This weekend Dirk, a fellow teacher, and I went to the big city of Bethel. We were headed to an art retreat. Now, for those of you that know me that might seem strange because I'm not much of an artist yet. That was the phrase we heard. We need to tell our students that they're not artists yet. We learned all sorts of educational tools to use art in science. Dirk and I agreed that it was great and very useful.
Bethel is a strange city in that it's really spread out. There are several clusters of houses and businesses connected by roads. The town is pretty walkable. However, that doesn't stop people from driving everywhere. Interestingly, Bethel, Alaska, has the second highest number of cabs per capita in the U.S. second only to New York City. It's also home to the famous "Bethel cab ride". You might hail a cab only to jump in with two people already in the car. The drivers can make more money by picking up more passengers along the way. So, you hop in and the next destination that comes up is where the driver stops. It's $5 anywhere in town except the airport; that's $7.
The trip was fun. In fact, Dirk and I went to have sushi Thursday night. We left the restaurant deep into conversation and hopped into the first car that pulled up. The driver looked at us and I said, "Longhouse Hotel, please." Dirk stated his destination and we got back to talking. I noticed in all this that I was stepping on stuff on the floor. Finally, the driver says, "This is not a cab. I'm the delivery guy for the restaurant. But, I'll take you wherever you need to go." We laughed, turned around, saw the real cab and hopped in it! Too funny!
I hung out with some more friends Friday night. The best part was the pizza. I picked it up for everyone since I was staying near the pizza place. We ordered two medium pizzas and an order of cheesesticks for-- $70!!!! That's a little pricey even for Alaska.
All in all it was a great weekend. I leave for Bethel again on Tuesday to take 4 students to compete in a speech competition. We'll see how this goes. . .
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
The belly rules the mind. ~Spanish Proverb
This week is my first foray into the world of bush grocery shopping. I have two food orders coming this week on top of my usual produce delivery. One thing my mom and others are most interested in is the cost of food here. Let me give a few examples:
1. On my first week in Alaska my friend Segue and I decided to split a 12-pack of Diet Coke. We went to AC (Alaskan for Wal-Mart) and bought one-- for $12.50.
2. When I first came to the village, I went to the store to show my face and goodwill. I bought two candles, a 12-pack of Ruby Red Squirt and a pack of cookies for a grand total of $41.00!
Because of this, I no longer drink soda. It's all water all the time for me, but distilled only. . .
I mainly get groceries in three ways. First, is Full Circle Farm. This is an organic farm in Washington that ships boxes of produce out on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. I pay $46 to get a small box every two weeks. Usually I get 4 different kinds of fruit with 3-4 pieces of each, and 6-7 vegetables. I probably eat more produce here than I did in Ohio. Frankly, it's not too much more expensive that it would be in Ohio, and everything is fresh and organic. The farm boxes up the produce and puts it on a plane. I'm supposed to get the box every Tuesday, but the time varies. Basically, it comes on a plane at some point in the day. It could be morning, afternoon, or 9:00 at night.
I received my first Fred Meyer order this week. I paid $380 for 4 boxes of groceries. In Ohio, I would probably pay $200 for the amount of food I got. I had to buy all dry goods because any chilled or frozen food costs about twice as much to ship.
Finally, some other teachers and I went together to get an organic meat order. I paid $140 for 24 pieces of chicken breast and 10 pounds of hamburger. Once again, all this comes on a plane with a pilot that doesn't actually care if your pretzel rods are broken.
Obviously, food is difficult to get and expensive here in Alaska. But, overall, I think I'm breaking close to even on food spending since I am not eating out nearly as much!
I hope you enjoyed the insight into Alaskan food. It was tough to top the moose carving!
1. On my first week in Alaska my friend Segue and I decided to split a 12-pack of Diet Coke. We went to AC (Alaskan for Wal-Mart) and bought one-- for $12.50.
2. When I first came to the village, I went to the store to show my face and goodwill. I bought two candles, a 12-pack of Ruby Red Squirt and a pack of cookies for a grand total of $41.00!
Because of this, I no longer drink soda. It's all water all the time for me, but distilled only. . .
I mainly get groceries in three ways. First, is Full Circle Farm. This is an organic farm in Washington that ships boxes of produce out on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. I pay $46 to get a small box every two weeks. Usually I get 4 different kinds of fruit with 3-4 pieces of each, and 6-7 vegetables. I probably eat more produce here than I did in Ohio. Frankly, it's not too much more expensive that it would be in Ohio, and everything is fresh and organic. The farm boxes up the produce and puts it on a plane. I'm supposed to get the box every Tuesday, but the time varies. Basically, it comes on a plane at some point in the day. It could be morning, afternoon, or 9:00 at night.
I received my first Fred Meyer order this week. I paid $380 for 4 boxes of groceries. In Ohio, I would probably pay $200 for the amount of food I got. I had to buy all dry goods because any chilled or frozen food costs about twice as much to ship.
Finally, some other teachers and I went together to get an organic meat order. I paid $140 for 24 pieces of chicken breast and 10 pounds of hamburger. Once again, all this comes on a plane with a pilot that doesn't actually care if your pretzel rods are broken.
Obviously, food is difficult to get and expensive here in Alaska. But, overall, I think I'm breaking close to even on food spending since I am not eating out nearly as much!
I hope you enjoyed the insight into Alaskan food. It was tough to top the moose carving!
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