The School

The school looks pretty good to me. Most of the teachers think it's horrible, and I agree we have some maintenance issues, but on the whole, Merle keeps it vacuumed and trash picked up and the bathrooms cleaned. I've been in a lot worse.

Top: This is outside our main office next to the commons area which is our lunchroom. Office to the left, commons to the right.

Next, the double doors leading into the commons.

3rd, our foyer. Kids congregate here. I'm not sure of it's original intention, but it's not used for much.

4th, our front door. We put announcements here.

And finally, the front of the school. This is the most difficult part of the walk to school. There is nothing to block the wind from the Artic Ocean to the left and so as we come to the road leading up to the school, the wind can really blast you. And in the winter, the snow machines and 4 wheelers have packed down the snow until it's one huge ice sheet. I often walk off to the side to keep from falling.

More Pictures of Gambell

The top picture is our principal, Dawn Johnson's house. She lives right next to the school.

2nd is the clinic. We have two nurses, a couple of nurses assistants, then every two months a Physician's Assistant (PA) comes over for two weeks. When we go to the clinic, they take all our info, then call over to Nome for a diagnosis, then dispense the meds over here. So far, it's worked OK. I fell off a 4-wheeler, had a kidney infection, my asthma acted up and got shots in my knees and no bad reactions! I'm just glad they're here.

Everybody has a 4 wheeler. In the winter some people have snow machines, too, but there are lots of 4wheelers.

Next is our Assistant Principal's house. Rick Breske is the AP and his wife is the 2nd grade teacher. They also live next to the school.

This last picture is a close-up of the gravel roads before the new roads were put in. They were murder to walk on.

Gambell - First impressions

When I arrived, there were no roads. The roads were constructed before school started and consisted of bringing in tons of a mixture of dirt and small rocks, spreading it out and rolling over it for about a week. Not much of a road, but higher than the gravel and much easier to walk on. The gravel was loose and like walking on the beach all the time. I'm not sure I could have stayed if we'd not gotten roads.

The top picture is our school. John Apangalook School, named after one of the elders who had been a long time friend of the school.

The second picture I put in for the benefit of Anne Gentle: this is our hotel. They call it the Birder's Lodge. It took me a while to figure out that this was the building they were talking about because it looks nothing like a lodge to me!

The third picture is of the wind turbines. You see a truck in the foreground, but it was only there during the construction of the roads. The turbines provide a lot of the energy on the island.

The fourth picture is a view from my bedroom. Not my favorite one, but I'll show those later.

The last one is my home...the six-plex. Our windows are the ones on the far left. We have two sets of windows at the end and we have the best view of any teacher. Through these windows we can see the entire village down to the school. On the other side we can see to the ocean. We're the envy of the teachersQ

Flying to Gambell

We changed from the big plane to our little 8 passenger. It was cozy. The weather was good, so it was a great trip.

Getting to Anchorage

Here I am, the picture of anticipation. I have no idea what's ahead....


I arrive in Anchorage and there are people to meet me for the "Welcome Wagon." They take us to the University of Alaska-Anchorage dorms and then we go shopping and eating. One of my favorite places is Gwennie's Old Alaska Restaurant. You'll see that I've immediately taken a new boyfriend with one of the locals.

The Adventure Begins

July 12, 2010

After a year of planning and dreaming, the time is finally coming that I leave Utah and begin my huge adventure in Alaska. Wendy and I have been packing up my house and packing up all my belongings into 25 Rubbermaid totes. So far, we've sent off 16 totes through the U.S. mail.

I have 7 more days of summer school, then will be driving to Eugene, OR to be with Rhiannon. She's getting her senior pictures taken (finally) and then it's off to Tacoma for 7 days to visit with friends and relatives. Monday, August 2nd I'll be flying up to Anchorage. And the adventure begins . . .