10-10-2010

Because we have a small school, teachers here have to take on many different responsibilities.  We have six general education teachers (K-12), a special education teacher, and a counselor.  For some of these jobs, we get a stipend at the end of the year.  These could include coaching, student council advisor, or lead teacher.   Sometimes you volunteer for one of the positions, and sometimes you are asked.

 I was “asked” to be a co-lead teacher.  One duty of the lead teacher is to help other teachers with curriculum and other “teacher” stuff.  That responsibility would fall to my co-lead teacher since she has the experience.  My responsibilities will usually involve chores commonly done by a pack mule, my area of expertise.  Luckily we don’t have crops to grow.  Yesterday my job was to pickup the volleyball team from the airport.

Calling it an airport stretches the description slightly.  It is a gravel runway with a beacon.  The only way in and out of the village is by boat, which is not very convenient, and by plane.  The plane isn’t very convenient either but it beats walking.  The modes of transportation are very limited in the village, so the school is responsible for picking up and dropping off their personnel at the airplane.  So, I drove our four-wheeler out to the airport to pick them up.

The volleyball coach called me from Mountain Village, which is where they were playing.  She said they were leaving and would be at Nunam Iqua in a half-hour.  I put on my new parka and boots, and headed out to get the four-wheeler.  I got out to the airport with about 10 minutes until they were suppose to arrive.  There were two problems with what happened next.  First, the plane they thought was going to Nunam was not going to Nunam.  So, they headed back to the school in Mountain Village to wait for their plane.  The second part was that they forgot to call me and tell me they would be coming later.  But the day was sunny and 35, so it wasn’t too bad to be sitting on a four-wheeler for an hour.  Plus my beard, whom I’ve named Awesome, kept my face warm.

When they arrived, we loaded half of them with their bags to take them home.  The four-wheeler has room for 3 in the cab, and three in the back with their bags.  Two had rides for themselves so I had the rest.  I had no idea where these kids lived, so I asked.  Like a typical teenager, the response was pointing.  We don’t have roads in town; we have boardwalks.  Some of the boardwalks are new, but some are still waiting to be rebuilt.  There is a crew in town that has been rebuilding the boardwalks, but they will have to finish next summer due to the weather.  Nails and broken boards are everywhere, so there is some hazard in driving here.  Awesome and I had our work cut out for us.

I was able to see parts of town I had not been to before.  Well, I’ve seen them from a distance and now up close.  They look exactly like the rest of the houses in town, including mine.  The conversation with the students went something like this: 

“Where is your house?” 

“Back there.” 

“Crap. How about yours?”

“Keep going.”

“Yes, but can you be a little bit more specific?”

“Sure, keep going that way.”

“Well, just let me know when I’ve gone past it.”

(nods)

I’m not sure if he was nodding in agreement, or if he was nodding to his iPod.  Whichever, they all made it home safely.

So, I’ll be taxing students and other school staff to and from the airport for the rest of the year.  When packages arrive on the weekends, I will also be packing them back from the airport, so this may become my new hobby.  After 10 years with FedEx, I thought I had moved away from that.  So, when you hear people calling me a jackass, you’ll know why.  (It’s because I’m doing the job of a pack mule.  Right?)

p.s. It snowed today.