7pm a handfull of people are waiting in front of the door. A young Afro-American Lady with her 2 year old boy and a Native Elder Lady are in front of me. I am the third party, I was already waiting in the car for the last half hour. Another Single Lady is coming shortly after me. It is cold, it is snowing in Fairbanks and it is windy. The doors will acutally not open before 8:30 pm but the people know, first come, first serve. Usually nobody likes to be here, most people who stay here, actually are here against their will. It is the Correctional Center, people also call it jail. My neighbour is here and I like to visit him. After 90 minutes they let us in. You have to show your ID, fill out paper work, you can´t bring in anything. We are waiting for another 15 minutes before we pass the metal detector and are finally ending up in the visitor room. Eight wooden chairs alongside a long table. The prisoner are coming in from the other side. A thick window is seperating us. Everybody has to take an earphone. My neighbour is surprised to see me, usually nobody is visiting him. I´m talking and listening the next 45 minutes. During my waiting time, I read Pauls letter to the Ephesians, this lecture kind of fits, since Paul wrote this letter when he was in captivity. We talk also about that. The time is almost over, it is almost 9:30 pm. I´m asking him, if I could close with a prayer and he agrees. After the "Amen" the guard is coming in, visitation is over.

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.    
Matthew 25:35-36 ESV

I actually was on my way to Anchorage for a Parenting Workshop Training. We like to do that in Galena the beginning of next year. It was still fall time when we arrived in Anchorage, while in Galena there is permanent snow since mid of October. We were four people from Galena.

Eigentlich war ich auf meinem Weg nach Anchorage zu einem Elterntrainings- Kurs. Den würden wir gerne hier in Galena zum Beginn des nächsten Jahres anbieten. Wir waren vier Leute aus Galena. In Anchorage war es noch Herbst als wir ankamen, währen in Galena schon seit Mitte October Schnee liegt.

Being in town gave me the opportunity to collect some "browny-points" from Silke :-)

In der Stadt zu sein, gab mir die Möglichkeit ein paar "Bonuspunkte" bei Silke zu sammeln :-)

 

Homeschooling is doing well, but it is a long, full day for Finn. Since he is going to public school for language arts and PE, the morning is not available for homeschooling and Silke is doing that all in the afternoon until 5pm. 

Homeschooling klappt gut, aber es ist ein langer Tag für Finn. Da er für Englisch und Sport in die Dorfschule geht, ist der Vormittag nicht für Homeschooling verfügbar und Silke unterrichtet dann den ganzen Nachmittag bis 17 Uhr.

We take every opportunity as a learning chance. Here, I´m explaining Finn why I put a plastic film over our living room window. No, we are not painting our room. This just gives us another 3 inch layer of air insulation, which we desperately need. We have three huge windows in our house and especially one is really leaky, so it helps a lot. I still have to fire up the woodstove several times a day.

Wir ergreifen jede Situation als Lernchance. Hier erkläre ich Finn warum ich die Plastikfolie über unsere Wohnzimmerfensterscheibe klebe. Nein, wir streichen nicht unser Wohnzimmer. Durch die Folie haben wir eine 7cm extra Luftschicht zur Isolierung, die wir dringend benötigen. Wir haben drei riesige Fenster im Wohnzimmer und besonders eines davon ist sehr undicht. So hilft die Plastikfolie eine Menge. Trotzdem muss ich den Holzofen einige Male einheizen.

The Ice on the Yukon ist still moving, but I am assuming that the Ice will stop tonight.

Das Eis auf dem Yukon bewegt sich noch, doch es sieht so aus, dass es heute Nacht zum Stillstand kommt.

Finn enjoys the snow. He was looking forward to the snow the last weeks. Now he will have plenty of that until mid May...

Finn liebt den Schnee. Er hat den Schnee in den letzten Wochen sehnlichst erwartet. Nun hat er genügend  bis Mitte Mai.