Russian Karaoke and Bald Eagles

We left Mitch and Jeanne's house in Palmer and moved into the Marriott Residence Inn for the next six days. With Isabel, Milo, Cha Cha, Brewter, and the two of us in a one bedroom studio it was, to put it mildly, cozy. We did have a lot of fun, though.
On our last night on "The Mainland" my boss took us out to dinner at a place called...um...well, anyway, it was a really nice brew house in downtown Anchorage. The food was amazing and the company was even better. Afterwards it got a little interesting. We were invited to my boss's house whereupon a karaoke machine was produced with not only the traditional karaoke favorites, but also Russian karaoke favorites. Joe, my superintendent, is married to a Russian woman named Marina that has two obvious passions of being an incredible hostess and singing. It was a lot of fun! Although I will say that Cassidy pressured me into singing a karaoke song that I now regret. ( For the record, I, his wife did NOT chose the song! Although I kinda wish I had!) I just can't seem to pull of Like A Virgin as well as Madonna. Yes...there is a video.
Thursday we left for Adak. Jay and Jim (Jay has developed a curriculum that is fantastic and Jim is a professor from the University of Alaska Anchorage that is working with the student teachers) accompanied us and will be leaving on the rotator plane today (Sunday).
The arrival was both exciting and terrifying. This island is ABSOLUTELY BREATHTAKING and we love it. The United States Navy, However, felt that what this island was missing was three military bases worth of heavy machinery, scrap metal, and dilapidated buildings to make it complete. True story; The base built a 3.5 million dollar church up on the hill months before the base was decommissioned KNOWING THAT THE BASE WAS CLOSING. Magnify this by about 2500 and you get the idea of how much money is rusting and rotting out here.
Outside of the town, it is just beautiful. Yesterday we went exploring and found a stream where we could catch Silver Salmon by hand! It is not that easy, actually! Cassidy caught a couple and I caught a couple. We put ours back in fear of a game warden showing up, but Jim has a fishing license so today we are having salmon for dinner.
The school is actually very modern and has an incredible amount of resources readily available. I am really excited about getting started next week.
Cassidy, in typical fashion, has already met half the town while walking around. In fact, we had been on the Island about ten minutes when I pulled up to the house with Jim. Cassidy got to the house first in another vehicle and was smiling a little more than usual. "Come see what I got," she said. Inside the freezer is about ten pounds of halibut and salmon. "Mike gave them to us!" two questions immediately came into my head. Who the hell is Mike and how in the hell did you manage to meet someone so damn fast? Mike lives across the street and has a "fishing garage and a Caribou garage" and was apparently more than happy to share the fruits of his labor.
Cassidy has made the house a home already and it is very comfortable. Not the most modern of kitchens, but seeing as how Cassidy shipped pretty much every appliance, pot, pan, dish, and fork that was possible, we will be just fine!

As some added notes, we are excited to be here and feel as though the adventure has just begun. Isabel likes it and has met another 4 year old that I am sure will be playing with soon. The Bald Eagles that Tim forgot to mention are amazing!!! They are all over the island and seem to not be very afraid of us! We were with in 50 feet of one!!! On the same trip yesterday we also saw Sea Otters and Seals in what we know know is Clam Bay. Although Tim and I were very excited to see all of this Isabel was more excited about the sand! Pictures to follow soon!