Hi everyone!
In case you are wondering, I am alive, and have made it to Mountain Village, Alaska safely. :) Just to share some of the past details with you I will back track. The journey started on August 7th when my plane left the airport in MN at about 9 a.m. From there I flew to Anchorage, a 5ish hour flight. After I arrived, I was picked up by the Lower Yukon School District Human Resources person and brought to the Hilton. August 8th through the 12th were days of inservice, learning about how our new computers worked, the curriculum, how the school grading system is set up, and a full day of shopping for all the things I would need once I arrived in the village. It was a very busy and jam-packed week! I never thought I would spend so much on groceries!! However, I had to remind myself that it would actually be cheaper buying in bulk than buying from the store in the village, and that I was buying supplies for a year, or at least half the year. I met so many wonderful people in Anchorage, everyone has been so great, friendly, helpful, and supportive. Essie is one girl I met from Arkansas, who explained to her dad on the phone that we "got tickled" (laughing/giggling) about something that happened. She is awesome! I have decided to try and use that phrase, but I am certain it won't sound the same because I am not from Arkansas.... :)
Saturday morning the 13th, Jamie, the other new hire for Mountain Village, and I flew out of Anchorage to our village. It was a smaller plane and it seemed very much like we were not moving while we were in the air, and at a few different times I was almost certain we weren't and that we would crash....so I prayed a lot on the flight. However, we did not crash-because it is a smaller plane you feel more...not sure how to explain it. We flew to St. Mary's where we had intended to then fly to Mountain Village, however we ended up driving there on a very bumpy road. :) I was kind of glad we drove because the plane we would have taken would have been even smaller than the one we were previously on...like the pilot would have been within eye sight.
We arrived in Mountain Village at around 4ish I think, and got a tour of the town from Melanie, a teacher at the school, and my friend Anne who is also a teacher here. The town includes: Post office, Community Center, AC grocery store, the Native store, School, District Office, Covenant Church, a Catholic Church, and a Russian Orthodox church (not actually sure where it's located). I hope to post some pictures soon. Our first evening in Mountain we were fed by Melanie and a few other teachers and had a game night! Love them. I attend the Covenant Church in town which is currently pastorless, please pray/continue to pray that God would provide someone to fill this role.
The 15th through the 20th was our work days/inservice week and we just wrapped up the 1st week of school yesterday. At times it seems like this month has been such a whirl wind, time has gone by so quickly. The first week of school was great, I've been doing my best to plan and prepare, review IEP's and come up with Behavior Intervention Plans for a couple of students. I've had to wait for the regular education teacher's schedules before I can plan when to pull my students out for services. The schedule has now been completed, but I am sure there will need to be revisions after I get feedback from the teachers to make sure it will work for everyone. Hopefully, Tues/Wed I will start to have my kids.
After church this Sunday, Amanda, a missionary here, and I thought it would be great just to get together to sing some hymns. So around 3 we will be doing that, we also invited some other people from the school to join us. Also, at school there is a group of about 4 or 5 of us that pray for a little while before the day starts. This is also a wonderful blessing. I feel very encouraged each day by some of the ladies here in the community. One day a para at the school came into my room while I was trying to figure out schedules and she asked if I had asked for God to help me with it. It was wonderful and what I needed, so many times I forget to speak with God throughout my entire day, it was great to have a reminder.
The things I do most often in Mountain Village are: go to the post office, AC grocery store, walk down to the river, go to the school and work, go berry picking, go running, or hiking, play games, watch movies, and have things like Friday Night Salmon Night. :) Hiking, running, and berries I don't do by myself cuz its kinda outside of the village.
I also have decided to claim a cute white dog as my own, sort of. I don't really want a dog inside, but they say that ppl shoot dogs if they aren't tied up. So....we will see. I will hopefully get a pic posted soon, i just see her randomly but she is sweet, I call her Sweetie--very creative right....
Okay sorry for the looooong blog and no pictures....I hopefully will have a camera soon and share many pictures with you!
So, I added one pic, it is from our hike in Anchorage during the new teacher orientation, the mountain is called Flat Top I believe. It was pretty amazing!
