I found out why people always know when I am sleeping hahahahaha
Leaving Anchorage today. So long, farewell, good bye, sayonara.
I want to come back here definately. But I want to come back here for the right reasons. The reason I loved it here so much was not because there was alot to do here, or anything like that (I mean come on, it's winter!) but because of the people I met. Of course *some* more than the others-but you know what-that is NOT the way to travel. People lie and they aren't always the people you think they are.
So coming back here to work will be the right thing to do I think. Focus on making money and seeing the land. Because the land is always beautiful and it doesn't keep secrets (but if it does they are ones you are glad to find out!) and generally it won't muck you around.
Sorry this is sounding a bit misanthropic but I've just been a bit cynical in the last few days.
Excited to go to New York now. It's not breaking my heart to leave here anymore. I'm ready to move on (run away?) and see what else there is to see. Bring my focus back on track-which is seeing America. Going to go to Montauk and try and get a weekend to Washington, DC. Seeing Allison and her family will be the highlight, as will be going to Niagara Falls. It's all looking up again. I have to be optimistic.
Another good thing about going to NYC will be the myriad of photo opportunities there will be. I've been so lazy lately just because there hasn't really been anything new to take photos of! But that will all change.
How was my NYE, you ask?
Well, in a nutshell it was boring. But I suppose it was better than last years?
Went out for drinks with some people from the hostel and we nicked an Alaska Aces pint glass, then I went with one of the guys to the Bush Company (a strip club) and saw a very lame 'Grease' theme show (like the movie Grease) and then went back to the hostel. Lame. I hope everyone else had a better time than I did. I got to see the youtube of the Sydney fireworks though which looked spectacular!!! (As always)
Wish me luck in getting a replacement passport and getting a VISA when I get to New York. Have a feeling I will need to go to Canada to get my VISA though. I've been told I can get a job in Dublin if I go there (connections from one of the staff at the hostel), which if he is being serious, would be pretty awesome. 2008 is here and the world is my oyster. What I will do with the opportunities in front of me and where I will take myself is a mystery right now. Isn't it exciting having the whole world in front of you and endless choices about where you can go and what you can do?
Everything happens for a reason, and I hope in 2008 I accept the things that happen and understand the reasons behind them. I think I'm off to a good start so far!
Next entry will be from New York City. Hopefully I will have lots of new pics, too :-)
Take care my Australian friends-enjoy the nice beach weather you guys are having.
xxx leash
Showing posts with label Anchorage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anchorage. Show all posts
Wednesday, 2 January 2008
Sunday, 30 December 2007
Pics!!!
Got some more pics-yayayaya and a cheeky video clip or two, as well.
Heading out of Anchorage in a few days. Seriously it's going to break my heart to leave here. I really hope I can get a visa in New York so I can come back...I just know that if I go back to Australia I will fall back into a life of mediocrity and get a (crappy) job and probably go back to uni and get stuck back there. Plus it costs a bomb to get over here from Aus (and takes ages) so if I can just stay here then I would much rather do that. The Fur Rondy is on in February, there are ice sculpture contests/displays in March-plus the start of the Iditarod...then it goes to spring and all the snow melt and the flowers come back out. Jobs galore, too. Ones that pay fairly well, too.
It's making my upset just thinking about leaving all this.
Anyway enough of the emo-check out these:
First off the bat is a video from the hockey game I went to the other night. I was a bit too slow to catch the start of the brawl but I did the best I could.
Yay dogmushing! This was so much fun-the dogs love to run and it's pretty awesome being in the sled (and driving the sled, too, which I got to do!).
Look at his eyes!
Frozen car! Just down the road from my hostel in Anchorage.
Downtown Anchorage at 'night' (more like 5pm?)
View of Fairbanks
It was a warm day this day:
Arctic Circle:
Under the trans-alaska pipeline
Tundra (I guess). I love how vast areas in the country have no people in them...
Except for me!
Nothing but whiteness...
My camera battery just died so that will have to do for now...
Happy New Year, my antipodean friends!!!
It's a long-running 'in' joke that you come to Alaska if you are running away from something. Perhaps I am running away from my life back home...afterall, why even think about coming to Alaska? Subconsciously I bet it was because I knew it's far away and people go there to get lost. If you want to be really mushy about it I suppose you could say they also go to find themselves...
Heading out of Anchorage in a few days. Seriously it's going to break my heart to leave here. I really hope I can get a visa in New York so I can come back...I just know that if I go back to Australia I will fall back into a life of mediocrity and get a (crappy) job and probably go back to uni and get stuck back there. Plus it costs a bomb to get over here from Aus (and takes ages) so if I can just stay here then I would much rather do that. The Fur Rondy is on in February, there are ice sculpture contests/displays in March-plus the start of the Iditarod...then it goes to spring and all the snow melt and the flowers come back out. Jobs galore, too. Ones that pay fairly well, too.
It's making my upset just thinking about leaving all this.
Anyway enough of the emo-check out these:
First off the bat is a video from the hockey game I went to the other night. I was a bit too slow to catch the start of the brawl but I did the best I could.
Yay dogmushing! This was so much fun-the dogs love to run and it's pretty awesome being in the sled (and driving the sled, too, which I got to do!).
Look at his eyes!
Frozen car! Just down the road from my hostel in Anchorage.
Downtown Anchorage at 'night' (more like 5pm?)
View of Fairbanks
It was a warm day this day:
Arctic Circle:
Under the trans-alaska pipeline
Tundra (I guess). I love how vast areas in the country have no people in them...
Except for me!
Nothing but whiteness...
My camera battery just died so that will have to do for now...
Happy New Year, my antipodean friends!!!
It's a long-running 'in' joke that you come to Alaska if you are running away from something. Perhaps I am running away from my life back home...afterall, why even think about coming to Alaska? Subconsciously I bet it was because I knew it's far away and people go there to get lost. If you want to be really mushy about it I suppose you could say they also go to find themselves...
Saturday, 29 December 2007
I love Anchorage (in case you didn't already know) for no particular reason.
Well, the world is still turning and like the last time I was overseas a major political event has taken place. When I was in India in 02/03, Saddam Hussein was captured. Now it is the assassination of Benazir Bhutto that is the main focus. Americans are taking it very seriously as Pakistan is an emerging/established nuclear country and the US gives them about $10 billion in aid each year (I think that's right...) and is considering dropping $50mil from that if Pakistan doesn't do anything about the terrorists (if they are behind the attack, which the papers today say they are). It's kind of insular though-all the Americans care about is what this means for them...if they are at risk or what it means to their economy.
And back home, David Hicks has finally been released. What will the crazies harp on about now? I hope the hundreds of 'Free Hicks' banners and placards will be appropriately recycled. Maybe they could add a 'C' to Hicks and go protest battery hens?
And of course the NYE I won't be in Stralya to see is tipped to be 'the one that people talk about for years to come' or something like that. (SMH.com.au) Even with hundreds of cable TV channels, there is still no window to the outside world here so all that is on TV is American material. It's pretty funny, (I might have already mentioned this) on one of the news reports they crossed to 'World' news and all it consisted of was news from different parts of the country. I never knew that Michigan was international to Anchorage? It's far enough away but not technically international news...not even intercontinental. I miss SBS world news and the World section of the papers back in Australia. It's not hard to see why Americans may not be that knowledgable about the outside world-unless something big happens they simply don't get exposed to it! The amount of times I have been asked if Australia uses 'dollars' and what season it is down there now and one guy even thought to get from Australia to New Zealand was a 3hr ferry ride!
Anyway. I went to another hockey game last night-don't get me wrong the last one I went to was cool but this one was AWESOME. There were fights galore, and the mascot game skating out with fireworks strapped to his skates and lit a big A (for Alaska Aces) in burning stuff on the ice...there was even a part in the game where two of the players (one from each team) shortly after the start of a new period threw off their gloves and started facing off. It must be something in the rules because all the other players backed off and let them punch on...it was so bizarre but engrossing at the same time. Maybe these were the mysterious 'enforcers' that I had heard about before? I really need to look up the rules of hockey. Anyway, it was a great game there was blood (which had to be scraped, frozen, off the ice) and stacks and stacks ons and one guy even fell so hard he snapped his stick in half! It came down to a penalty shootout because with TWO SECONDS to go, the Utah Grizzlies scored and made it a tie game. Talk about exciting!!!
Tonight I'm going to see 'Into the Wild' because the reviews in the papers have actually been pretty good for it and after reading the book and seeing an independent documentary about it, I'd like to see how Sean Penn handles directing a big screen adaptation of it. I'm not going alone, don't worry. One thing I haven't done yet and don't plan on doing is going to the movies alone. Everybody has their limits, hey.
In other news, I am all but guaranteed a job here if I get a visa-which is bittersweet in a way because I am fairly sure the US won't give me a visa. I can try to apply from Canada but I don't have the time to get to a consulate when I am there. I can always go back later, don't get me wrong, it's just funds that are constricting me. Anyway, fingers crossed that the US actually doesn't mind me working here and 'stealing a job' from one of their workers. It's not like in Alaska the foreigners are taking anything that the locals don't have access to-it's just that the locals are too lazy or don't want the jobs. The locals get $1600/1700 a year just for living here, and if they are natives with land that has been used or affected by oil drilling companies then they get stacks of money and shares for that too. It's possible (and is happening) to be a native here living in a remote village and earn over $50k a year. Without lifting a finger.
I'm in Kaladi Bros Cafe again BUT it's not the downtown one, I took the bus down to Northern Lights Blvd to Barnes & Noble to get some more books (Sorry, Shane, I got another Bill Bryson one. Your favourite.) and then took a trudge (through the brown snow) down the street and it's awesome down here I haven't been this way before. Went into REI sports, and now am at the Kaladi Bros here. It's packed and full of people-totally different to the downtown one! Next stop will be Play It Again Sports (checking the price of ski gear still) and then maybe a hairdresser if they have cheap cuts. I seriously need to get this damaged crap cut off the bottom of my hair. Just because I'm a backpacker doesn't mean I have to look like a hobo!!!! I painted my nails the other day too, bright festive red ('Big Apple Red') :-)
Hey just because I write big novels in here doesn't mean you should stop posting comments!! I love getting comments so show me some love and hit up my comments page ;-)
Have a happy New Year and if anybody knows how I can see videos of the fireworks from over here please let me know.
I'm off for a walk in the snow.
xxx leash
And back home, David Hicks has finally been released. What will the crazies harp on about now? I hope the hundreds of 'Free Hicks' banners and placards will be appropriately recycled. Maybe they could add a 'C' to Hicks and go protest battery hens?
And of course the NYE I won't be in Stralya to see is tipped to be 'the one that people talk about for years to come' or something like that. (SMH.com.au) Even with hundreds of cable TV channels, there is still no window to the outside world here so all that is on TV is American material. It's pretty funny, (I might have already mentioned this) on one of the news reports they crossed to 'World' news and all it consisted of was news from different parts of the country. I never knew that Michigan was international to Anchorage? It's far enough away but not technically international news...not even intercontinental. I miss SBS world news and the World section of the papers back in Australia. It's not hard to see why Americans may not be that knowledgable about the outside world-unless something big happens they simply don't get exposed to it! The amount of times I have been asked if Australia uses 'dollars' and what season it is down there now and one guy even thought to get from Australia to New Zealand was a 3hr ferry ride!
Anyway. I went to another hockey game last night-don't get me wrong the last one I went to was cool but this one was AWESOME. There were fights galore, and the mascot game skating out with fireworks strapped to his skates and lit a big A (for Alaska Aces) in burning stuff on the ice...there was even a part in the game where two of the players (one from each team) shortly after the start of a new period threw off their gloves and started facing off. It must be something in the rules because all the other players backed off and let them punch on...it was so bizarre but engrossing at the same time. Maybe these were the mysterious 'enforcers' that I had heard about before? I really need to look up the rules of hockey. Anyway, it was a great game there was blood (which had to be scraped, frozen, off the ice) and stacks and stacks ons and one guy even fell so hard he snapped his stick in half! It came down to a penalty shootout because with TWO SECONDS to go, the Utah Grizzlies scored and made it a tie game. Talk about exciting!!!
Tonight I'm going to see 'Into the Wild' because the reviews in the papers have actually been pretty good for it and after reading the book and seeing an independent documentary about it, I'd like to see how Sean Penn handles directing a big screen adaptation of it. I'm not going alone, don't worry. One thing I haven't done yet and don't plan on doing is going to the movies alone. Everybody has their limits, hey.
In other news, I am all but guaranteed a job here if I get a visa-which is bittersweet in a way because I am fairly sure the US won't give me a visa. I can try to apply from Canada but I don't have the time to get to a consulate when I am there. I can always go back later, don't get me wrong, it's just funds that are constricting me. Anyway, fingers crossed that the US actually doesn't mind me working here and 'stealing a job' from one of their workers. It's not like in Alaska the foreigners are taking anything that the locals don't have access to-it's just that the locals are too lazy or don't want the jobs. The locals get $1600/1700 a year just for living here, and if they are natives with land that has been used or affected by oil drilling companies then they get stacks of money and shares for that too. It's possible (and is happening) to be a native here living in a remote village and earn over $50k a year. Without lifting a finger.
I'm in Kaladi Bros Cafe again BUT it's not the downtown one, I took the bus down to Northern Lights Blvd to Barnes & Noble to get some more books (Sorry, Shane, I got another Bill Bryson one. Your favourite.) and then took a trudge (through the brown snow) down the street and it's awesome down here I haven't been this way before. Went into REI sports, and now am at the Kaladi Bros here. It's packed and full of people-totally different to the downtown one! Next stop will be Play It Again Sports (checking the price of ski gear still) and then maybe a hairdresser if they have cheap cuts. I seriously need to get this damaged crap cut off the bottom of my hair. Just because I'm a backpacker doesn't mean I have to look like a hobo!!!! I painted my nails the other day too, bright festive red ('Big Apple Red') :-)
Hey just because I write big novels in here doesn't mean you should stop posting comments!! I love getting comments so show me some love and hit up my comments page ;-)
Have a happy New Year and if anybody knows how I can see videos of the fireworks from over here please let me know.
I'm off for a walk in the snow.
xxx leash
Friday, 28 December 2007
Yay Anchorage!!!
I am back in Anchorage and I am so happy to be back here let me tell you!!!
It's 9.20am and I'm in Kaladi Bros Cafe (where else?) drinking a watermelon latte-I told you I would get one before I left here!-and they've put on classical music this morning. There are cops or something in here talking to someone...I wonder what all that is about. Probably just collecting a drunk...they have this thing called CPS here, I can't remember exactly what it stands for but basically it's a booze bus that goes around collecting drunk people off the streets and out of public places and taking them somewhere to sleep it off. Wow there are 4 cops here now...hmmm
Soooo from the last time I wrote here nothing much had happened and my mood was deteriorating so I decided to cut my Fairbanks jaunt short and get the van back down to Anchorage on Boxing Day (Wednesday), instead of Friday. They don't really celebrate Boxing Day here at all...
Speaking of Boxing Day-I missed the cricket and I miss leftover mince pies and ham and cherries (although there are rarely any leftovers of those at my house).
But Christmas Day warrants a mention, before I go getting ahead of myself. My Christmas Day was pretty low key. I slept in, and went for a walk to 'downtown' (3.6 miles!! That's like, 5km?) and it was lightly snowing. White Christmas!!! On the way to downtown I stopped by at the Arctic Cam site (the physical site...not the website, duh) and called home to tell them to check out the website and they could actually see me! So that was kind of cool. >1200km (7500 miles) away and they could see me-albeit over webcam. You can tell I also stopped by at the Golden Heart Plaza where there is a signpost marking the various distances to worldwide cities :-P
Got back to the hostel via a cab because by this stage it was cold and dark and I didn't really feel like walking all that way back. The cabbie was cool, he was 81 years old and had all these stories about being in the war and all the places he had travelled to on tours of duty. He never made it to Australia though, which he really regrets. That's probably the most common thing I hear from people over here. "I've always wanted to go to Australia". Almost every single person who I talk to about Australia tells me that. If they have been in the military (which a surprisingly large amount of people I meet have) they will then tell me that they were supposed to go there or could have gone there but something came up and stopped them. I suppose it's nice that Australia has an international reputation as a desirable place to go. Anyway-back to the hostel! I got there and some of the others were hanging around and a local guy who had made friends with one of the guys staying there came in and asked if we wanted to go to his sauna. He had built this sauna himself and all the other guys from the hostel were going so I went along too. It was dark inside (save for a torch), about 210F inside and cramped but it was fun! I was dying though it was so hot...I came to Alaska to be cold, not to be hot!! But when the heat got too much for me I could just go outside and roll about in the snow then come back in and be glad for the heat.
One of the other guys staying there is a pretty experienced/accomplished hiker and camper out in the wilderness so he said he'd take me and another guy, Jaycee, up to Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay. It was getting all planned out and we were getting really excited to be going on this trip-but at the last minute he changes his mind and can't/won't take us. Lame!!! Man up and say you don't want to go if you don't want to go...just don't go making lame excuses to try and weasel your way out of it. So that was disappointing for me, because I really really wanted to go to Prudhoe but I take this as a sign that I am not meant to go there just now. Everything happens for a reason!
I got the van back to Anchorage (via Tok) the next morning, and it was a nice drive down even though I was in vans from 9am til 10.30pm. I did get to see a moose walking by the side of the road though, which is the closest I've seen one so far. As usual, I was the only passenger, sharing the van with cargo until Tok. After Tok I changed vans and got a new driver-a friendly talkative guy called Don. But I was still the only passenger until about 6pm! He was a great driver-always talking and telling me about the landscape and telling me awesome stories about his life in Alaska. Very entertaining! I didn't sleep the night before and I was glad for his stories and conversation otherwise I would have slept and when I'm the only passenger I feel rude for sleeping. Plus I would have missed out on some great scenery. We saw some more moose (at a distance) and caribou. At one stage a whole herd of caribou ran out onto the road in front of the van and Don had to stop to avoid hitting them! We passed by so close to them he could have touched them on their little white bums if he had stuck his hand out the window.
BUT ths ride wasn't all caribou and pretty mountains. Long story short, I lost my wallet for a portion of the ride and didn't realise until about 15 miles up the road. We had to double back and check all the places we had stopped and it was nowhere. On the way back (going in our original direction) I was getting pretty upset that it wasn't anywhere...and we were just going through the last place we stopped for me to get out for a photo and then Don goes "What's that?" and no shit sitting on the side of the road (in pitch black) was MY WALLET! FUCKKKKKKKKKK words can't express how relieved I was! Seriously. Without my wallet I would have had no photo ID and thus I wouldn't have existed as I had no way to prove who I am, basically. Nevermind all my cards and money in there. I made sure to give Don a fat tip when he dropped me off-I might still send him a 6 pack of beer as thanks. Don was a really awesome guy though I don't think I would have gotten my wallet back had it not been for him backtracking. Plus he bought everyone in the van tacos on one of our rest stops and if that doesn't make him a legend I don't know what else would. So that crisis averted I was very very very happy to be back in Anchorage at the Backpackers Inn. Very happy. Chatted with Manuel (he works there) and told him all about Coldfoot and my adventures and he seemed very interested in it. Also put my pics up to show him, and seeing them up on the screen made me realise how blurry and crap alot of my shots were! Damn! The good ones were worth all the bad ones though, if that makes sense.
Oh crap the cops have just led this guy out in handcuffs! I wonder what he did?
So yeah that's about all that's happened to me lately. I think I've done something bad to my elbow though...don't know if I said anything on here at the time but in Homer (Dec 7-9) I hit my left elbow in an awkward way and it got this grape-sized lump on it and since then it's been tender and I've managed to knock it a few times since...but anyway now it looks like I have screws under my skin it's that bumpy and weird. I'm a little worried-it doesn't look normal! It doesn't hurt to use it though so until that happens I'm keeping cool about it. My wrist has been giving me trouble but I think I must be sleeping on it or something like that because every so often I'll be able to crack it and it will temporarily feel better again.
But other than that I'm doing fine, physically. I think I'm wasting away a little but I've got more than enough to spare so I don't mind in the least! I'm eating mainly fruit, veges (mmmmm broccoli), some pasta and 2min noodles. Tonight though I'm making lamingtons to share with the others in the hostel-couldn't find sponge so I had to make do with an 'angel food cake'...I hope it works out! My hair is so gross at the ends it's like straw. I bought leave in conditioner, I bought regular conditioner for dry/damaged hair, but nothing is working. Will definately need to give it the chop to get rid of the damage. For the first time since I can remember I am getting KNOTS in my hair. That never used to happen!!! The cold weather has cleared my skin up too which is always welcome.
Ok I have definately written enough for now. The sun is just starting to come up (it's 10.15am now) and today I think I will go to the Dept Public Lands (or whatever it's called) because they supposedly have good displays there. My snowlady outside the hostel died too so I could make another one...
But yes. Glad to be back in Anchorage. I love Alaska, I will be very sorry to leave here I know it.
Hope everyone is taking care back home and had a great Christmas/Boxing Day. Eat lots of meat pies and mangoes for me (but not mixed together-that's just gross) because I am sorely missing them!
xxx lisha
It's 9.20am and I'm in Kaladi Bros Cafe (where else?) drinking a watermelon latte-I told you I would get one before I left here!-and they've put on classical music this morning. There are cops or something in here talking to someone...I wonder what all that is about. Probably just collecting a drunk...they have this thing called CPS here, I can't remember exactly what it stands for but basically it's a booze bus that goes around collecting drunk people off the streets and out of public places and taking them somewhere to sleep it off. Wow there are 4 cops here now...hmmm
Soooo from the last time I wrote here nothing much had happened and my mood was deteriorating so I decided to cut my Fairbanks jaunt short and get the van back down to Anchorage on Boxing Day (Wednesday), instead of Friday. They don't really celebrate Boxing Day here at all...
Speaking of Boxing Day-I missed the cricket and I miss leftover mince pies and ham and cherries (although there are rarely any leftovers of those at my house).
But Christmas Day warrants a mention, before I go getting ahead of myself. My Christmas Day was pretty low key. I slept in, and went for a walk to 'downtown' (3.6 miles!! That's like, 5km?) and it was lightly snowing. White Christmas!!! On the way to downtown I stopped by at the Arctic Cam site (the physical site...not the website, duh) and called home to tell them to check out the website and they could actually see me! So that was kind of cool. >1200km (7500 miles) away and they could see me-albeit over webcam. You can tell I also stopped by at the Golden Heart Plaza where there is a signpost marking the various distances to worldwide cities :-P
Got back to the hostel via a cab because by this stage it was cold and dark and I didn't really feel like walking all that way back. The cabbie was cool, he was 81 years old and had all these stories about being in the war and all the places he had travelled to on tours of duty. He never made it to Australia though, which he really regrets. That's probably the most common thing I hear from people over here. "I've always wanted to go to Australia". Almost every single person who I talk to about Australia tells me that. If they have been in the military (which a surprisingly large amount of people I meet have) they will then tell me that they were supposed to go there or could have gone there but something came up and stopped them. I suppose it's nice that Australia has an international reputation as a desirable place to go. Anyway-back to the hostel! I got there and some of the others were hanging around and a local guy who had made friends with one of the guys staying there came in and asked if we wanted to go to his sauna. He had built this sauna himself and all the other guys from the hostel were going so I went along too. It was dark inside (save for a torch), about 210F inside and cramped but it was fun! I was dying though it was so hot...I came to Alaska to be cold, not to be hot!! But when the heat got too much for me I could just go outside and roll about in the snow then come back in and be glad for the heat.
One of the other guys staying there is a pretty experienced/accomplished hiker and camper out in the wilderness so he said he'd take me and another guy, Jaycee, up to Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay. It was getting all planned out and we were getting really excited to be going on this trip-but at the last minute he changes his mind and can't/won't take us. Lame!!! Man up and say you don't want to go if you don't want to go...just don't go making lame excuses to try and weasel your way out of it. So that was disappointing for me, because I really really wanted to go to Prudhoe but I take this as a sign that I am not meant to go there just now. Everything happens for a reason!
I got the van back to Anchorage (via Tok) the next morning, and it was a nice drive down even though I was in vans from 9am til 10.30pm. I did get to see a moose walking by the side of the road though, which is the closest I've seen one so far. As usual, I was the only passenger, sharing the van with cargo until Tok. After Tok I changed vans and got a new driver-a friendly talkative guy called Don. But I was still the only passenger until about 6pm! He was a great driver-always talking and telling me about the landscape and telling me awesome stories about his life in Alaska. Very entertaining! I didn't sleep the night before and I was glad for his stories and conversation otherwise I would have slept and when I'm the only passenger I feel rude for sleeping. Plus I would have missed out on some great scenery. We saw some more moose (at a distance) and caribou. At one stage a whole herd of caribou ran out onto the road in front of the van and Don had to stop to avoid hitting them! We passed by so close to them he could have touched them on their little white bums if he had stuck his hand out the window.
BUT ths ride wasn't all caribou and pretty mountains. Long story short, I lost my wallet for a portion of the ride and didn't realise until about 15 miles up the road. We had to double back and check all the places we had stopped and it was nowhere. On the way back (going in our original direction) I was getting pretty upset that it wasn't anywhere...and we were just going through the last place we stopped for me to get out for a photo and then Don goes "What's that?" and no shit sitting on the side of the road (in pitch black) was MY WALLET! FUCKKKKKKKKKK words can't express how relieved I was! Seriously. Without my wallet I would have had no photo ID and thus I wouldn't have existed as I had no way to prove who I am, basically. Nevermind all my cards and money in there. I made sure to give Don a fat tip when he dropped me off-I might still send him a 6 pack of beer as thanks. Don was a really awesome guy though I don't think I would have gotten my wallet back had it not been for him backtracking. Plus he bought everyone in the van tacos on one of our rest stops and if that doesn't make him a legend I don't know what else would. So that crisis averted I was very very very happy to be back in Anchorage at the Backpackers Inn. Very happy. Chatted with Manuel (he works there) and told him all about Coldfoot and my adventures and he seemed very interested in it. Also put my pics up to show him, and seeing them up on the screen made me realise how blurry and crap alot of my shots were! Damn! The good ones were worth all the bad ones though, if that makes sense.
Oh crap the cops have just led this guy out in handcuffs! I wonder what he did?
So yeah that's about all that's happened to me lately. I think I've done something bad to my elbow though...don't know if I said anything on here at the time but in Homer (Dec 7-9) I hit my left elbow in an awkward way and it got this grape-sized lump on it and since then it's been tender and I've managed to knock it a few times since...but anyway now it looks like I have screws under my skin it's that bumpy and weird. I'm a little worried-it doesn't look normal! It doesn't hurt to use it though so until that happens I'm keeping cool about it. My wrist has been giving me trouble but I think I must be sleeping on it or something like that because every so often I'll be able to crack it and it will temporarily feel better again.
But other than that I'm doing fine, physically. I think I'm wasting away a little but I've got more than enough to spare so I don't mind in the least! I'm eating mainly fruit, veges (mmmmm broccoli), some pasta and 2min noodles. Tonight though I'm making lamingtons to share with the others in the hostel-couldn't find sponge so I had to make do with an 'angel food cake'...I hope it works out! My hair is so gross at the ends it's like straw. I bought leave in conditioner, I bought regular conditioner for dry/damaged hair, but nothing is working. Will definately need to give it the chop to get rid of the damage. For the first time since I can remember I am getting KNOTS in my hair. That never used to happen!!! The cold weather has cleared my skin up too which is always welcome.
Ok I have definately written enough for now. The sun is just starting to come up (it's 10.15am now) and today I think I will go to the Dept Public Lands (or whatever it's called) because they supposedly have good displays there. My snowlady outside the hostel died too so I could make another one...
But yes. Glad to be back in Anchorage. I love Alaska, I will be very sorry to leave here I know it.
Hope everyone is taking care back home and had a great Christmas/Boxing Day. Eat lots of meat pies and mangoes for me (but not mixed together-that's just gross) because I am sorely missing them!
xxx lisha
Friday, 14 December 2007
Dude, where's my moose?
I'm loving Anchorage more and more...it's like with the snow it's become 1000% prettier. Everything is fresher and cleaner looking-beautiful.
I want to get a working visa when I go to the consulate and try to get work so I can stay here, I like it that much.
Also I am kind of glad my laptop got stolen now. I'm a firm believer in everything happening for a reason and when it was first taken I couldn't think what possible good could come from it, but I see now that if I had it I would just be mooching about online and not getting to know anybody else around me. Because I have lots of spare time where I'm not obsessively checking my emails or facebook, I'm reading books and talking to people. Stuff that is more constructive, I think, than sitting online all the time.
I'm still yet to see a moose-I heard they were frequent visitors to Anchorage city in winter. I guess when the snow piles up a bit more they will wander in.
Apparently I'm a 'regular' at Kaladi Bros now :-) which I think is cool.
It's about -8C today and my fingers are really feeling it!
Take care and don't sweat too much.
-Lisha
I want to get a working visa when I go to the consulate and try to get work so I can stay here, I like it that much.
Also I am kind of glad my laptop got stolen now. I'm a firm believer in everything happening for a reason and when it was first taken I couldn't think what possible good could come from it, but I see now that if I had it I would just be mooching about online and not getting to know anybody else around me. Because I have lots of spare time where I'm not obsessively checking my emails or facebook, I'm reading books and talking to people. Stuff that is more constructive, I think, than sitting online all the time.
I'm still yet to see a moose-I heard they were frequent visitors to Anchorage city in winter. I guess when the snow piles up a bit more they will wander in.
Apparently I'm a 'regular' at Kaladi Bros now :-) which I think is cool.
It's about -8C today and my fingers are really feeling it!
Take care and don't sweat too much.
-Lisha
Thursday, 13 December 2007
There's no aussie word for 'fender'...
Damn...I don't go online for a day or two and the emails really pile up. Who am I kidding-I love it!
I think I'm really getting 'into' Anchorage...I went out to a bar called 'Mad Myrnas' last night and it's a gay bar. It was pretty funny...I would have been the only girl in there, I reckon. Well-there were some people who I thought might have been women but they all had short hair and were wearing very baggy sweatshirts so I'm not sure. But it was still cool-the bartender told me to come back on Saturday because they're having a special show and he will be in drag.
Went back to the hostel and ended up talking to one of the staff for like 5hrs. He's a really cool guy-got lots of stories and we had similar opinions on alot of things but then other things we were calling each other weird for :-P And I was really surprised because he has been working at backpackers in England for like 4 years and even went out with an Aussie girl but it was like alot of what I was saying he hadn't heard before? Maybe he likes hearing the same thing over and over again or he really hasn't heard it before...I don't know. It was still a good conversation-I had alot of fun.
Tonight there is a meteor shower scheduled for 8pm, and by some miraculous stroke of luck the sky is completely clear! I reckon it would have to be the first time I've seen the moon here. (You guys down south have a similar astronomical show planned, too, apparently http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/sydney-meteor-shower-alert/2007/12/14/1197568227941.html)
The sky at night here generally is really pretty-a dark inky blue that fades to an aqua/bottle green colour near the south horizon and it stays like that for ages. But I am excited about the clear sky not just for the meteor shower (the Geminids, I think) but also because the Aurora forecast has been ramped up to 'moderate' and is supposed to be able to be seen on the low horizon as far south as Soldoltna, which is south of Anchorage to technically we are in with a chance of seeing it!
The snow hasn't come back from the other day, but it's gotten colder and that makes everything icy. So, so, icy. Touch wood I haven't stacked it yet...but it's coming I can tell. Today it's about 19/20F, but weather.com tells me it feels more like 10F. This means it's technically -7C but feels more like -12C. It's really not so bad-maybe I'm just getting used to it. I love this weather!!! My hair didn't freeze today so it can't have been as cold as it was the other week.
There isn't much else to say right now, I guess. There are a bunch of ladies at the hostel and they are all nurses working for...something to do with returned servicemen...but anyway one of them, Jan, used to live in Darwin when she was a kid and was telling me how much she misses Chiko rolls. Aaaah hahaha what a funny bit of home be reminded of! I'm going to try and find some spongecake so I can make lamingtons-nobody has heard of them!!! I was going to make sausage rolls but the puff pastry over here is expensive and while I would kill for a sausage roll I wouldn't spend my last few dollars on ingredients for them.
I'm having a lot of fun here now :-) I might change my booking so I stay at the Alaska Backpackers when I get back from Fairbanks...
Damn I don't know who's responsible for the music at Kaladi Bros today but it's all punk/ska. Blargh.
Oh, another thing, I need a new book. I found another Bill Bryson one on the shelves here (it was actually the other aussie girl's that she left behind) and it was about travelling in Europe...so it was ok but I found his descriptions of staying in Hammerfest waiting to see the Aurora quite amusing. So yes...another book...I will be on the lookout!
Take care!
-Lisha
I think I'm really getting 'into' Anchorage...I went out to a bar called 'Mad Myrnas' last night and it's a gay bar. It was pretty funny...I would have been the only girl in there, I reckon. Well-there were some people who I thought might have been women but they all had short hair and were wearing very baggy sweatshirts so I'm not sure. But it was still cool-the bartender told me to come back on Saturday because they're having a special show and he will be in drag.
Went back to the hostel and ended up talking to one of the staff for like 5hrs. He's a really cool guy-got lots of stories and we had similar opinions on alot of things but then other things we were calling each other weird for :-P And I was really surprised because he has been working at backpackers in England for like 4 years and even went out with an Aussie girl but it was like alot of what I was saying he hadn't heard before? Maybe he likes hearing the same thing over and over again or he really hasn't heard it before...I don't know. It was still a good conversation-I had alot of fun.
Tonight there is a meteor shower scheduled for 8pm, and by some miraculous stroke of luck the sky is completely clear! I reckon it would have to be the first time I've seen the moon here. (You guys down south have a similar astronomical show planned, too, apparently http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/sydney-meteor-shower-alert/2007/12/14/1197568227941.html)
The sky at night here generally is really pretty-a dark inky blue that fades to an aqua/bottle green colour near the south horizon and it stays like that for ages. But I am excited about the clear sky not just for the meteor shower (the Geminids, I think) but also because the Aurora forecast has been ramped up to 'moderate' and is supposed to be able to be seen on the low horizon as far south as Soldoltna, which is south of Anchorage to technically we are in with a chance of seeing it!
The snow hasn't come back from the other day, but it's gotten colder and that makes everything icy. So, so, icy. Touch wood I haven't stacked it yet...but it's coming I can tell. Today it's about 19/20F, but weather.com tells me it feels more like 10F. This means it's technically -7C but feels more like -12C. It's really not so bad-maybe I'm just getting used to it. I love this weather!!! My hair didn't freeze today so it can't have been as cold as it was the other week.
There isn't much else to say right now, I guess. There are a bunch of ladies at the hostel and they are all nurses working for...something to do with returned servicemen...but anyway one of them, Jan, used to live in Darwin when she was a kid and was telling me how much she misses Chiko rolls. Aaaah hahaha what a funny bit of home be reminded of! I'm going to try and find some spongecake so I can make lamingtons-nobody has heard of them!!! I was going to make sausage rolls but the puff pastry over here is expensive and while I would kill for a sausage roll I wouldn't spend my last few dollars on ingredients for them.
I'm having a lot of fun here now :-) I might change my booking so I stay at the Alaska Backpackers when I get back from Fairbanks...
Damn I don't know who's responsible for the music at Kaladi Bros today but it's all punk/ska. Blargh.
Oh, another thing, I need a new book. I found another Bill Bryson one on the shelves here (it was actually the other aussie girl's that she left behind) and it was about travelling in Europe...so it was ok but I found his descriptions of staying in Hammerfest waiting to see the Aurora quite amusing. So yes...another book...I will be on the lookout!
Take care!
-Lisha
Tuesday, 11 December 2007
Anchorage, Sweet Anchorage.
Ok back in Anchorage and it's snowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwing!!!!
It's been constant all day, at times it was much lighter-almost like a drizzle. What's a drizzle of snow called, I wonder...a snizzle?
The thing about snow, you see, is it's just like rain except it's solid. That might sound obvious but in the tv shows and movies the snow they use is of course fake, but snow in real life sticks to you and gets wet and gets in your eyes and sticks on your eyelashes. It's not so bad-just today I wore my volleys out and got stuck looking for the Alaskan Native Heritage Center (there was a sign but no building!!!) for like an hour and by the end of the hour my feet were frozen. So I think I will wear my Sorels from now on. Plus it means a little more space in my pack with them out.
Man this snow is so pretty. I'm sitting in Kaladi Bros Cafe again, right near the window and because it's dark the snow is all lit up as it drifts to the ground. I got covered in it today and you could actually make out individual snowflakes as they landed! I swear I saw two the same...
I made a snowperson, too. I'll put a pic up as soon as I can plug my camera in somewhere.
I hear there are big problems back at home with the weather? I'm disappointed I'm missing out on all the action! I hear Blacktown has been declared a natural disaster area? Hearing about all the hail damage makes me glad my car is in the garage-she's got enough hail damage as is!
This cafe is really cool-they're playing mad music (what makes me say that now is that The Eels - Trouble With Dreams just came on). After the solitude and eeriness of Homer it's great to be back somewhere where there is people and cafes open and....stuff. Homer had a distinct lack of *stuff* there. I saw some Bald Eagles which was cool but apart from that-no stuff. Only a 10km walk back to the Inn from Homer Spit.
I can't get over how pretty this snow is!
I'd really like to come back and see all this stuff again in summer-it would like going to a completely different place, I reckon...
Ok time is fleeting-this place closes at 7 so I gotta go somewhere else and mooch around instead. I miss my lappy so much :'( But I just finished reading 'Into The Wild' by John Krakeaur (or something like that) and it made me appreciate alot of stuff about my trip, and myself, I guess. It was all about this 20yr old guy who went to Fairbanks to live in the bush by himself, away from people...
Enjoying time by yourself and wanting solitude is perfectly normal, as is getting lonely. I shouldn't feel bad because I want to be around people, even though I like being by myself most of the time. I think that was my problem before...not understanding that craving human company when I'm on a solo trip isn't wrong/against the 'rules'.
Some crazy random guy gave me a t-shirt out of nowhere the other day while I was waiting at the bus stop. He's like "Do you like Coors Lite?"...I go "Ummm I dunno?" because I have no idea where he is going with it. Anyway he opens his jacket and stuffed on top of his shoulder (?) is a rolled up t-shirt and he says he got it from the bar because he bought a beer there. So I'm like "Ok if you're sure you don't want it?" then my bus came (yay) and I left. So random! He's probably not reading this but Dad: you're getting a Coors Lite t-shirt when I get home ;-)
I've bumbled on for long enough....I've got stuff to do, plus some mooching.
Stay classy!
-Lisher
It's been constant all day, at times it was much lighter-almost like a drizzle. What's a drizzle of snow called, I wonder...a snizzle?
The thing about snow, you see, is it's just like rain except it's solid. That might sound obvious but in the tv shows and movies the snow they use is of course fake, but snow in real life sticks to you and gets wet and gets in your eyes and sticks on your eyelashes. It's not so bad-just today I wore my volleys out and got stuck looking for the Alaskan Native Heritage Center (there was a sign but no building!!!) for like an hour and by the end of the hour my feet were frozen. So I think I will wear my Sorels from now on. Plus it means a little more space in my pack with them out.
Man this snow is so pretty. I'm sitting in Kaladi Bros Cafe again, right near the window and because it's dark the snow is all lit up as it drifts to the ground. I got covered in it today and you could actually make out individual snowflakes as they landed! I swear I saw two the same...
I made a snowperson, too. I'll put a pic up as soon as I can plug my camera in somewhere.
I hear there are big problems back at home with the weather? I'm disappointed I'm missing out on all the action! I hear Blacktown has been declared a natural disaster area? Hearing about all the hail damage makes me glad my car is in the garage-she's got enough hail damage as is!
This cafe is really cool-they're playing mad music (what makes me say that now is that The Eels - Trouble With Dreams just came on). After the solitude and eeriness of Homer it's great to be back somewhere where there is people and cafes open and....stuff. Homer had a distinct lack of *stuff* there. I saw some Bald Eagles which was cool but apart from that-no stuff. Only a 10km walk back to the Inn from Homer Spit.
I can't get over how pretty this snow is!
I'd really like to come back and see all this stuff again in summer-it would like going to a completely different place, I reckon...
Ok time is fleeting-this place closes at 7 so I gotta go somewhere else and mooch around instead. I miss my lappy so much :'( But I just finished reading 'Into The Wild' by John Krakeaur (or something like that) and it made me appreciate alot of stuff about my trip, and myself, I guess. It was all about this 20yr old guy who went to Fairbanks to live in the bush by himself, away from people...
Enjoying time by yourself and wanting solitude is perfectly normal, as is getting lonely. I shouldn't feel bad because I want to be around people, even though I like being by myself most of the time. I think that was my problem before...not understanding that craving human company when I'm on a solo trip isn't wrong/against the 'rules'.
Some crazy random guy gave me a t-shirt out of nowhere the other day while I was waiting at the bus stop. He's like "Do you like Coors Lite?"...I go "Ummm I dunno?" because I have no idea where he is going with it. Anyway he opens his jacket and stuffed on top of his shoulder (?) is a rolled up t-shirt and he says he got it from the bar because he bought a beer there. So I'm like "Ok if you're sure you don't want it?" then my bus came (yay) and I left. So random! He's probably not reading this but Dad: you're getting a Coors Lite t-shirt when I get home ;-)
I've bumbled on for long enough....I've got stuff to do, plus some mooching.
Stay classy!
-Lisher
Monday, 3 December 2007
another thing...
Most of the people I have spoken to and told I'm travelling by myself, have said 'Oh you're so brave'.
I don't feel brave. I feel like a wuss. I'm not getting half the stuff done I want to be doing (like taking lots of photos or documenting my trip with videos). It's kind of like I've just switched sitting around and going out at home to a different location.
It's difficult, or challenging enough just going day to day without adding in all the other stuff I wish I were doing, like going on long walks to take photos or meeting lots of new people or making mini documentaries about the areas I am visiting. I wanted to have lots of photos with me and the locals and stuff like that. I haven't been doing that-because I'm a wuss.
Don't get me wrong-I *am* taking photos and seeing things and meeting people, but not to the extent I would like to be. Maybe my expectations were unrealistic.
Before I left people said I was stupid for coming up to such a barren/wild place like Alaska by myself...in winter.
I think I tend to believe them more than the people who think I'm 'brave' or something for it.
I don't feel brave. I feel like a wuss. I'm not getting half the stuff done I want to be doing (like taking lots of photos or documenting my trip with videos). It's kind of like I've just switched sitting around and going out at home to a different location.
It's difficult, or challenging enough just going day to day without adding in all the other stuff I wish I were doing, like going on long walks to take photos or meeting lots of new people or making mini documentaries about the areas I am visiting. I wanted to have lots of photos with me and the locals and stuff like that. I haven't been doing that-because I'm a wuss.
Don't get me wrong-I *am* taking photos and seeing things and meeting people, but not to the extent I would like to be. Maybe my expectations were unrealistic.
Before I left people said I was stupid for coming up to such a barren/wild place like Alaska by myself...in winter.
I think I tend to believe them more than the people who think I'm 'brave' or something for it.
On another note...
I was really getting to enjoy Anchorage until last night.
Being without my laptop (and thus an easy portal to the outside world) makes me feel really isolated and dependant again. Plus I have not much to do when I go out for the day and sit around in cafes or whatever.
The newspapers here are a good read though, but not fat like Aussie papers are.
I went to see a screening of two short documentaries on Saturday afternoon, as part of the Anchorage International Film Festival. The two I saw were: Polarized, by Amu Berg; and Moose on the Loose, by the BBC.
They were both great-Polarized only went for 10min but it was a very touching mini-doco about a town on a small island in the Arctic sea called Shishmaref. Due to global warming the permafrost the island is built on is melting, and leaving the island vulnerable to erosion by the sea. They are losing their home and hearing their stories was really sad. When the director included facts like how the US government has spent $400b on the War in Iraq (war ON Iraq?) but nothing has been allocated to relocating the 40-odd Eskimo communities who will or are affected by gloal warming, it's pretty sobering.
After the 'serious' doco, there was a BBC one about two Dept of Fish & Game officers who run aroudn Anchorage responding to calls about wildlife that come into the town. Most notably moose and bears. The two human stars were really funny and great TV personalities, and it was also great to see a documentary *about* Anchorage, across the seasons too so at the end of it I was left hoping to spot a moose about town because that's what they say happens in winter here!
The two stars (Jessie and Rick) were in the audience so they stayed for a q&a after the showing.
Next up for the night was an ice hockey game!
It was awesome-I really like watching live sports and the game was really enjoyable. Even though I knew nothing about ice hockey and I was there by myself. I asked the guy next to me about some of the rules but he looked too interested in the game (or interested in avoiding me?) so I left him alone after a while.
The home team lost, but it was still fun to watch. There was a punch up in the last minute of the game (man I had been waiting the whole game to see fisticuffs) and the whole experience was something else.
They bought out the flag with full military regalia (sorry, the 'colours') and everybody stood up with their hands on their hearts to sing the national anthem. About half way through the game the commentator announced that there were some recently returned servicemen in the audience so everybody stood up and applauded them.
This country is so proud of it's men and women that go to war for them-everywhere there are signs saying 'Welcome Home' to those who have served overseas and come home. But on the other hand, all the people I've talked to have said how ridiculous the war is and what's even more interesting is the amount of people that have actually *been* themselves or been in the military at some point.
Back to the hockey, though. They played a song 'I wanna drive the Zamboni' and the Zambonis came out and swished over the ice-and the crowd went NUTS when the home team came out. I liked #21, Josh Lunden:
He's better in person, believe me.
Anyway he got sent off for 2min for 'slashing' or something (anybody else get images of a player just taking a piss on the ice?) and in that time out the opposition scored so I shouldn't like him after that.
The crowd dutifully boo-urnsed the away team (way to go, sportsmanship!) when they came on.
Lisha's Guide to Hockey:
The players can catch the puck in their hands and put it on the ice in front of their stick in a place that is convenient for them.
Players can hit the puck into the air. I think there is a rule where it can't go too far without being touched though.
Players can rebound the puck off the walls or plexiglass to make it go further or get it away from the opposition.
You're only allowed to smash into the guy who is in control of the puck.
Always boo the other team...unless your team is losing and then you pretend you aren't even paying attention.
Yelling at the ref from the audience is mandatory.
Ice Hockey is like modern art...fucked if I understand it, but you *know* what they are doing takes alot of skill, even if it does look like a big old mess.
In all seriousness, it was really fun, and seeing them zip around the ice like they do was pretty awesome. I wish I could skate like that...and then bash into people!!!
SHIT it's 7pm...I was supposed to go to a talk tonight at the University about this dog mushing guy who was talking about climate change. It would have been really good I think :(
Poo...
I've been taking some more photos...just of stuff. I went out with damp hair this afternoon and it froze. I know not to do that again!!! It was like icicles were hanging off my head.
Far out I wish I had my laptop.
I've cancelled my passport so that's dead and buried. Need to wait until I get to NYC to get an emergency one. That will take two days if I'm snappy about it, but I'm not sure how long after I get to NYC I am due to go to Niagara Falls. More than two days I think (luckily).
Need to find my laptop serial number-hopefully I still have the paperwork I got from it and it says it on there somewhere! I got a copy of the receipt of it, at least, so that's something.
I'm eating a 'grapple' right now (grape-l), it's an apple that smells like a grape and is supposed to taste like a grape. One grape dispersed throughout the whole apple, maybe, otherwise it just tastes like an apple. It smells pretty cool though. Don't know if it was worth $5 for a pack of 4 though. Should have gotten them in Seattle when I saw them for cheaper. Fresh produce is really expensive up here. But I did buy a steamer pack of broccoli last night and ate the whole thing. I have been craving green veges for a while now and it was soooooooo good to get some broccoli action.
Went into a fur shop today (there are stacks of them here) and the guy tried to sell me a beaver pelt. BEAVER?!?!?! NOOOOoooooOOOOoo they are too cute! They had an otter one as well, I almost cried. But the attitude to fur up here is so different, because it's a largely subsistence lifestyle they think nothing of trapping their own animals and skinning them. Afterall, fur is the warmest you can get...
But they sell the hats that are made out of entire foxes with the head above your forehead and the legs and tail hanging down around your shoulders. Gross.
They sell the skin from the head just by itself, too...and the tails. Fluffy fox tails on keyrings.
I bought some new gloves (not fur) because whilst they are great, my leather/cashmere ones aren't cutting it here. And if they don't cut it here at 20F, then they certainly won't cut it in Fairbanks where it's already below 0F.
I think it's around -2 to -12F there at the moment...so what's that? Like...-15C to -20C?
Cold. Damn cold.
The part I'm finding gets coldest is my chin...my chin will go numb with cold. I wish I could grow a beard, it would be so handy. My feet are fine now-I've finally cracked out my Sorels. Them's arse-kicking boots! I feel like a robot in them they are so fat and clunky.
OK got to stop crapping on. Plan for tomorrow is get my travel insurance sorted, call the police back and give them any serial numbers I have, and probably call back the airline to see if my flight is good or not. If I have time I'll check out the Alaskan Native Heritage Centre.
One of the guys here told me the hostel I had planned to stay at next, the Arctic Adventure, was crap and instead recommended the Alaskan Backpackers. So I called and changed my accommodation around for that. They have a much better location (in downtown) anyway and it's close to the train *and* the bus which is very convenient for me. The guy sounded like a real character on the phone so I'm hoping it's good like this guy said it is.
I need a new book. If I had my laptop I'd hang out on the wireless at Barnes & Noble and buy a book or something. I can still buy a book though. Any suggestions?
Stephen Colbert will be pretty hard to top I think...
Aaaaaanyway, good luck to me getting my stuff back!
Take care and keep hold of your valuables...
-Lisha
Being without my laptop (and thus an easy portal to the outside world) makes me feel really isolated and dependant again. Plus I have not much to do when I go out for the day and sit around in cafes or whatever.
The newspapers here are a good read though, but not fat like Aussie papers are.
I went to see a screening of two short documentaries on Saturday afternoon, as part of the Anchorage International Film Festival. The two I saw were: Polarized, by Amu Berg; and Moose on the Loose, by the BBC.
They were both great-Polarized only went for 10min but it was a very touching mini-doco about a town on a small island in the Arctic sea called Shishmaref. Due to global warming the permafrost the island is built on is melting, and leaving the island vulnerable to erosion by the sea. They are losing their home and hearing their stories was really sad. When the director included facts like how the US government has spent $400b on the War in Iraq (war ON Iraq?) but nothing has been allocated to relocating the 40-odd Eskimo communities who will or are affected by gloal warming, it's pretty sobering.
After the 'serious' doco, there was a BBC one about two Dept of Fish & Game officers who run aroudn Anchorage responding to calls about wildlife that come into the town. Most notably moose and bears. The two human stars were really funny and great TV personalities, and it was also great to see a documentary *about* Anchorage, across the seasons too so at the end of it I was left hoping to spot a moose about town because that's what they say happens in winter here!
The two stars (Jessie and Rick) were in the audience so they stayed for a q&a after the showing.
Next up for the night was an ice hockey game!
It was awesome-I really like watching live sports and the game was really enjoyable. Even though I knew nothing about ice hockey and I was there by myself. I asked the guy next to me about some of the rules but he looked too interested in the game (or interested in avoiding me?) so I left him alone after a while.
The home team lost, but it was still fun to watch. There was a punch up in the last minute of the game (man I had been waiting the whole game to see fisticuffs) and the whole experience was something else.
They bought out the flag with full military regalia (sorry, the 'colours') and everybody stood up with their hands on their hearts to sing the national anthem. About half way through the game the commentator announced that there were some recently returned servicemen in the audience so everybody stood up and applauded them.
This country is so proud of it's men and women that go to war for them-everywhere there are signs saying 'Welcome Home' to those who have served overseas and come home. But on the other hand, all the people I've talked to have said how ridiculous the war is and what's even more interesting is the amount of people that have actually *been* themselves or been in the military at some point.
Back to the hockey, though. They played a song 'I wanna drive the Zamboni' and the Zambonis came out and swished over the ice-and the crowd went NUTS when the home team came out. I liked #21, Josh Lunden:
He's better in person, believe me.
Anyway he got sent off for 2min for 'slashing' or something (anybody else get images of a player just taking a piss on the ice?) and in that time out the opposition scored so I shouldn't like him after that.
The crowd dutifully boo-urnsed the away team (way to go, sportsmanship!) when they came on.
Lisha's Guide to Hockey:
The players can catch the puck in their hands and put it on the ice in front of their stick in a place that is convenient for them.
Players can hit the puck into the air. I think there is a rule where it can't go too far without being touched though.
Players can rebound the puck off the walls or plexiglass to make it go further or get it away from the opposition.
You're only allowed to smash into the guy who is in control of the puck.
Always boo the other team...unless your team is losing and then you pretend you aren't even paying attention.
Yelling at the ref from the audience is mandatory.
Ice Hockey is like modern art...fucked if I understand it, but you *know* what they are doing takes alot of skill, even if it does look like a big old mess.
In all seriousness, it was really fun, and seeing them zip around the ice like they do was pretty awesome. I wish I could skate like that...and then bash into people!!!
SHIT it's 7pm...I was supposed to go to a talk tonight at the University about this dog mushing guy who was talking about climate change. It would have been really good I think :(
Poo...
I've been taking some more photos...just of stuff. I went out with damp hair this afternoon and it froze. I know not to do that again!!! It was like icicles were hanging off my head.
Far out I wish I had my laptop.
I've cancelled my passport so that's dead and buried. Need to wait until I get to NYC to get an emergency one. That will take two days if I'm snappy about it, but I'm not sure how long after I get to NYC I am due to go to Niagara Falls. More than two days I think (luckily).
Need to find my laptop serial number-hopefully I still have the paperwork I got from it and it says it on there somewhere! I got a copy of the receipt of it, at least, so that's something.
I'm eating a 'grapple' right now (grape-l), it's an apple that smells like a grape and is supposed to taste like a grape. One grape dispersed throughout the whole apple, maybe, otherwise it just tastes like an apple. It smells pretty cool though. Don't know if it was worth $5 for a pack of 4 though. Should have gotten them in Seattle when I saw them for cheaper. Fresh produce is really expensive up here. But I did buy a steamer pack of broccoli last night and ate the whole thing. I have been craving green veges for a while now and it was soooooooo good to get some broccoli action.
Went into a fur shop today (there are stacks of them here) and the guy tried to sell me a beaver pelt. BEAVER?!?!?! NOOOOoooooOOOOoo they are too cute! They had an otter one as well, I almost cried. But the attitude to fur up here is so different, because it's a largely subsistence lifestyle they think nothing of trapping their own animals and skinning them. Afterall, fur is the warmest you can get...
But they sell the hats that are made out of entire foxes with the head above your forehead and the legs and tail hanging down around your shoulders. Gross.
They sell the skin from the head just by itself, too...and the tails. Fluffy fox tails on keyrings.
I bought some new gloves (not fur) because whilst they are great, my leather/cashmere ones aren't cutting it here. And if they don't cut it here at 20F, then they certainly won't cut it in Fairbanks where it's already below 0F.
I think it's around -2 to -12F there at the moment...so what's that? Like...-15C to -20C?
Cold. Damn cold.
The part I'm finding gets coldest is my chin...my chin will go numb with cold. I wish I could grow a beard, it would be so handy. My feet are fine now-I've finally cracked out my Sorels. Them's arse-kicking boots! I feel like a robot in them they are so fat and clunky.
OK got to stop crapping on. Plan for tomorrow is get my travel insurance sorted, call the police back and give them any serial numbers I have, and probably call back the airline to see if my flight is good or not. If I have time I'll check out the Alaskan Native Heritage Centre.
One of the guys here told me the hostel I had planned to stay at next, the Arctic Adventure, was crap and instead recommended the Alaskan Backpackers. So I called and changed my accommodation around for that. They have a much better location (in downtown) anyway and it's close to the train *and* the bus which is very convenient for me. The guy sounded like a real character on the phone so I'm hoping it's good like this guy said it is.
I need a new book. If I had my laptop I'd hang out on the wireless at Barnes & Noble and buy a book or something. I can still buy a book though. Any suggestions?
Stephen Colbert will be pretty hard to top I think...
Aaaaaanyway, good luck to me getting my stuff back!
Take care and keep hold of your valuables...
-Lisha
Sunday, 2 December 2007
Scumbags
Remember how I said (maybe I didn't) that the hostel I'm staying in is a total hole and has no lockers to lock my things up in?
Well some fuckwit stole my laptop case (containing my laptop, ipod and my passport wallet [with passport]) from right off my bed.
Investigating it now-will let you know how it pans out.
Extremely pissed off.
-Lisha
Well some fuckwit stole my laptop case (containing my laptop, ipod and my passport wallet [with passport]) from right off my bed.
Investigating it now-will let you know how it pans out.
Extremely pissed off.
-Lisha
Friday, 30 November 2007
Anchorage, cont.
Day 2 of Anchorage.
(this will be long because I don't have much else to do other than write)
I have probably already said this but the hostel is a real hovel. The room I'm in stinks so bad-I think it is starting to get into my clothes and make me stink. In fact a lot of stuff stinks up here. Maybe the arctic air has just cleaned out my nose and made me smell it more.
For example, the place where I'm WiFi-ing from now, Kaladi Bros Cafe, has a very strong coffee smell. Kind of like a burnt coffee and something else I can't quite put my nose on. Maybe poo. Who knows, it's Alaska afterall so it could be.
The hostel seems to be run by a bunch of guys. Old guys with beards. They are nice enough but I can't quite tell who is working there and who is just hanging around/staying there. The only reason I know who the owner is, is because he is a cleanshaven asian man. The bulding is on a small street full of several similar buildings, but they are apartment blocks not hostels. So I can understand the strand set-up of Jason's. Instead of being a building with many rooms and one large common area/kitchen, he has converted the individual apartments into dorms. So there are about 4 or 5 apartment 'dorms' coming off the main set of stairs. I'm up in 5A and share a common balcony with the dorm on the other side of the stairs.
When you enter the main door you go into an area which would have been the apartment's living room. Instead this one has two bunks in it. Today there was an 80 or so yr old guy sleeping in one, other times there have been different people. Sometimes people sharing a bed. There is a small kitchenette off to the side of this with a TV and basic cooking facilities (I keep my poptarts in there!). So far, one of my two crazy roommates is slumped in the armchair in front of the TV in there. All...the...time...
It seems like they get up around 1pm, go in there and watch TV until 3am then go to sleep. I talked to one of them yesterday, she said her parents got good jobs up here so she had to come up from California with them. But where are they staying? Why are they making her pay to stay in a hostel if they have good jobs? Why couldn't she just stay in California? Too many questions...if I'm ever around her when she's sober or awake I might ask her if I'm bored enough. She must be around me age but she reminds me of a grizzly bear.
The other roommate could easily be mistaken for a man. I was a bit worried at first because I thought she was but...it's a woman. She's the same one that on my first night here, was running about until 3am either watching TV or going outside to smoke and then when I woke up around noon and was getting my stuff ready on my bed, was whingeing about me rocking the bed and to stop cos she's 'soooo dizzy' (I'm on the bunk above her).
Far out, woman, if you don't want the bed to move then sleep on the bloody floor!!! I'm not going to lie there like a mummy just because you got smashed last night and have a hangover. Especially not when you are rude to me.
The She-Male butch asked the California Grizzly for $10 last night and the Grizzly said she'd lend it to her if she went and bought her some booooooooze. Then I heard Grizzly talking on the phone this morning (as I was cooking my poptarts) to someone saying that she had $40 missing from her wallet this morning. I didn't say anything, I was just silently glad I slept with my wallet in my pillowcase last night.
Was California Grizzly too smashed to remember she told She-Male butch to go into her wallet to get the booze money? Or did She-Male butch steal her money?
I want to stay right out of it! I just wish there were somewhere to lock my bags up.
That's right-I was talking about the hostel set-up. So after the living room area and the kitchenette there is a dingy bathroom and then two rooms coming off the end of a tiny hall. 'Proper' bedrooms, I suppose. I'm in one of those. I don't know how long these crazies have been staying in here but by the looks of the shit that is in the room, I'm guessing a while. There is an open box of pregnancy tests on one of the little chest of drawers in the room. Classy!!! 'Glamour' photos in frames of a person I suppose is California Grizzly on a good day? Even still, calling them glamour photos is a gross misrepresentation. Then there's a photo of a woman in a military uniform smiling with the American flag as a backdrop. I wonder who this is...
So yeah, those are the digs I'm in. Downstairs is 'reception' (a desk with a computer) and two internet terminals then on the other side of the stairs is a lounge room of sorts and a little kitchen. There is a big screen TV but no DVD player. Which was annoying cos I went to Wal*Mart last night (looking for Yak Trax) and saw 'Anchorman:The Legend of Ron Burgundy' for $9.50 so I bought it (along with season 3 box set of McGyver!). But I just watched it on my laptop instead.
The only other people in the hostel apart from the crazies in my room and the old guys are a bunch of Brazillian kids. I have no idea what their story is though because they are always running around talking to each other in Portuguese (?). There's about 5 or 6 of them, I think?
Like I said, I went to Wal*Mart last night-it's just like Big W back home but it's freaking massive. I can't spend too long in there because it's all a bit overwhelming. I found my Yak Trax (things to wear on the bottom of my shoes so I don't fall over on the ice) and a few other bits and pieces. I went again to get a towel (couldn't be arsed asking where the one they gave me went...just as long as my one stays put!!!) and some OJ and it's been in my face for a while but the obsession with sugar over here is crazy. Jane from work told me weeks ago how her kids don't like eating Mini-Wheats anymore because the recipe has been changed to include sugar. Well, the Mini-Wheats over here are glazed with frosting. They have breakfast cereals so high in sugar it makes Froot Loops/Coco Pops from back home look like the 'healthy' option. Other weird things I've seen have been liquid butter, and in a similar vein-popcorn butter oil. I don't know if that's the exact name (I'll try to find a picture) but basically it's butter-flavoured oil that you pour over your popcorn. They have every imaginable type of beef jerky and not in those tiny little baggies that you get in Australia-they sell them by the pound. I bought a bag back in San Francisco and ate one piece and now I have to lug this big bag of jerky around with me. It's nuts.
I went into the Safeway, too. Just as nuts. Why are Americans so obsessed with sugar? They make a massive deal about their food not having Trans fats in them but it's like they can't live without sugar. You can also get Red Bull in 500mL cans here!!! They have about 10 different brands of energy drink, each with 3 or 4 different flavours. You could conceivably live off energy drinks and frosted breakfast cereals here if you really wanted to. And jerky-don't forget that all important protein!
I took a bus into Downtown today and had a walk around, went into a few different cafes. Anchorage actually isn't so bad, it's just the shithole where I'm staying that is breaking my spirit. Just wish I had a friend or something here to talk to.
Tonight is the start of the Anchorage Film Festival and there are some good looking movies I might go along and see. Tonight is the kick off at two places and one is nearby to here so I'm thinking about going. There's actually quite a bit to do in this little town (pop 225,000 approx) I just wish I didn't have to do it all solo.
I'm also carrying a large shopping bag full of kites (and my laptop) so it might be a wise idea to drop it off back at the hostel first.
There is a Barnes & Nobel that closes at 11pm nearby to the hostel too, so in effect if I got up and out early enough I could spend the day out of the hostel and only come back to sleep-therefore minimising the soul-destroying effects of the place. The sun gets up around 9am here, but the last few days I've slept til after noon. Really need to get up and going earlier. Especially if I want to get to the zoo-I should go in the next few days before the days get too short. The solstice is 3 weeks away now and the days are getting shorter by about 4min per day. Today the sun set at around 4pm? Dusk started around 3.30pm. It's weird, going outside at 1pm and seeing the sun only a few degrees up off the horizon. I haven't checked yet but I'm pretty sure it's not rising from the east (proper), too. I don't think it does a full arc of the sky, either. Just sort of slips up and over the horizon then back down around the corner.
Here are some photos from yesterday/today:
View from the hostel balcony
Let's see a close up!
Oops they are closing the cafe up. I should go soon...
One last thing I wanted to mention, when I was in the other cafe (Midnight Sun Cafe, I think?), they were playing a CD of a kind of folky band (kind of a cross between Beth Williams and The Panics?) and there was a song that came on that I really really liked, I can't say I was listening to the lyrics but something about the song just moved me. So I asked the guy who was working what the band was and he bought out a CD-it's a guy called Leeroy Stagger. I looked on the back and found the song that was just playing, it was called Saskatoon. I shit you not. I can't make this sort of stuff up! So I'll try to find the CD and buy it because I really like this guy's music.
PLUS I got the Anchorage Weekly paper and my stars said:
"When love is not madness, it is not love," said Spanish dramatist Pedro Calderon de la Barca. But according to my analysis of the astrological omens, you will dramatically disprove that notion in the coming weeks, Leo. In fact, I'm betting that love will make you stark, raving, sane. It will calm you down, heal a wound or two, improve your eyesight, help you understand yourself better, improve your digestion, and stimulate you to become more tolerant and forgiving towards the entire world."
Like I said, I can't make this sort of stuff up. That's what it said, and I was reading it while I was listening to that song I said I liked.
Leeroy Stagger-Depression River (2006)
Everything happens for a reason. It's working out that reason that makes it all worth it.
Take care,
-Lisha
(this will be long because I don't have much else to do other than write)
I have probably already said this but the hostel is a real hovel. The room I'm in stinks so bad-I think it is starting to get into my clothes and make me stink. In fact a lot of stuff stinks up here. Maybe the arctic air has just cleaned out my nose and made me smell it more.
For example, the place where I'm WiFi-ing from now, Kaladi Bros Cafe, has a very strong coffee smell. Kind of like a burnt coffee and something else I can't quite put my nose on. Maybe poo. Who knows, it's Alaska afterall so it could be.
The hostel seems to be run by a bunch of guys. Old guys with beards. They are nice enough but I can't quite tell who is working there and who is just hanging around/staying there. The only reason I know who the owner is, is because he is a cleanshaven asian man. The bulding is on a small street full of several similar buildings, but they are apartment blocks not hostels. So I can understand the strand set-up of Jason's. Instead of being a building with many rooms and one large common area/kitchen, he has converted the individual apartments into dorms. So there are about 4 or 5 apartment 'dorms' coming off the main set of stairs. I'm up in 5A and share a common balcony with the dorm on the other side of the stairs.
When you enter the main door you go into an area which would have been the apartment's living room. Instead this one has two bunks in it. Today there was an 80 or so yr old guy sleeping in one, other times there have been different people. Sometimes people sharing a bed. There is a small kitchenette off to the side of this with a TV and basic cooking facilities (I keep my poptarts in there!). So far, one of my two crazy roommates is slumped in the armchair in front of the TV in there. All...the...time...
It seems like they get up around 1pm, go in there and watch TV until 3am then go to sleep. I talked to one of them yesterday, she said her parents got good jobs up here so she had to come up from California with them. But where are they staying? Why are they making her pay to stay in a hostel if they have good jobs? Why couldn't she just stay in California? Too many questions...if I'm ever around her when she's sober or awake I might ask her if I'm bored enough. She must be around me age but she reminds me of a grizzly bear.
The other roommate could easily be mistaken for a man. I was a bit worried at first because I thought she was but...it's a woman. She's the same one that on my first night here, was running about until 3am either watching TV or going outside to smoke and then when I woke up around noon and was getting my stuff ready on my bed, was whingeing about me rocking the bed and to stop cos she's 'soooo dizzy' (I'm on the bunk above her).
Far out, woman, if you don't want the bed to move then sleep on the bloody floor!!! I'm not going to lie there like a mummy just because you got smashed last night and have a hangover. Especially not when you are rude to me.
The She-Male butch asked the California Grizzly for $10 last night and the Grizzly said she'd lend it to her if she went and bought her some booooooooze. Then I heard Grizzly talking on the phone this morning (as I was cooking my poptarts) to someone saying that she had $40 missing from her wallet this morning. I didn't say anything, I was just silently glad I slept with my wallet in my pillowcase last night.
Was California Grizzly too smashed to remember she told She-Male butch to go into her wallet to get the booze money? Or did She-Male butch steal her money?
I want to stay right out of it! I just wish there were somewhere to lock my bags up.
That's right-I was talking about the hostel set-up. So after the living room area and the kitchenette there is a dingy bathroom and then two rooms coming off the end of a tiny hall. 'Proper' bedrooms, I suppose. I'm in one of those. I don't know how long these crazies have been staying in here but by the looks of the shit that is in the room, I'm guessing a while. There is an open box of pregnancy tests on one of the little chest of drawers in the room. Classy!!! 'Glamour' photos in frames of a person I suppose is California Grizzly on a good day? Even still, calling them glamour photos is a gross misrepresentation. Then there's a photo of a woman in a military uniform smiling with the American flag as a backdrop. I wonder who this is...
So yeah, those are the digs I'm in. Downstairs is 'reception' (a desk with a computer) and two internet terminals then on the other side of the stairs is a lounge room of sorts and a little kitchen. There is a big screen TV but no DVD player. Which was annoying cos I went to Wal*Mart last night (looking for Yak Trax) and saw 'Anchorman:The Legend of Ron Burgundy' for $9.50 so I bought it (along with season 3 box set of McGyver!). But I just watched it on my laptop instead.
The only other people in the hostel apart from the crazies in my room and the old guys are a bunch of Brazillian kids. I have no idea what their story is though because they are always running around talking to each other in Portuguese (?). There's about 5 or 6 of them, I think?
Like I said, I went to Wal*Mart last night-it's just like Big W back home but it's freaking massive. I can't spend too long in there because it's all a bit overwhelming. I found my Yak Trax (things to wear on the bottom of my shoes so I don't fall over on the ice) and a few other bits and pieces. I went again to get a towel (couldn't be arsed asking where the one they gave me went...just as long as my one stays put!!!) and some OJ and it's been in my face for a while but the obsession with sugar over here is crazy. Jane from work told me weeks ago how her kids don't like eating Mini-Wheats anymore because the recipe has been changed to include sugar. Well, the Mini-Wheats over here are glazed with frosting. They have breakfast cereals so high in sugar it makes Froot Loops/Coco Pops from back home look like the 'healthy' option. Other weird things I've seen have been liquid butter, and in a similar vein-popcorn butter oil. I don't know if that's the exact name (I'll try to find a picture) but basically it's butter-flavoured oil that you pour over your popcorn. They have every imaginable type of beef jerky and not in those tiny little baggies that you get in Australia-they sell them by the pound. I bought a bag back in San Francisco and ate one piece and now I have to lug this big bag of jerky around with me. It's nuts.
I went into the Safeway, too. Just as nuts. Why are Americans so obsessed with sugar? They make a massive deal about their food not having Trans fats in them but it's like they can't live without sugar. You can also get Red Bull in 500mL cans here!!! They have about 10 different brands of energy drink, each with 3 or 4 different flavours. You could conceivably live off energy drinks and frosted breakfast cereals here if you really wanted to. And jerky-don't forget that all important protein!
I took a bus into Downtown today and had a walk around, went into a few different cafes. Anchorage actually isn't so bad, it's just the shithole where I'm staying that is breaking my spirit. Just wish I had a friend or something here to talk to.
Tonight is the start of the Anchorage Film Festival and there are some good looking movies I might go along and see. Tonight is the kick off at two places and one is nearby to here so I'm thinking about going. There's actually quite a bit to do in this little town (pop 225,000 approx) I just wish I didn't have to do it all solo.
I'm also carrying a large shopping bag full of kites (and my laptop) so it might be a wise idea to drop it off back at the hostel first.
There is a Barnes & Nobel that closes at 11pm nearby to the hostel too, so in effect if I got up and out early enough I could spend the day out of the hostel and only come back to sleep-therefore minimising the soul-destroying effects of the place. The sun gets up around 9am here, but the last few days I've slept til after noon. Really need to get up and going earlier. Especially if I want to get to the zoo-I should go in the next few days before the days get too short. The solstice is 3 weeks away now and the days are getting shorter by about 4min per day. Today the sun set at around 4pm? Dusk started around 3.30pm. It's weird, going outside at 1pm and seeing the sun only a few degrees up off the horizon. I haven't checked yet but I'm pretty sure it's not rising from the east (proper), too. I don't think it does a full arc of the sky, either. Just sort of slips up and over the horizon then back down around the corner.
Here are some photos from yesterday/today:
View from the hostel balcony
Let's see a close up!
Oops they are closing the cafe up. I should go soon...
One last thing I wanted to mention, when I was in the other cafe (Midnight Sun Cafe, I think?), they were playing a CD of a kind of folky band (kind of a cross between Beth Williams and The Panics?) and there was a song that came on that I really really liked, I can't say I was listening to the lyrics but something about the song just moved me. So I asked the guy who was working what the band was and he bought out a CD-it's a guy called Leeroy Stagger. I looked on the back and found the song that was just playing, it was called Saskatoon. I shit you not. I can't make this sort of stuff up! So I'll try to find the CD and buy it because I really like this guy's music.
PLUS I got the Anchorage Weekly paper and my stars said:
"When love is not madness, it is not love," said Spanish dramatist Pedro Calderon de la Barca. But according to my analysis of the astrological omens, you will dramatically disprove that notion in the coming weeks, Leo. In fact, I'm betting that love will make you stark, raving, sane. It will calm you down, heal a wound or two, improve your eyesight, help you understand yourself better, improve your digestion, and stimulate you to become more tolerant and forgiving towards the entire world."
Like I said, I can't make this sort of stuff up. That's what it said, and I was reading it while I was listening to that song I said I liked.
Leeroy Stagger-Depression River (2006)
Everything happens for a reason. It's working out that reason that makes it all worth it.
Take care,
-Lisha
Thursday, 29 November 2007
ALASKA
Ok...well I am finally here.
Alaska.
The place I have been planning for the last 4 months or so to get to.
Can somebody please remind me why I'm here?
I don't mind the ice and the cold and the darkness...it's the overwhelming nothing that is here that I mind. It doesn't help the hostel is a dive. I'm craving somebody cool and close to my age to talk to-even just so I can know for sure it's not just me who feels so weird here.
I walked like half an hour to get to downtown today-half an hour through a lot of nothing. The mountains make a beautiful backdrop for the city but when a geological feature is the best part of a city then you know there are problems. I see people around my age that look alright walking about but where are they walking to??? Where does everyone hang out?
I'm thinking about going to the Moose's Tooth/Bear's Tooth tonight or in the ext few days to see what it's like there. It comes recommended by people I've talked to who have been to Anchorage. Seriously I'll start a conversation with a brick wall right now if I knew it wasn't creepy...
I can't believe I'm here for a whole week (times three, basically). I'll go to the Zoo sometime soon, and the botanical gardens...but other than that there is nothing.
Maybe I'll take a flight out somewhere for a few days. Somewhere that has locks on the doors and a not-crazy roommate. So much for this being a youth hostel, too. Ther are more people 40+ here than there are people <30yrs old.
If there wasn't so much ice on the roads I would try and hire a car so I can at least get myself around-everything is really spread out here!
I just really need to find a nice local who I can talk to and find out the ins and outs of the city from.
Fairbanks will probably be worse than this, although I am counting on it being friendlier because it's a smaller town? But the hostel will have the same problems as this one I reckon, because it is a bit out from the downtown area. But at least that one is run by a woman. The guys over here remind me of grizzly bears. So do most of the women too though...
Seriously what have I gotten myself into?!?!?
-Lisha
Alaska.
The place I have been planning for the last 4 months or so to get to.
Can somebody please remind me why I'm here?
I don't mind the ice and the cold and the darkness...it's the overwhelming nothing that is here that I mind. It doesn't help the hostel is a dive. I'm craving somebody cool and close to my age to talk to-even just so I can know for sure it's not just me who feels so weird here.
I walked like half an hour to get to downtown today-half an hour through a lot of nothing. The mountains make a beautiful backdrop for the city but when a geological feature is the best part of a city then you know there are problems. I see people around my age that look alright walking about but where are they walking to??? Where does everyone hang out?
I'm thinking about going to the Moose's Tooth/Bear's Tooth tonight or in the ext few days to see what it's like there. It comes recommended by people I've talked to who have been to Anchorage. Seriously I'll start a conversation with a brick wall right now if I knew it wasn't creepy...
I can't believe I'm here for a whole week (times three, basically). I'll go to the Zoo sometime soon, and the botanical gardens...but other than that there is nothing.
Maybe I'll take a flight out somewhere for a few days. Somewhere that has locks on the doors and a not-crazy roommate. So much for this being a youth hostel, too. Ther are more people 40+ here than there are people <30yrs old.
If there wasn't so much ice on the roads I would try and hire a car so I can at least get myself around-everything is really spread out here!
I just really need to find a nice local who I can talk to and find out the ins and outs of the city from.
Fairbanks will probably be worse than this, although I am counting on it being friendlier because it's a smaller town? But the hostel will have the same problems as this one I reckon, because it is a bit out from the downtown area. But at least that one is run by a woman. The guys over here remind me of grizzly bears. So do most of the women too though...
Seriously what have I gotten myself into?!?!?
-Lisha
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