The time is really flying by. I have had one of the best weeks at Chevak and one of the worst the past few days. Best because, well the third year is great anywhere. All my issues have been worked out regarding the schedule, rules, furniture and book arrangement, programming - well thing just fall into place. I know every child's name now - and the high schoolers deal with me better since they see all the neat stuff I have in the library now. They are following the rules much better. We received our new chairs for the computers - black, comfortable, beautiful chairs that swivel. The children are loving them - unfortunately they are not allowed to adjust them and this is a real disappointment for them, since the chairs are like multi-positional. It is just that if every child who came in a sat down adjusted the chair to fit him or her - well the chairs would be worn out in a year. It just has to be this way.

The weather here has been just fabulous - I can hardly tell I am in Chevak. The sun has been shining almost every single day. It is wonderful - cause we know what's coming. It is berry picking season here. Whole families go out and pick salmon berries, blue berries, and black berries and more I don't know about. They pick gallon after gallon. It is a big celebration - keeping count of how many buckets and every one has their special place on the tundra to pick their favorite berries. Everyone is so excited about the berries - kind of like football season starting in Georgia.

It has been a very sad week for the whole community - a student of ours was in Anchorage last weekend and was hit by a truck in the middle of the night. She was crossing a main highway with dark cloths on and the driver did not see her. Such as sweet, quiet girl - everyone liked her so much. She used to come in to the library every single day with her best friend and get hand sanitizer and hand lotion. I keep that stuff in her for the kids and they love it - dropping in a couple of times a day to get some - also telling me what kinds they want me to get, etc. Jenilee will be sorely missed by all of us - so sad that she was so young (16) and the special tragedy of the accident. So the year has been off to a rather sad start. Remember there's less than 100 kids in the high school.

We made it back to Chevak with Roxie in tow. Each time I get on one of those bush planes I end up saying a prayer that if God will just let us land safely I will figure out another way to get to and from Chevak - although there is none - but when I am on those tiny planes I keep thinking that maybe I could just wade my way in and out. The flight this time was particularly scary. We encountered lots of turbulence as we took off and gained altitude. I honestly thought we were going to be blown out of the sky. Once we got above the clouds things calmed down a bit. Then when we got near Chevak and descended - oh my gosh. The pilot was so young and so small. He was biting his nails and the airplane felt like a pendulum in the sky. Usually the Native people think nothing of the ride - but this time even they were making comments and "Ohhing and Ahhing". I was gripping the window ledge thinking how glad I was that I was by the exit and I was reviewing the directions for opening the door in an emergency. We pulled in to land at Chevak faster than ever and completely sideways it seemed to get to the wind and then as we sidewayscame to the landing strip - I truly believed we were going to run off the side into the tundra. That guy never slowed down even as he made a 360 turn to go back to the airport building. Then there was no one to meet us and we had to wait about a half hour for someone to show up - we could stand in the wind and freeze, or we could stand behind the building away from the wind - but be eaten up by mosquitos. I was glad to get home finally.

Our friend Cyndy had actually cleaned up our apartment - I mean she had made the beds and put out fresh towels, pulled back the curtains, and DEFROSTED our freezer. Her parents had used our apt for a month for their visit to Chevak and then some friends of hers - biologists (bird studiers) had spent a couple of nights there - so I guess she felt like she needed to make sure everything was clean. It was. Cleaner than we keep it!

Lots of new teachers coming in. Most are new to Alaska - several couples and lots of kids. They are full of questions - but remarkably comfortable in this new environment. We were supposed to have three days of inservice with Apple Computer next week - but that won't happen - some issues in planning. So it looks like we will have four full days of work days - something unheard of. I think I'll work on my library handbook and hopefully update my web page.

Every new teacher who comes in to the library goes "Wow!" "This is beautiful!" "What a gorgeous library." "Look at these great computers." I may never leave here. I have been over a couple of times while Cyndy was still having Open Library this summer. The kids are so wonderful - computering, coloring, gaming, reading, listening to music, drawing. They love this place and I believe they will always remember this past year of extended hours in the library - a very popular place(due to my grant!). Cyndy was averaging 65 students each open day this summer.