. We are trying hard to learn to respect each other and other peoples property, and to take responsibility for our own learning. I don't allow gum chewing in my classroom due to the amount of gum under the desk and on the floor so that has been one battle. I now have the kids (mostly girls) spit their gum out into my hand so that I know it is being spit out otherwise they just fake it and I am asking them again 10 minutes later to get rid of the gum. Or other big problem is theft - The school provides everything - pencils, paper, folders etc, so first of the kids don't take care of anything and they expect a new pencil everyday. Nope, so then then they started just taking stuff off of my desk. Well, finally Wednesday afternoon during my prep hour I went and visited the other classes and figured out who had taken my good pen off of my desk - when his class was over I informed him that he had 30 seconds to return it to me or else I was reporting it stolen to the Site Administrator. I got my pen back - 10 minutes into my next class my pen is again missing - so the 7/8th grade Social Studies class once again stayed after class - low and behold a student found my pen by the trash can. Nothing disappeared off of my desk today.

Life continues on here - The temperature has started to drop. I wore a turtleneck and sweater vest in school today - and wore a jacket and light gloves while walking over. However, some of the kids have yet to notice the drop in temperature and continue to go barefoot and wear shorts and t-shirts.

I have a class tomorrow with the other two new teacher - It is a cultural class and since one of our "new" teachers grew up in one of the near by villages we were kind of hoping we could have him be our own private guess speaker but nope - at least we have all the answers. It is a district wide training and so we will be doing it via the Polycom (interactive TV).

Alright I really should get going home and to bed. Don't hesitate to e-mail me.

Monday, September 3, 2007

Another Adventure

Guess what I did! Here are a couple of hints – I wore long johns jeans and rain paint, two pair of warm socks and rubber boots, I had a Under-armor shirt, t-shirt, long-john shirt, a down jacket and a rain jacket, plus a ski hat on and I still was cold at times – I have a great case of wind burn on my face and I have been home for 16 hours – which I slept 12 of due to lack of sleep. We left on this adventure at 5pm on Saturday and returned at about 5-6pm Sunday. I spent those 24 fours in a vehicle that was about 25feet long by 6 or 7feet wide.

Did you figure it out yet – well if you looked at the pictures you probably did – We went fishing – Yupik style. MaryJane and I went with another teacher Sherman, his wife Loraine and Sherman’s brother Leroy fishing. It was great (I can now say that after having a hot shower and 12 hours of sleep). Unfortunately we only caught 12 fish total.





It would take forever to explain everything so I will try and give you some of the major high lights – Sherman, Lorain and Leroy both commercial fish all summer and are from Kongiganak. We had two boats for the five of use. We used nets to fish with and they can actually do it by themselves. The moth of the river is huge – you can not see across, I am not sure but I don’t think we ever truly left the river. And it is so muddy that they actually use the word mudds – you fish between the mudds. They have to keep a constant eye out for sand bars – in the middle of know where there can be a huge sand bar about 1.5-2feet deep not good on the props. We where trying to get to a river the first evening but couldn’t find the canal in and probably spent two hours using poles to push ourselves through the sand bars.

Sleeping quarters – Well MaryJane and I had deluxe accommodations Leroy setup his canvas walled tent for us and we slept on the floor of the boat at least our feet where pointed towards the fish. Leroy has his “pilot” house rigged so that he can sleep in there, Sherman and his wife just use a tarp on their boat. Bathroom – again Leroy was the gracious host and let us use the “pilot” house for “privacy” we used a five gallon bucket. The bucket was also my seat on the boat – after it was dumped, rinsed and turned over.

We saw a seal – Leroy tried to shoot it – yes it is legal for him to kill it because they will eat it. Seals do not keep their heads above water for very long.

At times the water was very calm and at others we had some waves – It was cold the whole time. It was a great experience and I might even do it again.






Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Let's Go Fishing

well I had my first Alaskan fishing experience this morning. But I wasn't fishing for fish. Last night at about 11:30pm as I am walking home I dropped my keys and as I stood there and thought what if they go through the board walk I heard a curplunk. So I was in luck our principle was leaving school at the same time and he was kind enough to let me into my house - I figured the keys were gone for good and that I would be pay $500 ($250 for each lost key) Daryl was much more optimistic he figured that we would be able to find them by prying up a couple of boards. He wasn't standing their wen they went curplunk. So this morning before school I thought what the heck I'll at least look. So I took my flask light and started looking between every crack to see if I could see anything. Five minutes later I see them - I can't reach them but I can see them - so basically I ended up finding a piece of wire in my house and was able to fish them out. So that is my Alaskan fishing experience so far. Well back to my school work. Have a great day everyone!!

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Life is GOOD!

Very busy first week, but things are going good. It is Saturday afternoon and I am hanging-out in my classroom. Actually it isn't as bad as you are thinking. First of I don't have Internet or TV in my house not a big deal plus it is my laundry time. Each certified staff person has an assigned laundry time either an afternoon/evening time or Saturday morning (mine) Saturday Afternoon, or Sunday. So I thought I would update you while I finished up my laundry and I also found the movie Fiddler On The Roof in our school library so I have that playing on the VCR/TV in my room. Anyways, I have some interesting thing to tell you about today.

First here is another picture of me out picking berries I figured out the timer on my camera and a couple of other shots I took a week or so ago. I am uploading a number of other photo's to my flickr account.



href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0CJzJs3O_Tkb6PiLqZGzjWmTYrOGgeOQ_ZVmuK9I9EKAt_NaWw-1j5rc9pmidSPq1ucblgYlArT4aJb86d1Iu1IcQT_0h4HGowE0ywThrqsauKCU3yiXie9uo7_tURuwGRaF4WRCLleM/s1600-h/IMG_0876.JPG">

Cultural Experience on Friday evening - One of the town elders wanted to have a community potluck so that the community could meet all of the teachers. So towards the beginning of the week we received an e-mail about this "potluck". Midwestern up bring so I assume certain things about a community potluck - it was a little different then I expected. First off the school cook made three large sheet cakes (2x3) and the school provided the plastic plates, silverware, coffee and juice, each staff person brought a dish or something to pass. I made lentils and rice with carrots, beef and dried tomatoes in my slow cooker, 1 cup rice 1 cup lentils. I assumed this would be plenty since at every potluck I have ever attended there was more food then you can imagine, and we thought we where to sort of be the guest. Wrong - First off not every family brought food and there where a number of kids whose parents didn't even come and thus they didn't bring anything.
John Phillip on of the elders spoke for 15-25 minutes, and I am not sure what he spoke about because he spoke in Yupik, (Paul Paul the Kindergarten teacher summarized what he had said to us teachers which in short was don't let the kids sleep in class). Then two or three other elders spoke mostly in Yupik. Then a short prayer and then they (and I mean they) finally ate. The elders lined up first then the adults and then the kids. I am told that it is better at this village then in some, in other villages only the very, very young (under three)line-up with their parents. Here at least if their parents where here they lined up with them. By the time the end of the line was getting to the table they were scrapping the bottom of the bowls literally. And the only reason that there was any food left was that there where teachers serving and they limited the amount of food people took. By the way the teachers really didn't eat we had cake (that is all was left). People would take trays of food and then get foil for them to take them home. At the end there was only cake left and people were taking whole plates with four or five pieces of that home. Very very different.

Today was a great day - we finally went on a major exploration walk. We did not make it to the coast but we think we have a better idea how to get there. The following are some pictures of Alicia, MaryJane and myself on our adventure. We were also joined part way through our walk by three village kids, Martha is a first grader, Jovan is in 6th grade, and Jimmy is in 8th grade. The boys shot three birds two smaller ones and a Goose, Justic MaryJanes four legged companion even showed off her retriving skills and swam in the water for one. As you will also see it very wet basically it is a bog that we were walking on. My new muck boots work great as long as I don't go in water deeper then they are tall - OOPs so I learned, but my feet still stayed dry, even if my knees were wet. I LOVE my muck boots - Thanks Bev.







Well, I guess maybe I should grade some papers the pile has gotten a little large this week.

Happy Birthday Sheila!!!!

Monday, August 20, 2007

First Day of School

Well, I am still alive and so are all the students so I would say that means we had a great first day. It is 8:30pm and I am back at school and will be here for a few hours. then I plan on taking my shower before heading home.
Saturday and this afternoon were happy days - I had some boxes arrive - YEAH - You know it is very different waiting for things to arrive by mail rather then just running to Meijers or Kmart to pick it up. Talk about training/controlling that instant gradification thing. Lucky for me some one is willing to do some shopping and shipping for me. I could order from Walmart in Anchorage but that would probably cost a lot more. We (a couple teachers and myself) are trying to figure out how to get some fresh produce somewhat reasonable since the district isn't sending any of us to Bethel any time soon.
Okay I need to get some planning done for tommorow or else I will probably have to kill some of the students in my 7/8th grade class.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Update

Sorry, I haven't posted anything on my blog in the past couple of days but as you can guess I have been pretty busy. Technically today was the first day we had to be at school and we spent most of the day in a video conference with the district. Remember the school district is about the size of Ohio and we have 23 schools in about 20 different villages so our district meeting are usually held via Polycom. A number of classes particularly Math and Science are taught via polycom through the district head quarters -thus not every school has a "Highly Qualified" Math and/or Science teacher - we have two different Polycom channels and thus the district can offer a variety of HS Classes.
I have been at school quite a lot since arriving trying to organize my room and figure out what I am teaching. I know the classes 7th/8th Grade Math, US History, Algebra 1, HS Math, 6/7/8th Grade PE and 7/8th Grade Social Studies. By the way they use the "phase" system for Math, Reading, and Writing so that means between my "three" Math classes I actually have 10 different lessons going on - The concept is great the organization of it still has me confused but I think I am getting there. As some of you know I have sent out a cry for help with the Social Studies looking for lesson plans or anything - I guess I am going to have to do a lot of Internet research. US History - I sent an e-mail to the teacher who taught the class a couple of years ago to see if he remembers what books he used and any other materials. PE is temporally on the bottom of my concern list - I will probably be pulling some of my old YMCA stuff or making my YMCA friends send it to me - RUTHIE, remember that math test!!! Did I mention that school starts MONDAY.

Alaska is totally awesome!!! Very hard to describe - SUPER VAST - doesn't even come close.



This picture was taken standing on the board walk in the village. and is one out of 3-4 pictures I did trying to get a panoramic view. Even though we are 2-3 miles up in land from the ocean we still can see the effects of the tides on the river - the river rises and falls a good 10-20feet. In this shot it is just starting to go out.

I went Blue Berrie picking yesterday and was able to get enough to fill two quart size freezer bags. These are some pictures I took out on the tundra. It was a 15 min walk from my house to the area that I picked berries. I hope to go out again tomorrow evening and pick some more. In talking to one of the villagers I found out that I can also pick what they call Black Berries, they look like Blue Berries but are black and the red berries should be ripe by the end of the month.







Well beleive it or not it is 9pm even though it looks like about 5pm the sun is shinning and although I would love to go for a walk or something I think I will head home (a whole 100 yards away from the front door of the school). First I will use the restroom, wash my hands and brush my teeth, I try to do this before heading home for the night since running water makes all of these task a little easier.

Feel free to comment on the blogs - I do apologize if I am not answering e-mail as often as I should.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

I made it!

I survived two days of new teacher orintation, and one day of Culture Class. Our Culturel Class is a year long class that is required by the state and we get three graduate level credits for it and the school pays for it. So that was Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Check out some photo's of Bethel on my Flickr account. (http://www.flickr.com/ search for megan haglund do a second search under people for megan heaglund).


Friday evening I flew to Kongiganak with two other new teachers and our site adminstrator. (A picture of me waiting for a ride to the Bethel Airport) Because we had so many people and so much stuff that they gave us on of the larger planes (it sat eight people).





Andrew and his wife lived in the house I have last year and they had to move to their "new house" Friday evening and Saturday - Andrew had the bedroom cleaned out Friday night so I was able to sleep there and then finished the rest of the house Saturday so last night I cleaned and moved in. Most of my boxes made it, well 8 out of 12 boxes that I had mailed made it. Hopefully the rest will make it soon, the coffee pot did not make. I guess I should have carried that with me along with my Beaners coffee. At least the school has coffee so I am suriving fine. I will try and upload some photo's of my house to flickr tommorrow.


Photo from the plane as we flew from Bethel to Kongiganak.

Saturday we walked around the village - I know I will get photos up soon. My house is about 100 yards from the front door of the school. I do not have running water - I have a bathtube but it has two fifty-gallon barrels in it - this is my water supply. Supposedly the water is safe to drink but it does sit in the barrells for at least a week or more so I boil and/or filter it. Shower is here at the school - the school has running water.


Well, I want to work on some stuff for school since I spent the day finishing and PASSING Ruthies math class.

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

First Day








Today was our first day of training for all of the new teachers - for the most part it was fun and interesting. The evening finished with a Yu'pik potluck dinner, a lot of dishes made with Samon - still not something I will eat, I tried. There was also some Moose stew and that wasn't bad. We finished the evening off by picking Blueberries on the tundra. Please note how small the Blueberries are nothing like what we are use to in Michigan.

I almost forgot on explorations yesterday we went to the local grocery store here in Bethel and just to give you an idea - 12 pack of Pepsi $10, Tomatoes $2.29 a pound, sweet potatoes $2.49 a pound ($0.49 in Grand Rapids)

Well it is 9:30pm and even though the sun is shinning as if it was 12noon I am going to try and get some sleep. I hope to post some pictures to flickr in the next couple of days.

Take care and I will keep you posted.

Traveling

Well I arrived - Actually I arrived in Bethel Tuesday, at about 7:30am. My travels went pretty smoothly. We left Clarksville at about 11am Monday, August 6. Pam, Sheila and Bev drove me to the Detroit Airport and I flew out at about 5:30pm. First stop Phoenix, Arizona. I had about an hour layover in Arizona and then it was on to Anchorage, Alaska. I arrived in Anchorage at about 1am local time so that would be 5am Michigan time. Because I was switching airlines I had to not only get my luggage but also switch terminals. I had to wait until 5am to check my luggage so I found a comfortable bench and took a nap for a couple of hours and then it was off to Bethel.

When I arrived here in Bethel I met about 8 other new teachers. We spent the day hanging out and comparing notes. In the picture below with me next to the sign I have been awake for about 36hours. The next picture is of "main" street the final shot is of the river.



Sunday, August 5, 2007

Last Night in Michigan








I played my last game of golf Saturday morning, visisted the dog beach Sunday morning. I have finished packing and everything is in storage so I guess that's it, I am off to Alaska. I'll keep you posted and post pictures as soon as I can.

Monday, July 30, 2007

See Ya Party!!

Thanks to everyone who attended my "See Ya" Party on Saturday. It was great seeing everyone and I will miss most of ya. The highlights of the party included Aunt Dee Dee riding the Rocking Horse and Malakai flying high with the help of his Uncle Mitch.
Thanks to everyone who came.



You can see more pictures on my Flickr account.