Work has begun!!!  Alex and I have successfully made it through hospital orientation and have progressed onto our respective departments.  Since Alex has been a physician for a long time, there won’t be much of a learning curve for him, except when it comes to the electronic medical record.  Since he’s kind of a techie, he’ll be ok.  Me, on the other hand, will have a big learning curve as I transition from a clinical role (mostly in emergency medicine) to a teaching one.  

Being in Bethel for two weeks without working was a good decision.  We know our way around and have scoped out the town.  Most of the streets have native names, with the occasional English translation written below it, however no one seems to ever tell you the street name.  They will give you a house number in a certain subdivision and you drive around until you find it.  One subdivision has lovely named streets (Ptarmagan, Makqaina, Nengqerralia, Ayabinar), but people say First, Second, Third, or Fourth road and then describe the house.  Good thing the streets aren’t very long so driving around the block doesn’t take too long.  But I wonder if the locals are creeped out by our truck continually driving slowly as we scope out houses.

Alex was a smart man and actually brought boots.  He’s been tromping through the tundra bird watching and taking beautiful pictures.  He’s also become a Facebook fiend and posted some of the pictures there.  If you haven’t looked at them, I’ll post some here:

Brad spent the last week at Camp H2O at the local pool.  He swam, learned a little judo, had dance class, and watched movies.  I think he had a good time and came home pretty tired each evening.  Brad also scored a goal in his soccer game.  He has a good coach and actually spends some time learning fundamentals.  We haven’t been rained out yet, but I’m waiting for the day.

There are many churches in town:  Catholic, Moravian, Russian Orthodox, Baptist, Lutheran, and a smattering of other Christian denominations.  Immaculate Conception is the name of the Catholic Church we’ve attended for 3 weeks.  The homily was given by a deacon last Sunday, and was said in Yupik first, then English.  The Our Father was sung in Yupik the past two weeks and I was all set to follow along in the prayer book only to have it said in English.  The Filipino group in town hosted a brunch after church last Sunday—fried noodles with veggies, egg rolls, and a rice cake thing that was gooey and yummy.  Sorry, no photos.  We ate lunch with a doctor that is Alex’s cubicle mate.

Alex has a cubicle with a small desk.  No filing cabinet or drawer.  I guess that is a subtle way of encouraging him not to spend too much time there.  The doctors, Nurse Practitioners, and Physician Assistants are all crammed into a small room full cubicles.   It is affectionately called “Club Doc”

I, on the other hand, have an office with a door.  I have lots of shelf space and TWO filing cabinets.  I don’t think the office had been cleaned in quite some time and I spent a good hour with bleach wipes cleaning up.  Found a fingernail.  That was gross.   

I’ve done a little reading on the Community Health Aide (CHA) Program.  It’s amazing.  People are chosen by their community/tribe to come to Bethel and learn to be an CHA.  The go through 4 training sessions with 3 weeks spent with didactic content and one week in clinical.  Then they are sent home to care for their village.  Each session builds on the previous and with the new skills learned, the aide can perform more and more duties.  The aides now are in session III, but have done more than me, and I assume more than a lot of NPs/PAs/MDs.  Some have delivered babies.  One spent 4 days with a guy that was shot in the chest because the weather was too bad for the Medevac plane to land.  One helped a PA deliver a baby at 29 weeks (and that child is alive today).  The program is almost 50 years old and the aides provide preventative and primary care to thousands of Native Alaskans.  As I said, it’s amazing.  Below is the geographic area that the Bethel hospital serves.  Bethel is in the middle of the black villages.  Alex will be the "village doctor" for the coastal communities that are in purple.

I think the barge with our belongings, boat, and truck left on June 17.  We didn’t know our stuff was going on the same barge as the truck and we didn't know it was going to leave 3 weeks after we dropped it off.  Had we been privy to that information, we could have spent a little more time traversing the country and maybe I wouldn’t have had 5 hours of sleep in a truck stop.  Hindsight is 20/20 as they say.  But at least we know the stuff is on its way.

We bought a grill!  A huge Weber charcoal grill was on sale, so we got it.  I suppose we could have brought the one we had in Michigan, but there was no way it would have fit in the U-Haul.  We are breaking it in by slow cooking a muskox brisket that someone gave us.  We’re told it’s mild like beef and quite tastey.  In actuality, it was kind of chewy, but had nice flavor.

Notice that there is not a lot of meat on my plate!

 

Happy summer solstice.

We filled up!

Playing "shoot the other kid" at 10:00pm

3:00 am June 17

Midnight June 20

Almost two weeks . . .

Well, we’ve been in Bethel for almost two weeks and things are looking up.  We have met different people who sympathize with all our perils as they went through the same thing.  We have been told horror stories about running out of water and ruining pumps and having the sewage back up.  Luckily, we have not had THOSE problems.

In most areas of Bethel, the water is stored in huge holding tanks and so is the sewage.  Either weekly or biweekly, the water is delivered and the sewage is pumped out. One subdivision has city water/sewer with above the ground pipes, and that is a coveted area to live in.  I guess people have run out of water unknowingly and then the pump burned up.  We have checked our water tank (I think it’s about 1000 gallons) several times since arriving and had water delivered yesterday.  The trucks just show up.  We have also tried to take shorter showers and do less laundry.  Add that to the high food prices and we have become serious conservationists.  No leftover is thrown away!

Um, who told me there were no spiders in Alaska?  

We are now the proud owners of a Ford F150.  I suppose one may wonder why we bought a truck when we already have one that is on its way.  Well, for one, it was a rare find (meaning it’s nice, clean, has all it’s parts, and doesn’t make funny noises when it runs) and I think a big vehicle is the best thing for Bethel roads.  The max speed limit is 45 and if some of the bumps in the road are taken even at 40, you feel like you’re going to catch air and fly away.  There is a car lot with “Bethel Beaters” for sale and Alex did look at one.  He said there was so much sand and mud on the floor you couldn’t see the floor. It was cheap ($4500) but we decided it wasn’t for us.  The Bethel Beaters seem to go quickly though because there is a constant turnover in the lot.  If you’re comparing car insurance, Alaska is much cheaper than Michigan.  Like half the price.  That’s one reason to move up here . . . .

 

A few of the Bethel Beaters

If you look online, you’ll find out that Bethel has the highest number of taxicabs per capita of any city in the country.  Alex was at the DMV registering our new ride and in the 10 or 15 minutes Brad and I waited outside, we counted 26 cabs go by.  The fee is $5 per person one-way unless you live out where we do and then it’s $10 per person.  There is also a city bus and I think it’s $3 one-way or you can get a day pass for $5.  I don’t think the bus comes out this way though.

Apple Maps showing the location of our rental home

Brad-man is now a member of the Kusko Kickers soccer team.  He will play with the 2^nd and 3^rd grade team twice a week.  The kids show up and practice and then play against each other.  The individual team members will constantly change.  There aren’t any other towns close by to play against.  I’m told that the high school kids fly to the villages to play basketball, but that isn’t an option for an 8-year-old playing summer soccer.

 

The tundra is a pretty place.  There are areas of squishy earth scattered with small scrubby trees and lakes.  We took an areal tour yesterday and the tundra is very impressive from high above.  The Kilbuck Mountains are about 70 miles to the east and we flew out toward them.  There were tall grassy hills with outcroppings of stone (I suppose one could call those foothills) sort of plopped on the edge of the tundra.  I also noticed small sections of dense forest with both conifers and deciduous trees.  

 

Data service 600 feet up and in the middle of nowhere!

   

 

 

The Kuskokwim River is very tortuous (I guess this is because the Army Corp of Engineers hasn’t been up here to try to reroute it) and I’m not sure there is a straight section.  The local Native Alaskans have “fish camps” along the river.  They have traditionally put up small buildings and spend a month or so there in the summer when the salmon run.  The fishing of king salmon is closed right now due to low numbers, but the other types of salmon can be caught and eaten.

Fish Camps

The highlight of the flight was spotting 2 moose and a grizzly bear.  The moose were laying in the tundra (couldn’t get the camera out in time!) and the grizzly looked to be on the hunt for food.   

 

Alex spotted it and Neils, the pilot, banked the plane to make another pass over it.  It looked BIG and turned and looked at us when we flew by.  I’m sure he thought we looked tasty and I'm glad I was 600 feet off the ground.  The bears don't really come toward town, but the moose occasionally do.  Rarely, a musk ox will come over in the winter and then get stranded in the spring.  I believe one needs a permit to kill a musk ox, but we’re told that won’t stop someone from doing it. 

Our belongings, truck, and boat are still on dry land in Seattle.  We think they will be barged out next week, so we’re looking at a mid to end July arrival.  I’m quite pleased that the rental unit comes with a washer and dryer.  I did manage to pack every pair of underwear I own, but only have about 4 t-shirts.  I think Alex packed mostly running clothes and Brad has more stuff than he can wear.

Amazon and Walmart have had the pleasure of our business.  We placed and order to each store the 3^rd day we were here.  Amazon Prime is a gift from heaven and Walmart offers free shipping on food purchases over $50.  There are 4 grocery stores we have found in town and all have bulk items.  I can but Costco toilet paper and olive oil.  I tried to price match, but it got too confusing.  Does one charge $2.50 for a can of tomatoes or $2.25??  The grocery stores also sell regular sized grocery items too.  And two grocery stores have clothing (one has furniture too).  Alex found a pair of jeans for $4.44.

Since we haven’t started working yet, we have spent all our time together.  Bonding is a wonderful thing, but so is personal time.  We spent last evening making pasties.  I was quite impressed at how they turned out since all we had for a rolling pin was a water bottle.  I may try to start a new fundraiser here.

  




I had the pleasure of getting a package that had those yummy scotch-a-roos (you know, the peanut butter rice crispy things with the chocolate on top).  Thank you Debi Becker.

Update from last time:  we have successfully passed the written driving test and we each now have an Alaska driver’s license.  Apparently we will be considered residents in June 2017 and will be able to net fish for free.  Brad can hunt big game when he’s 10 without a license.  We’ll have moose for sure in 2 years.

We have arrived.

But before we arrived, we spent time in the Tacoma area with Nathaniel and Fala and Marie.  We went to a climbing wall in Tacoma and then had high tea.  We were looking for coffee and ended up at a nice teahouse.  We were quite under-dressed, but no one seemed to mind.  I guess running tights are the new thing in a teahouse.  Marie sang karaoke (she insisted I could not post a video of her rendition of “Let’s Get It On”).  She and Brad then sang “Three Blind Mice”.  I just ate scones and desserts while drinking tea.

 We found something FREE to do in Seattle—visit the botanical gardens.  Very pretty, even in the rain.  Brad spotted a turtle and insisted on saying hello.  As soon as we left, the sun came out!

 

  

Our boat made its maiden salt-water voyage when we put it in Puget Sound.  The day was beautiful and Mount Rainier was out in full force.  That is a beautiful mountain—maybe I’ll climb it some day.

 

Made the journey from the Seattle-Tacoma area to Anchorage and then on to Bethel.  It was clear as we flew in and the landscape is very pretty.  There were tall and very rugged mountains to the immediate west of Anchorage and then there was only tundra.  There didn’t appear to be any gradual sloping of the land—just and end. 

We have a nice 3 bedroom renal house for the time being compliments of YKHC (Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation).  We are in the Kasayuli area of Bethel and are about 3 miles out of town.   Our truck will be loaded on a barge on June 3 and may get here by the end of June or early July.  We don't have bikes either, so we will either walk or have to find some transportation.

   To the south, we have a view of the tundra.  There are wild blueberry bushes under the house and a small pond that Alex said he saw a beaver or muskrat swimming in (supper anyone??). 

We went grocery shopping.  It was a shock--$337 for less than a week’s worth of food.  We did buy some staples like flour, sugar, and honey, so maybe we can eat for 10 days.  Gas is $5.45 per gallon. 

 

      

We also went to the only cell phone place in town and will likely have to change our phone numbers.  We’re hoping to call customer service and see if they will be sympathetic to us.  I have a feeling we will have numbers with a 907 area code pretty soon.

I am happy to report that we have a post office box.  There is no local mail delivery here—you have to have a post box to get anything.  We tried to get our keys for box number 3370, but needed proof of a physical address.  This we found out after waiting in line (government offices are no different in Alaska!).  The hospital was kind enough to write a letter on our behalf stating we were living somewhere.  Don’t tell the USPS that the address in the letter is not the same as the house we are in.

Our goal today is to get to the DMV and pass the written test.  Alex and I both failed yesterday, but in our defense, we didn’t know we needed to take a test.  I need to brush up on the section that discusses what to do if you hit big game with your car.