Perry's Adventures in the Air

One more day in my first week of school at SMK!  It's been rough at times, but overall, I think the week has gone fairly well.

Perry has been here about a week now.  I left him with friends in Anchorage so he wouldn't need to be cared for by strangers here, in a new place, while I was in UNK for a week.  While I was in UNK, my good friend who was taking care of Perry, Rich Shaut, became rather seriously ill--he's still in the hospital, in fact, and would appreciate being on people's prayer lists, I'm sure.  So getting Perry transported up here had to be delegated to another good friend of mine, Steve Vrabel.

To ship a dog from Anchorage to SMK is no easy feat.  It's impossible to reserve a space ahead of time, since dogs fly as cargo, both passengers and mail rate ahead of cargo, and there's no telling how many passengers and how much mail will come through on any given day.  So to transport a dog, it's necessary to call the airline the day of the flight, and if they say space is available, to get the dog to the airport before space becomes unavailable again.  You also have to, by the way, check with the airport in UNK to make sure there's room on the UNK-SMK leg of the flight.

So Steve called on Saturday the 18th, the day I returned from UNK, to see if Perry could go on the plane.  There was--until the time Perry got to the airport, when mail, I presume, had taken his spot.  Steve couldn't take him for the Sunday flight, since he had church, and the Monday flight was full.  On Tuesday, all flights into SMK were cancelled on account of weather.  Which reminds me--the few packages that did come in on Monday came in in the middle of a steady rain--and sat on the runway for an hour or so before someone was able to go out and pick them up.  The moral of this story is--if you're sending things to bush Alaska in the spring, summer, or fall, wrap them in plastic, if possible, since the cardboard box they're shipped in may fall apart before it gets to the post office here.  In winter, of course, we don't have to worry about things getting wet.

So Perry was finally able to come in, if I have my days right, last Wednesday.  He was apparently a good dog on the flight--a colleague who came in on the same small plane from UNK said she hadn't even known there had been a dog on the plane, he was so quiet.  While being unloaded, though, he was far from quiet--the handlers got worried about their fingers.  Of course, Perry didn't bite anyone.

He seems to be adapting well enough to life as a country dog--though it's not safe for dogs to run around free out here, so in many ways, his life is much like it was in ANC--in the bathroom during the day, going for walks morning, afternoon, and night, playing in the house until bedtime, then sleeping in the bedroom.  He has, unfortunately, discovered that the bathroom door doesn't latch well, which gives him full access to the bedroom during the day.  Fortunately, he hasn't yet torn anything up in there.

My house is the next in line for repairs in SMK--new carpet, new doors and windows, new front porch--so maybe Perry's bedroom access can be curtailed once again.  Until then, I'm hiding my socks!

AMDG

Tim

Perry in the bedroom.  He seems rather unconcerned that he's out of his appointed place.

Perry says hi! (but with his characteristic suspicion)

News from St. Michael's Parish

I'm low on pictures these days, but a quick parish update...

Two Sundays ago, Rita asked me to lead Liturgy of the Word; last week, she asked me to lead the entire service.  It went well both times.   Both times, I led one or two hymns in English, and one of the local teachers led the rest in Yup'ik.  The only time so far I've heard the language used.  We had 16 each Sunday, and a nice coffee hour afterwards each time.  Church has been a very positive place for me here, which I wasn't sure would be a possibility.

On Friday, the other Catholic teacher and I said the Rosary at church in the evening.  This Sunday, we publicized it and there was a lot of interest, so we'll do it again this week.

I have to get to the post office before it closes, so I'l sign off now.

I will say, though, that the first two days of school have gone fairly well, and that today was an improvement over yesterday.

I'll work on getting some pictures taken of the school soon so I can show off my new place!

AMDG

Tim

Inservice in Unalakleet

Last week all the teachers in the Bering Strait School District went to the village of Unalakleet (YOU-nuh-luh-kleet), where the district offices are, for a week-long inservice.

For new teachers like myself, the inservice was focussed on the district's reading program, Success for All.  The program is a scripted program (not unlike the primary levels of Saxon math), and has some similarities to Junior Great Books (especially in the amount of discussion it leads the kids into), so I think I'll like it.  It does also have a strong component of virtue education that's a bit too secular for my tastes, but I certainly value the effort the program makes in helping kids learn what behaviors promote good social functioning.

Unalakleet is a village not much larger than St. Michael, but with a much different feel.  The roads are paved (already), and there are a few stop signs!  There are two stores, not just the AC, and their AC, while in a much older building, is larger and has a larger selection.  Unalakleet (UNK) has two restaurants and a coffee shop/bakery, too--a pizza place called "Peace on Earth" and a hamburger joint called "The Igloo".  (Some Yup'ik, by the way, do refer to themselves as Eskimos, so one does occasionally see references to Eskimo things.)  The coffee shop/bakery is called "Cool Beans."   The restaurants are quite expensive, though--$30+ for a pizza, $10 for a hamburger.  No hotels, though--at least not as far as I'm aware.  The children there are also much more used to outsiders than our kids here in St. Michael.  The school is right by the beach which is much more accessible than the beach here at St. Michael, and is a great place to walk, pray, or just sit.

The school in UNK

Looking towards downtown UNK.  Notice the paved road.

The beach and Norton Sound

Since there are no hotels, we all bunked in the classrooms at the school.  As far as that goes, the accommodations were quite adequate.  The provided air mattresses for each of us, so we didn't have to sleep on the floor, exactly.  The shower situation, however, was a different matter--8 showers for 200 BSSD employees made finding a time that a shower was open quite a challenge--it reminded me of summer camp.  They fed us all in the school cafeteria--not fancy, but plenty, and more variety than I'll probably get here.  Most people thoroughly enjoyed the availability of things like fresh fruits and vegetables.  As for me, I discovered that I don't mind drinking powdered milk--which is good, considering the difference in price out here between that and the liquid stuff.

The weather the first few days was beautiful, sunny, and for anyone who'd been in Alaska for a few years, downright hot (near 75°).  It started raining mid-week though, as you can see in the pictures above.  We did get to have one bonfire on the beach before the rains set in.

The other thing that fascinated me in UNK was the chance to get to know the folks who will be teaching on Little Diomede Island--the only part of Alaska that you actually CAN see Russia from.  They get to take a chopper out to the island!  As the saying goes, though, I'd be glad to visit, but to live there?  I think that would be way too remote, even for me.

We also played cards most nights.  I learned Euchre, which is a simplified version of Sheepshead, the game I learned to love as a Jesuit in St. Paul.  It's fun, but I do miss the "full version."  Nice that there are so many card players in St. Michael, though--it will come in useful when the winter sets in.

So a good inservice overall.  Soon I'll blog about how THIS week is going.

AMDG

Tim

A few more pictures of my surroundings

Sorry about the extended absence.  After returning from inservice, it took me a few days to catch up to myself.  At this point, inservice (with lots of time to work in the classroom :) ) continues, and I'm continuing to unpack at home.  I hope Perry will be able to fly up on the plane tomorrow.  More details on all of that in future posts--I have them all laid out so I don't forget anything.

A tour of my house:

My house from the front.  The plastic is hanging from the front door while the porch is waiting to be replaced.  It blew off last winter.  This was a hot day (75°), so the windows are all open.

Upon entering the house, you are in the living room.  This is the view looking left when you walk in:

Hospital green walls...hmmm.  On the floor you see one of the 16 totes that carried all my earthly belongings to SMK.  Still waiting on the last one (amazing that it all came so quickly).  Unfortunately, my coffee maker is in the final tote, so I'm still on instant.  I'll survive--as long as I have caffeine!

And here's the front of the living room (the door is to the left of the photo):

A coffee table for my soon-to-be-ordered TV.  I will eventually have cable!

From the living room window, I can see one of SMK's many ponds/puddles.

Can you see the ducks on the pond?

Continuing on from the living room, one goes through a hallway:

The hooks are now all covered with coats and hats.  These hooks help to make up for the lack of a closet.

On the right side of the hallway, there's a door that opens on to a lean-to:

The lean-to is NOT weatherized (yes, that is sunlight you can see at the top), so depending on the season, it makes a good refrigerator or freezer!  Full Circle is a produce company that delivers fresh vegetables to bush Alaska.  As you may imagine, that is an empty box from the former tenant.

The hallway leads to the kitchen:

Right side of the kitchen: Dining table (treats ready for Perry's arrival), fridge, and window

Left side of the kitchen: cabinets, sink, and small but functional stove.  I'll miss my dishwasher!  The cooler is the former tenant; most of these were taken on the day she moved out.

To the left of the kitchen is the bedroom (you can just barely see the door to it in the picture above):

On the far wall of the bedroom are dressers, and above them, a rack for hanging clothes, and above it, a shelf that will be my bookcase (as will the top of the dressers, and the shelf above my bed, and...).

My bed is on the near wall of my bedroom.  My hot pot (aka my second-string coffee maker) is on the back of the bed, and my alcohol-free mouthwash towards the front. Even though this pic is from moving day, I still haven't quite gotten the hang of making a full-size bed.

Bonus!  I have a stackable washer/dryer in my bedroom.  So it leaks a little bit--I can live with that.

The bathroom is off of my bedroom, just to the left of the w/d.  Feel free to skip these pics if you're not my mom and concerned about whether I have proper facilities:

bathtub and toilet--water pressure's not great in the shower, and the water is either too hot or too cold, for the most part.  But it works!

sink

Now, around the village.

Behind my house you can see one of the local playgrounds and the water delivery system, which is all above-ground due to permafrost:

The church (in the center) from a distance--my house is just behind the nearer red building

The view walking home from school.  My house is just behind the nearer blue building.  The white stuff behind the basketball courts is insulation that will eventually cover the gravel roads as a prelude to paving them (!).  They hope to have the project done before winter, but it might be next summer before anything can get finished.

My house from a distance (the one that looks like a shed between the three large blue buildings that are the old school and current teacher housing).  You can see the church at the left.  This is on the way home from school as well.

Another pond/puddle between home and school.

The AC (Alaska Commercial) store.

Besides the school (and in my opinion, of course, the church), this is probably the most important building in town.  For bush Alaska, it's large and well-stocked.  You can certainly get anything you need here, though prices are intimidating ($5 for a loaf of good bread on sale today).  Notice the ATV's (also called Hondas, regardless of manufacturer) in front--the main form of village transportation in summer.

I think I'm starting to repeat myself, so I'll stop.  Next up should be my week at inservice in Unalakleet (your homework: figure out how to pronounce that name!).

AMDG

Tim

SMK in the ADN!

District inservice is basically over--just waiting for our "ride" home.

While waiting, I saw that the Anchorage Daily News, the primary newspaper in Alaska, had a story today about triumph over tragedy in St. Michael.  You can read it here:

http://www.adn.com/2012/08/16/2590884/st-michael-tragedy-fosters-a-new.html

I got busy with finishing up the inservice, so I haven't taken time to blog.  I'll do that when I return.

AMDG

Tim Main

St. Michael's Church

I'm almost caught up to the present.  In the next post I'll explain where I am right now and why I'm not in St. Michael, but since I'm not, I can't provide more pictures of my school or of the town, so I'll wait until I get back next week to post blog entries about those topics.  I can attach some pictures of my little house (on the tundra) and the AC store, though I'll save those for next time.

I went to church Sunday morning at the Catholic church in the village, appropriately named St. Michael's Church.  I know the pastor there, Fr. Mariusz (don't remember his last name), as he is a friend of my pastor in Anchorage, Fr. James Barrand.  Fr. Mariusz is based out of Unalakleet, a village of about 600 people (and the location of the school district headquarters), and is responsible for four different parishes, including St. Michael's.  This is a reduced load for him--this past year he had been pastoring seven village parishes.  With "only" four, he thinks he will be able to be in St. Michael one week a month, and when he's in Stebbins, he'll be able to drive from there, so we'll have Mass twice a month.  The other two Sundays we'll have Communion services let by parish administrator and local elder Rita, whom I met on Sunday.  Fr. Mariusz is visiting family in Poland for a month, so it will be a while before we see him again.

St. Michael Catholic Church
St. Michael, Alaska

When I got to church at 10:00 on Sunday for the 10:30 service, Rita and another parishioner (who now lives in Anchorage) were sweeping up a plague of flies that had infested the church; I picked up a broom.  Once the flies had been removed, we were about ready for church to start.  There were 15 people there on Sunday--more than have attended in Fr. Maruisz's memory, if I remember his statistics correctly.  Rita, the villager/ visitor from Anchorage and her one-year-old grandson, two local village boys, two other adults from the village, a large family from Stebbins, Jessica (the other Catholic teacher), and myself.  I had volunteered to help however Rita wanted me to, so when it was time for the first reading, she nodded to me, and I went up.  I read the reading very confidently--except I was on the wrong page and had read last Sunday's reading!  Rita came up and straightened me out, then told me that she wanted me to do the Psalm and let another parishioner do the rest.  Rita read the Gospel, the homily that had been sent out from the diocese, and then moved straight to Communion--without any of the intervening prayers.  Right before distributing Communion, she realized her mistake and apologized, but we continued on.  After church, Rita fixed coffee and punch (but apologized for having forgotten the cookies--at which point the two boys left), and we chatted for half an hour or so.

The entrance to the church

When Rita was growing up in the village, she said, the entire village was Catholic.  She told stories about going to Catechism class immediately after school each day, and it was obvious how important the Church--and her faith--was to her.  What a shame--in the literal sense of the word--that abusive priests so thoroughly changed the Catholic nature of the village!  Is it arrogant to hope that God will use me and Jessica to help bring the people of St. Michael back to the Church?  Rita and Peter, another village parishioner, talked about how much better things were "back in their days," and although part of that may be nostalgia, I know that the people in St. Michael need to know God.

The view from the church--visible from the nave, but not from my picture below

We'll see how I can be helpful--maybe with the music, maybe with the catechesis, maybe with leading the services at some point in time--Rita mentioned that she'd "like to retire, but there's no one else to do it."  Jessica and I both agreed that Rita is awesome.

Rita (l) getting the church ready for the service

Tomorrow is the Solemnity (feast) of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary--the commemoration of the day when Mary was taken, at the end of her life, body and soul into Heaven--or, as Rita put it, "when Mary went up."  Because Fr. Mariusz isn't around, I almost certainly won't be able to go to church to celebrate the day--another sad marker of the weakened condition of the Church in 21st-century western Alaska.  So, dear Catholic reader, as you attend Mass tomorrow, please pray for all the people in St. Michael, western Alaska, and all unchurched people that they can experience the same love that our Blessed Mother now perpetually enjoys, and through her intercession, be brought closer to the Lord.

AMDG

Tim

My new colleagues

I spent last week getting to know my new school, my new colleagues, and my new community.  The returning teachers didn't have to return until today, so us new folks got a chance to make one another's acquaintance.  We ate dinner together almost every night, and played rummy at least twice (500 Rummy, not Liverpool, but I'm learning).  It's a good group of folks.

Ariél Austin will be teaching 6th grade in the classroom next to mine.  She's a recent graduate of a college in Pennsylvania.  She's a very competitive card player, and a very kind person.  She's actively Protestant.

Jessica Marks is from Wisconsin, and will be teaching Special Education at the junior high and high school levels.  She baked the cake for Alex's birthday last night--from scratch--and it was excellent!  Jessica is also a practicing Catholic; like me, she hopes to be useful to the Catholic community here through catechesis of some sort.  She brought Fr. Barron's Catholicism series with her, and we hope to introduce that to the community here.  More about church later.

Jim Suhrer, from Coos Bay, OR, just finished his master's in education and will be teaching second grade.  His fiancée is back home, but her parents, as it happens, are also up in our school district in the village of Koyuk.  Jim is very outgoing and friendly.

Michael Potter is technically a new teacher--teaching fifth grade--but he and his wife Pam have been in St. Michael for a few years at least--it's Pam's position I'm filling as she's moving on to be the director of Early Childhood Education for the district.

Also a big part of last week's community was Alex Ting, the school counselor (who splits her time between us and Stebbins), an outspoken but hospitable returning staff member.  It was her birthday we celebrated last night with Jessica's cake.

Carolyn Heflin is the principal, a very cheerful and friendly Cajun who's been up in Alaska for a number of years now.  Tim Burns is the assistant principal, who formerly taught shop in Ohio.  Shop is a very important subject up here, as it provides necessary skills for community life.

(from l to r) Jessica, Alex, Ariél, and Jim playing rummy in Jessical and Ariél's apartment.

I have to get to a meeting now, but I'll try to write tomorrow about the church here in St. Michael.

AMDG

Tim