Well, it's official! Plane tickets have been bought!
It seems like things have really started to be put in place this past week.
Sunday night, Mary and I bought our plane tickets (for those of you that don't know, Mary is my very close friend and my roommate next year while we're in Chevak). The process of buying tickets seemed to be a bit tricky. First, I had to find the right flights because Mary had purchased her's before I did. Then realizing that I need to buy two separate tickets in order to make it to the village.
The plane that I'll be taking from Bethel to Chevak is T-I-N-Y http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_172 (This is a sample picture). It's known as a puddle-jumper! Mainly because it just hops from 'puddle' to 'puddle' getting to its various destinations. It may not be too bad after all...but I'll definitely take pictures when the time comes.
We're officially leaving on August 8th! It's probably a good time to think about packing!
I've also been blessed to "meet" some of the people that I'll be working with next year. Part of getting an Alaska Teaching Certificate is taking two Alaska history/culture classes. The classes started Monday night and it's being offered online because 95 percent of the class lives in the lower 48, and also because we'll all be in different villages teaching. During the time spent in class I was able to "meet" with other people that will be teaching in the bush next year. Out of the 17ish students, 3 of them will be teaching in Chevak (not including Mary and I).
It was so nice to talk with them and find out that they'll be on the journey as well. One of my future co-workers even called me after class. She was then able to three-way with another future co-worker, and we had the opportunity to chat for a while. Neither one of them is from Alaska (Houston and Missouri). It's always entertaining to hear people's impressions/fears with coming up here.
Talking with them has really gotten me excited about moving to Chevak!
Now all I need to do is start packing...easier said than done. : )
