Addendum to Earlier Post!

If you are reading these posts in order, this is an addendum to the "Hurry Up...and Wait!...or HURRY UP!"  This just cracks me up....follow along now....

It's Saturday, January 21.  We were scheduled to fly back home today from Stebbins where we are at an inservice with four other village schools.  We were hearing questionable weather reports earlier in the day which is a typical thing here in Alaska.  Weather changes quickly and it can be quite dangerous.  The plane we were to be on was flying out of Nome.

In the mid afternoon, it was announced that "the Shishmaref folks would be leaving on time" and a cheer went up.  Now...."on time" meant....4:30 p.m. and it was now like 3:00.  We would plan to leave for the airstrip in one hour (4:00 p.m.).

Donna, Donna, Donna....listen to your own learned lessons!  Remember....this is Alaska and time is "different" up here....like everything else!

Fortunately, I was packed and my cot and mattress were folded up and placed out in the hallway and all was well.  I happily thought, "Ah, an hour to play around with my blog some more now that I know how to post pictures!"  I kid you not....honest to God!  We had been told the current information and I was just plugging in my power cord to my laptop....not even two minutes had passed.  KAZAAM!  Announcement over the loudspeaker:  "SHISHMAREF STAFF....YOU NEED TO BE AT THE NORTH ENTRANCE IN FIVE MINUTES.  YOUR PLANE IS ARRIVING EARLY."

Holy cow!  Quick!  Unplug the power cord and pack up the laptop.  Get the layers on....quick!  Get everything out front....hurry up!  The trucks are being loaded....NOW!  We all piled into the trucks and were driven the seven miles out to the St. Michael's airstrip....which is longer and can handle the charter plane we were to be on.  Are you still with me?  The story gets even...."better" (tongue in cheek).

We get out to the airstrip...and that's all it is up here....an airstrip.  There's a building where the snowplow is kept but it is locked.  It's not like you stand in a lobby waiting for your plane....in Nome or Unalakleet...yes....but not in the smaller village airstrips.  We get out there and the drivers (three trucks) inform us that they have to go back to Stebbins for the next plane load.  Our luggage and our bodies will now have to wait outside for the plane to arrive.  So we all pile out....in bitter cold.....with mounting wind....and relatively no protection....and we....wait....and wait.....and wait.  Hmmm....it begins to get a bit questionable.....the cold....waiting....and no airplane.  One of our staff members did not have warm enough boots on and was getting incredibly cold....to the point of worry.  Just as we were about to force her to take off her boots and make her wrap up her feet in a sleeping bag (which was also already cold but maybe better than what she was dealing with), a plane came into sight.  We were thinking good thoughts...until the plane came into view....it was green....ERA.  We were waiting for Bering Air.....a brown plane.

Just as the plane landed, the trucks arrived with another group of teachers who were flying back to Gambell on the St. Lawrence Island.  They immediately loaded up....and we were informed that our plane was NOT coming now.  They couldn't leave Nome.  We immediately loaded our stuff back on the trucks and headed back to Stebbins to the school to spend another night.  Hey, at least we are safe and sound.  We are scheduled to be on a flight tomorrow morning at 10:30.  However......(remember....I am in Alaska)....

One of our teachers just gave a report from her husband who is back in Shishmaref right now.  There are 10-12 foot drifts down one of our main roadways.

You got to love it!  What can I say?  I wasn't expecting life to be easy up here and I sure am learning that "time" has taken on a different meaning.

TTFN