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
Friday, August 28, 2009
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
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