In Soviet Russia, Pizza Eats You!

I found a wireless signal in a Russian pizza restaurant, and so I'm hunkering down here trying to do some work for my rotation. There's a group of 4 guys sitting at the booth next to me speaking in Russian, and I just keep thinking of the line from Simpsons or Family Guy "In Soviet Russia, car drives you!". Apparently, the democratic freedom granted by the fall of the Soviet Union 20 years ago has given Russian citizens to move to Bethel and bake calzones. Hooray democracy?

Tomorrow I'm going to check out the local museum and cultural center, and Sunday I'm going to the local Unitarian church service. Yes, there is one here, although it's not listed online with the main organization website or in the yellow pages. Apparently they meet every Sunday in an honest-to-god log cabin in the middle of a park. Sounds a little too Ralph Waldo Emerson for me, but it could be interesting. Of course, it could be full of left-wing Unitarian revolutionaries that are so vegan they only lick the lichen off of rocks for subsistence. Either way, I'm taking pictures.

I uploaded some more pictures of the hospital and my housing and can be found at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/piratepharmd/

The sled-dog race is next weekend, and I'm volunteering for parts of it, so I'll make sure to take a bunch of pictures. The cold snap should end by Sunday, and bring the ambient temperature back to zero degrees (it's currently -22 F).

I miss everybody and will try to get more pictures up when I can.

My Cultural Presentation

Yup’ik Seal Hunting

During the spring season, young boys and elders fish by the river while watching for seals to appear. The seals are difficult to find because when they surface for air, they do so in the middle of the river and come up nose first. Then, the seals slowly bring the rest of their head to the surface. To the casual observer, the seal’s head would appear to be a log floating along with the current. Because it is difficult to spot the seals as they come up the river chasing schools of fish, the elders who have great experience, do so. When a seal is spotted coming up the river, or entering the river mouth, CB radios and other high tech communication devices are used to keep in contact with the village and other hunters.

Many boats will be launched from the village when a seal has been spotted, with everyone working together to successfully hunt it. Small harpoons called “bladder darts” will be fired from the boats by use of a “throwing board”, which is a specialized length of wood measured to be the length from a hunter’s elbow to the tips of their fingers. This throwing board increases the speed and velocity of the thrown dart. Bladder darts are used to capture smaller seals, and are composed of a short round shaft with light fletching at the butt end, and a bone or ivory nozzle at the tip into which a harpoon point is inserted. A bladder, which traditionally is made of dried and inflated seal intestine, is attached to the shaft. The harpoon point is connected to the shaft by a line and when a seal is struck, the harpoon becomes embedded beneath the layer of skin and blubber. The remaining shaft and bladder are dragged behind the seal on the surface of the water and serve to tire the seal into being more easily caught.

Villages have traditional food-sharing protocols to make sure all members have a fair distribution of the fresh seal meat. In some villages, the bladders of the bladder darts are individually marked to signify which hunter has completed the successful hunt, and although many people will help in the capture, the entirety of the seal will go to the individual hunter. Other traditions hold that the first seal of the season taken by a hunter is divided and given away to members of the village.

When a young man brings back his first seal, it is a cause for great celebration and is a type of rite of passage ceremony. The seal is skinned and butchered and a designated woman in the village (usually the wife, mother, or grandmother of the hunter) will divide the meat and seal blubber among the rest of the village, with large portions given to the village elders who no longer hunt. The young hunter is not allowed to eat or come in contact with the meat during this time. The young man’s family will save up for many years to prepare for this occasion, and on the day of the ceremony the family throws various objects to the rest of the village to show their wealth and pride. These objects can include gloves, mittens, pieces of cloth, cookware and others.

Traditionally hunters will save the bladders of the hunted seals and hold a Bladder Festival, which can last from 6 to 14 days. This festival takes place every winter, and is a time to thank the spirits of the seals that have been killed, and to release their spirits back to the world. It is believed that if the spirits of the seals have been treated respectfully, they will allow themselves to be killed again by the hunter. Because the inflated and dried bladders are believed to contain the soul or shade of the animal, at the end of the Bladder Festival the bladders and put below the ice so that the seals may be born again and have a new existence.

New Employee Orientation

Yes, it's that wonderful time of the rotation where I get to go to new hire orientation for two days. Got to sit through the standard sexual harrasement talk; apparently it's not OK to grope your fellow employees.
Who knew?

Other than that, my first project is to present a report on Alaskan Native culture this Friday. I chose the traditional seal hunt as my topic. No, this isn't clubbing baby seals or anything. The clubbing is done by the Canadians and Japanese. The actual hunt, which is for subsistence, is done with very strict cultural and spiritual significance. Subsistence hunting, for those who don't know, is hunting for the meat of the animal. There aren't many Walmarts in the native fishing villages after all, and they must hunt to survive. The primary diet is dried fish, supplemented with berries, moose and caribou. I'll post my little report later on, because it's pretty interesting.

I'm trying to get internet hooked up in the little house I'm staying in so that I can upload some pictures and be available to check my email more than once a day, so hopefully that will happen in the next few days. Also, today I got ahold of some taxi vouchers so I might take a little trip this evening down the the Bingo parlor (the epitome of excitement in this area).

Scotch reserves are holding steady.

I've also put my name in the hat to volunteer for the big dog-sledding race coming up next week. You can find some info on it here: http://www.k300.org/core/

In Bethel

I'm in Bethel at the hospital right now (the only place with internet) and it's -45 degrees with wind chill right now, which I know for a fact because I walked here from the house (short walk, but parts of me are frozen). I'll try to get some pictures later this week, because my camera may freeze if I turn it on outside with the temperature the way it is. Also, I'm staying in a row of houses called "Prison Row" because I'm about 50 feet from a prison complex. I went to the grocery store last night and bought some bread, peanut butter, oatmeal, lunch meats and cheese and some stuff to make jambalaya........$69.42. I'll get my cab and meal vouchers tomorrow, so that'll be nice. I have a roomate for the next 3 weeks named Quang. He's from Vietnam and a really nice guy. Well, I'm going to head on back the the house now, which we keep warm at night by setting the oven to Broil and leaving it open. Hope everyone is doing well!

Off to Bethel!

I'm off to Bethel this afternoon, and have added some world clock and weather info on the left hand side of the blog. That wind chill advisory warning means this:

Statement as of 4:56 AM AKST on January 03, 2009

... Wind Chill Advisory remains in effect until 4 PM akst Sunday...

Sub zero temperatures combined with north winds of 10 to 25 mph
will create wind chills as cold as 55 below zero through Sunday.

A Wind Chill Advisory means that very cold air and strong winds
will combine to generate low wind chills. This will result in
frost bite and lead to hypothermia if precautions are not taken.

Wish me luck!

Pictures!

Hey everybody!

I've added some pictures from our (Rose and I) trip to Austin and Colorado. Here are the links to the photoalbums:

www.flickr.com/piratepharmd

www.photobucket.com/peterman99

Also, I spent the whole day from 10am to 4pm walking around Anchorage. I went through the museum, walked along the coastal walkway and had reindeer sausage for breakfast. Mmmmmm.......Rudolf. I thought I was starting to get used to the cold until my eye froze shut for a few seconds because I blinked too slowly. Tomorrow morning I head off to Bethel!

I'm in Palin Country

Well, I got in last night at 10pm Alaska time. The flight was relatively uneventful, and I got a pretty good meal out of the deal. The only interesting part of the flight was when I started talking to the guy sitting next to me from Chicago to Anchorage. I told him I was going to Bethel, and he said, "Oh, we call that place BethHELL".... about that time I went back to my book and ignored him for the next six hours. Got my bags (bottles of scotch intact thank God) and went to get a taxi to the hotel. When I stepped outside, one of my lungs just about froze solid. Apparently, it's -3 degrees Farenheit here right now, which is colder than it usually is for this time of year. So....lucky me!

Got up this morning about 9am (noon eastern time) and I'm about to head out and get some breakfast. This will also be a nice test of whether I'm going to die of the cold, because I plan to walk there. I'll try to take some pictures on the way.