ALASKA

I'm here!!

I did it. I moved 5,000 miles NORTh to Fairbanks to finish out the year at tanana middle school.

Before I left, Jacqui said, “you wanna have a get-together before you go?” I said, “Sure,” thinking a few people would show up. The house was PACKED!! I can’t believe so many people came out to say a temporary good-bye to me!

Plus, they gave me the best present: knowing that my camera had gone a.w.o.l. when my former klepto…ahem… roommate was around, and knowing that said camera was important to me because it was a gift from students, they got together & bought me a new camera!!

It’s awesome! I’m so excited to be digital again.

Here’s my first ever picture taken with my new camera:

OK, I’ve taken better. Like these of some of my gorgeous friends:

Still working on the settings... I've never been great at indoor shots.

So, on Tuesday, January 5^th, I hopped on a plane in Houston and landed a mere 10 hours later in a much colder Fairbanks, AK (temp: 4°F).

I only took one picture on the way by way of explanation of why I only took one picture on the way:

Those are just my carry-ons (I’ve never been accused of traveling light…especially when moving). Too many handfuls to be breaking out my camera just to take a pic of Ivar’s (YUM)

My very good friend Kelley picked me up at the airport at midnight & I stayed at her place for a couple of days since I don’’t have a car yet.

Here’s what I saw out my window when I woke up at 7:30 the next morning:

If you look carefully, you can see… never mind... it’s dark.

Things were looking much better at 10:00:

Speaking of Kelley, here’re some pics of her adorable kids at dinner last night:

Kweku

Conrad

Adom

I started work on Thursday & it’s going great so far. More to come later.

Two last pictures for now, I just took these out the window of my new place at about 9:20 am.

The back yard:

The front:

Why no pictures from outside, you ask?

(Cuz It’s -17°)