Adventures in Overseas Traveling

Some trips Have more surprised than others. While the surprises make them worthy of a good story, I prefer the less adventurous trips. Alas, on my last trip uneventfulness was not on the itinerary. For you my dear reader this means an interesting tale to tell..,
On Thursday I was supposed to fly out of Anchorage at 3:25 pm. My paperwork from Condor said I had to check in at the airport 3 hours early (I tried checking in online, but online check-in was not available for flights to or from the U.S.). I really wanted to going swimming and couldn't imagine that I really needed to be at the Anchorage airport THAT early so I arranged for my uncle to pick me up at 1. After waiting in line I checked and then was told two "interesting" pieces of information. 1) The plane was delayed until 5 pm and 2) we were departing out of the north terminal. Now in Anchorage there are two terminals -the north and the south. Generally speaking the north terminal is only used for arriving international flights so there's not much there. As far as the wait, I just went back to Grandma's house. I was however concerned about missing my connection. I asked at the desk and was told when I landed in Frankfurt if I had missed my flight see a Condor agent.
We ended up getting in 2.5 hours late and this is where the adventure began. We exited the plane directly onto the Tarmac and then took a bus to the terminal. We were let off in a seemingly random location with nothing more than a door. There were no Condor agents or even anyone else to ask. I found a departures board and found another flight going to Zurich so I headed in that direction. I reached a place where they were checking boarding passes. Since I didn't have a valid boarding pass, I asked one of the agents what to do. She told me to go to the Lufthansa desk by gate A13. However, I had to go through security first. My backpack got pulled aside to be checked. The man asked me to open my bag (he was speaking English to me) and told me he was checking for explosives. I didn't think anything of that because that's a pretty standard procedure, but after a moment things changed. As I was watching I saw the words "Substanz dektiert" (I may have spelled that wrong) pop up on the machine display. Now I was worried. At first the man didn't say anything to me and I wondered what was going on. He did some things and took off his gloves and then he called someone. After calling someone he told me something had been detected and I replied in German, "yes, I read that." Next thing I knew I was being greeted by a man in a military uniform with a big gun strapped across his chest. In German he told me he was a security personnel and then asked if I spoke German. I replied that I did and he went on to tell me that an explosive material had been detected, but the machine was very sensitive. I don't remember the full order of the conversation because 1) it was in German and I'm writing in English (I find my memories-word wise- are stored by language and really difficult to access in a language other than the one they were made in) and 2) my stress levels at this time were, understandably, quite high. When he asked for my ID I took at my passport and looking back I chuckle at his reaction (I didn't at the time after all I didn't know what was going to happen to me). When he saw my American passport he was visibly shocked, but continued to speak to me in German. They went through my bag, made me turn on my iPad and swipe off of the lock screen, opened my Kindle case, but didn't actually turn that one on (I wonder with the display always on the screen if they thought it was on or if because there's no lock function on that that it was turned on and I just missed it). They also went through everything else in my bag including my extra underwear (I ALWAYS put extra in my carry on, you never know when your bag isn't going to make it). Then came another question that concerned me. They asked for my boarding pass (we'd already established some time before I showed him my passport that I had flown from Alaska and was going to Switzerland-actually that might have contributed to his surprise. He might have chalked my accent up to being Swiss). I took out my boarding pass, but explained that I was on my way to gate A13 to get another one because I had missed my connecting flight. Man let me tell you I was relieved as the man with the gun simply showed me empathy telling me that sucks. The other one said he'd still have to scan it. The security guy left, the original guy scanned my boarding pass and on I continued.
As I kept following the signs I ended up in the middle of a group of Chinese people and in an immigration line. Right as I got to the line, the poor guard at the front was struggling because many of the Chinese people were trying to go to the line for European citizens - and they didn't understand English (or German - he tried once in German and then repeatedly in English). I decided to help him out. I told several of the people (in Chinese) that that line was only for Europeans. They passed the word on and the rest of the Chinese people got in the correct line.
After this I found the customer service center got a number and sat down to wait. As I was waiting I decided I was going to speak to the agent in English. However, events conspired against me. When my number was called this woman went up to my assigned counter. She was speaking German and so I used German to tell her, "Excuse  me, I have number 3515." She saw she had 16, apologized and stepped away. If course after this the agent spoke to me in German. At first it looked like everything was going to be simple. She told me I had already been booked on the next flight at 4:25. I asked for the arrival time and told her great, I could let my sister know. I start messaging my sister while she's working. She tells me to wait just a moment and she'll print out my boarding pass for me.  Then, All of the sudden though I can see she has a problem. She tells me she has to make a quick phone call. As she's speaking on the phone I hear her tell the person on the other end several times that I am standing  right in front of her at gate A13. When she gets off the phone she writes a flight number and gate number on my ticket and tells me to hurry to gate A30 they are waiting for me. I look at my watch and see that it's almost 4. A30 is a long way and I hurry there. I get there just before boarding begins and walk up to the gate agent. I tell her that I am Kristin Cannon. She gives me an already printed boarding pass and tells me she's made a call about my luggage, but isn't sure it'll make it to Zurich. When I get there I should file a missing baggage claim and they'll deliver it to whatever address I would like. I think what happened is it took me so long to get through security and immigration that they declared me as not on the flight and removed my luggage. The good news is when I got to Zurich my suitcase was there and there were no more surprises (except The Swisscom store at the airport was sold out of SIM cards). I arrived at my sister's place just in time for dinner.

Becoming an elite traveler

On Monday I completed the steps to receive Global Entry for the next five years. After I returned from my interview my grandmother told me that I had entered the ranks of being an elite traveler and thus why I named this blog post what I did.
When I originally started this blog I was writing about teaching in a village in the arctic. I posted about daily life and also things about packing because I knew that one of the things I had done was read as many blogs about this as I could as I was deciding to go. Now I read blogs on a lot of topics related to living abroad and so I am writing today's post because one of the things I couldn't find much about was the global entry program.
The global entry program is for people who enter the United States frequently and allows them to bypass the lines and go to a special kiosk to do their processing. One of the things I learned in my interview was that when I enter using global entry I do not have to fill out the card on the plane. There are four questions I will answer on the kiosk and then it will print out everything I need. The fee for applying is $100 regardless of whether your application is approved and before I spent $100 applying I wanted to know that it was worth it. So I spoke to my brother-in-law and also a student (this one actually came about because I was asking a co-worker and he was nearby), both of whom have global entry. It seemed worth it, especially because for that same 5 year period I also get TSA precheck. Thus, I applied.
The whole process was really quite simple. The first step was an online application that you could save and come back to finish as you had time. The only difficulty here was as a teacher my contracts have expired usually in May (my most recent one was in June) and my new contracts (when I switched jobs) didn't start until August. The system would not allow you to leave any type of gap and so for each of those, I had to put down unemployed (really irking because I wasn't REALLY unemployed). The other catch was similar with addresses. I left each of the schools in the bush in May but didn't move to the new location until August. This meant that I did not have an address for June and July of those years. Thankfully, I had mostly stayed with my grandmother and I put her address down. It probably wasn't a big deal, but I was concerned about my application being rejected if I wasn't completely and utterly honest, but at the same time some of my situations are shall we say, unique.
I'm not completely sure how long it took, but I think about a week later I received notification that my application had been conditionally accepted. Now I needed to schedule an interview to finish the process. Unfortunately, there was nothing available in Los Angeles until after I departed for Anchorage. I had wanted to have the process finished before I left for Anchorage so that I would have TSA pre-check. There were openings as early as the next day for Anchorage and so I scheduled my interview for a day when I would be in Anchorage and I thought it would be convenient.
 My interview was scheduled for this past Monday at 10:30 am. On Sunday evening I was reading over the list of what to bring and I got rather concerned. I was supposed to bring proof of address. I had filled out my address correctly, but I had moved since then. Therefore, I put together a collection of documents to demonstrate my residency at both locations. I even added a bank address change notification to the pile. All because I was concerned they would reject my application.
The next morning I woke up hours early and tried googling this process and found very little information.
Thus, I left early, quite nervous. There was no need to be nervous.
I arrived at the office about 20 minutes early. I checked in and was directed to wait. I waited 5-10 minutes and then was called back into an office. She asked for my notification letter if I had it. She said if I hadn't printed it, it would be okay, my passport and my driver's license. I gave her all three documents and then I told her that I wasn't sure what to do because my address had changed from when I filled out the application and I wasn't sure what needed to be done about that. She told me it was no problem. It did cause here a little bit of trouble in some extra steps to change my address, but otherwise no issue. She asked me some pretty standard questions about any convictions, and other mundane questions (sorry I don't remember). Then she took my fingerprints using a small fingerprint scanner connected to her computer. The fingerprints were easier than most I've had because I only had to do four fingers of 1 hand together, then four fingers of the other hand and finally my two thumbs together. Next, my fingerprints were sent to the FBI somewhere on the east coast (my how technology has changed things) for approval while she explained how the program worked. I was approved a few minutes later and finished. I will receive in the mail a card to use if I cross into the U.S. on foot (not very likely people don't usually cross the Alaska/Canada border on foot and I don't see myself crossing the border from Mexico, but you never know..) and when I renew my passport, since it will expire before my global entry does, I will have to go to a processing center and have them scan my new passport. I won't need an appointment and it should only take about a minute. I received a number to use as a known traveler number for getting TSA pre-check and I was finished. My worry, concern and inability to sleep had all been for naught.

My rather tired passport. It will be getting quite a workout soon!

Obtaining a Chinese Z Visa part I

A Z-visa is the visa required to be allowed to work in China and the process has definitely gotten a lot more complicated than the last time I lived in China. Like any government, China has an ever changing list of requirements for being allowed to work in their country as a foreigner. When I first went to China in 2002 I didn't really have to do any of the work for my visa. I believe I had to get a physical (I know I had to do that part, I still even have the form) and fill out a form. I think that is all I had to do. It is possible it was more difficult than that because I was going through an organization based in the greater L.A. area and they actually did most of the application procedure for me. In 2003 I changed employers and worked directly for 内蒙古科技大学 （Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology). When I went to work for Neikeda ( 内科大- short form of the university name) they had me get a tourist visa while I was home over the summer and then after I arrived they converted it to a Z visa.
Over the years the process has changed and gotten more and more complicated. One of the early changes was that you couldn't arrive on a tourist visa and convert to a Z visa. In order to get a Z visa you had to leave the country and so a lot of people did visa runs to Hong Kong. Now, you have to apply for a Z visa from your home country (sometimes you can get an exception for the country you currently live in if it isn't your home country). When I taught at Neikeda I remember having to send them a copy of one of my college diplomas. Starting this year you have to actually send the original diploma in. Thus, as you can see there have been a lot of changes. This post is actually going to focus on what I've had to do so far toward my visa. It is part I because the process is not complete and I do not yet have my visa. Some of you may not be interested in reading all of these details. That's okay. I'm writing this because I searched the web for this topic and didn't find much. I really could have used help figuring out how to do some of these things. Thus, I'm writing a post about it.
After signing my contract I scanned it and sent it to my new school. I then received an email with the list of documents I needed to obtain and directions on which ones had to be sent in hard copy to the school and which ones only needed to be scanned and then the originals brought with me to Beijing in August.

Here's the list:

• Physical with blood tests in the last 6 months - scanned copy with original sent to Beijing
• Resume including high school and explaining any gaps in the timeline - electronic copy only
• letters of recommendation from my schools for the last two years (which for me is 2 schools) - these had to be sent as hard copies with original signatures.
• Original copy of my teaching license
• Original copy of my diploma - originally I was told this had to be my most recent diploma, but then the HR person at my school told me I could send one of my bachelor's diplomas because it was going to be rather difficult to get my most recent diploma sent.
• Original copy of a non-criminal check
• Original copy of a child abuse clearance check

The physical, non-criminal check and child abuse clearance were the difficult parts. Obtaining the physical had two main problems. 1) I wanted/needed it quickly and did not have primary care physician. I spent part of a morning calling around try to find places to do it. I finally found a good place that could get me in about a week later. 2) The doctor was rather thrown off by the form. He'd never seen anything like it and wasn't sure how to fill it out. I had brought my form from 2002 and I think he liked seeing how it had been filled out before. He decided for some of the things on the form he would write that those tests were unnecessary. We'll have to see if that'll be accepted when I get to Beijing or if I'll have to repeat the whole thing. One of the big things that I knew China requires having proof that I do not have is AIDS and STDs. They also ask for tuberculosis. Thus, I had to have quite a bit of blood drawn. The next day I got a phone call from the hospital telling me that the incubator had broken overnight and I had to go and have more blood drawn. Ouch! I was especially nervous about this because I had gotten a huge bruise from the first blood draw. Thankfully, the second one didn't cause any bruising.
The non-criminal check and child abuse clearance were a bit of mystery to me. I didn't even know what I was looking for there. My good friend Google came to the rescue here. I found a form for a California Department of Justice background check used for admission into the U.S. or another country. For that, I had to go to a live scan location and get my fingerprints scanned. A little less than a week later I received the results in the mail. For the criminal abuse clearance, I found a form that had to be notarized and sent in. I got those results about a week later.
I sent everything to the school in Beijing thinking it would be okay. Unfortunately, last Friday I woke up to an email from the school HR person saying she had spoken to someone who did visas (I think on the school end) and was told my criminal background check would probably not be accepted because they had already had one like that rejected. I panicked. I didn't know what else I could do. I turned back to the Internet and discovered an email address to contact. About 6:30 on Friday morning I sent an email. I'm pretty sure I received a reply before 8:00 am. The person I emailed from the California Bureau of Criminal Information and Analysis quickly printed a copy on letterhead with an original signature and put a seal on it (the form I had gotten before was just a print out). He told me that I could then contact the California Department of State for authentication. That letter arrived in the mail today and I took a picture of it and emailed it to the HR person. She told me it was perfect and didn't need authentication. I hope she is correct. I shipped it 2-day air to Beijing this evening.
Now, I am waiting for the school to get a work permit for me from the State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs. They will then have to ship that to me along with a letter of invitation. When I have both of those original documents then I should be able to submit them along with my passport (and an application, photos and of course money) to the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles for my visa.
Whew, I'm tired just writing about the process...
Hopefully, it will all go well.

My poor arm! The bruise from the blood draw.

The imprinted seal that hopefully makes this document official enough

Kristin's Kapers go Worldwide

While I have had many international capers throughout my life none of them have been chronicled in this blog. I started this blog originally to chronicle my adventures in Kobuk and when I went to Europe the summer after living in Kobuk, I didn't even think about blogging about it. Then I took a hiatus and didn't publish at all during my time in Nome. After deciding to move to California I began posting again and was really excited last January when I decided to go to Europe this summer because I would blog about my adventures in Europe and I will, but first, I have a big announcement.

This August I am moving to Beijing China!

Yes, I am returning to China. I have accepted a position teaching chemistry at 请华附中国家学校。If you cannot read Chinese that is Tsinghua International School. The school is a grade 1-12 school that opened with a few grades (I'm afraid I don't remember which ones) for the 2015-2016 school. If you google Tsinghua International School you'll probably find our sister school. There are three schools connected to Tsinghua University (one of the two most famous and prestigious universities in China): Tsinghua Affiliated High School and 2 Tsinghua International Schools. The other one was founded in 2008 and is only for students with a foreign (i.e. non-Chinese) passport and mine which is for Chinese students. In the lower grades, the students are taught by bilingual Chinese teachers in a percentage (I don't remember the numbers) of the time in Chinese and a percentage of the time in English. In the high school grades, they are taught fully in English.
In the 2015-2016 school year, the high school only had grade 10. This upcoming year it will include every grade except 12. The school will also not have grade 8 this year.  Last year, all the students took biology. This will be the first year that the school offers chemistry. I was hired in large part to design the Chemistry curriculum and will get to have a say in the books, lab equipment etc.
I must admit I am both nervous and excited. I am excited about the opportunity to really design the curriculum and start things from scratch (the school follows U.S. curriculum and standards and uses U.S. textbooks, etc.), but also nervous because they are just now building the chemistry lab and I don't know what complications will arise trying to teach U.S. curriculum in China.
I'm also nervous, excited and at times overwhelmed with the prospect of returning to China. I am excited about returning to China (after all I chose to accept a job in Beijing). I am excited to visit my Chinese friends again and continue to improve my Mandarin skills. I'm also excited about the adventure of a new school, a new city etc. I'm nervous though because sometimes I feel like while I should know exactly what I'm getting into because I have not only lived in China for 3 years but also have gone back to visit twice (for 2 months and 1 month, respectively), I really don't know. China changes very rapidly and Beijing is very different from Baotou. I think I really will acclimate quickly, but I know there are things that will catch me by surprise.
I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of things I have to do. I need to sell most everything in my apartment here in California. I need to sell my car in Anchorage (if anyone knows someone looking for a car in either the LA or Anchorage areas let me know). I'm working on my visa. The process for a work visa has gotten a lot more complicated than it was when I worked there before. There are a lot more hurdles to jump through. I took a personal day today to work on accomplishing those things. I think I have most done (I still have to get my physical completed, but after many phone calls I have an appointment for next week). Over the next 2-3 months, I will continue to post with both updates on my China adventure are tales of my other adventures (After all I still have that trip to Europe between now and then).

Great Wall of China at Badaling (I went here with my sister)

This is a picture from 2004 of me at the Forbidden City.

Kristin goes to Disneyland

A little over a week ago I went to Disneyland and California Adventures with a group from school. I had so much fun! It was my first time ever going to Disneyland (I have been to Disney World twice, but the most recent time was 20 years ago - hard to believe my junior year of high school was 20 years ago). One of my students had heard it was my first time and so he brought be his first-time button. I wore it for a while and then I went to City Hall on Main Street and got my own (one of the few things i
n Disneyland that are complimentary). I proudly wore my button for the rest of the day.
Disneyland has a great system now called fast passes. You can get one fast pass at a time. However, what I quickly realized is that you are eligible for a new pass when your current pass is available for use, but you have a one-hour time frame in which to use it. Thus, I (and a student most of the time) would go and get fast passes right before we would get on whatever ride we had a fast pass for. The other great thing is that with the Disneyland app we could check out wait times and the availability of fast passes (and what time they were good for) and make our decisions appropriately.

I got to ride everything I wanted to ride, many of them twice. I think my favorite part was the Tower of Terror over at California Adventures (we had park hopper tickets). The Tower of Terror is basically an elevator that goes up and then in the dark plunges down and flies back up and so forth. On the ride, you're frequently changing directions and free falling. I had just recently been teaching about projectile motion which is similar to free fall (the vertical component of projectile motion is free fall). As a result, I found myself thinking about the physics of it each time we rode it.
We were also able to get tickets for the World of Color show at California Adventure (fast pass tickets, but they don't count toward your one ticket at a time you're allowed to have). Then we decided to go early and wait so that we could get front-row seats. We got them. We were standing right on the edge of the water. This also meant we got wet. The World of Color is a neat show (See the video below) it uses water fountains, water screens, projection, fire, music video, lights and more. When I lived in Baotou (Inner Mongolia, China) they had two parks with nightly shows. One was a water screen where they projected video and the other was a fountain with lights synced to music. The World of Color was like these two combined, but so much more!

World of Color

The videos are of 1) The World of Color Show, 2) The California Screamer roller coaster - note this one might be problematic if you have a weak stomach and 3) a Newsies presentation at California Adventures.

The 50s invade Vistamar

Last weekend the students put on 6 shows of the musical Grease. The first two shows were on Friday and then there were two each on Saturday and Sunday. Thus, Friday was declared 50s day. Unfortunately, apparently only the teachers were told this because a number of us, myself included were surprised when the students didn't dress up. Actually, the students not only didn't dress up, but they had no idea why some of the teachers were dressed like it was the 1950s.
I'm a huge fan of the 1950s and so a couple of years ago I had my mother make me a poodle skirt. She did an incredible job. Unfortunately, I realized at Halloween that none of my Halloween costumes, including my poodle skirt made it to California. I'm pretty sure they are at my grandmother's house, but I have been back twice and I never remember to look for them. Thus, when they announced 1950s day I was sad. I decided I still really wanted to participate and I found a cheap poodle skirt on Amazon (sorry mom I really would have preferred the one you made!). I ordered it and then the night before I bought a curling iron. I wanted to create a style that appears to be called a bouffant (I think that was the style I wanted it has been almost a week). Well, I didn't actually know how and I couldn't get my hair to do quite what I planned, so I tied it back with a scarf. It was really cute nonetheless. We took a picture of the staff that dressed up. Originally, I wasn't going to include that picture here, but then Sunday morning at swim practice one of the women was like, "Do you teach at Vistamar School?" I replied that I did and she told me she had seen a picture of me (and the others) on Facebook. She said I wasn't tagged in the picture, but I figure between that and the fact that the picture went out in our school newsletter last week, it is fair game.

"Rydell Staff"

On Saturday morning, I gave my students a mock AP Chemistry exam (I of course only gave this to the students in AP Chemistry) and then in the afternoon I went to see the musical Grease. I was rather tired since the play started at 2 pm and I had arrived at school at 8:40 am (on a Saturday after of course working a full week) so I wasn't sure I really wanted to be there. However, the performances were limited to 100 each and I already had a ticket so I didn't want to not go and leave an empty spot, so I went. I am glad I did. It was the most interesting play I have ever been to.
The audience came in and sat down in chairs to wait for the performance to begin. Then Eugene and Patty (I will refer to everyone by their character names here) came and welcomed the audience to their first day of school. They let us know that the day would be interactive and told us to come on. So we followed Eugene through the halls. As we were walking down the hall we started to see cast members hanging out and then all of the sudden the started the first song moving up and down the hall with us as we proceeded towards the back patio.

On the back patio

We don't have a cheerleading team. I was impressed by
the routines they learned.

On the back patio, we were directed to seats which included some among the cast members who then interacted with us. The band was set up back there and the first scenes played out on the patio before we moved to the gym. From the gym, we went to the front parking lot, but we went along the back fence and characters were hanging out pretending to smoke and so forth. After the parking lot was the intermission. There were popcorn and candy grams available. Then we went into the performing arts space for the prom scene. Here the cast members pulled audience members up to dance with them. Being a teacher at the school, I had one student pull me up to dance with her, then another cut in and I danced with him. After that, I sat down, but it wasn't long before another student was asking me to dance. They made small talk as we danced in character, which I thought was pretty cool. The play continued in the parking lot again where they even had a carnival set up with real games and a dunk tank (they had wanted teachers in the dunk tank, but I don't think many volunteered. During the performance I went to it was a student in the dunk tank).

There's both a train track and a metro track right behind here
(you can see the metro track in the picture). Unfortunately, a train went
 by during one of the outside scenes making it difficult to hear for a while.

While there were some issues, especially with the costumes (during the prom scene, for example, the students tried to have appropriate dresses, but many of them were simply too short and/or had way too much back exposed) and the sound (imagine trying to do tech for a play that not only moves throughout the entire building and two outdoor spaces, but also involves wind - the wind knocked over some of the equipment at least once), but it was the most unique and engaging play I have ever been too.

When life gives you lemons...

When life gives your lemons... you watch hockey. Okay, Okay, I know that's not how the saying goes. A couple of week's ago one of my students excitedly found me at school and told me he was going to Alaska for a hockey tournament (he is on the same team as 3 other students of mine). I asked him for details, and while he didn't know a lot of the details he knew the dates of the tournament and I realized that while I would be in Alaska during the tournament, I would be in Nome. I told him it was too bad that I couldn't be there, but I already had tickets to Nome.
After my flight to Nome was canceled for a second time thanks to Mt. Pavlof, I decided it would be better to cancel my trip altogether. Tuesday's morning and afternoon flights were both canceled and I was rescheduled for Wednesday evening. Unfortunately, this flight would put me into Nome basically three days later than I planned. With the danger of the eruptions continuing and my having to be back at work in Los Angeles on Monday, I thought it was a better idea to just cancel altogether (Alaska refunded me the Nome portion of my plane fare). Of course, this meant I now was in Anchorage during the hockey tournament, but I didn't know anything about it. Google to the rescue. I found out the National 14U hockey championships were in Anchorage. I didn't know which team my students played for, but there was only one Los Angeles team on the schedule - LA jr Kings. So I went to the game today.

Not sure why I thought I should take a picture of the welcome to Anchorage sign. I've never in my life been able to truthfully say I've never been to Anchorage.

I quickly figured out which players were my students (with all that gear on it's not as easy as it might seem), but the first period was really sad. Thankfully the second period was better and in the third period, they tied the score at 1-1. Regulation time ended with a tied score and so the game went into a five-minute overtime. After overtime, the score was still tied so the game went to a best of five shoot-out. The first player from the LA jr Kings to shoot was my student and he score a great goal. They won during the shoot-out. It was great fun to watch my students win the game!
After the game, I wanted to see them (among other things so that they would know that I had come) so I went down to the area where they would come out when they left the locker room to wait. As I was waiting I overheard comments at the table run by the Anchorage visitors' center. Being me I chimed into a conversation about Alyeska (a ski resort in Girdwood). The hockey mom in the conversation mentioned the time of her children's game tomorrow and I realized she must be a Kings' mom. I told her who I was and she was super excited. It was kind of funny of the four students (2 are twins) I had only met 1 of the 6 parents (although I had emailed with some of the others). She introduced me to the parents, including one who was one of the coaches. They were all really excited that I was there (not to mentioned puzzled). After explaining that I was from Alaska and what happened with my trip to Nome one of the mom's commented that her son had told her about a teacher from Alaska. I replied, "that's me."
They took pictures of me with the boys and I had them use my phone too, but I'm not going to post that picture on here because it too clearly identifies my students.
I also met with one of my friends from Nome today as she was going through Anchorage on her way to Nome. Thus, while I was sad my trip to Nome didn't work out I have had some good times and neat opportunities (after all it's not every day a teacher in California watches her students play hockey in Alaska).

It's rather difficult to take a clear photo with the speed at which they move.

Preparing to shoot - that's my student

Celebrating after they won!