The earthquake in Japan and the subsequent tsunamis that followed forced me to face the obvious question: will washing my delicates in warm water wear them out faster? While I was asking my co-workers about my concerns, the talked turned to leaving town in the event of a tsunami. We don’t have any roads that lead out of town, but it doesn’t matter since there are no cars that could use that road. One of the aides said she’d just hop on her snowmachine and head for the hills. “And leave me here?” I asked. We sat in awkward silence until she finally said, “I don’t think flannel counts as a delicate. I wouldn’t worry about washing them in warm water.” Good to know.
The options are limited in the village as to how to escape a tsunami. We are about two miles from the Bering Sea and sit at near sea level. Besides trying to outrun the water with a snowmachine, every other scenario seemed to have us getting wet as the common thread. Our best means to possibly surviving one would be to find a ladder, prop it up on the wall, and climb up to the roof of the school. The single story building is the tallest point for miles. And I mean at least 15 miles. I don’t know how many people will fit up there, but I hid the only ladder in the village, so I know I’ll be the first one up.
School is continuing to chug along. We don’t have a spring break and I think the students are beginning to get tired of listening to me. Actually that occurred on September 14th, at 10:23 am. They’ve just been tolerating me since then. One of my students decided to lie down on the floor instead of doing his work yesterday. As I squatted to attempt to persuade him to sit in his chair, I ripped the crotch of my jeans. The first thing I thought was I had just tore my hamstring. A quick check ended my fear and began a new one. The student hadn’t noticed because he was loudly explaining to me that he didn’t think it was possible for him to get back into his chair. I slowly stood up, still a little concerned about my hamstring. I made my way to my desk and he found he could get back up to his chair. I sat behind my desk for the remaining half-hour so I kept the catastrophe under wraps. I think I took four minutes off my walk home, what with the three-inch crotch rip, the wind, and the single digit temperature.
The basketball season ended last week abruptly, due to lack of interest. It is a shame when there are only five players, because it only takes one’s decision to determine what happens to the team. We only had one week left, but they will miss a trip out of town. The elementary team is in Hooper Bay right now playing their district tournament, so the school does have a team to cheer for. I watched a little bit of one game at our school on our closed circuit TV system we use for meetings. They set it up so they could broadcast our games. This is nice since it is hard for the families of the players, or anybody else for that matter, to make the trip for the tournament. There were a few people watching it this morning in the library.
Monica will be here in less than three weeks, so I have some house cleaning to do. I finally figured out what that thing was on the vacuum cleaner: it’s called the on/off switch. I also ordered some groceries so we don’t have to eat rice with every meal. I don’t want her to come for a visit and then decide not to come up here next year, so I have to prepare some new menu items. I have some Tang left, so maybe an orange glaze over a roasted Spam. And now that I've fixed the problem with the vacuum cleaner for her, how can she not want to return?
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