Goodness graciousness

Sea ice is here!  Yes, the ocean is FROZEN!

Waves breaking up the ice close to shore

After a two-day work week (woo hoo!) I enjoyed my first holiday away from home.  Nome is small, but festivities abounded throughout the week.  The annual Turkey Trot 5k run was still held in -17 degree weather, but that didn’t deter me.  I strapped ice treads to my running shoes, wore a few extra layers and trotted my way around town, dodging the blown over marking cones.  On Thanksgiving Day I volunteered at the XYZ Center’s community dinner, welcoming all walks of life to celebrate together.  The turnout was impressive, and folks really appreciated the hand drawn placemats, hearty meal, and homemade desserts.  Many Nomites had days off during the week, so I was also involved in a T.Hanks-Giving Party (complete with a Tom Hank’s movie viewing), a Re-Thanksgiving Party (a full on meal with all the trimmings, just a day later), a soup and music night, an arts fair, and ice skating at -20 degrees.

Turkey Trot cones, marking the way

My prizes from the 5k!

It was a full house at the XYZ Center's Community Thanksgiving

Helping in the kitchen

A sweet ending to a great meal!  Notice the awesome apron too!

It was bittersweet being passed around on the phone to each of my family members celebrating at home, but all in all it was a good holiday and I have much to be thankful for:

10.  A flushing toilet and a hot shower:  Even in Nome, there are people without running water (or battling with frozen pipes), relying on honey buckets to do their business.  My bare hand freezes to the doorknob of my apartment each time I open it without a mitten on; I don’t even want to imagine what it’s like hunkering down in -20 degrees.

9.  Heat is included in my rent:  My room is cranked up to 72 degrees, and my tiny humidifier runs all day making my living space an almost tropical paradise!  It’s a bit comical that my apartment in Nome is considerably(!) warmer than the one I had in Troy, NY.  Who knew I'd be able to wear shorts and a t-shirt to bed each night, and still be toasty warm!

8.  My truck:  Many folks are driving 4-wheelers and snow machines that are completely open to the elements, but I’m cozy cruisin’ in my Frontier.  I’ve gotten used to starting my truck at least 10 minutes before I plan on driving anywhere (every social gathering now has two goodbyes per person), and so far I have not fallen victim to the wily teenagers that decide to take a warming-up car for a whirl.  Every now and then a “missing vehicle” message will be sent over the Nome-Announce mailing list.  Because our major roads are closed for winter and the number of drivable miles is limited, those stealing cars are only charged with joy-riding (not even a misdemeanor).  Cripes.  I also finally purchased the correct extreme cold weather extension chord, and I’m now fully accustomed to plugging and unplugging the battery and engine block heater.  Who could’ve imagined plugging in a vehicle just to keep it warm?!  So far my truck has started each and every morning, despite the fact that our average daily temperatures are now well below zero.

7.  Tea:  I drink at least 3 cups a day; it keeps me warm, beings back happy memories, and tastes delicious.

6.  Conveniences:  I am thankful for the fact that Nome has grocery stores, gas stations, radio stations, and a rec center.  It’s gotten to the point where I don’t even look at how much things cost anymore.  If I need (or want) it, it’s going in my cart and it’s going to be paid for.  A too-ripe avocado for $8?  Sure!  Thankfully I’m in a position to be able to afford these luxuries, and I don’t take that for granted.

5.  Means of communication:  My cell phone may be wonky by cutting out at inopportune moments, having a distinct time lapse and echo, and deleting voicemail messages at will, but it helps me to keep in touch with loved ones and feel just a bit closer to them.  It’s sometimes hard to connect with the 4-hour difference, but so far I’ve been able to talk to someone I love nearly every day I’ve been away.  I do not have internet at home, as it is $75 for a standard connection that is as slow as dial-up, and you pay by the amount of data usage (a friend of mine regularly hits over $300 per month).  Therefore I am thankful for having internet at work so that I can email, skype, and keep up with my blog.

4.  Spending time with new friends:  Weekly bring-a-topping waffle parties, training a one-eyed pirate dog to skijor, the formation of the Nome International Ukulele Orchestra, and an impromptu evening out on the town with a pomegranate (worth more than gold!) in my pocket the whole time to prevent it from freezing are just a few of the many highlights and joys of meeting new people.

It may look small, but this was the best gift a girl could get!

3.  Having a teaching job:  I’m constantly challenged and stretched to the very limit of my professional skills, forcing me to expand upon them.  I’m gaining marketable experience, and a full year towards my permanent certification.  I’m learning from this headfirst immersion into an unfamiliar culture and way of life.  I’m growing into a stronger and improved individual.

2.  Care packages and letters:  From my mom’s strategically packed flat rate boxes to the many handwritten notes from family and folks I’ve never met in person, each piece of mail helps me to remember that people are thinking about me and love me.  I may sometimes feel alone, but these tangible reminders are evidence that I’ve got a support crew out there!  And I couldn’t be more grateful.

The box I received from my mom; the CD is for scale

All of the items PACKED into this little box!  I think she has a calling...

1.  Well-deserved vacation time in the not-so-distant future:  I am thankful beyond words that in less than 3 weeks I will be home in NY.  Thinking about this leaves me speechless in anticipation!

Long days, short sessions

Nome has a surprisingly active arts community, and my week started by attending an open mic night, held at the Mini Convention Center (it’s pretty small!).  Performers signed up at the door, and I was quite impressed with the diversity and variety of acts.  A local band performed a song with spot on local references to the recent storm, two girls under age 6 sang Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, and a man jammed out a perfect rendition of Crazy Train on his electric guitar.  An elder in his 90s shared some wisdom and played the accordion, another read a poetry slam about Alaskan politics, and my co-worker performed under the stage name of “Velvet Vick”.  There were banjos, recorders, ukuleles, mandolins, and acapella yodeling.  For a small town, Nome has an awful lot of talent.  If I start practicing now, maybe I’ll have the nerve to get up on stage next time!

So began my second week with the high schoolers, and I got to fully experience the unique dynamics of the evening shift.  The days are rigidly structured, so sometimes the issues that students are distracted from during the day are magnified and present themselves at night.  One of our organization’s goals is to promote healthy living, so we do not allow our students to use tobacco or caffeine while they are with us.  Due to this, many of our students experience significant symptoms of withdrawal.  It’s fairly common as time goes on to see an increase in requests for tylenol, more naps, and a general increase in grumpiness and agitation.  Also during the second week, some of the “honeymoon effect” of just meeting folks starts to wear off, and is replaced by drama.  Let’s just say I may not be trained as a counselor, but I got my fair share of tears, yelling, and “it’s sounds like you’re saying” and “how does that make you feel” responses.  This job is certainly enhancing my skill-set.

In Native Arts students carved moose antler, ivory, whale baleen and vertebra

All driver's ed students got their permits, and one got his license!

Students in Oxy Fuel Welding made and tested water-tight boxes

First group to get in the pool for morning workouts!

It wasn’t all bad, not by far.  Each night the students got an opportunity to partake in an evening activity, which they must earn through their behaviors throughout the day.  This week we attended a movie at Gold Coast Cinema, which is located inside Subway.  Most of the kids ate very little at dinner before we left so that they could buy a sub to eat during the movie.  It’s not often you see a theater full of footlongs!  Along with many of my students, it was my first time to this theater, and it was much bigger and nicer than I expected.  This excursion was an exceedingly rare indulgence, and I think I had more fun watching the over-the-top but genuine reactions of the kids than watching the movie itself.

Getting subs before the movie

Fist pumps for Real Steel!

Movie concessions, adjacent to the sub line

Instead of previews, community news was displayed before the movie

Other evenings were spent watching City League basketball games at the Rec Center (which were surprisingly competitive and entertaining; the cops even came one night!), and grabbing some gear at the Thrift Store on one of it’s rare “everything is free” nights.  Some nights we stayed in, and had just as much fun.  We baked birthday cakes from scratch using our Russian house parent’s family recipe (which allowed us to read and speak some Russian too!).  Students shared their talents by teaching sign language, demonstrating their skills in hacky sack, the one-foot high kick, and all sorts of torturous wrestling exercises.  One night we had fresh cut up watermelon and cantaloupe for our evening snack, and I just stood back and watched their wonder and appreciation for this fruit.  For a few of them, it was their first time eating such an exotic treat.

Watching the game

Many of the students wear colored contacts; these are blue with stars!

On the last night students sign tshirts

The weather in Nome has been changing pretty rapidly.  I’ve been experiencing a new phenomenon; the temperature actually drops when the sun comes out.  I couldn’t understand how I could wake up in 12 degrees, and watch the temperature drop down to 6 degrees by the afternoon when it was light out.  After asking around, it was pointed out to me that evenings usually have cloud coverage, which helps to insulate us.  Once the sun breaks through and the skies clear up, the cold can creep in.  The days are also getting noticeably and regrettably shorter.  The sun doesn’t rise until noon, and sets around 4pm.  We are still losing daylight at a clip of around seven minutes per day, with the darkest days yet to come.  Looking on the bright side (har har) at least the sun will return at the same fast pace, and I'm treated to a beautiful sunrise and sunset each day.  Nome is said to have some the best in the region!

Sunset over West Beach

I must admit that this week has been harder on me than most.  I’m ready to be back on my usual schedule, and I’m ready for a break.  I’m scheduled to fly home to NY in less than a month, and it’s been driving me crazy.  It’s close enough to think about, but still so darn far away.  This is the longest I’ve ever been away from home, and with so many of my Nomite friends out of town for the upcoming holiday it’s hard not to feel a bit homesick myself.  Here’s hoping the time will fly, and that the conditions are clear enough come December 14^th so that I can too!

My 33-hour workday

Our forecast before the storm...Nome is dead center!

My week started off with an invitation to hike out to and explore dredge #5, part of a seven dredge fleet that cut through the land in the hopes of finding gold.  This particular dredge is much bigger than the others I’ve seen, and is open to exploration.  We climbed inside to investigate, and what we found was surreal.  Tattered work clothes hung in the tipped over lockers, vintage cans of coke littered the floor, and old work gloves lay beside levers, huge gear wheels, and other mechanisms. It was fascinating to see the dredge buckets that decorate our streets (and serve as flower pots) in their intended form.  I can only imagine how this whole thing operated when it was functional, and it looks as if the folks that ran it just up and left once the gold was gone.  Pretty interesting piece of history, I must say.  This little adventure served as the “calm before the storm”.

On Monday our newest group of high schoolers arrived, ready to get instruction in welding, native arts, and driver’s education.  It’s quite a small group (only 14), as basketball, volleyball, and wrestling are kicking into high gear and students are busy elsewhere.  Just as we settled in, Nome was hit with the biggest storm it has seen since 1974 on Tuesday.  What I experienced cannot be called a hurricane due to where the winds originated, but it has been classified as a polar cyclone.  My apartment is located just three streets away from the ocean, but I weathered the storm at school.  In the past I have worn my pajamas inside out, flushed an ice cube down the toilet, and the whole bit hoping my silly superstitions would bring on a snow day.  This year I hoped against all reason that the impending storm was exaggerated and that it would blow out to sea.  Needless to say, my hoping did not win out, nor did I get a day off of work to drink hot cocoa and read my book.  When students are here, come hell or high water (and it was rising fast) you’ve got to make it in for work.

New group!  What they lack in numbers, they made up for in enthusiasm!

The polar cyclone from above

As the storm was picking up outside my window, I packed my suitcase with clothes and food to last me a couple days.  I knew once I got to work, I was most likely going to be stuck for the duration.  And to be honest, it was quite possibly the safest location I could be, due to the fact that it’s situated 5 miles outside of town away from the rising ocean.  Thus commenced the most intense drive I have ever experienced; I’m officially an ice road trucker.  The roads looked like mirrors they were so icy, and the strong gusts of wind not only caused momentary and complete white-outs, but pushed me into the other lane as if I were a toy truck.  I may have been shaking like a chihuahua but gosh darn it, I made it.  So began my 33-hour workday.  My time with the students ran just as it always does, with a few notable exceptions.  I had to strategically place towels in doorways, as snow began accumulating on the kitchen floor.  In taking out the garbage, the wind caught inside the bag and I was dragged across the ice and picked up into the air for a moment as it was ripped out of my hands.  I watched as the big window in the living room visibly buckled inward with the crazy gusts of wind (which reached a record high of 71 miles per hour).  Let’s just say that the newly installed wind turbine is already proving its value.

This may not look like much, but it took quite some oomph to get this door open!

The snowdrifts were almost as high as the building in some places

We use heavy machines to clear away our snow; plow operators are heroes in Nome!

Saw this on my way into work; the waves cranking up!

I’ve experienced winter storms before, but this was altogether alarming.  The snow is so dry and the winds are so strong that snow doesn’t simply fall; it blows across sideways at a stinging speed, accumulating into drifts nearly as tall as the buildings they form against.  The storm reached its peak just as I was scheduled to go home, so instead I chose a bed (thankfully there were plenty to choose from due to the low enrollment) and tried to fall asleep to the sounds of the groaning building, battered metal roof, and howling winds.  I will say this; the winds are quite scary, but the noises they make rushing through the mountains and buildings is quite beautiful, sounding similar to a Paul Bunyan sized pipe organ.  Regardless, I didn’t get much sleep.

The storm was still going strong in the morning, and it began to take on the flavor of a tropical storm; the temperature had risen to above 32 degrees (the warmest it’s been in quite some time), and the snow started to melt, and refreeze.  We are down one teacher this session (lucky duck is in Mexico!), our director was out of town for business, and the roads were treacherous, limiting the travel of the two other teachers on duty.  Basically, I was going nowhere.  The conditions in the surrounding villages were just as severe, so I made sure all students got to call home (if their village’s cell service hadn’t already been knocked out), and all in all we were safe, we were in contact with the outside world, and we were prepared for whatever might come next.  I feel as though I’ve gone into enough ugly detail, so let’s just say my workday continued until 11pm Wednesday night, when I could finally go home and decompress.  And attempt to get some sleep before working the rest of the week.  No rest for the weary, and no personal days for me!

I spent the duration of the storm outside of town at the school, but I wanted to include some pictures taken by Nome locals to get the point across that this was no lilly-dippin’ powder puff snowfall.  People living on the streets closest to the water were evacuated to the rec center and churches, which functioned as emergency shelters.  Siding from homes and metal roofing was torn off and blown around, severing power lines that not only knocked out power, but created downed and live wires in the streets.  The ocean rose well above the seawall (25’ higher than usual) and flooded the edges of town, and the merciless waves catapulted fist-sized rocks and logs with a 2’ diameter into the road.  Thankfully all of the advanced warnings and preparations prevented any loss of life, and limited the loss of property.  All I know is that I will never complain about a New York winter storm again!

I was surprised at how many people risked their lives to be close to the storm

Boarding up windows to prepare for the storm

Not the best time to have a home near the water

Facades were ripped off of houses downtown

This used to be a street...

High winds ripped off entire roofs

A dredge bucket somehow lost out on the broken up sea ice

Lonely seal stuck on ice on the Snake River just outside of town

The boat is more equipped to navigate these roads than the car

More flooding in the low areas of town

The beginning of waves crashing over the sea wall

A whirlpool formed on West Beach from the rushing waters

White Mountain villagers hauling in boats

Golovin may have gotten hit the hardest, underwater