CAMPING IN in Shishmaref

There is a shortage of teacher housing in Shishmaref, so when a substitute comes to town, one is expected to "camp in." Most itinerants "camp" in the main school building. They grab an available classroom, find a mattress and fluff their sleeping bags. I, on the other hand, being a 7-week substitute with a husband, have been given the royal treatment. We have a portable classroom all to ourselves--that is, between the hours of 10 p.m. until 7 a.m. During the other hours we share our space. It is a classroom during the day, so we must vacate the room. (Mike wanders aimlessly about the village--more about that in another post.) From 4 p.m. until around 10 p.m., other staff members come to the portable to use the washers and dryers and to take showers. Much of the teacher housing, as well as most of the village, have honeybuckets instead of flush toilets and must haul water--thus no showers or washers in the home. We consider ourselves lucky to have the facilities--even if we have to share them!
We especially appreciate the relatively high-speed Internet! As for cooking, we can either use the home-ec room in the school or use the microwave in our portable. We opt most often for the microwave since the home-ec room is quite busy as there are so many itinerants: school- associated folks, like counselors; government-associated folks, like auditors; and other folks, like the many film crews who come to film documentaries of this island that is slowly washing into the sea. As you have probably figured out, the school serves as the local hotel where non-school visitors literally "camp in" for around $70 per night.