barrow in the light

Barrow in the daylight. Nice, eh?

Current stats:
Temperature: -6 F
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind Chill: -28 F
Sunrise: 9:57 a.m.
Sunset: 5:25 p.m.

The middle school. 

 

 

On the way to my history class...

Cornerstone Community Church, a nondenominational charismatic church I visited last Sunday. Very nice people at this church. It was interesting to see how eskimo dance was incorporated into the worship music.

Frozen tundra. This is just a couple minutes' walk from my house. Sometimes you can see planes land out there.

The assisted living center. There is a free taxi service for the elders of Barrow.

Browerville.

 

One of the stores in town. I haven't yet visited World Gift. 

In Barrow all you have to do is call a cab, and it will be there within two minutes or so. It's $5 one way if you stay within your "town" -- whether it be Browerville or the "downtown" part of Barrow. It's $6 if you cross over to a different side. All you have to do is call and tell them your street number because every building has a different number, regardless of street name. It's pretty simple.

I love getting to know the taxi drivers. The other day another teacher dropped me off at the dentist, and then I called a cab to take me back to my house. When I entered the cab, the driver said my street number to me because he remembered where I lived. If I were anywhere but Barrow, it might be considered creepy. But nah, the cab drivers are so nice. He and I talked about dentistry in Thailand and how inexpensive it is. We talked about the thick fog on the streets in Barrow, and we talked about how sad it is when parents let their little kids "play out" at 2 a.m. in the morning by themselves. When I got out, he said, "Bye, Teacher! Have nice evening!"

Another driver and I have become friends. Her name is Myuri, and we talk about church and Thailand. She's hoping to go back to Thailand in a couple of years, but first she's going to save up some money. Before she mastered the pronunciation of my name, she would say in her Thai accent, "Hello, beautiful teach-ah!"

The Inupiat Heritage Center and Tuzzy Public Library.

It's an amazing center! I will try to discreetly take pictures inside of the library sometime because it's so nice. I say "discreetly" because I hate looking like a tourist.

The Browerville Center of Ilisagvik College. This is where I go for my Alaska history class on Saturdays. We had an exam today.

I felt really silly taking a picture of the AC store. Since I can't take pictures with my mittens on, I froze my hands off for this picture. It was -10 at the time.

The AC (Alaska Commercial) Store. You can get pretty much anything you need here. Today I bought cage-free eggs, havarti cheese at half-price, Chobani Greek yogurt, and organic basil.

Speaking of food, I am trying out some organic food from Full Circle Farms. The district librarian travels to all the villages on the North Slope, and she wasn't here to pick up her weekly box of organic veggies and fruits. So, she gave it to me, and I must say I am impressed by the quality of organic food! There are a lot of greens, snap peas, pears, apples, beets, and radishes. Now...if I only knew how to cook beets and radishes.

The dish you see above is chicken parmiagiana and a salad with red wine dressing. Mmmmm. The only thing about cooking for yourself is that you make one meal and then you're pretty much set for the next three or four days. Good for saving money, but bad if you want variety.

 

 Banana bread.

I've been feeling very domestic lately, baking my own bread. My mini-loaf breadmaker is wonderful. And! I totally got free Amazon prime shipping on a 25-lb. bag of organic whole wheat flour. Gotta love Amazon.

Cranberry bread.

If you were here, we could sit down for some P.G. Tips tea and some cranberry bread.
Want to come visit?