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Quote:
“Cultural differences should not separate us from each other, but rather cultural diversity brings a collective strength that can benefit all of humanity.” Also: “Intercultural dialogue is the best guarantee of a more peaceful, just and sustainable world.”
-- Robert Alan
The above quote rings through my ears. Why? My current path in life takes me thousands upon thousands miles away from the comforts of "home" in Ohio. Where am I? I'm here:
but where it looks more like this:
Here's the best representation without showing my exact village (PM me for exact details if you wish):
Those roads? They connect nowhere outside of the village. A trip to Anchorage involves two plane trips. First on one of these out of the village:
to a bigger village on these boarded this same way:
But imagine a flight schedule with no guarantees. The winds change at a moments notice, whip around, and routinely cancel the smaller planes all the time. This excludes potential blizzards which we missed out on this past winter. Y'all got the short end of the stick this past winter. You learn life operates on a totally different time frame in Bush Alaska.
Pt. II "What do you do, how is it, and why?!
Privacy will remain paramount throughout this post. If you'd like more detais...send a PM.
Many consider my profession a noble calling. A profession which requires mental toughness, the ability to save the face of yourself along with those around you, and the tenderness to relate to every single human being you encounter no matter how foreign situations may be. In order for effectiveness you must think of the strengths and biggest areas for growth of those who enter into your realm. You know the individuals contain much unlocked potential. The tools to unlock the potential rest between you and those around you.
Yet, the place I do my work exists in a bubble. The area explodes in rich cultural tradition of those who showed up in the country much, much earlier than we did. They survived for thousands of years on the land, persevering through desolate winters, and bonding with their families and communities as taught by their multitude of ancestors. Passing down, sharing, and taking care of any human remains rich in the culture today.
Trials and tribulations run throughout all cultures. Theirs started when missionaries and other outsiders came to their area of Alaska. The group I'm a guest of was one of the last to be visited in the area. The treatment of their Inuits brothers was tenfold worse but they still were treated badly. Their culture was shunned as devils work, their native language was discouraged and students were beat in school for using it, but eventually the self-righteous saw the errors of their ways. Roman-Catholicism was infused with living on the land religion but remained Christianity. Recently native language started incorporating itself into daily instruction as ordered by the district. Many issues associated with poverty rear their ugly head in Native Alaskan communities. They, much like life in the lower forty eight, work through many of the difficulties as best they can.
I'm drawn to what's different from what I've grown up around. Lifelong learning holds a dear place in the goals of my life. This experience arguably offers the richest potential for learning at this time in my life. I learn from my colleagues, and the many different people of all ages I serve in my village.
Pt. III "What have you learned?"
Here's a few highlights. Feel free to ask more questions about individual bullet points.
-Look at the 2 quart line in the Kool-Aid cup; not the 2 quart line in the pitcher, you idiot!
-250-300 degree steam baths sure kick the pants off of taking a shower. I'm building a steam house whenever I move out of the village.
-Always push on and persevere. Do whatever you can to improve for the next day. Even a tiny little bit of work to improve may make all the difference in the world.
-You only learn more about living by going outside of your comfort zone. Use your own discretion. Don't do anything stupid.
-Learn everything you can about a culture other than your own. Visit with those in the community. Stepping inside a house, sitting down for a meal, and talking (despite a language barrier) will do more than any class on multi-culturalism.
-Try any food offered to you. It means the world to those which offered you the food. Maybe you'll realize fish eyeballs really aren't that bad.
-Use their language. They'll see you're trying to learn.
-A family may start to treat you as their own. You walk in, they greet you, ask you to join them at the table, give you a plehtora of yummy smoked/dried king salmon, a warm glass of tea, feed you more with Akutaq (Alaskan Native styled dish of "ice cream) filled with berries, and still insist on you eating more! Then you top off the evening with a relaxing steam bath with well respected men in the village.
-Most importantly: Be yourself. They'll appreciate your stumbles, willing to learn, and humility. You may even get the village chief to tell you "Thank you, too. Thank you for choosing to take your employment here." (As he first says it in his own language then carefully takes the time to repeat it in English).
I challenge all of you to step outside your comfort zone at least once before the end of 2014. I'm not asking you to do what I've done. Learn more about a friend's background, volunteer somewhere in the inner-city, take some time to visit a farm community and interact with them, maybe try and become friends with a steelers fan!
Thanks for reading all of this. Writing my post was a long time coming. I'm open for questions and discussion on all this. I'll answer as much as I can.
And if any of you are wondering about my future, I'll let Christopher McCandless speak for me.
Quote:
“I've decided I'm going to live this life for some time to come. The freedom and simple beauty is just too good to pass up.”
Last edited by RocketOptimist; 07/13/14 12:23 AM.
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I've always wanted to see Alaska. Can you get Sunday Ticket? I almost got a job once that would have sent me to Adak. I've always liked winter more than summer, but that's an awful lot of winter up there sometimes.
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Dawg Talker
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Quote:
I've always wanted to see Alaska. Can you get Sunday Ticket? I almost got a job once that would have sent me to Adak. I've always liked winter more than summer, but that's an awful lot of winter up there sometimes.
Wow, that's what you got from his post? He wrote this in hopes that people would come out of their parochial mindset, and question someone who is immersed in a culture very different from our own. And maybe, just maybe, get people to step outside of their regional attitudes and realize that there's a whole freaking world out there where people are getting along as best they can, just like someone from NE Ohio is. These are people, human beings, not "mexicans" or "Arabs" who deserve more respect than many people on this board give them because they are different.
There are no sacred cows.
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A friend of mine, from South Africa, had her husband take a job (his first out of medical school) with the government of Canada. His job was to provide healthcare to and administer the needs of the Eskimos in Inuvik, Northwest Territories (prior to Nunavet creation). When the price for a gallon of milk in Texas was less than $1, the cost for a gallon of milk there was more than $5. They explained that you couldn't get fresh veggies there and there was never any citrus fruit. To send a letter to them took two weeks, as long as sending it to South Africa, because mail was only collected that often to be transported there. The mailing address as in Churchill, Manitoba. You should make it a bucket list item to drive the Dempster Highway. 
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Dawg Talker
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Quote:
Quote:
I've always wanted to see Alaska. Can you get Sunday Ticket? I almost got a job once that would have sent me to Adak. I've always liked winter more than summer, but that's an awful lot of winter up there sometimes.
Wow, that's what you got from his post? He wrote this in hopes that people would come out of their parochial mindset, and question someone who is immersed in a culture very different from our own. And maybe, just maybe, get people to step outside of their regional attitudes and realize that there's a whole freaking world out there where people are getting along as best they can, just like someone from NE Ohio is. These are people, human beings, not "mexicans" or "Arabs" who deserve more respect than many people on this board give them because they are different.
http://www.youtube.com/v/h4em8_iu-Tw
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DraftDayz is right, honestly. The experience means much more to me than material goods. My worldview changes as I stay, immerse myself, and look back at what happens down here in the lower 48.
As for the "how do you make it work up there" kind of questions:
-Food is shipped in via plane deliveries.
-There are a few village "stores" which are more like convenience stores.
-a 12 pack of soda is 15 dollars.
-Much of my shopping is done via amazon.
-No cable. The dish costs 700 dollars to ship out.
-I can hear and watch the Browns lose, though.
Last edited by RocketOptimist; 07/13/14 10:46 AM.
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Thanks for the post. When you announced some time ago that you were making this move I'd hoped you'd report back on your findings. What you've chosen to report is so much better than just telling how they live, rather how you live among them. Quote:
• Look at the 2 quart line in the Kool-Aid cup; not the 2 quart line in the pitcher, you idiot!
I've yet to get this. A quick explanation would ease my mind. hahaha
Quote:
• 250-300 degree steam baths sure kick the pants off of taking a shower. I'm building a steam house whenever I move out of the village.
Never experienced such. Am I to understand that this is common where you are now? How often do you do this?
Quote:
• Always push on and persevere. Do whatever you can to improve for the next day. Even a tiny little bit of work to improve may make all the difference in the world.
This is a great lesson learned. Even in our own lives here in America.
Probably even more so where you are as preparing for winter can find you caught short if you've taken too many days off or procrastinate much. I watched the TV show where Jewel's (singer) dad and step mom and brother and his wife scratch out a living in Alaska. As much work at it is everything you do is directly related to your own needs rather than that of a businessman's so he'll give you money to buy the things you don't produce for yourself. It looks to be much like a primitive farmer's life.
Does your village have much in the way of motorized equipment to make some of the work easier? Tractors for instance. What is the cost of fuel there?
Quote:
• You only learn more about living by going outside of your comfort zone. Use your own discretion. Don't do anything stupid.
I've learned this first-hand but haven't done enough of it in my life. Lately I have been thinking of volunteer work lending a hand to some less fortunate than I. Helping others is not only a valid way to learn about living but it is also the most rewarding time you can spend. More valuable than money. Money cheapens the task.
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• Learn everything you can about a culture other than your own. Visit with those in the community. Stepping inside a house, sitting down for a meal, and talking (despite a language barrier) will do more than any class on multi-culturalism.
That could be a bit daunting for me. I'm not all that outgoing and a bit too self-conscience to be comfortable. On the other hand, I love people. My time in Viet Nam, if it weren't for a war going on, was a rewarding experience. To see a culture thrive by a primitive means that I didn't even know existed anymore was a real eye-opener. In a way I hated to leave. Not because I liked it better there than home, but because I was not done absorbing the experience.
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• Try any food offered to you. It means the world to those which offered you the food. Maybe you'll realize fish eyeballs really aren't that bad.
Well Rocket, you're pretty much on your own there buddy. I did eat a lot of things in Viet Nam that I didn't know existed as a food. But none of them were looking back at me.
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• Use their language. They'll see you're trying to learn.
This was really hard for me with that Aisan language. I'm good at understanding nearly any nationality's broken English. But to pick up on their words is more difficult for me. Maybe French, Spanish or Italian would be ok, but Asian languages use phonics I don't seem fit to form.
Quote:
• A family may start to treat you as their own. You walk in, they greet you, ask you to join them at the table, give you a plehtora of yummy smoked/dried king salmon, a warm glass of tea, feed you more with Akutaq (Alaskan Native styled dish of "ice cream) filled with berries, and still insist on you eating more! Then you top off the evening with a relaxing steam bath with well respected men in the village.
I've never gotten this close to a family like that. Would really like the opportunity.
Quote:
• Most importantly: Be yourself. They'll appreciate your stumbles, willing to learn, and humility. You may even get the village chief to tell you "Thank you, too. Thank you for choosing to take your employment here." (As he first says it in his own language then carefully takes the time to repeat it in English).
I'd likely get little more than "Thank you for not eating all the Akutaq. It looked like you were going to."
#gmstrong
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Quote:
Wow, that's what you got from his post? He wrote this in hopes that people would come out of their parochial mindset, and question someone who is immersed in a culture very different from our own. And maybe, just maybe, get people to step outside of their regional attitudes and realize that there's a whole freaking world out there where people are getting along as best they can, just like someone from NE Ohio is. These are people, human beings, not "mexicans" or "Arabs" who deserve more respect than many people on this board give them because they are different.
http://www.youtube.com/v/h4em8_iu-Tw
I would, if this were a light-hearted topic. It's not. Rocket came to us, sharing his feelings and experiences regarding how some people in this world regard foreigners as "others," and how being "other" doesn't mean bad and we should fight them and their way of life. Go look in the immigration post and you can see how this post was was conceived, and why it was created. We've got people like Anarchy2day suggesting that what europeans did to the Native Americans was right and just, while what the Mexican people of today are doing by sneaking into the country peacefully is tantamount to a "barbarian horde invading our country."
I don't have the same experience as Rocket when it comes to integration into a radically different culture than my own, but I will say that my move from Akron, OH to Boston, MA was met with quite a bit of culture shock. There are so many different types of people here, so many different ways of life, viewpoints, and customs that it's sometimes dizzying. For instance, I was talking to my boss the other day, and I was telling him about how my Lab mates and I were arguing about what's a better tomato for a sandwich; heirlooms or beefsteak. We are planning on settling it with making BLT's. So he says, "Oh, that'd be nice. I've never had a BLT before." This is a guy who grew up in the US, but was a practicing Jew for most of it, and has only in the past decade started eating not Kosher.
That's not even counting people from literally every other part of the world, coming here to Boston to do some of the most kick-ass, cutting-edge, science in the world. It was a shock, coming from a white-bread and american cheese family from the midwest. But the main thing I realized early on, is that while these people may act differently, may have some weird customs, but to them some of my customs are weird. And that's when it clicked, we're all people, that's it. Human beings who just do what they grew up doing, and are just living the best way they know how. There's no reason to be afraid, or timid, or approach them with animosity and vitriol about their inability to "act like real americans." They should be welcomed with a smile, questions, and help if need be because chances are they're more overwhelmed than yourself, being new to the country. Be a proper host, be genial, treat people with respect, and you'll be treated the same way, regardless of how different you may seem to each other. Because afterall, you're both Humans, and that means you're really not all that different afterall.
So yes, I take this topic seriously, but only because I feel like it's glossed over too often, especially in the midwest. When that happens, I feel like we get this sentiment that what these people from Mexico are doing is inherently bad, and we need to take drastic steps (like erecting a series of three walls with armed gunmen on the parapets and landmines in the middle) to prevent it. All to do what, try to keep out people who want a shot at a better life? These are our fellow man we're talking about here, not some "barbarian horde" whose main goal is to rape and pillage our women and land, these are people looking for help and are willing to tempt fate and death to get here. So when Erik came into the thread and asked the question, "Can you get Sunday Ticket?" it's inherently marginalizing the goal that Rocket set out to do when creating this post, which is maybe, just maybe, get some of you out of this Us vs. Them mentality by showing you no matter where you go in the world, no matter who you interact with, these are people and deserve to be treated as such. He tried to do it subtly, but it looked to me like the point didn't get across, so I tried to help make it a bit more clear.
There are no sacred cows.
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Quote:
Does your village have much in the way of motorized equipment to make some of the work easier? Tractors for instance. What is the cost of fuel there?
I don't think they do much planting, it's probably all aquaculture and trapping. Fishing and the like supplemented with some gathering and land hunting depending on where the village is.
Quote:
This was really hard for me with that Aisan language. I'm good at understanding nearly any nationality's broken English. But to pick up on their words is more difficult for me. Maybe French, Spanish or Italian would be ok, but Asian languages use phonics I don't seem fit to form.
Wow, spot on. That's exactly why asiatic lanuages are more difficult for westerners to learn, and vice-versa. During our language development years, commonly heard sounds are incorporated into early speech patterns. Sounds that are heard more often are repeated more often and cemented into the spoken language centers of the brain. Past a certain age, these areas of the brain become less capable of learning, so any new sounds/words acquired are processed and stored by the brain differently. It's no longer "language" as far as the brain is concerned. Which is why it's easy for you to pick up on peoples broken english, but not other languages as different as mandarin or japanese. These use quite a few different sounds for their language than we do.
There are no sacred cows.
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Quote:
Wow, that's what you got from his post? He wrote this in hopes that people would come out of their parochial mindset, and question someone who is immersed in a culture very different from our own. And maybe, just maybe, get people to step outside of their regional attitudes and realize that there's a whole freaking world out there where people are getting along as best they can, just like someone from NE Ohio is. These are people, human beings, not "mexicans" or "Arabs" who deserve more respect than many people on this board give them because they are different.
Quite honestly, it wouldn't matter if I was living in Alaska, Arabia, or Antarctica, I'd still want my Browns games, and I'd still bring something of my culture. I'd be showing the Abos, Arabs, and Penguins how to bark with the Browns as they were showing me how to eat grubs, couscous, and raw fish. I'd be serving pretzels, pickles, and a nice snitchel.
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Quote:
I don't think they do much planting
I was thinking more along the lines of moving/hauling loads. Something to make the hard work easier.
Good explanation of the language difficulties. I've read that it is true that the older we get the harder it is to learn a new language. The way you explain it makes sense.
#gmstrong
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I tried learning Thai during my years there....tonal languages...*shudder* (I'm in Ohio now btw after years overseas and in california )
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Quote:
Quote:
I don't think they do much planting
I was thinking more along the lines of moving/hauling loads. Something to make the hard work easier.
Good explanation of the language difficulties. I've read that it is true that the older we get the harder it is to learn a new language. The way you explain it makes sense.
Mmm, gotcha.
There are no sacred cows.
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On a smaller scale it's how I like to vacation internationally. I've never understood those folks that go to Jamaica (as example) yet stay at the Marriot. Never really leaving the grounds except by escorted tours. I try to use my travel as a chance to get a small view of everyday life. Stay close to the activity, shop at the markets, find the small restaurants down the alleys. Some of the best places I've stayed were on cab drivers recommendations. Giving them my budget and a general idea of what my plans were for the next few days. A willingness to be open and adventurous has greatly enriched my travel. I hope to retire outside this country and have the opportunity to experience cultural emersion on a larger scale one day. It's awesome you've embraced this opportunity and its obvious it's made a big impact on you. Isn't life cool. 
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Legend
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Legend
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My wife has watched too many "Hostel" horror flicks, and gets paranoid when we go out of the country. I diverge off the main path and she starts asking if I can find our way back, what if this or that happens, etc etc etc. I look at her and say, if someone comes chasing us with a chainsaw, run as fast as you can ................. ................. ................. .............. cause if I catch up to you I'm kicking you in the knee and running for safety.  She never finds it funny.
We don't have to agree with each other, to respect each others opinion.
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J/C
DDub,
This past year was the first time I made Kool-Aid myself. I failed at reading comprehension, which is quite concerning considering my job, and didn't follow the directions. I made the equivalent of a super instant diabetes drink. It went down the drain as I didn't have enough containers to store it in.
My employers provides all the heating oil (our furnace runs off of diesel fuel with radiator vents and piping in the house to keep it warm), the rent is nothing considering what some of the villagers must pay, and I'm able to get all my food online.
A maqii (the steam bath) is quite common in the area. Usually just the villagers take them. I've been invited, as well as my colleagues, and I'm one of the first in a very long time to join them. You go into one room to remove your clothes, then the next room is bigger with a stove furnace that has lava rocks on it. and you sit in there while someone pours water over the stove. They like it HOT. My tolerance built up over the year. They don't care if you can't last as long as they do. Usually a pouring session lasts somewhere around 15-20 minutes. By the end I was pushing close to 20 minutes as they continually poured the water on the stove. Then you go out into the room where your clothes are, sit on the floor (it's wood), and you cool off while drinking water in the room.Then you do the same process another 2-3 times. The last round involves just washing up with soap and shampoo. They have metal bowls in there with water in them to wash yourself.
The villagers use ATVs (everyone calls them hondas) to get around when the snow and ice aren't on the ground. They use them to travel to villages nearby, hunting trips, or just to go out and explore on a ride. Snowmachines (what we call snowmobiles) are the winter mode of transportation. Some of the younger ones like to go waterskipping at the behest of their family...youtube it. Fuel is around ten a gallon.
Portland,
I like the idea of how you travel. I may adopt that for myself
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