On to Alaska

It's been a year since the last entry.  That doesn't mean we haven't travelled or served anywhere. Jon's visits to Kabul have escalated in his new role as interim director with trips in June, October and March of this year, 2015.  Security issues worsened and most of our friends there have left.  He will continue to make short trips until the new director is ready to go into the country.



Barrow, Alaska from the air...........

Meanwhile, we are currently in Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost town on the continent of North America...330 mi. above the Arctic Circle and 1200 miles from the North Pole.  Inhabited by the Inupiat people for centuries, there are eight villages dotting the frozen tundra.  Barrow is the seat of government for the North Slope Borough, the largest municipality in the world, covering 89,000 sq. Miles of arctic territory.  With a total population of app. 7,500, app. 4,700 live in Barrow. People of many ethnic backgrounds live and work here.  The Inupiat population is around 65%.  

Jon is working in their new hospital as a clinic physician.  A van picks him up from our hospital housing in the morning and brings him home in the evening.  He eats all his meals at the hospital so I am left on my own to find sustinance.  With the price of food at the grocery, I've decided to shrink my stomach!  Bananas are $3. a lb.  Milk around $8. per half-gallon, gr. beef $7. a lb, Tillamook cheese $18. a 2-lb. loaf.  Needless to say, I brought a loaf from home....and a few other smaller items I knew I would use. 

   

 Jon works with a couple other new docs:  Rebekah from Wisconsin and Greg from Seattle.  They will stay longer than we and family will also join them later.  More permanent, contracted employees are blessed with good vacation packages and leave when 'subs' arrive.

Jon is enjoying all the employees he works with, and hasn't complained too much about the computer work.












Our apartment has a great view out toward the Chukchi Sea.  Since Barrow lies at the meeting point of the Chukchi and the Beaufort Seas, there is almost always a breeze.  Bowhead whaling is 'in season' in April and May before the miles of frozen sea hugging the shore breaks up.
Teams of men (selected by the tribe?) have completed chopping a trail over the 6 miles of uneven ice and have made camp on the ice floes.  They have 26 strikes for the year to kill their whales.  Unfortunately the first two were lost to the sea because of ice conditions that were too dangerous to finish the kill.  They travel out on their skidoos and complete the butchering out there.  In the Fall, when they will have another chance, they bring them into shore for the villagers to assist.  The whales are not around in the brief summer months.

  A word about the frozen ice.  Even though it is completely frozen, it is constantly moving, changing, and is very dangerous.  The pressure caused large waves and chunks to uplift.  As the temperature rises in the coming weeks, it will begin to thaw.
This view of the sunset from our window was taken a bit before midnight.  The days lengthen 10 minutes a day, Jon says.  Pretty soon the sun will not set, just keep moving along the horizon.  The main road is out where the poles are, but the lagoon immediately in front of us is frozen and used by cars, snowmobiles, people, etc.  A couple more weeks and it will be too dangerous to use, also.