Catch-up Post

School and work have sucked up my time, and so I have been failing to post these memoirs.  It's all a blur, though I can't tell if time is going by rapidly or slowly.

A while ago, before Thanksgiving, we had a massive windstorm here that caused many to lose power and caused many trees to fall.  We kept our power thanks to the fact that we have our own power plant, though there is one tree next to the Lola Tilly Cafeteria that is completely over.

As for Thanksgiving itself, I had a fun time.  The Wednesday immediately before el Día de Acción de Gracias I went to the Moore's house (David Moore is the leader of UCM, the christian group that I am a leader of) to prepare food.  I made green been casserole.  Then we played Catchphrase.  Thursday I got to sleep in to ten o'clock and relaxed a bit before going to their house again at noon for Thanksgiving lunch.  We had mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, turkey (which I cut), ham, Armenian rice, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie. During the day we hung out for a while, just relaxed after a huge meal (I ate two huge platefulls).  I made a five hundred piece puzzle, but other than that didn't do much productive stuff.  Then we ate dinner which was a continuation of the lunch, really.

My coworker and me cutting up a turkey.  It was fun and I was told I did well.

Past that point, not much.  I saw a play by the junior high/high school of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that was very cool.  Then we went to the farthest north Denny's and I ate reindeer sausage with my friends.

Work has been getting easier an easier, for better an worse.  I'm getting fewer hours, which means less money but more study time.

Fewer = Countable Things
Less = Uncountable Things

Currently, weatherwise, we're just getting out of a heat wave of upper twenties above, and are now getting back down to ten to twenty below.  Hopefully we're pretty done with precipitation from here on out.

I'm really ready to go home.  Estoy listísisimo.  I'm having increasing difficulty focusing and caring because I'm drained from a long semester, because I'm almost done, and because I hardly ever see the sun.

Sunrise is about 11-11:30 and sunset is 3-3:30.  The sun doesn't even go to the middle of the sky directly above it just goes from horizon up a bit then back down.

Looking forward to next Thursday very much so.  Really want to go home badly.

I wish I didn't have to capitalize weekdays.

Job

First off, questions:

~Why linguistics? Tolkien? 

I like studying languages and seeing not just the words used but unique ways of expressing ideas.  It’s neat to look at things like agglutinative languages that stack together morphemes to make an idea, or things like languages that only have three words for colors (black, white and red), or whatever makes languages distinct and what ties them.  

For an example from Wikipedia from Georgian of what an agglutinative language looks like:

gadmosakontrrevolucieleblebisnairebisatvisaco

someone said that it is also for those who are like the ones who need to be to again conterrevolutionized.

I really like Tolkien and his works.  I've read several of his books including the main five books of the Lord of the Rings canon.  I think it’s awesome how he not only made the languages (Dwarven, Elvish) spoken by his people but could speak them so fluently he could switch to them without realizing it.

~How are you doing with the isolation that so many freshmen feel? 

Not too well.  I still stay in contact with my MFC friends through voice chat and games.  However it takes me a while to open up to people, and so I wouldn't say I have made a true friend up here yet.  So it’s tough to not have someone to hang out with here, and to have a distance and time separation with my Idaho friends.

~How scary are Alaskan roads? 

From what I understand, they aren't too bad.  Once it gets so snowy and stays below zero, there’s not as much ice to cause you to lose control.  If you know what you’re doing and know to go slow, it shouldn’t be scary.  However, what would be scary are people who don’t drive well and pedestrians who don’t give you enough time to stop.  Once I start driving for my job I can give a better answer.

~Do you drink tea? 

Normally yes, but up here no as I don’t have any means to make tea nor any tea bags.

~Are you easily affected by the darkness that is so much more prevalent in Alaska during winter? 

I don’t think so, though it’s not as dark as it will be yet.  I’m told it will be soon dark from 2 pm to 10 am, but it’s not quite there yet.  Though it’s a shock to get up to go eat dinner at 5 o’clock and see it looks like midnight outside.

~What do you most miss at home and what do you want to do the first couple of days home?

I miss my friends and my mom.  I miss having decent food rather than cafeteria three times a day every day.  This might sound odd, but I miss being able to do laundry like at home.  Here I have to plan ahead and dedicate time to getting my clothes washed and dried.  At home I can do it any time I need to, and if I have a spot on a single shirt or something I can throw it in alone.  At home I can start the washer and drier and do something else and if I forget it, it’s not a big deal.  Now I have to measure how long it will take and make sure I take out my clothes as soon as they’re ready.

When I go home, I’d like to spend plenty of time with my mom, hugging her and eating dinner and playing a board game or watching a show.  I’d also like to have an overnighter with all my friends so as to hang out.  I’d like to pet all my cats and see if they remember me and see if they stick to me like glue and prevent me sleep.

Onto my job, I have all my paperwork finished and should soon have my payment worked out.  Last Thursday I did some training and went through the main dorms and picked up the recycling from all those buildings.  Friday was my first true work day and from 3:30 to 6:00ish I gathered plastic, paper, aluminum and glass with my new friend who I already knew from my christian group.  We drove around and I went in all new science buildings I had never before entered.  I found the worst part of the job is when there's glass to collect as a bag of bottles is very heavy.  It also doesn't help that it's often below zero.  At least for that short period of somewhat discomfort I made 26 dollars, which is a new reverie to me.

I should be working 17 hours a week, and will probably soon start to use the Office of Sustainability's vehicle, which is a van.

Prayers for me as I start my routine fully next week would be very much appreciated.

Updates

Hello, how are you?

Bonjour, comment vas-tu?

Hola, ¿cómo estás?

Terve, mitä kuuluu?

A while ago I suggested to the leader of UCM, David, that we do a hangout night because I was missing that kind of thing from MFC youth group and because I thought it would be a great opportunity to connect with my peers.  Last Friday it happened and I very much enjoyed grazing their chips con queso and leftover Halloween treats as well as playing Phase 10 and Catchphrase.  On the way home I saw a guy kneeling behind a decrepit van about to be handcuffed by a state trooper.  Fun!

There's a guy at UCM who I've been talking to and starting to make friends with who works for the UAF Office of Sustainability.  He told me they're desperate for employees.  So today, I went to the office and was interviewed and I gleaned that I was basically guaranteed a job.  All I need to do is send in my résumé and references and cover letter and have all that accepted by HR and pass a computer-based safety test and I'm good.

Lately I've been really wanting this semester to end so that I can go home.  But I still have a while, about  month and a half, during which I might be working, I've got my christian group (UCM), I've got my classes.  It's like I want to be done but I'm at the point where there is no escape; I've always got something ahead to consider. I don't want all the responsibilities of being a grown up thrusted upon me. :(

Thanks, goodbye.

Merci, au revoir.

Gracias, vaya con Dios.

Kiitos, moi moi.

Snow

It snowed today.  It was quite the sight as it was very sudden and unexpected.

As you can see it's not the deepest snow.  I've been told it won't last too long before it melts then refreezes as ice.  But it's a step in the right direction.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  I don't have much anything to post about.

Various Topics

I only got questions from one person!  They are:

1) Can you see Russia from your school?

No.  Though there are parts of Alaska that are close enough to see Russia.  I however am many miles away from these parts.

2) What kind of shower products did you buy?

Suave Body Wash and Suave Ocean Breeze Shampoo.

3) How could you not get a salted caramel mocha at Starbucks?

I’ve never had a salted caramel mocha, so I wouldn’t know to go for it or avoid it.

If anyone has any questions in the future, I will gladly post them here.

Events Chronologically:

Saturday morning, I was woken up a little before four to my first drunk person experience.  A man was talking very loudly out in the hallway and pounding away at his dorm's door trying to enter.  There apparently were other people easing the situation, but they took a while.  I tried to sleep, but once I realized that they were in no hurry to resolve the problem, I went on my laptop for about half an hour until I stopped hearing them talk.

Saturday night I went to a United Campus Ministry fund raiser dinner where I ate a salad, chicken and wild rice and green been entree and a raspberry bar dessert.  There were also door prizes I watched other people win.  There was a main donor who gave a speech, during which I was astonished to hear that UCM costs about $55,000 annually.  Lastly, we sung.

Sunday (Today) in the evening I went to reTHiNK Christianity by Randy Newman (Not the one that did songs for Pixar).  It was aimed at people who were going to or who had already dismissed Christianity.  I didn't go for that reason, mind you, but I still wanted to hear what he had to say.  I think it boiled down to urging people to think about where they stand truly, and what motivates them and gives them purpose in life.  To throw away nothing without giving it thought.  

There were key points that I remember.  One being the difference between an apathetic, hedonistic life (Prodigal Son) and a rule oriented life (The Son who stayed home).  That neither had it quite right, that lives led by epicurean indulgences weren't suitable, and that lives regulated by overbearing laws were hollow.  Many outside of faith view religion as the latter only, and for this reason they avoid joining in.

Another was how wrong the idea of 'All religions boil down to the same thing' is.  To say that a Jew and a Muslim and a Christian believe essentially the same thing is both insulting and dangerous.  Apparently there exists the thought of the Blind Man and the Elephant approach to religion that some have accepted.  But this is arrogant to think we can call this person and that person blind as it assumes we see a whole picture they can't.

Lastly, confidence.  People believe you have to be completely assured with not a shred of second thought anywhere.  That anything less cannot be faith, that if one doubts, or has a question they don't know the answer to, that they've failed.

So, I enjoyed it.  The speaker was entertaining.

Prayers: Job, Roommate.

Verse: Micah 6:8

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Things to Write About

     I don't do very much, my life here is very routine, and I don't interact with very many people, so I don't have much to put here.  The only things coming up I can think of are the upcoming snow fall and the thanksgiving dinner I've already been invited to.  Also Saturday I'm going to a dinner, and Sunday I'm hearing a seminar, but other than those I really do little.  So my one thought is if anybody has any questions that somehow haven't been answered, if you could comment this post or the whole blog, or to me myself, I could answer them.  I don't know if I've covered everything you'd want to know about me or Alaska.  If there's anything, please ask.  Or if there's something completely off the wall you want to inquire about, go ahead.

      Today I went for my monthly shopping at Fred Meyers where this time I bought Kleenexes, shower products, and oral products.  While there, I learned that apparently prestige and premium shampoo are different, and that that discrepancy merits separation.  Were it up to me, I'd line the shampoo aisle gradually from value price to premium while grouping brands.  I suppose though, arbitrary differences must need be considered.

     Since the time between arrival and departure is about an hour I was planning to go to T-Bell for a taco, and sit there wasting time.  However, I wasn't hungry, and instead went inside the Star Bucks already in Fred Meyers where at the island for straws, beverage condiments and napkins I found vanilla powder next to the nutmeg, cinnamon and sugar shakers.  I wasn't aware this existed nor that there was a demand for it.  I didn't try it, but found it interesting.  It was about 45 degrees outside, so guess what I ordered?

     If you guessed a warm drink, you're wrong.  I got a strawberry smoothie.

    I was going to get a big filter while there so that I would be better at filling my water bottle since my source of water would just be in my room rather than downstairs outside of Moore.  However, after a lot of searching and eventual discovery of their location, I had doubts about their worthwhileness.  It would take a long time to fill it, during which I'd have to pause for any passerby filling a smaller bottle.  Plus water's heavy.

     Any prayers for my job situation would be very much appreciated.

   

I took my Spanish test.

I did well.


I needed to get a ~34 for 101, which was all I needed.  I got  61, which almost credit for 202.  Yay.


Thanks for the prayers!

Time

     Time on the macro scale is losing its meaning to me.  On the one hand I feel like I've been here for a while, but on the other hand, I'm astonished that there's less than fifty weekdays left until I get to return home.  It's a sort of incomplete blur I can't understand.  While I feel happy that school's passing by quickly, I fear Christmas Break will follow suit.

    No more leaves here, at least on most all seasonal trees.  It went from a gilded landscape to a rather desolate scene.  Apparently snow should soon blanket the land and provide a new, blank beauty.

     I've been applying for jobs.  I haven't ever held one, so I'm nervous.  Because of these nerves, it's taken me so long to even make my résumé, cover letter, and references page.  The first position I saw and liked was an attendant at the Museum of the North here, but I waited too long and the position must have been closed or filled.  Next, I found one at the Financial Aid Office, but apparently I was ineligible.  Most lately, I applied for a general Student Aide position, and am now sit in pool to await consideration.  I need the money, for certain, but the laxity I've somewhat fostered all my life makes me want to maintain my free-time.  I'll wait and see where I'm led.

     Tuesday I have a CLEP test for Spanish to show I deserve to be in 201.  (The teacher has allowed me to skip the 100 level classes since I've taken five years on the basis that I take this CLEP).  Prayers would be appreciated as I did not do well on my last major Spanish test.

Food and Updates and Thoughts

     Friday I went to a food festival event held in the language floor of the Gruening Building where there were many different foods representing many different places.  I'm sorry I have no pictures of this, but given how very crowded it was, it would have been difficult to take any.  I tried some enchiladas, some ropa vieja, a rice dish, some kind of Italian pasta I've never had before (They were like little dumplings).  I tried a pink ball I thought was a sort of doughnut, but was entirely wrong.  It mostly doughy, and had a brown sort of creamy center.  The Japanese professor told me that it was a dessert, and told me the name of it at a speed that went completely over my head.  While it was a dessert, it wasn't sweet nor rich like I'm used to.  But part of that is because Americans like things a lot more sweet, apparently.  My favorite thing I ate was a half of a German sausage.

     While there I talked to my Spanish professor about my upcoming Foreign Language Minor, and I think she was saying I could just take Spanish for it, though I thought I needed another language.  I still would like to take another (In addition to Spanish and some Native Alaskan Language) but I don't know which.  But I don't want to spread my strengths too needlessly thin.  But studying languages that aren't related helps further your linguistic knowledge and understanding.
     

     Still no snow here, but it's hovering around the forties in the highs, which I've been growing used to.  My classes aren't really hard, but I do have a few tests coming up.

     Do you know about [ɸ] or [β]?  If you make the /f/ sound, but use your lips instead of lower lip and teeth, you make [ɸ] instead of [f], the same goes for [β] and [v].  Spanish uses this in [diβino], which means divine.  I'm trying to train myself to use [ɸ] and [β] in my regular speech because I like those sounds, but it's a tough change considering I'm tying to lose something I'm ingrained with.

     I made a resume, and am trying to get work.  I should be able to get at the least a revolving door desk job, which though paying little (like $8.50, better jobs can pay $14.00 upwards per hour), will still help my tuition.

Starvation Gulch

Pictures Galore!

Starvation Gulch is an event where groups ask companies beforehand for their leftover pallets.  Yesterday (Or maybe today) they stacked them together to build structures.  It's a competition to not only have the most pallets, but also the coolest building.  And also who has the biggest fire. 

These are what they looked like prior to being lit.  For being made of pallets of wood, they were constructed very creatively and look quite cool.  The white droplets you see is rain; it was a good, constant sprinkle all night.  Enough to be seen and get your hat a bit wet, but not nearly enough to bug you.  At the bottom right of the second picture are firefighters.  They used buckets to splash some flammable liquid over the wood.  I don't know what I was imagining, but I though they'd have a more scientific and controlled method to spread the fuel.

A building a bit to my right being ignited.  Again, I thought the firefighters would have a high-tech way of starting the fire.  But no, they used a flare attached at the end of a pole-saw.  I apologize for how often the crowd crowds in on my pictures; it was absolutely packed there, and you didn't want to get too close to the fencing holding us back because the fires were so hot.  

The building I was closest to burns.  It's the second picture at the top of this blog post.

There were some people only wearing hoodies, jeans, orange vests, and hats who I think helped build the buildings.  They left as soon as the fires really got going, because the radiation was so hot.  After that, it was just firefighters in their protective gear.

Fire.

Phone in the way of Fire.

Fire at crooked angle.

Fire as seen from a wet lens.

There were immense plumes coming up from these fires.  The smoke covering the sky, the heat from the fire, the sparks raining down, the actual rain, the cigarette smoke, and the booming party music all made for an interesting sort of apocalyptic and awesome atmosphere.

I don't know if that's an actual rain drop or if it's glare, but it's in a lot of my pics.

That orange plastic fence held us at bay.  Not that we'd want to get too close.

More Fire.

Fire.

Go to the very top picture on this page, then compare it to this one directly above.  Before and After pictures.

A different sort of beauty.  A sort of fascination egged on my pyromania.

That guy looks a lot closer to the fire than he is.  Also the sparks at the top look volcanic.

DJ playing party music that you can feel in every part of your body.  I could hear it a good distance away.

There were a lot of people there.  It was chilly when I was walking to the event and walking away.  However, when I was in the crowd, especially when I was near the fire, it was like a summer day.

From the hill above the event.

Looks like an actual fire.  If you didn't know the context of this picture, you might think it was taken during a riot.

Fire.

A video of Fire.  I watched it a couple times to make sure there was no swearing in it.

Retreat

I went on a Retreat

   Friday (The 20th) evening I with other intervarsity Nanooks left for GLOBE creek camp where we stayed the night and next day until Saturday's afternoon.  We played several rounds of a game I think was called vision or something similar.  It involved two teams comprised of one blindfolded member who had to build a structure by following the orders of the unmasked partners who had a card with directions.  We later made smores around a campfire I helped fuel.  Saturday we hiked a bit up a hill covered in tundra which I found exhausting as sure footing was nonexistent.  There also was a long zip line I opted out of.  Between these activities we did worship and Bible reading.

     It was bearably chilly, and much of the land was covered in snow.  Our cabins were insulated, though the foam did little to keep the room warm when the stove died.  The leader woke many times during the night to reignite or preserve the fire inside.  The trip, which was about an hour, allowed amazing views of the sunlit forest abounding either side of the road.  For the first time, I also saw the pipeline stretching from Valdez to Prudhoe Bay.  Furthermore, I was actually fairly close to the North Pole.

I helped haul some of the wood used to burn this pit.

We stayed in this cabin.  Across it was the girls', to the left the main hall, and to the right the road out.

This was the main hall where we ate, sung, prayed, played, hung out.

Here's the winding river very close to the camp.  I tried skipping stones on it.  It didn't go very well, for me at least.  The others did fine, albeit impeded by the fact that they were working against the current and had little room to work with.

It's September

This my September:

(Bear in mind I posted the 'It's Fall' post yesterday)

It's starting to pour flakes of snow.

Here the snow is beginning to stick to the grass, and at the right, it's stuck to the plants.

Trees covered in snow.

It's Fall

Some Fall Pictures:

Same landscape I took from my first picture I posted on my first blog post, albeit from a different angle.

Some trees I got close to, in addition to a volleyball net.

Same trees as above, only closer.  The camera doesn't do the fall colors justice.

I went to Church today

The morning of this incongruously bright Sunday, I was ferried with a group of other Nanooks to Bethel Church were I enjoyed the sermon and music.  It was larger than MFC, but not so large that I felt uncomfortably lost.  There were worship songs much like what I'm accustomed to.  The sermon, which was delivered by the main pastor whose name I've forgotten, was very enjoyable and thought-provoking.  It covered Exodus 32 where the liberated Israelites condescended to idolatry.  One of the most convicting questions I drew was 'How does what I'm praying for further God's Glory?'  I was also reminded that the rosy view of God as endlessly forgiving and loving doesn't capture the entire frame, as God could have easily slaughtered every idolater who kneeled at the golden calf.  God told Moses he was going to do so. Furthermore, jealousy was a word that came up often during the sermon as a description of God.  In summation, God doesn't share his throne.

Then I attended an adult bible study group during which we studied 1 John, focusing on what it meant to be a child of God as opposed to say a child of Satan.  I enjoyed having a time to read scripture with others and discuss it as I haven't had that opportunity to do so in quite a while.

What I'm reading in Linguistics is very enlightening.  Did you know there are two different 'k' sounds in English?  For example, the sound in 'key' is different than 'coo', and therefore they are marked differently in IPA.  Did you know that the way we pronounce our 'r' is almost unique to English?  Also, there are two 'l' sounds in English, for example 'lion' and 'Al' are produced with different, but related sounds.

I've lost my sense of the days of the week.

I live in this town: /fɛɹbæŋks/ which is in the State of  /ʌlæskə/

More specifically, I live in Moore Hall.  It is one of the three residential life buildings that constitute the MBS, or Moore Barlett Skarland. The problem with my dorm hall is we have a great number of people who participate in online gaming.  This means I often struggle with WiFi.  I want to stay set up in my own dorm where it's convenient, but I may be forced to find some other place.

Whenever I tell someone I'm from Boise they reply: 'Oh, you're from Boize?'  I sigh on the inside and brush it aside.

This evening I joined a worship event on campus I learned about from poster-papers posted nigh everywhere.  We sung, listened to the leader-cum-guitarist talk briefly about the being lost through the parable of the Lost Sheep and the Prodigal Son.  I talked to a girl who this last Sunday had attended for the first time a church nearby that shuttles to the campus called Bethel Church.  It's not Quaker, but she recommended it, so this Sunday I'll give it a try.  I hope and pray it'll work as I am very limited considering I have to rely on others for transportation.

I made for the third time my Facebook page.  If you haven't done so already, you can add me, s'il vous plaît.  I'll try to hold on to this one, unless I again reach the point of being too jaded of inane posts.

I'm beginning to start my capstone.  I've got a few very related ideas in my mind, but I don't know how feasible they are or how much research has been done on them.  They are all about how things affect language:  Nearby flora/fauna; level of acceptance of violence and use of diplomacy; nearby geography; kind of Spirituality; et al.  

For example, I want to know things like, Does having trees nearby make your language tend towards having softer or harder sounds?  Will a warring tribe tend towards quick rough sounds while a peaceful will tend towards graceful and gentle?  Does having pessimistic views on deities and afterlife make a people choose lower sounds like a's?

I don't know what exactly I will do.  I don't know at this point if I could even draw the conclusions I hope to establish.

My First Blog Post

First Blog Post

        My mom and I had no problems arriving at Fairbanks, Alaska.  We bought what remained of my needs at Walmart and Fred-Myers before sharing goodbyes. After a good but a little lengthy orientation, I started my classes Friday.  There was a mandatory floor meeting during which I heard a series anecdotes accompanying rules to abide by meant to provide humor and warning.  However, hearing what has and would be done here caused me to realize that I now live in a world quite different than ever before. 

       Technically, I had a class Thursday, but after visiting it and reviewing the syllabus, I decided to take an easier load for now.  Currently, I have Linguistics, Spanish, Communications, Probability, and Honors Capstone Development.  It seems a lot more manageable now.  

        I found a bible study club that I plan on attending on Thursdays that I heard about during a kick-off meeting for all the christian groups.

        Below is a picture of the landscape not far from my dorm.  It's foggy, as it has generally been in the mornings before the noon sun diminishes it.

                                     My typical lunch:  Iceberg lettuce salad and a glass of water.

This prison-like establishment called the Ernest-Gruening Building is where all of my classes are, save my Honors class.

     I haven't yet truly started my classes so I couldn't say how they're going, but I'm sure they'll stay workable and bearable.  Also, I'm hoping as the semester progresses I could make friends, especially ones who are christian, but also that I could find a church that is within reach and matches my needs.