I Know I'm Back. . .

Today is a cool, misty day here in Eek. I've been here for 13 days, and already feel like I never left. In some ways, this is the easiest start of the school year I've ever had. I don't have to learn any new names, I know the staff, and my classes are already organized. However, there are some things that are truly indicative of where I live here in the tundra.

Today, I packed up two boxes. One goes to my mom with random items that I've ended with like my niece's socks, my brother's book, and a few other odds and ends. I also packed up a box with a loaner cell phone to mail back to the company now that I have my fancy used Blackberry.

I made my way to the post office and was told that someone had to get the boxes that had come in for the school. They were marked frozen and the post office didn't want them sitting there for the weekend. So, after trying to get a hold of my principal and another staff member, I ended up getting some students to help me get the boxes back to the school. There were too many to carry, so the student borrowed his parents' four wheeler with a trailer (remember- no cars here). I finally found another teacher to help me. For a tiny village, there were remarkably no people around to help me. . .

When we got to the post office, the worker brought out the boxes only to find that none were frozen, but most were textbooks. Oh well. As we made our way in the cool mist to the school with boxes of books, but no frozen food, I realized that I was back and couldn't be happier.