This week was a week that could only happen in Alaska. On Monday, the kids were all excited because our boys basketball team capped off a perfect season and became the Regional Boys Basketball Champions, and are going to the state tournament next week (an Elim Eagles first!). My boys were voluntarily writing about it (they never voluntarily write about anything). Monday evening, we heard that the Iditarod front-runners had left Koyuk and were due in here around midnight. For those of you who don’t know, the Iditarod is a 1,100 mile dog-sled race from Anchorage to Nome - the Last Great Race on Earth. There are various checkpoints along the way that the mushers have to stop at. Elim is the 4th checkpoint from the end. At first, I said no way. There was no way I was staying up that late if I had to teach the next day. The more Katie (my roommate) and I talked about it, though, the more excited I got. The next day was the last day before spring break, it was only a half-day, etc. So, we decided to go. If you know me, you know that I don’t do late nights very well, and I need my sleep. I’m definitely more of a morning person. I dozed on the couch until 11:45 when somebody walked out in the hall and yelled, "He’s 7 miles out!" We bundled up and walked over to the firehouse and stood for another hour. Lance Mackey came in first, followed less than 5 minutes later by Jeff King. It was a close race. We watched them feed their dogs and do all that dog-care stuff. We left around 1:45, and went to bed. About an hour after we left, both mushers were sitting in the firehouse, and Jeff King decided he had time for a quick nap. Lance Mackey waited until he was snoring away, stood up and announced that he was going to go check his bags. He never came back in. He had snuck out and was well on his way to White Mountain. When Jeff King woke up an hour later, he was furious. Raging about how nobody woke him up and we were all a bunch of "Mackey fans."
Tuesday morning came all too early. I don’t function well on 4 hours of sleep, but it was okay. I only had 4 students (half of the class), and they were all sleepy because most of them had been up at the firehouse longer than me. About 9:45, the first-grade aide walked in and said, "There’s a musher down at the checkpoint." All my kids stopped and looked at me. "The whole high school just left. So did Nick and Ida’s classes." Split second decision: "Okay, kids, get your coats. We’re going on a field trip." A cheer went up, we bundled up, and we were off. It was a short trip, maybe half an hour, but the kids had fun. I love living in a place where we get to see the Iditarod in action and can go on spur-of-the-moment field trips to see it. I watched two more mushers heading out across the ice out of the classroom window on Tuesday afternoon (no students: they had an early release for spring break, but we had to work for the afternoon).
Wednesday and Thursday, Katie and I went out cross-country skiing. Same trail as before, but it was still fun. The trail wasn’t as defined or packed, so it was a little bit more of a work-out. Katie hasn’t made it to the top of the main hill yet (the backside of Baldhead - it’s quite a climb), so we’re going to go back out today to get her up there. Hopefully the sun will come out - the world just seems a little bit better when the sun is shining!
Thursday evening, Rick Holt was on his way in to Elim. Rick is a rookie musher (first-time running the Iditarod) who worked for the school district for a number of years and taught in Elim 5 or 6 years back. Half the village showed up to give him a warm Elim "welcome home" and cheer him. We were lined up with signs and cheering as he came down the hill into town, but as he stopped to check in something wasn’t right: young, clean-shaven, impish grin - nope, definitely not Rick. Another musher had passed him on the trail and showed up first. Well, whoever he was, he got a warm welcome! Rick did eventually show up, and it was a touching moment.
When Katie and I got back to the apartment, I wanted nothing more than to curl up on the couch with a hot drink and get warm. I had spent a good part of the past two days outside (in temps hovering around zero), and wanted to just get warm again. March is definitely a winter month up here!
Tuesday morning came all too early. I don’t function well on 4 hours of sleep, but it was okay. I only had 4 students (half of the class), and they were all sleepy because most of them had been up at the firehouse longer than me. About 9:45, the first-grade aide walked in and said, "There’s a musher down at the checkpoint." All my kids stopped and looked at me. "The whole high school just left. So did Nick and Ida’s classes." Split second decision: "Okay, kids, get your coats. We’re going on a field trip." A cheer went up, we bundled up, and we were off. It was a short trip, maybe half an hour, but the kids had fun. I love living in a place where we get to see the Iditarod in action and can go on spur-of-the-moment field trips to see it. I watched two more mushers heading out across the ice out of the classroom window on Tuesday afternoon (no students: they had an early release for spring break, but we had to work for the afternoon).
Wednesday and Thursday, Katie and I went out cross-country skiing. Same trail as before, but it was still fun. The trail wasn’t as defined or packed, so it was a little bit more of a work-out. Katie hasn’t made it to the top of the main hill yet (the backside of Baldhead - it’s quite a climb), so we’re going to go back out today to get her up there. Hopefully the sun will come out - the world just seems a little bit better when the sun is shining!
Thursday evening, Rick Holt was on his way in to Elim. Rick is a rookie musher (first-time running the Iditarod) who worked for the school district for a number of years and taught in Elim 5 or 6 years back. Half the village showed up to give him a warm Elim "welcome home" and cheer him. We were lined up with signs and cheering as he came down the hill into town, but as he stopped to check in something wasn’t right: young, clean-shaven, impish grin - nope, definitely not Rick. Another musher had passed him on the trail and showed up first. Well, whoever he was, he got a warm welcome! Rick did eventually show up, and it was a touching moment.
When Katie and I got back to the apartment, I wanted nothing more than to curl up on the couch with a hot drink and get warm. I had spent a good part of the past two days outside (in temps hovering around zero), and wanted to just get warm again. March is definitely a winter month up here!
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