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.)