was hopin Mark/Kliktarik would chime in.
Believe he's finally gonna retire from his teaching gig ........
I reckon I probably would have if we hadn't finally gone to camp to put up a few chums......this after finally giving up on waiting for my wife to be called to work locally. She has been going to school at UAF this past year and wanted to drive truck this summer on a local road revision project. They needed drivers who are clean and have CDLs so she stayed a couple of extra weeks (in Fairbanks) to get the documentation. Turns out they don't seem to want to hire her though even though they indicated her licensing is exactly what they wanted and better than some. It's a local hire preference type job and tribal enrolled people have even more preference. She is both tribally enrolled and a local shareholder. Oh, there's a political element as well which seems to be the stumbling block.
The long and short of which is to say that there are considerations to be aware of in working in the smaller communities in Alaska. It may and can work out well for you. If you 'sunburn' you may find yourself feeling slighted from time to time; doesn't mean you can't toughen your skin a bit and forge ahead. A**H**** tend to seem bigger and larger in number than they are generally.
2L2Q's comments about the terminal nature of my employment is true; the rest is total BluuSiht but might be overlooked (through a beer glass
). I spent 29 years working in two villages in the same school district and have no regrets. Lots of challenges; even more rewards. I have to admit though that the time I have spent in Fairbanks sure seems like a vacation to me. (The stores actually have a selection of things - and food is cheap!
)
And you can buy beer there too!!!Let me add this perspective from the past week: our toilet has never really worked right. On the bright side we do have toilets; that beats the buckets that we used for many years - and some still do. The system used in this town is a vacuum system. IT sucks - in more ways than the obvious. You can't go down to Home Depot and buy a different toilet if your's doesn't work right. You have to use a system approved type. They are complicated and expensive. We decided to upgrade and get new guts for the toilet we have: $400 for that - but at least we have a reason to pay the $190/mo sewer/water bill.
Second deal for the week: washing machine ....HE front loader...couple years since purchase but installed and put into service 7 months ago. It decided to puke its electronics in mid-cycle. Maytag was supposed to be a good name so I wasn't worried calling their service line. Grabbed my cell phone - (I arrived the same year that phones: land lines- became available to anyone with a wall on which to attach a phone jack). I called Maytag and got dropped after about 15 minutes on hold. Called back and waited another 20 minutes; talked to a nice lady who wanted to set up an appointment for a service call. I said I wanted to talk to a tech. She said - "No- they'll have to come and look at it". I said "so you're telling me I have to buy a new machine?" She says "No- you set up an appointment; we'll send out a tech; what is your address?"
"Okay" say I and we went through the whole deal. Then I told her to have the guy fly with RavnAlaska since that is the cheapest way from Anchorage at only $630 RT. I said "It looks like this is going to cost me $1000 easily; I should just buy a new machine like I first said." She says "It looks like we can't really help you out there. Is there any thing else?" I said "Yeah give me the name of someone who can help me....someone who isn't a Maytag person." So she wanted to give me a name of someone closer. She ended up using the yellow pages I am quite sure - in Anchorage.
Be aware that this is how things work out here. The nice thing is that dealers in Alaska tend to be very helpful over the phone and patient in walking people through problems with various stuff. (They do like it if you are talking about an item you purchased from them however.
) (I have earned the equivalent of a second collegiate degree in the knowledge I have acquired through phone calls with Alaska dealers BTW.)
Bush Alaska is not some place easily defined by some romanticized notions but it is a great place in so many ways. If you welcome challenges, like alternatives to the usual rat-race, and enjoy rewards that can't be easily quantified in financial terms, then a bush situation might be for you. Do some homework. There are plenty of opportunities and if one doesn't pan out for you, there are going to be others.
