Just checking in quickly from the quaint little town of Homer. I'm sure it's a very beautiful view outside but right now it's dark and rainy.
I've been told that my posts are too depressing!!! So I will try to make this one more cheerful.
Anchorage actually has been fun the last few days, bar the obvious theft and the running about with the police and insurance companies that followed (and is still going on).
Went out and played pool with some of the people from the hostel, so that was good. It snowed *briefly* last night too so I got to run about like a fool in it. Also bought Ben & Jerry's 'Half Baked' flavour ice cream. oooooooooh man it is the BEST tasting ice cream I have ever had!
The drive down to Homer was stunning. Absolutely. Snow capped mountains that rose straight from the roadside, the water for the most part was directly on the other side (Cook Inlet/Turnagain Arm). Chunks of ice in the water and on the beach from where the wter is freezing up. On the side of the road the rock faces had icicles and sheets of ice hanging off them from where the mountain run-off has frozen. Spectacular. A bit further inland going through the pass there were countless spruce trees (the tree that the commonly seen fake/plastic Christmas tree is modelled on) that had been dusted with snow. It was so picture perfect.
Then there were people in the back of the van talking about how squirrel tastes just like rabbit. I was on 'moose watch' up in the front seat-but we didn't see any (thankfully so, because chances are when you see a moose it's just as it's stepping out onto the road and into your car's path).
It snowed a bit (kind of like a mix of rain, sleet, tiny hail, and snow) on the way up so I got out and stood around in it. Was pretty cold and wet, actually. Looked very pretty from inside the van though.
A lot of people have been badgering me to put more photos up-CALM DOWN. Right now I don't have the memory card reader or cables and even if I did the computers I get access to (dirty dirty communal things) don't accept USB devices. I'm having enough trouble finding a computer that will print out my travel insurance forms for me. BUT I am taking photos whenever I can, so when I finally do get a chance I will update here. I'm low on funds so I probably won't be able to get another laptop for a fortnight or so at least (disappointing, because I will be back from Fairbanks from then and it would have been cool to put any borealis pics up soon after I take them).
The rain is supposed to stay here until Tuesday (I leave on Monday) but hopefully it's not too bad to stop me from going out onto the Spit and seeing some bald eagles (what I came here for, really). I've seen bald eagles in the zoos I've been to but it's so wrong seeing the symbol of American freedom locked up in a cage or behind bars.
I'm hungry but the safeway here closes at midnight (d'oh!)...that's what you get when you're out in the sticks, I guess! I'm also in this big ol' room all by myself. It's like $89 a night but there is a $59 option-I never knew about that before!!! I might ask if I can change rooms tomorrow. I really don't need space to sleep 5 people you know. Not like I have any friends down here!
Oops there I go being negative again.
Everything I've seen so far has actually been pretty nice, I've only been seeing it in the 'off' season when most things shut down and the town isn't at it's most vibrant. Definately would be worth coming back for a summer visit, I think. Will definitely have to save more money for that one though!
Ok I am off to try and find something to eat, maybe a cup of tea (been drinking so much coffee lately-need tea!). That reminds me-I've been away for over 3 weeks now. I don't know if I've said this here yet (it's in my written journal though) but it feels like no time has passed, but at the same time it's like I've been here forever...strange.
I'm on the lookout for a cheap way to get from NYC to Saskachewan, Canada for sometime after the 14th of Jan. I figure if I have to wait for a flight home then I might as well travel around some more until it's time to leave. Saves staying in NYC and blowing alot of money I no doubt won't even have in the first place.
Anyway really must go now-
Stay classy,
-Lisha
Saturday, 8 December 2007
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
Tuesday, 27 November 2007
Lisha the lostie.
Well-I rushed around at the post office and checked out today and thought I was going to be late to the airport for my 12.30 flight so I got a $33 taxi to SEA-TAC.
Turns out my flight is tomorrow, not today.
AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!
BUT it was actually not such a bad thing because I put my two big bags in storage so tomorrow I can get the bus ($1.50) with ease. My pack alone weighs over 50lbs so I am glad to be rid of it for now!
I went to the zoo in the afternoon and spent a little time there. Was weird to go into the Budgie house and see kookaburras and emus and kangaroos. Poor things looked so cold-the emus were so fuzzy compared to the ones back home! That's adaptation for you ;-)
But because I had put my canon in my bag, I didn't have it to take photos with which was a bit disappointing but I got some on my pentax...
Bald Eagles
Arctic Fox
Here are some photos from Vancouver, too:
View from the top of their observation tower thingy
I really should have smiled for this one...
That's all for now, I guess.
Will update tomorrow when I'm in Alaska for real!
Take care-
Lisher
p.s. I have enabled anonymous comments for those of you who don't want to have to sign up just to leave a comment (rightfully so). Please play nice and let me know who it is who is leaving the comment if you use the 'anonymous' option.
Turns out my flight is tomorrow, not today.
AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!
BUT it was actually not such a bad thing because I put my two big bags in storage so tomorrow I can get the bus ($1.50) with ease. My pack alone weighs over 50lbs so I am glad to be rid of it for now!
I went to the zoo in the afternoon and spent a little time there. Was weird to go into the Budgie house and see kookaburras and emus and kangaroos. Poor things looked so cold-the emus were so fuzzy compared to the ones back home! That's adaptation for you ;-)
But because I had put my canon in my bag, I didn't have it to take photos with which was a bit disappointing but I got some on my pentax...
Bald Eagles
Arctic Fox
Here are some photos from Vancouver, too:
View from the top of their observation tower thingy
I really should have smiled for this one...
That's all for now, I guess.
Will update tomorrow when I'm in Alaska for real!
Take care-
Lisher
p.s. I have enabled anonymous comments for those of you who don't want to have to sign up just to leave a comment (rightfully so). Please play nice and let me know who it is who is leaving the comment if you use the 'anonymous' option.
Monday, 26 November 2007
Canadia, eh?
Just got back from Vancouver. Had an absolute blast-it makes all the difference having somebody else there who can show you around and keep you company :-)
It's like the last fews days haven't been real...I'm worried it will be hard for anything else on my trip to live up to it.
I can't say much else here except I'm so thankful I was in the place I was and wasn't chickenshit and said yes. Even though I'm sad it's over I am so happy that I got to have such a great few days.
On the bus on the way back to Seattle it was raining, and then after a little while I noticed it wasn't falling like rain usually does-it was kind of floating around? Then I realised-it was snowing!!!
After a little while all the trees and cars outside where covered in snow-it was so beautiful to watch. It's funny how something so simple can make you feel much better when you are down. It kind of made me remember that there are always still opportunities and experiences out there to live and if I spend all my time thinking about what I don't have anymore-well then I will miss out on other things that could be just as great.
Alaska tomorrow, and I am excited but also a bit nervous...I don't mind that it will be cold but I do have a problem with having nothing to do. Really need to make a friend or something so I don't go crazy.
That's about all I have the (mental) energy to post tonight.
Take care!
-Lisha
It's like the last fews days haven't been real...I'm worried it will be hard for anything else on my trip to live up to it.
I can't say much else here except I'm so thankful I was in the place I was and wasn't chickenshit and said yes. Even though I'm sad it's over I am so happy that I got to have such a great few days.
On the bus on the way back to Seattle it was raining, and then after a little while I noticed it wasn't falling like rain usually does-it was kind of floating around? Then I realised-it was snowing!!!
After a little while all the trees and cars outside where covered in snow-it was so beautiful to watch. It's funny how something so simple can make you feel much better when you are down. It kind of made me remember that there are always still opportunities and experiences out there to live and if I spend all my time thinking about what I don't have anymore-well then I will miss out on other things that could be just as great.
Alaska tomorrow, and I am excited but also a bit nervous...I don't mind that it will be cold but I do have a problem with having nothing to do. Really need to make a friend or something so I don't go crazy.
That's about all I have the (mental) energy to post tonight.
Take care!
-Lisha
Sunday, 25 November 2007
Pics!
I got some shots of the fireworks on the top of Macy's yesterday-I'm impressed at how the canon handled them!
Ok take care!
It's midnight here I need some sleep-got a 7.30am train tomorrow.
-Leash
Ok take care!
It's midnight here I need some sleep-got a 7.30am train tomorrow.
-Leash
Saturday, 24 November 2007
Brainsucked
I wrote a very long entry but I don't think I'll post it just yet.
Let me just say that the last 24hrs has felt...unreal, in the literal sense of the word. In some ways though it's felt more real than anything else I've seen or done this year.
I'm sad, but I'm also very happy, and I've doing a lot of thinking today-about me, my situation, and how fortuitous coincidences can be.
-Leash
*edit*
Plus I bought a pen today (5, infact) and already I have lost it. Nice work, dipshit!
It was purple, too...
Going to Vancouver tomorrow, ey, I hope it's lots of fun!
Let me just say that the last 24hrs has felt...unreal, in the literal sense of the word. In some ways though it's felt more real than anything else I've seen or done this year.
I'm sad, but I'm also very happy, and I've doing a lot of thinking today-about me, my situation, and how fortuitous coincidences can be.
-Leash
*edit*
Plus I bought a pen today (5, infact) and already I have lost it. Nice work, dipshit!
It was purple, too...
Going to Vancouver tomorrow, ey, I hope it's lots of fun!
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