The journey to St. Michael

As you heard, I almost didn't get on the plane.  Once I did, though, we took off close to on time.  Many of the people on board were teachers returning to one of the school in my new district (Bering Strait School District), including the woman beside whom I was sitting, and her one-year-old son Teddy.  Teddy and I had a great time entertaining each other.  The ride was no worse than usual, which was a pleasant surprise, since Fr. Mariusz, the pastor in the area, had told me the week before that there were people screaming on the plane because of the turbulence.  The only drawbacks were that I had nothing to distract myself with as I had to put the bag with my books in the overhead--it wouldn't fit under my feet--and that it was cloudy most of the way, so I didn't get to see much of the terrain as we crossed it.

We landed in Unalakleet only a little late, and then I waited in the airport with one of my colleagues and two children going to visit relatives in the village.  There were three flights ready to go that had just been waiting on the plane from Anchorage, so once they got it loaded and sent back to the big city, the planes took off one at a time.  No security (and none for Era Airlines at Anchorage, for that matter), no gates, no boarding announcements--the pilot just came out and announced where the plane was going, and the passengers followed him.

The plane to SMK (the airport code for St. Michael and a very commonly used abbreviation for the town) was the last to leave.  The plane was by far the smallest I'd ever flown in, and I was certain that I'd be terrified, as people had said I would be.  To my great surprise, I loved it!  Fair to say, it was a beautifully clear day, and I was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, where I had a great view, but the flying part didn't bother me at all.  I spent most of the time looking out the window at the coastline and at Norton Sound, but with occasional glances at the radar and the altimeter.  I think we topped out at about 1400 feet.

When we got to SMK, our very cheerful principal, Carolyn Heflin, came out to meet us in the school truck, an ancient and rather decrepit Suburban--a perfect car for our situation.  Ms. Heflin drove us the few miles (2, I think) into town, and I moved into "itinerant housing" while the small house I'll live in was being vacated.  I got in, I think, around 6:30 (scheduled to get in at 5:30, so not too bad, all things considered), and was almost immediately invited over for dinner by some of the other new teachers.  After that, I went for a walk around the town, looked into the school and my classroom, then was probably in bed and asleep by 9:00.

I had some "technical difficulties" today (read: I forgot to bring the cord that connects my phone to the computer and was too embarrassed to walk back home and get it), and our Internet is very slow for things like sending pictures from one's phone to one's email account, so I'll come back another time and add pictures of the events I describe above.  In tomorrow's post I'll describe the village of St. Michael, including teacher housing, the school, the store, and the coffee shop.

AMDG

Tim