No, not the dance, but everything that you touch up here! We have commented in the past about how dry it is here in Barrow (my hair is full of static on a regular basis), but to give you a better idea of how "shocking" the arctic can be, I'm going to share with you all of the sparks that flew today because of static electricity.
Turning on the light in my room in the morning, bumping Peter's arm as we walk down the hall for breakfast, grabbing the door to my classroom, the door to the teachers lounge, my classroom, the teacher's lounge (etc...), turning off the lights to the classroom, the door between my classroom and the exit, turning on the lights in my room, and a couple of other accidental shocks from bumping into people throughout the day.
Every time I go to enter my classroom or turn on the lights, I hesitate, preparing myself for the shock to come. The students here sometimes shuffle their feet in the hallway to try and shock each other or their teachers!
At least it's not surprising anymore, but sometimes the anticipation is worse!
Our supervisor from Gustavus is here this week and enjoying the middle school with us everyday. This is her first time in barrow and we're trying to keep her busy while doing all of our lesson planning as well. We hope to take her to the Heritage Center and a couple other adventures before she heads home on Friday. She already got to experience Pepe's (the furthest north Mexican restaurant) and got her certificate saying she has visited the top of the world!
One time, I pushed the laptop cart down the carpeted hallway and opened the door. My hand went numb for 3 minutes.........
ReplyDeleteMoral of the story, you should periodically touch metal stuff when pushing the cart to discharge any static built up in small amounts.