Adventures at the Airport

So, if you've been wondering because of the lack of blog posts what I've been doing... Well, for one, its summer. :) Alaskan summers are so short, we have to jam pack them full. And the past month or so, I've been somewhat of a workaholic. At the beginning of the summer, I quit my job of 10+ years to work temporarily at the local Literacy Council. I know some think that's crazy for me to quit a good job that has been more than good to me for a temp position. But I prayed hard about it and felt it was a good switch. It gave me an opportunity to teach ESL, which is a field I'm kinda studying for and thinking about doing overseas. 

I still had my job at the airport, but wasn't on the regular schedule. The first part of the summer, I only worked a night or two a week; some weeks not at all. It was nice to relax at home and spend time outside in the sun! :) But the past 3-4 weeks, I've been scheduled more and subbed even more. The past two weeks, I think I've worked about 60+ hours - which is a lot for me! That's in addition to taking an online summer class, teaching Sunday School and mentoring/teaching a couple people. 

Not complaining here, its all my own choice. I do enjoy working, though some days when I'm falling asleep on my feet, I tell myself "you're crazy!" But I work hard here, so I can take months off later and travel. :) So, its worth it. 

And even when I'm working I have crazy adventures. One Saturday morning in July I was working the early, early morning shift. (my body definitely doesn't like getting out of bed at 330am). I had gone downstairs at the airport to say goodbye to one of my students who was headed to India to visit family for month. I noticed two guys sleeping on a bench and thought they were firefighters heading home. As I was leaving, they were gathering their belongings. I stopped and said hi and found out they were actually Danish backpackers. They had arrived at 2am and were sleeping until they could go to their hostel. After talking for a bit, I offered them a ride to their accommodations, as I was in between planes. 

A couple days later I was able to help them out again, by giving them a ride from the East Ramp to the West Ramp of our airport. They were getting ready to fly out on a small bush plane to the Brooks Range to backpack and float the Noatak River. Their plans were to go for 7 weeks!! Actually they are still out in the Bush. I always enjoy meeting people from other countries; now, I have a connection in Denmark - one more place to visit one day. 

The Danish Backpackers

The other thing at the airport, you never know what airplanes you might see. :) One evening, we were waiting for our commercial flight, when an older plane landed and pulled into our ramp area. We waved at them to move over to the next gate area. The plane was marked with Russian words and flag, but the tail # was American. But then we overheard it was coming in from Canada. Such an odd mix. I think they were coming in for something to do with the a memorial of the Soviet-American Land Lease from WWII. But who knows.... just interesting all the different aircraft that land at our airport. 

the "Soviet" plane

We've had beautiful weather most of the summer. Lots of sunshine and warm/hot days. I enjoy working the sunny days outside on the ramp. One week in July it was rainy off and on all week. I went to work for just 2 1/2 hours - when I arrived, the sun was shining, but black clouds were off in the distance. When I left later in the afternoon, the sun was again shining. But the time in between..... well not so much. I was wearing my hoodie, because it was a little chilly. Under the sun, it was getting warmer though, so I debated taking my sweatshirt off. Decided against it.... and then it started sprinkling. Then raining. Then hailing. Then pouring buckets of rain!! We were huddled underneath the plane waiting for the passengers to finish boarding, so we could push back. We were more than soaked to the skin, I'm pretty sure I could have wrung a gallon of water out of my clothes. My boss told me I looked like a drowned rat. Yeah, it was that bad. And I had to be back about an hour later to work again. So, went to my friend's house nearby to borrow their dryer. 

drowned rat

But then there are the beautiful summery/fall days with blue skies and big fluffy clouds! 

from the Ramp of our airport