When an Unexpected Opportunity Comes Along that Totally Alters Your Current Course

KOYUK (Koy – yook):



1. A small Inupiaq village on the northeast corner of the Norton Sound. The population is approximately 300 people, the majority being Native Alaskans.

2. This coastal village is part of the three bush locations that some refer to as the “garden” villages. It is not only on the coast of the Sound and within more than reasonable distance to a river, it is also at the bottom of a beautiful hill covered in trees, the presence of which many people envy. Perhaps living without trees makes one appreciate them even more. (Fortunately, Unalakleet is also quite beautiful, so I have not experienced a complete lack of plant life.) It is also a favorite location for caribou hunting, a staple in many Alaskan people’s diets.

3. Koyuk is home to Koyuk Malamute School (a K-12 public education facility in the Bering Strait School District with total enrollment of a little over half of Unalakleet School’s, which is 187 students), some of the nicest people on Earth, and, after this summer, me.



I suppose I should give a bit of an explanation, as this may shock many of you. As my Dad put it, “Wait wait wait – you want to move to a smaller village?” I know, it’s crazy. And maybe I’m crazy. But truly, this is a good move for me.

I had every intention of returning to Unalakleet. I did not want to leave BSSD, and I would have been perfectly content staying here for however much longer I would be here. It is a good place, and this was a pretty unexpected turn of events. I have to admit that I did put in a transfer request just in case a scenario just as this one came up, not because I expected it, but because if I were to move anywhere outside of Unalakleet, I wanted it to be Koyuk. In any case, however, I was truly planning on staying in UNK – until last Monday.

I don’t need to go through every detail, but the idea was presented to me on Monday of last week, I affirmed my interest, and for 72 hours the personnel office was silent. Okay, so they were traveling, and I totally understand that. But I definitely experienced some anxiety. “What are they thinking? Are they going to offer it to me? They have to – I mean, who else would they give it to? But what if they don’t? I have to be prepared for them to say no. Maybe they found someone else. That’s okay – that’s okay. But what if they ask me? What are they thinking?” And so on and so forth. This was my cycle of thought. That and the constant checking of my email probably put me near coronary occlusion… It was painful. Erika and Kyle asked if I wanted to come up to Koyuk for the weekend to visit, and having had kind of a crazy week in several aspects of my life, I agreed, knowing full well that this was not a work related visit, but simply a trip to see friends. In fact, I was under orders not to say anything.

Thursday afternoon brought me sweet liberation from my stress – they offered me the teaching position in KKA (Koyuk), and I happily agreed. I would be leaving on Friday afternoon to visit my soon-to-be home, though I was still not allowed to tell anyone. Although, when I arrived at the school in KKA I learned that everyone knew. And so it became a beautiful and crazy and weird and good and everything weekend, talking about next year, taking care of business, getting to know my new colleagues and friends. It was a little overwhelming, since all of it had happened so quickly, and even now I am still processing it. Since everyone knew in KKA I knew that the wave of the rumor mill would soon reach UNK, and I knew I wanted people to hear the news of my departure from me. So I told my fellow teachers on Monday, or all those that I saw when I got back that afternoon, and I told my kids on Tuesday. That has been an experience in and of itself.



Now I have to pack. One box at a time, deep breaths, and to-do list by to-do list, every day brings me closer to this new thing. And yeah, it isn’t just a new school, a new village, and a new professional experience. I don’t really know how to tell you this.

Remember my last blog about my visit to Koyuk, and I talked about the yurt, and I put up a picture of what one looks like? I even said in the paragraph above the picture of the yurt, and I quote, “I’ve decided that one day I would like to live in a yurt. It’s very cool.” Little did I know that less than three months later I would be given the opportunity to do that very thing. So when I get to Koyuk this coming August I will not be moving into an apartment; I will be moving into a yurt.



Before you object, let me say a few things.

A. Yes, I do understand what it takes to live in a yurt. I understand the work and the responsibility and all of that. Yes, I get it. I am aware. And…

B. Although this yurt is equipped with a wood stove for heating, it also is wired with electricity, so I will be buying an electric space heater for warmth. This is for a couple of reasons, one of which is, yes, I am kind of lazy. It’s also because I do, in fact, enjoy chopping wood – I just want to keep enjoying it. If it’s a chore, I might not. And I think, too, it’s a good idea for me to ease myself into this yurt living thing, what with having teaching responsibilities on top of basic survival… like water.

Yes, I will have to haul water because, no, there is no indoor plumbing. “WHAT?? No running WATER?? How do you flush the toilet???” I will be using a honey bucket. If you do not know what that is, you should look it up. And I will have to haul water in a giant bin, I don’t know yet how often. That’s probably up to me and how much water I use in a week. But fortunately…

I bought a snow machine!!! (To all the lower-48ers out there, that is a snow mobile, the main form of transportation during the long winter months.) So although I’ll need to figure out what to do in the non-snowing months still, in the winter I will have a sweet ride for hauling water, trips up to the hot springs, drives down to Unalakleet, and wherever else I want to go!

So what about internet? Well yeah, unless I want to hook it up at my beautiful new place of residence, which I’m not sure yet if I will or not, I won’t have internet at home. I am told, though, that cell phones work there, as GCI has extended their network to some village locations, so I will be getting a cell phone this summer so that I can stay in touch with people and not be completely disconnected from the world – unless I turn off my phone. :) I will be located more at the edge of town, but like I said, it’s kind of a small town, so I won’t be completely isolated unless I want to be.

Despite the work required for living in a yurt, there are also a lot of benefits. One, I do not have to have a roommate – I can have my own house, albeit a relatively small, one-room yurt. This is something that I was really hoping for. I did not want a roommate, and it was looking like I would have gotten one had I not chosen the yurt. Also, I will be saving a lot on rent, which is cool. The yurt forces one to be less lazy, as basic chores are vital to one’s very existence, as well as forcing me further into developing my disastrously poor organizational skills. My hope is to try and simplify my life, and living with too many modern conveniences gives me the leeway to allow too many things, as in actual items that I do not need into my space. It’s time, with the help of the yurt, to take on the 100 Item Challenge. And so, with that, I feel as though the yurt has taken on a life of its own, and perhaps it deserves now to be given a capital Y – the Yurt – and, in time, maybe even a name. Adrianna wisely suggests “Burt the Yurt.”

And in answer to the ever ominous and inevitable question, “Why?” I simply respond, “Because I want to.” :)

Thoughts?