Tununak Round Two

Am I excited to going back to Tununak?

While I wasn’t looking forward to leaving Minneapolis on Sunday, the oppressively awful temperatures made things a little easier. I don’t believe it is possible for humans to survive in weather like Minnesota has been having. Mid-nineties, dew points over seventy…miserable. Sixty in Bethel will be a welcome relief.

I am in the process of traveling, process being the key word. Yesterday was the day for bulk mailing, listening to the postal clerk telling me eleven days all the while knowing that twenty is a much better estimate. And my bike. My bike is in the mail. Right now, somewhere, my bike is being handled by the United States Post Office. This should offer me three to four weeks of stress. And now I am in between two of the three flights necessary to arrive in Bethel where I stay for a few days for district-wide inservice then one final flight to the village. Days are needed to get to my final destination.

Going back for the second year will be nice though. Teaching many of the same classes as last year, I am anticipating less time spent planning. Of course that will probably prove to me wishful thinking, I have made a number of interesting investments over the summer to fill the empty (here’s to hoping) time in my upcoming year.

As I noted before, my bike is coming along this year. Jokingly I had told people I plan on just wanting to look at it. This probably has more truth to it than I want to admit. And coupled with the fact that there aren’t any paved roads it is a little hard to deny. But if all things work out I will be getting a stationary stand for it for endless hours of going nowhere in the gym.

My other two investments deal with food. My forages into eating more vegetables and less meat has initiated a number of impulse hydroponics system buys. The first was a system I purchase from our outgoing principal at the very end of last year. The second system I purchased just earlier this week. Fresh salad in December, tomatoes in February. Maybe.

The second food investment is a shotgun. Ignoring the above goal of reducing my meat consumption, I have borrowed a twelve gauge shotgun (don’t call it a rifle) from my grandpa. After an interesting conversation with the salesman at Gander Mountain about shells (don’t call them “bullets” or “things to shoot out of my gun”) I believe I have everything I need to take down some ducks. I acquired both the hydroponics system and the shotgun last week. It is impossible to describe how different they feel in my hands, yet both will be used for the same purpose: to provide me with fresh food.

Those things should keep me somewhat busy. And of course there is teaching. Second years aren't known for being unbelievably easier than first years. So that's it - year two is all planned out. We'll see how that goes.