Nome-ing Around
Upon landing in Nome, the real adventures began. We walked off the plane and across the air strip to the airport... The airport is a big room with benches, security, a front desk, and a window that you watch your baggage as it's unloaded and pushed through to a platform for you to pick it up.
My principal met us in Nome with smiles and hugs (at this point I was traveling with another new teacher also headed to Brevig). She took us out for lunch in town with her family and told us a little bit about where we were headed and the native culture. We spent the rest of the afternoon driving through the town and the road outside of town on the shore of the Bering Sea, seeing lots of tents and sheds built and used for dredging and gold mining. We stopped to take some pictures of an old abandoned steam engine train, and some musk ox.
We also stopped at the Safety Roadhouse, a funky old bar marking the last checkpoint of the Iditarod race in March. It was quite a tour!
In the evening, we did a little more grocery shopping in town... the prices on certain things were a tad steep, even for a girl used to NYC prices.
Afterwards, we picked up another incoming teacher from the airport and headed off to Teller in the truck! The road from Nome to Teller is a dirt road through the tundra. There are berries and rivers on the way. There really isn't much more to describe it... We did stop along the way at Woolley Lagoon to drink the clear spring water flowing through the stream. My principal got a kick out of the stories of coworkers and friends from previous jobs knowing me by the name "Wool."
Two hours later we pulled into Teller. Upon realizing we had forgotten to bring more gas for the boat across the Norton Sound, we decided to try to get one trip out of what we had left. The boat was a little single outboard motor boat that looked about 50 years old. This was about to be an adventure for sure. We piled our bags in the boat to the point of bursting, climbed on top of the bags and headed into the rainy, windy, and cold Norton Sound. About five minutes into the boating outing the motor cut out. Fortunately the guys in the back syphoned the last bit of gas for the motor to kick in just long enough to get us to "Fred's Camp" on the shore, not quite to Brevig yet.
From Fred's Camp we called the village and a few guys headed out with 4-wheelers to come pick us up. In another 20 minutes or so, I was piling my two little suitcases and cooler bag of frozen meat onto a 4-wheeler and climbing on the back for a cold 30 minute ride to my new home.
We pulled in around 12:00 am, and were greeted by children running around the village and calling out to ask my name as we drove past the school to my duplex.
Home.
After being dropped off I promptly called my family to tell them how excited I was to finally have made it to Brevig. As dad picked up the phone and listened to my stories as I went on and on and on (not an unusual situation I came to realize), I began to wonder why he was so quiet and wasn't really talking very much, or at all. Or wanting to tell me about the family reunion that had happened that day or my little brothers newest random exciting event. Finally after asking him a few questions and not getting a very lively response, he asked what time I thought it was in New York... "Well, 4:00 pm..." Turns out, it was actually 4:00 am. He loves me, really. But guys, Alaska is four hours BEHIND the east coast. That means that when it's evening here, it's the middle of the night there. Oops. Real big oops. But now I know, right?
At any rate, the next few days were spent unpacking, getting acquainted with my roommates dog, exploring Brevig, and taking showers in the school for lack of hot water at my house.
The next big event will be the district teacher inservice at Unalakleet (which is really hard to pronounce, best of luck figuring it out).
My principal met us in Nome with smiles and hugs (at this point I was traveling with another new teacher also headed to Brevig). She took us out for lunch in town with her family and told us a little bit about where we were headed and the native culture. We spent the rest of the afternoon driving through the town and the road outside of town on the shore of the Bering Sea, seeing lots of tents and sheds built and used for dredging and gold mining. We stopped to take some pictures of an old abandoned steam engine train, and some musk ox.
We also stopped at the Safety Roadhouse, a funky old bar marking the last checkpoint of the Iditarod race in March. It was quite a tour!
In the evening, we did a little more grocery shopping in town... the prices on certain things were a tad steep, even for a girl used to NYC prices.
Afterwards, we picked up another incoming teacher from the airport and headed off to Teller in the truck! The road from Nome to Teller is a dirt road through the tundra. There are berries and rivers on the way. There really isn't much more to describe it... We did stop along the way at Woolley Lagoon to drink the clear spring water flowing through the stream. My principal got a kick out of the stories of coworkers and friends from previous jobs knowing me by the name "Wool."
Two hours later we pulled into Teller. Upon realizing we had forgotten to bring more gas for the boat across the Norton Sound, we decided to try to get one trip out of what we had left. The boat was a little single outboard motor boat that looked about 50 years old. This was about to be an adventure for sure. We piled our bags in the boat to the point of bursting, climbed on top of the bags and headed into the rainy, windy, and cold Norton Sound. About five minutes into the boating outing the motor cut out. Fortunately the guys in the back syphoned the last bit of gas for the motor to kick in just long enough to get us to "Fred's Camp" on the shore, not quite to Brevig yet.
From Fred's Camp we called the village and a few guys headed out with 4-wheelers to come pick us up. In another 20 minutes or so, I was piling my two little suitcases and cooler bag of frozen meat onto a 4-wheeler and climbing on the back for a cold 30 minute ride to my new home.
We pulled in around 12:00 am, and were greeted by children running around the village and calling out to ask my name as we drove past the school to my duplex.
Home.
After being dropped off I promptly called my family to tell them how excited I was to finally have made it to Brevig. As dad picked up the phone and listened to my stories as I went on and on and on (not an unusual situation I came to realize), I began to wonder why he was so quiet and wasn't really talking very much, or at all. Or wanting to tell me about the family reunion that had happened that day or my little brothers newest random exciting event. Finally after asking him a few questions and not getting a very lively response, he asked what time I thought it was in New York... "Well, 4:00 pm..." Turns out, it was actually 4:00 am. He loves me, really. But guys, Alaska is four hours BEHIND the east coast. That means that when it's evening here, it's the middle of the night there. Oops. Real big oops. But now I know, right?
At any rate, the next few days were spent unpacking, getting acquainted with my roommates dog, exploring Brevig, and taking showers in the school for lack of hot water at my house.
The next big event will be the district teacher inservice at Unalakleet (which is really hard to pronounce, best of luck figuring it out).
Sounds so exciting!! We are happy for you!!
ReplyDeleteIt sure is!! :)
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