Sunday, Fun-day

Today was a beautiful day! My running shoes showed up at the school yesterday so this morning I had the principal let me into the gym and I ran for an hour and a half, listening to my iPod and loving every minute. I was slow and my leg is a little sore still from my former injury but it felt good.

After running Joelle and I went to the red church for the first time. It is an Episcopal church. They have the majority of the sermon, prayer and songs in English but they also sing some of the songs in the native language. The priest addressed the weather issues in the southern part of the country, emphasizing the fact that in Fort Yukon they never see the weather produced by hurricanes. They do not see high winds, etc. and he didn't know what that would be like. He did not mention at any point the extreme temperatures of their winters which I thought showed how compassionate he was to the people now in the south.

Also, they have a section of the service where they go around the room and whomever wishes to sends a prayer to a loved one or group of people. They go around the room and say their thanks as it fits them. The priest also asked Joelle and I to introduce ourselves since we were new. The priest's humble nature inspired me this morning. Honest and pure. I think I will go back next week.

We also took a boat ride with one of the native people. We went out on the Porcupine and Yukon rivers for a few hours, stopping at a youth camp (place where the kids go to explore, camp out, and develop their skills) and at a couple other random places. The rivers are gorgeous with the trees turning colors for fall already. It was warm today but the boat was windy and it was chilly.
Todd- one of the other new teachers here, gave me an apple he had gotten since he was in town for school and it was so good! The fruit and veggies at the store isn't as fresh as I am used to, so I have been sticking to the canned and dried varieties. (He gave me one more for the road so while I am working to try to get ahead tomorrow, I will have another bright spot). Todd is into finding these agate rocks and keeps digging around in the stones. They are crystal-like and I have found one but he picked up about ten or so today.

Joelle is my cabin roomate. She teaches math and PE at school.

Here are some pictures of things. I have some more and will try to get them up soon. Peace.

Agate Hunting	The Shoes
The Yukon River	The Yukon River
Joelle in the Kitchen	Joelle at the River

Flying in to Fort Yukon

I didn’t take any pictures on the little plane because when I arrived at the airport I saw the actual size of the little plane and it was quite little! At first I was nervous and scared but I board and there was a little kid who asked to be in the front seat and I told myself how silly I was that the little kid wasn’t scared and I was. So I kept telling myself that it was fun and exciting and I actually enjoyed it. I even relaxed enough to doze off for a few minutes. We have teacher training in September when we get to fly back to Fairbanks and I am looking forward to the trip just to be able to fly on the little plane again.

Arrival in Fairbanks

I flew to Fairbanks and stayed at the Westmark hotel for a night before flying to Fort Yukon. The view is from the hotel room. It was rainy and cold when I arrived and since I am still use to the North Carolina summer weather, I was freezing cold! After a full day of traveling, I treated myself to a salad and a special dessert of ice cream for dinner in the hotel restaurant. Then I went and bought some flannel pjs at the gift shop and snuggled into a deep sleep.