Sunday Update...

Hey hey! This weekend has been really relaxing. I went running again yesterday, and the interns and I had a movie night last night. Today I got up and went to Mass at the Catholic church around the corner. It was really neat; the church had a real air of excitement. The church has been without a priest for several months now and is expecting a new one in July. Since it is Pentecost Sunday, the nun running the service used it to talk about the Holy Spirit's role in holding the congregation together through the winter months with no leader. One entire hymnal was devoted to songs translated into the language of the King Island peoples, so one of the songs we sang was in a native language. Thankfully there was a section at the bottom of each page for phonetic spellings of all the words. This afternoon, I took some time to do Pilates and then a nap. Back to the grind tomorrow!

My first taste of Alaskan food...

Yesterday at work we got to hear two of our co-workers talk about Eskimo culture. They are both Alaska native and know a lot about the culture of the region. Here is a list of Eskimo cultural values I thought was really beautiful. It is written in Inupiaq first, then translated to English.

Nunakut munaqsrigitkut
We take care of our land

Munaqsrigaqtuut qunignaituamik
We have a caretaker, we cannot see

Ilavut nakliiluit
We take care of each other

Pilguittuat igayalugit
We take care of those who do not do well

Kaanniuqtuat nigipkalugit
We feed the hungry

Utuqanaat Talugilugit
We respect the elderly

...and the list goes on. I've always found learning about other cultures, especially native cultures, fascinating, and Eskimo culture just seems wonderful. Many still try to live a subsistence lifestyle (living solely off the land). It was interesting because right after the cultural talk we had a nutrition talk, and the subsistence lifestyle and diet is incredible for your health! HDL levels (or "good cholesterol" levels) are considered healthy when they are above 40 for men and 50 for women, but some Eskimo patients have HDL levels well into the hundreds.

Another important aspect of Eskimo culture and of Nome, it seems, is sharing, and one of our co-workers was a great example of this for us last night. Moriah, one of the girls who gave us the culture talk, invited us over for a barbecue at her house last night. We got to eat moose meat kabobs and bison-moose burgers, both of which were DELICIOUS. The burgers were my favorite, although I had already filled up on the kabobs and only had a bite of the burger.

Today is clean up Nome day...so I may be helping pick up trash and sprucing up the place this afternoon, but I'm going to see if I can get one of the other interns to go with me. Going along with that, one of the classes in Summercise is called "graffiti class." All around town, you see big metal shipping containers which people have used to ship things up (i.e. cars, etc.) and abandoned. Lance, from the community center will be helping the kids paint murals on the containers to help beautify Nome! I thought that sounded like a fun way to make a difference. I almost wish I could do Summercise!

Oh! And we saw our first sunset last night. It started happening around 1:30 am, and I don't know when complete darkness hit because I went to sleep. It was funny because in less than a week we've started saying "Wow, look it's getting dark! That is so cool!" or "Woah! The MOON!"

More Pics...

http://picasaweb.google.com/emilye9/Nome1#

This is in the same album as the last set, but these are pictures from our walk on the beach and whatnot. Also note that these pictures were taken at about 10:30 pm. That will help you gauge the daylight situation.

Tonight we went on a small hike out to Gold Hill on the tundra. There were several spots on the trail that we had to wade through knee-deep snow...far more than I've ever seen. We even got a tiny flurry but nothing that stuck. We don't have to be at work until 10am tomorrow, so I get to sleep in just a bit. :D

Hope you have a great night! All my love
emily

We HAVE internet!

We just got internet in our apartment so celebrate with us!

The past few days have been fun but really busy. We've been going through orientations galore and have gotten to meet our high school assistants. One high school girl, Gena, has the most beautiful smile.

We got to tour their food service department in the hospital which was really interesting. They have to plan meals so far in advance! Every hospital has to have enough food for two weeks worth of meals in case of a disaster, but the dietitian says they've gone for as long as six weeks without a delivery. We toured the rest of the hospital and then did a bunch of fun team-building games with the assistants and this really awesome man from the community center.

It sounds like we will be doing all kinds of really cool activities which will really help with my dietetics internship in a few years. We'll be working with WIC and a program called Step by Step which offers free nutrition screenings and has an incentive program which gives out free 3-month passes to the Rec Center. We'll also be able to do some work in the maternity hostel in town and with a summer lunch program which sounds pretty involved. I am so excited!

Two nights ago we went for a walk on the beach looking for beach glass, which is just glass that has washed up from the ocean, but it looks really rounded and pretty. And it's cool to think where it may have come from. There is still a good bit of ice near the shore, probably close to three feet thick, so we walked out on that and got some good shots. I'm trying to upload them to picasa, but it is taking a while...

Today was mostly just more training on how to handle behavioral problems and parent complaints. We learned more about our specific roles and met a few of the community members who will be helping with the program. I think we'll try to go for a hike tonight and take a peek at a thrift store we've heard about down town.

Mom and Dad- I took a picture of the hotel you guys will be staying at when you come up, so check that out too.

love,
em

And pictures...

http://picasaweb.google.com/emilye9/Nome1

Oh yea...one more thing...

I forgot, but we found out today that TLC is doing a couple of episodes of a reality show based in Nome this summer. They've just produced a 4 minute pilot episode, and the show will center around this coffee shop we're in right now, Airport Pizza. This place is known for flying pizzas out to the villages around here. From what we hear, the show puts a really negative spin on the employees here and the town, though. So if you happen to see it this summer, take it with a grain of salt. ;D

This is too funny. There are 7 of us in here, all of us are online, some of us are trying to Skype (unsuccessfully), and 3 are on cell phones. We come to Bush Alaska, and this is what we do. AHHHH. rediculous.

all my love (again.)
em

I'm HERE!!!!!

Here are my notes from the past 3 days. There are currently 7 of us sucking the wireless out of the local coffee shop, so this may be a really slowwwww load. :D I'm working on getting some pics up on picasa web, too, so hopefully a link will follow.

May 25, 2009

I just arrived in Nome last night around 8 pm Alaskan time. It was such a long day of travel, but I am so happy to be here and really love the town so far. I’ll get you caught up.

Travel day was really cool. I left my house around 4:30 am for my 6am flight, and of course, I was extremely nervous. I’ve never liked flying a whole lot, and this was my first time flying by myself, meaning this was the first time I had to put much thought in getting from gate to gate on time, etc.

Luckily the Lord stepped in with some encouragement right at the start. Just after I sat down to wait for my flight an older couple sat down next to me, and the man struck up a conversation. After a few minutes he started talking a bit about his faith and giving me encouragement. In our conversation about Alaska, he told me about a really cool word he says isn’t used much any more, but it is highly descriptive of the Lord. The word is “redound” and it describes beauty and majesty. So there you go…redound…use it well. :D I sat next to a Clemson grad on my flight who was also going to Seattle after Dallas, so she helped me get to my next gate.

All of my flights went really smoothly, and as scary and unnatural as I think flying was, I found out that I really love having a window seat. Who knew that there were that many layers of clouds? I mean, I have flown before, but I think this was the first time I actually appreciated how beautiful the world is from that high.

There was another intern on my last two flights, but we didn’t realize who each other were, so I didn’t find out until later. We got picked up at the airport by the two CAMP directors who are both really young and nice. One took us to our apartment which is on a dirt road in the middle of town. It’s in a pretty nice, yellow building and the space is HUGE! We found out that all but two of us get our own room, which is really nice. The apartment has a huge kitchen and den area, and three of us are sharing it. We have cable and a DVD player. No internet yet, so if I’m posting this, it will probably from the office or the coffee shop down town.

We drove around a bit last night to look at the town. Most of the streets are dirt, and there are a lot of broken down cars, tools, and gold mining equipment lying around. One area along the road leading out of town is used as a “museum” of gold mining equipment from the early 1900’s. There are three roads leading out of town into the bush where people have camps. Hopefully we’ll make it out there a few times. AND! We saw a herd of reindeer crossing the road last night. I went to bed around 11pm in the broad daylight and slept extremely hard. One of my roommates said she was up to see the sunset around 1am.

I woke up around 5:30 am (9:30 am at home) and there was a bit of a sunrise going on. It was still really light outside, but the sky was pink so you could tell it was morning. We all got up around 8:30 and headed to the CAMP office to catch a ride to the start of the Memorial Day parade. There were about 30 people in the parade, and maybe 40 onlookers. We processed up the hill to the cemetery where there was a nice ceremony to honor veterans and fallen soldiers.

After the ceremony Kelly, from CAMP, took the three of us out to brunch at Airport Pizza (which is actually more of a coffee shop that serves pizza, among other things). I spent the rest of the morning unpacking and getting settled until another intern got here around 1. The four of us went exploring this afternoon on foot. There are a lot of bars on the main road and a few restaurants and cool gift shops. The shops we visited have a lot of native art and carvings, as well as Russian artwork. I saw fox, mink, and musk oxen pelts and some moccasins that looked really warm.

The women at the visitors’ center say that the baby musk oxen have been hanging out pretty close to town lately on the tundra, so hopefully we’ll go on a hike soon and see them. The sea is still a little icy, although the majority of the ice broke off last week. We’re waiting on the last four interns to arrive tonight, and we start orientation and stuff tomorrow morning. I think that’s about it for now…more later, and I should be posting pictures soon, so I’ll post a link to picasaweb on here. :D Love all of you!

em

May 26, 2009

Today was our first day of training at the office. We had to fill out a lot of human resources forms this morning, take a drug test, and have our immunization records checked. I’ll have to get fingerprinted later in the week. We watched a really fun video on blood-borne pathogens (thrilling, I tell you.) The CAMP office had Subway sandwiches for us at lunchtime, which is about the only recognizable restaurant in town.

A lot of the restaurants we’ve seen have really odd combinations of cuisines. There is a sushi/pizza place, an American/Japanese/Italian place, and a barbeque/Chinese place. This week, we have a gift card for our stipend which only works at one of the grocery stores in town, but by next week we should be getting a direct deposit into our account. I think all of us interns are going to try doing a lot of group dinners to save money and maybe trying 1 restaurant a week. Prices are, as expected, really really high here. For instance, one avocado is close to five dollars, milk is seven dollars per gallon, but we’re applying for a store savings card, and we should be able to “mooch” off the hospital a good bit.

Anyway, after lunch we got to meet the rest of the CAMP staff and play a name game to get to know each other. It looks like we will be getting a ton of really cool opportunities to gain experience in the nutrition field up here. We will be working with WIC some, a summer-lunch program, and various other community nutrition projects. There are three dieticians who will be working over us, and everyone just seems to genuinely love this community.

They’ve told us we may get to spend some time with the elders of the town, too, which would be really cool. We may even be able to go berry picking with them. A group of women came into the office today from one of the surrounding villages to sell crafts they had made. I love it!

One of my new friends, Tala, is a big runner so she and I went for a run last night around 9pm. We were trying to find a 5k route we had heard about and got a little turned around so we didn’t go for very far. Today in our meeting we found out about a running club in town and a 12.5 mile race up to the top of Anvil Mountain late in June, so we may try to train for that! I am just trying to soak everything in. I think we’re going to go back down to the beach today, so I’ll be sure to take my camera. Things are going really great so far! Love love love!

em

Lex, the gnome...going to Nome...

I would like to introduce you to my new travel companion, Lex. He is a gnome and a gift from my aunt. And yes, this gnome is going to Nome. (Is that how you spell gnome? And what is the point of silent g's?)

A few thoughts...

It struck me today that I am starting to understand what people mean when they say "life happens- I'm just along for the ride." I leave for Alaska in a day and a half, and I have no idea where the time went. I'm glad God is in control!

I judged company auditions for local dance studio the other day, and I feel like I have to share a story from my time there. First of all, the two women who own the studio are very dear friends of mine and really wonderful women of God. I have worked at this studio a few times now and did some choreography for their senior tap company last year, and their students are such a joy. My friends have been able to create a real family atmosphere in the studio, showing love to the kids and treating them as their own.

One of the women, Debi, told me about a young boy who was going to be observing tryouts. She said she had worked with him in chorus at the middle school nearby, and he had such great stage presence and love for performing that she invited him to see how he liked their studio. As it turns out this little boy is a foster child and is living with a great foster mom who has let him start hanging out around the studio for a couple of weeks now.

Tryout day was a little different for him because, although we were not judging him for the team he wanted to try the moves with the girls and other young male dancer on the senior team. IT WAS SO COOL TO WATCH! This kid rocked! He had the hugest smile on his face the entire time he was dancing and just hammed it up big-time. I was watching raw talent. He had had no dance training, but his musicality was perfect, his attitude was better than you can ask for, and he just looked like he was having the time of his life trying to follow along with the other dancers. I don't know exactly what touched me so about this boy's story; I think because I am passionate about dance it is always exciting to see others (at any skill level) with the same excitement and love for it.

I think it's time for a new post...

Hi everyone! Countdown 4 days until I leave for Nome. I can't believe it is coming so soon, but I'm getting really excited and trying to make sure I'm prepared. My driver's license is going to expire while I'm out there, so I've got to go take care of that today and try to get a tetanus shot at some point. I'm trying to put off the latter as long as possible because the last time I went in for a shot they ended up doing blood work as well. YUCK!

My flight itinerary arrived yesterday, and I hear it snowed in Nome two days ago, so it will still be pretty chilly when I get out there. I just wanted to give everyone an update...now off to the DMV. Wooh!

Nome update...

So it looks like things are starting to warm up a bit in Nome: the highs could be in the 40's finally. I'm still waiting to hear about internet access and whatnot. I'm trying to take a couple of Spanish classes while I'm up there to continue with my minor, but if I don't have reliable internet that can't happen. And I'm still trying to figure out if a quick trip to the beach with my dance girls is a possibility. Time is so limited, and I want to spend it with family, but I also miss my friends.

And I know you were all worrying about this...

The fun fact I mentioned earlier about being up to my eyeballs in men may not be as true as we first thought. According to Wikipedia, for every 100 women there are about 115 men. Asi es la vida

Cool Guy...

I've been slowly working my way through this cool book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan. It's about the love relationship between the Lord and us...what it looks like and what it should look like. Francis is the pastor at a church in California, and I've been YouTubing some of his videos and looking at his blog. He is a baller! check it out...

http://www.crazylovebook.com/

http://francischansblog.blogspot.com/

or just type in his name on Youtube...he's got some really cool insight into the Bible and really completely falling in love with Jesus.

:D

Random things that go through my head...

I am becoming a true blogger...

I think it's really cool how the Holy Spirit moves. I can see it in obvious places like church, with worshipers raising their hands to the heavens and singing praises to the Lord, but I also see it in simple things like connections between strangers who meet for the first time and form instant bonds. I feel the H.S. in the restless heart I experience when I do something I know deep down is wrong. I also think that the Holy Spirit works in ways that seem unexpected. Like when someone who claims to have no faith at all feels their skin crawl and wants to run when Christians start talking about their Savior. It's all about movement. Even when the movement appears to be in the wrong direction, it's cool to think that it is Spirit led. There is no wrong direction because God is in all directions.

Go Deep...Move Rocks

So i've started the goodbye's before my trip to alaska...I'm home from a ridiculously hectic year of school and a great weekend in NC. I went gemming over the weekend which was a lot of fun. I learned that creekin' is a lot more lucrative than diggin' (a good life lesson if you ask me), and that emeralds are not as easy to come by as they sound at first.



Fun facts I've been learning recently about Alaska...
-there are approximately 1.1 people per square mile
-Alaska is pretty close to 600,000 sq miles total
-I apparently will be up to my eyeballs in men (as my boyfriends's dad informed me) :D

I think it is finally starting, only starting, to sink in that I am going on this huge adventure. I really want to make the most of it. I was reading some national geographic articles about Alaska today. I have got to make a friend up there who will take me hiking/camping and I've got to dig into the people and culture up there. Those are two of my goals. I'm also hoping this will solidify my desire to become a dietitian. I want to really learn from this internship opportunity because they are so hard to come by for people in my major. After such a hectic year in the lower 48, a town of 3500 people with no roads into or out of town is sounding like a idyllic, but extreme change of pace. Ok...I'm getting excited.