One Month to Go.

Exactly one month from today, I leave for Alaska.  Here is what I know: I will teach 12 sixth graders-evenly split genderwise, possibly teach Health to 7th and 8th graders as well, live in a pet-free bottom unit apartment with electric heat, a deep freezer and thin walls.  The town of Togiak has two stores, four churches and a library run by volunteers, mostly teachers.  The only way to get there is by plane or boat, so I have decided to not be afraid to fly anymore.  I will be flying in little tiny planes on a routine basis so my irrational fear just needs to be over.  I don't have time for it.

Before getting to Togiak though, I will spend nearly a week in Dillingham, the only town of any size nearby.  The first day of New Teacher training includes a morning of salmon fishing and an afternoon of learning how to use a traditional Native Alaskan knife, called an ulu.  I am lucky that I was taken on a wonderful Alaskan cruise years ago, and bought an ulu for my kitchen so I have a little experience with them.  Other trainings will include things like a primer on Native culture and a full day of a classroom management system called PBIS that I have taken before.  I am very interested to see how it will be adapted to this very different student population I will serve.

Once the training is over, I finally get to see Togiak, my home for ten months.  There will be four days of vacation/optional unpaid work days and two paid to get my classroom set up, curriculum figured out, lesson plans roughed out and schedule coordinated with everyone else.  School starts for kids on Aug 27th, a day dependent on the end of the moose hunting season since kids in a subsistence village don't come to school if they can hunt moose to feed their family.

One month from today, I will board a plane, layover in Seattle, pop in to Anchorage for an hour, then finish up in Dillingham.  Before then, I need to pack clothes for ten months, arrange for phone, tv and internet service, send up dry goods to stock my kitchen/bedroom/bathroom, join Amazon Prime, organize my home and say goodbye.  Yeah, I can do that.