Bethel, AK (Anchorage, Akiak, Hope: credit card, transfer, school)

[warptman]

There's already a few garage sale posters up at the local stores, tell hubby to get busy!

[montana_mommy]

Yeah I will tell him to go check them out!! I think he may have some time off this weekend. I am trying to get my end done as fast as possible. I am only sleeping 4 to 5 hours a night so I can pack most of the rest of the time. I want to be able to visit family and friends before I go so I figure if I get everything done here then whatever time is left is free time!! Do you know if the city or the schools do anything for holidays... like Halloween carnivals or Christmas parties?

[warptman]

ME School and the Highschool hosts the Halloween Carnival, no Christmas parties that I know of.

[montana_mommy]

ok well at least I kinda have a general idea of holiday happenings!! Kids were most worried about what they would do for halloween

[landes]

I may take a position as a teacher with the Yupiit School District. as a teacher, my funds are low. would it be more economical to drive to WA and take the ferry? Warptman, you talk about driving back and forth all of the time. what do you do with your truck? I've heard about storage, but I guess I'm not entering the right key words to get the best information. I don't want to give up my car, so that next year I can drive back to NC to visit family and friends AND see some sights when funds are better;-) I've been reading all the posts and saw about packing/shipping foods. is the grocery situation bad? what about fresh foods (besides game -- look forward to that!!!)? is it possible to have a garden during the brief warm time? I love to cook and the thought of living on rice-a-roni (no offense to anyone) is not pleasant! LOL! I'm planning to bring my 'essential' kitchen stuff, which would fill two average size coolers (just a point of reference). everything else, I would just replace when I get there...dishes, glasses, etc. you posted that Bethel is 'damp.' does that mean that I can purchase beer, wine, and liquor? I surely do like my glass of wine at the end of the day while cooking and the occasional martini on a 'rough' day and beer is just so good with fish! LOL! I know that you don't drink, Warptman, so you have no idea what I'm talking about;-) okay...back to the really important questions... do I call up the general store in Bethel and order products to be delivered to Akiak or do I have to fly down to shop ever so often? I also have a chocolate lab puppy -- got her before the position popped up -- do you think that she'll adapt to the conditions okay? would she make a good sled dog? really! I want to learn about this and a famous Ididarod runner will be nearby! I want to succeed and just want to be well equipped in making a decision.
I know that I've addressed most questions towards Warptman, but ANYONE wanting to share....

[Grannysroost]

Originally Posted by landes

I may take a position as a teacher with the Yupiit School District. as a teacher, my funds are low. would it be more economical to drive to WA and take the ferry? Warptman, you talk about driving back and forth all of the time. what do you do with your truck? I've heard about storage, but I guess I'm not entering the right key words to get the best information. I don't want to give up my car, so that next year I can drive back to NC to visit family and friends AND see some sights when funds are better;-) I've been reading all the posts and saw about packing/shipping foods. is the grocery situation bad? what about fresh foods (besides game -- look forward to that!!!)? is it possible to have a garden during the brief warm time? I love to cook and the thought of living on rice-a-roni (no offense to anyone) is not pleasant! LOL! I'm planning to bring my 'essential' kitchen stuff, which would fill two average size coolers (just a point of reference). everything else, I would just replace when I get there...dishes, glasses, etc. you posted that Bethel is 'damp.' does that mean that I can purchase beer, wine, and liquor? I surely do like my glass of wine at the end of the day while cooking and the occasional martini on a 'rough' day and beer is just so good with fish! LOL! I know that you don't drink, Warptman, so you have no idea what I'm talking about;-) okay...back to the really important questions... do I call up the general store in Bethel and order products to be delivered to Akiak or do I have to fly down to shop ever so often? I also have a chocolate lab puppy -- got her before the position popped up -- do you think that she'll adapt to the conditions okay? would she make a good sled dog? really! I want to learn about this and a famous Ididarod runner will be nearby! I want to succeed and just want to be well equipped in making a decision.
I know that I've addressed most questions towards Warptman, but ANYONE wanting to share....

I will let him answer the pertinents, though I think drilled into my head, but welcome and you are very well informed...he will like answering you!!!

[warptman]

Originally Posted by landes

I may take a position as a teacher with the Yupiit School District. as a teacher, my funds are low. would it be more economical to drive to WA and take the ferry? Warptman, you talk about driving back and forth all of the time. what do you do with your truck? I've heard about storage, but I guess I'm not entering the right key words to get the best information. I don't want to give up my car, so that next year I can drive back to NC to visit family and friends AND see some sights when funds are better;-) I've been reading all the posts and saw about packing/shipping foods. is the grocery situation bad? what about fresh foods (besides game -- look forward to that!!!)? is it possible to have a garden during the brief warm time? I love to cook and the thought of living on rice-a-roni (no offense to anyone) is not pleasant! LOL! I'm planning to bring my 'essential' kitchen stuff, which would fill two average size coolers (just a point of reference). everything else, I would just replace when I get there...dishes, glasses, etc. you posted that Bethel is 'damp.' does that mean that I can purchase beer, wine, and liquor? I surely do like my glass of wine at the end of the day while cooking and the occasional martini on a 'rough' day and beer is just so good with fish! LOL! I know that you don't drink, Warptman, so you have no idea what I'm talking about;-) okay...back to the really important questions... do I call up the general store in Bethel and order products to be delivered to Akiak or do I have to fly down to shop ever so often? I also have a chocolate lab puppy -- got her before the position popped up -- do you think that she'll adapt to the conditions okay? would she make a good sled dog? really! I want to learn about this and a famous Iditarod runner will be nearby! I want to succeed and just want to be well equipped in making a decision.
I know that I've addressed most questions towards Warptman, but ANYONE wanting to share....

Driving up to Alaska is fun. There are no roads to Bethel, however, in the winter the Kuskokwim becomes a highway between the villages out here. I store my truck at my uncle's or sister's house in Wasilla, Ak.

There are places that you can store your truck/car in at Anchorage starting at $50 a month. If you do choose this route, don't park it at the airport or at the parking lot at the corner of International and Minnesota, very spendy.

There is a small store in Akiak but there isn't much inside it. Bethel has six grocery stores here, one company owns three of them. We do get daily flights of groceries here from Anchorage, but wouldn't call them exactly fresh, especially on the fruits and veggies. This in turn gets shipped upriver by a hovercraft that hauls bypass mail.

Bethel is "damp." This means you can order it from Anchorage but you can't buy it or sell it here in town. This brings a problem for you, you can't bring alcohol into the villages, they have a local option, they call it "dry." You can't bring it into the village at all or you'd get into trouble with the AK State Troopers.

People that teach in the Yupiit District often have boats for the summer/fall and snowmobiles and or trucks for the winter. Depending on how much ice the winter makes, they drive down every few days for the groceries. There is a store here that does ship to the villages, but I'm not sure on how much they charge to ship it to the villages. They ship them on local airlines that fly there on scheduled flights, which are two a day.

There are many lab dogs around here, but they don't use them for mushing. If you take that position, you will be living in the same village as Mike Williams, a famous person out here in western Alaska who mushes for Sobriety.

[stiffnecked]

Warpt, what about Subaru's? Any Subaru's in Bethel? Seems like all-wheel drive would work good in Bethel.

Isn't Rice-A-Roni a lot more expensive then top ramen? You can do a lot of things to top ramen. A little bit of honey and few rasins and it makes a hearty breakfast dish.
In the evening add a couple of tablespoonfuls of fish and some soy sauce for a tasty oriental dish. I have a daughter that used to eat it straight out of the package instead of potato chips.

[JohnPF]

Sad reality when cooking skills are "too much trouble" and take too much time. I use the ramen every now and than too, but still hang onto believes that dinner is a dinner and should have at least two courses.

[Grannysroost]

Originally Posted by JohnPF

Sad reality when cooking skills are "too much trouble" and take too much time. I use the ramen every now and than too, but still hang onto believes that dinner is a dinner and should have at least two courses.

Fish and ramen....two courses....