Somewhere Above the Clouds

So, this is definitely a first for me -- blogging from an Alaska Airlines jet during flight! I'm currently on the leg between Anchorage & Seattle.

This is a fairly new service. Right now it's just for the Lower 48 (although I'm coming from Anchorage??) according to the brochure.


It says that it will be available in (the more populated areas of) Alaska some time in 2011.


Of course it won't always be free, but for now there's a promotional offer, to get people hooked, I imagine. I love it so far!






I was planning to post these pictures later, but I might as well do it now. This is the plane from Kotz to Nome to Anchorage. It's dark because I left at 8:30 this morning & it's not getting light until about 11:30. I don't know if you can tell, but this cabin is only half the plane. I was sitting close to the back, and about where the person is standing there's a wall. The front half of the plane is cargo. They load it with about 4 specially-shaped pallets.
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Noatak

Last week, after voting here in town, I headed out to Noatak. It was my last village visit for this semester.

Noatak has a new school, going on its 3rd year open I think. The old one used to be very close to the airport and village center. The new one is about a mile out if you follow the road and closer to the dump.


It's not a problem to walk unless you're carrying 140 lbs of gear and expected to teach a class in an hour. Usually at any school the teacher organizing the schedule also arranges transportation for me. Most schools have some forms of vehicle even if it's just a 4-wheeler. Having just confirmed everything with the teacher the previous day, I was expecting a ride and felt forlorn as all the vehicles drove away. One person, the village president, was walking home and stayed there with me a while. I gave them a moment thinking they might be running late. I finally called, and they said they were in the process of looking for a ride. I was glad it wasn't too cold.

After about 20 minutes, one of the teachers came roaring up on his Honda, stacked my totes up on the racks, gave me a moment to climb on, and tore off down the road. Boxes were bouncing all around, and I just about fell off while trying to keep my map tube and computer bag from bouncing out.


We made it to the school, and as I'm sighing relief, the teacher curtly mentions I'll be going to his class right after lunch. Well, that would be after HIS lunch because I still had to find out where to put my things, procure an A/V cart, set up my computer and projector, unpack program materials from the boxes...you get the picture.



My cart was a mess by the end of the day. I had 3 classes right in a row after that delayed start.


I was off to a rough start, but it got better. I didn't get much of a chance to get out last year because the old principal wouldn't give me a key. If I went out too long after school was out, I couldn't get back in. This year I didn't even have to ask. Each evening I got out and walked around while it was light. The people were some of the friendliest I've met in the villages. The NPS isn't liked by many, and although it may be subtle (or sometimes not), there's a certain degree of racism towards white outsiders. So in most villages I end up talking to the kids (who see me at school) who follow me down the street and just smile and wave to the adults who usually acknowledge me but rarely engage in conversation.


So it was refreshing in Noatak to have I don't know how many people stop to ask me if I wanted a ride as I walked between the school and the rest of town (not these girls, they just stopped to say hi and ask when I was going to their class). A couple even talked to me about what I was doing in town as we walked to the store.


Their store is big and pretty nice. I usually try to go just because that's about the only place there is to go, and I support the local economy a little. This time I browsed the popcorn because I had taken my latest Netflix movie with me to watch at night. I found some I'd never seen before.


Popcorn with pepper! It was really good!

As usual, the school days are busy enough that they go quickly. The rest of the trip was smooth, and although the plane was late getting there, it was only 32 degrees, so the 40 minutes standing on the runway weren't too bad.

As far as I know, the Noatak school has the newest building. It is fairly nice. Here are a few shots.



A mural of the village - on the wall in the cafeteria / commons area.



You can find local artwork around most of the schools. These are geese carved from caribou antlers.



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Post Office

Since I forgot to 1) reset my clock and 2) turn off my alarm, I'm up early this Sunday morning. Being none too excited about that, maybe it's a good time to cover the post office.



Address: 333 Shore Ave, Kotzebue AK 99752
When ordering things online, most shipping software doesn't recognize Kotzebue physical addresses because there's no mail delivery to them, only to PO boxes.



It's always tricky wiggling around the shipping catch-22. You can't ship this item to a PO box, but your physical address is an invalid address. Sometimes the website will ignore the fact that it's invalid, so you can ship to your physical address but include the 4-digit zip code extension to make sure it gets to the right box.



Once a package arrives (or sometimes a few days later), you get a yellow card in your box. Usually it's kind of an exciting thing, your package arriving. Lately there's a love / hate relationship with them, however, because it means standing in a long line.



These are the normal hours, but for the past few months, I guess they've been struggling with personnel issues, and they've been making up their own hours.



Kotzebue's a town of about 3000, and everyone who gets mail comes to the post office. Granted, not everyone has to stand in line for a package, but in this remote place, much business is done via mail. When I first got here, as far as I could tell, there were 5 employees. Lately I've only seen 2 of them. I'm not sure what's going on, but I know it's not fun to spend a chunk of your Saturday in line. The worst for me was after having waited an hour, the guy in front of me wanted to apply for a passport. That just baffled everyone and took forEVER! You always hear comments (although people have been exceedingly patient), but I guess some have reached their limit.



I just saw this posted on the bulletin board outside the PO lobby. I haven't called it yet.
Something just has to happen before the Christmas rush. If it's not fixed, I'm imagining someone - be it the postmaster or someone in line - going postal alright.

I do wonder if all of the waiting has been good business for the volunteer fire depo coffee shop beside the PO. They're in the same building, and when the line runs out of the PO lobby, it passes right in front.



It's a small place and just sells different coffees, "pops" and pull tabs or scratch-offs or whatever those money-and-paper-wasting things are.



It's a nice little space; they could probably do more with it. The proceeds support the volunteer fire department, so I buy a soda there from time to time. With much more waiting in line I may resort to playing the scratch-offs to see if I win enough to ship using UPS next time!
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