I look back on my time in Alaska with smiles, happiness, and humor. Today I came across a log I wrote at the time I was experiencing all the wonders of Alaska. Realities and memories don't match up sometimes it seems.
8-15-02. Hooper Bay, Alaska
We arrived yesterday. This is the most dismal looking place I have ever been in. It is dirty, the houses are little more than plywood shacks and the teacher housing, at least for us, is some where next to the type you would find in the ghetto.
There are fly's all over the place, our food has not arrived, we have no phone or TV yet and we only get one station on the radio. We are very remote here, you can feel it, we feel forlorn and even with both of us here we cannot help feeling alone and isolated. A silence has fallen between us but it isn't out of anger. I think I might have made a mistake.
Women are the ones who are the real pioneers and are the back bone. They make a house a home. Paula is doing all the right things but I can tell her heart is not in it. It pains me to see her unhappy.
It is 52 degrees outside, the wind is out of the west at 17mph.
The school building is the pits. My classroom is OK and in all fairness everyone we have met, native and teacher, have been very nice and helpful. This is a good thing I guess given the fact that yesterday we were all strangers.
Note: I will now and then blog more of this unedited log.
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