A warm spell.

I arrived on Tuesday to a warm spell. The high is 30 degrees and everyone is celebrating! Despite the toasty weather, my new friend Lori drives me into town Wednesday to pick up necessary ice cleats for my boots. At the post, next to the ice cleats, hang a selection of beaver and wolf pelts. There is also peppermint soap ('back in stock!') and an array of antifreeze and shovels. The man asks, "do you need anything else?" I hardly know.

My apartment is in a building behind the hospital, with a view of the snowy forest and Bristol Bay peeking up in the distance. People are ridiculously friendly, and also ridiculously into everyone else's business. I've been invited on a float plane trip to Togiak next week and also to join in dog sledding at the Beaver Roundup Festival in early March. Life, it's becoming clear, will be nothing short of exciting for me here in Dillingham.

In addition to settling in, I worked 38hrs in the ER this week caring for a total of 5 patients. What did I do for all those hours? Again, I hardly know. An EMT course starts next week for med-evac/flight, a precursor to village nursing. The native Alaskan people around town are soft-spoken, friendly, and beautiful. They say I will really enjoy the villages, as they are a vast difference to this big city.

I'll sign off adding only that I walked six miles of snowy road to the public library to post this blog:) Thank goodness for ice cleats.