Last Day in Noorvik

Wednesday; what a sad day...but such a great week had to end sometime. One thing I do look forward to is having a reliable clock- not that we really need one this week- but you never realize how often you glance at a clock until there are no reliable ones. The school district bought those 'fancy' clocks for the Noorvik school- one in every room- but since they are so far north the clocks reset themselves all the time- you'll look one minute and its 8, the next minute the clock could have changed to 6. It would be one thing if they were just off by an hour or two, but sometimes their off by odd minutes- and every clock is different so there is no way of knowing which one is right or how far off from correct they actually are. Many classes had a separate clock hung adjacent to the expensive clock. Very odd.
The morning started with a teacher mini in-service before school as Rainy from Kotz demonstrated the use of the new SMART Boards which had been installed in each classroom recently. With the start of school at 9am the high schoolers met with the Mac Book representatives to get better acquainted with their new machines. I sat in on the high school Inupiat class which was acting like a catch for the middle school students who were not old enough to get the computers so not everyone in the class today was usually in the class. This guy was busy trying to complete his bunny mittens and they were almost done. He was so proud of them with good reason.Most kids had work to do from other classes, but some girls were more interested in my camera and why I was there.They eventually took control of it and turned it on me in a sort of interrogation style questioning.

Eventually Gordon came in to let me know it was time. With my bags packed and coat on I sat in the entry way listening to the CB radio to hear when the plane would arrive. As I sat lines of elementary kiddies following their teachers passed by us , each one waving by, each one calling us by name; it was one of the saddest sights to see. I was wishing for fog or snow as I sat there looking at the bright sunny day outside the front door, just hoping my flight could be delayed for a day or two.