17 hours of layover time, really, is that how anyone would
want to spend his time? Really,
think about it. If you lived in
the middle of nowhere in Alaska and got to go to a teaching conference in
Orlando, Florida, all expenses paid, wouldn’t you want to go? Yes, I would too; however, spending the
endless hours in the airport was not what I signed on for.
After the many hours of waiting for several planes: Shishmaref to Nome, Nome to Unalkleet,
Unalkleet to Anchorage, Anchorage to Seattle, and Seattle to Orlando, I was
certainly ready to be done traveling.
I arrived at the Orlando airport and was thrilled to be done with plane
rides. Even though I was done with
air transportation, that doesn’t mean I had even begun the road
transportation. I had the pleasure
of taking a Disney coach bus to the hotel I was staying at. When I saw the bus
arrive, the excitement that came over me took away all the annoyances that had
tucked themselves in the bags under my eyes, during the last hours of travel. I got on the bus and to my surprise, as
well as the rest of the AK crew, we were chilly!! We had all taken off our
sweaters because it was so nice out but the AC (not the grocery store, haha)
was more than our bodies could handle.
I spent the next 45 minutes enjoying the view of Orlando and
watching the infomercials about Disney World. Once I got to the hotel, I dropped off my stuff in the room
and went to dinner. My room? What was it like? It was my own! It had two huge beds, a bathroom (with
a washcloth in the sink which was creepy) and a door that opened up to what
should have been a patio, but was really a drop off. Oh my gosh, and below the T.V. was this mosaic light
that glowed, similarly someone would picture a sunrise after living in total
darkness for far too long. Anyway, after admiring my room I went to dinner and
was a little confused about the ordering process. When you got to the restaurant you were to look at the menu
on large screens then type in your own order in the computer system. I felt like I was working at Applebee’s
again. Anyway, after placing my
order I could choose from the a-la-carte items. For those of you who know me, where did I head? For those of you who don’t know me,
I’ll give you a hint. Where I live
I don’t get my desired amount of fruits or vegetables. Ready to guess? Nope, you’re wrong. I went straight for the desserts. Maybe I should have mentioned I’m a fan
of those too. Oh well. I found a chocolate cake with chocolate
fondant within, with chocolate crumbles on top and gummy worms sticking
out. Yes, it was the perfect
appetizer to start off my meal.
The burger I had was a burnt to a crisp (I think this vaguely resembles
my first burger from the Snack Shack.)
Anyway, I was hungry enough to eat the charcoal burger, so I did. When dinner was over, I went back to my
room and got what ended up being the most amount of sleep in one night that I
would get for the entire trip, a solid 6.5 hours.
I don’t wake up easily. On any given morning, one on which I have to be up by a
certain time, I have at least six alarms set. I followed this same routine in FL because I knew that a
different place didn’t make for a different, non-existent, internal clock. So, I slept through all of the alarms
and managed to get up 15 minutes before I was supposed to be ready to head do
the convention center. I had
planned on straightening my hair, but because of my extra long slumber, I
didn’t have time. I decided to do
my hair in the cute curl pony. For
those of you not aware of my insane hair fashion sense, that’s where I
straighten just the top layer of my hair so that it’s not ‘fuzzy’ and the part
in the ponytail is curly. Well, I
had enough time for that but didn’t plan on having my straighter die. Yes, my first day at the convention was
going swimmingly. I quickly got my
hair wet and made it curly. Once I
was set to go, I joined the other three of my AK crew and we made our way to
registration.
What do you picture when you think of a teachers
convention? Well, forget whatever
you’re thinking, unless of course you were picturing balloons! There were balloons everywhere, it was
a little strange, I didn’t think I was going to see decorations like I did at
prom. The ‘best teacher’ confetti
was a little much. The breakfast tables
were not! There were fruit, bagels,
pastries, coffee, tea, hot cocoa, and juices of all kinds. You don’t think it still would have
been a teacher’s convention without the balloons and confetti? Okay, let’s take the décor out of the
scenario. We’re left with the
tasty breakfast, a few folders, and other conference stands; does that sound
more reasonable? I agree, it
does. But really, the breakfast
was amazing. I had a bagel, some
pineapple, grapes, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and apple juice.
After inhaling my breakfast I sat through an amazing keynote
speaker. His name was Byron Pitts and
he spoke of how he was illiterate until age 12, how he was once asked, where to
go when the world hurts you, and how no matter what someone tells you, you can
always prove them wrong with dedication.
His words were inspiring and made me think about what I have gone though
in my lifetime as well as the situations some of my students will be dealing
with. I can only hope that I can
be as good of a person as Byron.
After the keynote, I had the unfortunate experience of
eating Mexican food. I don’t like
spicy foods and I wasn’t a fan of it any more in FL. I ate what my mouth could tolerate before the forest fire
broke out. During the time I was attempting
to put out the fire, I was busy engaging in conversations about teaching in
such a remote part of Alaska. Many
people wanted to hear what it was like, I seriously considered giving them the
URL to this blog, only because I got kind of sick of telling the story so many
times. Once time was getting close to the end of lunch, I headed to the room my
first session was in.
My first session was “On Track for Curiosity Corner.” Curiosity Corner is the curriculum I
use and I chose the session, as well as the rest of them, to make sure I was
‘on track’ and to get ideas for things to enhance what I was already
doing. Had I learned more than
what I did, which was that I should have chosen a different session, perhaps I
would have been able to enhance my classroom a bit. I felt as though what I had just sat through would have been
more beneficial had I heard it before I had to teach it. By the end of the session, I was ready
to get out of that room. I headed
to my next room to hear the styling of something else that had to do with my
wonderful pre-schoolers.
Over course of the next two days I had five more sessions
filled with learning about things I felt as though I already knew. Since I have heard stories about
in-services I am aware of how boring they can be. Did I have fun during ‘off hours?’ is probably what you’re
thinking. I’ll let you take a
guess.
Monday night, Amy, Sammy, Kurt and I headed to Downtown
Disney. I hadn’t been to Disney
World in a long time and didn’t remember much of Downtown. Although, I’m not sure if I had ever
been there so that could have been why too. Anyway, we walked around and saw the variety of street
performers, restaurants and other entertainment. We ended up eating dinner at Planet Hollywood. For those of you who haven’t heard of
it, I hadn’t, it’s like The Hard Rock Café. I hope you’ve heard of that place. Planet Hollywood however is based around movies, not music. We really liked our server. He made jokes and played off of what we
said not just what he would have probably said on any given night. After much of a debate with the menu I
finally decided what to eat. Now,
before I tell you, please remember where I live, how much eating at the Snack
Shack costs and that I was getting per-diem up to $45. You got that in your head? Good. I got a cookies and cream shake to drink, zucchini chips for
an appetizer and a bbq, bacon, cheeseburger for my entrée. Yes, my stomach hurt, in fact, it hurt
after my first bite of my burger.
As much as everyone was saying that the French fries were there
favorite, I couldn’t eat them. I
felt like I was going to bust. No,
wait, I felt like Violet, the girl in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” you
know, the one who chews gum and blows up like a blueberry. Actually I don’t think it was a
blueberry but that is beside the point.
By the time we were done eating, our server still hadn’t come to give us
our checks. We had however heard him talking to a nearby table and he was using
the same jokes he used at our table.
Really? When I was a server
one of the things that was drilled into my head was to have more than one
opening line so your nearby tables don’t think you’re just giving them the same
old line. Maybe this guy deserved
what he had coming for him the rest of the evening. Eventually, we were able to ask for the check, it only took
about five minutes to get it. We
all had our cards ready to give to him, of course. He took our cards and had them for a good, ehhhh, ten
minutes? So, we signed the slips,
left our tips (I kind of wish I had left a smarty pants ‘tip’ on the receipt)
and went on our ways.
We knew we needed to walk off our dinner so we went in
search of jeans. I know what
you’re thinking. No, I really
do! Jeans, at Disney World? Yes, I needed new jeans because mine
had a hole in the most pleasant of places. For a couple hours we walked around, took lots of tourist
pictures, saw many pond side performances, and found the largest Disney Store
in existence. This store was
incredible! Had I been in as in
love with Disney as I was when I was when I was in ‘that phase,’ which lasted
far too long, I would have died standing in the doorway. Although the store was too crowded and
certainty didn’t smell of Tinkerbell dust, I roamed around and eventually found
the perfect item. I had been
extremely cold on the plane rides so when I saw the Minnie Mouse Snuggie I
decided it would be perfect for future plane rides. So, yes, that’s what I ended up getting. I officially own a Snuggie, well,
Disney brand.
After our extravagant experience in the Disney store we
continued to mosie around. On the
rapid adventure to find the nearest bathroom, we found the LEGO store! It was filled with just about every
LEGO, ever. I had been looking for
LEGO’s at garage sales so when I saw the wall that allowed me to choose
whichever ones I wanted, I went for it.
Here’s what I was thinking.
I was thinking about my kids.
I got many LEGO’s in the square form. I am going to write letters on them which will allow my
students to work on letter identification, letter matching, upper and lower
case connection, sounds, and much more, all while improving their fine motor
skills. I know, I am totally and
completely in the right profession.
When the night was winding down and my second wind was
beginning to die off. I walked
into T-Rex, which was a restaurant, but found something unexpected. You’ve heard of Build-A-Bear
right? How about,
Build-A-Dino!?!?! Have you gotten
the idea that I’m a kid at heart still?
I hope so because not only was I excited about the store, I built a dinosaur. I chose to make a green
triceratops. I rubbed her heart on
my head so she would be smart, on my belly so she would never be hungry, and on
my nose so she wouldn’t smell.
After multiple childish photos and actions, I had completed my dinosaur,
Annabelle. Not long after
Annabelle had been born we headed back to the hotel to rest up for the
following day.
Tuesday was the day I was anxious to go to Magic Kingdom,
all throughout the sessions. I’m
going to bypass the session information because honestly, I think you’re more
interested in hearing about what happened afterwards. Here we go. We
had just finished our last session and I went upstairs to get ready to head to
Magic Kingdom! When I got up there,
I checked on Sammy because she had gotten sick during the last session. We were worried she wouldn’t be well
enough to go to the park but she was.
When all four of us were ready to go, we found the monorail on the 4th
floor and went on our way.
When we got to Magic Kingdom we made our way through the
security entrance which was much easier to do than going through security at
the airport. I was a complete tourist; I took pictures of the Cinderella castle
and the Walt Disney statue. Once
we got through the ‘kids in a candy store’ idea we started off toward the
rides. The first one we went on
was the Stitch ride. For those of
you who don’t know, Stitch is the alien life form from “Lilo and Stitch.” There should have been a warning at the
entrance of the ride that said: if
you have any kind of gag reflex, do not go on this ride. Why should the ride have this
sign? It’s because the ride does
not involve loops and twists like a roller coaster. It’s because the ride involved the smell of Italian food
being burped. Does that image
create for an interesting ride? I
don’t think so. As soon as we
could get out of there, we did!
We headed for Space Mountain! This is the ride that I was waiting to go on from the moment
I found out that I would be receiving a free ticket to Disney! It’s a roller
coaster that does not involve going upside down but it does involve riding
through the dark, seeing stars, and going around turns that you can’t see
coming. It was well worth the anxiousness. 
Eventually we ended up getting hungry and had funnel cakes
with strawberries, powdered sugar and whipped cream. The bottle of water I got was gone shortly after my funnel
cake.
As the night went on, we made our way to the Haunted Mansion
ride, the Jungle ride, and then saw the fireworks over the castle. After Magic Kingdom we went back to
Downtown Disney and had dinner at the same place I made Annabelle. I had a chicken salad with vinaigrette
dressing. I didn’t know what to
have for a drink so I asked to try a particular kind of wine. I didn’t like it so I ended up getting strawberry
lemonade with sprite mixed in. I
was asked if I wanted alcohol in it and said no. However, when the drink came I didn’t drink it. I asked if there was alcohol in it and
was reassured that there wasn’t.
As soon as I was told that there wasn’t, the server winked at Amy, Sammy
and Kurt because there really was.
No, I didn’t get charged for my drink I was fairly upset for the rest of
the evening. I’m not sure if it’s
because of the drink or because it was ‘upset’ kind of day.
Anyway, Wednesday was the last day of the in-service. I had my last sessions and then spent
the rest of the day relaxing, literally.
I got a massage, which wasn’t worth $150, but I did fall asleep, which I
had never done during a massage before.
After my massage I went back to the funky menu restaurant on the 4th
floor. I had cheese flatbread
(pizza) and some of the most delicious green beans I’ve ever had. They were
chilled and had a dressing and poppy seeds over the top. I think I need to find a way to make
the green beans in that fashion.
I’m going to have to make sure I do it with crisp green beans, not the
canned ones. I ate my lunch down
by the pool and relaxed under the sun until it got too cold for only a swimsuit.
For dinner we ended up taking a boat to another hotel and
ate dinner there. I had a
delectable steak, mac-n-cheese, broccoli, and mussels. What did I have to drink? I ordered water but ended up stealing
Amy’s sangria. At first she asked
me if I wanted to it. I said yes
and then she turned away, turned back and looked at me funky because I was
drinking her drink. By the time it
was only half way gone I was ultra giggly, yes, gigglier than my normal
self. I had so much fun! I was messing with Kurt. To make this an appropriate blog post
I’m going to shorten the details to the fact that apparently I’m a ‘flirty
drunk.’ It was a night well worth
remembering. Amy says that she has
an amazing story to tell because of me and I’m okay with that. Don’t worry, none of the details are
more than your typical elementary boyfriend and girlfriend scenario but it was
still ‘magical.’
Although I had just gone to sleep, it was time to wake up.
We had to be downstairs to check out of our rooms at 2:30am. The Disney shuttle came to take us to
the airport. I was nowhere near as
cold this ride; I had my Minnie Mouse snuggie to keep we warm. Once we got to the airport we had to
deal with the dreaded…security. Would
you like to take a guess as to how long it took to get through? I’ll give you a hint. First we were told to go from the
security entrance to the other entrance.
That’s where they told us that that one was closed too. Eventually we got to go through the
security for employees. That’s
right, it took us longer to get to the security point than it did to get
through security itself. We were
the first ones in line and made our way through there at a speedy rate. Once we were in the free zone, we
ate. I had a turkey sandwich,
chips, and chocolate milk!!!! Yes, chocolate milk, not powdered chocolate milk,
real chocolate milk. You know, the
milk that comes from a brown cow?
Well, that’s the kind it was.
Once I was on the plane, I slept. I fell asleep as we were taking off and woke up when we were
able to de-board the plane. We
went to the next plane and I slept that entire ride too. When we finally made it to Seattle we
had to run the next plane because our plane to Nome was already boarding when
we landed. Where were we sitting
in the plane? We were in the back,
the last rows of the plane. Yes,
we made it to the plane but it was too much of a rush to deal with after so
much traveling. But guess
what? I stayed awake the entire
next plane ride!!!! Everyone in the group was so proud.
We stayed in Nome for the night. Where is there to eat in Nome? There are actually a few places but my favorite is Milano’s. I had a Hawaiian cheeseburger and got a
pineapple pizza to go. I figured,
as long as I’m there, I might as well enjoy it. The next morning, I went to the airport and slept for the
plane ride back to Shishmaref. When
I got back, I went back to my place, showered, and headed off to school. I got to school during lunchtime.
My kids were so excited to see me. One of them said “Lauren, I missed you before.” And other kept telling me about a
project that she was working on at home for me. She repeated several times that it was a heart and had
stickers. It’s true! I got it and it was indeed a heart and
had stickers. Although I only had
the afternoon with my kiddos, I needed the weekend to relax.
For those of you who were awaiting a blog post, I hope that
this tides you over for a while. I
think I might be “worded out” for a bit.
