by Teacher Robin Reeves is chronicling her time in Utqiaġvik, Alaska, including two months of darkness, on TikTok
Courtesy of Robin Reeves
Robin Reeves sports a headlamp while living in Utqiaġvik, Alaska
-
Robin Reeves first moved to Utqiaġvik, Alaska, in 2022, after retiring from a career in education in Arkansas.
-
As one of the northernmost points in the United States, Utqiaġvik experiences two months without sun during the winter months due to a phenomenon known as polar night.
-
Starting in November, Reeves began giving glimpses of what it’s been like to live without the sun over TikTok — and opened up to PEOPLE about how she got by.
After two months without it, the sun returned to the Alaskan town on January 23rd.
Residents of Utqiaġvik, Alaska, formally known as Barrow, Alaska, had not seen the sun since late November – an annual phenomenon known as polar night.
Robin Reeves, a teacher who first moved to the region in 2022 from Arkansas after retiring from education earlier that year, has documented what it’s like to live in one of the points furthest north in the United States on his TikTok account @theliberrylady. When she first came to a seven-week substitute teacher role, it was her first time in the state.
Courtesy of Robin Reeves
Robin Reeves standing at the Whale Bone Arch in Utqiaġvik, Alaska
“My first Alaskan experience was living on the North Slope with a view of the Arctic Ocean from my apartment window,” she tells PEOPLE.
After that first job, she was asked if she wanted to return for a full year and accepted.
“I had a great time and loved everything here except the price of groceries and restaurant food,” says Reeves while also admitting that her husband, Blaine, who stayed back at home to take care to give to his missing father.
“I FaceTime him almost every day,” she says. “It’s great for inspiring me on this crazy adventure.”
On November 19, Reeves began documenting this year’s sunless period with videos showing the view from his apartment or school and sometimes accompanied by daytime temperatures that on January 22 were as low as -22 degrees with a wind chill of -44 , she wrote.
Courtesy of Robin Reeves
Views of the Northern Lights from Robin Reeves’ apartment
Dealing with the subzero temperatures, Reeves credits her age for helping to make it more manageable.
“Being a woman of a certain age,” she says, referring to menopause, “hot flashes up here are definitely an advantage! I would have one and go out with it [would] but immediate relief!”
As for a typical weekday, Reeves says she wakes up around 6 a.m. and turns on all the lights in her apartment to get ready before another teacher comes to pick her up for the drive to school. In addition to teaching K-5 Physical Education, she also helps out with an after school program, teaching and coaching the Junior Native Youth Olympic team for first through sixth graders in the area.
“I don’t feel like I had a hard time in the dark. I’m at school most of the day in a room with very bright lights and kids all around me,” Reeves says, explaining that she finds it harder when they have 24 hours of sunlight, which happens for much of the summer months from May. -August, against the Alaska Travel.
Courtesy of Robin Reeves
Watch Robin Reeve read “sun down all day”
Reeves says toward the end of the two-month period, she began to notice “more dawn skies,” admitting that she was “surprised at how happy I was to recognize that the sun was coming back Seriously.”
Although the sun does not officially rise during this time, there are periods during the day when residents will experience what is known as civil twilight.
“Think about what the sky looks like just before sunrise, or just after sunset,” explained CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar.
When Reeves first made the move more than a year ago, she did so without the knowledge of a single person in the area. Now, she says, she has a group of friends who live in her building “which makes it a wonderful place to live on top of the world.”
Courtesy of Robin Reeves
View of Utqiaġvik, Alaska from Robin Reeve’s apartment.
Although she missed the return of the sun last year, this year Reeves was able to take part in a zoom session hosted by Iļisaġvik College which led a dance to welcome the sun back. Her kindergarten children joined in the dance wearing headbands and sunnies.
“They were so cute!,” she says.
In a video shared to TikTok on January 24, Reeves said that although the sun came back, she couldn’t see it because of the cloudy skies.
“I found some videos today of how bright the sky is when the sun is up,” she says in the clip. “We didn’t even have an hour of sun today but it will increase every day until we hit 24 hours of sun.”
Looking ahead, Reeves tells PEOPLE that while he’s not a “Facebook official” yet, she’s signed a contract to return next year as well.
“Even though I miss my husband — and the banana pudding from Central BBQ — ,” she says while yelling at the southern chain, “I’m having a great time here. It’s not great every day, but that’s real life.”
For more news People, be sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on People.
