Everyone warned me that life in Bethel is really slow. They were all wrong. I have no idea how I have already reached Thanksgiving. I feel like one of those moms that look at their kids and say, “geeze, it feels like just yesterday that you were in diapers.” (While their kid, all dressed up in her college graduation gown just rolls her eyes) But recently, there has been a lot going on. I went home last weekend. I know I said that I wasn’t going to go home until January, but I guess I am a big ole’ liar. I found out that I didn’t have to work on Friday and my grandparents were flying in Thursday night and things just kind of fell into place. My mom booked a ticket the weekend before and then Thursday night, I hopped on the last plane out and headed home. The trip home was rather uneventful, I got about 2 hours of sleep the entire night and arrived at SeaTac airport at 5 am. (I left at 8:40 the night before). Then, my weekend of crazy busy-ness began. Mom and I stopped at Starbucks, where I reveled in the many beverage options, the hot weather (45 degrees!) and the whole civilization thing. Then we headed to my grandparent’s condo where we woke them up. I forgot that I was still wearing my sweatshirt hood when I walked into their bedroom, so it is no wonder they thought I was an axe murderer, but once that was all straightened out, I began narrating all of the pictures I had taken while I had a working camera.
After a while with the g-rents, I went and said hi to my dad and then my house, sighed fondly at my bed, knowing that it would be a while before I could actually lay down and sleep and then headed out to lunch with the family. (SUSHI!!!! Yum yum yum!). After that, I went home and hung out for a while before taking the bus into Seattle to meet up with a bunch of friends. First of all, I love taking the bus. I have no idea why, but I really enjoy it. It is a great people watching time and a great reflection time. As you might imagine, getting some quality alone time in Bethel is not always easy, but that was always one thing that I loved about the Seattle bus system. Once I got into downtown Seattle and ogled all the tall buildings, the trillion people and the fact that I still wasn’t wearing long underwear, I started walking up to Capitol Hill. That lasted about 30 seconds until I was seduced into the Columbia outerwear store, just to check out their cold weather gear. I seriously could have dropped 500 dollars there, easily. They had super cute clothes, crazy intense gloves and a really cute hat. Then, I had to stop and reevaluate myself for a moment. Who is this girl that is getting pumped about winter gear? Seriously, there must have been a brain swap in my body. I hated coats in Seattle and now I am actively seeking them out?!?! With that, I booked it out of the store and started my trek up the hill. It definitely took me longer than usual because I was so engrossed in soaking up this incredible place that I have called home for years. It felt so right to be walking the streets of Seattle, smiling at strangers, looking into store windows all while slightly sweating up the steep incline. Once I got to the top and met up with a bunch of friends, the wonder continued. I was so happy to see everyone that came to hang out, I was so thrilled to be drinking Elysian Pumpkin Ale and I didn’t want the night to end. One night to catch up with 15 people I love is not at all sufficient. After being out for a few hours, I went home to Shelsea’s apartment, just as my sleep deprivation was starting to catch up with me. Apparently, I was genuinely trying to have a conversation with her, but I would basically fall asleep in the middle of a sentence, but instead of stopping talking, I would continue to ramble, about nothing, until I woke up again and tried to continue our conversation. I’m sure it wasn’t pretty.
The next morning I woke up and took another of my beloved Metro transit system buses home. As soon as I got home, I went and picked up Bema (grandmother ☺) for a day of shopping and fun. We were out for a few hours before we went back home to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner (one weekend early). The rest of the evening was relaxed and fun, filled with strangers and family. It is a Bruton family tradition to take in random people on the holidays and this year the lucky ones were some of Erica’s friends. The next day, I woke up, went to Mass with Mom, Bema and Bampie, then had breakfast and boarded another plane to head back to Bethel.
Like I said, short trip. I was really worried that I was going to go home and realize that all I wanted was to be back in Seattle for good, but I was pleasantly surprised. I have no idea how this could possibly work but I am ridiculously happy/miserable in both places. I guess I just mean that there at things about living in Seattle that make me feel complete and at home as well as things that drive me nuts. In Bethel, I often find myself completely in love with this insane place and at other times, I can’t help but wish I had chosen a more “normal” place for a year of service. Somehow, in this crazy head of mine, I can be just as happy in an urban metropolis as I am in a rural itty-bitty town.
One of the reasons that I am so happy in Bethel has got to be the people. For Thanksgiving, my community made a delicious brunch of muffins, eggs, sautéed veggies, and guess what?!?! Salmon. Haha. It was delicious. Once brunch was finished, PJ and I went and played a little Thanksgiving football in the cold weather. I did lots of jumping jacks to keep warm but it was a lot of fun. Then for dinner, I went over to the Keljkas. But, before I ate, I made sure to earn my keep by helping the boys unharness the dog team. I’m still kind of useless without direction, “uh… where does this dog go? So… if this hook is stuck, is it because I am a wimp or because it is just screwed up?” (Answer: You are a wimp AND it is screwed up.) I haven’t spent a ton of time with the Keljka’s recently, but every time I do, I definitely learn a lot. So anyway, delicious dinner. Then after dinner, Joe, Ariel and I went to a gathering of a bunch of the twenty-somethings that we hang out with to eat even more delicious food.
So basically, I have a lot to be thankful for. I am thankful for an incredibly supportive family, all of my friends, in Seattle, in Bethel, in Spokane, in Baltimore, in Philadelphia… everywhere. I am blessed to have had the opportunity to explore more fully the person I want to be and the people with whom I want to be surrounded. I am also very thankful for all of you that read my blogs, writing them is often some of the best reflection on my experience here that I do.
Love you and miss you all,
Jill
Friday, November 27, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
3 months down and 12 bullet points.
I have gone too long without writing a blog; I have too many things to write about! I will just make a list of important events/realizations whatever that I have had recently.
1. I went to Anchorage for a JVC retreat. Crazy. Did you know that they have paved roads, Starbucks, streetlights, houses with foundations and basements, a mall and vegetables?!?! I realize I sound ridiculous, but those were all super exciting parts of my time there. If it were physically possible, I would’ve overdosed on vegetables during my long weekend. It isn’t that I don’t eat veggies in Bethel, but there is something different about fresh ones versus frozen or canned ones. The retreat itself was full of ups and downs. It was awesome to get to hang out with the rest of the Alaska JVs and get away from Bethel for a few days. It also brought some hard community conversations but I am happy that we got the chance to retreat together.
2. One of the tough retreat conversations ended up having some serious consequences for our community. One of my roommates was asked to leave JVC this week. He will be missed very much in our community because he brought a lot of good things, but I hope this will give him an opportunity to take care of himself and it has definitely made the rest of us concentrate more on the health of ourselves and our community. Everyone said that community would be the hardest part of JVC; so far they are totally right!
3. I have been very blessed in that even when I was having a rough time at home, I had a lot of great things going on other places. Volleyball is over, which is a bummer but it was so much fun. I am so thankful that I got to work with such a great bunch of girls. I also learned that coaching is a lot more work than it looks. I have a lot of improvement to do with my next team, but I really hope to keep coaching volleyball wherever I end up!
4. Work is awesome. I love my students and all of the awesome opportunities I have to get to know them better. The other night, I went over to the girl’s dorm and helped the girls make spam sushi and noodle soup. (Delicious :) ) After dinner, I helped one of the girls with her science homework. It was super fun.
5. I joined Curves. The owner doesn’t charge JVs, which is awesome, and since I have to try and keep getting exercise during the cold weather, I figured it was a good idea. Curves itself is hilarious. You have a bunch of machines that choose the resistance for you and then a mat between each machine. You do 30-second rotations, 30 seconds on a machine and then 30 seconds on a mat. So, what do you do on a mat? Good question. You do whatever you want. Some people dance, some people jump, some people (me) just kind of flail around and hope that the 30 seconds goes by fast. But, its super fun. I don’t feel like I’m getting the best workout of my life, but it is definitely entertaining.
6. It is getting cold. Well, that’s not totally true. We have had snow on the ground for like 2 weeks but then the past few days have been warm. It’s been like 36-38 degrees during the day (warm by Bethel standards) and gets colder at night. So basically, it gets warm and rains. Then it gets cold and ices over. Then it rains more, things melt, then freeze again. The roads are covered in ice. School was actually cancelled yesterday because of the icy roads. The buses decided they weren’t going to run, so the schools had to cancel school.
7. I’m sure you are wondering how this weather has affected my driving the school bus. Well, sad news first, they took my school bus :( There is no one to do check ups because we don’t use the bus company, so the school district made me give it back. But, I still have to pick kids up, I just don't get to use the bus. Because I am new to the whole winter driving thing, this week has been “teach Jill how to drive on ice” week. It could also be called, “scare Jill so badly that she pees her pants” week. First of all, I was driving Chris (teacher at BABS)’s car on Saturday and spun his Jeep 270 degrees, going straight into a driveway and narrowly avoiding a ditch on either side. (The avoiding of the ditch was dumb luck, not due to any talent I had) So, on Monday, Chris and I both told Starr what happened and she took me out to practice. It is a good thing that she teaches drivers ed, because anyone else may have freaked out while driving with me. But, good news to everyone that worries that I don’t pray enough. I prayed more in the 2 hours we were driving than I think I ever have before. After a while, I started getting the hang of it and I am now back in charge of driving kids around. I am the annoying driver that drives under the speed limit, but I get the kids where they need to be, without any injuries to them or the car.
8. Speaking of cold and driving, I have a couple of winter firsts to report. I wore my first pair of snow pants since like 3rd grade! I also rode on my first snow machine (snow mobile for you lower 48-ers) and I DROVE my first snow machine! And finally, I rode in my first dog sled. But, I should back up and tell the whole story. I got a phone call at work the other day and it was Jesse Klejka (one of the 7 Klejka kids, the family that feeds us almost every Sunday and has 20 dogs) he was like, Mary (a BABS student and Jesse’s friend) is coming over to get you, lets go mushing. I said yes and 5 minutes later, Mary was at BABS on a snow machine. We went speeding and bumping across the tundra and got to the Klejka’s house just as the last of the 10 dogs were being harnessed together. Mary winter geared me up with snow pants, a puffy jacket, big gloves, ect, and then we were off. I blocked the street so that the dogs could cross safely and then hopped on the back of a snow machine and followed the dog team. Less than 1 minute into the run, however, Jesse fell off and the dogs were dragging along Mary, who was in the sled, until she could get the hooks into the ground. The hooks are connected to the line that the dogs are all connected to and it is basically an anchor, it stops the dogs. Well, once that mess was straightened out, Mary didn’t want to ride in the sled anymore so everyone else generously volunteered me to be next. As soon as I got in, I peppered Jesse with questions about what I was supposed to do when he fell off. He assured me that he wasn’t going to fall off again and for the next almost ½ hour, he kept his promise. But, then a steep incline surprised Jesse and all of a sudden I was alone in a sled, being pulled by 10 dogs who had no intention of cooperating with my loud “Whoa, stop, oh god, please stop, F&*$, really!?!?! STOP!” Well, anyway, I ended up getting the hooks into the ground by lying on my side and pounding them into the ground as we sped along. It actually wasn’t that bad. Then after that was sorted out, we went for a while longer and then went back home. Back at the Klejka’s, I learned how to unharness and put dogs away. They are strong and basically try and pull you around, but I showed them who was boss (right... It was more me holding onto them as hard as I could while trying my best not to look stupid in front of all these scrawny high schoolers that were handling the dogs with ease). Anyway, good times. I’m excited to keep working with them.
9. Fun fact. I wear my Ugg boots all the time. Its pretty much guaranteed that if I am wearing shoes, they will be my Uggs. They are the only shoes, other than my intense winter boots, that keep my feet warm. My hiking boots have better traction, but my Uggs are way more comfy and warm. Yes, I am an Ugg convert. I might look like a tool, but I am a happy tool. Haha.
10. On a completely unrelated to Bethel note, I’m gonna be a bridesmaid in Christina and Josh’s wedding!!! I am so excited. For those of you who don’t know, I was an OA with Christina and Josh and then lived with Christina my junior year. Christina is easily one of my best friends and one of the people I have been able to keep in pretty good touch with since moving to Alaska. (Thanks to the miracle of gchat.) But anyway, I’m psyched. I love both of them lots and I’m super excited to be a part of their wedding party :)
11. I’m also super excited for another wedding coming my way. Amy and Chris’ wedding in January! I will be heading out to Maine a few days after Christmas to spend time with my Maine-iac family and be a bridesmaid in my cousin Amy’s wedding. It will be awesome to get to see everyone and be a part of Amy and Chris’ exciting day. I’m looking forward to Chris being a part of the family, because then my teasing can be even more merciless (right, “Precious?”).
12. Last note. After Amy and Chris’ wedding, I will be heading to Seattle for a few days, Jan 3-9. I can’t wait to see everyone I love that lives in Seattle. I don’t know how it is all going to work, I hope that I will get to see lots of people during my relatively short stay. It will be interesting to see how easily I adapt to a big city after what will be almost 6 months in Bethel. Am I gonna be a total hick by then? Well, I guess I will find out in 2ish months. I can’t believe how fast this year seems to be going. It will be August before I’ve even figured out how to fill out my Americorp monthly timesheet correctly.
Ok, that is all I can think of right now. I’m sure there is a ton more but maybe that just means you need to call me and ask me in person. I should have a bit more free time coming up since I don’t have volleyball and I still hope to do a better job of keeping in contact with people. Anyway, time to go. I will update again soon!
Love and miss you all!
Jill
1. I went to Anchorage for a JVC retreat. Crazy. Did you know that they have paved roads, Starbucks, streetlights, houses with foundations and basements, a mall and vegetables?!?! I realize I sound ridiculous, but those were all super exciting parts of my time there. If it were physically possible, I would’ve overdosed on vegetables during my long weekend. It isn’t that I don’t eat veggies in Bethel, but there is something different about fresh ones versus frozen or canned ones. The retreat itself was full of ups and downs. It was awesome to get to hang out with the rest of the Alaska JVs and get away from Bethel for a few days. It also brought some hard community conversations but I am happy that we got the chance to retreat together.
2. One of the tough retreat conversations ended up having some serious consequences for our community. One of my roommates was asked to leave JVC this week. He will be missed very much in our community because he brought a lot of good things, but I hope this will give him an opportunity to take care of himself and it has definitely made the rest of us concentrate more on the health of ourselves and our community. Everyone said that community would be the hardest part of JVC; so far they are totally right!
3. I have been very blessed in that even when I was having a rough time at home, I had a lot of great things going on other places. Volleyball is over, which is a bummer but it was so much fun. I am so thankful that I got to work with such a great bunch of girls. I also learned that coaching is a lot more work than it looks. I have a lot of improvement to do with my next team, but I really hope to keep coaching volleyball wherever I end up!
4. Work is awesome. I love my students and all of the awesome opportunities I have to get to know them better. The other night, I went over to the girl’s dorm and helped the girls make spam sushi and noodle soup. (Delicious :) ) After dinner, I helped one of the girls with her science homework. It was super fun.
5. I joined Curves. The owner doesn’t charge JVs, which is awesome, and since I have to try and keep getting exercise during the cold weather, I figured it was a good idea. Curves itself is hilarious. You have a bunch of machines that choose the resistance for you and then a mat between each machine. You do 30-second rotations, 30 seconds on a machine and then 30 seconds on a mat. So, what do you do on a mat? Good question. You do whatever you want. Some people dance, some people jump, some people (me) just kind of flail around and hope that the 30 seconds goes by fast. But, its super fun. I don’t feel like I’m getting the best workout of my life, but it is definitely entertaining.
6. It is getting cold. Well, that’s not totally true. We have had snow on the ground for like 2 weeks but then the past few days have been warm. It’s been like 36-38 degrees during the day (warm by Bethel standards) and gets colder at night. So basically, it gets warm and rains. Then it gets cold and ices over. Then it rains more, things melt, then freeze again. The roads are covered in ice. School was actually cancelled yesterday because of the icy roads. The buses decided they weren’t going to run, so the schools had to cancel school.
7. I’m sure you are wondering how this weather has affected my driving the school bus. Well, sad news first, they took my school bus :( There is no one to do check ups because we don’t use the bus company, so the school district made me give it back. But, I still have to pick kids up, I just don't get to use the bus. Because I am new to the whole winter driving thing, this week has been “teach Jill how to drive on ice” week. It could also be called, “scare Jill so badly that she pees her pants” week. First of all, I was driving Chris (teacher at BABS)’s car on Saturday and spun his Jeep 270 degrees, going straight into a driveway and narrowly avoiding a ditch on either side. (The avoiding of the ditch was dumb luck, not due to any talent I had) So, on Monday, Chris and I both told Starr what happened and she took me out to practice. It is a good thing that she teaches drivers ed, because anyone else may have freaked out while driving with me. But, good news to everyone that worries that I don’t pray enough. I prayed more in the 2 hours we were driving than I think I ever have before. After a while, I started getting the hang of it and I am now back in charge of driving kids around. I am the annoying driver that drives under the speed limit, but I get the kids where they need to be, without any injuries to them or the car.
8. Speaking of cold and driving, I have a couple of winter firsts to report. I wore my first pair of snow pants since like 3rd grade! I also rode on my first snow machine (snow mobile for you lower 48-ers) and I DROVE my first snow machine! And finally, I rode in my first dog sled. But, I should back up and tell the whole story. I got a phone call at work the other day and it was Jesse Klejka (one of the 7 Klejka kids, the family that feeds us almost every Sunday and has 20 dogs) he was like, Mary (a BABS student and Jesse’s friend) is coming over to get you, lets go mushing. I said yes and 5 minutes later, Mary was at BABS on a snow machine. We went speeding and bumping across the tundra and got to the Klejka’s house just as the last of the 10 dogs were being harnessed together. Mary winter geared me up with snow pants, a puffy jacket, big gloves, ect, and then we were off. I blocked the street so that the dogs could cross safely and then hopped on the back of a snow machine and followed the dog team. Less than 1 minute into the run, however, Jesse fell off and the dogs were dragging along Mary, who was in the sled, until she could get the hooks into the ground. The hooks are connected to the line that the dogs are all connected to and it is basically an anchor, it stops the dogs. Well, once that mess was straightened out, Mary didn’t want to ride in the sled anymore so everyone else generously volunteered me to be next. As soon as I got in, I peppered Jesse with questions about what I was supposed to do when he fell off. He assured me that he wasn’t going to fall off again and for the next almost ½ hour, he kept his promise. But, then a steep incline surprised Jesse and all of a sudden I was alone in a sled, being pulled by 10 dogs who had no intention of cooperating with my loud “Whoa, stop, oh god, please stop, F&*$, really!?!?! STOP!” Well, anyway, I ended up getting the hooks into the ground by lying on my side and pounding them into the ground as we sped along. It actually wasn’t that bad. Then after that was sorted out, we went for a while longer and then went back home. Back at the Klejka’s, I learned how to unharness and put dogs away. They are strong and basically try and pull you around, but I showed them who was boss (right... It was more me holding onto them as hard as I could while trying my best not to look stupid in front of all these scrawny high schoolers that were handling the dogs with ease). Anyway, good times. I’m excited to keep working with them.
9. Fun fact. I wear my Ugg boots all the time. Its pretty much guaranteed that if I am wearing shoes, they will be my Uggs. They are the only shoes, other than my intense winter boots, that keep my feet warm. My hiking boots have better traction, but my Uggs are way more comfy and warm. Yes, I am an Ugg convert. I might look like a tool, but I am a happy tool. Haha.
10. On a completely unrelated to Bethel note, I’m gonna be a bridesmaid in Christina and Josh’s wedding!!! I am so excited. For those of you who don’t know, I was an OA with Christina and Josh and then lived with Christina my junior year. Christina is easily one of my best friends and one of the people I have been able to keep in pretty good touch with since moving to Alaska. (Thanks to the miracle of gchat.) But anyway, I’m psyched. I love both of them lots and I’m super excited to be a part of their wedding party :)
11. I’m also super excited for another wedding coming my way. Amy and Chris’ wedding in January! I will be heading out to Maine a few days after Christmas to spend time with my Maine-iac family and be a bridesmaid in my cousin Amy’s wedding. It will be awesome to get to see everyone and be a part of Amy and Chris’ exciting day. I’m looking forward to Chris being a part of the family, because then my teasing can be even more merciless (right, “Precious?”).
12. Last note. After Amy and Chris’ wedding, I will be heading to Seattle for a few days, Jan 3-9. I can’t wait to see everyone I love that lives in Seattle. I don’t know how it is all going to work, I hope that I will get to see lots of people during my relatively short stay. It will be interesting to see how easily I adapt to a big city after what will be almost 6 months in Bethel. Am I gonna be a total hick by then? Well, I guess I will find out in 2ish months. I can’t believe how fast this year seems to be going. It will be August before I’ve even figured out how to fill out my Americorp monthly timesheet correctly.
Ok, that is all I can think of right now. I’m sure there is a ton more but maybe that just means you need to call me and ask me in person. I should have a bit more free time coming up since I don’t have volleyball and I still hope to do a better job of keeping in contact with people. Anyway, time to go. I will update again soon!
Love and miss you all!
Jill
Saturday, October 17, 2009
I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing. ~Agatha Christie
One of the first weeks of work, I spent a while compiling a bunch of quotes that I hoped would inspire my students. My plan was to post them in the bathroom, because there is nothing better than a captive audience! I never actually got them all posted up, but this is one that has stuck in my memory. This week was full of amazing highs and heartbreaking lows. The weirdest thing, though, was how often they came together.
My students are constantly surrounded by death, addiction and violence. There have been so many announcements of people’s deaths recently, I have lost track. The incredible part of this community here is that, no matter who passes away, there is someone at BABS who is affected. We have had a ton of students missing because of their attendance at funerals recently. The worst part of this is that many are suicides or accidental deaths. It breaks my heart to see students in mourning for loved ones so often. I know that I have nothing in my experience that can compare to this.
But, the joy that I have found in my students is inspiring. Right after I found out that one of my student’s brothers hung himself, I found myself outside learning how to make bird calls with two hilarious students. It had the dangly thing in the back of my throat tickling and me looking like a total fool but laughing really hard.
Even at volleyball practice, I find such uplifting spirits. There was one day this week that I was exhausted and didn’t want to go to practice, but once I got there, I felt like I was at a slumber party. Sooo much giggling and teasing. It was beautiful.
Or, the other day, a life situation made me cry. I was a bit of an emotional mess and the first person to see me was my roommate John. He gave me some time to explain what was upsetting me and then within moments, he had me laughing super hard. I am sure that I will get to a point where I am in a funk that I cannot just bounce out of, but so far, I keep feeling absolutely blessed to be in such an incredible place with such amazing people.
This blog has had a decidedly sad feel, so I will finish up on a lighter note. Bethel has two radio stations. One AM and one FM. The FM station is Christian radio, like intense Christian radio. Bible verses, gospel songs and even a money talk show where you can learn how to use your money religiously (I don’t really know, its not like I seek out that station all that much…) It is really entertaining sometimes though, they have little radio plays. You will turn on the radio and it will be some weird little story. The other radio station has quite the variety. In the morning there is the English news, which I am usually walking to work during, then the Yup’ik news (in Yup’ik) that I listen to during my school bus driving. Then there is a fun Native talk show where they debate Native issues and such. But, my favorite part of the day is from 3:30-4. Its birthday line time! People from Bethel and surrounding villages call in and wish other people happy birthday. One of my students actually works there and sometimes answers the phones. “You’re on the birthday line!” Its always fun. My favorite is when people call in and forget who they are calling for… “I’d like to wish ……. Uh…..um….. I forget. I’ll call back.” That doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it is priceless.
Also, fun fact, I have Skype now. If you don’t know what Skype is, it is a mix between instant messaging, calling and actually speaking to someone. If you have a webcam, you can video chat. I did this for the first time a few days ago and it is pretty cool. And it’s free. (For those of you Skype experts, sorry, my family reads these and I doubt they do) Anyway, the name is jill.bruton if you wanna chat me up. Lets schedule an appointment sometime so I can make sure I have internet :)
Ok, that’s it. Love and miss you all!
Jill
One of the first weeks of work, I spent a while compiling a bunch of quotes that I hoped would inspire my students. My plan was to post them in the bathroom, because there is nothing better than a captive audience! I never actually got them all posted up, but this is one that has stuck in my memory. This week was full of amazing highs and heartbreaking lows. The weirdest thing, though, was how often they came together.
My students are constantly surrounded by death, addiction and violence. There have been so many announcements of people’s deaths recently, I have lost track. The incredible part of this community here is that, no matter who passes away, there is someone at BABS who is affected. We have had a ton of students missing because of their attendance at funerals recently. The worst part of this is that many are suicides or accidental deaths. It breaks my heart to see students in mourning for loved ones so often. I know that I have nothing in my experience that can compare to this.
But, the joy that I have found in my students is inspiring. Right after I found out that one of my student’s brothers hung himself, I found myself outside learning how to make bird calls with two hilarious students. It had the dangly thing in the back of my throat tickling and me looking like a total fool but laughing really hard.
Even at volleyball practice, I find such uplifting spirits. There was one day this week that I was exhausted and didn’t want to go to practice, but once I got there, I felt like I was at a slumber party. Sooo much giggling and teasing. It was beautiful.
Or, the other day, a life situation made me cry. I was a bit of an emotional mess and the first person to see me was my roommate John. He gave me some time to explain what was upsetting me and then within moments, he had me laughing super hard. I am sure that I will get to a point where I am in a funk that I cannot just bounce out of, but so far, I keep feeling absolutely blessed to be in such an incredible place with such amazing people.
This blog has had a decidedly sad feel, so I will finish up on a lighter note. Bethel has two radio stations. One AM and one FM. The FM station is Christian radio, like intense Christian radio. Bible verses, gospel songs and even a money talk show where you can learn how to use your money religiously (I don’t really know, its not like I seek out that station all that much…) It is really entertaining sometimes though, they have little radio plays. You will turn on the radio and it will be some weird little story. The other radio station has quite the variety. In the morning there is the English news, which I am usually walking to work during, then the Yup’ik news (in Yup’ik) that I listen to during my school bus driving. Then there is a fun Native talk show where they debate Native issues and such. But, my favorite part of the day is from 3:30-4. Its birthday line time! People from Bethel and surrounding villages call in and wish other people happy birthday. One of my students actually works there and sometimes answers the phones. “You’re on the birthday line!” Its always fun. My favorite is when people call in and forget who they are calling for… “I’d like to wish ……. Uh…..um….. I forget. I’ll call back.” That doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it is priceless.
Also, fun fact, I have Skype now. If you don’t know what Skype is, it is a mix between instant messaging, calling and actually speaking to someone. If you have a webcam, you can video chat. I did this for the first time a few days ago and it is pretty cool. And it’s free. (For those of you Skype experts, sorry, my family reads these and I doubt they do) Anyway, the name is jill.bruton if you wanna chat me up. Lets schedule an appointment sometime so I can make sure I have internet :)
Ok, that’s it. Love and miss you all!
Jill
Monday, October 12, 2009
More Car Fun and Some Reflection!
Well, today I had more car issues. I took the old van home from BABS this weekend. I had been warned that this car was a POS but I was living large/didn't want to walk home in the rain. But anyway, this morning, as I pulled out of the driveway, the passenger side door flew open. I put the car in park and went over to investigate. I tried closing the door hard, like slamming it shut. I tried being gentle. I tried pulling up the handle while I closed it. I tried pushing down the handle. Nothing worked. So finally, I grabbed some mittens tied together with a rope, wrapped the rope around the handle of the door and held tight onto the rope. Then I drove to work. One hand on the steering wheel, one hand on the rope. Everytime I went above 25 mph or turned a corner, I thought my hand might rip off. It was a great time. Haha.
I feel so blessed these days. I love my job, I have really great roommates, I love coaching volleyball and I just enjoy being in Bethel. This experience is crazy but I am genuinely loving it. This week Jamie, our area director, has been here. Her visit has really helped me realize how great my experiences here have been. I am an auditory processer, as in I need to talk things out before I can really come to any conclusions or really figure out what I think. During my discussions with Jamie, I kept feeling surprised by how positive this experience has been so far. Granted, it sucked being sick, but I’m better now and I think that my time away from BABS made me appreciate my job even more. Stuff with my roommates hasn’t been easy all the time, but so far, it has always turned out well. I often have moments where I miss my family and friends and want to call everyone, but I know that I can’t.
Bema and Bampie sent me a camera this week so I spent a lot of time this weekend taking pictures of Bethel and a few of my roommates and our house, so I will be posting them ASAP. I am excited for everyone to be able to see where I am living these days. I know that it took me a bit of time to adjust to the new scenery but right now I am getting nervous for when I reenter civilization, I don’t know what I am going to do with all the crowds and buildings ect. Haha.
In some ways I feel like I am at an overnight summer camp. I remember when I went to Camp Hamilton, after a week without radio or flushing toilets or the ability to choose my own food, all these little things seemed so strange. I can’t imagine what it will be like to have all these freedoms again. But, I will have the opportunity to begin to find out soon. In two weeks, I will be heading to Wasilla (Palin’s town!!!!) for my JVC fall retreat with the other Alaska JVs. I will have the ability to use my cell phone (!!!), to visit Anchorage for a bit (!!!) and see the other Alaska JVs and compare and share experiences (!!!). I’m pretty excited about that.
I can’t think of much else to say. I know I need to get better at calling all of you. I miss the sound of my family and friends’ voices. But even if you don’t hear from me often, please, please, remember how much I love you. Because it is a lot. Like thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssssssssss much. Times 1,000,000,000,000. Squared. Times infinity.
Love you!
Jill
I feel so blessed these days. I love my job, I have really great roommates, I love coaching volleyball and I just enjoy being in Bethel. This experience is crazy but I am genuinely loving it. This week Jamie, our area director, has been here. Her visit has really helped me realize how great my experiences here have been. I am an auditory processer, as in I need to talk things out before I can really come to any conclusions or really figure out what I think. During my discussions with Jamie, I kept feeling surprised by how positive this experience has been so far. Granted, it sucked being sick, but I’m better now and I think that my time away from BABS made me appreciate my job even more. Stuff with my roommates hasn’t been easy all the time, but so far, it has always turned out well. I often have moments where I miss my family and friends and want to call everyone, but I know that I can’t.
Bema and Bampie sent me a camera this week so I spent a lot of time this weekend taking pictures of Bethel and a few of my roommates and our house, so I will be posting them ASAP. I am excited for everyone to be able to see where I am living these days. I know that it took me a bit of time to adjust to the new scenery but right now I am getting nervous for when I reenter civilization, I don’t know what I am going to do with all the crowds and buildings ect. Haha.
In some ways I feel like I am at an overnight summer camp. I remember when I went to Camp Hamilton, after a week without radio or flushing toilets or the ability to choose my own food, all these little things seemed so strange. I can’t imagine what it will be like to have all these freedoms again. But, I will have the opportunity to begin to find out soon. In two weeks, I will be heading to Wasilla (Palin’s town!!!!) for my JVC fall retreat with the other Alaska JVs. I will have the ability to use my cell phone (!!!), to visit Anchorage for a bit (!!!) and see the other Alaska JVs and compare and share experiences (!!!). I’m pretty excited about that.
I can’t think of much else to say. I know I need to get better at calling all of you. I miss the sound of my family and friends’ voices. But even if you don’t hear from me often, please, please, remember how much I love you. Because it is a lot. Like thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssssssssss much. Times 1,000,000,000,000. Squared. Times infinity.
Love you!
Jill
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Swine Flu and Roommate Bios!
Well, I have swine flu. That's fun. Its funny that I left the furor of H1N1 in Seattle only to find it alive and well up here... and then it got me pinned in the miserable pig pen of fever, chills, sore throat, headache and body aches. Hey, I'm just happy I don't have crap spewing out of either end, that was a possibility. (Yes, that was crude, sorry! But I just want my readers to be informed.) So, yesterday I woke up and felt gross. But, I powered through and went to work anyway. I was already shivering, though it was one of the warmest days we have had in a while (like 41-47), so I took my temp. 98.3. Oh sweet, I'm not only not sick, my temperature is extra low. I must be extra healthy! Not so, not so. I'm an idiot and probably made myself worse when I politely declined 3 (count 'em, THREE!) rides home after work. By then I knew I was sick but I am ridiculously stubborn and have made it a habit to pretty much always refuse rides home. Why? Good freaking question.
Let's just say I was cursing myself the entire walk home as my throat felt like it was corroding away and my backpack felt a million pounds. By the time I got home, I was a mess. I went straight upstairs and laid in bed for a few hours, trying to get warm. Then, I woke up and went downstairs... felt like more crap and so I went back to bed. I woke up one more time, popped some ibuprofen and drank some tea and soup and started feeling better. After a bit more time, I went to bed for the night, woke up in the morning, called my boss and went back to sleep.
Today has been one of the most boring days in the history of sick days. I can't function if I don't take some fever/pain meds but if I do take them... I get sooooo bored. I watched Little Women and Great Expectations, talked to my mom (I may have moved away... but I still need my mommy when I'm sick :) ) and slept. The interesting parts of my day have been when it is about time for another dose of ibuprofen. Then my day starts to get really good, I get to find out how crappy I am going to feel before it kicks in again. Let me tell you, its the best game. NOT.
But, before everyone starts freaking out, I'm fine. I called the clinic (aka the hospital) and they told me it will last like 3-5 days and then I will be right as rain. And, I'm already on day 2. So basically, by the time you read this, I will probably be better and one of my roomies will have gotten it. :)
Other than turning into a pig... life is good. Work is exciting, we had 4 new students start yesterday and I keep making deeper connections with the kids. I really missed work today. I even had my roommate go grab my computer from BABS today so that I could get some work done tomorrow.
As for the roommates, I have had a lot of requests for bios of my roomies. I will do my best. My roommate Ariel, aka the one I share a room with, is working at the Tundra Women's Coalition, a woman and children's shelter. She is the legal advocate there. She gets to go to court sometimes for restraining orders and such. She really enjoys singing and is involved in Unitarian Universalist religion. I don't know much about it, except it is a very open set of beliefs, people find their own path to God.
Joe is the "old" one. He is 27 and is working at the Senior Center. He used to live in Illinois where he worked in asset management but he decided that he didn't like his life's trajectory, so he changed it. He is absolutely great, quiet with a good sense of humor. He definitely contributes a lot of laughs to our group. He's got some sweet dance moves, some of which he learned from the Senior Center's "aerobics" class.
Abby is also working at TWC but she is the children's advocate. She is in charge of Teens Acting Against Violence (T.A.A.V.) a group of teens that meets a couple of weeks to combat domestic violence. She was the one that I feel like I clicked with the fastest, but now I feel like I don't see her all that much. She works a lot of nights and with my volleyball practice schedule (7-9 every weeknight) I'm not home that much. She is pretty cool though.
John is working at Bethel Community Services dispursing a really cool grant. He has chosen 10 candidates, some of whom are my students, who will spend the next year saving up to 1,000 dollars. If, at the end of the year, they have accomplished this and have attended mandatory financial education classes, BCS will match each dollar they have earned with 2 dollars. John is a great person but we are definitely two very strong willed people. We have had a few heated conversations but each one has made us closer.
Justin is the youth minister at the Catholic Church. He is easily one of the most original people I have met in my life. He is very outdoorsy, very knowldegable when it comes to all things technological. He has already proved to me that .99999 repeating actually equals 1. Fun fact, even the math teachers at BRHS can't argue that with him. He is full of all sorts of weird quirks, but it is always entertaining to hang out with him.
PJ works at the public defenders. He is in charge of prepping parents who have lost their kids to CPS to go to court. It is definitely an interesting position because it could potentially pit Abby and Ariel against PJ in the courtroom. He is great, definitely has a Boston accent and is always entertaining and laid-back. It is awesome to get Joe and PJ together. They love to rap and dance and just be ridiculous.
Overall, I spend most of my time with the boys. I have had plenty of nights filled with Sports Center, farting and dirty jokes, but I love it. So, for those of you so impatiently waiting to hear about my roomies, now you have it. And, I have killed a bit of time writing this so hopefully one of my roomies will be home soon to entertain me.
Also, for those of you anxiously awaiting my volleyball team's results, this past weekend we went 1 for 3. Its ok, we are improving. At least they didn't get beat 25-0 like they did when they were in Nome. (Yea, I didn't know it could happen, my girls were dedicated to losing!)
Ok, thats it. Love and miss you all!
Jill
Let's just say I was cursing myself the entire walk home as my throat felt like it was corroding away and my backpack felt a million pounds. By the time I got home, I was a mess. I went straight upstairs and laid in bed for a few hours, trying to get warm. Then, I woke up and went downstairs... felt like more crap and so I went back to bed. I woke up one more time, popped some ibuprofen and drank some tea and soup and started feeling better. After a bit more time, I went to bed for the night, woke up in the morning, called my boss and went back to sleep.
Today has been one of the most boring days in the history of sick days. I can't function if I don't take some fever/pain meds but if I do take them... I get sooooo bored. I watched Little Women and Great Expectations, talked to my mom (I may have moved away... but I still need my mommy when I'm sick :) ) and slept. The interesting parts of my day have been when it is about time for another dose of ibuprofen. Then my day starts to get really good, I get to find out how crappy I am going to feel before it kicks in again. Let me tell you, its the best game. NOT.
But, before everyone starts freaking out, I'm fine. I called the clinic (aka the hospital) and they told me it will last like 3-5 days and then I will be right as rain. And, I'm already on day 2. So basically, by the time you read this, I will probably be better and one of my roomies will have gotten it. :)
Other than turning into a pig... life is good. Work is exciting, we had 4 new students start yesterday and I keep making deeper connections with the kids. I really missed work today. I even had my roommate go grab my computer from BABS today so that I could get some work done tomorrow.
As for the roommates, I have had a lot of requests for bios of my roomies. I will do my best. My roommate Ariel, aka the one I share a room with, is working at the Tundra Women's Coalition, a woman and children's shelter. She is the legal advocate there. She gets to go to court sometimes for restraining orders and such. She really enjoys singing and is involved in Unitarian Universalist religion. I don't know much about it, except it is a very open set of beliefs, people find their own path to God.
Joe is the "old" one. He is 27 and is working at the Senior Center. He used to live in Illinois where he worked in asset management but he decided that he didn't like his life's trajectory, so he changed it. He is absolutely great, quiet with a good sense of humor. He definitely contributes a lot of laughs to our group. He's got some sweet dance moves, some of which he learned from the Senior Center's "aerobics" class.
Abby is also working at TWC but she is the children's advocate. She is in charge of Teens Acting Against Violence (T.A.A.V.) a group of teens that meets a couple of weeks to combat domestic violence. She was the one that I feel like I clicked with the fastest, but now I feel like I don't see her all that much. She works a lot of nights and with my volleyball practice schedule (7-9 every weeknight) I'm not home that much. She is pretty cool though.
John is working at Bethel Community Services dispursing a really cool grant. He has chosen 10 candidates, some of whom are my students, who will spend the next year saving up to 1,000 dollars. If, at the end of the year, they have accomplished this and have attended mandatory financial education classes, BCS will match each dollar they have earned with 2 dollars. John is a great person but we are definitely two very strong willed people. We have had a few heated conversations but each one has made us closer.
Justin is the youth minister at the Catholic Church. He is easily one of the most original people I have met in my life. He is very outdoorsy, very knowldegable when it comes to all things technological. He has already proved to me that .99999 repeating actually equals 1. Fun fact, even the math teachers at BRHS can't argue that with him. He is full of all sorts of weird quirks, but it is always entertaining to hang out with him.
PJ works at the public defenders. He is in charge of prepping parents who have lost their kids to CPS to go to court. It is definitely an interesting position because it could potentially pit Abby and Ariel against PJ in the courtroom. He is great, definitely has a Boston accent and is always entertaining and laid-back. It is awesome to get Joe and PJ together. They love to rap and dance and just be ridiculous.
Overall, I spend most of my time with the boys. I have had plenty of nights filled with Sports Center, farting and dirty jokes, but I love it. So, for those of you so impatiently waiting to hear about my roomies, now you have it. And, I have killed a bit of time writing this so hopefully one of my roomies will be home soon to entertain me.
Also, for those of you anxiously awaiting my volleyball team's results, this past weekend we went 1 for 3. Its ok, we are improving. At least they didn't get beat 25-0 like they did when they were in Nome. (Yea, I didn't know it could happen, my girls were dedicated to losing!)
Ok, thats it. Love and miss you all!
Jill
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Don't freak out. Two blogs in two days. Haha. But really, this is just an update to yesterday's blog.
1. I ended up making salmon chowder and we found some B&M brown bread in a can that we baked up. It was such a good meal. Everyone was freaked out about the idea of eating canned bread but I remember eating it back in Maine and I loved it. But, by the end of dinner, there were 6 more canned bread converts.
2. I did play football yesterday and didn't break any bones, in fact, I scored two touchdowns. I was terrified at first because it was one other girl, me and then a bunch of big 20-30 year old guys. I was pretty convinced I was going to end up crawling off the field through the goose poop crying, but I held my own. In fact at Chris' surprise party (refer back to previous quote for a description of Chris) I kept being called over and compared to Hayley, the other girl that was playing. We were, of course, guarding each other (seriously, why would one of the guys need to guard a girl, obviously girls can't be good at sports, haha) but the guys decided that I got the better of her. Sweet. Haha.
3. I keep forgetting to share something really important! I have new irrational fear! Most of you should already know about my fear of umbrellas, I am convinced that one of the pokey ends is gonna stick into my eye one of these days. People are just not very careful with them. But up here in Bethel, we don't really have umbrellas so instead I am now terrified of getting a rock in my eye. I walk on dirt/gravel roads all the time and when cars drive by, the tires spray up a stream of rocks, dirt, trash, whatever. The other day a stray rock came up and hit me in the leg. What if I were bending down and tying my shoe? What if it had flown up like 3 feet higher? I would be Jill, the one-eyed girl. Not cool.
Ok, that it. Love you and miss you all!
Jill
1. I ended up making salmon chowder and we found some B&M brown bread in a can that we baked up. It was such a good meal. Everyone was freaked out about the idea of eating canned bread but I remember eating it back in Maine and I loved it. But, by the end of dinner, there were 6 more canned bread converts.
2. I did play football yesterday and didn't break any bones, in fact, I scored two touchdowns. I was terrified at first because it was one other girl, me and then a bunch of big 20-30 year old guys. I was pretty convinced I was going to end up crawling off the field through the goose poop crying, but I held my own. In fact at Chris' surprise party (refer back to previous quote for a description of Chris) I kept being called over and compared to Hayley, the other girl that was playing. We were, of course, guarding each other (seriously, why would one of the guys need to guard a girl, obviously girls can't be good at sports, haha) but the guys decided that I got the better of her. Sweet. Haha.
3. I keep forgetting to share something really important! I have new irrational fear! Most of you should already know about my fear of umbrellas, I am convinced that one of the pokey ends is gonna stick into my eye one of these days. People are just not very careful with them. But up here in Bethel, we don't really have umbrellas so instead I am now terrified of getting a rock in my eye. I walk on dirt/gravel roads all the time and when cars drive by, the tires spray up a stream of rocks, dirt, trash, whatever. The other day a stray rock came up and hit me in the leg. What if I were bending down and tying my shoe? What if it had flown up like 3 feet higher? I would be Jill, the one-eyed girl. Not cool.
Ok, that it. Love you and miss you all!
Jill
Saturday, September 19, 2009
So, we all know that I have a 40 minute walk to work in the morning, yes? It is great, it wakes me up in the morning and gives me lots of time to think. Back in Seattle, I had a 20ish minute walk to Meany in the morning (where I tutored foster kids through Treehouse). Usually I used that time to call my grandparents or Lauren. (That three hour time difference was important because I was walking at like 7:15. Then on my way back, I was always busy texting someone or another, talking to my mom or studying for that Arabic test I knew was going to kick my butt. Here, I walk to work, just listening to my ipod and thinking about big ideas like, what is going to be for lunch? What skills should we work on at volleyball practice? Did I leave the water heater on when I left? Oops. The other thing that I think about a lot is what I would tell people about my experiences here. Basically, I write my blog. But then when I actually sit down to write something, I've forgotten all the funny, clever little stories I was going to tell. Lame.
To address a huge question I have gotten a lot, I will post pictures soon. As soon as I find my camera. I think I may have left it on the Klejka's boat when we went out on Labor day, or maybe it is lost in the disaster of my side of the room. But once I do find it, BABS has a camera cord that I will be able to use, so I promise to post some soon.
This week was pretty good, it went by really fast. I am super bummed because I should be in Nome right now, coaching my girls, but my boss at BABS still won't budge. It sucks. But, on the other hand, I understand where she is coming from... a little bit. And, instead of flying to Nome yesterday, I helped out some BABS students that were preparing for a soup kitchen that is happening today. It was actually super exciting, one of the girls was like, I'm not sure I wanna go to this, will you go with me? I said yes and she was pumped. Guess what, ladies and gentlemen? My kids are starting to like me!!!! I think I gained major cool points with all of them yesterday cause I was a bit ridiculous. BABS has this super sweet thing called Fun Fridays (yes, I feel like I am back working at summer camp) and yesterday's theme was Gender Bender, aka girls dress as guys and vice versa. I wore my roommate John's flannel shirt, his baseball hat, a pair of baggy pants and used eyeliner to paint myself a moustache and goatee. I was looking pretty handsome. It was great, people didn't recognize me all day yesterday. But, I wasn't even the most dressed up, one of the other teachers, Chris, dressed up in a pink dress, wore blush and lipstick and wore cute red flats. It was perfect. His bushy beard really completed the outfit. Don't worry, there are definitely picture of this, I am going to get them emailed to me soon and those will be posted ASAP. We even took cute couple pictures, I don't wanna brag... but we look pretty good together.
So, Friday was pretty fun but this week has been harder than previous weeks. I was telling one of my roommates this earlier but I definitely feel like my heart express mailed itself back to Seattle this week. Between terrifying family stuff to just missing my life at home, it is not easy. Its funny, I feel like my life is so often filled with drama and stress but when I look back on the first half of 2009, I am so thankful for the people that were there with me. I am sure that I will look back on this experience with the same amount of nostalgia, but I still catch myself wishing I was closer to family that drives me nuts but offers me so much joy and love and friends that know me and my quirks but love me anyway.
Now, don't think that I haven't made any friends. Its not like I am back in elementary school. People seem to like me here. Haha. But seriously, there are quite a few people that I am so excited to be spending the next year living near and becoming closer with. In fact, in about an hour, I'm going to be joining a bunch of them to play touch football. My goal is to not break any more bones. (For those of you that didn't know or forgot, in the championship game of intramural football last winter, I broke my middle finger and had to have two surgeries and be in some kind of cast for like 3.5 months) I will be sure to let you know if I can accomplish my goal. :) And then after football I am going to make dinner. Since I have been coaching football, our dinner situation has seriously sucked. No one else really cooks. I have eaten more Top Ramen here than I did in all of college. Then after that, we are going to Chris (my coworker at BABS)'s surprise birthday party. Guess what? Somehow I got put on the email listserve for his party! I really am making friends! Haha. (I mean, it may have something to do with the fact that his girlfriend and her roommate just got my email on Tuesday for something else... but still!) Anyway, it is time for me to plan a real dinner and then get changed. I promise to try and find my camera and post pictures soon.
Gah, another super long post. Who wants to nominate themselves to be my blog editor and cut down on the useless info? Anyway, love you all. Miss you lots. You should call me. The chance of me answering is 1/7... it could be worse, you could be calling a pay phone in the middle of town. Then the chance would be like... 1/150. Haha. (Thats a joke people, there are almost 6000 people here!)
Ok seriously, now I'm done.
Love you,
Jill
To address a huge question I have gotten a lot, I will post pictures soon. As soon as I find my camera. I think I may have left it on the Klejka's boat when we went out on Labor day, or maybe it is lost in the disaster of my side of the room. But once I do find it, BABS has a camera cord that I will be able to use, so I promise to post some soon.
This week was pretty good, it went by really fast. I am super bummed because I should be in Nome right now, coaching my girls, but my boss at BABS still won't budge. It sucks. But, on the other hand, I understand where she is coming from... a little bit. And, instead of flying to Nome yesterday, I helped out some BABS students that were preparing for a soup kitchen that is happening today. It was actually super exciting, one of the girls was like, I'm not sure I wanna go to this, will you go with me? I said yes and she was pumped. Guess what, ladies and gentlemen? My kids are starting to like me!!!! I think I gained major cool points with all of them yesterday cause I was a bit ridiculous. BABS has this super sweet thing called Fun Fridays (yes, I feel like I am back working at summer camp) and yesterday's theme was Gender Bender, aka girls dress as guys and vice versa. I wore my roommate John's flannel shirt, his baseball hat, a pair of baggy pants and used eyeliner to paint myself a moustache and goatee. I was looking pretty handsome. It was great, people didn't recognize me all day yesterday. But, I wasn't even the most dressed up, one of the other teachers, Chris, dressed up in a pink dress, wore blush and lipstick and wore cute red flats. It was perfect. His bushy beard really completed the outfit. Don't worry, there are definitely picture of this, I am going to get them emailed to me soon and those will be posted ASAP. We even took cute couple pictures, I don't wanna brag... but we look pretty good together.
So, Friday was pretty fun but this week has been harder than previous weeks. I was telling one of my roommates this earlier but I definitely feel like my heart express mailed itself back to Seattle this week. Between terrifying family stuff to just missing my life at home, it is not easy. Its funny, I feel like my life is so often filled with drama and stress but when I look back on the first half of 2009, I am so thankful for the people that were there with me. I am sure that I will look back on this experience with the same amount of nostalgia, but I still catch myself wishing I was closer to family that drives me nuts but offers me so much joy and love and friends that know me and my quirks but love me anyway.
Now, don't think that I haven't made any friends. Its not like I am back in elementary school. People seem to like me here. Haha. But seriously, there are quite a few people that I am so excited to be spending the next year living near and becoming closer with. In fact, in about an hour, I'm going to be joining a bunch of them to play touch football. My goal is to not break any more bones. (For those of you that didn't know or forgot, in the championship game of intramural football last winter, I broke my middle finger and had to have two surgeries and be in some kind of cast for like 3.5 months) I will be sure to let you know if I can accomplish my goal. :) And then after football I am going to make dinner. Since I have been coaching football, our dinner situation has seriously sucked. No one else really cooks. I have eaten more Top Ramen here than I did in all of college. Then after that, we are going to Chris (my coworker at BABS)'s surprise birthday party. Guess what? Somehow I got put on the email listserve for his party! I really am making friends! Haha. (I mean, it may have something to do with the fact that his girlfriend and her roommate just got my email on Tuesday for something else... but still!) Anyway, it is time for me to plan a real dinner and then get changed. I promise to try and find my camera and post pictures soon.
Gah, another super long post. Who wants to nominate themselves to be my blog editor and cut down on the useless info? Anyway, love you all. Miss you lots. You should call me. The chance of me answering is 1/7... it could be worse, you could be calling a pay phone in the middle of town. Then the chance would be like... 1/150. Haha. (Thats a joke people, there are almost 6000 people here!)
Ok seriously, now I'm done.
Love you,
Jill
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Ok so, I've been really slacking on my blog updating. Sorry. I have been super busy.
Every day I leave my house around 7:40 (7:50, when I'm tired) and don't get back until around 7:30 that night. I go to work and then walk straight to volleyball practice and then head home. Some nights my roommates have dinner waiting for me, which is fantastic, other nights I scavenge and then just hang out. Volleyball is super fun and has been keeping me pretty darn busy. This weekend I helped out with two volleyball fundraisers, a car wash and a spaghetti feed. The car wash was on Saturday from 11-3 and during that time we made 1300 dollars. No joke. We also charged 20 bucks per car. Ridiculous Bethel prices. Then on Monday night (labor day) we had a spaghetti feed, all the girls brought a dessert and we made spaghetti, sauce, garlic bread and salad together. That night we made 1600 dollars. Yea, I know. That is nuts.
Speaking of Labor day, I had a great day off. I went out on the Klejka family boat. The Klejka's are a super sweet family that invites us to dinner every Sunday night (and asks us to paint their sled dog houses, nothing is free these days, haha). We went up to an abandoned Moravian Mission and walked around that and ate fried chicken (delicious. absolutely awesome. haha) Then we went and pulled over on the bank of the river and climbed about 15 feet straight up to walk around the tundra. No, I'm not joking. I was grabbing onto stray branches, feet slipping down the mud and freaking out, yelling at all the boys that this apparently came easy to. I'm sure I was a rather entertaining sight. But, once we got up to the tundra, I saw something amazing. TREES! No joke. Trees that are taller than me. Trees that some of the guys climbed. It was awesome. We walked around the tundra for a while which is a really interesting experience. Its like walking on clouds. Squishy, spongy, muddy and pothole filled clouds. Its quite a leg workout. The ground sinks beneath you and you have to keep pulling your feet up. High knees across the tundra.
After our tunra adventure, we had to climb back down. That was also an adventure. Sliding down feet first, trying to grab onto branches to slow myself down. It was actually pretty sucessful. (Yes, I know, I sound like such a city girl. Deal with it. I never spent much time outside. Let's be real, I'm more comfortable in the streets of Seattle at 2 am than I am in the wilderness. Haha) So, we climbed down and headed to the Klejka's fish camp.
A ton of people have fish camps in Bethel. Fish camps are little huts/tents/houses on the rivers that people go to to fish during the summer and fall. At the Klejka's fish camp we did some weedwacking and branch trimming so that the trail would be more visible. After working for a while, we all headed home and I headed to the spaghetti feed.
Lets see... what else would you be interested in hearing about. Oh, men. I'm a pretty hot commodity around these parts. Things I have in my favor: 1. I have a pulse. 2. I'm single. 3. I have a pulse. Wait, I already said that. But, thats probably the most important one. It is definitely a change from what I am used to at Seattle U.
The only place where the girls outnumber the boys is at BABS. My work has been kind of rough this week. Between swine flu (yes, swine flu is in Bethel) the regular flu, kids being dismissed for failing drug tests and just needing to take time off for family reasons, BABS has been in constant transition. I'm definitely feeling more at home here but its been weird with all the students coming and going. It is also stressful because a big part of my job is making sure the school is full. Lets just say I have been doing a lot of interviews for prospecitve students. (slightly frantically, haha)
Anyway, time for me to head to volleyball practice, we are starting late today so I took this break to update you all. I hope everything is great for all of you. Don't forget that just because you know what is going on in my life... I don't know what is going on in yours. Keep me updated too!
Lots of love!
Jill
Every day I leave my house around 7:40 (7:50, when I'm tired) and don't get back until around 7:30 that night. I go to work and then walk straight to volleyball practice and then head home. Some nights my roommates have dinner waiting for me, which is fantastic, other nights I scavenge and then just hang out. Volleyball is super fun and has been keeping me pretty darn busy. This weekend I helped out with two volleyball fundraisers, a car wash and a spaghetti feed. The car wash was on Saturday from 11-3 and during that time we made 1300 dollars. No joke. We also charged 20 bucks per car. Ridiculous Bethel prices. Then on Monday night (labor day) we had a spaghetti feed, all the girls brought a dessert and we made spaghetti, sauce, garlic bread and salad together. That night we made 1600 dollars. Yea, I know. That is nuts.
Speaking of Labor day, I had a great day off. I went out on the Klejka family boat. The Klejka's are a super sweet family that invites us to dinner every Sunday night (and asks us to paint their sled dog houses, nothing is free these days, haha). We went up to an abandoned Moravian Mission and walked around that and ate fried chicken (delicious. absolutely awesome. haha) Then we went and pulled over on the bank of the river and climbed about 15 feet straight up to walk around the tundra. No, I'm not joking. I was grabbing onto stray branches, feet slipping down the mud and freaking out, yelling at all the boys that this apparently came easy to. I'm sure I was a rather entertaining sight. But, once we got up to the tundra, I saw something amazing. TREES! No joke. Trees that are taller than me. Trees that some of the guys climbed. It was awesome. We walked around the tundra for a while which is a really interesting experience. Its like walking on clouds. Squishy, spongy, muddy and pothole filled clouds. Its quite a leg workout. The ground sinks beneath you and you have to keep pulling your feet up. High knees across the tundra.
After our tunra adventure, we had to climb back down. That was also an adventure. Sliding down feet first, trying to grab onto branches to slow myself down. It was actually pretty sucessful. (Yes, I know, I sound like such a city girl. Deal with it. I never spent much time outside. Let's be real, I'm more comfortable in the streets of Seattle at 2 am than I am in the wilderness. Haha) So, we climbed down and headed to the Klejka's fish camp.
A ton of people have fish camps in Bethel. Fish camps are little huts/tents/houses on the rivers that people go to to fish during the summer and fall. At the Klejka's fish camp we did some weedwacking and branch trimming so that the trail would be more visible. After working for a while, we all headed home and I headed to the spaghetti feed.
Lets see... what else would you be interested in hearing about. Oh, men. I'm a pretty hot commodity around these parts. Things I have in my favor: 1. I have a pulse. 2. I'm single. 3. I have a pulse. Wait, I already said that. But, thats probably the most important one. It is definitely a change from what I am used to at Seattle U.
The only place where the girls outnumber the boys is at BABS. My work has been kind of rough this week. Between swine flu (yes, swine flu is in Bethel) the regular flu, kids being dismissed for failing drug tests and just needing to take time off for family reasons, BABS has been in constant transition. I'm definitely feeling more at home here but its been weird with all the students coming and going. It is also stressful because a big part of my job is making sure the school is full. Lets just say I have been doing a lot of interviews for prospecitve students. (slightly frantically, haha)
Anyway, time for me to head to volleyball practice, we are starting late today so I took this break to update you all. I hope everything is great for all of you. Don't forget that just because you know what is going on in my life... I don't know what is going on in yours. Keep me updated too!
Lots of love!
Jill
Friday, August 28, 2009
Driving/Dog sitting/Doaching (Ok its actually coaching... but I wanted to use alliteration)
My roommates have been making fun of me for my super detailed blogs… so if they start getting shorter, blame it on peer pressure :) But, with that said, its time for the next edition of Jill’s adventures in the tundra.
I have been here for almost three weeks and it already feels like I have been here wayyyy longer. We were told at the very beginning to treasure the times that you get lost, because it will never happen again. For those of you who have ever been on a car ride with me when I didn’t know where I was going (like every time I went, well, anywhere) you will be shocked to hear that I haven’t gotten lost once. It’s pretty simple because no streets leave Bethel so, if your street dead ends… you know its time to turn around.
Speaking of streets though, guess what? I’ve been driving, a lot! I drive a Pilot (a Honda? I don’t know cars so I won’t pretend to know) a short bus and I have been dog sitting this week so I have had a little blue two door to drive to work. My boss also doubles as the drivers ed teacher in town so driving with her in the bus was terrifying. “Jill, stop BEHIND the stop sign next time.” “Don’t forget, your mirrors stick out a foot and a half on either side, you could’ve taken that guy’s head off.” But, surprisingly, I must have passed because now I drive the bus to pick up kids in the morning and drop them off in the afternoon. I also drive the Pilot to drive kids to their jobs in the morning.
One downside of driving, and I guess of living in Alaska in general, is that on Wednesday I had to scrape frost off the windshield. IN AUGUST. I was so pissed. I’m still complaining/worrying about the cold but everyone tells me that I will survive. I’m not convinced yet.
But, other than being worried about the cold, I had another terrifying experience this week. Like I said, I had a car this week because I was dog sitting 2 dogs, a 120 lb Akita (2 Akitas can take down a grizzly bear, fyi) and another dog that likes to hump legs. Sweet. I also had to feed the Akita two pills, as in open the dog’s mouth and throw pills down its throat then hold its massive jaw closed until it swallowed. The first day I had to call in reinforcements, aka my roomie John, because I was convinced I was going to be Lucas (the Akita)’s dinner. But after that day, I showed that sucker who was boss. Or whatever.
Oh and guess what!!! I’m a boss. Well not really, but this past weekend I was asked to be the JV volleyball coach at the local high school, BRHS. Unfortunately, my boss at BABS wouldn’t let me do that so now I am just “helping out” but either way I am getting to play volleyball and coach, which makes me so happy. I’ve been running practices and everything. They even gave me a whistle. :)
Now this is real long and I’m gonna catch a lot of crap about it from my roomies, but whatever. If you know me at all, you know I like to talk. And write. So there you go.
Love and miss you all!
Jill
I have been here for almost three weeks and it already feels like I have been here wayyyy longer. We were told at the very beginning to treasure the times that you get lost, because it will never happen again. For those of you who have ever been on a car ride with me when I didn’t know where I was going (like every time I went, well, anywhere) you will be shocked to hear that I haven’t gotten lost once. It’s pretty simple because no streets leave Bethel so, if your street dead ends… you know its time to turn around.
Speaking of streets though, guess what? I’ve been driving, a lot! I drive a Pilot (a Honda? I don’t know cars so I won’t pretend to know) a short bus and I have been dog sitting this week so I have had a little blue two door to drive to work. My boss also doubles as the drivers ed teacher in town so driving with her in the bus was terrifying. “Jill, stop BEHIND the stop sign next time.” “Don’t forget, your mirrors stick out a foot and a half on either side, you could’ve taken that guy’s head off.” But, surprisingly, I must have passed because now I drive the bus to pick up kids in the morning and drop them off in the afternoon. I also drive the Pilot to drive kids to their jobs in the morning.
One downside of driving, and I guess of living in Alaska in general, is that on Wednesday I had to scrape frost off the windshield. IN AUGUST. I was so pissed. I’m still complaining/worrying about the cold but everyone tells me that I will survive. I’m not convinced yet.
But, other than being worried about the cold, I had another terrifying experience this week. Like I said, I had a car this week because I was dog sitting 2 dogs, a 120 lb Akita (2 Akitas can take down a grizzly bear, fyi) and another dog that likes to hump legs. Sweet. I also had to feed the Akita two pills, as in open the dog’s mouth and throw pills down its throat then hold its massive jaw closed until it swallowed. The first day I had to call in reinforcements, aka my roomie John, because I was convinced I was going to be Lucas (the Akita)’s dinner. But after that day, I showed that sucker who was boss. Or whatever.
Oh and guess what!!! I’m a boss. Well not really, but this past weekend I was asked to be the JV volleyball coach at the local high school, BRHS. Unfortunately, my boss at BABS wouldn’t let me do that so now I am just “helping out” but either way I am getting to play volleyball and coach, which makes me so happy. I’ve been running practices and everything. They even gave me a whistle. :)
Now this is real long and I’m gonna catch a lot of crap about it from my roomies, but whatever. If you know me at all, you know I like to talk. And write. So there you go.
Love and miss you all!
Jill
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Oh my goodness. So much life has happened in the past week. Most importantly, I started my job! BABS (Bethel Alternative Barding School) is super fun. The school is in a big two room building with the girl’s dorm above. All of the students (all 31 of them) can fit into one room. The other room holds the kitchen, another classroom, the administrative assistant’s desk and my desk. My desk is pretty awesome. I have half a bookcase that I share with the printer and a file cabinet where I put all of my folders. I’m in charge of making sure that the school is filled to capacity, 35 students, so I do a lot of organizing and answering potential students and parents’ questions.
So far, this is a really fun place to work. The students are super great, a lot of them are really quiet but are hilarious once they open up. I haven’t spent much time in the classroom but I get to eat lunch with the students and just hang out with them, which is great. My coworkers are also really cool, they have all made my disorganized, hyper, silly self feel right at home. I also really like that my philosophy of teaching is really reflected here. This is many students’ last chance. If they don’t make it here, they probably won’t ever get a GED or a diploma. Because of this, the teachers have adopted a powerhouse mix of challenge and support. They will do everything they can to help a student but will not hesitate to give that same student a good, swift kick in the pants.
As for the rest of my life, it is great. I am really enjoying Bethel. I love my walk to work in the morning, it takes me about 40 minutes but it is a great time to just think and look around. Bethel is insanely beautiful. Well, maybe I should qualify that. At first, second and maybe third glance, Bethel is not pretty at all. Houses are on stilts because just 5 feet down there is a layer of perma-frost. You can’t dig foundations here. Many yards are covered in broken bikes, cars and whatever else. One of my housemates said this place at first reminded her of a third-world country. But, it’s the craziest thing. Go inside any of these houses and they are beautiful. Look out at the tundra and it is a beautiful color of green with a huge sky above. I’ve never seen such a beautiful view.
On Monday morning while I walked to work across the tundra on the boardwalk, fog had settled. I could only see about 35 feet in front of me. Every time I saw someone walking toward me, I started thinking that I was about to be touched by an angel. (Everyone knows the show I’m referring to, right?) People would walk out of the mist from nowhere. It was crazy/beautiful.
My housemates have been great. We are all starting to settle in and starting to get real with each other. We’ve even had a few “heated discussions” but I am still so excited for this year. It will be a challenge but I love the support and fun that I have already found. I am so lucky to be here.
Even though I am really liking it here, I do miss you all. If you have some extra time to kill, I'd love to hear from you, snail mail (see last post for the address) or email (jill.bruton@gmail.com).
Love and miss you all!
Jill
P.S. I even wore my turtleneck shoes! (For those of you that haven’t heard, I bought a pair of hiking boots, the high top kind. I feel like my feet are wearing turtlenecks. But they were surprisingly comfortable. Weird.)
So far, this is a really fun place to work. The students are super great, a lot of them are really quiet but are hilarious once they open up. I haven’t spent much time in the classroom but I get to eat lunch with the students and just hang out with them, which is great. My coworkers are also really cool, they have all made my disorganized, hyper, silly self feel right at home. I also really like that my philosophy of teaching is really reflected here. This is many students’ last chance. If they don’t make it here, they probably won’t ever get a GED or a diploma. Because of this, the teachers have adopted a powerhouse mix of challenge and support. They will do everything they can to help a student but will not hesitate to give that same student a good, swift kick in the pants.
As for the rest of my life, it is great. I am really enjoying Bethel. I love my walk to work in the morning, it takes me about 40 minutes but it is a great time to just think and look around. Bethel is insanely beautiful. Well, maybe I should qualify that. At first, second and maybe third glance, Bethel is not pretty at all. Houses are on stilts because just 5 feet down there is a layer of perma-frost. You can’t dig foundations here. Many yards are covered in broken bikes, cars and whatever else. One of my housemates said this place at first reminded her of a third-world country. But, it’s the craziest thing. Go inside any of these houses and they are beautiful. Look out at the tundra and it is a beautiful color of green with a huge sky above. I’ve never seen such a beautiful view.
On Monday morning while I walked to work across the tundra on the boardwalk, fog had settled. I could only see about 35 feet in front of me. Every time I saw someone walking toward me, I started thinking that I was about to be touched by an angel. (Everyone knows the show I’m referring to, right?) People would walk out of the mist from nowhere. It was crazy/beautiful.
My housemates have been great. We are all starting to settle in and starting to get real with each other. We’ve even had a few “heated discussions” but I am still so excited for this year. It will be a challenge but I love the support and fun that I have already found. I am so lucky to be here.
Even though I am really liking it here, I do miss you all. If you have some extra time to kill, I'd love to hear from you, snail mail (see last post for the address) or email (jill.bruton@gmail.com).
Love and miss you all!
Jill
P.S. I even wore my turtleneck shoes! (For those of you that haven’t heard, I bought a pair of hiking boots, the high top kind. I feel like my feet are wearing turtlenecks. But they were surprisingly comfortable. Weird.)
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
8 Fun Facts about Bethel!
Hi everyone!
I realize that my last blog was real long and not all that interesting. There are so many crazy, fun and ridiculous things about Bethel that I was too scatterbrained to share before but I will try to do now. But, before I do, I want you to know how much fun I am having. This is a crazy experience and while these fun facts may give you pause or make you want to send me a plane ticket out of here ASAP, you should know how cool it all is.
1. We need to reset our clocks every night or they get off 5-10 minutes (or in Abby's alarm clock's case... 2 hours) We live right by a power plant and everyone says that won't kill us but it does interesting things to our power.We are still brainstorming ideas for how to get up for work on time.
2.We are going to eat salmon... a lot. We have eaten it for almost every meal since arrival, though we finally ran out of leftover salmon from our potluck last night. Don't worry though, people have already offered to take us fishing. We are going to need to go soon while the weather and the salmon runs are good, but apparently the fish we catch will be a majority of our food this winter.
3. Things are really expensive here. A bag of Lays potato chips is $10. I'm not exaggerating. At all. We went to the AC (the local grocery store) today and almost cried about the prices. For lunch today because we were walking around town and got hungry, we went in and got 1/2 price yogurt (it expires tomorrow) and two candy bars (one candy bar was for later, but the total cost was $2.76) That might be the way to go on our food stipend ($72 per person per month) Actually, I'm pretty excited because I get free lunch at BABS once I start work on Monday which will be nice.
4. The bugs are ridiculous. There are little bugs that go through screens and even some clothes. I'm so sick of bug bites that I have worn sneakers since I got here. Me. In. Sneakers. Goodness gracious.
5. Another reason I wear actual shoes is because of all the dust. We walk on dirt roads all day long, even the side of the paved road is covered in dust. I swear I have swallowed more dirt and bugs in my few days here than ever before in my life.
6. Everyone recognizes us. I mentioned this before but there are flyers everywhere with our faces and bios. But, I still feel like I'm introducing myself 134 times a day. I swear I'm back at SU Orientation. "My name is Jill Bruton. I'm from Shoreline, WA and I'll be working at BABS (Bethel Alternative Boarding School). "
7. There are a ton of 20 somethings here. It's weird. One of my fellow JV-ers was invited to play in a slow-pitch game last night so the rest of us went to cheer him on. When we got there, we were all invited to play but because I didn't want to make a complete fool of myself yet, I played frisbee and hung out on the teeter-totter with Abby... obviously a cooler activity. :)
8. Bethel just got cell phone reception a little bit ago. But, I'm pretty sure the phone only works in Bethel to other Bethel cell phones. I'm seriously considering it. Not. Also, to get internet at our house, it would be over $150 a month. So not gonna happen.
That is all I can think of right now. I'm sure I will have more fun facts later. I don't start work at BABS until Monday but we get to visit the school on Friday, which I am super excited about. I will write more about my roommates later but so far, so good. We are all super excited about our jobs and can't wait to get started.
Also, if you want to send me mail, my address is:
P.O. Box 1765
Bethel, AK 99559
I forget my number but I will post it soon so you can call and save my phone cards :)
Love you and miss you all!
Jill
I realize that my last blog was real long and not all that interesting. There are so many crazy, fun and ridiculous things about Bethel that I was too scatterbrained to share before but I will try to do now. But, before I do, I want you to know how much fun I am having. This is a crazy experience and while these fun facts may give you pause or make you want to send me a plane ticket out of here ASAP, you should know how cool it all is.
1. We need to reset our clocks every night or they get off 5-10 minutes (or in Abby's alarm clock's case... 2 hours) We live right by a power plant and everyone says that won't kill us but it does interesting things to our power.We are still brainstorming ideas for how to get up for work on time.
2.We are going to eat salmon... a lot. We have eaten it for almost every meal since arrival, though we finally ran out of leftover salmon from our potluck last night. Don't worry though, people have already offered to take us fishing. We are going to need to go soon while the weather and the salmon runs are good, but apparently the fish we catch will be a majority of our food this winter.
3. Things are really expensive here. A bag of Lays potato chips is $10. I'm not exaggerating. At all. We went to the AC (the local grocery store) today and almost cried about the prices. For lunch today because we were walking around town and got hungry, we went in and got 1/2 price yogurt (it expires tomorrow) and two candy bars (one candy bar was for later, but the total cost was $2.76) That might be the way to go on our food stipend ($72 per person per month) Actually, I'm pretty excited because I get free lunch at BABS once I start work on Monday which will be nice.
4. The bugs are ridiculous. There are little bugs that go through screens and even some clothes. I'm so sick of bug bites that I have worn sneakers since I got here. Me. In. Sneakers. Goodness gracious.
5. Another reason I wear actual shoes is because of all the dust. We walk on dirt roads all day long, even the side of the paved road is covered in dust. I swear I have swallowed more dirt and bugs in my few days here than ever before in my life.
6. Everyone recognizes us. I mentioned this before but there are flyers everywhere with our faces and bios. But, I still feel like I'm introducing myself 134 times a day. I swear I'm back at SU Orientation. "My name is Jill Bruton. I'm from Shoreline, WA and I'll be working at BABS (Bethel Alternative Boarding School). "
7. There are a ton of 20 somethings here. It's weird. One of my fellow JV-ers was invited to play in a slow-pitch game last night so the rest of us went to cheer him on. When we got there, we were all invited to play but because I didn't want to make a complete fool of myself yet, I played frisbee and hung out on the teeter-totter with Abby... obviously a cooler activity. :)
8. Bethel just got cell phone reception a little bit ago. But, I'm pretty sure the phone only works in Bethel to other Bethel cell phones. I'm seriously considering it. Not. Also, to get internet at our house, it would be over $150 a month. So not gonna happen.
That is all I can think of right now. I'm sure I will have more fun facts later. I don't start work at BABS until Monday but we get to visit the school on Friday, which I am super excited about. I will write more about my roommates later but so far, so good. We are all super excited about our jobs and can't wait to get started.
Also, if you want to send me mail, my address is:
P.O. Box 1765
Bethel, AK 99559
I forget my number but I will post it soon so you can call and save my phone cards :)
Love you and miss you all!
Jill
Monday, August 10, 2009
I made it!
I'm here! And it has been quite the crazy adventure. Last Sunday, my mom and I drove down to Portland and spent the night there, watched a movie and just hung out. Then on Monday, we drove down to Mollala where I spent the next five days at JVC orientation. The first day was really relaxed, I met all my housemates, Ariel, Abby, PJ, John, Justin, and Joe. (Yes, there are a lot of J names!) we went to a smudging ceremony, a Native cleansing tradition of fanning cedar onto your face a body and then a big welcome. The next few days were a blur of social justice, community, spirituality, simplicity (the 4 values of JVC) and wishing we were in Bethel already. I spent my nights in a cabin with the other 13 girls going to Alaska, except for one night that I slept outside with some new friends. That was really nice until I was woken up at 4:30 because it was raining. Speaking of new friends, I hung out a lot with my new housemates, other JVs and the awesome SU JVs. I was really lucky to have Kristen, Katie, Matt, David and Trevor around. Whenever I felt really overwhelmed, I had them as a steadying force. I also found myself feeling really comfortable around my housemates. We are all suuuuppppppeeeerrrrr different but we get along really well. I'm excited for this year.
Speaking of this year... let's get back to my adventure. On Friday, the whole JV crew sang Trevor and I happy birthday, we had some talks about simplicity, then we had a super fun banquet with lots of FJVs (former Jesuit volunteers) and our communities. After that, I headed to our big meeting area and prepared for mass. Ariel and I were in the choir. The missioning liturgy was really cool, we presented mandalas (sp?) that we all made as a community and recieved a Jerusalem cross necklace, similar in theory to the Search necklace I wear a lot. Then it was time for goodbyes and bed.
Saturday morning at 4:15, all of us that were heading to Alaska woke up and went to the airport. Never in my life have I had such a lucky day of travelling. Every single one of our three planes was delayed by over an hour. Everyone keeps saying this JVC experience will help me grow... and I've already improve my patience! Once we got on the plane in Portland we flew into Seattle, had a bit of a layover there, then sat on the Seattle runway for a while while they fixed the toilet moter... or something else super vital. Then we arrived in Anchorage where we had a few hours. My housemates and I all headed straight to the Chili's for lunch/dinner and a farewell drink. (For those of you that don't know, Bethel is a damp town. This means that you can't buy or sell alcohol here but you can possess it. You can order it in Anchorage and pick it up at the airport but it is super expensive... my JVC stipend of $80 a month probably won't cover that. Haha.) After a few hours in the Anchorage airport, we hopped into a small jet, half of which was walled off for cargo. After about an hour and a half we arrived!
We walked into the one big room that comprises the Bethel Airport and were immediately greated by people clapping. Lots of FJVs and some of our future coworkers were there to welcome us. I met a lot of people whose names I knew I wouldn't remember and then hopped into a big van that could hold all seven of us plus a few tour guides. I met Fran, a JV last year that went to Seattle U whom I had heard a lot about. She and some others took us on a tour of Bethel. It didn't take long. The one paved street in Bethel goes in a big doughnut shape and just like a doughnut, there is nothing in the middle, just tundra. That's right people, I'm living in the tundra!
After a quick tour of the city, we went to our home. It is so nice! You know the first episode of most reality shows where everyone runs around finding tons of cool stuff and basically just freaking out? That was us. Then, once we calmed down a bit, our support person, Sally, came and brought us a dinner of delicious salmon, salad and homemade bread. It didn't take us long to realize that salmon will be a HUGE part of our diet. After our first meal in our new home we decided we should figure out where we will be sleeping. I ended up sharing a room with Ariel (we are sharing a room but its huge and we each have a full size bed.... Awesome!). The next fun realization that we had was that it was 11:30. It was still light out and it looked like it was 6 or 7. Weird. That will take some getting used to, though we will lose five minutes of sunlight every day. Basically, once I get used to the sunlight all the time, it will be dark all the time.
So, we all went to bed. I slept like a rock. Then, the next morning, Sunday, we all got up and Fran walked with us to got to the Catholic Church. That was really cool. The gospel reading was read first in English, then in Yup'ik. Then the homily was given in Yup'ik, then in English. There were also Yup'ik songs in mass. At the end of mass, we all were asked to get up and introduce ourselves. Then we went and had brunch with a bunch of lawyers and transplants to Bethel. It was crazy overwhelming at times to be meeting so many people, but it was great to hear how much people love living here. Its the craziest thing, whenever anyone who has lived in Bethel gets started talking about their experience, they get a glimmer in their eye and a huge smile on their face. I'm gonna take it as a good sign.
I have been constantly struck by the awesome community here. Everyone already knows who we are, last year's JVs made copies of our pictures and bios that were sent to our agencys and put them everywhere around town. I'm not joking about everywhere. Pretty much everyone in Bethel has seen my graduation photo... Good thing it was really original and said a lot about me. Oops. So, everyone knows us and has been expecting us, which is really cool. In fact, they actually planned a potluck for us on Sunday night. At our house. We found that out at the airport on Saturday night. But we all had some free time after brunch and before our potluck at 7. Some people unpacked, all of Ariel's stuff is all nicely put away. Abby and I took a nap. My stuff is everywhere (on my side of the room of course, Karen taught me well :) )After our nap we all got up and went to Pinky's park and played a pick-up game of Ultimate Frisbee. We met a ton of new people and re-met others. I found that I am not as bad as I expected to be and am really hoping we will be able to make it every Sunday before it gets real cold. When it does though, apparently they play broom ball! I'm gonna learn all sorts of cool things!
We played Frisbee for a while then headed back to our house to get ready for the potluck. Some little 4 year old boy ran in with his little dog because he heard we were there. There isn't a whole lot of privacy, people just kind of come and go as they please. That will take some getting used to but it is also pretty cool.
After our potluck we all hung out in the living room for a while then headed to bed. Today we went to the Senior center where Joe will be working, then to the Public Defender's where PJ will be working. Now Abby and I are at the library. Tonight we will be meeting our landlords and going over some logistics.
That's pretty much all I have time for right now. There is someone waiting for my computer, I will try and get back soon to update you all some more. Overall , this has been an insane, awesome, exciting and terrifying experience. I can't wait for what is to come!
Love you all!
Jill
Speaking of this year... let's get back to my adventure. On Friday, the whole JV crew sang Trevor and I happy birthday, we had some talks about simplicity, then we had a super fun banquet with lots of FJVs (former Jesuit volunteers) and our communities. After that, I headed to our big meeting area and prepared for mass. Ariel and I were in the choir. The missioning liturgy was really cool, we presented mandalas (sp?) that we all made as a community and recieved a Jerusalem cross necklace, similar in theory to the Search necklace I wear a lot. Then it was time for goodbyes and bed.
Saturday morning at 4:15, all of us that were heading to Alaska woke up and went to the airport. Never in my life have I had such a lucky day of travelling. Every single one of our three planes was delayed by over an hour. Everyone keeps saying this JVC experience will help me grow... and I've already improve my patience! Once we got on the plane in Portland we flew into Seattle, had a bit of a layover there, then sat on the Seattle runway for a while while they fixed the toilet moter... or something else super vital. Then we arrived in Anchorage where we had a few hours. My housemates and I all headed straight to the Chili's for lunch/dinner and a farewell drink. (For those of you that don't know, Bethel is a damp town. This means that you can't buy or sell alcohol here but you can possess it. You can order it in Anchorage and pick it up at the airport but it is super expensive... my JVC stipend of $80 a month probably won't cover that. Haha.) After a few hours in the Anchorage airport, we hopped into a small jet, half of which was walled off for cargo. After about an hour and a half we arrived!
We walked into the one big room that comprises the Bethel Airport and were immediately greated by people clapping. Lots of FJVs and some of our future coworkers were there to welcome us. I met a lot of people whose names I knew I wouldn't remember and then hopped into a big van that could hold all seven of us plus a few tour guides. I met Fran, a JV last year that went to Seattle U whom I had heard a lot about. She and some others took us on a tour of Bethel. It didn't take long. The one paved street in Bethel goes in a big doughnut shape and just like a doughnut, there is nothing in the middle, just tundra. That's right people, I'm living in the tundra!
After a quick tour of the city, we went to our home. It is so nice! You know the first episode of most reality shows where everyone runs around finding tons of cool stuff and basically just freaking out? That was us. Then, once we calmed down a bit, our support person, Sally, came and brought us a dinner of delicious salmon, salad and homemade bread. It didn't take us long to realize that salmon will be a HUGE part of our diet. After our first meal in our new home we decided we should figure out where we will be sleeping. I ended up sharing a room with Ariel (we are sharing a room but its huge and we each have a full size bed.... Awesome!). The next fun realization that we had was that it was 11:30. It was still light out and it looked like it was 6 or 7. Weird. That will take some getting used to, though we will lose five minutes of sunlight every day. Basically, once I get used to the sunlight all the time, it will be dark all the time.
So, we all went to bed. I slept like a rock. Then, the next morning, Sunday, we all got up and Fran walked with us to got to the Catholic Church. That was really cool. The gospel reading was read first in English, then in Yup'ik. Then the homily was given in Yup'ik, then in English. There were also Yup'ik songs in mass. At the end of mass, we all were asked to get up and introduce ourselves. Then we went and had brunch with a bunch of lawyers and transplants to Bethel. It was crazy overwhelming at times to be meeting so many people, but it was great to hear how much people love living here. Its the craziest thing, whenever anyone who has lived in Bethel gets started talking about their experience, they get a glimmer in their eye and a huge smile on their face. I'm gonna take it as a good sign.
I have been constantly struck by the awesome community here. Everyone already knows who we are, last year's JVs made copies of our pictures and bios that were sent to our agencys and put them everywhere around town. I'm not joking about everywhere. Pretty much everyone in Bethel has seen my graduation photo... Good thing it was really original and said a lot about me. Oops. So, everyone knows us and has been expecting us, which is really cool. In fact, they actually planned a potluck for us on Sunday night. At our house. We found that out at the airport on Saturday night. But we all had some free time after brunch and before our potluck at 7. Some people unpacked, all of Ariel's stuff is all nicely put away. Abby and I took a nap. My stuff is everywhere (on my side of the room of course, Karen taught me well :) )After our nap we all got up and went to Pinky's park and played a pick-up game of Ultimate Frisbee. We met a ton of new people and re-met others. I found that I am not as bad as I expected to be and am really hoping we will be able to make it every Sunday before it gets real cold. When it does though, apparently they play broom ball! I'm gonna learn all sorts of cool things!
We played Frisbee for a while then headed back to our house to get ready for the potluck. Some little 4 year old boy ran in with his little dog because he heard we were there. There isn't a whole lot of privacy, people just kind of come and go as they please. That will take some getting used to but it is also pretty cool.
After our potluck we all hung out in the living room for a while then headed to bed. Today we went to the Senior center where Joe will be working, then to the Public Defender's where PJ will be working. Now Abby and I are at the library. Tonight we will be meeting our landlords and going over some logistics.
That's pretty much all I have time for right now. There is someone waiting for my computer, I will try and get back soon to update you all some more. Overall , this has been an insane, awesome, exciting and terrifying experience. I can't wait for what is to come!
Love you all!
Jill
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)