Hanging Fish

This fish has been cut into strips -and cut slits in them to help with drying and storage in manageable chunks later, or some larger pieces are just lain over a hanging pole- and then hung outside by either a split tail or rope/twine to dry for up to about a week. The moisture you see is the fish oil dripping from the strips. From here, the strips are smoked, for a few hours (I think) with your own personal favorite flavor chips in a smokehouse and you have dried fish. The idea is that smoking kills the bacteria that may occur due to the strips sitting outside, including killing fly-eggs.

You can can the fish or make fish strips.

 

Birthday Presents... Alaskanized

I had a surprise knock on my door on my birthday and when I opened the door I was surprised with gifts. Fish strips, Akutaq (pronounced agutuk) (Eskimo Icecream - without the fish, there are versions with and without) and a Mukluk keychain.

Eskimo Ice cream with blueberries and salmon berries

Mukluk key chain

 

Back of Mukluk key chain

The Akutaq wasn't nearly as sweet as the ice-cream you'd buy in the store. Also you don't have to freeze it, you can refrigerate it. I think it was the salmon-berries that had an almost crunchy texture. It's a bit on an acquired taste, but not at all bad.

First Berrypicking excursion...

 

Blue and Blackberries - picked fresh on 8/26/11

My Berry bucket (it's a big one) and my haul (OK, so it's really not that many, but I can go again)

Berries are in my freezer so I can do something with them later. Not sure if I wanna try my hand at jam or just use em in pancakes. I need more for some of the things people suggested.

Recipes welcome!!!

Post on Community Bulletin Board 8/26/11

"The historic White Alice troposphere scatter communication antenna (Bethel’s part in the Cold War) will be demolished at 4 pm TODAY."

Don't know what a "White Alice Communications System" is? (Neither did I) Click here to read...

And Now A Hurricane

So now there's a Hurricane, Irene steadily making its way up the Eastern Coast. Not at all upset that I'm not there. First the fire in the swamp, then the earthquake and now a hurricane. I guess they're hoping the rain from the hurricane puts out some of the fire in the swamp. Craziness.

Earthquake

So I just heard that there's a 5.9 Earthquake that hit between Richmond, VA and Charlottsville, VA lasting for 30-45 seconds just before 2pm Eastern. It's being felt from SC to Manhattan/Boston/Buffalo. And apparently as far West as Detroit.

Have checked in with all the family and they're fine. Animals are freaking out and people are inventorying glass walls and such for cracks but it doesn't sound like there's any collapsed buildings. Initially they evacuated the White House and Pentagon but at least the Pentagon has been un-evacuated.

It's the largest on record for VA since 1897 so I guess it's their hundred-year-quake.

As my brother puts it... "The building did a butt-shimmy"

Language differences

So I was talking to a friend who has been up here for about 5 years and she filled me in on a difference between English and Yup'ik that makes a significant difference in some cases. Keep in mind, that there are some up here that are truly bilingual and then there are some that only speak either Yup'ik or English. For those where it's a definite English as a second language situation, think of it much like learning Spanish or French. There are subtle and not-so-subtle differences in language structure that can make things seem disjointed and awkward.

(Please remember grammar is NOT my forte, as anyone who's ever edited a paper of mine will reiterate)

In English, we speak with something similar to verb/action(-article)-noun/subject, e.g. :Jump the Fence" or "He likes/wants ice-cream" (implied noun)

In Yup'ik, thoughts are the other way around, it's noun/subject-verb, e.g. "Ice-cream, you want some?"

I was told of the story of a guy who grew up here and went off to college. He was at a party of some sort and looking to spend some time with a female companion. So as he's sitting there talking to someone, he says,

"F*ck, you want to?"

Now, this is amusing and all, but it explains some glazed over expressions as I've explained some things to parents where English is the second language. If those who speak Yup'ik generally think in Big-picture->Details... it's not going to make sense when I give them the little things that all add up to the point. Or at least, it takes a couple seconds longer to process.

Good things to know to better communicate with those I work with.

Dry... Damp... Wet

Dry: being illegal to purchase or possess alcoholic beverages.
Damp: illegal to buy but legal to have.
Wet: legal to buy or possess alcoholic beverages.

Bethel: Wet, BUT, the town won't approve liquor licenses

so... bring it in from out of town or ship it in.

Today's ponderings...

Not sure if this happens everywhere or more here. I was not part of this and only saw/heard small bits because my waiting room is close to the hospital entrance. We had someone go down (conscious but irregular breathing) just outside the hospital. A number of people walked by before a staff member came onto the scene and called a code for medical emergencies. As various people started taking note, someone thought the person was drunk and didn't think help was necessary. Luckily, staff didn't agree.Unfortunately, whatever happened claimed this persons life.

I'm not trained for medical emergencies other than my annual CPR and first aid, yet i can't imagine walking by without asking if someone needed help or thinking, 'oh, they're just drunk' and moving on, especially when this happens on the way into a hospital. It seems a bit obvious to me that they thought they needed to get to the hospital or something happened on the way. I haven't worked in a hospital before so i don't know the 'tales from the ER' and such that probably happen. And I don't know who thought the person was drunk and not actually in trouble. I wish people watched out more for others and weren't jaded by the effects of alcohol and drugs.

Audiology sign - Multilingual

This is in English and Yup'ik, not sure what else.

Today's temp...

56 degrees F.

And... Sunrise: 7:03 am    Sunset: 10:41 pm

I've decided I do need curtains (blackout), especially in my bedroom after falling to insanity with a migraine yesterday and pretty much having to blindfold myself or later I hung a sheet in the window and was on bed-rest all day. yuck. I don't mind it most of the time as of now. Maybe next year it'll be a bigger deal.

Annual hospital BBQ for staff and their families

Yes, that line loops all the way around the tent and into the parking lot.
And those are long pants, long sleeves, vests and fleeces you see in August. This is Alaska people!

Apt in Progress...

... the old man is snoring

I can hear the plinking and plunking of raindrops on my roof. It's nice having the rain without the lightning, kinda like a lullaby. I've got my mug of tea and a cozy sweatshirt. I think I'm set for the night. The only downer is that it's been like this for about 2 weeks. I'm trying to get used to the boots and avoiding rubbing up against the cars. I'm getting there.

Oh, and I'm working on pictures of the mostly decorated apartment. I'll aim for uploading them tomorrow.

Shocking Discovery

A little while ago, I noticed one of the light switches (one of the turny ones) inside my (audio) booth (for conducting hearing tests) was loose. I'd turn it to switch on the light and then I'd have to jiggle it a little for the light to actually come on. Now, based on my experience living in older houses when something like that happens, there's usually a short of some sort. So I called hospital maintenance.

Last Monday was calibration day for all my equipment and the electrician shows up then. Between myself and the calibration guy we were able to explain how the whole thing was set up and he, the electrician,  decided since it would take longer to get a new light fixture than light switch, he'd be back later in the week with the replacement switch and start there.

Thursday over lunch he knocks on my door and comes in to change the part out. He disconnects power and and goes to work as I'm eating lunch and doing chart notes. Than I hear, "Oh dear" coming from him and stop. It's rare that something good comes from the phrase "oh dear". He asks me to come in and then I get the bottom line...

... The wiring from the outside of the booth's electric to the light fixture has dried out, become brittle and started cracking leaving exposed live wires. And my booth, BTW, is about a 10'x10' metal booth with 4" of soundproofing material before there's another layer of metal. It's a 6 sided, double-walled metal box and I had exposed live wires. For those who don't know/remember much about electrics, here's the next part of the conversation. ... "If these wires had been touching the booth and then someone had been standing inside and touched the wall, they would have fried."  "hmm, you mean something like this (and then I proceeded to lean against the wall with my back in a modified wall-sit like I tend to do with most of my patients when I'm explaining results or testing procedures."   "yeah, you woulda been killed."

Did you catch that everybody, not just zapped but killed. The thing is, the booth is a constant stream of power, but due to the amount of equipment and the age of the electrics, the chances of there being auto shut-off for surges, are slim, but even if there were, I'd still be in a metal box and have completed the ground, it wouldn't have shut off before it killed me (more than likely). How's that for an "Oh $hit" moment.

The electrician shut down my booth for the rest of the afternoon to re-wire something (they'd also been using much smaller gauge wiring than recommended for the current being used. The electrician kept apologizing but I assured him I'd rather have to reschedule some patients than be in a pine box.

After a bit of wide eyes and some screeching, the consensus has been, "Wow, I'm glad you're not dead"

Fun-Run t-shirt

A funny thing happened...

So while I was waiting my turn at the DMV office yesterday -completed test in hand- there was this little boy  kinda dancing around and he sits on the chair a couple chairs away from me and sneaking looks at me. I smiled but didn't initiate conversation, a lot of kids up here are really quiet around strangers and get kinda nervous if a gussuk (sp?, 'white person') starts talking to them. After a few more minutes of pretending not to look at me he whispers to me, "Are you a doctor?" I caught a flash of my hospital ID around my neck and told him I was. His little eyes got HUGE. I told him I was a special kind of doctor, a hearing doctor. That was all the springboard he needed, then launching into stories upon stories about all the things that happen when he's a doctor (mom told me he got a doctor's kit for his birthday). Oh, and my new friend LOVES to 'shoot people' and take their 'arm pressure'.

Way to make the wait not so bad kid. Here's to a future Dr. here in Bethel.

I'm official

I'm now officially an Alaska resident. I got my license today after having taken and failed the written test yesterday. Of course today i got a more practical exam that didn't care so much about what the repercussions were but more about what the rules actually are. It was much better than yesterday. The license itself is different than what I've seen before. Samples of license and license-plate.

DMV

Went to the DMV today. Not too bad. I was able to get Alaska license plates no problem. I unfortunately wasn't able to get my license yet. Anyone getting a new license MUST retake the written test. Now, I've had licenses in 3 other states and I haven't had to re-take a test. this might be a good thing overall, but I still don't understand why I need to know if the suspension time on X violation is 30 days, 60 days, 90 days or 6 months. If my license is getting suspended I've got a problem. I shouldn't have done it nor should I be sitting here trying to calculate well, I'll be out of town on a cruise for the next month so I can go ahead and get this violation since I won't need my car, but not this one cause then I can't drive when I get home... are we serious?

And the drinking stuff. Why do we need to know that at this level it's this violation and at that level it's a whole new game. If you drink and drive you should be up shit-creek. Just don't do it and then you won't need to worry. Ask me all the questions you need to about the signs and right of way, and things like that but the other stuff is just... i dunno... a waste of valuable space in my head.