Wasilla - Quality of Life and the Lowdown (Anchorage, Kenai: to rent, job market)

[Barkingowl]

Originally Posted by bkyhi

Granny - if I ever make it out to the Kenai Peninsula - I will have to touch base and have lunch or dinner, or if you want to check out Barrow.... I expect to be here for quite a while.

Brian

Deb is good people Brian. Soldatna is a pretty nice town too. So tell us what's going on in Barrow these days.

[Grannysroost]

Brian, if you have been referring to LovinCarl, she did not say anything about the meth..oxy..that was someone else, and she may have thought you were referring to her as she said she was from CA originally...It was Eureka1 that had the news flash wrong..meth versus oxycontin....

I have only been in Cali once, quite a while back, and was on a trip from Bullhead City, AZ to Laughlin, Nevada, to Needles, CA and could say I was in three states in a matter of less than an hour. I would love to visit some places in CA, San Francisco because even though I hate cities, Santa Barbara, Napa Valley area, northern CA.... sure don't want to live there...but that is my choice...

You are so welcome here anytime. You need a trip to Homer to see as far as you can drive from the 'mainland', love the old fishing harbor in Ninilchik, and the beach from where man-guys bro fishes (lots of late nite fires there on the beach), and yes I have Barrow on my list of places to see, as well as Bethel at some point..., what made you decide to stay in Barrow??

[akvarmit]

Originally Posted by Grannysroost

Welcome, and it will crawl, and then it will go so fast it will make your head spin...the wonders of a move like this!!! It took me over a year to get over it and finally am at peace with it, even liking the snow and cold for the first time in my life..Christmas was hard with family down there, but it all went well, everyone survived...

There are good places and bad places to live, what is good for one, not for another, we all have to decide what works for us, and is trial and error and a learning experience...never too old to learn...

Yeah.......what she said .
(I think my head-spin is just now slowing a little bit....)

[bkyhi]

Granny,

Yes, eureka talked about meth, it was Carl who has the head where something can pass from one ear to the other.

I hope I was not confusing in my post. We all are entitled to our own opinions. I agree with everyone - let's get the facts correct - meth vs oxycontin.

That being all done.

I've decided to stay in Barrow for a number of reasons. The different physical environment here. I've been learning a bit about cold weather survival amongst other things. EMT's usually know what they are talking about so I assume the info I'm learning is correct. Actually I'm filling in gaps to what I already know.

You do learn something even in Buffalo NY if you need to walk about 10 miles in the cold and snow to work - when you miss the correct bus. It's even more exerting when you need to either climb a snow bank or jump out of the way of cars who don't like you walking in the road. I was about 2 or 3 miles from any help during part of that walk. Not the place to have a problem. The cars out there were infrequent at the time of day. There were days when NO cars passed me during that walk once I got a bit away from town. (Actually I lived in Buffalo but worked outside the town of West Seneca.) What my friends in Buffalo considered "God's country".
People there told me - be careful some of those drivers on that road will hit you if you don't get out of the way - talk about jerks.

Now Barrow was not a cultural shock since I grew up in a multi-cultural society. Pretty much when you have a number of cultures living together you get a 'mainstream' culture and then the specific cultures. The mainstream is the commonality of all cultures and those aspects from each culture that serve everyone - this tends to be the best of each that work.
Outside of this mainstream each culture maintains itself. As an example - many places have people/groups which speak English in public and their native tongue in their group or home. English is the mainstream - but the mainstream will also include words from other languages which everybody uses. This is the norm everywhere I've been. Same with food - some foods become very common - everybody likes them, while others remain specific to the cultural group.

Also I've seen the pictures posted by Floyd, Majik and others and I swear some of them could be my family gatherings. At the games the other night I saw an older man who looked very much like my uncle 15 years ago. So I feel somewhat at home here. There is a lot for me to learn about life and people in Barrow and I enjoy that.

Although I'm half caucasion - I don't really look it. Depending where I go people have told me I look Puerto Rican, Asian, Portuguese and a few others. I guess I'm hard to place - this is a benefit.

It is very Asian to have respect for your elders, very much like here in Barrow. One BIG difference, growing up in an Asian culture - children were expected to behave 'honorably' in public - in a way almost like small adults. Here in Barrow, kids are allowed to be kids. That has changed in Hawaii since I was a kid and kids are a lot freer in public now.

What I have noticed is 1st and 2nd generation immigrants are very hard workers. They know we've got it good, compared to what many have left in their homeland. My grandparents immigrated to Hawaii to find a better life for their children - they worked very hard in the sugar plantations. My mother and relatives tells stories of what is was like back then. Then you add WWII - at least in Hawaii they couldn't put everyone in a camp, but Japanese were still very much restricted compared to other races.
Barrow has many Korean, Philipino and other immigrants - many 1st generation - they know what hard work is, and what it takes to get ahead. They see this is a blessing - the opportunity to work. What I see in a lot of the US - much which are far removed from their family roots and the difficulties of being in a new place where everything is different,
is the loss of the thinking of 'opportunity' and a replacement of an 'expectation'.

Just because you are a US citizen you have no RIGHT to something better, just the opportunity to make something better.

You don't have a right to happiness - just a right to the pursuit of ...

Something I unfortunately see too many people who don't understand that. In Barrow that line of thinking that you have the opportunity to work hard and make something of yourself, and you will do what you need to make it for yourself and children is very real. Again I've only begun to scratch the surface and certainly wouldn't say I really understand a lot at this point. But I am willing to learn about this place. I don't know if Barrow is considered off the grid or not, but coming from an Island 2300 miles from the nearest large landmass, you have to fly everywhere. Hawaii is considered one of the most isolated places in the world for this reason. I don't see much difference being in Barrow - you have to fly in and fly out.

One thing that is important is small towns and villages in Alaska is very small. When you have fewer people you don't have the mass necessary to make things available. Everything will cost more, not just the distance issue but the volume just isn't there for the economies of scale to work. The island of Oahu has almost a million people - enough to make many things pratical. A while back there was a air fare price war for flights between the islands. I know it got down to $29.00 one way between islands and at one point I think it was down to $19.00 before it went back up. When you add the number of tourists - you have a tremendous volume.

Another thing is the US law which prohibits foreign ships from stopping at more than one US port. The ship must leave the US, dock somewhere foreign before it can enter another US port. So a lot of stuff gets shipped twice - and that costs. There are a lot of reasons for things and once you understand those reasons - some things begin to make sense.

You pay a price for isolation. It bothers me to hear people complain about costs - especially air fare within Alaska - but I don't think the volume is here - I may be wrong - but that is what I see so far.

Sorry my posts are so long - I will try to keep them short from now on.

Thanks to everyone on CD - I have received a very warm welcome here in Alaska and on CD.

BTW - sometimes I like to poke with a stick - just to get the thinking going.

Brian

[bkyhi]

Sorry all, the airfare price war was in mid 2007 - it actually got down to $9.00 one way between islands for a very limited time. And eventually Aloha went bankrupt - but this is a capitalism. I'm really not in favor of shoring up anything - let the market decide - unless there is actual harm to persons that could occur.
Don't even ask me about the bailouts

Brian

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by Grannysroost

what made you decide to stay in Barrow??

Heh heh, Brian is throwing words to the wind explaining that one!

Fact is, that old fart is having so much fun he just can't imagine being anywhere else!!!

This has worked out well for me too... Brian was sitting in Sam & Lee's, chomping down on a noon time snack on Christmas Day, when Mr. Kim plonks a big plate of food down in front of him and says "Try it!". Now, Mr. Kim is a real gormet cook, and it isn't easy to decide what this dish was. It had slices of meat, about 1/4" in thick, and maybe 1" x 2" long, all very dark (perhaps beef cooked in soy sauce???). And onions, and mushrooms, and jalapeno peppers...

Well, Brian likes his meat crispy and I like my meat to bleed. So he tried a little of it, and then I was forced (FORCED I tell you!) to be polite to Mr. Kim and eat the whole thing. It was Bowhead whale a la Korea. (Two hours later I had to eat half of somebody's turkey too, just because Brian didn't eat enough of that either...)

[Grannysroost]

LOL Floyd, sorry, I like my meat somewhat bleeding too!!! Sounds like you two have had a good time, smiling here,... did we do the bubbles? Would so like pictures of that, but then cold enough here I guess I could have tried today, and I have battery-powered bubble blowers thanks to the kids, no sticking lips to soap...Brian is in the age group I think a lot of are in, me going on 53 very shortly, but I definitely have Barrow on my list of places to go in AK for at least a couple of weeks in summer...maybe we can do bleeding meat, rather than crispy, the only thing I like crispy is my bacon....

Brian...Great post, you have a lot of whiskers of wisdom for your years and add a lot of thought, if I could give you points I would...LovinCarl has been in CA, and does not like it...as we all have been somewhere like that in life at some point and she is younger than us, she is bent on coming to AK and has been supporting her family and saving money for the trip doing medical transcription, which is my job, and I don't know how she is doing it, but I will defend her, she just wants something else in her life like the rest of us and is doing something about it.... Hope you have a wonderful New Year's, and safe back to Barrow...again, come down here anytime...and looking forward to meeting you and Floyd up there!!!

[bkyhi]

Granny,

Thanks for your kind words, but I was so off base I don't deserve them.
LovinCarl - I know what you meant it's just what you said. Also I didn't know your complete situation. I am no better than anyone else, and less than many - I should look before leaping. But hey - I get a bee up my butt and I'm going to rant a bit.

Alaska is what I have expected - I did a lot of research - I intended to just visit Barrow - didn't think I would like it this much - let's see if I can make it here. Good for me if I do, and I gave it a good try if I don't.
It will be interesting - I like trees, mountains, blue skies, starry skies, warm temps, blue water, lots of money, rivers flowing with milk and honey ...

Oh the buzzin' of the bees
In the cigarette trees
Near the soda water fountain
At the lemonade springs
Where the bluebird sings
On the big rock candy mountain


Regarding the whale meat.

Actually - I did like the thinner crispier parts of the whale - I thought it was venison at first. But the thicker parts were a bit oily and slightly fishy - but not that bad. And Floyd - I did eat a few small pieces - the thin ones - though Floyd did eat just about all of it - I'll give you 98.5%

Although it's a little early - I'm going out for a look - Wunderground says overcast, -9, windchill -22 - but I know from personal experience - sometimes it's wrong - ever optimistic.

Brian

[Barkingowl]

Brian & Floyd can you give me an idea of what the whale tasted like?

[bkyhi]

Floyd had most of it. Overall it tasted like mammal meat. (lol) But the thinner parts did taste a bit like venison. Mr Kim had cooked it with some kind of sauce so that did slant the taste.
I tried the thicker parts but they were a bit oily and just a little bit fishy. If Mr Kim didn't tell us it was Whale meat - there was no way in h that I could have ever guessed. It was much more like meat than fish. Maybe I should try some venison rubbed with fish oil and cooked in a teriyaki sauce to see how it compares. Now.....who do I know who has been hunting lately..... I'll ask my friends here if they've got some in the freezer. Over in Michigan I know mike's folks have a freezer full.

Brian