Monday, February 27, 2012

things are speeding up in sleepy alaska

So sorry it has been a while since I blogged; of course many things have happened since I last blogged which is why I haven't written as much as you guys would like to know!

I ended up having to find a new place to live because one of my roommates decided that she simply could no longer live with us.  This was sort of a shock, although she had found a gentleman friend and was never at home, she also did not seem very unhappy when she was home.  So when she informed us she was leaving, we knew we were in trouble because we couldn't afford the rent.  After about two weeks of searching and 15 apartments later,we finally found the one we could call home! It is a small two bedroom (I am happy to report I have my own room in this apartment!) that is near the university.

Being near the university is great for a couple of reasons:
*we are now on both the blue and red line that run all day on the hour until around 9 pm- big change from the yellow line that only ran until 6:30 and took a two and a half hour break in the middle of the day.  Also the yellow line only went to a handful of places in town, now we have access to pretty much anywhere! so YAY!
*we can walk over to the university, sit in cute used books and coffee shops, and participate in activities on campus (like the Ice Rock Wall!)
*there are actually less lights because we are near Creamer's Field, so we can see the northern lights much much better!

SO having to find a place to move to, moving, and now getting settled has been a stressful experience to say the least, i feel like moving is the underlying theme to this blog! Hopefully this is the last one for the year!  But in the meantime, while all the moving was going on some other exciting events took place!  About a month ago the Yukon Quest dog race started in Fairbanks and ended in the heart of the Canadian Yukon.  It is over 1,000 miles and is the old dog sled routes used for mail and gold rush.  It is actually a bigger deal in Alaska than the Iditarod that will be starting this following weekend! Many of the same dog mushers compete in both races and the favorite this year is Lance Mackey.  He has actually won both races in the same year (a feat that is very very hard to do) He is kind of like the Michael Jordon of Dog Races.  He did not win this year's Yukon though because he is racing a new sled dog.  The winner,Hugh Neff, won by 22 seconds! Very exciting? The dogs of course were adorable because they were so excited to race and they all either had booties on or actual dog sledding socks. I have to say it was an exciting Saturday~ if you want to learn more about the Quest go to:http://www.yukonquest.com/.

Work is picking up rather quickly and for the most part my days are packed from 8 am to 5 pm running around Fairbanks, advocating for youth, promoting the after school program, and general making connections throughout the community that we can use in the future with our consumers in the youth in transition program.  Some days I am stuck in the office catching up on paperwork and organizing things for the program.....i have found these are my least favorite days.  The days that I can go out and interact with people are the days that I enjoy the most.  I think this comes from my Peace Corps experience where, every time I walked out of my door and interacted with host country nationals, I was doing my job (a job that I came to love).  So for future employment options I think I am going to have to find something that allows me to be outdoors!. I really enjoy the youth advocacy that I am getting to do, so maybe something that allows me to advocate outside of an office?  Who knows!

For those of you interested, here is the link to the iditarod's home page.  There are only 4 days left before it starts and this will give you up to date information on the race and who is in the lead! http://iditarod.com/


Today is another snowy day in Fairbanks and the temperature has dropped back down to the single digits.  I am just glad it is not in the negatives again! Having your nose hair freeze is something that is only enjoy able the first couple of times you experience it! Although it is still very cold and very snowy, having the sun as a prominent presence throughout the day makes it much more livable! by the end of this week, including twilight times, we will have 12 hours of sunlight! the sun never gets very high in the sky, but it is nice to have it there! Makes things feel like they are slowly waking up from their winter slumber!

Well I think that's all for now, pictures to come!

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