Help!

I am in need of an old AT&T phone to take with me to St. Michael.  There is only 1 tower there and it won't work with any smart phones. I am looking for an old flip phone so that I can use their month to month plan. I would definitely return it to you when I get back from Alaska. If you have one, you would make my mom's day! :-)

Getting closer!

In less than 2 weeks I will be beginning my journey to Alaska.  I have purchased my flight and shipped out $300 worth of boxes (eek).  I packed some clothing and a ton of food.  Since there is only a tiny store, I needed to ship out non-perishables such as Ramen noodles, mac 'n cheese, and pasta.  I went to Denunzio's and bought 3 jars of spaghetti sauce, surrounded them in bubble wrap and shipped that, too!  I will be flying to Anchorage with a layover in Denver and then spending the night in Anchorage.  The next day I will fly to my village: St. Michael.  This should be quite the task because I will need to have on all of my winter gear for when I land.  I am just going to be on a tiny regional airplane that I am sure will be pretty cold.  I am really hoping that the weather is above freezing when I arrive.  Luckily I have experienced 0 degree weather and even weather below 0, but anything colder than -10 is going to be tough on me.  I know that it will get as cold as -40 but hopefully not too often.  I have some fleece lined tights to wear underneath my pants and today my sister is making me some hand warmers.  While it will be cold, I do think that I am prepared for it and will be OK.    Here is a map showing where I will be living.  I will be quite close to Russia!

Today in church my pastor told everyone about my trip and explained a bit about what I will be doing.  Afterwards, I was talking to a man who was a commercial fisherman in the Kodiak Islands.  He said that these islands are quite warm and don't ever freeze.  He said that one of the islands is actually a rainforest!  I will have a few days off for "spring" break in March so I think I would like to visit there.  I doubt I will be going back to Alaska so this will be my one opportunity to go everywhere I want.

As my trip gets closer and I begin packing, I am seeing that it might be tricky to fit everything into my suitcase.  On my flight from Anchorage to St. Michael, there is a 50 lb weight limit on luggage.  That seems like a lot but I know that I will get to that limit quite quickly (especially once I pack my frozen food in dry ice).

I am definitely in need of book recommendations.  The past few books I have read have been a bit boring and I know that I will have a lot of reading to do.  I loved the Hunger Games and Divergent series.  I am definitely into suspense and thriller type novels so if you know of a good book, let me know!

My Alaskan Adventure

As many of you know, I am going to be moving to Alaska to teach 4th grade in a Yu'pik Eskimo village.  This position came about quite suddenly, but it was such a great opportunity that I couldn't pass it up.  I will be living and working in the village of St. Michael which is located in the Bering Strait.  There are about 400 residents in the village and only about 150 kids in the school from grade K-12.  40% of the students in the school are classified as English Language Learners and many of the elders speak Siberian Yu'pik.  All of my instruction will be in English, but there will likely be a heavy emphasis on vocabulary since their background knowledge is so limited.  The village of St. Michael is extremely remote.  There are only a few dirt roads but in the winter would be covered with permafrost.  There is one tiny store but it has a limited supply and the food that it does have is extremely expensive.  For reference, I was told that 3 ears of husked and packed corn was $14!

This region is classified as the tundra (hence the name of this blog) and the winters have temperatures as extreme as -40 or -50 degrees.  I am prepared for it though with a parka, snow pants, snow boots, and mittens.  I still need to get a face shield and some goggles.  I will need to be basically covered from head to toe with no skin exposed in order to protect myself form frost bite (yikes!).  The question that I have been asked most frequently is about sunlight.  When I arrive in January, I will have about 5 hours of "daylight."  It's important to remember though that because I am so far north that it won't be bright and sunny or provide enough direct light to really add much warmth.  However, by May I will have almost 18 hours of daylight!  So the great thing is that as the weeks go on, it will slowly be getting warmer and lighter.

Some of my gear

This will be a long-term sub position so I will be heading back home to Pittsburgh mid-May when the school year ends.  I will have internet access so I plan on finishing up my Masters degree while I am there as I only have 2 courses left.  I would love to Skype with you so add me as a contact (kristie.bresz) and I can keep in touch with everyone that way.  Of course I will be on facebook a lot too.  For my teacher friends, I was thinking it would be a lot of fun to skype with our classes.  I think it would be awesome for our students to see how different our schools are and make some new friends.  Since I will be teaching 4th grade, I will be responsible for teaching writing so if your students want pen pals let me know!

I will also be doing a lot of reading so if you have any book recommendations please let me know.  I am thinking about getting a new camera so that I can take better quality pictures than just my phone and also some videos.  I would love one that has a front facing lens for when I go exploring because I am not a big fan of pictures of just scenery.  I want to be in the picture, too!  If you know of an inexpensive (less than $100) camera like this I would love your input!

During my time, I am going to try to keep up this blog as much as possible.  I want to post pictures and videos so that I can keep in touch with everyone.  If you do want to Skype, please know that AK is 4 hours behind Eastern Time.  Please please please keep in touch with me!   I have a feeling that I might get a bit bored because the location is so remote.  I promise to keep you updated with lots of pictures!

Boxes of food and clothing ready to head to the post office to ship