01.23.08
Posted in Village Life at 4:24 pm by allison
On Monday, I was picked up in the village by plane - supposedly to attend a meeting in another village and then return by dinner time.
Yeah, right.
We flew to another village (call it village 2), picked up another teacher, then headed to yet another village (village 3)to pick up another teacher. By the time we got THERE, the weather on the coast had gone down.
“The weather has gone down” means - “the pilots cant see to fly, and we’ll all end up smeared on the runway.”
So, they took us to yet another village (village 4!), which wasn’t any of the villages we were at previously, and was NOT the village we were supposed to attend.
Once we got there, the airline called the local school, who came and picked us up, and who were nice enough to feed us and supply us with sleeping bags and towels and a trip to the store to go get anything resembling food.
We ended up there Tuesday, wandering aimlessly around the 13 kid school, trying to help the 2 teachers in any way we could, as we couldn’t do our own work, as there was no internet and all of our special ed paperwork is done online.
They put us up in one of the empty teacher houses. One that has to be padlocked every time we left, as there is no other lock.
Oh, and the inside lock? A piece of string wrapped around a nail to keep the door from swinging open.
We finally made it back to our own villages today - two days after the training that wasnt - frozen and starving and piloted by a brand new pilot who had to keep checking the destination on our tickets.
Sometimes, where I live just boggles the mind.
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11.17.07
Posted in Village Life at 4:57 pm by allison
Ive been wandering around the blogosphere, and seeing posts that contain various forms of the following.
I saw a few snowflakes today! I guess it must be winter!
This strikes me as incredibly funny when I look out my window and see the 3 foot drift of snow in front of my house. Or when I go to the post office and take a sled to bring back packages. Or when I stagger through deep snow on my way to work in the morning and think to myself, I really need to buy snowboots.
Snow has been falling here since the beginning of October, or thereabouts. It isnt COLDcold yet. Its about 20 degrees, I guess. Sometimes a little colder, sometimes a little warmer. But the river hasnt come close to freezing yet, which is frustrating the locals.
So, here’s my cute little note to write about the seasons:
Slipped and fell in the snow on my way home from the post office today. Yep! Still winter!
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11.05.07
Posted in Village Life at 8:33 am by allison
In good news, we now have heat back in the school. Its not great heat, but it is, in fact, heat.
We also have hot water AND internet. Which is an improvement over the past two weeks.
We also have a very large group of children with some rather odd nicknames.
Now, nicknames - everybody has some. I have a couple that only my family call me. Thats to be expected. Only out here? The family only, part? Not so much.
I work with kids who answer to:
Poo (male, 15)
Pretty (female, 
Oyster (female, 10)
Sweetie (female, 10)
Paba son (male, 7)
Baby (female, 9 - Sweetie’s sister)
Panooksie (female, 7 - Paba son’s twin sister)
Gorgeous (female, 10 - Pretty’s sister)
Poopie (female, 5)
Son Son (male, 7 AND male, 11)
Bunik (multiple girls, multiple ages, “Bunik” being local for “daughter”)
For some odd reason, a large number of nicknames out here start with “P.” I wonder why.
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10.11.07
Posted in Village Life at 3:57 pm by allison
Dear school builders,
I know it has been about 5 years since you built my school - you know, big, main thing you can see coming in by plane, in Alaska? Yeah, that one.
I hope you remember it, because I have some issues I would like to raise with you.
1) Dont you think it might have been a good idea to build a new boiler? Or, at least, MOVE the old boiler over so its actually AT the new school? Because piping glycol 300 feet and then having to pipe it all over the school seems a little..um..well. Stupid.
2) Based on the fact you did, in fact, leave the boiler over at the old school and decided to pipe over the heating stuff (glycol), it might have been a good idea to use pipes designed for use with the glycol, and not with water.
See, it might not sound like a big deal to you, but we do, in fact, live in Alaska. And it gets COLD here. Quickly. Its already slushy and frozen in the morning.
So, when the stuff comes through the water pipes come from the boiler you didnt move to get to the school, it eats through the pipes.
Which then fall off and into the tundra, dripping glycol all over everything, and resulting in the fact that we HAVE NO HEAT IN OUR SCHOOL.
And then when we find out that its going to cost 1.7 MILLION DOLLARS to move the boiler?
Yeah.
Helpful that.
Shiveringly yours,
Allison
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10.03.07
Posted in Teaching, Village Life at 6:48 pm by allison
A man comes running into his house:
“Quick! Grab your wallet! The store has fresh CHERRY TOMATOES!”
—–
One of the aides corrects a child:
“Its not good to hit! Be nice! Be a good boy! You can have a candy!”
Allison corrects a child:
“We don’t hit. Park your butt in time out.”
—-
A teacher and a kindergarten child have the following conversation:
“Honey, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
“She be mean!”
“How was she mean?”
“She ate cake!”
“She took your cake?”
“No! She ate cake?”
“….She ate HER cake? The one on her plate?”
*incoherent crying*
“She ate her own cake?”
“SHE BE MEAN!”
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Posted in Village Life at 6:29 pm by allison
Things I Dont Need to See On My Way to School:
Moose leg. With flesh. And hoof. Lying there across my path.
Am I the only one who has this problem?
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08.29.07
Posted in Village Life at 6:17 pm by allison
We go Anchorage!
We WENT to Anchorage, or, We ARE GOING to Anchorage.
We’re gonna win you!
We’re going to beat you at this game.
Try me see your baby?
Can I see your baby?
Look at my this kind!
This could mean anything from, Look at my coat, my hat, my kid brother, my bike, etc. “This kind” can be ANYTHING.
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05.21.07
Posted in Village Life at 1:01 am by allison
1) Break up happened yesterday. Thats when the ice actually melts enough to actually break up and float down the river. Break up is a big deal, because none of the subsistance activities can happen until it does. You have to have a boat to be able to go fishing, seal hunting, or berry picking.
2) We’re about to head out for the summer. We’ll be in and out some, and Ill probably post a few things throughout the summer, but Pants is essentially on hiatus until August.
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05.13.07
Posted in Village Life at 9:02 pm by allison
The population in Pants recently increased by one.
Introducing Griffin, the newest arrival in Pants and in our family:
Griffin was born in Anchorage (Pants has no hospital or medical facilities. Or a doctor. Or a nurse. Or..yeah.) on April 23, 2007. He weighed 7 lbs 1 oz and was 20 inches long.
Brandon made it to Anchorage to meet him the next day. He would’ve been there for the birth, only Griffin was born so quickly, he didnt have time to get there!
Griffin and Allison got back to Pants on May 12.
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03.31.07
Posted in Village Life at 10:29 am by allison
It looks like spring has come to Pants. Yesterday, one of the cats spent half an hour stalking a fly. AN ACTUAL INSECT.
And, even though I was still wearing my heavy jacket and my hat, I probably didnt need them quite so much. The snow and ice on the the boardwalks are slowing starting to melt and drip away.
It’s light out until around 10pm now, and so the kids are out and running around town until all hours.
Soon, I might even be able to trade my heavy jacket for my light jacket!
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