OMFG. What did I just do??

It was not until the moment that Ferno and Jim Tweeto led us over to a tiny 208B Cessna and we climbed over our giant coolers and bags containing all our food and clothing to find seats directly behind our pilots that it finally hit me:

Holy f*cking crap. This is the craziest thing I have ever done. 

As the tiny plane roared to life (suddenly it occurs to me why there was a pile of free earplugs in the office) and started climbing above Unalakleet and over the Norton Sound, I looked over to my husband, who was grinning like an idiot, clearly loving every minute of this, I realized: this MIGHT be the craziest thing I've ever done, but it is also hands-down THE MOST AWESOME.

. 
The view from behind the pilot.

A view of St. Michael, the next town over.

The Alaskan tundra and vast ocean that unfolded beneath us is breathtakingly beautiful this time of year. As we made our final approach to Stebbins, I could see the rows of small buildings that make up our new home. We landed easily and pulled up next to a white pickup. My principal, a friendly, gregarious man with a stellar reputation for taking care of his staff  (more about him later) stepped out to greet us and help us with our baggage. He gave us a grand tour, which took about 10 minutes, then dropped us off at our new home. We have a lovely two bedroom townhouse-style home. It is fully furnished, warm and spacious. We have a huge kitchen, plenty of storage and......OUR OWN WASHER/DRYER. After so many years of hauling my laundry everywhere, I almost cried with joy.

This is our front door. 

Stebbins itself is...hard to describe. Imagine a small town in the middle of the country. The kind with one general store. The kind that is small enough you might drive right through it without realizing you missed it. Now take away any lawn, trees and paved roads. Add a huge ocean on one side and tons of dogs, replace desert/crops/lawn/etc with tundra and any cars with ATVs and snow machines. Now imagine there's no running water (except in teacher housing) and your only way in and out of town is by bush plane. That's our reality.  I knew roughly what I'd be walking into when I signed the contract, but seeing it all laid out was a totally different thing. I would have freaked out a little because of the drastic change, but then I got a tour of the school.

This is our school. It is a beautifully kept building. I can see it from my front door.

Our school is beautiful. It is small (compared to some in the lower 48) but well stocked. The instant I walked in, I felt at home. Years of working with the PSC gives you a sense of what kind of environment you're walking into almost instantly upon entering a school, and this place felt perfect. 

I am really excited to get started getting to know everyone and diving into the curriculum (it looks like I'll be teaching middle school Math).

 For the time being, we're busy setting up our home and getting to know the town. It turns out AT&T has service up here, so my phone is working. Mike's is not- no sprint service here-but we have skype and gmail if you're looking to chat. 

Love you all, miss you, and more coming soon!