September 16, 2009

Hello from Alaska,
I had a weekend in Anchorage doing things with friends (movies, hiking, shopping, dining out). Not much news on the "learning" end of my blog. However, I have had a lot of you ask "What is different about Anchorage vs Memphis?"

Culture: The biggest difference is the "subsistence" way of life. That is, the Natives (anyone who has lived here more than 1 year) really only live on what is necessary. They don't have extras. No knick knacks or extravagant items in the house. Bare minimum. Their clothes fill only one closet. Can you believe that!!!??? I have a two bedroom place and all my closets are filled! They purchase "co-op" a lot. Today the shipments arrived for the teachers at my school. I had no idea what "Shipment day" meant. Well, they buy pounds of organic or locally grown fruits and vegetables. I am talked huge crates of food. They place their order in May and receive their Shipment in September. Then in October they place their orders for December and then again in the spring. It costs each person around a hundred dollars because they share "Shipments". A lot of the Ladies will be canning the fruits and veggies over the next week. Way too much work for me. That is why I shop at a grocery store!!! I know - I am paying more than they are but I get what I want to eat and only in amounts that I need. I consider my once a week shopping for fruits and veggies my Subsistence living". They will be placing orders for moose jerky, smoked salmon, and dried beans and other items in October.

Food: you have to understand that all our food, except fresh fish and berries and organic veggies, come from shipping containers. So a lot of the products are packaged differently than the lower 48. Many items are shrink wrapped to prevent spillage in shipment. It requires a few extra broken fingernails to open. UGH! Several items are packaged differently as well. Our packages of butter (margarine) are packaged in 4 small sticks (only 8 tbsps per package). The selection of items is very limited. You can get salad dressing but only limited flavors. The grocery stores carry several brands, Hidden Valley, Paul Newman, and a few more but only certain flavors. You learn to adjust your taste buds.

Local meat is available. For instance, Bear is 20% protein, and 8 % fat vs Caribou which is 23 % protein and 3 % fat. Elk is 23 % protein and 0 % fat, and moose is 22% protein and 0% fat. Now compare that to Beef (USDA) 17% protein and 21% fat. There is a poster near the meat counter to help you select. I asked for a copy!!! Reindeer dogs (vs hot dogs) are served in school and Moose burgers are also a school menu item. The school menus serve potato canoes a lot. These are what we would call potato wedges. They do use a lot of peanut potatoes. I still have not acquired a taste for this item. The locals love these wonderful spuds.

Shopping: I have not found a Hallmark store here. I travel all around the city and I have been told there is a Hallmark Card shop in the big mall downtown. The parking is terrible so I don't go there. So to all my Jewish friends, don't expect Rosh Hashannah cards this year. There are no Jewish people in Alaska I guess. Thrift shops are plentiful. Getting things at a great cost is very normal.

Police: They drive black pick up trucks as well as the white sedans. I didn't realize black pick up trucks were part of the squad. No I didn't get caught but I have seen quite a few of them stopping others. The local phrase for giving a ticket is "the police are giving out guess checks on the Glenn Highway". That guest thing took me a few days to get with the lingo!!!

Industry: I am frequently behind a local septic company truck on my way to school. A lot of homes have septic tanks. You can tell which ones because the yards are so beautifully green. Anyway, the truck I see frequently is the "Turdinator" company. cute for a septic company!

Highways: The roads here on the frozen tundra do not have pot holes. Go figure. Memphis has plenty of pot holes and the city is not on a frozen tundra!!! What the highways do have is ruts. These ruts are caused from snow studded tires all year long. It is not unusual to have a studded tire automobile or truck whiz by you on the highway. Consequently, the studs have caused the roads to have deep ruts. To combat this, be sure to switch lanes using both hands. You really get thrown around going from one lane to the other because of these deep crevasses. Another odd thing about the highway system (and Canada as well) is the no guard rail rule. I am sure it isn't a rule but they do not believe in putting in guard rails along the highways. This makes me drive extra cautiously when I am driving on the mountains. You have a very steep drop off on the side of the mountain and no guard rail. I guess a person's live isn't valued very much!! Think of the icy highways and winter months and no guard rails!!!

Sports: I have to say I have found something disappointing about Alaska. I love, I mean LOVE Sunday football and Monday night football. However, you do remember that stupid time zone difference. Well, Sunday night and Monday night football comes on here at 4pm!!!!! UGH!!!! Most people are still working on Monday at 4 pm. I guess the NFL really doesn't care about Alaska. But I care about the games and hate the time they are shown here. So what do the Alaskans watch instead of afternoon football. College football on Saturdays. Not much different from Memphians!!! BUT let me just enlighten you about our football. Yes we have boys tackle football. But we have GIRLS FLAG FOOTBALL The girls games get more coverage than the Boys tackle games. Now that is cool. These young ladies can really throw a football and run. Soccer is not much of a sport here compared to football. They are very cute too. The games I have watched many of the girls could be cheerleaders. Of course you have your usually line ladies. The stands are filled with spectators for both boys and girls games.

Any finally another difference is the transient living. I can't tell you how many children were enrolled in our school on Monday (all paper work and doctors information) and by Thursday they decided to move back to where ever. Why bother going through all that work to move back. This is not unusual for this area. The schools are very use to this routine. Teachers do most of their grade books in pencil because of the transient names. The fishing camp children are starting to come to school this week. Our enrollment is up 70 children already. This makes class lists and teaching a bit difficult. They have missed a month of learning (math, science, English,etc) so they are behind before they even get a start.

I am working on more native language phrases. I am not very good deciphering the words alone but I don't understand words will all vowels. A lot of their words are guttural sounds so that is new for me. I am use to gutter language but not guttural sounds!!!

Take care. I will post again in a few weeks. This weekend I have an all day school training on Saturday and Sunday I hike. I am looking for the area where all the moose are rutting. There are 100's of them in the Chugash Forrest but it is a million miles big. I haven't found them yet.

I wish my friend, Kathy Garrison, well with her new position with Cargill in Ohio. I will miss golfing with you when I return to Memphis. Best of luck to you. You all remember it was Kathy who set up this wonderful blog for me.

Sheryl