Sep 16, 20183 min read

New Shoes and Sushi - What More Could a Girl Ask For?!

It has been a busy week of exploring and working for me. I won't bore anyone with the "work" stuff.

In Phoenix I am always complaining about the lack of color on the roads, it seems to me that 85% of the cars there are either white or a boring shade of beige or gray. In #Bethel, it doesn't seem to matter what color the car is, they are all a fine dusty brown. It can be difficult to distinguish one car from another in the parking lots so the best way to find your vehicle is to press the lock/unlock button several times until you see your brake lights blinking.

Reminds me a bit of a Seinfeld episode...

I had my first footwear casualty. They lasted a week and then decided they could not keep up with the metal grated stairways. They lasted 3 years of Phoenix weather, but couldn't stand up to a week in #Alaska. R.I.P. my friend!

The good news is that I was able to replace them with a sturdy pair of waterproof boots. I found these beauties on the sale table for $39.88...regularly priced at $160.00 ($96.00 on Amazon).

...again, any excuse to buy a new pair of shoes!

Today was our first trip to the local farmers market. A special THANK YOU to Jonathan, a local gentleman that we met at the post office. He kindly invited us to follow him in his car so that he could show us where the market was located. After getting us safely to our destination he got out of his car and spent some additional time with us giving us some navigation tips!

#MeyersFarm is actually the only farm in Bethel and was established in 2002. The owner is committed to providing organic produce to the Yukon Kuskokwim (YK) Delta. In addition to produce grown on the farm, you can also find other organic items such as eggs, fruit and honey at the market.

I was so excited by my purchases that I actually made lunch when I got home. I was craving an In-N-Out burger but Postmates won't actually deliver this far out. My scrambled eggs, avocado, and fresh peaches were a much healthier option and surprisingly delicious (don't worry In-N-Out, I will be back!)

Since Eric is the cook in our family, I am pretty proud that I was able to do this by myself. It might not look like much, but for me this is MAJOR cooking!

Learn more about farming in the #YKDelta at this link:

http://www.meyersfarm.net/

Learn why farming is now possible in the YK Delta at this link:

https://www.npr.org/2015/11/01/453337333/rising-temperatures-kick-start-sub-arctic-farming-in-alaska

For anyone that is not interested in farming in Alaska (FYI - shame on you, it is a BIG deal!) I have provided some other farming entertainment:

http://www.funnyjokester.com/funny-farmers-joke/

Some of my work peeps and I went to lunch on Friday and tried out a fairly new restaurant, Wasabi Bay Restaurant.

Some of the more interesting menu items included appetizers called "Monkey Brains" and "Heart Attack". Listed under the #Sushi & Sashimi section was "Screaming Orgasm" and "Sex on the Beach"...none of them had descriptions. There was some speculation that you should eat the Sex on the Beach first in order to truly enjoy the Screaming Orgasm.

I played it safe and chose the Rainbow Roll...

Tasted as yummy as it looks! Price = $21.15

Several people have asked about my living arrangements. Currently I have two roommates so it feels a bit like a bunch of middle-aged women went back to college. Not nearly as fun to picture this as 3 hot 19-year old co-eds, but we make it work. No plans yet to set up pillow fight tournaments or sorority parties.

Two of us (Sally & I) work in Human Resources (#HR) and our third roomie, Colleen is a Physician Assistant (PA) that will be moving to one of our sub-regional clinics in November.

Although it is a 3-bedroom house, there is only one shower. Yes, you read that correctly...3 women...1 shower!

To make the situation even more interesting...we don't have unlimited water. Potable water is delivered to the house (rumor says once a week, however we have been here for 10 days and no deliveries so far) in 1,000 gallon increments.

Water truck in Bethel filling up to deliver to homes

Google says that the average person uses between 80-100 gallons of water a day. I will let the math wizards out there do the calculations. Let's just say...we are being very conservative with our water usage.