it's dark and wet

When that alarm goes off in the morning, I don't want to get up. It's warm underneath the flannel sheets, two down blankets, fleece blanket and my comforter whereas my face feels the icy cool air of my bedroom. Besides, it's dark. Who has motivation to get up when it's dark?

By the time I get home from work, it is also dark. It starts to get dark around 4:30 now with it fully dark by 5:15/5:30.

And when it's raining plus darkness...there's no hope.

I'm officially in Alaska. Time to get used to the dark and wet outdoors.

My solution is to some day rig up a full spectrum light to a timer to go off every morning to help wake me. Let's hope it works.

hair cut: a lesson in island culture

For a while, I thought I might be able to pull through without a haircut. My hair would simply grow into a long mess that I could pull into a pony tail until I could get my hair cut at home again. However, I soon realized that I did not like this option. The hair became unkempt and flat (see crazed vegan candy picture from my previous post). I made the hair appointment.

Upon showing up 10 minutes early for the apartment, I was surprised to find the establishment dark and locked. After calling around, I found out that if one wants to go home, she goes home, regardless of appointments booked.

Such is life on an island.

I had waited for this haircut for a long time and was very disappointed. I stomped from store to store to find a thinning shears. No luck (and no surprise).

It was time to take matters into my own hands.



I picked up my hair scissors and hacked away. Although it still needs the refinement of the thinning shears (shipping from Amazon today), the hair is less a flat, unruly mess for now.

Although I still miss my stylist in MI, cutting my own hair will happen until I return to the Mitten. No wonder Alaskans are so independent; sometimes you have to do it yourself so that it gets done.

commute time, shortened

I recently acquired Rybi, a new-to-me bike given to me by Ryan before he left for Homer. It's blue, has new gears and a new seat, and rides smoothly. While breaks that curl around the handlebars of a road bike are not my favorite, I am getting used to them. The bike fits me quite well height-wise, so it is easier to have my hands in the curl rather than the top part of the bar than it has been on previous road bikes I've used. The nice part is that it takes a shorter amount of time to get to work or run errands now. I have yet to conquer one of the hills here, but that gives me a goal to work toward.

Other Alaska gear I have acquired since arriving here is Yak Trax Walker for more traction on ice and snow. They slip over the bottom of your shoes. I am also looking at snowshoes for winter hiking, more fleece jackets and winter boots. The hard part about winter boots is that most women's boots are either fashionable but useless or functional but ugly as sin. The search continues.

Today in the mail, I received my shipment from Vegan Essentials, which included the mouth watering Jokerz and Mahalo bars from GoMaxGo! Foods, Primal Strips Seitan Jerky (in mesquite and texas bbq flavors) and Sour Mambas. Shipping wasn't outrageous (for Alaskan standards) and I'll probably order again when this runs out.



See my eyes crazed with GoMaxGo! goodness?

I moved to my second temporary office this week. Now they are done building my office down there and once I have a computer, I'm all set to move. I have appreciated working next to Adam though and we celebrated by declaring Friday Snuggie Day. My mom brought one up for me when she visited.

I received my first paycheck today and although it was only for three days of work (because of how the pay periods go), I think I like this whole salaried staff thing.

This weekend is a three day weekend. Alaska celebrates the day it became a state on Monday, so we get the day off from work! It will be nice to have an extra day to relax, do laundry and putter around the house/town. Liz and I are going to pick out paint colors at the hardware store, shop at Salvatore Armani (aka Salvation Army), have coffee, enjoy a vegan potluck and whatever else we can come up with. Can you believe I will have been here a month on Sunday? This time has flown by.

whirlwind week

It has been a whirlwind of a week in Wrangell. In addition to working 8-5 this week, I spent time with my mom. Mostly we ate dinner, watched TV and hung out at home. However, Thursday night we "walked" Addison together and drove to a couple scenic spots before dinner and TV time. Friday, I brought her to the airport to return home. It's somewhat surreal having people from home visit you when you live so far away. You can't quite believe they're here and you can't quite believe it when they're gone. I didn't realize how much I was used to living independently until Mom visited...nor did I realize how much was missing from my kitchen. Each night when I'd come home, she would have something new that she bought me: a kitchen timer, a cutting board, another pan, dust buster, clothes drying rack, some of my favorite foods, etc. It was nice. She even cooked me dinner throughout the week...what a nice surprise. I felt like I should be the host since she was staying with me, but she took care of me very well. Thanks, Mom!

Friday night I went to dinner with some people I had first met in Wrangell. Saturday, Ryan and I went out to Thom's Lake and hiked around for the afternoon. The fall colors here aren't quite like home, but I settled for the yellowish orange of the muskeg with the contrasting green evergreens here. At the end of the trail is the lake, placid except for a few fish that would surface. In the evening, we went to see District 9. I didn't know it would be in a documentary-like style, but it was still pretty good. It seemed to point out some similarities to the Nazis with concentration camps and Apartheid in South Africa with the aliens vs. humans plot. It wasn't as violent as Inglorious Bastards, which isn't a surprise since Tarantino did not direct this film.

Today is gloriously sunny. I've spent some more time organizing my apartment, thinking about different wall colors, hanging out with Addison and cleaning. When the sun shines so little, it is amazing how important it coming out is.

Mom's here!

Mom arrived safely on Sunday afternoon. Ryan took us to Turn's Island for hiking. Above is a picture of us while on the trail and below is the view we had once we hiked down to the beach.



In the evening we had a potluck with some friends. It's been great coming home from work and having dinner on the table...I'm not used to that at all. Monday we had lunch together at the Diamond C, one of the cafes here. Other than that, Mom's been on her own while I work. We'll do a few more things together before she leaves on Friday afternoon.

the first (work) week

Last weekend perked up considerably. I went to a Rockabilly themed party, which included a trip to the local bowling alley (only 2 lanes!). Sunday afternoon was spent in Rainbow Falls. It's a hiking trail that leads through some mountains, near a waterfall and has beautiful views.

Here is a picture of me at the beginning of the trail. Most of the trail is boardwalk throughout. Later in the afternoon, Liz, Adam and Sarah headed over for a vegan potluck at my place. This week's theme was Mexican. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures. However, we had a good time. After that, I experienced a movie night in Wrangell. That weekend's movie was Inglorious Bastards. It pointed out some ingenious work, but moved along slowly. The movie "theater" is one room with plastic chairs. People who have gone to Calvin: they are chairs like the DeVos Center.

The rest of the week included the beginning of work in Wrangell. This week was more orientation and job shadowing than anything, but I liked it and am looking forward to having my own client load next week.

Three out of the five work days were sunny and gorgeous, despite the air still being brisk. It made for some killer sunsets as I walked around the island (second picture below) or even just as a view from my living room (first picture below).





I received roughly 11 packages this week and have unpacked most of them. Settling into my apartment here in Wrangell is going very well. I ran into my landlord at the grocery store this morning and she said when I paint, that she will pay for the paint. She's also looking into sheers for the windows and will take my input.

Tonight is Girl's Night. We are going to eat salad and watch The Time Traveller's Wife together. Tomorrow my mom arrives and everyone will receive much deserved surrogate mother action. It'll be a good week.

To see more of my pictures of Rainbow Falls, sunsets and more of life around Wrangell, click the Moving to Alaska link to the right of this page.