Alaska and the Summer

The difficulty of sitting down and typing of my recent thoughts of my trouble is big enough to have kept me silent this entire summer. I did though have some fun adventures over the summer. First, I went to Washington DC for a conference done by the National Science Foundation for participants of the program I was involved in for the last three years. The program provided me with a lot of scholarship funds so I was very happy to be at the conference to hear other speakers. Actually, I got the chance to speak to a room of about fifteen people. I spoke with another student and we talked on the fact that because of the program we are much more prepared to be math teachers than students not in the program.

Second, I went to California to be a part of a camp that I have been so long hearing about from my very close friend, Kiira. The camp is called Extreme Mobility and it is for young adults who are blind or have partial vision. Naturally being in California, we did a lot of things in the water such as wake boarding, tubing, swimming, going to a water park, and surfing! Also we went to a baseball game, go-kart racing, and eat A LOT. My favorite part of it all was how much worship we had over the week. I met some amazing people and got to see some great transformations. I got close to a handful of girls that I look forward to being around and hanging out with next year at the camp. Forever I will support this ministry! Another reason why I went was to help Kiira move there. To spend some special friend time together, we went to Disneyland. Oh boy! I had so much fun. It was hard to say goodbye but I was happy to see that Kiira was moving into a beautiful and friendly community.

Now I am most excited to tell you about my big move to Dillingham, AK. A little over a week ago I began my two-day travels to the farthest north I have been to Bristol Bay. With five pieces of luggage, my roommate (Liz) picked me up at the airport. The airport’s check-in, security, baggage claim, and gate are all in the same area. We drove to my future home and on the way I got to see some beautiful tundra with mountains in the background. Immediately I noticed the water that seems to surround the town because we are located where two rivers meet and go into the sea. There are beautiful purple flowers all around called Fireweed, which is even more pleasing to the eye in regards to the scenery.

Within the first two days I began to see the characteristics of living in village Alaska. Going to the grocery store, I saw prices that are double to triple the price of back at home. I was beginning to see why lots of people fish, hunt, or berry-pick for all of their food. Having a good conversation you don’t know is very regular. The probability of me teaching of someone’s child or a friend’s child is very high. The town is very used to “out-siders” coming to the town to live. It wasn’t hard to get my new phone (Verizon doesn’t work here) and my new mailing address. My room is all situated and the house I have moved into has impressed me. I live only four blocks away from the school and on the way is the post office. I have gone to two different churches and I will still be looking at others. I am hopeful that I will find a great community to get involved with.

This is all I will share this time and by the end of this week I will write about my school. I have been doing in-service training all week and the first half of this coming up week. A little hint of how I am adapting is that I have been thinking a lot about how I will be spending more than one year here. If you need my new phone number or address, just let me know via Facebook or e-mail. I hope you enjoyed the photos!