Out there in Alaska...

Out. I mean, I am really OUT there. I have been waiting over 2 years for this experience, because since the day I matched here in Alaska I knew I was going to Bethel. Yep, Bethel. Dot on the map, somewhere us "city docs" (I am of course referring to Anchorage docs) know about but never get to really know. And now I am here, for 6 weeks, alone and without my better half, and fearful of boredom.

I had a nurse tell me today that "a hundred times over she see's the transformation of new people to this place- for the first few days you are astounded, and then after that, you learn to love Bethel." So, two days into it I have learned a few things about this town of 5,000 that I live now, and I hope I can move past my disbelief of a few things.

Flat. Flat. Flat. I miss the mountains and trees. Scrub taller than my head does not count.

24/7 Snowmachines rule this town. Teenagers ride them to school. People snowmachine from villages 25 miles away to come to my clinic for the past 2 mornings. You gotta watch out for em' when you drive. Yeah, the snow is melting, but the two or three inches left in drifts sustain those die-hard folks. I have 4-wheelers out and about too, people hoping the snow will disappear.

There is a dog mushing kennell right outside of my window. Feeding time is a ruckus.

Houses on stilts everywhere. Small cracker-box homes for families and extended families I am sure of. ABOVE-the-ground plumbing is an eye-sore but my engineer-husband tells me its quite efficient.

Cold. Cold. Cold. Yesterday it was 5 degrees. And its April, imagine that!

The hospital is right outside my window, powered by a nuclear-size generator making all kinds of noise in the night. I will post pictures, but the hospital looks like a giant yellow/green/orange submarine- all corners are round and there is one strip of 2-foot wide windows surrounding the entire place. And of course, it is up on stilts.

Everything closes at 5pm except a select-few restaurants and the 2 grocery stores.

No one mans the gas station. At least, no one was there when I was pumping gas.

There are no stop lights here. Only a three-way stop, which apparently used to be a two-way stop and they made it a three way only recently.

There are more taxi's in this town per capita than anywhere else in the U.S. That translates into a lot of taxi's! They are everywhere you look...

Patients overall have been very gracious and thankful. One asked if I was staying. I felt bad, knowing I was only one face in the many that have probably cared for them over the years. Maybe they never had a primary care physician. I have called a half a dozen at their village homes, chatting with them like they are across-town rather than 200 miles away by a small plane or snow-machine. The Yupiik people are beautiful in their own way, not complaining and trying their best. They wait patiently, for hours, for their "day in town" which may consist of a visit, labs, scans, counseling, testing, a $10 lunch in there and more waiting...

... but they all have to be gone by 3:30 or 4:30- that's when the planes leave. Its like Cinderella- poof and the busy hospital in Bethel is all but empty by the time the afternoon planes depart. But the hospital gets really busy when the planes arrive in the morning...

I can't do anything until I am oriented. Officially I have not "been here" until I do that. I can't deliver a baby, fly on a Medivac, treat an ER patient or order meds until I am official. Tomorrow I will be official.

I want to get out into the sun, even though it is flat. I want to sew a kuspuk with ric-rac and the whole nine yards. I want to ride a snowmachine for the first time since I moved here to Alaska. I want to see the Yukon, I want to be here when break-up happens (apparently it is a big party!) I want to get to know people. I want to learn about hunting seals. I want to deliver a Yupiik baby with its big cute cheeks. I want to Medivac someone out of their village and make them better.

Yep. So, enough ramblings about Bethel. Tomorrow I might have some free time in the afternoon- hopefully it will warm up a bit and I will go on a drive, pictures to come but here is one from my bedroom window. Flat.