March Madness

A 9pm drive home from Lake Clark

Another month has gone rushing by since my last post, though some days and weeks have seemed to last forever. It’s hard to believe that we only have 37 days of school left and that in the next two months I will be having some visitors from the east coast! I’m looking forward to those visits and will be sure to update on them, but for now I wanted to do a recap of the March “madness” here in Alaska. 

Our flight to Nondalton! 

Similarly to other months, I had a nice visit to Pilot Point at the beginning of the month. The visit itself was uneventful, but the flight home had some surprises. On my return trip, we stopped in a few villages before heading to Nondalton, one of which was Igiuigig where we picked up Sam. I was excited for us to be able to fly home together, but then was grateful to have a hand to hold. The pilot warned us that the wind had picked up in Nondalton, but that he would try to land us. We flew over the runway at which point he told us the winds were gusting over 50 m.p.h. and that we would not be attempting a landing. Instead, we were flown to Iliamna where the wind had also picked up. We had a bumpy but safe landing, but then had troubles trying to walk to the building where we wait for a pick-up. The wind was blowing so hard that we had to dump our baggage and trudge through the gusts to the building. I felt that I was going to blow away! Luckily we were able to spend the night in Newhalen and then hop on a plane the next morning for a mostly smooth flight to Nondalton. 

Carry the Cure at Nondalton School 

After my trip to Pilot Point, we had an organization called "Carry the Cure" come to visit Nondalton. They were part band/part motivational speakers and it was their mission to spread the message of hope, especially to those living in Alaska's rural villages. It was a privilege to have them come to our school and we were all excited to watch their performances. The band played, a woman preformed some beautiful native dances, our community joined together in dance, and different people traveling with the band conveyed their own messages of overcoming struggles and choosing to commit to life. It was a much needed night in which everyone got to get out of cabin fever mode and come together to support a great organization. 

Having fun on Iliamna Lake:) 

March also brought with it Kokhanok’s annual carnival! Sam and I had gone our first year out here, but weren’t able to attend last year due to our Honda accident. We were eager to attend this year and were sure to take extra safety precautions in the weeks leading up to it. The thing I was most anxious for was the fact that this year, Iliamna Lake had frozen over and was safely crossable. People have been telling me about the ice road since I moved to Nondalton, but our past few winters have not been “true” Alaskan winters. This year we got lucky and the lake has been frozen for about two months, making many people happy to be able to cross between villages. At this point, people can easily travel between Port Alsworth, Nondalton, Iliamna/Newhalen, Igiugig, Pedro Bay, Kokhanok, and a few smaller private communities in the surrounding area. With that said, someone had gone out and plowed a specific path to Kokhanok for those wanting to get to carnival. Sam and I geared up and hit the “road”, enjoying the surreal feeling of driving across 23 miles of frozen lake. We saw a few cars and trucks crossing over at the same time and I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that we were on ice and not on some dirt road in the village. 

Driving to Kokhanok

After making it safely to Kokhanok, and spending some time warming up at our friend Kelsey’s, we enjoyed a weekend with friends! Some of our friends from Nondalton had flown over and we were all grateful for the weekend getaway. We had visiting student teachers who decided to join us and I was glad they did! We all had a great time playing games, taking part in carnival activities, and hearing about the different places people had traveled from and how their journeys went. Much like Newhalen’s carnival, this one included a lot of basketball, a craft show, raffles, and also more traditional activities. I had an awful sore throat which caused me to miss out on some of the activities as I tried to rest and not spread my germs. However, I was just happy to be around friends that I don’t get to see often. Sunday night brought with it a potluck in which everyone brings a dish, dinner is had, and then raffle winners are chosen. This event, at every carnival, seems to last hours. The line for the potluck took us 45 minutes to get through!

An evening drive on Iliamna Lake 

Once this "end of carnival" potluck and raffles had finished, it was around 11pm and many of us made the trip over the lake that same evening. I was a bit weary of the thought of crossing at night, but when we got on the ice road, I noticed I had nothing to worry about. We were in a line of at least 20 vehicles crossing back over. It was a beautiful yet cold drive home and at one point Sam and I stopped on the ice just to look around and admire the reality of what we were doing. This adventure I am on never ceases to provide me with new adventures! I am so glad that we finally got a typical winter and that we were able to cross the lake at least one time. 

 We <3 bonfires and visitors! 

After carnival, things normally settle down in Nondalton until April, but this year March has definitely brought some madness to Nondalton. Cabin fever has been a difficult thing across our village, and everyone is eager for the increasing daylight we have been receiving. In school, our water has been an issue for a few weeks. The week after carnival was our first week of having problems with it, and we had to cancel school one day and then have early release days the rest of the week. To make up for the cancelled day, we decided to have school that Saturday. Many schools in our district will do this if school needs to be cancelled as it allows us to let out in May on the planned last day of school. We didn’t expect many of our kids to show up, so it was a pleasant surprise when all but two of our students came in on Saturday morning! Thankfully, the school’s maintenance team worked very hard to fix the problem and we are almost back to normal. The two weeks of uncertainty were not fun, so we are hoping that all will remain well throughout the remainder of the semester. One positive thing during this time was that we had a visit from our friend Jon. We enjoyed having him around for the weekend and I know Sam was thankful to have some guy time after being around our mostly female staff (minus our principal who travels often) all the time. 

Annabelle's 1st Birthday! 

Another highlight from this month was getting to celebrate Sam’s niece's first birthday this week via FaceTime. While we would much rather have been with the whole family in person, I continue to be thankful to have the technology that allows us to take part in special events from so far away. Also, I just realized that she will officially be my niece in the near future (See below)! 

I said YES!! <3

With all the chaos going on at school, Sam and I were looking forward to a relaxed weekend in which we could get outside to enjoy the sunshine and some fresh air. We were thinking of going to a neighboring village, Pedro Bay, yesterday but then decided to go to Kokhanok instead. I was looking forward to seeing my friend Kelsey and celebrating her recent engagement. During our trip to carnival, we had been focused on getting across safely and warmly and hadn’t stopped to take pictures at all. Yesterday, we found a spot, about halfway across the lake, to stop and take some pictures. I was glad to be soaking up the sunshine with Sam and not to be on a timeline or to have anywhere we had to be. After taking some pictures, Sam and I were talking when I sensed that something was about to happen.. Our conversation turned into one in which he was talking about our relationship, and then before I knew it he was down on one knee in front of me holding a box with a beautiful ring in it. He asked me a very special question that I said yes to and suddenly I was a fiancé! 

Some love from a sweet student<3

It’s been almost 24 hours and I still haven’t quite grasped the reality of it; it will probably take a few days or weeks to wrap my head around.. Until it really hits me, Sam and I are enjoying the newness and spent a lot of yesterday and much of this morning telling our family and close friends. With that, one of our stops on the way home today included visiting our close friends Bill and Kate who just welcomed a beautiful baby girl to their family. We’ve been anxiously waiting to meet the little lady since she was born and I was also anxious to tell them our exciting news. It made for a great end to a joy filled weekend! 

Beautiful things are on the horizon! 

One more thing I am excited to announce is that thanks to living in rural Alaska where I have virtually nothing to spend money on, I was able to completely pay off my undergraduate student loans last week! It has been a grueling two years of putting two-thirds of each paycheck towards my loans but I am so thankful to be 100% debt free. I never expected to have them paid off in two years and it certainly removes a weight from my shoulders. It was perfect timing too as I embark on my graduate program and begin planning for a wedding! 

March is on it’s way to a close and April promises to be the busiest month yet! For now, I am going to keep taking it day by day and enjoying the fact that I get to marry and spend the rest of my life with my best friend!