There aren't any jobs out in the villages to
speak of except with the school. The schools are the centers of the
villages. Typically they are the only facility with running water.
So, everyone can come in to shower, do laundry and fill water jugs for
home use. Some villages ration water. I'm also getting the sense
that the schools, in some instances, may be the only facility with electricity.
One of the villages on a bay
is putting up some sort of fish packing plant so that might actually generate
some jobs. But the local population has been without work for
generations. Prior to the white invasion, work meant getting through to
the next day. You had to hunt or gather fuel or fish for survival.
Now, all of that has been taken away and you get a check just for living
on the tundra. There are a lot of
school absences when those checks are issued. Resources are limited, so heading off to Anchorage for fun
and shopping is a yearly event.
For a few weeks after, I often saw HD TV’s being transported by bush
plane passengers, among other high dollar items that typically would be over
priced or unavailable in the villages.
Weather
is always unpredictable. As it
proceeded toward winter, the temperatures dropped sharply, so much quicker than
in my own southern Ohio. When
speaking casually to a couple of native women, I commented, “I don’t know how
y’all stand it, I mean it’s only November. I can’t imagine how it’s going to be in January.” The two women both looked at me and
said, “did you REALLY say ‘y’all’?”
Without skipping a beat, I replied, “I’m a southern Ohio hillbilly, of
course I did!” I have found my
slightly southern lilt and country expressions charm most of the Alaska native
people.
The travel is always a
challenge. Travel arrangements
just prior to Christmas had been made in a way not to my liking. I ended up taking three days getting
back to Ohio for Christmas. It
didn’t look like I would make it back in time to open presents. I called my son explaining that my next
connection in Seattle was impossible due to an unexpected snowstorm; he asked
if I had my passport (which, ironically I did have) he made the interesting
suggestion of routing through Tokyo.
After pulling up a map on line, I suddenly learned that I was indeed
closer to Japan than the lower 48.
While I did make it back in time to enjoy the holidays, I didn’t have to
detour through Tokyo. I will
say, however, that there is nothing like sleeping in an airport to remind you
how old you really are.
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