When do we grow up? Do we ever grow up? More importantly, do we have to grow up?

Sticking to something is not always easy. And probably the only excuse I have for not blogging in a while. Either that or the lack of sunlight which doesn’t exactly inspire happy thoughts. 

But here I am, home for the holidays and in a whirlwind over what has happened this past year. I have gone for months at a time in which the only thing I do after school is consume pre-packaged noodles and watch t.v. I’d like to say that I go on huge expeditions after school and come home with a different type of meat each night but then I would only be lying. And I’m surprisingly okay with the truth right now. 

The truth has led me to the question that I’m sure a lot of mid-20 year old somethings are asking themselves right now: what exactly does it take to be an adult? Sometimes I think that I have this life thing together and go a few days with an extra spring in my step but then I do something stupid and have to suffer the consequences for not thinking things all the way through. I was actually pretty pleased with myself for the first half of the school year for always getting my dishes done and making semi- healthy meals. But then I started to lose my mojo. I mean if all you ever do is go to work, cook dinner, wash up, do laundry etc, etc .. where is the inspiration in that?! Yes, you have dishes that squeak and clothes that smell good but you are also in danger of being classified as ‘robot.’ And if ‘robots’ and ‘adults’ are synonyms, do we have to grow up?!

The beginning of my second year teaching in Togiak has been a whole new adventure from the first. Sometimes I have to stop and remind myself that this is my second year and that even through their are so many differences among the staff, I am still in the same place. But I do love my new coworkers as well as being able to teach 7 of the same kids. Although it’s weird because they remember things I told them last year that I forgot all about. Like, ‘Miss. Keleher remember when you stepped on your hamster and it died.’ Or ‘remember when Lexi was part of this class but so-in-so wasn’t.’ At first they were rather obsessed with figuring out who is/ isn’t in our new class but I think we have it all figured out now! We have moved on to new topics of interest and have recently completed our animal research projects. One of my students, decided that she was going to research the horse. It was a all great until she came across the word ‘ass’ in relation to donkeys. She flipped out and decided she couldn't research the horse anymore because the book had a  bad word in it. Of course one of the other kids took me up on the new rule that you can only use that word when talking about donkeys and loudly proclaimed, “now all I am going to talk about is donkeys!” Some of what they say has me chuckling on the inside! 

In a weird way sometimes it seems like kids are a whole heck of a lot wiser. They like their routine, stick to the rules and never fail to be amazed when snow falls outside the window. What does it matter if the dishes aren’t done if it is snowing outside? Priorities, priorities my friend! Why can’t we all just inspire to be kids forever?! 

Tata for now! Thanks for reading! 

Travel to, from and around the bush

I have never had a huge problem with flying. In fact, I used to love everything about it from wandering the airport to the thrill of take off to endless re-fills of pop.

However, that was my opinion from when I would fly Laguadia to Denver non-stop. Getting to and from Connecticut from Bush, Alaska has changed those views a little.

Here are some tips for any future bush traveler as well as my personal observations throughout my travels:

1.) Bush pilots don’t fly if they can’t see within 15 miles all around them. And they often don’t tell you whether or not they are going to fly that day until the end of the day. This may lead to cancelled flights, many hours on hold with airlines to change connecting flights and plenty of time to attempt to get comfy in the airport itself. If you are good at sweet talking your way through life, that may help in getting fees waived for changing tickets.

2.) From a traveler’s perspective, the muffin is quite universal. From New York to Anchorage- they are everywhere. At first, it may seem like a simple ounce of joy. When one first gets to the airport, there is nothing more thrilling than sitting down at a Starbucks, surrounded by luggage, muffin in hand. Although, the longer one spends in the air and in various airports, the more the muffin starts to lose it’s appeal. It becomes a dry, tasteless bun that does nothing but limit the body’s number of regular bowel movements.

3.) The temperature changes as your travel. Don’t get stuck in your east coast shoes in the icy muck of Dillingham, Alaska. Unless you deem the hot chocolate to be worth it.

4.) There is nothing better then having a random conversation with a random stranger who you will probably never see again on a plane or in a taxi. Yea, it is probably not best to get pregnant in Dillingham. If anything goes wrong, there is really not much they can do.

5.) It can suck to be stuck whether in Togiak, Dillingham, Anchorage, Chicago… but it can also be awesome. Go on a shopping spree, eat every single dinner out… who knows you might see a moose!

6.) Sometimes out-of-your-control wacky things happen. Get in a tug of war fight over your luggage with a drunk who thinks they should be able to get on their plane despite being intoxicated? Airport security is getting better and better by the day!

But more importantly, don’t freak out about anything that may happen. You can’t plan a trip to the bush and expect it to go perfectly so you might as well embrace the adventure.  

Just to clarify.. I still don’t have a problem with flying. Just more of an appreciation for my destination the longer the trip takes!