Alaskan Adventures of a Jersey Girl

A Year in the Life

2009-06-08T15:58:00.000-07:00

(This post is more for my own personal record-keeping than for anyone else's entertainment or education. Sorry, and please indulge me on this one.)

So, as some of you may know, I recently celebrated a birthday. I am now a seasoned 23 year old. I had a lovely Alaskan birthday and definitely felt the love - from home, from my co-workers, my community, and my Bethel friends. It was a really nice day filled with friends and good food, and laughs.

Anyway, I spent a lot of time this weekend reflecting on the last year of my life and I realized I had a lot of firsts. So, I decided that I would list them here - essentially because I want to document them, but also because I think they're interesting things. Enjoy.

Firsts for Maura Toomb in the Past Year

-graduated college (OK, that wasn't in the "calendar year," but bear with me)
-went to Central America (hopefully not the last time!)
-drove from New Jersey to Ohio without my family
-rode some of the biggest roller coasters in the world at Cedar Point
-went to DisneyWorld without my family
-became a godmother
-flew cross country by myself
-entered the Jesuit Volunteer Corps
-moved to Alaska
-learned how to catch, gut, filet, wrap, and freeze fish
-learned how to make my own preserves (from berries I picked)
-jumped into the Kuskokwim River
-frolicked on the tundra
-camped on the tundra
-was in a jail
-came to look forward to visiting a jail
-traveled in the front seat of a 6 person plane
-was in a native Alaskan village
-became a certified voter registrar
-ice skated on an actual frozen lake
-went on a business trip
-cooked a turkey
-drove on a river
-went to midnight mass on Christmas
-celebrated Russian Orthodox Christmas (Slaaviq)
-went to a sled dog race (and another, and another)
-worked at a sled dog race
-walked over a mile in windchills of negative 60*F
-had my own radio show
-was in a wedding party
-drove a snow machine
-crashed a snow machine (oops...)
-went to a native dance festival
-jumped over a fire to celebrate Azeri New Year
-went to an Easter Vigil Mass
-worked on a high school play that I was not acting in
-went to a folk music festival
-got a tattoo
-wrote a cover letter (and another, and another)
-learned to drive a stick shift
-ate moose, caribou, elk sausage, agutaq, seal oil, black bear, rabbit, goose eggs, tundra tea, smelts, tundra berries, and brussel sprouts
-traveled to Anchorage, Juneau, Wasilla, Girdwood, Upper Kalskag, Oscarville, Napakiak, Napaskiak, and Kwethluk, Alaska
-saw snow stick to the ground in October
-saw snow stick to the ground in May
-met an Alaska Supreme Court Justice
-learned how to hold my own in an office full of lawyers
-spent every Thursday and Friday morning with a bunch of people labeled as felons and loved it
-spent the majority of every other day talking to people labeled as addicts and abusers and loved it
-learned to love the challenges and rewards of living in intentional community (did we really just spend a half an hour weighing the pros and cons of honey vs. brown sugar?)
-was "ruined for life"

There are probably a lot of other things I'm forgetting, but that's the bulk of it. All in all, a pretty solid year, I think!

Exciting News

2009-05-15T12:34:00.000-07:00

I am quite happy to let you all know (all 5 of you that read my blog) that I have accepted a position as Assistant Director of Campus Ministry at St. Peter's Prep Jesuit High School in Jersey City, NJ. Essentially, my role will be as the coordinator of the Christian service program - this includes acting as a liasion for the students with the different agencies, education about justice issues pre-service, reflection after, leading immersion trips to Ecuador and Michigan, etc. This job is perfect for me and I'm really excited about it. Throughout the whole interview process I was very impressed by the community at St. Peter's and the school's commitment to Ignatian ideals. I can't wait to continue working in the "Jesuit world."

Also, obviously, I'll be moving back to New Jersey, that great state of fist pumps, diners, and the shore. (All some of my favorite things.) Get excited.

Check That One Off the List

2009-05-07T13:33:00.000-07:00

This week, I checked something off my "Things to Do Before I Die" list.

I learned how to drive a stick shift.

Granted, this is not very exciting to most people. Or even considered an accomplishment. But it was on my list. And this is my blog, so there you have it.

I think driving stick is an important skill to have and never got around to learning while I was downstates. And, after talking about it all year, I was forced to learn this week. I found out on Monday that the family I was babysitting for/housesitting for Wednesday - Sunday only had two manual cars. So what did I do all Tuesday evening? Stall out.

I'm kidding...kind of. It took me a little while, but by the end of Tuesday night I was driving around Bethel. And by Wednesday morning, I was driving the Williams to the airport, their kids to two different schools, Meg to work, and myself to work. And I only stalled at one stop sign along the way. Wooooo!

Thankfully, Bethel is very flat. According to Marty Toomb, I can't really drive stick until I can park on a steep hill and then start again. But, oh darn, I just can't try that out here. So I'm taking accomplishment where I can get it and crossing that one off the list. Boo-yah.

Waqaa, Cama'i!

2009-04-08T10:27:00.001-07:00

Waqaa is the Yup'ik word meaning "hello," and Cama'i is the Yup'ik word meaning "welcome." However, Cama'i is bigger than that. It's also the three day native dance festival held in Bethel every year. Dance groups, native craft vendors, and people from all over the state come to share in a weekend of native dance and culture.

Most of the dance groups that perform are from the Bethel and the YK Delta. Yup'ik dance is pretty stationary; each dance tells a story, and the story is told by the rhythm of the drums, the singing, and arm movements. Men and women dance together, with men kneeling in front and women standing in back. The men and women all wear qaspeqs (native shirts), mukluks (fur boots), and use dance fans. The men's dance fans are made of feathers, and the women's are made of fur. The women also wear beautiful fur headresses. Usually, the qaspeqs are all different colors, making for a very colorful and vibrant stage. Add that to the thump of the drums and the chant of men's voices that constantly rolls underneath and you have a very evocative experience. It was a great way to experience Yup'ik culture.

We also got to experience some other cultures, including other Native Alaskan groups, Sudanese (GORGEOUS outfits), Japanese, and urban (a break-dancing group from Anchorage called Static Elementz. Note the "z"). It was a really cool weekend, even if it was a little overwhelming to have as many people as were there crammed into the Bethel Regional High School gym and lobby.

Another thing I really liked about Cama'i was being able to see a lot of my clients out and about. So often, I come into contact with my clients over the phone, in court, and in times of crisis. Seeing them at Cama'i gave me the opportunity to just "hang out" with a lot of them, which was a really nice gift.

Lastly, I bought my first qaspeq at Cama'i! I'm so excited. It's lime green and I love it. And, as my clients from the jail told me at Therapeutic Court last week, it brings out my eyes. Nice.

Of course, some pictures! (Bear with me on the quality of these, I'm not good at being pushy enough to get all the way to the front.)

Here Comes the Sun

2009-03-20T15:37:00.000-07:00

Just an update for all of you who think I'm still living in darkness: Daylight Savings Time has done wonderful things for Bethel. We're gaining minutes of sunlight every day, and are at approximately 12 hours of light a day. It's awesome- only March and it's already light until 9p. I can't wait for June when it's light until midnight again.

I was amazed how quickly the light came upon us. I had heard that the Yup'ik word for February meant "the month between the short and long days," and that couldn't be more true. In January, we were still making our way through loooong days of darkness - the residual from December. In February, between retreat, and being home and whatnot, I wasn't around long enough to notice a difference. All I could tell was that when I got back to Bethel on February 23, I was shocked by the fact that the sun was up when I left for work and when I returned. It was like a whole new world.

Well, you should see it now. I walk to work in the sunrise light, and it's not completely dark until 9p or later. All the darkness didn't seem so bad in the midst of it, but now that we have this much light, we're ecstatic. Makes doing more in the evenings a lot easier and more inviting. Next, we just need it to warm up! We're back down to windchills in the negative 20s, after a week of balmy mid-thirties. However, break-up (when everything unfreezes) officially happens in May, so we're imagining warmer weather will begin soon enough, to prepare the frozen Kuskokwim to break by early May. Stay tuned for updates.

Jya Know the Capital of Alaska? Juneau?

2009-03-05T11:47:00.000-08:00

The weekend of Feb 6-9 was our second JVC Alaska retreat. We traveled to the Shrine of St. Therese in Juneau to meet with the rest of the Alaska communities, our area director, her husband, and Leah Nusse, who is head of alumni relations and recruitment for JVC:NW. The theme of our retreat was social justice, and we spent our time talking about justice issues in Alaska, comparing the issues each community deals with, and relating them back to Catholic Social Teaching. Considering I a) love retreats, b) love talking about justice issues, c) love seeing the other communities, and d) loved the place we were staying at, it was an overall wonderful weekend.

Our retreat was facilitated by Patrick Tam, who was JV in Emmonak, a village on the Yukon River in the 1980s. He has stayed in Emmonak (and/or the YK Delta) since then, working for the Archdiocese of Fairbanks, doing Catholic ministry and Development work. He facilitated an interesting and engaging retreat for us, and I have to say, it was pretty great to have a facilitator from the YK Delta because he could relate to me and my community specifically about the issues we see here in Bethel day in and day out. Because we usually spend most of each retreat trying to explain the differences between life in Bush Alaska and the Road System Alaska to the other communities, that was nice.

And, as always, it was lovely to see another part of Alaska. Juneau is beautiful...mountains, water, snow; it was like a fairytale land. And, we got to see all the weather has to offer Juneau - it was overcast when we got there, raining by nightfall, icy the next day, beautiful, sunny, and warm the next, and blizzarding by Sunday night. Apparently all of Alaska goes through the ridiculous weather changes that Bethel does.

Lastly, the best part about this retreat (and any retreat) is that my community got to spend some quality time together while also bonding with the other Alaska communities. It's always great to take time away to remind ourselves of what is really important during this year. And, it's especially cool to see how other people are experiencing living the same values we are in different places. My community has grown close with the other Alaska JVs and it's like a mini family reunion every couple of months when we all get together. Sadly, we only have one more retreat that we'll ALL be at, buuut we do have FolkFest in April where MOST of the Alaska JVs will be to spend some purely recreational time together. Who's got two thumbs and is excited? THIS KID.

And, some pictures of Juneau.

Alaska JVs following our bus on foot because it was too slippery to drive with all of us in it up the hill to leave the Shrine's grounds.

Alaska JVs pushing the bus around the corner when we got to the top of the hill.

Kuskokwim 300 - A YK Delta Holiday Weekend

2009-03-02T17:30:00.000-08:00

I'm back in action! After a long hiatus, a whirlwind trip home, and many people yelling at me for not blogging enough, I'm back. I need to catch you all up on some cool things I did in the meantime, so we're going to travel back in time a little bit. First, to Kalskag, January 17, 2009.

On Saturday, Jan. 17, after a day and a half of being on weather standby, Jon and Erin and I hopped on a plane to Upper Kalskag, Alaska, a small village about 100 miles upriver from Bethel. Kalskag is a main checkpoint on the Kuskokwim 300 dog race trail. Each year, the JVs are race checkers for the "K300," as it is so affectionately called. It's a win-win deal: the K300 gets free labor out of us, and we get free trips to villages, adventure, and funtimes with dog mushers and the people of the delta. And, the race didn't start until noon on Sunday, which meant that mushers weren't into Kalskag until after 9pm, so we had a lot of time to explore.

Working the K300 was one of (if not the) most fun and exciting things I have done all year. As race checkers, we were responsible for noting what time each musher came into the checkpoint, counting their dogs, taking care of any dogs they decided to drop (you don't need to finish the race with as many dogs as you started with), and making sure they stayed the amount of time required by race rules. Because Kalskag is a main layover checkpoint on the race trail, we got a lot of face time with the mushers and got to be right in the craziness that is completing a 300 mile dogsled race. And, because the K300 trail goes from Bethel to Aniak and BACK AGAIN we got to see everyone twice in a 24-36 hour period. Lucky us!

The atmosphere at the checkpoint was a ton of fun. Mushers coming in at all hours of the night, one after another, very hectic. Families, dogs, race officials all hanging out - K300 is like a holiday weekend in the Delta. We met lots of Kalskag-ians, including many, many a cute little kid. I played some rousing games of Go Fish while waiting for the mushers. We had a lovely woman named Loreen cooking looots of native food for us all weekend - I ate toons of frybread, agutaq (Eskimo ice cream), moose stew, etc. I even tried moose intestine! (Not bad.) It was awesome.

However, the most fun thing about it was my actual responsibilty as a race checker. Despite getting almost no sleep for the weekend, lots of confusion, and having mooost of my clothes smell like dog, it was incredibly fun and invigorating to be a race checker. We felt like we were right in the thick of it, seeing the mushers in, adrenaline pumping, calling times into headquarters, etc. And, we got to see how not only the community of Kalskag, but the whole YK Delta came together for this race. It really is something huge out here, and a real source of pride. People from all over the Delta were in Bethel for the race start, and everyone in every village along the race trail was excited about the race, keeping close tabs on who was in the lead, etc. And, we're proud to report that local mushers did incredibly well this year, with three of the top ten finishers being from the YK Delta. Because the Delta is not known for mushing in the way that other parts of Alaska are, this is a huge achievement.

Flying back to Bethel and going to the closing banquet on Tuesday evening made me realize just how much this event meant to the people of the Delta, that it was much more than just a dogsled race. The K300 is something that brings attention to Bethel, and puts it on the radar of the rest of the world, in some small way. This is huge for the people of the Delta, and it felt great to be a part of it. I realized that I was just as excited as everyone else there because I was proud, too. Bethel has become a home for me this year, and I was proud to share in the excitement with everyone. For one of the first times this year, I felt like I was part of something "big." So, I understand why the K300 is the deal it is. It's pride.

Lastly, I have a story from Kalskag that is probably one of the oddest/funniest things that has ever happened to me. I can't do it justice without telling it in person, but if you remember, next time you see me, ask me about my experience walking 33 dropped sled dogs a mile and a half.

And of course, some pictures. (Of course, I don't have any of the dog teams. Sorry. I was actually doing stuff when they were around.)

View of Bethel from the plane. Pretty legit, huh?

View of the Kuskokwim at sunrise (circa de 10:30a) from the top of the mountain we hiked up in Kalskag.
Playing Go Fish with the ladies of the Kalskag. Stephanie, the girl on my left, followed me into the bathroom later in the weekend to ask me if I had a boyfriend. Pamela, the girl on my right, drew me a lovely picture of a sunset that is now on my bedroom wall.

And, most exciting news of the weekend: Erin, our resident vegetarian, tried moose stew! Granted, this bite was about as far as she got, but it was a big deal for Jon and me.

I'll continue to travel back in time for my next few blog posts until we're caught up. Next: our winter retreat in Juneau...

Holiday Weekend

2009-01-12T17:52:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share some pictures of the Bethel JV Christmas weekend. My whole community stayed in Bethel for the holidays and we had a really special Christmas together. I think we were all a little nervous about being away from home for the holidays, but we had a lovely Christmas in our new home.

Then, on 12/27 my roommate Mike mushed in the Holiday Classic, a 50 mile dog race on the Kuskokwim River. It was really great to go see him off and then be back to jump and cheer as his sled came back in. He's only been mushing since Oct. and already raced his first race. As we were yelling, give it up for Mike Parker and the puppy team!

All of us and our secret santa gifts. Aren't we cute? And kind of tired looking?

Sneak attack! One of my roommates caught me napping in front of the fire after breakfast.

Mike, on his dogsled, getting ready to take off.

Fran, (illegally) practicing her backstroke in the Kuskokwim.

This is what happens when you try to jam the cross-country skis (that you don't really know how to use) into a full car.

Some of the sled dogs, after the race. It was just a little cold that day.

Waiting for Mike to come in. (L-R, Jon, Meg, Me, Fran, Erin, Elyse)

This upcoming weekend is the Kuskokwim 300, the third biggest race in dogsled racing. It starts in Bethel, goes upriver to Aniak, and back to Bethel again. The JVs will be going to villages to act as race checkers. There is a looong tradition of JVs acting as checkers and we're pumped about it. I'll be sure to blog about it afterward because it should be a really fun and unique experience. Woo!

Merry Christmas, Baby (Jesus)

2008-12-23T15:22:00.000-08:00

The title of this post was inspired by the Bruce Springsteen playing on my radio right now (as so much in my life is), but what's to follow was inspired by my spiritual musings this Advent season. So watch out, it's about to get reflective. You can skip this post if you're looking for something about my proximity to the North Pole this Christmas. Sorry.

I thoroughly enjoy Advent. Theology nerd that I am, I can safely say it is my favorite time of the liturgical year. I enjoy the sense of quiet anticipation and joy that comes with knowing that Christ will soon be entering the world. I also enjoy the challenge that Advent offers: the challenge to personally re-evaluate the way I have been birthing Christ into the world in my own life. How have I figuratively welcomed good and love into the world, the way Mary did literally? What has distracted me from this?

This Advent season I've realized that, ironically, anticipation itself has distracted me from doing my best to welcome good and love. Knowing that this JVC commitment is only a year long has had an odd effect on me: dreamer and planner that I am, I have found it very difficult this year to stop looking ahead. I am constantly steps ahead of myself, creating fantasies of where next year will take me. As you could guess, this has made living in the present much more of a challenge than it ever has been for me before. And, because I value ministry of presence above all else, this constant planning has made me feel that I am not bringing Christ into the world to best of my personal ability this Advent season. While others must fight to gain motivation and look ahead, I must challenge myself to live singularly in each day.

I hope that this Christmas, each of you are able to question how good and love have entered your world, and how you can bring these things to others. For me, this will literally mean the end of anticipation, both liturgically and (hopefully) personally. Because, this Christmas, I am asking for presence.

Sending light and warm wishes from the dark and frozen tundra, Merry Christmas!

Acclimation Updates

2008-12-19T14:50:00.000-08:00

It is 28*F in Bethel today, and has been around that temperature for a few days now. 28*F is now my definition of positively balmy weather. I carried the garbage down the road to the dumpster last night in a t-shirt and was completely comfortable. I would also like to point out that 28*F is exactly the temperature in Rockaway, NJ today. Solidarity! (Doubtful that you wimps are wearing t-shirts, though.)

Also, because of the warm weather, Bethel has become a slushy mess. Walking to work is much more difficult this week, due to slush, than it has been in previous weeks with windchills of negative 20*F. I am looking forward to when temperatures drop again and everything freezes. Then, I will be able to walk to work without taking my life in my hands.

Lastly, this Sunday is the winter solstice! That means that here in Bethel we will have approximately 4-5 hours of sunlight. Lately, the sun has been rising between 10:15a and 10:45a and setting by 5p, with twilight beginning around 3:30p. Yes, this means most days, I go to work in the pitch dark and walk home in the dark. While it makes getting out of bed that much more difficult, I have noticed something really cool that I would never be able to see anywhere else: often, while I am walking down the block to the courthouse for a morning hearing, I will be able to see the moon on one side of the sky and the sunrise on another. Amazing. Anyway, as for the solstice, my community and I have decided that we want to spend as much of the sunlight hours outside on Sunday, and will probably be building a snowman to rival all snowmen. (Or, a snowperson to rival all snowpeople, for the politically correct.)

And, a few things to check out:

www.goeok.blogspot.com - this is my roommate Erin's blog, and I highly suggest you all check out her most recent post (12/16/08). It is about Marvin, a Bethel dog who has become very near and dear to our hearts. I was going to write a post almost identical, and then she beat me to it. So, I direct you all there to share in my life.

www.servicenation.org - stories of service from volunteers of all kinds, all over the world. Servicenation is a campaign to inspire volunteer citizen service across the country, in many different capacities. JVC has asked me to post a reflection about my job under the "stories of service" tab, because my job is very unique - both because I'm here in Bethel, and because I work for a state agency. Keep an eye out.

The Day of Giving Thanks

2008-12-05T16:16:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to offer you all physical proof that I cooked a turkey. Below are some pictures of the Bethel JVs' Thanksgiving.

Still baking...looks good, yea?

The final product.

So pleased with myself.

Our table, and apparently Anthony is the only one ready to eat.

Wishbone! (I won. Boo-yah.)The aftermath.

The Most Ridiculous Three Hours

2008-12-01T11:28:00.000-08:00

This past Friday night/Saturday morning, I experienced what can probably be considered the most ridiculous three hours of my life. I'm going to share this story with all of you because a) it's a funny story and b) I really want to remember it when I am old and grey, and what better way to do that than immortalize it on the internet? I will start from the verrrrry beginning.

Things you need to know to fully experience this story:
1. I had work the day after Thanksgiving and was EXHAUSTED by the time dinner was over on Friday.
2. Bethel has a limo service. Bethel also has only 6 miles of paved road. Make your own conclusions about how these two facts fit together.
3. In the winter, the Kuskokwim River freezes over and becomes a state highway.

At 9p on Friday, November 28 I was wearing pajamas, my down parka, gloves, and hat. I had car keys in hand and was ready to go up to the house we were housesitting at to go to bed. I had every intention of being asleep by approximately 11p. My roommate Fran was also tired and decided to join me. Our friend Bethy did not agree with this plan. As we walked out of the house, we heard a lot of this, "You're lame! Come to the party at Ryan and Jitka's! It's a Friday night!", etc., etc. Once we got to the house, we even received a phone call from our friends Lisa and Andrew, echoing the same sentiments (except they did so in song). Fran and I convinced ourselves that we are not lame, and I acheived my goal of passing out in front of the TV at 10:30p.

Fast forward to 4a. I am still asleep on the couch. Fran has moved into the bedroom. All of a sudden, I am roused by the sound of shuffling and voices in the back hallway. Our friends, Bethy, Anthony, and Ryan had bust through the side door and were yelling, "Hey, wake up, come on out, we have the limo!" After a lot of confusion and eye-rubbing, Fran and I looked out the window to confirm that, yes, our friends had gotten drunk at Ryan and Jitka's house and actually chartered Bethel's stretch hummer limo for a very early morning ride around Bethel. And what did they decide to do once they were inside the limo? Come get Fran and I, of course.

After about 5 minutes in the house, Anthony and Bethy both sat down on the couches and fell asleep. Fran and I decided to seize this opportunity to take their seats in the limo. We grabbed our coats and jumped in. The limo was ridiculous. It had colored flourescent lights, a strobe light, and KARAOKE! At 4:45a on Saturday, I found myself singing "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" in the back of a hummer limo in Bethel, AK, with Ryan, Jitka, Fran, and Ryan's brother Mike who was visiting for Thanksgiving. Absurd.

The limo brought us back to Ryan and Jitka's. Fran and I asked James, the gracious driver, to bring us over to our house, but time was up. We decided to stay at their house, rather than walk back to ours at 5 in the morning. Jitka went right to bed because she had 9a EMT class. Ryan, Mike, Fran, and I stayed awake, just chatting. About every 3 minutes during our conversation, Ryan would suggest that we take his car, drive on the river highway, and go to Kwethluk, a village upriver from Bethel. Fran and I continued to shut down this suggestion because we were wary about driving on the river. That, and Ryan was drunk, so we weren't putting too much stock in his suggestions.

I'm not really sure what changed our minds, but after about a half hour, Fran and I gave in. Fran had the balls to volunteer to drive on the Kuskokwim, so the four of us piled into Ryan's car and off we went. We followed the river highway (aka tire tracks) west to Oscarville, the closest village to Bethel. We drove off the river and were almost immediately in the center of the village. We got out of the car, walked around a little, and got back in. (Anti-climatic, I know. Sorry!) We hadn't had our fill for the morning, so we pressed on.

Ten minutes later we were in Napaskiak, the next village off the Kuskokwim. This village was far more interesting. We drove on the boardwalk (intended for snow-go's), took pictures in front of the post office (to prove we made it there), and played on the playground (because it was fun). After that, we got back on the river and headed toward home. What followed was probably the coolest part of the whole morning.

About halfway back to Bethel, we decided to stop the car, hop out, and look at the stars. (Fran, always the safe driver, was sure to put her blinker on and pull safely out of the tire tracks.) It was absolutely amazing. I've literally never seen a sky so big and so full of stars. It really felt like we were surrounded by stars on all sides. Fran, Mike, and I laid in the snow and just breathed in the cold, the dark, and the beauty. Awesome is the only word to describe it.

We made it safely back to Ryan and Jitka's house by about 7a, thus completing my most ridiculous three hours ever. I rode in Bethel's one and only limo, tripled my village count, and experienced breathtaking beauty. Not too shabby for a boring night in.

Cucuklillruunga!

2008-11-05T14:35:00.000-08:00

"Cucuklillruunga" is the Yupik word meaning "I voted." Tuesday, I did my civic duty and voted in my second presidential election. And, while I am ecstatic with the results, I'm not writing this post to gloat or to advertise my own politics. Instead, I wanted to use this space to reflect on what it felt like to vote from somewhere that is so isolated from the rest of the United States.

Honestly, I haven't felt very isolated here in Bethel. I still read the news everyday, and keep in close contact with family and friends. Despite geography, I've never felt too far "off the map." Granted, I've definitely realized that many of the resources available in other places aren't available here (more to come on that in another post), but that has never made me feel isolated - it is just our reality here. However, on Tuesday, watching the election results roll in, I felt truly isolated for the first time.

After work on Tuesday, my roommates, a few of our friends, and I went up to Kasayuli (a Bethel subdivision) to the house we're housesitting. We took advantage of the leather couches and flat screen TV and put on CNN, watching each state change from grey to yellow to the ultimate blue or red. Keep in mind, that the end of our work day was 9p EST, so many states were already declared by the time we started watching. We sat there in anticipation, watching the electoral votes tally. And the whole time, Alaska remained at the corner of the map, cloaked in grey - grey, signifying that the polls were not yet closed. Grey, signifying that the votes hadn't been counted.

Senator Barack Obama was named our president-elect at approximately 8p AST. My friends and community-mates and I yelled and toasted and jumped up and down. I even cried watching Obama's acceptance speech, thinking that this would be one of those moments that I would always remember - a day that history was made. But in the back of my head, I couldn't help wondering, "What about my vote?" Alaska's polls hadn't even closed by the time Obama was named our next president. So, in reality, the vote I cast here in Alaska had no effect on the ultimate outcome of the election. It was not even counted before the ultimate decision was made. This realization went against all my views of our election process.

All day on Tuesday, when I called my clients, I excitedly asked them, "Did you vote? Are you going to vote? Are you excited?!" And, despite my own sentiment, nothing wore off on them. I heard responses like, "No, I don't vote. Nothing ever changes here, why should I vote." All day, I tried to talk them out of it, using my youthful idealism as a tool. I talked about civic duty, and the opportunity to change things, and the one tool that we are all given. They weren't having it. And, after watching the results pour in, I can't say I blame them completely. These people have grown up in a place that is ignored by the rest of the United States, most of them in situations that more closely resemble those in a third-world country than the rest of the US. And, sadly, they are right. Nothing on a federal level effects them. As Sylvia, the legal assistant in my office who grew up in Kasigluk (a village in the YK Delta) so wisely put it, "The only thing that changes for us is the size of our dividend. Life does not change. The issues do not change."

Now, I am not saying I approve of not casting a vote. However, after Tuesday, things are feeling very bittersweet for me here in Bethel. I am overjoyed at the turn the United States has taken, but very dismayed by the sobering reality that Alaska will always remain a "grey" state - both in its own eyes and in the eyes of the rest of the country.

Life in the YK Delta

2008-10-15T12:07:00.000-07:00

In the past few days, I have been chastised by multiple family members and friends. Apparently, I don't blog enough. Because I only want to appease my many adoring fans, here is the story of my recent trip to Napakiak, a village of 400 people about 15 miles from Bethel. One of the attorneys, Chris, and I traveled to Napakiak to visit a client. He has a hearing coming up to regain custody of his children and we wanted to make sure his housing is adequate, see how he is engaged in the community, and talk to his support system there.

Getting to Napakiak was an adventure in and of itself. We tried to get there two times the week previous, and both times our flights were cancelled due to weather. After approximately 8 hours of waiting over the three days, I have become very well acquainted with the Grant Aviation hangar. It's actually harder to fly to places closer to Bethel in bad weather because you can't fly above the clouds - if you did you would overshoot your destination. You're probably asking yourself why it was necessary to fly to a place 15 miles away to begin with. There are no roads in and out of Bethel besides the Kuskokwim River, so unless Chris and I wanted to freeze our butts off on the river (which is what I did actually want to do - last time on the river before it freezes!) flying was our main mode of transportation. We could have hiked it across the tundra, but it would have taken us about 8 hours longer than the flight, so we exnayed that option as well. I really want to hike it on snowshoes later in the year, so perhaps that will be another post.

The plane was awesome. It was a 6 seater charter plane, and we could see everything from up in the air. On the flight back, I even got to sit in the front seat next to the pilot. AWESOME. Despite the fact that I was given explicit instructions not to touch anything, I still felt important.

Once we landed, the first thing Chris and I did was look around the "airport." It was a runway with a shed next to it. We were picked up by David, who works for Grant Aviation. I called shotgun on his 4-wheeler, meaning I got to sit on the back of the 4-wheeler while Chris had to crouch in the small trailer behind us, along with the luggage that was being transported. Chris is 6'4", so that was pretty comical.

We tooled around the village for the day, meeting with our client, his mom, his girlfriend, and the Napakiak ICWA (Indian Child Welfare Act) worker. Napakiak has an ICWA office, 2 stores, a municipal building, a water and sewer building, a school, and a bingo hall. We saw it all. Our client also brought us down to the river to show us his boat, along with the other boats that are tied there.

The trip to Napakiak was wonderful. I felt very grateful to be given the opportunity to meet one of my clients face to face and be invited into his everyday life. Also, seeing Napakiak, which is a pretty standard sized village in the YK Delta, was a real gift because now I have a much better idea of what reality is like for my clients. I have seen where they live and can better understand what they are dealing with when they talk about village life. It was so interesting to see the way community works in a place that is so small and disconnected from what most would call modern society. Most people have never heard of Napakiak, AK, but life there is an example of reality for thousands of people that are forgotten about, both in Alaska and the lower 48.

(This is Newtok, a neighboring village, not Napakiak.)

(Sorry that none of these pictures are all that clear. It's difficult to take pictures from a moving plane/while walking.)

Pictures and Politics

2008-10-02T16:27:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Sunday's frost and this morning's SNOW! Yes, write it on your calendars, folks. Thursday, Oct. 2 is the day of Bethel's first sticking snow this winter. When we woke up, the tundra was covered in a fine dusting. Everything is reeeeaally pretty.

Also, notes on how incredibly Alaskan I am:

- this weekend my roommates and I chopped wood. A lot of wood. Now, by"chopped wood,"I mean we ripped apart pallets with hammers and one blunt axe. We're definitely not done, but we made a good dent in our pile. My entire body is sore from the effort.

- last Monday, I ate moose meat for dinner. It was delicious and tasted kind of like pot roast.

-yesterday, my roommate Jon brought home a MOOSE HOOF!! No joke. It's sitting in our freezer, complete with fur. It wasn't bloody, but you can see cartilage and stuff. Ew and awesome at the same time.

-I am going to learn how to bead. Beading (making bracelets, earrings, pins, etc. out of small, multicolored beads) is really big in Yupik culture. Wassilene, our administrative assistant, is a seasoned beader and is going to come over to the JV house one of these days and teach us how to bead.

-Tomorrow I am taking a prop plane to Napakiak, a small village about 10 minutes upriver to visit a client. I will get to sit in the front seat of the plane. EEEE! Expect pictures and stories after that.

-I am now a certified Alaska state registrar. If you are reading this from Alaska and haven't registered to vote yet, come to me. If you are reading this from another state and haven't registered to vote yet, GET MOVING! Seriously, there is no excuse (short of being under the age of 18) for not voting in a presidential election. Get out there, people! And, watch the debates, presidential and vice-presidential. I will step off my soap box now.

And, one more thing. Kevin, we don't really have cars. We were lucky enough to have cars lent to us. We do, however, have a Yeti that we keep out back.

Goodbye, Fall!

2008-10-01T16:10:00.000-07:00

Friday morning we had to scrape frost off the car windows before leaving for work.

Sunday morning the whole tundra was frosted over. (This includes my wet sneakers, which I left outside.)

Today, it snowed in Bethel. SNOWED. Yowza.

(Pictures and more life updates will show soon, I promise.)

A Typical Weekend with the Bethel JVs

2008-09-16T10:41:00.000-07:00

Temperature in Bethel today: 37*F...will rise to 52*F (hopefully!)

Bethel has no bars, no bowling alleys, no movie theatres, no affordable (for a JV) restaurants, really no social anythings. Because of this, weekends in Bethel are pretty different from weekends in NJ or Baltimore. However, this doesn't mean they are any less fun. To give you a taste of what life is like outside of work, I've decided to chronicle a typical weekend for a Bethel JV. Here goes nothing.

Preview (or the short version for those of you who don't feel like reading what is sure to be a long post): This past weekend I ate black bear meat, went camping for a night, hung out with a four year old, played soccer, had a priest over to play cards, and had dinner with the Klejka's - a family of nine people, 25 dogs, 1 turtle, 2 rabbits, and assorted fish.

Bear Meat Eating
After work on Friday, I came home to find TONS of food spread out on our kitchen table. My roommate Fran works at the Senior Center and Fridays are "native food day." My roommate Erin works at BABS, an alternative high school here, and Fridays are "Give the leftovers to the JVs day." This, combined with the fact that Jon was given leftover pizza at a conference, made for a spread of cookies, pizza, agutak (Yupik"ice cream" made of berries, sugar, and CRISCO...sounds gross but is actually delicious!), corn on the cob, salmon soup, hot dogs, and BLACK BEAR MEAT! Obviously, I had to try it. It's actually really good and tastes a lot like roast beef. Finish it off with some pizza and agutak and you have a delicious, nutritionally awful meal.

Camping
Not that I've done a ton of camping in my life, but I'm pretty positive that our expedition into the tundra this past Friday night will go down as the most ridiculous camping trip of my life. After our very random dinner, my roommates and I were all sitting around in our back room with our friend Chris, a teacher at BABS. We were trying to think of something to do for the evening and Fran exclaims, "Let's go camping!" Within a half hour, we were changed, packed, and in the cars (Chris' Jeep and the church truck that Elyse had on loan for the weekend). Without having any real idea of where we were going we drove to the outskirts of town, near the river. We jumped out of the trucks, grabbed our gear, and started wandering. Literally.

We "hiked" upriver for a bit, sticking close to shore. Then, we found ourselves in the rock quarry. So we walked through there. Then, we went into the woods along the side of the river. We blazed a trail through there for a bit, and found a spot we thought was decent (AKA it wasn't on the shore of the river so we wouldn't find ourselves drowning in the morning when the tide came in). Then we decided that wasn't a good spot so we wandered up a little farther into the tundra. We found a lovely little clearing and set up camp. We made some mac 'n' cheese on Chris' camping stove, told some stories, and settled in for the night in our tents.

The most ridiculous part of this camping trip (besides the wandering aimlessly through the tundra) came when we were leaving in the morning. We had come to the spot from the direction of the river, but decided to leave through the tundra because we thought we might be closer to the road than we thought. "Closer to the road than we thought" is a definite understatement. We realized that we had somehow looped around and were essentially in the shipyard's backyard. After walking approximately 500 feet through the tundra we were in the shipyard; muddy, tired, teeth unbrushed, wandering past empty containers, lugging our camping gear with us. We stopped to gawk at the hovercraft that brings the mail to Bethel in the winter, and waved at the workers who were gawking (laughing, rightfully so) at us.

Hanging Out with a Four Year Old
Christian is easily our favorite neighbor. Christian is four years old. On Saturday morning, while my roommates and I were lying around being very lazy, we heard slow footsteps coming up our front stairs. Then, we heard someone struggling in the mudroom. As we (or maybe just I) started getting nervous, our door busted open and Christian came running in, ready to attack. He jumped on my roommate Mike, and then bounced around the room to each of us as he got bored. Turns out Christian's mom was at fish camp doing some of the last subsistence for the season and he didn't feel like staying down the street with his cousin, who was supposed to be watching him. So he escaped to our house. And stayed there all day. Seriously. However, there are no complaints because Christian is the funniest little 4 year old ever. He is a big fan of being thrown in the air by us, and also trying to beat the crap out of us. He also really likes Spiderman.

Soccer
Every Saturday at 4p I play soccer. I'm not really any good at soccer, nor do I like the sport all that much, but I do really like having friends. And soccer is my main social endeavor. Most of the young, fun, twentysomethings in town play, and it's usually a good time. Soccer's not really all that interesting, but I didn't guarantee that everything would be. Sidenote: this week during soccer I got a bloody nose. Risk of having a nose ring is that when you collide with someone, it may stab you on the inside of the nose, making you bleed all over and stopping the game. Unfortunately for all of you, I do not have pictures of this.

Having a Priest Over to Play Cards
Fr. Chuck is Bethel's lone Catholic priest and Elyse's boss at Immaculate Conception parish. He is a Jesuit, and has been one for 50 years. He's over 6 feet tall, with a white beard, glasses, and a big belly. He kind of looks (and laughs) like Santa Claus. Fr. Chuck is an avid cribbage player. So is my roommate Mike. (Because of whom, we are all becoming cribbage players.) Fr. Chuck loves a strong opponent, so every once in awhile he invites himself over to play cribbage and talk some trash. On Saturday, when a few of us went to check out the church rummage sale, we were told that Saturday night would be one of those nights. Fr. Chuck came over to beat Mike's butt in cribbage, share some stories of Bethel history, and offer us his thoughts on Sarah Palin. (FYI: He likes her and what she has done for Alaska, but knows the trooper fired in "Troopergate" personally and is concerned about that. And, like the rest of Alaska, he considers her completely underqualified for the job of VP and would like to see her stay in Alaska and continue to do good things here.) By the end of the night, he was reciting poetry by Alaska's poet laureate to us. A few of us went over to our friend Jeff's later that night, but I still hold that Fr. Chuck was the most entertaining friend of the night.

Dinner with the Klekja's (pronounced Klay-ka)
Eeeeeveryone in Bethel knows the Klejka's. Dad (Joe) is a family practice doctor at the hospital, and Mom (Jackie) runs the veterinary clinic in town. They have 7 kids, 6 between the ages of 10 and 18, and a two year old. (Surprise!) Jessica, Jenny, Jeremiah, Jesse, Josh, Joan, and Jordan. Yes, their names all start with "J." Not at all confusing. They also have 25 dogs, 2 bunnies, a turtle, and a bunch of fish. 24 of those 25 dogs are members of a sled team. Jessica Klejka won the Junior Iditarod last year. The 25th dog is a pregnant chihuaha named Jitters (note the "J" name).

The Klejka's are absolutely wonderful. They are a big, fun, busy, and very generous family. They always have very good relationships with the Bethel JVs. The JV house used to be the house right next door to theirs. Now, we are right down the street. Because the Klejka's are the nicest family in the world, they have extended an open invitation for us to come over for Sunday dinner each week. This is always a good time; besides the 9 Klejka's, the house is usually filled with other random friends...of Jackie, of Joe, or of any of the many kids. In return for their generosity we house/baby/dogsit whenever we are needed. However, I'm sure that however many hours of sitting we do this year, we will never really make it up to them.

Hopefully you enjoyed my incredibly long description of a Bethel weekend. If you are still reading, I commend you.

Tundra Sun and Games

2008-09-04T11:34:00.000-07:00

Temperature in Bethel today: 52*F

The sunsets in Bethel are absolutely gorgeous. Often, when my roommates can see a good one coming on, we throw on our quaspuks (a traditional Yupik "hoodie"), fur hats, and boots (all to fend off the bugs) and run onto the tundra. As the giant sky deepens into different shades of orange, red, and purple, we run around trying to take it all in. Here are a few pictures of my favorite tundra night thus far.

This is what tundra looks like.

A sea plane heading in to land on the Kuskokwim.

Fran and I were inspired.

But Mike definitely went the farthest.

Mini tundra lake, complete with reflection of sunset.

Giving the earth a hug.

Erin, so contemplative right now. (And looking oh-so-Alaskan!)

Sneak attack!

Yay God.

See For Yourselves!

2008-09-03T13:14:00.000-07:00

Temperature in Bethel today: 52*F

Bethel, here we come!
Hey, look at the plane!

View of the mountains from the plane.

View of the tundra from the plane.

Home sweet home! (And Mike's back.)

Our front room.

The view from our back deck. (This picture was taken at 11:00p.)

Scoping Bethel from the jungle gym.

If MTV Came to Bethel

2008-08-25T11:06:00.000-07:00

Temperature in Bethel today: 68*F

Typically, when I tell people that I live with six people I just met a few weeks ago, they say "Haha, it's like 'Real World: Bethel!'" In response, I usually laugh and make a joke about using our small sunroom as a confessional. However, in reality, I can't help but think how much more "real" life as a JV is going to be than anything I've experienced up to now. Bethel (and the entire Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta) is a truly unique and beautiful place, but life here is not easy. There are physical, emotional, and cultural realities that make life here very different from anywhere else in the United States. Even after only two weeks here, and only one week of work, I know that the culture and the people of Bethel will open my eyes, break my heart, and change my life.

For those of you who don't know, this year I am working as a Client Advocate with the Bethel Public Defender Agency. I will be working on Child in Need of Aid (CINA) cases, advocating for the parents of said children. My role, as the sole non-attorney at the agency, is to essentially act as a social worker for these parents as they manuever their way through the intimidating and complicated legal system. In Alaska, when your children are taken into state custody, you have 15 of the next 22 months to get your act together and create an environment that is suitable and healthy for your children to live in, if you want to regain custody. That means that the children can be in and out of your custody, so long as the time that they are out of custody does not (altogether) exceed 15 months in a 22 month period. I work with the parents during those 15 months (and sometimes longer, with extenuating circumstances) to help them create those healthy environments.

Pretty much all of my clients are dealing with issues of alcohol abuse and/or domestic violence. It's my job to listen to them, and help them make progress on the caseplan that the state develops for them. That may mean getting substance abuse treatment, finding housing, keeping up contact with their children while incarcerated, etc. I am here to offer emotional support that the attorneys literally don't have the time to offer, and help them communicate with different (very busy and very understaffed) state agencies. Essentially, I help them get to a point where their attorney will be able to prove that their children are no longer children in need of aid. I'm still working to get my feet on the ground at work: right now I know what I need to do, the tricky part is figuring out how to do it. It's pretty intimidating, but I do really like all the people I'm working with, and I know that once I get a handle on things I will be able to have a lot of personal contact with my clients and really be able to learn their stories. This is what I'm most looking forward to, and also what will help me do my job in a way that will most benefit the parents I'll be working with.

With each day that passes, as I learn more and more about Bethel, my job, and my roommates' jobs, I understand how "real" our experience will be. We will be walking with people in some of their most difficult times. We are living in a culture that is very different from our own, and a physical environment that none of us has ever experienced. We will have to deal with the harsh realities of alcohol abuse and domestic violence that have become everyday occurrences here. Most importantly, we will learn to truly work for the sake of human relationship, for the value of the work over results. In a place that is as isolated as Bethel can be, that is the most "real" thing there is.

(Also, in other news, to celebrate my roommate Fran's birthday last Tuesday, the 7 roommates jumped into the Kuskokwim River. It was "real" cold, and now we are "real" Alaskans.)

Well, I made it!

2008-08-19T11:13:00.000-07:00

Temperature in Bethel today: 61*F

Hi all. Sorry it's taken me awhile to actually get this post up. I don't have regular internet access at my house so this had to wait until I started work (and got a few free minutes). My roommates and I arrived in Bethel last Saturday and we have really been enjoying Alaskan life so far. We got in around 9:30p Alaska time and were picked up at the airport by our JVC community support people, 2 girls who were JVs in Bethel last year and decided to stay, and Fr. Chuck, Bethel's only Catholic priest (and a Jesuit, whaaat!). Bethel's airport is pretty much a room with a ticket counter and conveyer belt. We grabbed our luggage and headed to the JV house.

I have 6 roommates this year (Fran, Erin, Elyse, Meg, Mike, and Jon) and there is definitely ample room in the house for all of us. We have 4 bedrooms and a "nook," aka a curtained off area with a dresser and a bed. We talked it out and the boys got the single bedrooms, Fran and I in one double, Elyse and Meg in another, and Erin in the nook. We have 2 living rooms, each with a wood-burning stove, a nice sized kitchen, 2 bathrooms, and a big back deck that looks right over the tundra. It's really a beautiful house. It also has tons of windows which we love now for the midnight sunsets but will probably be cursing in the winter. Such is life.

Sunday we went to mass. Mass in Bethel is pretty cool. It's a very small community and everyone seems to know everyone. Native culture is also very strong; the altar servers wear traditional Yupik shirts and the Our Father is said in Yupik. When we got to mass they were handing out the church bulletin AND the sheets with our pictures and bios. That was a little surreal. There have been JVs for so long in Bethel that everyone kind of knows who we are. Even if they don't have our bios, we're pretty distinguishable. I have already had people come up to me in the grocery store and the library to ask me if I am a new JV and welcome me to the community. It's pretty great, even if it did take a little getting used to.

Sunday evening we hosted a potluck at our house. Or, I should say, we were told we were hosting a potluck, haha. Most of the people who came were mid-late twentysomethings who work in Bethel in the social services field. That was nice because we all had a lot in common and now we know we'll have friends, haha.

Monday through Wednesday my roommates and I had appointments at each of our jobs. All 7 of us went to each person's job to get a feel for what the others will be doing. We also had a woman who teaches sociology at the college come to teach us about the native culture here and how we would best be able to adjust and assimilate. Other than that, we spent our first week getting to know the town and the terrain. Bethel is literally tundra, which is very spongy and kind of hard to walk on. Because of this, there are boardwalks crossing through everywhere to walk on. It's pretty cool. Other than that, it's mostly dirt or gravel roads, with one highway going around the town in a loop. Highway is a relative term; the speed limit is 30mph and there's one stoplight. However, in the winter when the Kuskokwim freezes over you can drive on the river.

Cool things that I have done in Bethel so far: berry picking, bread making, sunset watching at crazy hours (although we lose 5.5 minutes of sunlight every day!), fishing on the Kuskokwim River. If you haven't noticed, most of these things are pretty outdoorsy/domestic. In Bethel it's definitely a subsistence way of life. People live off the land and the river, and that includes JVs. The price of groceries is ridiculous up here. Gallon of milk? $10. Triscuits? $7. We buy what we can wholesale, pick up groceries in Anchorage whenever we go through there for retreats and whatnot, and live off the river or the land. We fish now, and in the winter we'll get to go hunting. I'll let you all know what caribou meat tastes like.

This past Sunday our landlady dropped by and asked if some of us wanted to go fishing. Five of us went out, and letting the net out twice, we caught 52 fish. Which we then headed, gutted, cleaned, fileted, and froze for winter. At one point I was in the back of the boat LITERALLY knee deep in fish. It was pretty crazy, very fun, and just a little gross. (I can't say gutting a fish is one of my favorite things to do.)

This week is my first week of actual work, and I'm very excited. I've only been in 2 days, but I can already tell I'll really like it. I get a lot of personal contact with my clients, and will really get to walk with them every step of the way. My boss is actually on a business trip this week, which means I am just sitting down with each attorney, talking to them about the Child in Need of Aid cases that I'll be helping with, and shadowing on different things. Yesterday I was in court all day helping with jury selection. Today I got to go to the jail to talk with a few different clients. Hopefully, in September I will get to go out to one of the villages with one of the attorneys to meet a client. I haven't gotten a great idea of what work has in store for me, but I know it will be interesting, challenging, heartbreaking, and hopefully meaningful to my clients. I'm excited.

Hopefully I'll get to update a little more often now so every post won't be this incredibly long. Also, once I can get to the library and upload some photos, you guys will have pictures of my house, Bethel, and my roommates. I hope all is well back home and send my love! Keep me updated on life in the lower 48.

You're moving where?!

2008-07-22T07:18:00.000-07:00

This whole summer I've really enjoyed answering the question "Now that you've graduated, what happens next year?" I love seeing people's reactions when I respond, "I'm doing a year of service with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps...in Bethel, Alaska." After I tell people where Bethel is, they have been enthusiastic, surprised, and some think I am downright crazy. However, (almost) everyone has asked me to keep them updated on my life up in Bethel. Now that I am 2 weeks out from move day I decided to get this blog up and running so that you all can check in for updates about life on the tundra at your leisure.

I'm going to do my best to update this regularly with stories, pictures, and fun Alaskan facts. Hopefully you will enjoy and it will be a good way to keep in touch!