Week 2 in Alaska! That seems so hard to believe. The time has flown! I am settled down in my apartment. I am still organizing and cleaning. I have a lot to do. I believe the last teacher cleaned the apartment, but the people who were here for the summer institute did not. It has been a very time consuming task. It takes a long time for me to do anything that involves water.
As you know, I have no running water, which means I carry water from school to my apartment. I have been carrying it in a five gallon camping jug that I brought from home. They have two five gallon hard plastic jugs for me in my apartment and a holding tank (plastic Rubbermaid garbage can). I brought the Rubbermaid can to school and scrubbed it out with bleach water. Pretty tough to reach the bottom. I will begin the process of filling it with water when I can get a boy to carry the water for me! The cost for doing this is two cans of soda. Sounds reasonable to me.
The school water is drinkable. However, I still run my drinking water through a distiller. It takes three hours for the distiller to do 3/4 gallon of water. The good thing about this is the distiller really warms the room. Right now, it's not a good thing. I have no screens on my windows and cannot open them b/c of flies, mosquitoes, and no-see-ems. The no-see-ems are tiny gnats that are barely visible. So, with our weather in the upper 60s and the hot sun shining through my windows with no blinds, it's hot! No problem. In times like these, I simply walk to school.
Because I have no water, I take my shower and do my laundry here at school. And, that's what I have done this morning. This afternoon I am going back to Bethel for another two days of inservice. I will also do some more shopping for cleaning supplies. Darn. I forgot to bring my grocery list so I could tell you some of the prices. Next time.
Also, since I have no water in my apartment, I have an incinerator for a toilet. It sort of looks like a toilet. You place a paper cone in it, do what you need to do, and then step on a lever and then cone drops into a holding place. Next, hit the button for it to burn and open the outside air duct. It burns it all up. Now, if it works correctly, everything is fine. I thought when you hit the button, it was puff and gone. Noooo. . . it also takes about three hours to incinerate b/c it is a small coil that warms and burns. It also needs to be cleaned on a weekly basis. Ick is right.
Life is good - really. Just a few minor problems. I think I am adjusting rather well. Today we leave for Bethel. I only need to purchase cleaning supplies and shades! That should cost a couple of hundred dollars! I think the district will pay for the shades. While in Bethel, we have a district-wide inservice. Our district is the size of West Virginia, so this is extremely expensive for us to get together. We have 328 teachers; 53 are new. That's not too bad of a turnover when you remember the harshness of our environment. Many newbies are like me: here for the experience. I'm not certain how the inservice will be run, but I do know I will have Special Ed training. We also get together at other times during the year to be certain we are compliant with the rules and regs. My SE friends know what I am talking about.
Today's photo is of the cotton grass. It is beautiful. Not useful, just pretty. I took this photo the first day I arrived. This grass grows along the boardwalk in the village. I think the wind always blows. I'm glad, too. Otherwise, the mosquitoes and flies would be dreadful!
Hope all is well with you. Later, Maria
As you know, I have no running water, which means I carry water from school to my apartment. I have been carrying it in a five gallon camping jug that I brought from home. They have two five gallon hard plastic jugs for me in my apartment and a holding tank (plastic Rubbermaid garbage can). I brought the Rubbermaid can to school and scrubbed it out with bleach water. Pretty tough to reach the bottom. I will begin the process of filling it with water when I can get a boy to carry the water for me! The cost for doing this is two cans of soda. Sounds reasonable to me.
The school water is drinkable. However, I still run my drinking water through a distiller. It takes three hours for the distiller to do 3/4 gallon of water. The good thing about this is the distiller really warms the room. Right now, it's not a good thing. I have no screens on my windows and cannot open them b/c of flies, mosquitoes, and no-see-ems. The no-see-ems are tiny gnats that are barely visible. So, with our weather in the upper 60s and the hot sun shining through my windows with no blinds, it's hot! No problem. In times like these, I simply walk to school.
Because I have no water, I take my shower and do my laundry here at school. And, that's what I have done this morning. This afternoon I am going back to Bethel for another two days of inservice. I will also do some more shopping for cleaning supplies. Darn. I forgot to bring my grocery list so I could tell you some of the prices. Next time.
Also, since I have no water in my apartment, I have an incinerator for a toilet. It sort of looks like a toilet. You place a paper cone in it, do what you need to do, and then step on a lever and then cone drops into a holding place. Next, hit the button for it to burn and open the outside air duct. It burns it all up. Now, if it works correctly, everything is fine. I thought when you hit the button, it was puff and gone. Noooo. . . it also takes about three hours to incinerate b/c it is a small coil that warms and burns. It also needs to be cleaned on a weekly basis. Ick is right.
Life is good - really. Just a few minor problems. I think I am adjusting rather well. Today we leave for Bethel. I only need to purchase cleaning supplies and shades! That should cost a couple of hundred dollars! I think the district will pay for the shades. While in Bethel, we have a district-wide inservice. Our district is the size of West Virginia, so this is extremely expensive for us to get together. We have 328 teachers; 53 are new. That's not too bad of a turnover when you remember the harshness of our environment. Many newbies are like me: here for the experience. I'm not certain how the inservice will be run, but I do know I will have Special Ed training. We also get together at other times during the year to be certain we are compliant with the rules and regs. My SE friends know what I am talking about.
Today's photo is of the cotton grass. It is beautiful. Not useful, just pretty. I took this photo the first day I arrived. This grass grows along the boardwalk in the village. I think the wind always blows. I'm glad, too. Otherwise, the mosquitoes and flies would be dreadful!
Hope all is well with you. Later, Maria
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