Solstice!

This past week has been very busy. Things seemed to be better at work last week; less micro-managing and Rece was really nice to me, especially Sunday morning. I think that I’vegotten better too, making fewer mistakes and such.

Except for then, that afternoon, Rece and Darla called me in to tell me that Nicole, the other packer, was being switched to hospitality (the cleaning crew) and that a girl from hospo was being made the new lead packer. Now Lauren is the new lead packer. I have a strong feeling that I might have been switched instead if I had taken the alcohol-training course and could serve alcohol to guests at dinner. But I haven’t. So now it’s me and Lauren. She’s pretty nice. But very flirty with the boys and a little condescending. But overall, not bad. And Rece is very excited that Lauren wants to step in and be a leader and create new systems for doing things and such, so her improved move towards the lunch-packing scene has been pleasant. Unfortunately, the move has lowered morale among the staff though. But we’ll see how things go in the next few weeks.

On Monday Brian and I went out the company’s backcountry lodge for our weekend. You can’t access the lodge by land, so we had to have Trina take us over on the luggage shuttle boat. There were only four guests books, two of whom were Trina’s parents, so they put us up in a swanky guest cabin (with p

ropane heat!). It was a great weekend. The backcountry lodge is beautiful and since the staff

there is so small, it has become a very tight-knit group. They all eat lunch and dinner together every night and then

all of the dishes. Stephanie, the cook, makes amazing food. I ate so much—it was incredible. We

did lots of napping, reading, and playing Bananagrams. Also on Monday night we played Apples to Apples with the staff. On Tuesday after lunch we wen

t kayaking for an hour or two around Skilak Lake. The lake is gorgeous. Years ago there was a big fire that burnt down a lot of the surrounding forest. The charcoal ashes now filter the water as it comes into the lake (like a Brita filter). So the water is really clear and amazing to drink. Also, in some places the lake is between 800 and 1000 feet deep; you can’t see the bottom but in the deeper parts the water is bright teal.

That night it was solstice, so we went fishing to celebrate on the river. I borrowed Brian’s rod (not “fishing pole!")

fished for the first time. I landed two sockeye salmon! It turns out that I am very good at catching fish, but they are very strong and

I am not very good at pulling them in, so a lot of times they get away. I caught at least 10 that got away before I could pull them in. This drove the other fishermen on the lake crazy, because I was literally the only one to catch anything for an hour and a

half, but I couldn’t pull them in. Brian ended up catching two, and Andrew got one (you’re only allowed to catch three per person per night), so it was a pretty good trip. Each salmon gives you two fillets and each fillet gives you three serving of salmon. So one salmon feeds six people.

I made a deal with Minto last week to buy my mother’s birthday present,

I paid part cash and then I owed him part fish. We settled on three

fillets, so he got three of mine and I got one. But I hope to catch more, maybe tonight, and have lots of salmon for me and my friends and family come fall. I am thinking salmon parties. J

Day 16

So apparently GRE scores do not predict lunch packing ability. The end of last week at work was very stressful. It seems that I am not very good at packing lunches (yet?). Although the guides tell me that we have been complimented on our delicious sandw

iches, some of the other pragmatics have been falling through the cracks, and Nicole and I have been reprimanded repeatedly. Now we have to make

to-do lists with little check boxes on them and write every task on those lists to make sure that they get done. I considered suggesting that we move t

o a smiley-face system (smiley faces mean you get fun free time, straight faces are neutral, frowney faces mean you are put in time out to cool off), like the one that I use with Max in Chapel Hill, but I didn’t because I am kind of scared of my manager these days. The micro-managing is getting a little bit out of hand, as are the after-hours text messages or hand-written notes letting me and Nicole know about th

e things we missed or didn’t do correctly that day. On Sunday, Rece called me while I was working in the cache to make me come over to the kitchen and see that I had put the large mixing bo

wl in the industrial dishwasher upside-down, and that when the cycle ended the bowl was filled with water. Oh no! A large bowl is filled with water and sitting above a giant drain. I have not the slightest inkling as to how to remedy this problem. Perhaps we should call a higher up on the walkie-talkie to come and assist us in dealing with this mess.

However, I am confident that I can do a better job this week in not forgetting any details. And hopefully that will translate to less micro-managing on the part of our boss. We will see.

Brian (yes- he is finally here!) and I had Monday and Tuesday off. On Monday we had a lazy day and watched a movie, did some tent-cleanin

g (he still had to move all of his stuff in) and shelf-building, played Bananagrams, and went to bed early. Yesterday, we went hiking on Ptarnigan trail. The first half-mile or so was very ugly because they were d

oing a lot of trail construction, which involves tearing everything up so they can improve it. But the rest of the hike was very pretty. We pretty much hiked into a cloud, so I got very wet, but as long as I was moving I wasn’t cold. Brian p

ointed out lots of interesting plants that would flower and grow blueberries and raspberries and cranberries at end of July or the beginning of August. It will be fun to come

back once the berries grow. The trail en

ded at one of the most gorgeous lakes I have ever seen. It was so pretty.

After our hike we came back and got cleaned up and then went out to dinner in town at a place called The Kingfisher. They have a deck with a very pretty view of the water and lots of delicious food. The portions are gigantic, though. I think that I ate my weight in pasta. I am not going to be hungry for a week. Maybe I’ll just hibernate for a few days.

It’s chilly and rainy today; a good day for a sauna after work. Every time I go into the sauna I think of Jake’s Finland project and the popsicle-stick sauna that my mom made with the pipe-cleaner men inside of it. The sauna

was bigger than any of the mountains in the country. That’s what Finland is known for. Giant saunas.

A final note for friends and family: Mail is a major status symbol up here. People take their mail very seriously as it is proof to the rest of the mailbox-goers that somewhere in the real world people care about you enough to send you something. Thus, my address is 16520 Sterling Hwy,

Cooper Landing, AK 99572. Send me things!

Day 11

Hiking on Sunday was a success. Up here, success is marked by not

being eaten by a bear. Before we went Brooke gave us bear spray, an extensive bear safety talk, and her dog Nuna. We made lots of noise, and we saw no bears, but lots of bear poop.

On Monday, Nick, Katie and I went on the Kenai Fjords adventures tour. It took up to the Ailak Glacier for Old Fox Island for a very large and delicious dinner. We saw so much wildlife, it was incredible. We saw sea otters, seals, sea lions, puffin birds, orcas, and humpback whales. The orcas were the most exciting.

Orcas live with their families forever. When it comes time to mate, two families come together and the males leave briefly, mate with the females, and then return to their families. Three families saw right next to our boat over about a fifteen-minute period. When we were getting off of the boat at Fox Island for dinner, Katie is randomly like, “Oh, I dated that boy,” pointing at a guy on the Fox Island staff helping people off of the boat. I figured she was kidding since she was from D.C. and she had only briefly visited Alaska once before, but it turns out she wasn’t. So her boy ended up taking the evening off so he could come hang out with us for drinks. First we went to a bar that was decorated to look like an 80’s porno. They had a crazy collection of the annual Jim Bean memorabilia bottles. It was actually really cool. The second place that we went was very Alaskan. Unfortunately, we left just as Karaoke Night was starting up.

Also in the last few days I finished two great books. The first was Blue Cotton Gown, which is a memoir that was written by Patricia Harman, a nurse midwife. Brian and I heard her speak at an independent bookshop in Asheville. Her book was a collection of stories about her life and about the stories that of her patients over the years. I definitely recommend it.

The other was Dude, You’re a Fag. This one was about how homophobia is

intricately tied to notions of masculinity and how ritualized events in high school (e.g., proms, pep rallies, talent shows, and homecoming) reinforce those connections. It was also a really interesting read.

Yesterday I had a split shift, where I work in the morning, have some time off in the

afternoon, and then am a server at night for dinner. Darla told me that this job usually requires khaki pants. I hate khaki pants. I have flashbacks to fifth grade, The

Matthew Years, when my mother would insist that I needed to wear my khakis to church on Sundays, that my typical sweatpant-and-tee-shirt attire was absolutely acceptable. When I told her that,

no, I did not own khaki pants, she tried to see if I could borrow Lauren’s. Even though I was entirely confident that they were not going to fit, she made me try them on and present myself to pr

ove that they were so big, that it would

actually be much more professional of me to wear my jeans that actually

fit rather than Lauren’s pants which hung around me knees, too big for any belt to fix. But she said I need to “find” khaki pants soon. FML. Khaki pants are the color of snot and will never look anything less than

hideous on me. My plan is to have my mother go to Gap and try on khaki pants and tell me what size fits. I think we are about the same size, so I will hopefully be able to order them online. Ugh. Stupid khakis.

Day 7

Things around camp still aren’t terribly busy. Yesterday the pastry chef and the prep cook had the day off so I got to step in and be the sous chef! It was very exciting. I learned to make gnocchi from scratch, which I now plan on doing pretty much every day when I get back. My hands, however, still stained very bright magenta from cutting up beets. This may be permanent. It was chilly so later a bunch of people jumped in the sauna to warm up. Today and tomorrow are my days off, and I think I am going to go hiking with Nick.

Day 5

Today I thatched some more grass, sliced my hand cleaning the meat slicer, grated my finger with the carrots, and got bit by a mosquito on the forehead. But the internet is fixed now, which makes me very happy. Also we had very delicious vegetables with dinner tonight. Also it's game night tonight, so I'm going to call today an overall win.

Blogging

Never in history have so many people with so little to say said so little to so few.

This has pretty much always been my stance on blogging, narcissistic self-indulgence. But I thought that I might start one this summer anyways so my family and friends could hear about my Alaskan adventures and be comforted in knowing that I have not yet had a bear grind my bones to make his bread.

Day 0 (not yet in Alaska)

In the airport in Phoenix I met two interesting people. Naturally I was at the peak of a gnarly cold and could only croak to communicate with them.

The first was Emilia, who was in my freshman year Polish class at UNC. I remember liking her because she was the only one in class who was worse at Polish then I was. I used to complain all the time about being the worst, but Mike would reassure me, that “No Megan, Emilia is definitely worse than you are. She just does her homework in a group with Julia and Andrea, so she has the right answers then. But really she’s the worst.” Too bad Emilia left after the first semester. So for the next two I was undeniably The Worst. But it was still good to see her. Now that she is no longer attempting to conquer abstruse Eastern European languages, she is waiting tables at Princess Cruises, our arch-enemy company.

The second person was Allison Chatterbox McGill. She was two years old and very cute. She kept running up to me and talking to me in the airport while I waited. She would ask me a question and the laugh and run away because my voice sounded like “a lizard.” I board the plane and settle into my seat in row five when a flight attendant comes to ask me if I would like to swap seats to row twelve for a window seat. *WIN.* Guess who is sitting in row eleven? Immediately after the “Fasten Seat Belts” sign was turned off, Chatterbox popped out of her seat and stood up and turned around to talk to me. For an hour. Just when I am starting to wonder just how much steam this two year old’s got, she launches into a story about the time her parents left her at a shopping mall and her father decides that maybe the nice girl behind her would like to rest.

Flying into Anchorage was beautiful. It was a bit foggy, but you could still make out all of the lakes and the mountains. And even though it was after midnight, it was just kind of dusky. It looked like the sun was perpetually setting. Even though they tell everyone that it’s light for twenty-four hours in Alaska in the summer, you really can’t imagine how bizarre it is to be walking around the airport at 1:00 in the morning and it feels like 7:30.

I took a cab to the company’s house in Anchorage, checked the bedrooms, found myself to be alone, and then passed out on the couch. Long day.

Day 1

Today I woke up at 5:30 in the morning, because it still feels like 9:30. I lazed on the couch for a while watching the trees and then hopped in the shower. So I’m walking around the house, making tea, in a towel, when this forty-something-year-old man walks down the stairs and introduces himself as Todd. Ah. Bad job checking the bedrooms last night. Apparently not alone. Todd was nice though. He is a safari guide and takes clients on long trips (seven-nine days) up to Denali and Fairbanks.

It was actually really warm and sunny—I think near 85. Apparently it’s been like that the last few days. Climate change hits harder up here. I walked around town a little bit, got lost, and called Brian who directed me around Anchorage from Chapel Hill (which was very impressive). When I got back another girl arrived at the house. She was Stephanie and she was going to be the cook out at the back country lodge.

A van came later that afternoon to take me and Stephanie into camp, about a two hour drive away. The girl who was driving us was the new safari intern, Christina. She was also very nice. The drive was gorgeous. Absolutely amazing. The mountains here are like nothing I’ve ever seen before. And when we were about two miles away from camp, a moose ran out in front of us, many ten yards away. It was so big! At first I thought it was a giant horse because it had shed its antlers, but it was too big and awkward. Moose are very powerful and can run very fast, but they are not graceful creatures. It was very cool.

Camp is cool. Like summer camp. I never got to go to summer camp. (Mom: “Okay, Megan. You just live that out then.” I can practically see her rolling her eyes through the phone.) Kyle introduced me to a lot of people whose names I can’t remember, but they all seemed nice. I moved into my tent-cabin, which I like a lot. Not incredibly warm, but very cozy.

I met my boss, Rece, who is completely adorable and I may already have a slight crush on her. Also, today a bird flew into the kitchen and got itself stuck in the skylight, trying to get out. She stood on the counter and caught it in her hand with a dishrag and threw it out the door so it could escape. She’s great.

I went to bed early because I was still jetlagged and exhausted. But overall, I was pleased to have survived day one.

Day 2

Started work today. (Although I was pretty sure I was supposed to start tomorrow, but apparently Darla thought that I looked a little too comfortable eating my lunch at the table and decided that I could start today.) There was a big group there yesterday that just left and no major trips at camp for the rest of the week, so not much of my actual job needed to be done. So my job for the next two days was Darla’s bitch. I pretty much did whatever chores she told me to do. But that was okay, because (a) I learned where lots of things in camp are (b) I like Darla, she reminds me of Karen Belciglio, and (c) I learned to thatch grass, which is obviously an important life skill. (Thatching grass is a lot like raking, but more arduous and less efficient.)

Later that day I went to watch the company’s softball team play in a tournament in a community league. We played Moose Pass, a group of locals, mostly senior citizens, and let me tell you… these Alaskans did nothing but practice softball all winter (actually, that’s a lie—apparently the same group is also involved in a community pond hockey league). They were so badass. They annihilated us. Twenty-one to nothing in five innings. It was embarrassing.

Day 3: More chores. More thatching. In the rain. But then two boys (who are actually also both from the Carolinas) started a sauna, which was completely amazing. Apparently the tradition is that you get in the sauna until it’s uncomfortably hot (uh, I was still comfortable) and then plunge yourself into the 38 degree river. Then you run back into the sauna to experience a “pleasant burning sensation.” It’s basically a full-body CPT. Supposedly if you do this three times (fuckwhat?!) you will “completely cleanse your soul.” Well, to attest to the power of socially induced placebo analgesia, I did it twice and felt very cleansed. (You feel cleansed, right? Uh, yeah, definitely.)

Later that night we walked to a local restaurant to have a drink and then walked to the other campgrounds, Turquoise, for a campfire. It was pretty fun. But you don’t realized how late it is, since it’s so light outside. By the time I got back it was one in the morning. My bed is nice, but very cold. I am looking forward to some body heat to warm me up at night.

Day 4

First day of real work. Rece was back (yes!) and I learned how to fill food orders to send out to the backcountry lodge, how to pack baskets for the road trips to Denali and the raft trips to KFGL. Also I got to cook lots of tasty food. Good day overall. I am still exhausted though from the last two nights, so I think I’ll skip the softball game in favor of kicking it in early.