Friday, August 31, 2012

My flight adventures

These aren't really in order but they are still awesome to look at! 
 This is leaving SeaTac airport. You can see the mountains in the background.
 Beatuiful view of Seattle 
 More Seattle
 And Seattle
 Flying over the bay thingy they have in Seattle
 I'm over Alaska!
 My first glimpse of mountains!
 Anchorage airport
 I get to walk across the tarmack in anchorage to get to my plane to Kotzebue-Nome
 BIG plane...not a bush plane
 Crazy little shack in Kotzebue
 Over the Bering Sea
 Bering Sea
 Amazing clouds
 The rivers below were crazy







 Nome! 
 Back in Seattle
 Seattle too I think

 Also Seattle...thanks firemen
And Anchorage view again

Venturing out

Ladies and gentlemen, I have officially completed one week (well 3 days but it is Friday) of kindergarten! My kids are starting to fall into routine and are following directions better. However, Monday we don't have school so their little brains will forget everything. I am still waiting for my things to come in the mail so I am short on supplies and books so I am not really able to do many activities. We sing a lot. Read whatever books are available and I make up projects on the fly with what I have. Flexibility is key and I am obviously flexible because I moved to Nome in 4 short days! Exhaustion is definitely kicking in. My brain knows it is still sunny at 10:30 so even though I am tired my brain thinks it is midday so I am awake far too late to get up early before the sun is up. It won't last long though, the sun will soon set at 2 in the afternoon and I will be sleepy. I plan on passing out tonight around 7:30. I've got work to do tomorrow and I want to be able to sleep until my body wakes me up. 
Until then I will be walking around downtown the great city of Nome. My school is just a few blocks from Front St (the main street right on the Bering Sea) and then it is just a short walk apparently to all the shops that I need to visit. Then I will hop in a cab, because they do have cabs here, and ride the 3 miles back to Beltz where I live. I know 3 miles is definitely walkable and normally I would just do it, but I hear the Musk Ox are close to town today and I don't feel like getting trampled in a stampede. So I set off in my first adventure to downtown. I'll let you all know what I find! 

~Baby Alaska

ps. I still haven't seen the dead whale that has been floating around the waters near here, but I have in fact seen the pet reindeer that is leashed

Give me some wheels

So I love getting a ride to and from school from my principal, but I need some wheels of my own. I don't like the feeling of being stuck some place until someone else wants to go. I am looking for a 4 wheeler and there are a couple for sale in Nome. I know I need an automatic. I found an 08 Polaris, but I don't know anything about buying a wheeler. How much should I expect to pay? How much is too much? I just want to be mobile again! Someone please send me a wheeler 

until next time...

Thursday, August 30, 2012

The grocery experience

I went grocery shopping for the first time. YIKES. I bought a handful of items and my bill was nearly $100. I will gladly accept food by mail! I was also told that ordering food on amazon.com or walmart.com is amazing. It all ships here and is pretty cheap I guess. I have some spaghetti and mac n cheese. Crackers are key because that is usually what I have for lunch because my lunch and prep are super short. I have some laughing cow cheese and colby jack cheese. I bought canned tuna and peanut butter. It is ridiculously expensive though. $8 for a loaf of bread. $7 for a gallon of water (someone send me a purifier please!). I think my milk was $9 too. UGH. Apparently walmart and amazon will even ship cold items too? I'll have to see about that. I bought a lot of pudding because it was cheap! Soda was on sale for $10 for a 12 pack so I couldn't pass that up. It is so funny walking through the stores and seeing neon sale signs and the sale price is still twice as much as the regular price in Minnesota. I don't dare look at how much it would cost me to get some burgers or potatoes. My meals are not well rounded to say the least. Vitamins here I come! 

for those readers that don't have my address yet:

Nome Public Schools
Attn: Jennifer Beltz
P.O. 131
Nome, AK 99762

School days

Hello! I have been super super busy at school. Just so you know, my facebook doesn't work anywhere up here so I have updated it since before I left. Anyway...my first day went amazing! I had one crier, one runner, two clingers, and two hiders. My crier cried again today on our second day of school. My runner is now restricted to running only around our room and not through the hallways. The clingers were dropped off at the door leaving them screaming and crying for about an hour. My hiders....well they are interesting. All boys of course! My girls are little angels :) I have 16 kids and all are 5 years old. 9 girls and 7 boys. We worked really hard on staying in our chairs when we were supposed to sit and sitting on the carpet instead of laying. I definitely have to add a quiet time to our day because they get worn out after lunch. A bunch of teachers came to visit yesterday to make sure I was still alive and smiling and not trying to catch the first plane home. I'm loving Alaska everyone! I have to go pick up my kids from recess though so I will post again later with some more info 

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

My classroom

So this is my classroom! Tuesday I went in for the first time at about 11 to see. I had a wonderful aide Mr. Tom to set up my room for me before I got there. He put paper and borders on my bulletin boards so I had less to do once I arrived. 











I made it!

Hey everyone! I know you have been dying to hear from me. I made it to Nome finally! I flew from MSP to Seattle, to Anchorage, to Kotzebue, to Nome. It was cloudy and rainy when I finally landed in Nome. I got off the plane right on the tarmack! There was even a greeting party waiting for me. I have a lot of people giving me supplies and food right now until my things arrive. I've made lots of new friends already too. I definitely need to get a four wheeler for this place. Driving to and from school with my principal is fun and all, but I need some transportation from my apartment out by Beltz to get to school in downtown. I've already learned some new lingo to so here you go Minnesota:

out to Beltz: 3 miles out of town to the high school where teacher housing and district offices are
Icy View: a "city" where most of the teachers live in tiny houses and pay way to much rent
Martinsville: a small housing group about a mile out of town
"they live outside": people who don't live in Alaska, has nothing to do with actually living outside


Until next time minnesota...

Monday, August 27, 2012

Seattle frenzy

Well I made it to Seattle! The flight was much better than my flight to Hawaii. One bump in the road:severe vomitting on the plane had the flight attendents scared enough to call 911. So I am being treated for dehydration at the Seattle hospital before my next flight. I couldn't say no to the cute firemen. My anxious tummy got me good!

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Take off!

Hey everyone! I am officially moving to Nome, Alaska to start teaching full time kindergarten. I will be teaching at Nome Elementary School. You can check out where I will be at http://www.visitnomealaska.com/ 

I will keep writing, hopefully daily, so you know what I am up to and pictures will be posted too! Wish me luck on my long flight! I hope I don't get lost in the Seattle Airport. Or get stuck next to a big fat sweaty person on the airplane. This will only be my second time flying so it will be interesting!


xoxo

~baby alaska