Biggest Grocery Bill Ever!

Last Sunday Mark flew to Anchorage for a week long seminar on asbestos.  While he was getting off early, eating at nice restaurants, drinking beer from a tap and shooting pool, I worked through lunch everyday just to get out by 5:00 so I wouldn't be late to pick up the kids.  The first two days were the worst by far.  Luke pushed every single button he could and ignored every punishment I could dish out.  My reward at the end of the week was to fly by myself with both kids right at their bedtime to meet Mark for the weekend.  What the hell was I thinking when I booked those tickets!  Amazingly Luke was great the whole flight and Gianna played peek-a-boo with someone sitting behind us almost the whole time.  
We managed to get a massive grocery shopping trip in the short time we were there.  First to Costco, $850 later we were on our way to Walmart.  Luke did get to enjoy the hotel swimming pool; it was by far the highlight of his trip.  Our last morning there we made a very quick trip back to Costco and spent another $350 on 100 pounds of meat.  One of the great things about flying within the state of Alaska is that every ticketed person can check three 50 pound bags each free of charge.  So between Mark, Luke and I we packed back 9 totes.  Alaska Air will even refrigerate totes containing items needing to be kept cold.
It may seem like a lot that we spent $1200 on groceries, but in the long run it will save us a lot of money.
Anchorage had its first snow while we were there.  When we woke that first morning we found several inches of snow on the ground.  Bethel too got its first snow earlier last week.  Nothing stuck to the ground but it won't be long before that's all we see on the ground.  The sun sets these days around 8:15 and rises close to 9:00.  Everything looks more brown, all but the cranberries are dried up.  Winter is on its way!   

Mom's visit

 
We have had such a great week.  Last Friday Nana flew in from Atlanta to help celebrate Gianna's first birthday.  It was an ordeal getting here for her.  She left Atlanta around 4:00 in the afternoon on Thursday.  After a short lay over in Denver she was on her way to Anchorage.  Landing in Anchorage around 1:00am her flight to Bethel didn't leave till 7:00.  After checking that the flight was on schedule I loaded the kids into the car and headed the mile and a half down the road to the airport.  We watched excitedly as the jet came in for landing only to begin ascending again at the last minute.  Back to Anchorage she went!  Apparently the pilot felt like the fog was too thick for a safe landing.  The next jet to Bethel wasn't until noon, however it was already full so she didn't get bumped till the evening jet that comes in around 8:00pm.  Thanks to some friends in Anchorage she did get to leave the airport for a few hours.  Finally, nearly 27 hours after leaving Atlanta she made it to Bethel, greeted by the squeals of a very excited 2 year old.  

The next day we celebrated Gianna's first birthday.  Mom made a Little Mermaid birthday cake and we had several friends over for a little party.  The next day we made Gianna's picture cake.  For Luke's first birthday someone had given me the idea of taking his picture while smashing into a cake with blue frosting.  

I loved 

the photos I got so I wanted to

do the same thing for Gianna's first birthday, but with pink frosting of course.  Gianna didn't quite tear into her cake like her brother did his first birthday, but she seemed to enjoy it in her own prissy way.

In addition to helping out with Gianna's birthday, Nana also set the stage for Luke to be fully potty trained.  He is now almost completely in big boy underwear!  Sure we still have a few accidents every now and then, and he still wants a diaper to do #2, but he is doing really well.

At least lots of rain makes for some beautiful rainbows

The weather was pretty typical Bethel most of her stay.  It rained 80% of her time here, but that was actually impressive that 20% of the time was nice enough to go out.          




We went berry picking out
on the tundra and collected enough blueberries, blackberries and cranberries to make a very tasty jam.
Saturday was definitely a tear filled day.  We were all sad to see Mom go.  It figures that on the day of her departure all the flights would be on time, no cancellations.  She is already planning her next trip back, but April won't come quickly enough.   

Maqii

Little did I know what I was about to do

       
















 As promised in my last post, this post is dedicated entirely to my first maqii experience which is Yu'pik for steaming.  As I said last time, while we were in Kipnuk we were invited to go steam.  The closest comparison I can give in our American culture is the sauna. 
The physical building the steam takes place in is just a little wooden hut.  It is divided into two rooms.  Like the houses, it isn't hooked up to any plumbing so all the water used has to be hauled in.  There is a wood burning stove in the center of the steam room which is topped with stones, and a water basin is attached to its front.  A tin can attached to a long pole is used to spoon water from the basin over the stones thus creating the steam.   
Steaming serves a couple of different purposes.  It is not only a social gathering, but a means for washing both your hair and body.  Different herbs can even be placed on the stones to help treat certain infections.  Because water is a most precious commodity and limited plumbing exists for most houses, steaming offers a water sparing way to bathe.
So we got to the steam on our second evening after a long day of seeing patients.  When we first walked in, the room we entered was like a small mud room.  There were shoes on the floor and clothes hanging on hooks up on the wall.  Two small, completely naked, little girls ran out of the steam room.  Anne looked at me, obviously excited, and I watched her for what to do next.  Then she started taking off her clothes.  I hesitated for a second then figured "what the hell?  When in Rome..."  

Cooling off

We ducked through this small door and entered into the steam room.  There were three other women, also naked, sitting on the wood floor which is raised a few feet off the ground, the stove sitting on the dirt floor ahead of us.  We brought in with us a water basin each filled with cool water so we could soak our wash cloths to cool ourselves off.  Alaskans like to steam very, very hot.  We found ourselves having to run outside to get a break from the heat.    

In my birthday suit on my birthday!!

After a refreshing run outside it was time to wash up. (No wonder Anne told me not to bother washing my hair that morning).  We filled our water basins with cool water, grabbed our shampoo and condition and body wash and ducked back into the steam room.  We added a few scoops of the hot water from the stove to our basins to warm up our cold water just enough to make it refreshing but not breath taking.  Following Anne's lead I began splashing water from my basin over my head to wet my hair.  Since my hair is so long and thick I had to dunk my hair into the basin to fully wet it.  Then shampoo, rinse, condition, rinse, body wash and final rinse.  We had to refill our basins once or twice, but all in all used considerably less water than a typical shower.  My first maqii was a great experience.  So relaxing!  Your skin just tingles after sitting in the hot steam for so long then going out into the crisp Alaskan air.  I've had a lot of people ask me if I would do it again, and the answer is "absolutely, yes!"  Really, what better way to bond with your patients and co-workers than getting naked and steaming?

Kipnuk

Kipnuk Clinic

Kipnuk was a whirlwind of exhausting fun!  We arrived at the Era hanger 8:00 am Monday morning. Yes, for those of you caught up on your Alaskan reality TV, Era Alaska is the Flying Wild Alaska airline.  We had to bring our own food, sleeping bags, medicines for the patients, and many of our medical supplies.  Even though we were 

One of many boardwalks

Every home on stilts

working at the Kipnuk clinic, there are no PAs, NPs, or docs there so many of the tests and procedures we needed to be prepared to do we had to bring with us.  One very key component us two PAs did not have with us was a nurse!  Neither of us have drawn blood or started an IV since school.  Neither of us have ordered labs or even gotten vitals on a patient in years.  I know, it's sad, but its true.  Thankfully we had a young girl training to be a health aid that was able to get vitals on many of our patients.  She sped things up for us more than she could know.
Kipnuk is right on the Bering Sea.  It has no real roads, no cars or trucks.  With a population around 1,000 everyone uses the boardwalks to get around.  In the summer you can take your ATV, in the winter snow machines.  As in Bethel all the houses and buildings are built on stilts because of the permafrost.  There is no running water to the houses in Kipnuk, all the water is either collected from the rain or hauled from the washateria.  In the winter people go out onto the ice and chip the ice into buckets that they bring back home to melt down.  It was hard at times to remember that we are still in America. 
We got into Kipnuk around 10:00 am and decided to start seeing patients at 11:00.  It sounds like we should have had plenty of time, but we had to print all of our patients' charts, set up our rooms, unpack our meds and supplies...  In reality we probably shouldn't have started seeing patients till after lunch, but we wanted to make the most of our limited time there.  

Me with our gracious host

After our first clinic a wonderfully nice family invited us to go out berry picking with them.  We jumped at the opportunity!  After a very chilly boat ride we arrived at our berry patch of choice.  It was great, salmonberries everywhere!  In Bethel salmonberries don't grow in great numbers.  I picked almost 3/4 of a gallon that evening, and would have had more if I hadn't eaten so many.

Oh yeah! I totally fell in the mud

Heading out

Salmonberry patch

Happy 30th!!

Day 2 just happened to be my 30th birthday.  We started early printing our patients' charts for the day.  We saw a full schedule of patients as word had begun to spread that two providers were in town.  After a full day of seeing patients both in the clinic and a couple at home, we got such a treat.  The same family that took us berry picking the day before invited us over for a steam.  It was very, very hot, and very awesome.  I will dedicate an entire post to my first steam experience in the near future.  After our steam they invited us into their home and surprised me with a beautiful birthday cake!!  All homemade, and where ingredients cost three times as much as they do in the lower 48 it was one of the most special birthdays I have ever had.  

Whale bones

That's one big vertebra!

                                           







Day 3 was another full day.  Early early start with printing charts (I think I forgot to mention that to print one chart had a 20 minute delay).  Today we started with blood draws an hour before regular patients started.  Thank God we had a float health aid who was staying with us!  We would give one good attempt at the blood draw and if we weren't successful we would pass it off to the much more experienced health aid.  Although I must say, for a couple of PAs who haven't drawn blood in 4+ years, we didn't do too bad.  After clinic and a home visit we were invited to dinner at a patient's house.  That night we feasted on tundra goose and homemade bread.  For dessert we had cake and Eskimo ice cream.  She was so happy that we came to have dinner with her.  She even baked us a loaf of bread to bring back with us to have in the morning.  After dinner she showed us a grass basket she was making and even worked on it a little for us so we could see how it was made.  The grass comes right out of their back yard.  The colored part of the basket she told us is dried seal intestines dyed whatever color they want to use.

First taste of Eskimo ice cream

Day 4 came with another early start and more blood draws.  We only saw morning patients so we could have time to pack up and get to the runway for our flight home.  The family that invited us berry picking and for a steam brought us some haddock they had caught earlier in the season.  All and all is was an unbelievable experience.  I loved my nurses before this trip but now I really really love my nurses.  I look forward to visiting one of my own villages in the near future, but will definitely be bringing a nurse with me!  We saw a total of 80 patients in those 3.5 days.  I know my HealthFirst friends are laughing at that number, but that really is a lot for this kind of trip.  It was good to get home to my family again, and I know Mark was happy to no longer be a single parent.  I can't imagine meeting a nicer, more welcoming group of people.  I'm quite jealous that Kipnuk isn't one of my villages. I hope one day I will be able to return with Anne for another trip.

Me and the other PA, Anne

Kipnuk

Cooler Days

The days are steadily getting shorter and the nights darker and longer.  We are losing about 3 minutes of sunlight everyday.  The sun still doesn't set till about 10:30 but it won't be too long before sunset is much earlier than that.  We had a wonderful heat wave last week.  Temps reached almost 80 degrees!!  People here were down right miserable.  We had enough days in a row without rain that all the roads dried up (yes, most of our road system here is dirt) and the dust was absolutely horrible.  But the rains have returned, the temperature dropped and the winds howl so loud I thought one of the kids toys got left on.  
This week should be a most interesting week.  I leave tomorrow morning for a village on the Bering Sea called Kipnuk.  I will be there till Thursday afternoon.  I'm going with another PA, and the purpose of this trip is to train me to be able to go to my villages in the near future.  I can't wait to tell you all about the trip when I return.  It should be exhausting fun!

Our Church

Most of you probably know that we are Catholic.  While living in Charleston we loved our church, The Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, and especially the music.  I sang in one of the most wonderful choirs I've ever heard under one of the most wonderful choir directors.  We loved the music at the Cathedral, the Gregorian chants, the traditional Latin pieces.  We knew that moving to rural Alaska we would not find the same level of church we had become accustomed to, in fact we were pleased to find there was a Catholic church here at all.  

The church here is very quaint.  The priest is very friendly and seems to know everyone by name.  He is however the only priest in this area, so when he is away there is no mass.  

I had wanted to start singing again once we got settled here.  At first I was upset that there really wasn't any music ministry.  No one played the piano, the responsorial psalm was read, there was just one girl who lead some of the hymns and played the flute.  She played well and and had a lovely voice, but unfortunately you can't sing and play the flute at the same time.    So this past weekend the flute player, Ashley, a young lawyer from Boston, Ann, and myself got together and sang.  Ann played some on the piano, Ashley played her flute and we all sang.  Thanks to my dear friend Becky back in Charleston we had music for the mass parts and the responsorial psalm.  There was more singing than I think the church has heard in a long time.  The only thing missing, was the priest.  As nice as the prayer service was, maybe next week we'll have a full mass complete with priest and singing.      

Subsistence Living

 Yesterday we took part in our first subsistence activity - berry picking.  For those who have no idea what subsistence living is (I didn't till we moved here), subsistence is literally living off the land.  The people who live out here don't hunt, fish and berry pick for fun, they do it to live.  A spring with low salmon counts means a really tough winter.  Right

now is berry picking season, the only subsistence activity we can take part in.  Once we have been here for a year, we can hunt and fish, but for now it's just berries.  The tundra is full of ripe blueberries and salmonberries.  Later this summer cranberries will be ripe.  There is no designated blueberry patch, you simply walk out onto the tundra and look down.  We

took advantage of a rain free morning yesterday and all 4 of us headed out, crossed the street, entered the tundra and started picking.  Walking on the tundra is hard work!  It's like walking on pillows.  You think you are on solid ground but then you sink 6 inches deep.  After 2 1/2 hours of walking we were all pretty tired (except Gianna who rode in her sling). 

Tundra Blueberries

          At first glance the tundra isn't very appealing.  There are no trees, it's mostly flat, and the standing water doesn't amount to much more than an oversized puddle.  But on closer inspection the tundra is really beautiful.  There are so many different mosses and flowers, and of course, berries.

Salmonberry

Fruit of our labor

So we are pretty slow berry pickers.  We have a lot to learn.  But we had a good time, we got some good exercise, and we managed to pick enough berries for a blueberry pie.