Bye bye tourists, hello fall in Sitka.

Last Tuesday marked the arrival of the season's final cruise ship meaning that a significant number of stores and businesses will now be closing until tourist season starts up again in the spring. The closed stores are definitely noticeable but the lack of foot traffic through town has been the biggest adjustment for me in my daily routine. I can now walk from the house to work and not see anyone along the way. This is something that is rough because the tourist wear (lots of college sweatshirts and jackets) and slow moving pace through town provided a lot of enjoyment for me but it also means that Sitka will finally be able to be itself. I am really excited about this because now everyone in town is locals and there are lots of fun activities and events throughout the fall and winter such as Alaska Day, Whale Fest and the monthly grind, which is a community wide talent show (from what I've heard.)

Since Jamie left, we have gotten a lot of rain here which means that my rain pants and xtra tufs have become staples in my daily wardrobe. Over the past few days though we have had some really great weather. On Friday it was bright, clear and very sunny. I worked a half day because I had put in a long day for SAFV's Domestic Violence Awareness Month kickoff on Thursday and was able to go for a hike with my housemate, Evie, on Gavan Hill. The hike up the hill to the ridge line itself is pretty steep and not exactly the most scenic but the view from the ridge line was absolutely incredible. We could see dozens of islands that lay further out in Sitka Sound towards the Gulf of Alaska, the snow covered mountain peaks surrounding and beyond Sitka and the town itself. While the hike was tough and definitely left me with a sore knee it was well worth it. I'm hoping for at least one semi clear day each week because I'm not sure there is a more beautiful place to be when it's clear.

This week also signalled the start of SAFV's safety presentations and lunch groups in the elementary schools. Meg and I presented on basic safety rules, big problems (ones that are dangerous, scary or against the law), safe adults and safe/unsafe touch to 6 first grade classes at Baranof Elementary this week. This week we will present the second half of the information to the first graders and begin our presentations to the kindergarten classes. We will start our lunch support groups at Baranof in a couple weeks which should be a lot of fun. Our lunch groups at Keet Gooshi Heen Elementary started last week and we have groups of second, third and fifth graders. We basically meet with them, eat lunch, go through each person's highs and lows (rose and thorn), talk about what we are excited about and if there's time, we will do a small little art activity. The groups include students who are currently living in shelter, may have lived in the shelter at some point or are chosen by the school counselor as someone who could benefit from the added support (whether there is domestic violence in the home or not.) These groups are short but after one week I could definitely see that the participating children both enjoyed themselves and seemed to benefit from the extra support of both peers and adults. This week will be a big one because Meg is going to a conference in Anchorage and I will be running lunch groups and giving safety presentations on my own. I'm looking forward to it and am excited to be in the schools interacting with the children.

On a community level, this week has been really good. We have been really supportive of each other's work events, attending kickoff events for Disability Awareness and DV Awareness Months as well as getting together with Bridget, our support person, for a delicious dinner and a good conversation about gender and its impact on our lives and our community dynamic. On the whole, we feel that our community is one where gender is a non issue for us with chores, leadership, and the activities that we do when we are hanging out with the exception being that Greg and I enjoy taking in some football on the weekends and the girls really enjoy knitting/crocheting. This week has also brought me a lot closer to Evie and Greg because they have been very supportive of me and I have found them extremely easy to open up to and talk things through. One of the funnest parts in community though this week happened on Wednesday when we tried our first energy free day. We had a pretty good first showing and I thoroughly enjoyed ending my night by having Evie read us The Indian in the Cupboard in candlelight.