Embarking to Port Alsworth

WOW!!

       I cannot explain how awesome this has been but I definitely will try! After I finished packing everything, Chris, Levi and I waited to board our plane. We waited about an hour and a half because there was a huge rain storm that had knocked out power around Anchorage. The storm also caused some minor flooding around the area. We then boarded a Bush plane which carries 9 passengers, 1 pilot, and 1 co-pilot. Since Levi was taller that anyone else on the plane, he rode co-pilot for the entire flight. After about an hour flight and a few stops in between, we landed in Newhalen where Chris and Levi were dropped off. I was asked to pick up my luggage from an open wooden box and take it with me to the next plane. This plane was even smaller than the last one I was just in. It was a pilot and me who were then off to Port  Alsworth in a two seat Bush plane! This was truly an amazing experience as I was able to see all the mountains, scenery, and the beautiful blue lake water. Lake Clark which I flew over was just breathtaking! I was curious of why the water looked like something you would swim in at a tropical beach and the response I received was that it was caused by a glacier.
       As soon as I arrived to the site, I was greeted by a very nice lady with a pickup truck. I was taken a few feet down the road and shown my housing. Mind you I flew in on a runway that was made of gravel and rocks. I immediately met my two roommates Asha and Katie. They were very welcoming when I walked into my new home for the next six weeks. I have my own room with a comfortable bed which is very nice after house hopping for the past 8 weeks. Asha made me a sign that welcomed me through the front door, and another sign that was posted on my door with hand written Bible verses. Quickly after arriving, my co-op Becky invited me to come to her house for dinner with her and the 3 foreign exchange students living at her house. I soon found that her and husband are believers. This was very encouraging and uplifting to know they were believers. Yet again the Lord has worked on my behave to provide such a Godly influence in my teaching career. The community is a Christian based community and on this site there is a Christian camp that runs during the summer. There is also a church that is fully running and I will be attending on Sunday to see how it is set up.
       Everywhere I look I see mountains that are covered in snow. I have encountered a fox, 3 moose and a beautiful dark sky filled with stars. Today for fun we watched one of the bigger planes that has flown into Port Alsworth take off. It was pretty incredible to stand on the runway and have an airplane fly directly next to you! I have joined a ladies Bible study with about 17 ladies who attended this week. I am eager to see what else the Lord has in plan for me while I am here.
      Now, onto the teaching aspect of the trip (the reason I am actually here). Today was only my second day and yesterday I walked around to each classroom and met almost all of the students in just a few short hours. There are only two buildings in which the students attend class. There is a gymnasium which is not that big but is perfect to have because of the weather here. The school has cross country, basketball, and volleyball for sports. It is pretty interesting because at times this reminds me of when I went to North Rome for my schooling in K-12th grade. Everyone knows everyone and everyone is either related, adopted, or family friends. It is such a warm and friendly community to be involved with because everyone takes care of you and makes you feel as comfortable as possible. I was able to teach for almost the whole day which was amazing because it was only my second day here. I have 5 students in my class who are either in Kindergarten or 1st grade. I have two more students coming back within the next few weeks before I leave which will give me a total of 7. I worked with 2 students individually with reading, writing, and math. My co-op teaches Kindergarten, 1st, 1-3 science, and 3-5 Social Studies. It is impeccable that she maintains 3 different ages groups or more at one specific time. In this school, the students work on their grade level and the curriculum is centered around common core standards but also based on where the student is individually. There are some whole group classes but that is just because there are not enough teachers to work with all the students on an individual basis for every subject. There are 3 seniors this year, but I do not know how the graduation process is done. In our Kindergarten and 1st grade classroom my co-op and I split the students up based on grade level. Today I taught the Kindergarten class all morning and in the afternoon I have the two 1st grade students for writing. I love this style of teaching because the student is getting exactly what they need in order to push them to the next level. I am looking forward to immersing myself more with the curriculum and the students over the next six weeks.

View from plane

View from plane

Where I flew out of with Chris & Levi

Levi and Pilot

Airplane view

View from plane

Bush plane where I flew co-pilot

Bush plane 2 seats

View from Bush plane

View from Bush plane

Airport landing strip

 

One of the largest planes leaving Port Alsworth

   

Anchorage

        Today was kind of a slower day due to the weather. We were supposed to go sight seeing and unfortunately it rained all day. The mountains were covered with low clouds, there was fog, and the rain. We did get to go out to eat which was very nice. Chris who has been taking care of us for the past week has been able to come take us to lunch and dinner each day. So far we have eaten at: Olive Garden, Red Robbin, Lonestar Steakhouse, and a Seafood House where I had Delicious Salmon. Anchorage has so much to offer as far as restaurants are concerned. It has been a weight lifted off of me with not having to figure out where my next meal is coming from. Tomorrow morning we are going to Gwennie's Old Alaskan Restaurant which has huge portions of breakfast foods. However, I feel as though this is just a tease because i will be living off of rice, chicken, a bit of pasta, and dried fruit. I am excited to see how much I can stretch my food. Time to eat oatmeal even though I do not really like it.
       As for packing all of my food and clothing it has been extremely stressful. I had to pack and repack everything a few times. I found out that when going on a Bush plane I can only carry 70 pounds. Included in this 70 pounds was frozen food, my backpack, and clothes for 6 weeks. In order for me to meet this requirement of 70 pounds, I am leaving a suit case full of clothes and two pairs of shoes behind. I am allowed to bring 18 gallon totes for food or whatever I would like to put in them in order to ship them to myself. This should cost me about $25 for each tote. Once I mail these totes to myself in Port Aslworth, I will be awaiting their arrival in 1-2 weeks. In my totes I have dried foods along with clothes combined to weigh about 30-40 pounds. I also had to think of how much my clothes would weigh total when coming back. In order to figure all this out, I weighed my clothes in one of my bags to see if it would weigh 70 pounds alone. Once I did that I evenly distributed my clothes in the two totes, and bigger bag. In my bigger bag will be clothes, frozen food weighing about 35 pounds alone, and whatever I would need for two weeks. Levi, who is the other student teacher had to do the exact same thing, but he was done last night. I found it funny that he only had one suitcase, one tote for food, and his backpack. He will be heading to Newhalen with Chris. Newhalen is about a 10 minute flight from where I am located in Port Alsworth.
      We will be flying out tomorrow for each of our sites. I know I am very excited to see the students and meet the teachers working there. I do not know what to expect but I am very eager to find out what awaits me. As for a little bit about the area I am staying in and visiting right now, I did not think that Anchorage would be such a melting pot. The area we are staying right now is made up of rental housing and apartments. The area is being renovated with newer housing, which shows a complete contrast between a few years ago and now. Some of the housing is run down and around the corning are new condos. It has been great to see the mountains each morning!

Arrival

Well it is finally here. I am in Alaska.

   Over the past few days, I have been preparing, and check, check, double checking (Tanya) to make sure I have everything I could possibly need. I am blessed to have parents who helped in this preparation, mostly my mom packing all of my stuff. (Thanks mom for always taking care of me). As I was on my first plane, I had two seats to myself. I was torn between the fact that I was happy I did not have to talk to anyone, and the fact that I was able to sit, read, relax, and talk to God. I sat there thinking that I was not actually alone that my Heavenly Father flew with me and was right there if I needed anything.
    Before I left, there were all these blessings that I kept seeing. However, there was a huge obstacle that needed to be overcome. There were a lot of lies crashing on me, like waves from a sea, in my head. I was recently told how one of my friends felt about me. There were a lot of hurt feelings involved and everything that was said I took extremely personal. I let all of this eat at me for about 3 days until I had talked to my family and a couple friends who all told me the same thing. I realized that I was not in the wrong nor was I in the right. I needed to keep showing love and trusting that God has it all taken care of. Thankfully, in all my worry and anxiety of one person having a problem with me, the Lord worked it out that there was actually not a problem but rather a lot of communication errors and misunderstandings. After about a half an hour phone conversation, everything was laid out very clearly. After everything was said, the friendship was finally mended. I no longer had this feeling of anxiety before I left for one the biggest trips of my life. I say this only for the fact that I know I am going to Alaska to do the Lord's work. I believe that I will be attacked in any way possible.
   As I change back to my flights, I would fall asleep and wake up to a new scenery. I woke up the one time to us flying over the Colorado Rockies. The mountains were covered in what appeared to be snow and they had deep pitch black pits. In all of that, I thought about how beautiful our creator must be. If they were just mountains made of dirt, rock, minerals, and other particles. Then how much work did God put into making me. A being that was created in the image of Him, who walks, talks, breathes, and thinks on its very own. Somehow as I looked at the Rockies, I felt like a 5 year old sitting on the edge of their seat waiting to see what was next. I think it is good to think childlike and marvel at the beauty of our world that was created.
  I felt similar to this feeling of how big and marvelous of God truly is when I landed in Anchorage. I met with Chris and Levi who were patiently waiting for me. We went to dinner and had a lovely time at the Longhorn steakhouse. It was very good and the portion sizes were huge. Mind you this was around 1:30am for me at home. When I finally arrived at my house for the night it was a condo for Levi and I. I was wondering how that would work but it worked out just fine because he too is a believer and was raised in a Christian home. He is a gentleman and even ate breakfast outside in order to not wake me. I am very excited to see what else is in store for me. Today is food shopping and sightseeing a bit.

And So It Begins...

Hello Readers,

    This is just a trial to see how this is set up and if it works correctly. This blog is for anyone who would like to learn more about me, Alaska, my faith, and the teaching style in the Tanalian School District. Over the next 6 weeks I will be observing and teaching in the Tanalian School District in Port Alsworth. I was offered this position a few months and did not hesitate to say yes. Since then, I have found out there is a Christian camp in the area, along with Bible studies. This not only excited me, but encouraged me that the Lord has been with me every step of the way.
    I am very excited for my embarking to Alaska. I leave Friday morning around 11:15am and will be arriving around 7:15pm Alaskan time. It has been an eye opening experience already. Due to the fact that I will be there for 6 weeks, there is quite a bit of packing to do. What I find most stressful is knowing that I need to buy all my food in Anchorage and ship it to myself. I was told that there are no stores around where I will be living. I have gone around to Walmart, and Sam's club looking to see what I would want while I am there because those are the stores located in Anchorage. However, I will have someone who will take me shopping the day after I arrive. After a few days of site seeing, shopping, and more preparation I will finally arrive at the school on Monday afternoon.
    The school district in which I will be working in has about 50-60 students Kindergarten-12th grade. The district is a very diverse area which allows for the growth in my experience in teaching. I am eager to see how the curriculum will be because of how small the school is. There is also a Christian camp located in the town. When I learn more about the town, school district, and camp, I will be sure to inform you all.
     As for God's hand in all of this, I have been blessed that God has taken care of my tooth which has been bothering me all week. My mom's devotional was about how God takes care of even the smallest of things and in that list was a toothache. I found out that the teacher I am staying with is very pleasant, and attends Bible study which excites me even more. I know He has prepared the way for me in all of this but I also see how He just takes care of me even before my trip.
     Looking forward to writing more about all of my travels and my Alaskan adventure! Please feel free to ask me questions, or chat with me about anything. I will do my best to keep on top of this and answer you as soon as I can.