9_28_08
Termination
The human resources department is trying to come up with a better word for it, but have been unsuccessful so far. Yesterday I was terminated; therefore I am once again job-less. So goes the life of a seasonal employee.
And another adventure bites the dust, and another opens it’s door, hopefully.
I’ve finally made the decision to stay in Anchorage for the winter (or until another job calls me). Thankfully Amanda is flexible towards my vagabond living and is willing to let me make arrangements for her apartment if I find a job elsewhere. She’s just the most wonderful friend! I do suppose living in Anchorage for winter may be an adventure. (I may even buy some cross-country skis. *shrug*)
Last Days at the King Salmon Visitors Center
My last day was an uneventful one. I did get to talk to some visitors a little about the Valley and about bears which was nice. The number of visitors in the King Salmon Visitors Center has dropped dramatically though. It was only a few weeks ago that the visitors center had about 40 visitors and now it has dropped to about 20 or less a day. Debi, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service woman I was working with says that during the winter the visitors center can drop to zero a day, for days in a row. All I have to say is that it’s a good thing they have projects to work on in the winter.
During my slow days at the center I did get some good reading in though. If you ever get the chance, “Two Old Women”, “This is Coffee Point: Go Ahead!”, and “Shadows on the Kakoykuk” are very good Alaskan stories. The first two are shorter than the third, but all are equally as good.
Good-byes
Over the last week and a half or so, I’ve been saying “good-bye” a lot. Most of the time I’ve just been saying, “see ya later”, but at least one or two have been an emotional “good-bye”.
The traveling lifestyle really gives me a different outlook on life. You have friends and acquaintances that you know you’ll see again, and you have those that you really feel are on a different track altogether. Then again, who knows what could change.
Life is all about change. It changes whether you want it to or not. It’s probably best if we just get used to change and become familiar with adapting to new situations or new lifestyles. Or is that just me?? I find that sometimes it can be a bit easier to live when I’m comfortable being outside my “comfort zone”. Trying new things can be difficult and sometimes I don’t want to try something new and I don’t, but maybe life would have been easier had I tried that new “thing”.
Life is funny.
30.9.08
13.9.08
9/12/08
I’m not even sure where I left off. All I know is that I haven’t written in a while and there has been a lot to write about.
Yesterday was my last day of work at Brooks Camp in Katmai National Park. Starting Saturday until the 27th of September I will still be working for Katmai National Park, I will just be working at the King Salmon Interagency Visitors Center. I’m glad they agreed to keep me on for another week. It will be good for my resume and bank account.
King Salmon Visitors Center
As a matter of fact, I was working at the King Salmon Visitors Center for a week about 2 weeks ago. It was nice to get out of camp for a little while. I was able to call my mom and family (priority #1), and I was able to have pizza and ice cream. I couldn’t believe that in that week though, I spent about $100 though. It’s incredibly expensive to live in bush Alaska. Thankfully this time around I’ll be taking in all my left over food from camp so I’ll be spending less money on groceries.
The visitors center itself is quite slow, but I was able to find things to do. I spent most of my time giving a bit of informal interpretation and working on an activity for a Story Hour. That Friday I got to read to a group of three and four year olds and do an activity with them. We drew on paper plates with crayons. It was good fun. I’m hoping that with coming week I’ll be able to do Story Hour again, but this time try to focus a little more on the outdoors. I’m also planning or trying to figure out a project that might make the visitors center a little more exciting and different. I really like the staff at the King Salmon Visitors Center; they really encourage me to use my creativity. It’s a bonus that we seem to all be on the same track as well as far as how to improve the visitors center and work together. It’s a very relaxed atmosphere for that reason.
I’m a bit bummed that I wasn’t in King Salmon last week though, because the US Fish and Wildlife Service in King Salmon was doing an Alaskan Peninsula Science Camp. Since the visitors center is an interagency visitors center, I had caught wind of the camp. Actually I had been invited to go if I were in town that week. It’s a week long camp for students in the 11th and 12th grade that live on the Alaskan Peninsula. It gives students a chance to get together with other students from other villages and study the environment like a biologist would study while learning more about Alaskan Native culture. I would have had the chance to see and learn more about the Peninsula had I had gone. The camp takes place in the Becharof National Wildlife Refuge, just below Katmai NP. It would have been super cool.
Last two weeks of work
When I camp back to Brooks Camp from King Salmon I just happened to come during one of the windiest days of the season. My stomach did not appreciate it! Thankfully I was able to make it the 20 minutes to Brooks Camp, but had the flight been any longer it could have been a disaster!
Although my first week back wasn’t too eventful, I did manage to get some overtime. It was just too bad it was the “A” schedule. That has been the most difficult schedule this pay period. It consists of over 5 hours at the “corner”. Basically at the corner you spend most of your time avoiding bears you can’t see. While working at the “corner” (where the trail turns) it’s good to have a radio that works and trust the people who are acting at your eyes. It can be a bit rough when you have a large group of people that’s trying to cross the bridge that may also be closed by bears. I think it’s just something you’d have to experience yourself. It’s hard to explain. Let’s just say, there are a lot of bears and the person at the corner is on the ground floor with them for quite a while. And it’s not so much that the bears will attack, but we are trying not to habituate the bears and if a bear is being chased down the trail they will run you over without thinking twice. The best thing to do in that situation is to jump off the trail as fast as you can!
This week has been sentimental. I gave my last evening program, my last cultural walk, and my last Valley of 10,000 Smokes tour. My evening program was wonderful. I really felt like it went smoothly and all 26 people at the program enjoyed it. My last Valley tour was awesome! I had a great group and on the way to the Valley we saw some wildlife. We saw a pack of 6 or 7 wolves and a female moose. The people that went on the hike with me were totally funny too when they told their group that they saw Lynx (sneeze) scat. Some of them wrote about me in the comment book as well. It’s so nice to get good feedback from visitors. If I could live off just complements, I would. They make me feel so good.
Packing
The past couple of days I’ve been packing up my things from the tent frame. I think it’s amazing that I feel like I’ve accumulated more stuff. How did that happen? It’s not like I had anywhere really to by anything. All I can think is that my uniform takes up more space than I thought it would. *shrug*
It has also been interesting trying to figure out how to get food back to King Salmon just because most of my things will go back on the barge and they don’t want to have food on the barge. I may also be coming back for closing on my days off, but that’s not completely certain either. I hope I do, because I’d like to help my roommate clean-up and I’d like to take part in the Long-term Interpretive Plan meetings. I have some ideas I’d like to share and I’d like to hear what the plan is for Brooks Camp. I think they’ll have to do something different in a few years considering that the visitation numbers are increasing and the number of bears is increasing. It will be interesting.
Over the next month or so, I’ll be doing a lot of packing and unpacking so I better get used to it. I’ll pack here, unpack in King Salmon, repack in King Salmon, unpack in Anchorage, repack in Anchorage to go to England… and then from there who knows probably repeat the pattern. I won’t fully unpack in England, because I’ll be back to Anchorage in a few weeks, but who knows where I’ll be going for a winter job if I get one out of Alaska. I’m kind of hoping to find a job in Anchorage though.
England!
Just recently I have decided to go to England. It’s kind of a long story of why, but I’ll be going from the 6th of October through the 22nd of October. I’ll be there for my 26th birthday. I’m very excited! I’ve never spent time in England other than in the Heathrow Airport. I have a few friends over there that are going to show me around and let me stay on their couches. I think it will be a very nice birthday present for me. I deserve it! *smiles*
Well I had better get going; I have one more dinner at the lodge to enjoy! I’ll have more to write later, I’m sure of it!
Yesterday was my last day of work at Brooks Camp in Katmai National Park. Starting Saturday until the 27th of September I will still be working for Katmai National Park, I will just be working at the King Salmon Interagency Visitors Center. I’m glad they agreed to keep me on for another week. It will be good for my resume and bank account.
King Salmon Visitors Center
As a matter of fact, I was working at the King Salmon Visitors Center for a week about 2 weeks ago. It was nice to get out of camp for a little while. I was able to call my mom and family (priority #1), and I was able to have pizza and ice cream. I couldn’t believe that in that week though, I spent about $100 though. It’s incredibly expensive to live in bush Alaska. Thankfully this time around I’ll be taking in all my left over food from camp so I’ll be spending less money on groceries.
The visitors center itself is quite slow, but I was able to find things to do. I spent most of my time giving a bit of informal interpretation and working on an activity for a Story Hour. That Friday I got to read to a group of three and four year olds and do an activity with them. We drew on paper plates with crayons. It was good fun. I’m hoping that with coming week I’ll be able to do Story Hour again, but this time try to focus a little more on the outdoors. I’m also planning or trying to figure out a project that might make the visitors center a little more exciting and different. I really like the staff at the King Salmon Visitors Center; they really encourage me to use my creativity. It’s a bonus that we seem to all be on the same track as well as far as how to improve the visitors center and work together. It’s a very relaxed atmosphere for that reason.
I’m a bit bummed that I wasn’t in King Salmon last week though, because the US Fish and Wildlife Service in King Salmon was doing an Alaskan Peninsula Science Camp. Since the visitors center is an interagency visitors center, I had caught wind of the camp. Actually I had been invited to go if I were in town that week. It’s a week long camp for students in the 11th and 12th grade that live on the Alaskan Peninsula. It gives students a chance to get together with other students from other villages and study the environment like a biologist would study while learning more about Alaskan Native culture. I would have had the chance to see and learn more about the Peninsula had I had gone. The camp takes place in the Becharof National Wildlife Refuge, just below Katmai NP. It would have been super cool.
Last two weeks of work
When I camp back to Brooks Camp from King Salmon I just happened to come during one of the windiest days of the season. My stomach did not appreciate it! Thankfully I was able to make it the 20 minutes to Brooks Camp, but had the flight been any longer it could have been a disaster!
Although my first week back wasn’t too eventful, I did manage to get some overtime. It was just too bad it was the “A” schedule. That has been the most difficult schedule this pay period. It consists of over 5 hours at the “corner”. Basically at the corner you spend most of your time avoiding bears you can’t see. While working at the “corner” (where the trail turns) it’s good to have a radio that works and trust the people who are acting at your eyes. It can be a bit rough when you have a large group of people that’s trying to cross the bridge that may also be closed by bears. I think it’s just something you’d have to experience yourself. It’s hard to explain. Let’s just say, there are a lot of bears and the person at the corner is on the ground floor with them for quite a while. And it’s not so much that the bears will attack, but we are trying not to habituate the bears and if a bear is being chased down the trail they will run you over without thinking twice. The best thing to do in that situation is to jump off the trail as fast as you can!
This week has been sentimental. I gave my last evening program, my last cultural walk, and my last Valley of 10,000 Smokes tour. My evening program was wonderful. I really felt like it went smoothly and all 26 people at the program enjoyed it. My last Valley tour was awesome! I had a great group and on the way to the Valley we saw some wildlife. We saw a pack of 6 or 7 wolves and a female moose. The people that went on the hike with me were totally funny too when they told their group that they saw Lynx (sneeze) scat. Some of them wrote about me in the comment book as well. It’s so nice to get good feedback from visitors. If I could live off just complements, I would. They make me feel so good.
Packing
The past couple of days I’ve been packing up my things from the tent frame. I think it’s amazing that I feel like I’ve accumulated more stuff. How did that happen? It’s not like I had anywhere really to by anything. All I can think is that my uniform takes up more space than I thought it would. *shrug*
It has also been interesting trying to figure out how to get food back to King Salmon just because most of my things will go back on the barge and they don’t want to have food on the barge. I may also be coming back for closing on my days off, but that’s not completely certain either. I hope I do, because I’d like to help my roommate clean-up and I’d like to take part in the Long-term Interpretive Plan meetings. I have some ideas I’d like to share and I’d like to hear what the plan is for Brooks Camp. I think they’ll have to do something different in a few years considering that the visitation numbers are increasing and the number of bears is increasing. It will be interesting.
Over the next month or so, I’ll be doing a lot of packing and unpacking so I better get used to it. I’ll pack here, unpack in King Salmon, repack in King Salmon, unpack in Anchorage, repack in Anchorage to go to England… and then from there who knows probably repeat the pattern. I won’t fully unpack in England, because I’ll be back to Anchorage in a few weeks, but who knows where I’ll be going for a winter job if I get one out of Alaska. I’m kind of hoping to find a job in Anchorage though.
England!
Just recently I have decided to go to England. It’s kind of a long story of why, but I’ll be going from the 6th of October through the 22nd of October. I’ll be there for my 26th birthday. I’m very excited! I’ve never spent time in England other than in the Heathrow Airport. I have a few friends over there that are going to show me around and let me stay on their couches. I think it will be a very nice birthday present for me. I deserve it! *smiles*
Well I had better get going; I have one more dinner at the lodge to enjoy! I’ll have more to write later, I’m sure of it!
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