The Great Alaska Super Storm
This week started with the last one never ending. Last week we wrote that I (Tim) was at a wrestling tournament in Bethel, Ak. My team did okay. Overall we won about 50% of our matches. However, we did have one guy make it to the finals, which is always fun. The tournament was half-day on Friday and all day on Saturday. We were scheduled to leave at noon on Sunday. However, a storm rolled in and we were delayed for about two to three hours. No big deal. Whenever you travel by small plane in rural Alaska it's always best to prepare for anything. For that reason, we always pack extra clothes, money, and travel in our winter gear (in case the plane goes down in the middle of no where). Because there are no direct flights between our school and Bethel, and since we had two extra seats, we shared the plane with another team, two people (a coach and wrestler) from Manokotak. They live about 45 miles East of us. On our way home we (Manokotak coach and me) were informed that since the plane charter originated from Togiak, the plane would only go as far as Togiak, which meant that the Manokotak team needed to find another way home from Togiak. Once we all go to Togiak, we found out that nobody was flying. The winds were a little high and it was Sunday (which means no one wanted to work). This meant that they were stuck in Togiak for the night. Luckily, Kaitlyn was a good sport when I told her that we were going to have guests stay the night and were hungry and we were going to be home in 5 minutes. We entertained them for the night and they went home on Monday morning. Really, it wasn't too bad. The downside with not having a weekend is that there's no time to recuperate and plan for the upcoming week. It really sets the pace for the rest of the week. I ended up taking Tuesday off and just trying to catch up with sleep and lesson plans. I never really felt like I was back up to 100%. I ended up just sleeping on Saturday and Sunday to catch up.
Kaitlyn went to the store last week (some time in the middle of the week) and was approached by a woman who asked if she knew how to play the piano. She answered that she did and the woman than pleaded with her to teach her daughter how to play the piano. Kaitlyn, being the nicest person in the world, agreed (however, never having experience teaching). So, Kaitlyn got a hold of her friends who have taught lessons before and asked them how to do it and set it up. Kaitlyn had her first lesson this week and she said it went well. I'll let you hear about it from her more next week.
Let's talk Super Storm! The Super Storm really didn't hit us. Sorry to say, but we were not anywhere near the center of this storm. However, we were in the path of the end of the storm. Starting Thursday or Friday the wind picked up. We had blizzard conditions all Friday at school. It was kind of fun. Friday and Saturday Togiak was under a "Winter" and a "Severe" Storm watch. A Winter Watch because of the blizzard whiteout conditions and a Severe Watch because of a predicted storm surge and flooding for lower Togiak. During the storm we endured 45-65 mph winds with gusts up to 80 mph. Togiak suffered some downed power lines and some homes lost some of their roofing. Also, some sheds and steam houses got flipped over. The storm surge was almost bad enough that the local officials were thinking of evacuating the town near the bay. Luckily, the wind switched directions and no one needed to be evacuated. All in all, it was an eventful weekend.
Kaitlyn went to the store last week (some time in the middle of the week) and was approached by a woman who asked if she knew how to play the piano. She answered that she did and the woman than pleaded with her to teach her daughter how to play the piano. Kaitlyn, being the nicest person in the world, agreed (however, never having experience teaching). So, Kaitlyn got a hold of her friends who have taught lessons before and asked them how to do it and set it up. Kaitlyn had her first lesson this week and she said it went well. I'll let you hear about it from her more next week.
Let's talk Super Storm! The Super Storm really didn't hit us. Sorry to say, but we were not anywhere near the center of this storm. However, we were in the path of the end of the storm. Starting Thursday or Friday the wind picked up. We had blizzard conditions all Friday at school. It was kind of fun. Friday and Saturday Togiak was under a "Winter" and a "Severe" Storm watch. A Winter Watch because of the blizzard whiteout conditions and a Severe Watch because of a predicted storm surge and flooding for lower Togiak. During the storm we endured 45-65 mph winds with gusts up to 80 mph. Togiak suffered some downed power lines and some homes lost some of their roofing. Also, some sheds and steam houses got flipped over. The storm surge was almost bad enough that the local officials were thinking of evacuating the town near the bay. Luckily, the wind switched directions and no one needed to be evacuated. All in all, it was an eventful weekend.
