Hey There Little Red Riding Hood...
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Fairbanks,
Alaska,
United States
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Bradie and I just returned from a small trip to Fairbanks. It was a great break and we got to experience many of the perks associated with living in civilization. We stayed at a really nice resort, visited a mall, did some Christmas shopping, and I even got a haircut! The food was great but I found it disagreed with me a bit due to my change of diet. Fairbanks is very nice but does not (in my opinion) have the scenery that Arctic Village has. I missed the mountains being so close. I am going to share a couple different experiences in this post so that you can get an idea of the contrast between village life and urban life in Alaska.
After a day of shopping and eating in some nice establishments Bradie and I grabbed the hotel shuttle to return to our room and take a nice hot bath. We were planning on ordering room service for desert and ordering some new releases off of On Demand since we are missing so many movies. As we lay in the lap of luxury Mike gave us a call to share news from home. Apparently, the wolves are back. Last year the caribou did not come through and hunting was poor. The wolves were starving and started coming around the village taking away dogs. The students were actually being escorted to school by adults with guns. Well, it is that time of year again and the wolves are back. There is plenty of caribou but the smell of hunting and the easy pickings are attracting the wolves. Now that they have found a puppy buffet they are returning. The men in the village think there are two and they have started tracking and trying to trap the wolves. Several people have seen them. Mike saw one earlier in the school year by the burn barrel that we use for burning our trash.
Now that I have painted the scene please understand that there has never been an attack on a human by a wolf. Wolves avoid humans and hate to be seen. The concern is stumbling across a wolf or losing pets while they are out or chained up. We are taking precautions. We walk in groups with lights, we try not to walk at night (hard since night comes at 3:00 pm now), and we keep our outside lights on to discourage visits. Once the cold passes and the seasons change there will be less concern. Last year the men trapped a wolf and it was huge. I saw photos and I must say I am overly cautious. So, there is quite a difference between Alaska rural and urban living. It is 30 below 0 here and that is considered life as usual. Fairbanks, on the other hand, was 20 degrees warmer and they were really complaining about the cold. Many people looked at me strangely when I told them we were in from the village just like they did in Florida when I told them we were moving to a village. The clothing is very different. Here we wear snow pants and overalls, heavy clothes, long underwear, flannel, heavy warm boots. Fairbanks is full of fancy foot wear. Boots with heels, leather, sleek coats and cute hat and glove sets. Since they drive they don't have to be in the cold long so they can keep an eye on fashion. Here in the village it is all about comfort, warmth, and safety. I tried wearing my makeup (which I miss) but the neck warmers, hats, and scarves mess it up. My eyelashes freeze and that ruins fancy faces :)
We have our Christmas tree up and shopping has begun. I am doing the Christmas stuff in the class room I like to do and the scenery is certainly appropriate. I am missing all the family traditions we had back home but many can translate here. We are doing a Christmas program that is very traditional but it is entirely in Gwich'in. My kids will not only have to memorize lines but lines in a different language! There will be music lessons for a week. They do it every year. The emphasis is on fiddle music and square dances since the Christmas break offers nightly fiddle dances. The kids are getting excited for Santa and break since we are getting a sled. I will post photos later of our trip to Fairbanks and the Christmas festivities going on around here.
