Fairbanks!

I got me a job a few weeks ago. I’m working as a barista/server and a brand spanking new pastry café! I didn’t think this is something I’d want to do with myself but it just worked out. I went in there to meet someone from couchsurfing and casually just asked the owner is she was hiring and two days later I was working. It was a random occurrence that I can thank couchsurfing for! This girl that I met was also a blessing. Her name is Meghan and is super fun, artistic, music loving, and just awesome. She works for the theater downtown so she gets free tickets for herself and friends for events and I’ve been able to see the symphony, the Moscow Circus, and a Verdi opera for free. After the show one night we went to play on all the ice sculptures they have in their courtyard/ ice skating rink.

Fairbanks!!!!
I got a call on a Saturday night from my friend Dave whom I spent a lot of time with while I was studying abroad in London. It was through Dave that I met Matt and thus moved to Alaska. He says I must come to Fairbanks to hang out so thus the adventure starts. I get a ride, I loose a ride, I can’t get a hold of Dave, do I go? I find a ticket, wake up on Friday and say “I’m going to Fairbanks today!” and then couldn’t book the ticket so I go on Saturday morning instead… nearly miss the flight, no security, walked into airport ten minutes before flight is to leave after taxi races me there and made it! Yay!

At airport I was picked up by a couchsurfer named Ben. Since he was in contact with me I figured I’d just hang out with him but Dave decides to call me again. Miscommunication occurs and I never hear from Dave the rest of the time I’m in Fairbanks.

Fairbanks is an interesting place… not one people just randomly come to visit, but has so much uniqueness to it. First, the negative is always implied while giving the temp. “what’s the temperature today?” “oh, about 20”… that means negative 20, which was the average temp while I was there. It was zero when I got off the plane and when walking around the musk ox/caribou farm, a research facility part of the university Ben is staying at for the winter, it was about zero and I was pretty cold. Later it was about -20 and it felt exactly the same, no worse and definitely no better. Hmmm.

Since the weather is so cold in Fairbanks everyone has a plug in for their car to keep it warm and to make it easier to start. Every parking space has a place for you to plug your car in. That to me was the most interesting part about Fairbanks, and it’s not unusual outside of it. Brian was in Fairbanks at the same time and they didn’t have a plug in for their vehicle… needless to say it didn’t start the day they needed to go home.

The musk ox/caribou farm: lots of barns and places to hold the animals. They keep the female and male musk ox separate because they like to fight. Ben stays on the property, which is locked to the public during winters (you can get tours in the summer), as a night man just so someone’s present in case of anything. This is a perfect gig for Ben, a true Alaskan; born and raised. Ben is from Wasilla, north of Anchorage (maybe an hour’s drive). He has a car, but prefers to ski the three miles to school when he can… and remember the average temp is always in the negatives there. The house, which has housed many people before him doing similar things, he leaves at a steady 50 degrees while it’s just him there, he turns it up for guests. There is no running water to the place, so he has huge jugs of water he buys monthly which he uses to drink and cook with. There is a nearby building that has a shower, toilet, running water, etc. It’s very well heated, but a good 50 feet from the house so whenever I needed to go to the bathroom I’d bundle up and run to it so the cold didn’t sink into my clothes. I think the floor was heated too so it was nice when walking barefoot in there. Ben however, has no problem waltzing to this facility in just a tee-shirt in -20 degree weather.




I learned the difference between reindeer and caribou while I was at the farm… not much, they’re pretty much the same animal… but reindeer may have been slightly domesticated at some point so are a little smaller and shorter. They had both on the grounds. Both the musk ox and caribou are no strangers to us humans, they would waltz right up to us when we came near them. Though I could touch them, they didn’t like it. They just wanted food. Musk ox fur is incredibly warm and worth a crazy amount of money. You won’t just find musk ox in Alaska unless you go way way north, so it was kind of a special treat to be able to not only see them, but touch them, and get a clump of their fur as a souvenir.

I helped Ben make a dinner for some friends he invited over, salmon chowder. I got to meet some of his friends. Ben and I had been talking about going to the Chena hot springs after dinner and tried to coax these folks into it too. We only got one girl to come along, Lily. So we head to the springs at 9:30pm and it was about a 50 minute drive. The drive was beautiful because the northern lights were out and they hovered in the night sky entertaining us as eye candy as we drove. The Chena hot springs is a pretty touristy hot spot for Fairbanks, they are natural springs that they’ve harnessed into a pool for use by people… but because they are naturally so hot, they have to pump in cool water to keep it from scalding us. The temp outside was -20 degrees again, give or take five degrees, and Lily and I weren’t too excited about walking out into that kind of weather in just a bathing suit! The place is made into a resort, they have a place for you to change into your suits and take a shower… then you walk out into an area where there’s an indoor pool and hot tub. Then you have to walk outside to get to the hot springs… and that first blast of cold air and the realization I was walking on ice with my bare feet made me think “what the hell am I doing!?” It was dark out so I couldn’t see where I was going either, just followed the walkway. Then we saw the springs… the reason it was hard to see was because of all the steam, the mix of the water which should be about 146 degrees, hitting the -20 degree air. I hear someone call out “watch out it’s cold!” and I actually believed him for a second, but on the contrary, the moment my foot went in the water I was in pain. It was so hot it burned! Especially since my feet were just walking on ice!

I managed to get my body under the water and used to the feeling. It was so crazy how steamy it was. You couldn’t see but a few inches in front of you, despite the few lights they did have (to set a soothing mood). We came up with calls to find each other through the steam. The pool was pretty big, about the length of a real pool but all the same depth and was surrounded by big rocks, all covered in snow. I was wondering why the snow didn’t melt with the steam floating around it, but it obviously wasn’t hot enough to melt the snow. It was enough to make my hair moist and then freeze though. At times I was really uncomfortable because either you were too hot in the springs or too cold when you climbed onto the rocks to sit in the air.

We decided to venture to the far side of the pool… however the first trek there was fine, we noticed one spot of very very hot water and just quickly moved through it. But I went to go get my camera so I had to pass through it again and by this time it was incredibly hot. The water is fed to his man made area by pipes, we found one that pumped in cool water and spent our time there because the water is just that hot. Well, I must’ve hit a section of water that didn’t get cooled because it scalded me, all three other times I had to walk through it. It hurt bad enough to bring tears to my eyes and leave my skin red and raw on my upper torso.


Me, Ben, Lily with frozen hair




The steam would sometimes clear and would’ve been great for pictures, but I think as the night went on they slowly turned off the cool water pipes because the steam got very thick in the end (and that could explain why it hurt so bad the last few times walking through that hot section, it didn’t scald the first time). I took pictures, but the steam clouds them. However, at a wonderful moment of our unique blissful adventure, the five of us in the section of the pool distracted by our situation and picture taking attempts had our attentions called to the sky. We looked up and not even the steam could cover the northern lights that danced over us. Our chatter was silenced in an instant as we watched in awe.

even my arm hair froze when outside the water

Lily's hair

Since that moment I couldn’t think of what fortune has landed before me. I choose to go to Fairbanks on a whim, stayed with a complete stranger who took me to this amazing place and I’m standing here experiencing something truly bizarre… being scalded on my body while my hair remains in a frozen cocoon on my head… and I’m surrounded by great company.

Unfortunately, our nature loving situation disappeared when we were called to vacate the springs… Lily and I were the last out of course, taking our sweet time enjoying every last moment of it before having to walk over the blasted ice to get back inside. I’m surprised more people don’t slip and hurt themselves cause I nearly lost it a few times. We dressed and left talking the whole way back about how great of a night it was and how amazing each other’s company was. At about 1:30am we decide the night’s not over and go to a club called The Marlin where a live funk band was playing.

The next day I made a valiant attempt to locate Dave by breaking into his house and going to his office. No seeing of Dave, so I go to spend the rest of my day before leaving with Lily to allow Ben to go be a good student and study. Lily and I talked and talked and it was so much fun. It’s amazing when you find people that really just bring joy in your life with little effort. I admire her a lot with her carefree spirit. Alaska and hippies are almost synonyms. It was a great trip.

Things in Alaska are great, there’s so much to do and I’ve met so many people. When I don’t work, I split my time between climbing or skiing with Bill, which is usually followed by making a fabulous meal which I get to help out with, going to the various events at the Bear Tooth Theater pub, Humpy’s downtown for hanging out with friends or playing trivia there (my team was third place last Tuesday!), and finding other various things to do. Bear Tooth, though, is quite the place! I first discovered it when Brian took me to the film festival there. I’ve been to a few a movies there since, which are only $3. They are films that are not new to the big screen, but haven’t yet come out on DVD yet. You have to be over 21 to get in because they serve beer and food so you have tables in front of you for everything. This is a happening spot, lines are ungodly long when you go.

The pub is in junction with a restaurant called Moose’s Tooth (both of these places are named after mountains… I know Moose’s Tooth is an incredible climb, probably more difficult than Denali, but since Denali is so well known people only come to climb that). They are both linked to a brewery and every month they introduce a new beer and have a big celebration on the first Thursday of the month. It’s called First Tap and during the winters it’s held at Bear Tooth. This Thursday they brought in this crazy funk band and took out half the seats in the theater and had a great little party. I couldn’t believe how many people I’ve met since I’ve been here. I recognized so many faces from all over, too many people to really spend a lot of time talking to. Those I didn’t know were so friendly, this is the Anchorage way. When you’re up dancing with everyone else, you are all pretty much friends. You talk to one another like you’ve met them before, laugh and dance together. Alaska is great.

Anchorage and other things

Things in Alaska are going decent. The moose that was seen across the street hung out there for a few days. There were two of them, a mom and her baby. One night when I was being dropped off by some new friends, the pair decided that the road was their territory and they had to take a different direction home. I haven't seen them since.

Everyday is sort of an adventure for me because to get anywhere I need to drive the stick shift (that's what I refer to it as). It snowed for four days straight and the plowers aren't that quick to get things plowed, but the snow is light and fluffy so I haven't gotten stuck like I would in Wisconsin with snow this high. I'm out on the roads, sloshing around with everyone else (only going much slower because everyone else has four wheel drive here. It's a requirement to be driving a vehicle with four wheel drive on some roads with steep hills). And there is a lot of slipping, sliding through red lights, etc. Thus the adventure. It's one thing to drive in this weather with a familiar car, it's another to be training on a car in this weather. However, I am getting better and drive nearly everyday and am learning my way around Anchorage. So learning stick and learning Anchorage at the same time is my weekly adventure so far.

They don't salt the roads here. On more major roads they use de-icer stuff, but on neighborhood roads for some reason once they plow the roads become super slick. I mean, I had no problem driving through a few feet of snow on the road, but now that it's plowed it's flat and glossy and I've fallen just walking on it.

This weekend we decided not to go winter camping because of the weather and the possibility of clouds and not seeing the northern lights (funny, one of the guys in the group is a meteorologist so we have a weather man on hand... Casey, you're still my number one favorite meteorologist). And because of all the freshly fallen snow we might have had problems with hiking and doing things. Prime avalanche situation if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time. Anyway, my new friend Brian, a photo journalist for channel 11 news, and I decided to climb up Flattop part of the way to get some cool pictures. There were tons of people out skiing the hill or climbing and some were preparing to camp themselves. We used snow shoes to do the hiking, something I hadn't used since I was in junior high. The view was spectacular and we didn't even go all the way up. I took a video but unfortunately this camera doesn't see as far as my eye could see but I wanted to give you an idea of what we saw. It was my first view of Denali.

Video of view from Flattop:
Flattop, Anchorage, AK

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Trying to maximize our picture taking during our remaining hours of sun we didn't climb all the way up Flattop but went back down and drove down the Seward highway for the views there. As I mentioned before the cliffs have all these frozen waterfalls on them, and often times people climbing them (and soon to be me). I got pictures this time as seen below. It was very cold there because of the wind kicking off the ocean.
Video from Seward:
view from Seward Highway

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This weekend I also attended the Mountain Film Festival at a theater pub here. It was absolutely amazing. I made it to the last two of three nights of mini films and documentaries about "things that matter". It was so inspiring to see these films from extreme sports footage of things like "noboarding" (snowboarding without the bindings and using a rope), extreme mountain biking, and extreme climbing with a dude conquering an E11/5.14c route in Scotland. They had films addressing situations in other countries, funny mini films, and some serious films. It was such a wonderful breather from the job hunting of the weekdays.

After the Saturday showing I dropped off the car at Bill's and Brian and I were going to walk to downtown. There is a trail that goes along the ocean that would be a pretty quick walk of about a half an hour to 45 minutes, even shorter with a bike (and I have access to a bike with studded tires I'll probably start using soon). Well, I take us as far as where the trail starts close to Bill's and Brian suggests following a road where he was 98% sure he knew where he was going. Well, our supposedly half hour journey was more like an hour an half. This is where I kept falling on those slick roads because there weren't sidewalks in this area. It had gotten to about -5 degrees after the sun went down so it was definitely a chilly walk. Somewhere in our walk we just happen to pass a moose happily grazing on the trees. I took a picture of her getting about 10 feet. She didn't care I was there and continued to just munch away on the branches. It was definitely an experience, that walk. I didn't really dress too warm because I didn't think we'd be out that long and I regretted it a little. And as always when I walk out for a long time here my hair frosts up.


Ravens ravens everywhere. Ravens seem to breed like rabbits and never leave. It was one of the first things I noticed while driving around that first night here were these large black birds flying around everywhere. And they are kind of a nuance, but I kind of just laugh at them. They fight on the roofs and knock snow on people, me included. One day I had to stop in the middle of a road because a raven had happily found a McDonalds bag that must still have had food in it and decided to take his time moving out of my way because he didn't care if he'd get hit, he was taking that bag!

I miss Ann.

In Alaska

I made it to Alaska in one piece and am settling in.

Taking my stuff to be mailed was an adventure in itself. I recruited my friend Chad to help me. I had two large boxes roughly 50lbs each on top of the guitar, a box of books, and a gift for a friend. I busted out my old radio flyer wagon to help move the boxes from my car into the post office and let me tell you, we got some looks. I'm sure it didn't help that I had my picture taken with everything in the middle of the sidewalk, but the wagon squealed when you rolled it causing heads to turn. The lady I worked with I don't think was too pleased dealing with those heavy boxes and my mislabeling, but she wished me luck and more heads turned as we rolled an empty wagon out of the post office. The cost of shipping everything? $150.


The last week and half in Wisconsin couldn't have been better. All kind of people came home for the holidays and I spent night after night going out and seeing old friends from high school and UWSP. I had so much fun hanging out with my good friends going downtown which I never do. Though I did have to wash my clothes after each night due to the smoky smell, good thing Alaska is smoke free. I went sledding after more snow had fallen. Within no time at all I was leaving Point for good heading to Chicago.

In Chicago we stayed at my friend Dann's place above a funeral parlor. You'd never know it being there.

I spent Sunday morning before leaving for Chicago playing with my animals and giving them as much attention as possible. It hadn’t sunk in yet how much I was actually going to miss them, I just knew it’d be hard for them when I left. It was a very sad goodbye to walk out of the house and close the door on them. The drive to Chicago was 3 hours of winter wonderland. The trees were all beautifully blanketed in snow that it looked like something from a professional photograph. By the time we were in Chicago the snow had begun to disappear.

Chicago was a blast hanging out with my good friends. New Years Eve us ladies ditched the boys to go to a party elsewhere in Chicago. They had the Rock Band video game, like Guitar Hero only you have four people play in a band. I’d never played it before and I got stuck being the singer but we all had a fun time showing off our lack of video game talent.

We managed to sneak in a few hours of sleep before getting up at 6am to get ready to leave. It was the start to a very long day of crappy traveling. I barely made it through security in time to get to my first flight only to find the plane wasn’t even there. My layover in Vegas was a short one so it was possible I was going to miss it so the airline double booked me on another flight that would leave much much much later. I was very hopeful I could catch this flight, however, that was not the case. I was about 5 minutes too late. If it were a clear hour or more maybe it’d be a little less frustrating, but we waited to dock for a good ten minutes because another plane took our spot at the gate we were assigned. So my once 12 hour travel experience turned into 23 hours. I had to go to Phoenix before I could go to Anchorage and whole lot of waiting in-between. Yes, you can gamble in the Vegas airport, I didn’t though.

Ironically in Phoenix a lady had started questioning me about what I was doing where I was going and where I came from. Turns out this lady, about in her 70s, was originally from none other than Stevens Point, Wisconsin. On top of that she attended the university there for music (which I had as well for the first few years of my college career). She was pretty blown away by our similarities, but it didn’t surprise me. Us Sconnies are everywhere and I’m no longer surprised to see people sporting Packer gear outside the state. I saw some in both the Vegas and Phoenix airports. (This is not the last of these occurrences either)

Three uncomfortable flights later and at 1am Alaska time (4am to my body) I finally landed in Anchorage. Matt and his friend, Robert, were there to greet me and we went out for pizza and drove around to get me acquainted before I was dropped off at my new home. I didn’t go to bed till 3:30am so I slept very late to catch up for two nights of little sleep.

The following days were just me being at the mercy of my driver friends Matt and Robert. I hadn’t met Bill, the guy I am staying with, till late Wednesday evening after he got home from work. Wednesday, my first official day in Anchorage, Matt took me to brunch at a place where the waiter took my Wisconsin license (it was a bar restaurant so I had to show my ID) and his response was “My parents grew up in Stevens Point” followed by “Yeah, Anchorage has the largest Packer fan base outside Wisconsin.” He wasn’t kidding, I’ve seen Packer flags outside people’s houses.

Well after a great meal (which included one large crab leg... I guess I didn't get my fill on Christmas Eve) Matt ran away to do stuff and I spent time with Robert who took me to a place called Flattop where there was supposed to be a good view of Anchorage and the Chugach mountain range, including McKinley. Sadly on the cloudy day that wasn’t the case however, the clouds were low and though they covered the city, I still got a great shot of the sun setting and some of the closer mountains that didn’t get swallowed by the clouds. Then I came back to Bill’s to meet him and Matt, Bill, and I went to the rock climbing gym.
sunset over Anchorage

Bill is a fantastic guy who I will learn lots from. He’s a big outdoor enthusiast and has expertise in all the things you can imagine: skiing, climbing (rock and ice), mountaineering, diving, and his big passion is big game hunting. Since I’ve been hear I’ve been eating the meats of most of his kills. Since my big interest here is to ice climb he has offered to become the mentor to us, so instead of going through some expensive company we will be doing it for somewhat free. He has all the gear and know how so all I need is to learn what he knows, get buff from the rock climbing gym, and get good at rope management. The rock gym is phenomenal, as well as the climbers in it.

The following day was a lazy day and by 3pm I was on the road with Bill (Matt to take a plane later) to the Kenai peninsula where Bill has a cabin that he calls the Fox Farm, which is more like an impressive house than a cabin. Despite the cloudy day the drive down the famous Seward Highway was impressive. There is a stretch where the road is snuggled between the ocean and cliffs, and on those cliffs are frozen waterfalls, lots of them. This is where a lot of people go ice climbing and we sure did see many out there doing just that. It’s not safe to be so close to the highway and Bill, of his many amazing and crazy awesome stories, has informed us of incidences of falling rock. He was climbing once when there were sheep above who were knocking down rocks, not only on them, but onto the cars. It’s pretty common to hear about people getting a windshield smashed out from falling rocks… or the road closing from an avalanche. It’s apparently a pretty dangerous highway in general.

So the cabin is located in a town called Kasilof. A lot of famous pioneers were from the area, such as Andrew Berg. I met a man whom Bill calls one of the last living pioneers and informs me of the honor it is to know him… his name is Per Osmar, there is a road named after him. He’s in his 90s now, but seems to be still active and gave me signed photos of his photographs of Redoubt Mountain (which is visible from Clam Gulch beach as seen in the video below… though you can’t see Redoubt in the video). He’s a sweet man and well respected.

Clam Gulch Alaska

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My first full day in this new territory 3 miles drive south of Anchorage, I took on a cross country skiing adventure with Bill (Matt didn’t have skis). It was about 4-5 miles long and after getting well into the path we ran into what Bill calls over flow where there was tons of ice on our trail. We skied to the Kasilof river which is just an amazing aqua color. I think you can fish for salmon in it, but the Kenai river, which we passed often while driving, is the famous one for salmon fishing. People pay thousands of dollars to fish on this river every summer. The path along the river was a bit sketchy and we had to take off our skis at a point, but it certainly was fun. I was pooped at the end, feeling every muscle in my body aching. Unfortunately, I’ve been trying to fend off this cold I picked up from the plane so my energy level was a bit lower, however, it wasn’t enough to hold me back from enjoying outdoor Alaska. We even saw moose on our trip, my first sighting! (and will be far from my last).

At night Bill treats us to amazing meals he cooks and we sit around and chit chat about life, love, politics, and share stories. Bill has many. While I was in this smaller community it was thought best to get my Alaskan license here. I’m officially an Alaskan now, sad to give up my proof of Wisconsin identity, but happy to be officially living here. (Most information I fuzzed out on the license so I could put it up here as show and tell) The second day at the cabin we went and saw the beginning of a 200 mile long dog sled race. The noise from the barking was so intense, but it was exciting! All these big burly men and beautiful ecstatic dogs ready to race. They start one by one, not at once and we watched a few of them go. It was so cool. Then we went a walk along the Clam Gulch beach where just across the way you could see mountains. It was beautiful. We did one more ski and then had a cold beer on the deck overlooking the Kenai river at the Fox Farm with Bill remarking “You’re a true Alaskan now”.

dog sled race



Clam Gulch

One of my biggest fears of how to get around Anchorage without a car. It’s not really an easy task and they don’t have some amazing transportation system. The city reminds of a city in Wisconsin like Appleton or Wausau, no tall buildings, just a lot of land and people. So Bill, being a very laid back and amazing guy, offers me to use one of his vehicles. He has a massive Subaru which is nicknamed “the Monster” for very good reason and a red car that is a stick shift. So when we got back to Anchorage my first task was the learn stick shift so I could drive the red car. Matt took me to a parking lot where I practiced and then assumed the role of being the chauffer for the evening taking Matt to the airport (so he could return to Juneau for work) and Bill to the grocery store. So here I am, no knowledge of how to drive a stick shift, learning in the dead winter of Alaska in one day. So on Monday, the first day I’m on my own, I took the car out into Anchorage traffic on my own to run some chores. An adventure that certainly was, however, I was only honked at once. I apparently picked up the skill rather quickly Bill says, but I still feel a little nervous being on busy roads where if I stall, people have to wait. I plan on putting a sign in the back window saying “Just learning stick shift, please bare with me” and I’m sure people will be more forgiving. People are very friendly here.

On my way home from my adventure in the stick shift car, I was just about to turn onto my road when out of the corner of my eye I see something that makes me think “weird why people put those stupid billboards of moose in their yard… wait… THAT’S A REAL FREAKIN’ MOOSE!!!!” Bill told me there would be moose all over where he lives but it’s the first I’ve seen one that close! Of course I get out and take pictures and the following video. She seemed real calm and I didn’t get close. However, walking back to the car I notice that the moose prints in the snow go through our yard so I should keep my eyes peeled from now on.
Moose in yard:


And for the record, half of my stuff arrived on Monday in the mail. That was only two weeks and the majority of my stuff. Amazing.

Monday night I went out with some of the folks from the local CBS news here. I was grateful to be picked up (because trying to find your way in the dark in an unfamiliar city while you’re just getting used to stick shift seemed a smidge too intense for me) and we went to the famous Humpey's. I may end up going camping this weekend out somewhere so that I can take pictures of the Northern Lights and do some hiking this weekend.

So things have been good so far. I miss my animals a lot. I'm on the job hunt but not being very aggressive about it because I want to hold off on the start date till after I road trip California coming up. No dates are set but should be soon. I'm totally winging it right now hoping things will fall into place. Sometimes I still can't believe I just up and moved like that. I hear a lot of "I hope you like Alaska" from the locals and it's really nice. So far I do. I'll feel a lot better when I have a job though. I hope everyone is doing well and had a good New Year.

Reflections on 2007

Somewhere around the beginning of 2007 I started reading about how it was the year of the Boar in the Asian Zodiac. I was born in the year of the boar and was told that I'd have an abundance of good luck for the year. How exciting is that? I told my mom about this because nothing could happen to her in the year of the boar if I'm supposed to be so lucky. (I was scrapping the bottom of the barrel in terms of hope for the situation) She, of course, wasn't as believing and optimistic as me.

Despite the predictions of the year, 2007 ended up being the hardest year I've ever faced. A lot of awful things happened so close together bringing tons of disappointment, failed plans, and heartache. For a while everyday came with more bad news and it became a struggle for me to keep my head up. I'd never been knocked down that hard before.

However, regardless of all that has happened this year, and how crappy I felt for the last six months of it, I realized I am in fact very lucky. I have amazing friends who stood by me through everything. They were there when I needed them, most with open arms and words of wisdom. I have my family. I have a college education that may actually take me somewhere. I have the means to do something like up and move to Alaska and start over, along with motivation and an adventurous spirit. I have my health and I have options others may not have. I'm young and unattached to anything except my family who are understanding and supportive of my decisions, which gives me the freedom to follow my dreams. And most of all, I learned that I'm a lot stronger than I realized. My mom was everything in my world, she helped me in every situation big or small. I told her everything, she was my comfort in hard times, and she loved me unconditionally. There's a big hole in my life without her, but I need to use what I learned from her to get up and move on.

Hellen Keller once said "Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through the experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved."

So I've decided to not look at 2007 as a lucky or unlucky year, but a year that tested my strength, character, and most of all patience. I may not see the ultimate results now, but I hope one day I will. 2007 was definitely more significant than any year of my life, there has to be a reason. People have been through worse and I'm not the only one who took a blow this year.

I don't know what 2008 holds, I'm just happy 2007 is over and I can embark on something new and exciting. I've had to start over a lot in my life, but not like this, and I'm excited because I know my future holds great things. The last two weeks have been amazing, partly because I know I'm leaving and partly because the holidays brought home friends from all over. At least it was a good end.

I know this is corny as hell but I'm giving special thank yous to some great people that helped me through this year. They never turned their back on me no matter how rough it got and I appreciate them for that:

Always remember to forget
The friends that proved untrue.
But never forget to remember
Those that have stuck by you.
(Irish proverb)

-Ann Leahy for always being there even when you were busy, and for understanding me. I'll miss you the most. It'll be weird not having your around. We never got to cook up those broken glass muffins though. Shoes.
-Katie Jungkunz for being so damn awesome, you make me feel like I can do anything, and not matter how grumpy I am your laugh is too damn infectious to not laugh along. I love you more than words can say. Sorry about the feathers on your couch
-Jim and Marjane for lending an ear and offering advice on life and love. You guys are awesome mentors and like my second set of parents.
-Sara Feldkamp for making me laugh so much, you know a friendship is strong when you don’t see someone for four years and you can pick up like no time has passed. You get me. (and did you pick up on the "yous" in thank yous above? I thought of you when I typed it)
-Aunt Jodi and Uncle Pete for letting me stay with you at times and helping me make hard decisions. I hope you'll save money and drag the kids out to see me.
-Michelle Jelinski for being there during some choice bad moments and letting me vent. Your company when things were hard are more meaningful than you will know. You are so much fun to be around.
-Ben for being an awesome big brother and being there when things got rough.
-And especially Matt Kerr for pressing me to go to Alaska for four years, your persistence has finally paid off. Thanks for helping me with all the logistics behind the big move, your patience, advice, and just being there for me when things were particularly difficult. You are the most understanding male I've ever known. I owe you a mountain of gratitude.

I hope everyone else has a great New Year and I'll continue posting. Onwards to Alaska for a fresh start. Wish me luck.

The Revised Plan

It's that time of year again where everyone starts really getting into the holiday cheer. Christmas' for our family will never be the same and this year was especially a little harder. I didn't like it when strangers asked if I was excited for Christmas in their over enthusiastic ways. I felt awkward to be forced to lie in response with an equally yet sarcastically enthusiastic "yes" to avoid having to share personal information. My family did follow a few original traditions from previous Christmas': crab legs for dinner with butter and garlic sauce (delicious) and opening presents on Christmas Eve before going to the late service at church where we all would sing and play our instruments from the balcony. I always felt bad for mom in the past for having to sit down in the pews alone because my dad, brother and I were so busy being "musical" every year. She never complained though.

Korea was a big disappointment and I had my few days of sadness over it, but distracted myself with packing and going over to watch friends wrap presents and make goodies for their family events. I can't change how things panned out but I did learn a lot about teaching in Korea, China, and Japan in the process of getting ready for Korea. Remember I was going into the Peace Corps to teach ESL and I haven't lost that passion. You can make a lot of money in Korea teaching, most people I've talked to were taking some intense "vacations" that went everywhere in the world just from the money they saved working in Korea. It's definitely something I'll look into for the near future. I just will never work with those recruiters, or any recruiters again.

The day after I found out I wasn't doing things as planned I tried to make new ones immediately. I had no intentions of staying in Point a day longer than originally planned. However, with this new change I ran into various problems that require me to flexible to work around, as well as other people. I'm coming a month earlier than expected so some people in Alaska now have to be super accommodating for my change of plans. I won't be stuck on the streets so at least that's nice. Since I'm shipping my stuff I will only have whatever I can fit in a suitcase and a day pack for three weeks, and that includes interviewing clothes and that warmer stuff for the Alaskan winter... a lot thicker than what I would've taken to Korea so that's been hard to plan and pack.

The greatest thing of all that really makes moving to Alaska a great choice is I already have a small group of individuals willing to meet and show me around, go hiking, ice climbing, have coffee, the works. And they are all strangers. I met them from couchsurfing.com and some have been so nice to the extent of offering to pick me up from the airport. I also noticed a lot of people are traveling a lot right now in crazy destinations from Peru to Scotland. So I'm moving to a place where people are interested in seeing the rest of the world (like me) yet are passionate about the place they live in. It doesn't surprise me that the very person who coaxed me into moving there I met when I was traveling. Everyone's an outdoor enthusiast there. Matt of course will help me settle in but since his work takes him to Juneau I'll be on my own after the 6th of January until I can yank him on a coastal road trip throughout the west coast. It's nice to have crazy friends who suggest crazy ideas like that. But in the mean time I will have good company to explore the city and outskirts with. Ice climbing is the first big thing I'm going to tackle. There are frozen waterfalls just south of Anchorage that people go to climb. This picture will be me in possibly a month.

This one too.

So I will be heading to Chicago on Sunday the 30th and spending New Year's there with some of my most favorite people in the world before hopping a plane to Anchorage on New Year's day. How fitting for my new start in life to start on the first day of the new year? The other night I was watching the Simpsons' Movie with a friend and for some reason the Simpsons had to leave Springfield and whilst looking for their new destination Homer pulls from his pocket a big sign that said "Alaska A Fresh Start" with a mountainous scene in the background and a choir singing a heaven-like sound to add an miraculous feeling like this was a sign that Alaska will heal everything. It was a revelation for not only the Simpsons but for me as well. They did go to Alaska and Homer fell in love with it. If Homer will love it than I surely will. (And they received $1000 the moment they crossed the border) So let's clap for Alaska:

I will be spending my remainder days in Wisconsin hanging out with friends as most have flocked back home for the holidays, sledding in our freshly fallen 9 inches of snow, and savoring my last moments with the piano, car, and precious animals. There is a marathon of documentaries about Alaska on the travel channel all day today, most by my oh so favorite host Jeff Corwin: all signs point to Alaska. Hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas and Solstice celebrations.

Another disappointment

Well like a lot of plans this year another one of mine fell through. The recruiters for Korea didn't bother to tell me that the month contract was full and while they continued to keep in touch, they assumed I'd be going for the 6 month contract. All good, but there were things I wanted to do this summer in Alaska and other plans made there as well as commitments that makes me need to stay in the U.S. so I can't do a six month with them. So I will not be going to Korea after all. I'm incredibly bummed about it, I had a lot of contacts set up there, new years plans, places to stay when I toured the country... books bought.

So now I'm going straight to Alaska, not sure what's supposed to happen since I'm coming a month and a half early. There were just so many disappointments this year that I need this change.

My Next Big Adventure

I’m sure you’re all on pins and needles as to what I’m doing. Right? :D Well, first, congratulations to Mr. Jon Strommen for being the first to recognize those pictures as being Korea. They’re from the city of Seoul which is the second most populous metropolitan area in the world, after Greater Tokyo. I may take on a teaching job there, and I went through all the steps of trying to find out if this is a sketchy recruiter or not. However, the benefits outweigh the cons right now (and the cons are working 30 hours a week when you should be working at maximum 25) I am provided housing within walking distance of the school, insurance, free round trip flight, and a salary on top of that. What’s great is there are tons of English teachers there, just like me, and a US base chalk full of Americans so I won’t be a lone western there. Usually I don’t like that, but in this case I’m getting thrown in head first alone into a city that doesn’t use the western alphabet, so I’ll be glad to find someone who can explain things to me. I will be getting the contract next week. After Korea I'm moving Alaska for a fresh start in life.

More about Korea! I’ll be hiking in the nearby mountains outside of Seoul, eating crazy food and romping around old palaces nestled in the middle of the city. The temp in Seoul is around 27 degrees in January, so it's warmer than Wisconsin. I'll be lucky to see any snow. Koreans do a lot of hiking, though most of the really scenic stuff is actually in North Korea, there are still mountain ranges to explore and decent transportation around the country. There's also a website set up to gather climbers together on trips because it's really big there. I signed up so hopefully I'll get to do some climbing on a weekend. There's a lot of coast to see as well, being a peninsula and all. Too much to explore in only a month while I'm teaching most of the time! I'll make it work though.

Ginseng Tea is very popular in Korea and they have lots of ginseng tea houses where I'll probably be found after a long day of teaching. I loved coffee shops for studying in college, so I'm sure I'll love tea shops just as much for grading papers. Ginseng is thought to have medicinal values to it, and is considered an aphrodisiac. If anyone wants any ginseng tea, red or white, or any other Korean teas or herbs, let me know. I know you can get it in the states but it's just cooler to come straight from a Korean store. (Ann and Jeremy you're already marked for a few, no need to ask my tea loving friends, maybe I'll find you some more campfire smoke tea that you love so much).

bird's eye view of Seoul.









Hiking north of Seoul, granite peaks and verdant forests of Puk'Ansan Park






Kyongbok Palace in Seoul








Cheonggyecheon River running through the middle of Seoul

















Anchorage skyline












Because of the paid flight back I’ve chosen to fly straight to Anchorage where I’ll start working right after Korea. I have a place to stay to get on my feet, I have some job options for both when I arrive and for the summer. The most common reaction when I tell people this are “Why?!” “It isn’t cold enough here?” or “Burrrrr.” So why would I want to go to Alaska in February when it’s still winter and in darkness? First, their winter in Anchorage's winter is not that much worse than in the lovely state of Wisconsin. It’s still cold, but not as cold as people seem to think. The average low in February when I'll be going is around 11 degrees (high at 25). Wisconsin's highs and lows in February are 32/13. Second, I don’t like to complain about the weather in Wisconsin. I may curse a little for not adding time to getting ready for work to scrap snow off my car, but this is what I know. I try to go rollerblading 8-10 miles everyday I can until it starts to snow here. If it wasn’t raining or snowing it was fair game, even if it was windy and ridiculously cold. In Alaska, I think it’d be kind of fun to ski to work everyday, which Bill, the guy I’m staying with initially, apparently does in the winter. I will not have a car so what a great alternative. And of course the people are more outdoorsy and adventurous which I like. Did you know during their fur rendezvous they have snowshoe softball games? And who wouldn’t want these images in their backyard? (see above and below). Anchorage is nestled in the Chugach Mountain range, acres of national parks with great views and wildlife, glaciers and colors and the northern lights! Plus the boy to girl ratio is in my favor. ;)








Mt. McKinley (Denali)

A note from my Lonely Planet: Anchorage wasn't built by city people. Rather than suburban wastelands, you'll find vast tracts of green space, wild places connected by unparalleled system of hiking, cycling, and ski trails. Here (in Anchorage) you're almost as likely to see bear and moose as on your bus tour through Denali National Park; heck, you're likely to see Mt McKinley, emerging icy and unconcerned above Turnagain Arm on some sunny night as you stagger home from the bar. And there are about 50 glaciers to visit within an hour of leaving the city. Now does this not sound like a perfect place for a nature lover such as m'self?
Another view of Denali









Tern Lake









(Portage Glacier, a small trip outside of Anchorage)


How cool is it to have river rafting trips at my finger tips (Class III through VI, but anything above a IV I need to learn how to roll a kayak), glacier hikes, and hiking in general, and tons and tons of outdoor adventure tours are all reasons that satisfy my decision to move there. This stuff is only a stones throw from Anchorage on top of that! Just think what the rest of the state has for me to explore.

If all goes to plan I may be working for a flight seeing company outside of Denali National Park for the summer. This would be the perfect time for everyone to come visit! Those national parks are massive. I hope everyone is well! I'll keep posting.