I think I might run

I have a friend who runs. Her name is Jen, and she is very motivational. Jen: "I want to run half or full marathons in every state." Me: "That's neat. I'm more of a gym class girl myself." Jen: "You would be good at running once you got into." Me: "I'm not really built for the running. It hurts my boobs." Jen: "You just need the right gear. If you can do pure barre you could totally handle a 5k." Me: "OK, I will run, if you teach me." Then, Jennifer and I ran one time. I did not die, but I thought about it. Then, more friends joined in, and we began to look like some sort of rag-tag gang running down the mean streets of A-town. I started running some on my own and joined the gym by my office. The running is not quite as terrible as it was when Coach Matthews was yelling at 15 year old me that if I did not finish the suicide sprints in time I would have to do more until I could. "Hello! If I do more of these, I will not be doing them any faster!" The other day, Jen said, "Abby I am running a half marathon near Charleston in February. You should do it. We'd be able to stay for free." Immediate thought: "No Northcutt nor Adams has ever run 13 miles, let alone 13.1. That is ridiculous. I like Charleston. It's not hot in February. A free place to stay? Hmm..." Me: (a loud) "Maybe." Jen and Tyler: "You could totally do it, you underestimate yourself." Me: (in my mind) "I'm pretty sure I am accurately estimating myself and my desire to run that far. But, I do like Charleston." Me: (a loud) "What if I can run 8-10 of the 13.1 miles and walk the rest? Would I get kicked out?" Jen: "You can totally do the whole thing." Me: (in my mind) "That didn't really answer my question." Me: (a loud) "I will put it in my Nike app and follow the training plan it gives me. We will see how far I make it." Jen: "Great, you can do it." My running plan started Tuesday. It does not seem so bad right now, but we will see... I also have a question for Nike. Today my app says "Cross Training". Does making haystacks and chocolate pie count as "Cross Training"? Can it?

PB&J Roll-up and a Pear

Joleen at work asked last week what I miss about Alabama.  I said grass or really just greenness.  Most things here are some shade of grey or tan most of the year.  Things are starting to turn green right now, and a couple of flowers are blooming.  But, it’s nothing like the way Alabama EXPLODES with color, and pollen, in March.  Joleen responded to my comment on the lack of grass with, “We have tundra.” 

Tundra

I was like, “Yeah, but that’s not grass; it’s like low growth.” 

“It’s better than grass, it’s squishy.”  I was then told that because it is untouched earth and things just grow and die on it each year and the snow melts to make a water underlayer, the tundra is like walking in Moon Shoes.  Until then, I had not veered off the path of the loop, due to the intensity of my Alaskan exercise regime.  

Btw, exercise is a word I have to think about every time I spell it.  I want to spell it excersize.  How come some words are “ex” and some are “exc”?  How am I suppose to know which is which?  And why do we say the “s” in the word like a “z” if it’s not a “z”?  We should say exerci-ss-e, kind of like precise.

So, Saturday morning, I decided to take off into the tundra.  I packed a PB&J Roll-up, a Pear, and a little bit of toilet tissue figuring that hunger and a latrine could be the only things in my way of exploring to my heart’s content.  Tyler said that it sounded like the beginning of an episode of I Shouldn’t Be Alive.  I told him, those people would have only packed the Roll-up and neglected the Pear and the T.P. elevating me from, “I shouldn’t have survived it,” to, “Of course I survived; those guys are amateurs.”  I also had my iPod.  Tundra exploration music = The Pool Boys and Lady Antebellum.  Please do not hate on my music selection.  I am well aware that I like music that a lot of other people hate on.  And, I don’t care, because I like it.

The tundra was just as squishy as Joleen promised.  In fact, it was kind of a challenge to traverse.  I definitely had to pick my feet up and choose where I stepped.  I walked along the coast for a little ways then turned inland to walk up a hill to see the lake on the other side.  At first, I was dodging these little Horton Hears a Who balls that were growing everywhere. 

They grow out of a little mound of grass that is not completely stable on the ground.  Many of you know of my world-renowned grace and poise and will not be surprised that there were many a close call that would have been answered by a face-plant.  It was like trying to walk on those Lilly pad things at the water park. 

Then, all of a sudden, I found myself in a patch of low-lying ground that seemed to collect all of the water from the surrounding hills.  If I even paused, my feet started to sink in the mud, and in some spots just stepping would cause sinkage.  This is when the Horton Hears a Who balls became a hot commodity.  I followed a path that they created uphill until I reached much more solid ground.

By this time, I was pretty tired from all of this high stepping and Lilly pad hopping.  So, I found a nice spot on top of a hill where I could see the lake on one side and the sound on the other and ate my provisions.  I tried to take pictures in a 180 view from where I sat, but you just can’t see how overwhelmingly beautiful it is unless you are sitting in the grass eating a PB&J roll-up. 

The lake

Tundra

The Sound (Ocean)

Mountains

Anyone who would like to experience this, I will be happy to escort you.

After my lunch, I made my way through some bushes that I somehow found myself surrounded by, then back to the path from which I came.

On my way back I saw a duck, but I could not get a picture of him because as soon as I would come around the bush where he was hiding he would quack-quack-quack and scuddle behind the next bush.  I did, however, snap a pick of a little baby bird of some variety that was tripping and running down the path.

Chickadee

It's Independence Day

People here love to celebrate.  They love to eat and grill out and get together.  Fourth of July was made for them.  They gets kicked off with the parade at 10am.  This is Very early for the people here.  They like to stay out late with the Midnight Sun and wake up when they feel like it.  There is really no need to claim a spot considering that there are only 3,200 people in town and the route is a couple miles long.  I got there a little early though just in case.  On my way there, everybody was greeting me with Happy Fourth, Happy Fourth.  We never really say that a lot in Alabama I don’t think.  There’s always Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Have a great Fourth of July, but no Happy Fourth.  The parade was fun.  It is led by the fire department and Coast Guard.  (Why does the computer consider sentences written in passive instead of active voice grammatically incorrect?  Anyone?) 

Then most of the big companies around here sponsor floats and their candidates for Miss Arctic Circle ride on the floats.

This is my friend Stephanie's son Spencer.  Note his very traditional socks and flipflops.

This girl had a plane on her float.

These are the winners from last year.

After the parade, my friend Mila and I got free ice cream bars at the fire station then made our way to the fairgrounds. 

We walked around to scope everything out.  The parks services folks were out with this really cool activity.  They should how the Eskimos use to build stone men to help heard the caribou.  They are called Inuksuk.  I guess it’s kind of like a scarecrow.  The caribou would run away from them thinking it was a man and run right to the actual men waiting to hunt them.  I tried to make a little one.

Then Mila, Elaine, and I made a big one.

See his arms and head.  We even gave him a hat.

Then we went over to the stage to watch the presentation of the contestants for Miss Arctic Circle and Miss Teen Arctic Circle.  They spent a long time describing their amazing coats (Parkas), mittens, and boots (Mukluks).  They were made of squirrel, muskrat, Ugruk (seal), caribou, and wolf. 

Some of the mittens were actual wolf heads!

All the heavy lifting from making our Inuksuk made me a little peckish, so after the pageant, I decided on a Caribou Bratwurst.  It was really good.  You can’t beat a really good hotdog on the Fourth of July.

They had some traditional dancing.  See the big drums the men are playing.  All the dances tell stories of hunting, boating, berry picking, and life.

This elder still likes to bust a move, too.

Next were the foot races.  They had men’s and women’s divisions in every age bracket from 2-3 year olds to 70+.  When they got to the 20-29 year old women, there was only one girl standing out there, and there were prizes for 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place.  So, I told my friend Judith to take my picture while I ran.  I am extremely slow.  Like really.  But I thought, “If it’s just me against her, at least I’ll get second.”  Then right before she said go, three more ladies walked up.  Good grief. 

I am next to the girl in the green.  See my face.  This girl on the end in the grey is the one that went down.

I ended up getting fourth out of five, because one lady face planted halfway down the path.  But, I tried.

Then there was tug of war.  There was the adult round then the kids round.  They split the teams by fresh water and salt water.  The salt-water people are those from places like Kotzebue, Kivalina, and Point Hope.  Fresh water people are those from inland like Kobuk and Shugnak.  Fresh water dominated.

At this point, we decided to introduce my friend Mila to the Funnel cake.  She is from Peru and has lived in Kotzebue for a little over a year.  Her husband has lived here for 25 years, and they met when he was vacationing in Peru.  I believe I started an addiction.  She was all about the Funnel Cake.

After that we watched the Beautiful Baby Contest.  A lot of the babies were dressed in traditional parkas and atukluks. 

This baby was my favorite.  He has a spear so we can hunt some whale.  He even has his war face on!  His grandma (nana) works with me.  It's said nah-nah. Grandma in Inupiat.

This little one's mom works with me, too.

Atukluks are like hoodies with big pockets and a skirt.  Some are fleece lined.  The ones with skirts are for when the ladies would be out in the tundra and need to go to the bathroom.  There are no trees to squat behind like in Alabama, so the skirt was definitely necessary.  Look back at the dancing elder.  She has one on.  People here where them whenever, not just during traditional stuff.

Then came the lip-sync contest.  Some people had clearly practiced and were very good.  Others were not as practiced and much more shy.  It was funny though.

These twins did Teach Me How to Dougy.  That were the runners-up last year and did pretty well again.

This crew did N'sync.

Taylor Swift, of course.  This girl won last year and took home the grand prize again this year.

And, Call Me Maybe.

By evening I was tired, and my face was pretty toasty.  It was a really fun day though.

What about the fireworks?  All these activities and no fireworks?  Did you fall asleep before they started? 

That was a good guess, but no.

Think about it guys.  Midnight Sun.  It is light outside all night, so you can’t see fireworks very well.  They have a huge fireworks show out on the ice for New Year’s Eve, but the 4^th is fireless.

Ugruk

Fair Warning:  This post contains pictures that may not be appropriate for those of you who have weak stomachs or support PETA.  It is also long.

Ugruk is Iñupiat for Bearded Seal!  This one is pronounced “Uh-grook.”  But, the “oo” in “grook” is like the “oo” in “hook,” not like the “oo” in “boo.”  Does that make sense?  Ugruk.  The seal come up here in the summer time when the water off the Pacific Northwest gets a little warmer than they prefer.  Here, however, they face a different sort of environmental distress.  It is legal here for the native “subsistence” hunters to hunt the seal.  Hunting them is one of the great challenges of the arctic.  The key is to find a seal that is sunbathing on a piece of floating ice.  I think I have said this before, but during the winter here the ocean, lagoon, and rivers all completely freeze over.  We’re talkin’ drive you car out on the ice frozen.  By this time of year, all the ice has floated about 10 miles out to sea.  This is where you find the Ugruk.  Anyway, you find one laying on the ice and you have to get close enough to get a good shot but not so close that you scare them and they dive into the water.  It is key to get a good clear shot of their neck, because if you shoot without killing them they are likely to slide into the water.  If they do get into the water, you have to get to them immediately or they will sink. 

Once you hit one you have to get it into the boat.  Imagine pulling a 500 pound cow out of the water and into the boat, but this cow was no legs to grab onto, and it’s slick and wet.  Alternatively, you may have to beach your boat on the ice and carry or drag the seal back to the boat.  Once you’ve brought it in, the fun begins.

On Saturday, I was fixing pasta salad to take to a cook out and needed to open the can of olives.  Because God is intricate and wise and funny, there was no can opener in my whole house.  How can you live in Alaska and not own a can opener?  So, I decided to go to Stephanie’s house to borough a can opener.  When I got there, there were several people standing out in the yard with some sort of animal.  After I was introduced to Freida, Pauline, Verne, and Ricky; I said, “Is that a seal.”  “Ugruk?  Yes.  Do you want to help?” 

Here is a very important fact to know about Ugruk.  If it ever gets on you, it will never go away.  You have to bleach absolutely everything it touches, or you will smell like the fishiest fish you have ever smelled, FOR-EV-ER.  So, I politely said, “Uh, I’d love to help, but I’d have to go home and change.   I know about this stuff.  Once it gets on you, it never goes away.”  They laughed and conceded that I would indeed be quite smelly.  I told them I would just watch and learn.  I did end up helping hold up the big part of the seal as they cut it away from the blubber.  They were using this hook to pull it up.  They said, “Hey, help Vern pull that up.”  I grabbed and pulled and almost lifted the seal right off the ground.  “WHOAH, you strong girl!”  I had proven my true Eskimo spirit and was prodded to help further.  I reminded them how much I enjoyed the clothes I was wearing, and respectfully declined.

Sometimes I come across as not being very hardcore, because I am very protective of my outfits.  Each activity has its appropriate ensemble.  If I plan for such activities and dress accordingly, I will do pretty much anything: cave exploration, cliff diving, anaconda hunting, pottery, painting, and Ugruk butchering.

Back to Freida and Pauline. 

These two ladies were wielding their Ulus (Eskimo knives) like nobody’s business. 

 First, they cut the head off.  I’m usually ok with dead animals until I see their little face.

So, pitiful, but this is the Eskimo way of life and has been for 10,000 years.

They cut off his flippers.

Note the Ulu lying next to the flipper.  This is the knife the native people use to butcher all types of animals.  And those narly toenails.

They cut the skin and blubber away from the meat part of the seal.

They will let the blubber sit out over night attached to the skin.

Tomorrow, they will separate the blubber from the skin.  The skin has incredibly soft fur and is used to make gloves, boots, trim coats, and other things that keep you very warm and toasty.  They will cut the blubber up into strips and put them in a bucket.  They will keep the bucket in a cool place for a couple of days, stirring it every now and again.  The fat will eventually render into what is known as Seal Oil.  Seal Oil : Eskimos :: Olive Oil : Italians.  They eat it with everything.  They dip the seal meat in it, they dip fish in it, they use it in salad dressing, it is a multi-purpose ingredient.  I have found that people here have strong opinions toward Seal Oil.  They either love it’s greasy, fishy sumptuousness; or it makes them want to ralph.  I have yet to try it, but I will let you know which category I fall into.

The meat will be hung over night on this structure that Raymond is constructing. 

They allow the meat to dry out and then eat it as is or cook it then eat it depending on their taste.

My madre has taught me that all great spectator sports worth watching are incomplete without an official snack.  Ugruk butchering was no different.  Freida had made some homemade biscuits and cinnamon rolls to tide them over while they worked hard at they craft.  They offered one to me, and I hesitated for a moment because I thought they were simply store bought.  Then Verne added, “My wife makes the best biscuits and cinnamon rolls.”  What?  Homemade baked goods?  I love these people!  Why yes please, I would love one.  I grabbed a biscuit (in Alabama, we would probably actually refer to this as a pop-over roll), tore off a piece, and enjoyed the flaky deliciousness. 

“All for Ugruk, stand up and holler!” 

Btw, I have a picture of the delicious roll, but my flashdrive I use to get the pictures from my laptop to the desktop so they can go online says that it is full eventhough I deleted almost everything on it.  How do I make it not do that?  Is Andy reading this?  or Derek?  or Ashley?

Pearly Whites

I have had some requests to share more about the work I’m doing here.  Yes, I am going to work.  There is just so much daylight here that there is plenty of time for other things, too.  Here at Maniilaq Dental, there are two full time dentists and one that is here two weeks each month.  The one that is here half time is a prosthodontist, so the other dentists usually save all the crown, bridge, and denture stuff for him to do while he is here.  The closest lab is in Anchorage, but he is from Seattle, so he uses a lab there.  The cost of postage and time it takes is about the same, and he knows their work.  Because the lab is far away, he does a lot of his own lab work in order to minimize the number of appointments and back-and-forth between the clinic and the lab.  This means that he does not have the luxury of teeth try-ins.  He said he would love to be able to do that, but it’s just not possible in this setting and the lab does just fine without the extra steps.  For those of you who are wondering, he most certainly does NOT set his own denture teeth or carve wax crowns.

The other dentists do a menagerie of other procedures.  There is a minority of patients here that come in for regular exams.  These people usually need a filling of some kind.  They do amalgams here, but they also do a lot more posterior composites than I expected.  They are big on using Fuji liners, cavity conditioners, and Fuji IX for fills in conjunction with composites. 

The majority of patients, however, do not come to the dentist unless they are in pain.  This means a lot of root canals and extractions.  Some people can only afford to come in when they are in pain, because they are from out in the villages.  And, flights here are pretty expensive.  Most of the native people qualify for Medicaid, which does pay for their travel, but only if it is essential, aka causing them pain.  Other people simply ignore their oral health and assume that all their teeth will eventually have to come out, because that is how it has been for generations.  Most people here also smoke, which does not help their oral health status.

The kids’ teeth are not much better.  People here drink a LOT of “soda pop.”  It kind of baffles me because it costs like $15 for a 12-pack.  That’s an expensive habit.  I really don’t think parents know what it does to their kids’ teeth, or at least, I like to think they don’t know.  But kids come in with teeth that just have to be pulled because they have washed them away with Shasta and BubbleYum.

It is so interesting to me, because the clinic here is so nice.  It is clean and up-to-date.  The staff is accommodating and the dentists are knowledgeable and skilled.  There are small mini-clinics in the villages that offer simple oral health services.  I’m not sure why more people don’t take advantage of what is available here.  I really think it all stems from a lack of oral health education, a lack of understanding and appreciation for what they have been blessed with and how to care for themselves.

Uutuku

I believe I previously posted a picture of the little 24 hour restaurant and convenience store next door to my house, but for you personal reference.

This is the Uutuku.  When I read it, I said oo-tOO-koo, accent on the 2^nd “oo.”  I have since learned that this is not correct, and everyone will look at you like you are ignorant for not being able to pronounce such a simple word correctly.  It is suppose to be OO-tuh-koo, accent on the 1^st “oo,” and the second syllable has no “oo” at all.  What is an Uutuku?  Is that like an Eskimo thing?  I’m glad you asked.  According to Wikipedia, an Uutuku is a spirit.  It can be good or it can be devilishly mischievous.  The word actually comes from Somerian mythology in the Middle East.  So, I’m not exactly sure how they came up with it.

On Monday, I was looking at all the food I have left.  I packed all my food in my suitcases to bring up here, in case I haven’t mentioned that yet.  Everything is so expensive here that it was cheaper to bring it with me.  So, I was counting the number of lunches and dinners I have food left for.  For those of you who know me well, this will not come as a surprise and will, in fact, seem like a mundane task in Abby’s everyday life.

I counted all the meals and saw that I have more than enough food to get me through the end of my stay.  Now the important thing is for me to try every restaurant in town before I leave.  There are like seven restaurants here in town, most of which are owned by Korean people and serve some sort of Chinese food.  I decided to start close to home with the Uutuku.

I walked into the tiny convenience store and placed me order: Orange chicken, Steamed rice, and an Egg roll.  I took it to go and made the 50 yard trek back home.

I opened the promising little containers to find immaculate presentation.

Look at those perfectly round rice balls and orange slice garnishes.

This was definitely enough for two people.  So, I served myself up a rice and some chicken plus my Egg Roll. I love Egg Rolls! 

It was tasty-taste.  The rice was perfectly sticky.  The egg roll could have been crispier, but it was good.  The chicken was good.  The sauce was good and zesty but a little too sweet for me.  I will be comparing to the other local joints.  We will see who is victorious.