I have come to the wonderful state of Alaska to start an adventure, oh yeah and a new job. When I knew that I was going to be moving to a small town in the arctic circle, I did oodles of research. After discovering as much as I could about the area, I felt ready for anything that might present itself once I finally got here.
Due to one thing or another, it took me 4 tries and almost 2 weeks to get to my final destination. I flew in on a night flight so really had no chance to see my town as I came in. I did find it a wee bit unusual that the pilot circled 2 times and proceeded to increase his speed as we descended onto the airfield, but what do I know, I am not a pilot.
I had the fortune of being met by my supervisor and his wife. Not real hard to find people in this airport. It is basically the size of a Subway Sandwich Shop. I was the new kid on the block so people automatically knew who I was with. As they showed me around the town, I realized that some of my research was a bit off. It is mid January and I expected the temperatures to be, well frankly a lot colder. I found the wind cold, but not unbearable. My home state is currently sitting at negative temperatures and here in Alaska it is actually not terrible! All of my cold weather gear from home was TOO WARM. Every place you walk into has the thermostat set at like 80 degrees! Sure its cold outside, but heat stroke can be a problem if I am not careful!
I had done some research about transportation and knew that ATV's and snow mobiles were very useful here but due to maintenance cost, their use was supposed to be limited. Everywhere I looked, kids and teenagers were zipping around on snow mobiles up and down streets. I did not get the impression that their use was limited at all!
As far as shopping goes, I knew there was a grocery store but was not prepared to enter it yet. Scared of the prices. However, I found a 24 hour "convience" store not far from my apartment. Nope still haven't been there yet either. Seems most people will make the effort to buy things via Internet and so on for their basics. Watching the grocery store traffic, I am surprised at how busy it is considering all my "research."
Oh, and the whole "days and days of night" nonsense....I knew that it was not quite true, but still wasn't sure what it would be like. Apparently in December there are 20 days of night 24 hours a day. Well, now it is like an early dusk around 10am and then seems to be a heavy cloud covered daylight around 2pm. Gradually the sun leaves again and it is night around 5ish, give or take. They tell me that we are getting 6-7 more minutes of daylight every day.
Tomorrow is a city holiday. I hope the grocery store is open because I think I am going to try going over. I will continue to inform as things advance. I must say, I really like the town so far. Haven't met a lot of people yet, but it seems small town friendly.
Due to one thing or another, it took me 4 tries and almost 2 weeks to get to my final destination. I flew in on a night flight so really had no chance to see my town as I came in. I did find it a wee bit unusual that the pilot circled 2 times and proceeded to increase his speed as we descended onto the airfield, but what do I know, I am not a pilot.
I had the fortune of being met by my supervisor and his wife. Not real hard to find people in this airport. It is basically the size of a Subway Sandwich Shop. I was the new kid on the block so people automatically knew who I was with. As they showed me around the town, I realized that some of my research was a bit off. It is mid January and I expected the temperatures to be, well frankly a lot colder. I found the wind cold, but not unbearable. My home state is currently sitting at negative temperatures and here in Alaska it is actually not terrible! All of my cold weather gear from home was TOO WARM. Every place you walk into has the thermostat set at like 80 degrees! Sure its cold outside, but heat stroke can be a problem if I am not careful!
I had done some research about transportation and knew that ATV's and snow mobiles were very useful here but due to maintenance cost, their use was supposed to be limited. Everywhere I looked, kids and teenagers were zipping around on snow mobiles up and down streets. I did not get the impression that their use was limited at all!
As far as shopping goes, I knew there was a grocery store but was not prepared to enter it yet. Scared of the prices. However, I found a 24 hour "convience" store not far from my apartment. Nope still haven't been there yet either. Seems most people will make the effort to buy things via Internet and so on for their basics. Watching the grocery store traffic, I am surprised at how busy it is considering all my "research."
Oh, and the whole "days and days of night" nonsense....I knew that it was not quite true, but still wasn't sure what it would be like. Apparently in December there are 20 days of night 24 hours a day. Well, now it is like an early dusk around 10am and then seems to be a heavy cloud covered daylight around 2pm. Gradually the sun leaves again and it is night around 5ish, give or take. They tell me that we are getting 6-7 more minutes of daylight every day.
Tomorrow is a city holiday. I hope the grocery store is open because I think I am going to try going over. I will continue to inform as things advance. I must say, I really like the town so far. Haven't met a lot of people yet, but it seems small town friendly.
2 comments:
How fun!! I love hearing how things are going! I hope the grocery store turns out okay!
Grrrreat! thanks for keeping us up to date...
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