Day 6: Intro to Cordova

(Saturday, September 14)

Bear Sightings since last post: 0

Total Bear Sightings: 0

I’ve now spent a full 24+ hours in Cordova. For the record: it is gorgeous here. I would like to apologize for not updating sooner, it has been a really full couple of days. That being said, it’s going to be tough to remember everything. I’ll probably make some interesting format decisions, so just bear (pun intended, Kristen) with me.

On Wednesday of Orientation Week (9/11, a national day of service) we volunteered at a soup kitchen called Bean’s Café. We all had different jobs throughout the day. I started with outdoor trash pickup (in the rain), then moved inside for table and chair cleaning. Not much later I traded up to reorganizing the storage trailer, we opened up a lot of space; and our “boss,” Lee, was very grateful. The whole group finished up the day packing beans and spices into bags; we made soup kits to sell as a fundraiser. I don’t remember anything of note after we left the café, probably because we just went home, watched a show, and I fell asleep on the couch.

Everyone signed a banner for us to take with us.

Thursday (last day) of Orientation Week: We did our final paperwork, copied IDs (I have the wrong passport!), and met with an Alaska State Representative for our swearing in (yeah, we have an oath!). If you want to see pictures, they are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/100977458@N04/sets/72157635501136649/. After lunch we went for a hike along the waterfront trail; I went on to REI, then met up with friends at a restaurant (Moose’s Tooth has amazing beers) and a select few of us had a final round downtown. All told I walked about 11 miles that day; Anchorage is a pretty cool city.

BEAR FACT: Alaska is one of the few places in the world where all three species (Black, Brown, and Polar) of North American bears live.

Friday was travel day, I got my bags repacked, went out to pick up lunch, and then it was off to the airport. My flight was extremely short, only 50 minutes. I’m not sure they could have finished the water and peanut service if the plane hadn’t been half full. I was lucky enough to sit on the landward side, so I got amazing views of the mountains on my way in, I even saw a glacier (not surprising since there are 4 or 5 around here)! I was picked up by Marita, a future coworker, who showed me my place and around town. I picked up some groceries and then wound up at a potluck someone was having. It was a lot of fun, and I got to meet some more coworkers, all of whom were very nice.

On Saturday I woke up to an amazing view, had a chance to do some laundry, then I went out to explore town. It takes me a little over half an hour to walk to work; it isn’t bad, but I’m going to look into borrowing a bike from somebody. I stopped in a couple local shops, a book store and an outdoor clothing store. I also picked up some more essentials at the grocery and hardware stores. When I got home I made some taco soup to share with my temporary roommate (leaving Sunday) who is leaving me salmon which she caught and cleaned herself!

Most of these are headed for the lower 48, but I get to keep some!

I’m excited to start work on Monday! I’ll be headed right into the thick of it; I’m going to be in classrooms on Monday and Tuesday afternoon. Other than that, all I know is that I should be in at 9 in the morning.