Home?

It's starting to sink in, that this is home for a while.

I miss my family and friends, but it's still very exciting that we're actually here, and in a little over a week I will be a real teacher and will have a class of my very own. I have met a few of my students around the village. It's amazing how different their dialect is. I have spoken to some of my students that, according to their test scores, have the strongest english in my class, and it is still difficult for me to understand them sometimes. It will be an interesting first week, of misunderstandings on both sides, I'm sure.

Some of you requested house pictures... and with that comes an update of an interesting predicament we were in for the last week. Because of increased enrollment, there are more teachers now at Pilot than there ever have been, so with that, there are not enough houses. We almost got relocated to another school because of a grievance that was filed because some staff had to be moved in together to make room for Max and I. Because Max and I aren't married, that makes us lowest on the totem pole, so when the superintendent makes a decision on the issue it is still possible we could be moved but not likely, but we're not entirely sure what could become of our living arrangements. I'll let ya'll know if anything drastic happens!

Max's office and/or the spare bedroom

Master bedroom

Master bedroom looking toward the living room

Living room, with a comforter covering the nasty couch. That window looks out toward the village.

Kitchen and dining area, with a large storage pantry to the left. The house is slanted, so the fridge is propped up on a stick (a branch, basically) to make it level. 

Fridge and freezer, and the pantry

Mudroom and future Arctic entry

Nasty bathroom, because our cleaning supplies STILL haven't arrived. 

The red house is the opposite side of our duplex. 

Our front porch :) 

It's nothing like the home we know, but it's beautiful, the culture is new and exciting, and it's a big step outside of our comfort zones. 

This whole experience sure will make us appreciate living within driving distance to everyone we know, and being able to buy beer whenever we walk into a grocery store, and have food when we buy it, rather than more than 2 weeks after we order it... I also really miss fresh fruit and darkness. 

This was taken at 11:30 last night. Still not dark. 

Here's our view of the river from our house. 

And again. The weather has been a lot like Florence, always changing. 

And here is my school, viewed from the trail I take to get there from our house. This is the back. 

My next post will probably be an update about my classroom. It's coming together, and I'll post pictures once I finish the decor and getting organized. The school year is rapidly approaching!

See ya later, alligator.