Teaching in Whittier, Alaska...the state's one-building town | INDIE ALASKA 

We decided to check in with Erika and see how she felt about her years living in Whittier. Watch it here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-P0y4D5RJuXE.html

When we start colonizing Mars, they should go first. They got the sociology figured out.

A nice setting for a horror movie

Can I just say what a valuable asset this lady is to her community - she is a force!!! Love her energy.

They don't close the tunnel to keep things out... they close it to make sure *n o b o d y t r i e s t o l e a v e*

Really cool that she’s grown up with those kids!

"It's like going to school with mom. They call me mom half the time." Dawww :')

What an amazing setting for a murder mystery :)

A lot of the "unusual" things mentioned in the video are totally normal for Russians . 1) In cities and towns, most people live in flats, which are typically smaller than an average North American home. 2) Schools are usually within walking distance. Some students (or their parents) opt for a non-local school because of better educational opportunities, but generally, it takes 5-15min to get to your school. 3) Since schools are so densely located, teachers often live not far from their workplace, therefore often bumping into their students in public places. 4) Primary school lasts for 4 years, and the same teacher teaches the same group of children maths, Russian, literature and science throughout that period. Sometimes other subjects, too, depending on the school. Most of the time, if you stay at the same school, you will have the same classmates for 11 years, and see a lot of the same teachers for years. With some fluctuations, of course. 5) A lot of Russians value a close-knit community. We typically have at least a nodding acquaintance with the people in nearby flats. A lot of neighbours become friends, babysit each other's children, have emergency keys to their neighbours' flats, celebrate the New Year together and things like that. It's fine to drop by for a talk. However, the intimacy levels vary. Privacy, boundaries are becoming more and more important to the younger generations.

It would be so awkward running into your exes all the time. Omg imagine getting evicted 💀 where do they work!?! I have so many questions 😂

Its like an introverts paradise

I think the tunnel closing and being trapped on one side or the other would be the deal-breaker for me.

Now i know what it would be like to live in a vault in fallout.

This looks like the perfect recipe for depression. Bad weather and isolation. I lived in Anchorage area for 13 years and got severely depressed to the point to where my options were move or commit suicide.

This reminds me of boarding school. But seriously, they should build a decent park/exercise area. It seems like the kind of place where people read a lot.

I believe Whittier is much bigger now than it was when this video was made. There are a few more buildings there now than just Begich Tower. Now there's a seafood restaurant, a kayak center, an inn, a museum, a grocery store, a cafe, a rest stop, a Chinese buffet, an ice cream shop, a haunted building, a harbor store, a sports bar, a self storage building, a warehouse, a few condos, and a laundromat. Still no hospital, bank (though there's an atm at the harbor store), clinic, gas station, and firefighter station though.

Forget the building, the weather would send me packing. I need Sun.

There's something very special about a community like this when it's in a harsh environment.

I've dreamed of a city in a building since I was a kid.

I'd live here in a heart beat! My kind of town or village.

Seems like what a Mars colony would look like, glad to see it would work pretty well

Just want to let everyone know we welcome everyone who found us through TikTok!

Honestly y’all realize how safe walking in that building is

supermarket in my house sign me up

Going to your friends house: "Mom, I'm going upstairs!"

Feels very dystopian, as if they're living in a massive bomb shelter haha

I live there and she was my teacher😘.

Good teachers/good people make a difference. Thanks, Erika!

The door always open for the kids in need!! Such a beautiful teacher!!

Notice how the teacher left her apartment door wide open when going to walk her do, that is what a friendly and safe community is all about! I remember leaving our home unlocked and widows open when we would leave the house, boy I miss those days!

Why does the tunnel close? Fear of nightly zombie outbreak?

Wow, this place sounds amazing, if odd. What keeps all the people living there? I mean it sounds nice too, having a hardcore sense of community like that, but what an odd existence.

10 years ago I was on a contract on a cruise ship. Every week we had an overnight in Whittier... This building was fascinating me everytime... somehow... Now the story is complete... Thanks and all the best!!! ;)

Holy cow I was so little when they filmed this 🥺. Man I miss these guys 🥺🥺

For some reason I think that I would love this.

this seems like a modern village, everyone lives close together so there's a strong community

You could literally not skip school or sneak off screw around as a kid whatsoever, any and everybody knows your mom and will tell her, those have to be the most well behaved kids

I have lived in AK for 2 years, absolutely loved it. They don't get many people there, but every one I met was extremely friendly and kind. If I would move to the US again, AK is possibly the only state I would go.

The only thing that that tells me is it must be very hard to construct a separate home in Whittier.

I love this little town. The people are genuine and generous with their time and knowledge of the area. We met so may locals that directed us to so many unique opportunities. Example: catching salmon by hand. Its was awesome and my kids still talk about. They also have one of the BEST gift shops ever. So many hand made local jewelry and crafts. I am looking forward to returning.

What a pleasant and thoughtful young woman - gave a very balanced viewpoint both negative and positive about the location. I could identify with this because as a child I lived for a time in the Orkneys and there were similarities.

Teachers are always the catalyst in the society.

Reminds me of something I would have come up with as a kid, like a fantasy land or my imagination. I remember drawing a map of a "town" before. Giving all stores names, drawing the roads, etc

A teacher, bears the greatest responsibility and wisdom.

I loved her energy, she look likes a nice teacher!

This is so fascinating to me that this little town is so extreme in the way that everyone lives in the same building and are so close to each other! It intrigues me!

Just fantastic! It's literally my dream comes true, since I used to have dreams in which there were such city-buildings with the same concept though those in my dreams were mostly much larger. Anyway, I'd love to visit there and stay for months or even years.

I have been there. I couldn't feel any further from home (Australia). I remember that awful tunnel and the cold weather. Back then (2001) there was little places to get food and I was so hungry. As long as the residents like it, thats all that matters.

anyone else come from tiktok lol

It reminds me some experiments in Fallout in vaults... Community lives all together in a closed habitat. Very interesting. They should be very nice and kind people to live so close to each other.

This is an amazing story... Makes our small city seem a *lot* bigger!

That sense of community... Love it.

Yes this teacher was wonderful. She lived here for a few short years.

Thank you for sharing this!!! Its an awesome video and an awesome perspective!

Reminds me of mount weather community from "The 100"

Bless your heart best teacher ever !!!!

Great teacher, I bet the kids love her dearly!!!

This video caught my eye because I live in Whittier, California and occasionally computers mix the two up. The two cities could not be more different. Whittier, CA is basically a mini Los Angeles: most buildings are one story tall, you have to drive to get anywhere, and it's swallowed up in the great urban sprawl of the greater Los Angeles area. Not to mention we never, ever get snow.

Looks like the best teaching job in the world. No threats or beatings from students like Whittier L.A..

You brought back memories I have been there many times. Thank you for the video.

This is really awesome Erika.. we miss you all terribly!!!

I wonder how things went with the pandemic. There should be a follow up!

I experienced communal living many years ago, and it was a living hell. Not only did I have to eat all my meals at a table with asshole jocks from school, I was also forced into doing chores, and participating in social activities with those cretins. I still have nightmares about those times. Thankfully, my mother came to her senses, and we now live alone in privacy. With no more of those silly distractions, and on demand Doritos, and Code Red, nothing comes between me and my $3000 gaming PC any more.

Love this video, so inspiring.

This is awesome!

This looks like the perfect place to study effects of isolation on a small community, like on another planet. :)

She leaves her door wide open when she take out her dog. WOW!!!!

Wow! I never realized how small Whittier was. I’m totally following this channel. I live in Anchorage and only been in Alaska for 10 months.

I suddenly saw this and it gave me memories of the 6 minute stories.

What's the logic behind closing the tunnel every night?

It'd be cool to see a schematic of that building, it's hard to see how so many things fit inside.

wow, this is so cool. I would love to visit that place one day.

This was very interesting... I would love to visit one day!

Alaska is both a state and its own magical little world that non-Alaskans may never come to understand

Of course she doesn't have any discipline problems, she has like 10 kids in her class!

I went on a kayaking trip that started in Whittier and the guide had grown up there and graduated from the school. He was the only one in his graduating class.

Hello I am from Taiwan and I see it’s interesting of living under a same roof. Such a seamless community and people looking after each other supporting each other. Will go once I have a chance.

Hey I used to live there it's really a good place

Who's here after watching that tiktok vid

What a awesome young woman!!!!!!!!! Bless you dear!!!!!!!

What a genuinely nice person.

it's like fallout shelter

Living here is my dream! Don't be surprised if I move in soon.

Wow! That sounds amazing! I would like to try live there for a while!!!

Whittier is a great adventure if you live on the Turnagain Arm. Plan a day to do the tunnel and see the building. Normally the tunnel is the best part. The one exception to the depressing nature of Whittier is a cruise on a warm sunny summer day. The sea life, the islands, and the glaciers are spectacular. There is no place on the planet more beautiful.

I wonder how they're doing now during covid

While the lazy girl in me would find this a paradise (I hate driving lol) living here would make my social anxiety rise through the roof because it seems everyone would know your business and I like to be alone at least once a week lol. I would like to visit Alaska. I have a friend who travels a lot for work so she lived in Anchorage for like a year and she loved it. She was upset when her job made her move to Minneapolis lol.

I’ve been here for a couple hours, indeed an eerie setting but very beautiful and friendly people

the best set up for a community, i wish i could live there!

Bruh, just give me high speed internet and I would, without any single thought or doubt, move there in 0.005 seconds!

so wonderful I was a substitute teacher! Awesome community experience you are blessed!😆🌏

I think this is just so cool

This reminds me of the Judge Dredd movie.

This seems very strange to me - The building could be in the Bronx and looks like a prison - I understand that it is a community but for a foreigner like me it seems very cold 🧐 but it works for all the residents and that’s important

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!!!!

That's awesome

It’s like being stuck in quarantine

I would like to visit one day, Alaska, and a city like Whittier sounds fun and cold.

This is pretty amazing ♡!

So I think hey, this would be kind of cool. Then, I think of the movie "30 Days of Night" and I'm like ummm, probably not.