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| My desk at NACTEC; notice the scuba lunch box and ukulele playing flamingo! |
…makes Emily a dull girl. Students were busy at their schools this week taking Alaska State Tests, so we couldn’t pull them out for a session, and we couldn’t be a distraction by recruiting in their schools. But believe me, I’m becoming a master of office work, which is actually sort of nice as we have extremely limited prep time during a session. The kids are in our care from the time they step off the plane until they board another one two weeks later, and we only have 4 teachers that share that supervision responsibility. Having a full week to work on my lesson plans for my upcoming Careers in Education class has been a dream. Of course there were the other tasks of printing and filing applications, answering phones, making room assignments, staff meetings, and compiling medical form packets. I even ran to fuel up the school van to start us off with a full tank. As a positive, all of my hard work paid off and I’m officially acknowledged as an adjunct professor at the University of Alaska – Fairbanks. Now students that pass my class will earn college credit (paid for by NACTEC!).
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| This wasn't even a full tank of gas for the van... |
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| You can start calling me Professor Litwin anytime :) |
Now let’s skip right to the good stuff. My week may have been quieter, but there were still noteworthy happenings. I was out until around 2am on Saturday (believe me, I’m just as surprised…) and driving home I saw the northern lights! I had to drive out of town, away from civilization to see it well, but dang it was amazing. Since Nome is out on the coast, we get all greens and blues because it’s reflecting off the water. Impressive, breath taking, and beautiful nonetheless. I’ve also been learning lots of aurora folklore; that clapping loudly causes it to lose intensity, but that making loud noises by other means (like revving an engine) makes it brighter. I’ve heard that the lights are really the spirits of those who have taken their own life or have died a violent death (both all too common in this area), and that the crackling sound that sometimes accompanies the lights is really just these spirits trying to communicate (and we should only respond in whispers). I was also told that it’s really the spirits of animals playing ball with the skull of a walrus, and that if you’re not careful the lights will come out of the sky to chop off your head too.
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| I didn't take this picture (mine all came out pitch black?!), but this is just how it looked! |
After some fickle brushes with chilly temperatures, Old Man Winter has finally settled in for the duration. Ponds and puddles that fill the ubiquitous potholes are frozen over, and I’ve been waking up to a snow-dusted world (that usually disappears by noontime). The snow is very dry, and it always reminds me of a certain baby powder incident from my youth! The dry cold, while bad for my skin, has been a blessing, and I haven’t yet had to scrape my truck (knock on wood!) despite it dipping below freezing each night. I’m also beginning to notice the hours of daylight slipping away (we lose 6.333 repeating minutes each day), as sun doesn’t rise until around 9:45am. On the flip side, it still stays light out until around 8:00pm. I’ve started putting my HappyLite to good use, and while I’m not sure it’s working it certainly can’t hurt.
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| Frozen pond during the first week of October! |
I’ve also been going to zumba and yoga classes lately to help prevent the winter blues from creeping up on me. One of the guys that goes with me works for the KNOM radio station, so after dropping him off one night he gave me the grand tour! For a small town, this station is legit; you walk into a room with dozens of awards, and each room is filled with top of the line equipment. They have a program that gauges the temperature outside while also identifying the current time, and matching it to pre-recorded audio clips that will say something like “The hour is three minutes to eleven and it’s 43 degrees in downtown Nome”. All without so much as a button push! And yes, someone did have to there and record their voice saying every time and temperature possibility. Call me sheltered, but that’s pretty dang cool.
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| Notice the sound proofing; squishy like foam! |
After my tour of the station, I became famous. No, really. I came in during the nightly “college show”, and the guy that was hosting sat me down, slapped some headphones on my head, and pushed the mic towards me. Before I knew it, I was on the air talking about how I wake up to KNOM each morning, and love the Pixies. He even played the ukulele version of “Where is my Mind” in my honor. So I know I could probably count on one hand the number of people that actually heard my impromptu interview, but now the sound waves of my voice will be bouncing around space for all eternity. I’m immortal! I’m also starting to feel like a towny, in a good way. Walking to the grocery store or Post Office, I always see folks I know. I have to plan for a longer trip then I expect because I always stop to talk.
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| Riding around town; almost everyone has a cracked windshield due to thrown stones, and limited means for replacement |
‘Tis the season for PFD checks ($1,174 this year), so the town is now bustling with people from all over rural Alaska. Nome is a shopping mecca, with goods and services of all sorts not available in the bush villages. Many families use their PFD checks to stock up on food and essentials, and purchase toys for the upcoming holiday season. Many people also use it to visit distant relatives; I was greeted with a full bear hug from an elder I met during the Teller dance festival, who was here to visit her daughter and grandchildren. Unfortunately, some people use this money in more damaging ways. And honestly it’s not really anyone’s fault, just a result of complicated circumstances. I won’t get into it too much, but one quick flip through our local newspaper and it seems as though this influx of capital may be connected to some of the more unsavory happenings as of late. But enough of that. You must be a resident of Alaska for one year (January to January) to be eligible for a PFD, so I may not ever get one. But what an opportunity-providing and much needed resource to those that live here!
