Considering Delta Junction/Ft. Greely move (Anchorage, Fairbanks: trip , jobs, medical)

[thuleshark]

I'm considering moving south to Alaska pending working out a job opportunity at Ft. Greely. I've been living in northwest Greenland for the last eight years so the winter doesn't faze me. I'm more concerned about bringing my Greenlandic Inuhuit bride-to-be there. How is the local job market outside of the Greely gigs? I'm wondering what she might be able to do. Are there adequate medical facilities, say, maybe for an expectant mother (not yet, just have do my risk management anaylsis.) Is there a local association for Inuit? I doubt there's much chance of maintaining a diet with seal, walrus and whale. (I will surely miss mattaq.) How difficult is the trek to Fairbanks, the potential employer said we had to go to Fairbanks for food and supplies? How difficult is it to get firearms transported from the lower 48? At least this would let us bring a couple puppies with us, can't bring Greenland sledgedogs down to my current Stateside digs in Florida.

Any input would be great. TIA.

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by thuleshark

I'm considering moving south to Alaska pending working out a job opportunity at Ft. Greely. I've been living in northwest Greenland for the last eight years so the winter doesn't faze me. I'm more concerned about bringing my Greenlandic Inuhuit bride-to-be there. How is the local job market outside of the Greely gigs? I'm wondering what she might be able to do. Are there adequate medical facilities, say, maybe for an expectant mother (not yet, just have do my risk management anaylsis.) Is there a local association for Inuit? I doubt there's much chance of maintaining a diet with seal, walrus and whale. (I will surely miss mattaq.) How difficult is the trek to Fairbanks, the potential employer said we had to go to Fairbanks for food and supplies? How difficult is it to get firearms transported from the lower 48? At least this would let us bring a couple puppies with us, can't bring Greenland sledgedogs down to my current Stateside digs in Florida.

Any input would be great. TIA.

First, do realize that there are virtually no Inuit people native to the Delta Junction / Fort Greely area. The people native to that area are Athabascan Indians, who speak a different language and have a signficantly different culture. I don't know that there are absolutely no Yupik or Inupiat Eskimos living there, but there can't be more than a handful at best. There are quite a few in Fairbanks and the closer towns though. But that is more than a 2 hour drive...

In Alaska the Inupiat Eskimo people are culturally and linguistically almost the same as the Inuit in Canada and Greenland. She will, for example, be able to easily understand and speak with folks from up here on the North Slope (easier if she speaks western Greenlandic than the eastern dialect, but not much). She'll have a slightly more difficult time talking to people from northwestern Alaska, but again not by much. Yupik Eskimos from western Alaska have a very similar, but distinctly different language which she will not be able to understand (the cultures are relatively similar and she will no doubt really enjoy comparing cultures with them).

The cultural shift from Inuit to what you'll find at Greely will be fairly dramatic, and almost certainly very difficult. (Unless she has spent some time in Florida with you, in which case she already knows...) The Fairbanks area would not be "easy" to deal with. Anchorage is also not easy, but it is greatly facilitated by the much larger Eskimo population and the fact that virtually all Native Alaskans living in Anchorage feel a bond with all others.

And one of the most noticable things she will find here is that although legally she will not be a "Native Alaskan", she will be considered exactly that by virtually everyone for all other purposes. Those who don't like Natives won't accept her, and all Natives will treat her as one of their own.

Ap'a

[Arcticthaw]

This may be a good start. Try the Folks at Doyon they are in Fairbanks.
Alaskan Native Corporation Links

If you do a search on the forum for Delta or Greely you should find lots more information. Your not the first who is investigating oppertunities there.

The drive to Fairbanks is about 100 miles, all paved and maintained road. Low temps of -60 F in the winter are possible on the drive. They also get a fair amount of wind at times. Fairbanks has all you need, and if you get connected with the right folks may be able to get some native fare from Barrow or such.

For bringing animals to Alaska look at posts my megansmom. They just finishded a trip up and have posted lots of questions and information on your questions.

Good luck.

[thuleshark]

Thanks for the responses so far. Please keep them coming. I'm on an air force server and the firewall blocks forum search functions.

I kind of figured that any inland peoples would be culturally different than what she relates to. You can see the ocean from just about anywhere in Greenland and their culture surrounds that fact. Her first language is Inuktun, specific to northwest Greenland, but she also speaks western Greenlandic, since outside maybe 1000 people in the world no one speaks Inuktun, and all publications, TV and school curriculum is in Kalallisut. Of couse, she teaches me Inuktun so that I look silly when we went south to Ilulissat and I tried to talk to the store clerk. I don't know what surpised them more, that a gallunaq was trying to speak Greenlandic, or that it was the most obscure dialect. She does say that they are all close, she can usually figure out what they're saying on broadcasts from Nunavat in Inuktitut. She does say that understanding people from east Greenland is more difficult than understanding people from Nunavat and she has been able to understand some of the Inupiaq she's heard.

Anyway, she's been to New York and Florida and lived in Copenhagen; speaks, reads and writes English better that a lot of American high school graduates; I think I'm more worried about her handling the shift to a place like Delta Junction as opposed to the anonymity of a larger population center for her first residence within the US.

[momof2g1b]

Medical is difficult it is 90 miles from Delta to a real doctor. It is very unreal how far away it feels from real life jobs are scarce out here and well summer is beautiful and SHORT It will be very difficult shifting it is a very very small place out here everyone knows everything about everyone! it is a beautiful place to live though