On the Job

As I said, I work at Maniilaq Association.  The association is actually run by a board of directors that represents Kotzebue and the surrounding villages with cool names like Kiana, Noorvik, Noatak, Selawak, Kivalina, and Salugnak.  Each village has a small clinic of its own, but for most things they have to fly to Kotzebue.  Maniilaq encompasses medical, dental, mental, and elder care plus other educational resources for people around here.  If there is stuff too big for us here in Kotzebue, people have to fly all the way to Anchorage, which is like a $500 round trip flight.  In dental, that includes things like ortho and endo.  So, as you can imagine, a lot of times people just can’t afford to travel to get some procedures done.  Medicaid does pay for some trips though depending on what they need to have done and what alternatives we can offer in Kotzebue. 

The hospital and dental clinic here are super nice!  Everything, from the equipment to the facilities, is really great.  

I am working as a dental assistant.  The other assistants are very nice and friendly.

They are all from Kotzebue or one of the villages, and they think I’m weird when I ask a million questions about stuff that they’ve done since they were born.

The doctors and ladies that run the office are great, too.

I think working as an assistant is teaching me a lot about the behind the scenes of how a dental office works.  There are things they don’t teach us how to do in dental school, because we’ll never have to do them.  But we do need to be able to train people to do those jobs, know how we want or need them done, and be able to know if they are being done properly.

It does make me glad that, one day, I will be the dentist and not the assistant forever though.

Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8 o’clock

I have discovered where I will be every Tuesday and Thursday at 8pm here in Kotzebue.  ZUMBA!!!  There is a lady here in town named Angie that is the local masseuse and Zumba instructor.  She is friends with Stephanie and just happened to be walking by when Stephanie came by on Sunday to make sure I was getting settled in.  She said she taught Zumba.  I said, “I love Zumba.”

So, Tuesday afternoon before I left work, Stephanie drew me a little map of how to get to Zumba.  She teaches it in the children’s rec room of the Church of Go.  It is, in fact, the Chuch of God, but the “d” fell off.  The dentist made sure I was aware of the sign change so that I would not be mistaken. Thank you.  Stephanie also made sure that I knew to get there early.  Because, it tends to get very full, and you have to claim a spot. 

As I have mentioned, the class does not start until 8pm.  I have discovered that people here do not go to bed until a little bit later than usual.  Maybe it’s just in the summer.  I’m sure they want to take as much advantage as possible of the nightlight and “warm” weather.  This created a small conundrum.  To eat before or after Zumba?  Hmmm.  If I wait until after, it would be like Hilary and Ben style late, and my food wouldn’t have time to fully digest before bedtime.  If I eat early, which is what I almost always do, I might get a cramp or something.  I could hear the voice of Mike saying, “You know it’s better to eat after you work out than before.”  But I was hungry, and I was having soup, and I had two hours before the class started.  So, I ate before.

“What did the map say?”  “Did you make it on time?”  “Were there any spots remaining?”  “Did you get a cramp?”

To get to the Church of Go and Zumba.  You walk south on Friends Way.  Look at this little plane.  It looks like the one from The English Patient.

Then, cut across the NAPA autoparts/Ace Hardware parking lot,

I also passed the Cab company.  Yes, some people here are too lazy / cold to walk some days too.

 

down the street past the giant AT&T satellite, (Megan, this one’s for you.  I’m pretty sure you don’t have to have a signal booster in your apartment up here with this giant thing down the street.)

then, across from the Bank, 

you will see the Church.

When you get inside, take a left.

ZUMBA!!!

Walk About

Sunday afternoon I went on a long walk all over town.  Here are some of the sites that I took in.

On the way out my door I have to acknowledge that I live one house away from the 24hr shop and take-out restaurant.  I will be investigating this.

As I turn off of Friends Way onto Bison Street I can see the ocean.

My first stop was the newly finished sea wall and boardwalk.  

 This took two years to finish, but it’s a great place to walk and fish.  I chatted with a couple kids that tried to help me look for fish in the water.  The only one we saw was already dead, ew.  This side of the peninsula faces out to the ocean.  So, the ice you see is moving out of the bay and the rivers on the other side of the peninsula and into the ocean.  The mountains in the distance are in Alaska, not Russia.  (I’m not quite that close.) 

The new fancy hotel.  Any and all visitors are welcome!

After passing the airport, which you already saw, I came to the eastern side of the peninsula. 

I even caught a little plane taking off on the runway.

I walked by the main store.  I may be coming here to buy a fishing pole.  I am determined to catch a fish while I’m here.

I walked by the clinic where I will be working.  It is the biggest, fanciest building in town.

This is the new long term care facility.  (aka nursing home)

Across the street from the library is the Elementary and High School.  They are both really nice and home to the fighting Huskies.

I also saw a hare outside the school.  

 Look at him go.

That is the tour for now.  I’m sure I will be revisiting many of these places throughout the summer.

Home Sweet Home

I am now a resident of 568 Friends Way.

I am renting this lovely duplex from the High School Principal.  (Every time I write the word “principal” I have to think, “The principal is my PAL,” so I don’t get the spelling mixed up with “principle.”  Recently I was told that my poor spelling is probably due to the fact that I learned to read using phonics.  I loved my hooked on phonics growing up.  Each time I sounded out a word, I felt so accomplished whether or not it inhibited my spelling skills.)

It is almost as fancy as the duplex that was the original home of HaCha.   

Here is my living room.  You can see that the permanent tenant has a new baby.  That is not my jungle swing.

And, here is my kitchen.  It’s pretty big, but no disposal.  (Louisa, you know how much I love a good disposal!)

And my room.  

 There are two things to note in this photo.  One, this photo was taken at night, without a flash, when my room was as dark as I could get it using curtains, a sheet, and a towel.  Two, the bed is tall, but most of that height comes from the quilt, two comforters, and standby blanket on the bed.  Utilities are really expensive here, so Principal told me not to run the heat excessively.  One of the comforters and the standby blanket are probably actually unnecessary.  All I really need to fall asleep anyway are my sleeping socks.

One of the great perks of living where I do is the view out my bedroom window.   

 That’s right, it’s the famous Alaska State Troopers.  Tyler has already instructed me to walk next door and meet the ones that have been on the show.  I’ll work on that.

I Have Arrived

 Sorry it has taken me a couple of days to figure out that the library here in town has wifi courtesy of University of Alaska's Chukchi College.  

My journey began at 4:30am Saturday morning.  Tyler and I shuffled out of his Aunt and Uncle’s house in Atlanta around five and headed for the airport.  I had been praying about my flights, because the forecasts had been predicting sketchy weather in Houston, which was to be my first connection.  But when I got to the airport they said that I was re-routed onto a direct flight from ATL to SEA (Seattle).  I had some breakfast then bid Tyler farewell.  (Tyler refrained from eating because he was on his way to run 10k with Lauren Frame.  I wish I could have seen the two of them at mile 6.) 

When I got to my flight, it was completely full, except for the seat right next to me.  After the changed connection and empty seat, I knew God was looking out for my travels.  Apparently God wanted me to get some sleep and catch up on my reading, because there were NO t.v.’s on my first flight even though it was four hours long.  And then, my second flight only offered movies and DirecTv if you paid, skip that.  So, I slept a lot, which ended up really helping reset my well-oiled internal clock for the time change.  After Seattle, I flew to Anchorage where I just barely caught my flight to Kotzebue.  Again, praise the Lord. 

On my flight to Kotzebue, I met two men that were carpenters from Tucson that were on their way to Nome.  They have a group all kinds of tradesmen that go there every summer to help with home repairs after the rough winters and share the Gospel with all the people they get to help.  I had never thought about how helpful that would be.

I touched down in Kotzebue and was welcomed by Stephanie’s smiling face.  Stephanie has been helping me for months now to get all my plans made and even went house hunting for me.  So, it was great to finally meet her face-to-face.  (Yes, I will be posting a picture of her soon, for all of you who have been hearing me talk about her so much that you also feel like you know her already.)

For now, here is the airport I flew into and the scenes I saw as I swooped into my new town.

More to come soon.  For now, I am off to Zumba Class at the Church of Go.  It was the Church of God, until the "d" fell off.

The Day of Love

I have always loved Valentine's Day, even the first eighteen years of my life when my parents were my Valentines.  This evening, because Law-Man is working hard for no money at school in the crooked letter state, I cooked up my own Valentine's dinner.  You have to love cooking what you want when you want.  You don't have to worry about what other people like or don't like and whether anyone else is hungry at 5pm on-the-dot.

First on the menu, corn meal chicken.  Sprinkle salt, pepper, garlic powder, and corn meal on both sides of a boneless-skinless chicken breast that may or may not be completely thawed.  (Sometimes you forget you want chicken for dinner when you leave for school at 7:30am.)  Because of the uncertain thawedness, I heated the pan over low-medium heat so that it wouldn't burn on the outside before it cooked in the inside.  Turned out pretty tasty.

 What are those succulent goodies accompanying my chicken, you ask.  That would be bundle of beans.  First, boil a handful of the frozen green beans that are always in my freezer for just a minute.  Then, roll beans in bacon...BUNDLE!  Finally, put the bundles back in the same pot you cooked the beans in (without the water in it, duh), and sprinkle with brown sugar.  Cook over medium heat for a few minutes.  Turn the bundles to brown the bacon on all sides.  Yum.  Btw, this is not the official way to make large quantities of bundle of beans, but it is my quick, only cooking for me, way.

And it's Valentine's Day, so clearly there was dessert involved.  White chocolate-pumpkin ice cream sandwich.  First, win a dozen cookies by jumping into your apartment complex pool in February.

Bur!  Next, go to the grocery store hungry thus prompting you to buy pumpkin ice cream.

As a side note, this ice cream was indeed purchased in late November when everything is pumpkin flavored, much to the dismay of Roomie.  The key to preventing the grotesque and ever disappointing freezer burn on your ice cream is to adhere a piece of Saran Wrap to the surface of the ice cream after each use.  This is a very helpful hint for a person like me that only occasional craves a bite of something cold and creamy.

Now that you have your supplies, place the cookies on a plate, put ice cream on one of them, and top with the other. Yay!

I hope that you each have a wonderful Valentine's Day and go out of your way to show love to someone you don't always get to share with.

P.S. Results of the Blood Orange cocktail throw down are coming soon.

Back in Action

Greetings to all who pondered, "Will she ever blog again."  As you can see, I am back with a vengeance.  I recently witnessed the genesis of what should prove to be one of the greatest contests of all time.  Tyler Adams vs. Mike Stone, the ultimate kitchen throw down. 
In one corner you have Tyler Adams.  His lifelong love of food has recently blossomed into full-fledged foody-dome.  Coming from a past bound by recipe books, he is looking forward to a chance to show-off his new found knowledge.  One may describe Mr. Adams' style as having southern roots and branches reaching toward the sky.  He has an intense focus for the simple and savory.  Joined by his teammate, Abby Northcutt, there is little that can stand in his way.
In the other corner stands Mike Stone.  Mike's love of cooking was born in his very own kitchen.  He finds greatest pleasure in combining new and unusual flavors to give classic food his signature Stone Style.  Mr. Stone's cuisine takes traditional staples and elevates them to ever higher heights.  His goal is to spice up your everyday favorites.  Some underestimate Stone's assistant, Louisa Warren, while others assure me that she is the backbone of this duo.  Together, they are taking this challenge head on.
The game is simple.  Once a month, there will be a cooking challenge issued by a fifth party including a secret ingredient.  Each piquant pair will then prepare their version of the challenge item being sure to show-off the flavor of the secret ingredient.  Both dishes will then be judged and a winner declared.
I will be posting each month's challenge along with photos and recipes, so that you lucky bloggees may basque in the glory of culinary greatness and hopefully be inspired to challenge one of your friends or loved ones to a fight for food supremacy.
Do you smell what the rock is cooking?