Final Quarantine Update: We've Arrived!
January 17, 2020
This week has been so fun, and so bitter-sweet! We are sad to leave Dillingham and our friends, but we are so excited to finally meet our kiddos! Our school just went green in terms of Covid, so we will be in school all five days a week! Woohoo!! This week Jenny, Andrew, Katelyn, and I took a day trip to Aleknagik just to have somewhere to drive. We went to the same place we went on our first day in town. There used to be a few feet of ice to walk on the water, but this time all the ice was gone! They don't say it that the ice melts, it just disappears because the wind sweeps it away or most commonly, the layers break off and float down river. I also caught the sunset a few times- it was beautiful. On Friday before we left, we got to go over to our boss's house and we had a BLAST! There were ten of us and we took out five snow machines. We drove about 15 miles each way to New Valley. Nick, Dianna's husband, who is the principal at the elementary school in Dillingham, led us on the snow machines with their daughter. Each snow machine had two people. It was one of the most exhilarating experiences ever. I think my adrenaline is still pumping from it! We mostly drove in the tundra, sometimes in the woods, and even over water. Once we got to New Valley, we played in the snow a little bit. It is probably four and five feet in some places, everyone was getting stuck! We finished off the night with a bon fire and a grill out. While we were still there, my parents texted me saying they had a surprise video for me. When I opened it, it was the video above. We all sat around and watched it and everyone LOVED it, especially our bosses. They thought it was the perfect introduction to Alaska and especially Dillingham. Who knows, maybe they will use it as their new recruitment video. It was SO much fun, we were sad that we didn't get to go over to Dianna's more. We all finished our quarantine and tested negative, so it was relaxing to be able to be out with friends!
We have arrived! Jenny and I flew out to Koliganek yesterday, Saturday January 18th. Andrew made it to Aleknagik, Katelyn is on her way to Manokotak, Jacob and Taylor have settled into Dillingham, and Arlette will make her way to Togiak on Thursday. Jenny and I packed up all of our totes and suitcases yesterday and flew out from Dillingham with VanAir. We got on a three-seater tiny plane and rode about 40 minutes North to Koliganek. The principal of our school, Rick picked us up on the runway, there is no airport! We have started settling into our apartment, it is really nice! We have a big kitchen, one bathroom, a good-size living room, and two bedrooms. There wasn't much in the apartment when we arrived, but almost everything we needed was packed in our totes by our coordinators. They are the best! I cannot believe how much work they put into this program. Thank you Dianna and Robyn!!
If you would like our Alaskan phone numbers or addresses, please email or text me and I will see it during school hours when we have wifi.
Lots of love,
Haley
Quarantine Update #2: Exploring!
January 10, 2020
First off, thank you everyone for all your support! We have had such positive feedback with the blog and we are so glad that you all want to follow along with our journey!! Second, I would like to start this blog post with saying that I was not at all trying to use this blog as a distraction or a way to get out of paying attention to what is happening in our country. What happened at the capitol was a disgrace. I am disappointed and disgusted in our leadership in this country. Things will not change until we stand up for what we believe in; no sitting back waiting for things to change. I am sorry if you wanted to come to this page as a distraction, but this is still real life and effects many of us everyday. No matter where I am, I will always make it known that I believe in love and respect. What was shown this past week was a symbol of hatred in this country. Things must change.
Moving on- The past few days have been full of some much needed relaxation. We haven't had many meetings because our supervisors want us to get out and see what there is to see. Luckily, the only thing we cannot do in quarantine is go to the store. We have all tested negative for Covid, so we are able to go out and explore the land and drive around. We found a trail that goes by the school to the seawall. We think it's hilarious because there is a Subway in town, but it's only open in the summer when there are a lot more people living here. We walk by it most days and just laugh. On Friday, Andrew and I went for a run and it was definitely interesting. Honestly, the hardest part was just having the cold air in my lungs. It is easy to layer up with sweatshirt and sweatpants, but it is very difficult to breathe in warmer air. I think we'll probably try again and see if we can go longer. After our run and workout, we saw the prettiest sunset yet! It was so bright and so I went to take a time lapse of it. The video doesn't change much because I was so cold and I was afraid my phone would shut off form freezing. I still think the video is pretty!
Yesterday (Saturday), was the best day yet!!! I texted our boss in the morning and asked if we could use her snow machines. We weren't very optimistic because it's the weekend, but we figured we'd just reach out and see. She said that she would be out in the snow with her family and so we were welcome to join them. She has three daughters who are just the cutest. Her husband in the principal of one of the schools, so two of our interns work with him often. They have been the kindest since we arrived and help us in every way possible. We joined them at about 1:30 our time, 5:30 Eastern, and 2:30 Pacific. We picked it up really quickly and they just let us take off!! It was one of the coolest things I have ever experienced, I couldn't stop laughing and smiling. Jenny and I took one snow machine and Andrew and Katelyn took another. We got to drive around on the tundra right outside our supervisor's house. Their dogs were running around with us and the kids had their tiny snow machines out which was so cute. The newer snow machine got up to 40/45 miles per hour. It was such an adrenaline rush and something I had hoped to do since I heard about this program. Hopefully we get to go again before too long!
Please let us know if you have anymore questions, we would love to talk to you all!!
Talk soon,
Haley
Quarantine Update #1: How it all Started
January 7, 2020
The first ten days of our trip are being spent in quarantine, but we are lucky because it has not been nearly as difficult as we all thought. Every day we have an agenda that we follow and we are passing the time with games and exploration. We are staying in a bunk house that is owned by the school district. Six of us are staying here together and we have plenty of beds, a living room, a full kitchen, a board room we can use for meetings, and a mini van we can use to drive around if we choose to do so.
Our schedule looks a little something like this: We have our first Zoom meeting with our supervisors at 9 am every morning. We talk for about 30 minutes or so about the things we have planned for the day, concerns we may have, and questions we need answered. After that, we have about two hours of professional development or trainings. So far we have done a few virtual professional development programs. In these meetings, we have learned how to read the data given to us about our students and how to best help them next. We were taught about the program our district uses for testing and how to read the scores. Then we went into learning plans for our students and how we can prepare to work with them these next few months. We then eat lunch from 12-1 and after that we do different things. The first day we took an amazing tour of the town. The 6 interns who are staying together rode in our van and we followed our supervisors in their truck while being on the phone. This way, one of our supervisors was able to drive and the other could talk to us about the history of the town without actually having to come in contact with us. We were able to see downtown Dillingham, the sea wall, the schools three of our colleagues will be working at, the harbor, and the tundra. The town is very small - only about 2,300 people year-round and up to 5,000 in the summer - but it is cute and quiet. Dillingham is known for its fisheries. Peter Pan Seafood Company is a major commercial fishery here in Dillingham. "Principal revenues are from sales of canned, frozen and fresh salmon, king crab, tanner crab, Dungeness crab, halibut, Pacific cod and Alaskan Pollock. The Company sells throughout the world and maintains a brokerage network in the U.S. with delivery warehouses located in all major markets" (Peter Pan). Locals also subsistence fish to feed their families. The culture is very important here - the Yupik culture is still prominent and our supervisors make sure we are aware of their customs and traditions. One of our supervisors told us that in their culture, they measure wealth by how much you can give away. She has 6 children and they all fish and hunt so they are able to give away a lot of meat to friends in town. They hunt and eat rabbit, moose, salmon, lynx, and much more.
Once we toured Dillingham, we drove about 25 miles NW to a town called Aleknagik. This is a beautiful little town that sits on Lake Aleknagik and is also surrounded by mountains. One of our colleagues will be working with high school students in this community. At this time in the year, the lake is usually mostly frozen over, but this year a giant gust of wind took a huge chunk of ice off the edge of the lake and so it is not as icy or safe to snow mobile on. One of our supervisors, Dianna, has a cabin on a tiny island in the middle of the lake and they usually use snow machines over the lake to get there, but they have not been able to go yet this season due to the lack of ice covering it. We had such a fun time driving around to see the sights and bond over music.
Another important meeting we had was: Surviving and Thriving in Alaska. This meeting included tips on how to be prepared for what winters in Alaska can hold. One crucial part of living in Alaska is checking the weather every day before you go out. The weather can quickly change so you want to be sure you know what is coming so you aren't stuck in a storm. Another tip for looking at the weather is understanding the difference between what the temperature is and what is actually feels like outside. Many days will look nice and warm with temperatures in the mid-20s, but when there are winds coming from the North blowing at 15-20 miles and hour, it will feel more like 5-10 degrees outside. We learned that is important to always be careful about what land you are on because some of it is personally owned and some of it is owned by the state of Alaska. You must always tell someone where you are going, what you are bringing, and what time you will be back... just in case!
We are very blessed to be working in this beautiful state with wonderful people. Our supervisors are amazing and they have helped us in every way possible. One super thing they have done is set up a dinner chain for us. They used it as a fundraiser and every night, new groups bring us a warm home-cooked meal. The school wrestling team, student council, 6th grade families, National Honors Society, and the South West Region School District are switching off making us dinner. Every night after we eat, we play games and/or watch movies. We are having a blast and getting very competitive. I am in first place right now, but we still have 7 days of quarantine, so nothing is decided!
Thanks for following along, we miss you all!
Haley