"It's easier to put on slippers than to carpet the whole world." AlFranken

I felt that this quote was quite appropriate for how I felt throughout the day today (or maybe more how I should have felt)!

This morning was an early one. I work up at 4:15 to leave by 5:15 to catch the plane to Bethel. Jeff dropped me off and I have to say that even though I've only really known Jeff and Terry for a couple days, I feel like they are such a comfort and my Alaskan parents. :) I am so thankful to them for this weekend and making sure I had everything I needed. It was actually quite hard to tell them goodbye this morning.

I arrived at the gate around 6am and the flight was scheduled to leave by 6:40. Well, the weather in Bethel hasn't been very cooperative for flights this last week and our flight was delayed 3 times due to fog.  The last delayed boarding time was 7:45.  At that time, we found out our flight had been cancelled and that we were being bumped to the next flight which left around 12:30. 

During the delay, I did get to meet a group of new Lower Kuskokwim teachers who are wonderful! I have to thank them for keeping me positive throughout the day as well. I also happened to meet my roommate who heard me introduce myself to the other new teachers and came and introduced herself and her dog Cooper!

So we waited.......about 4 hours for our next flight. It gave us a good opportunity to get to know each other. 

The flight left for Bethel on time and I sat next to a teacher from the Lower Yukon School District who had her 2 year-old son Chan with.  Chan provided much entertainment to the entire plane when he decided he was too warm to keep wearing his Spider-man t-shirt and decided to take it off for the rest of the flight!

We arrived in Bethel around 2pm, relieved to finally be at our destination. It was quite a bit cooler when we got off the plane (by staircase).  When I walked into the terminal to claim our bags, I was surprised to find that all three pieces of my checked luggage (1 tub and 2 large suitcases) did not arrive with me in Bethel.  After all the delays, luggage delay seemed to be the cherry on top!

I have to say at this point in my recollection of today's events, that it was not exactly easy to keep a positive attitude with everything going on.  This is where Al Franken's quote applies.  I overheard my new friend, Julia talking about this quote and thought to myself that it is very true.  It is much easier to put those "positive slippers" on than to change everything around you.  Especially when life around cannot be changed.  I think that this whole experience will help me by teaching me patience and how to better go with the flow of life, even when it's not in my plan! :)

As I described in my earlier posts, Bethel's landscape is not very similar to that of Alaska.  A couple of us took a walk along the Kuskokwim river tonight before we went to pick up our bags to take our mind off things. So...here is Bethel!

The above pictures are all along the edge of the river including seagulls, huge crates, barges, and banks of the river.  I also saw a Polaris store where I'm thinking I'll get my snowmachine! :)

We are staying at the Long House tonight which is really the only hotel in Bethel. They have mostly bed and breakfasts.  Outside the Long House I saw this poster for the Kuskokwim 300 which is a dogsled race like the Iditarod.  I hope that I'll get to see this someday!

This is a really long post and I apologize if it's too long. Today was quite an eventful day! I have to say that my first impressions of Bethel were not the most positive, especially with all that I went through to get here but this last picture helped me to put my "positive slippers" on and I know that things will be great out here in the bush!