Merry Christmas!

            Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful day yesterday and that it continues on to the New Year.  This was my first Christmas not spent surrounded by family, though my new group of friends here have become pretty close and sometimes say that we are family, it’s not quite the same.  I did get to Skype with my family back in Minnesota on Christmas Eve.  They showed me the gifts that they had opened and the house all decorated for the holidays.  It was wonderful to see them again.  Later that night, a friend and I went to the midnight mass at a Catholic cathedral downtown.  Those two events were what defined Christmas for me.  Otherwise it seemed like a pretty normal night with everyone hanging out by the fire with good food, drink, and conversation.  And ugly Christmas sweaters.  I guess that’s not usually part of a normal night by the fire.

            Training class is finished, and everyone in my class passed!  We are now certified trainee observers.  That would sound a whole lot more impressive without the word ‘trainee’ left in there.  Trainee status basically means that we can only be assigned to ships that depart from and make their offloads to Dutch Harbor.

            The first batch of people from my class actually flew out to Dutch this morning.  The apartment is down from seven inhabitants to three; it feels so quiet and empty compared to before.  I wish them all a safe flight and hope they get good boat assignments!  Sadly, I don’t leave for Dutch until January 10^th, a whole two weeks away!  In the meantime, my savings account is slowly melting away.  Just a little bit disappointed, but I can be patient.

            While I’m waiting to fly out, I expect there won’t be much in the way of excitement to write about here.  Just normal everyday life in Anchorage, which might be worthy of a blog post, now that I think about it.  Life here is a bit different than anywhere else that I have lived in.  So there’s at least one more blog post before I head out, though there will most likely be more than that.  Anyways, I think that’s all for now.  Happy holidays everyone.

Catching up

Wow, it’s been about two weeks since my last blog post.  Just getting everyone used to the post schedule I’m going to have in a few weeks.  (That’s my excuse anyways.)  Since I have about two weeks to cover at once, I’ll just give you some of the highlight.  And to make up for my lack of posting, I have pictures!

            Last weekend a group of us trainees went on a moose hunt through the city.

          The city of Anchorage currently has an estimated moose population of over 1,000.  They are like deer here, wandering through people’s yards and cutting off traffic.  There is a network of trails through the city that are surprisingly busy even in December.  Tons of people go running, cross country skiing, ski skating, skijoring, and…biking!  They have these bikes with huge fat snow tires that can ride through snow.   

          Anyways, our trek was successful.  We not only found a moose, but also saw the mudflats at Cook Inlet, and rode down a whale slide.

            A few of us also went sledding down Flattop Mountain, just outside of Anchorage.  The slope was pretty steep, and the powdery snow flew up in our faces.  We had to stick out our feet to stop from sliding across the gravel and into the trees.

And the view was pretty fantastic.  Out there by the water is the city of Anchorage.

             Class has been good.  It mostly includes watching videos (including episodes of Deadliest Catch), species identification of crabs, fish, and invertebrates, how to fill out tons of paperwork, and safety.  The last few days we’ve been watching videos of people falling overboard and getting hypothermia.  We also had “the girl talk” last week.  The take home message from this talk: don’t flush your tampons down the toilet.  Other important lessons from this talk: You will be stared at mostly because you’re different; don’t let it go to your head.  Don’t sleep with the crab fleet.  Women smell different than men.  Fishermen get really freaked out by periods.

            Only one more week of class!  The final is on Friday.  I’m feeling confident, but at the same time there is a lot of pressure to do well on this test.  This is the test that will allow me to do this job, and just as important, allow me to get my reimbursement for travel and equipment.  

            A quick list of less exciting events in the last two weeks:  dancing, live music, lost credit card, lost drivers license, roasting marshmallows by the fire, drinking lots of hot chocolate, sharing tastes in music, setting a 495 piece puzzle, frequent walks to the ghetto grocery store, coffee shops, thai food, and currently and Indiana Jones movie marathon. 

Random Bullet List

Today’s blog will be in bullet list form, since it’s all sort of random.

·         Part of training today was to watch an episode of Deadliest Catch.  Sounds like that will be a pretty common occurrence in class.

·         Crab fishing will not occur if the temperature is much less than 20°F.  This is because if it gets much colder, the crabs’ legs will fall off.  Literally.  (It’s called autotomy)

-       This means that Deadliest Catch greatly exaggerates when they announce, “working in -20 degree weather!”  No, you don’t work in -20° weather.

·         Snow crab (the one I’ll be primarily working with) can live to be about 14 years old.

·         Female crabs will carry an egg clutch for about 11 months before they hatch and swim away.

·         Not everything in this blog has been or will be true.  I am still learning, and don’t completely understand how things will go yet. 

-       Ex #1. Observers are not required on all fishing vessels.  It depends on which season it is.  Snow crab fishing only about 20% of the ships need observers.

-       Ex. #2.  I could be on the same ship with the same four or five guys for the next few months.  As long as it takes the ship to reach their quota of crab.  I probably won’t be lonely.  Most likely, I’ll be craving some privacy!

·         I won’t be able to post all of the pictures that I will want to share.  Nothing that could identify my ship, crew, or location, or be damaging to the reputation of the fishery.  Part of it is to protect the confidentiality of the captain and maintain the trust of the fishermen in the industry.  Another part is that it happens all too often that other people take pictures posted by observers and misrepresent them, using them to show how “evil” commercial fishing is.  I’ve actually been pretty impressed with how the fisheries are managed so far.  As I said, I’m still learning and this could change, but this is my impression.

·         One of my fellow trainees saw a moose run across the highway on her way to training this morning.

·         Groceries are more expensive in Alaska.  Especially dairy products.  My half gallon of milk was $2.99.  A small block of marble jack cheese $3.49.  And for some odd reason those Betty Crocker packages of cookie mix were $3 each…Pretty sure those were only 99 cents back home.

·         I don’t think they even bother trying to de-ice sidewalks.  It’d be a losing battle.

And that's the end!  For now.

I made it!

            So I made it to Anchorage safely!  Here’s my first view of Alaska from the airplane.

I’ve been here about three days now, and I really like it.  It’s a lot like Minnesota, except the big city buildings are a lot shorter and there are beautiful scenic mountains in the background.  It also gets dark pretty early around here.  This was taken around 3:30.  The sun is already setting.

            The housing complex I’m living in is only a ten minute walk from downtown.  It’s also pretty close to the grocery store, the mall, and a few bars.  It’s not a very fancy place, but it’s a lot better than some places I’ve been.

            Friday night, my first night in Anchorage, some of the returning observers brought me to a bar.  I’ll admit it, I drank too much.  They just kept buying me stuff!  I didn’t want to waste their money…It was a good learning experience though.  I learned not to drink everything that’s put in front of me.  Sounds like that will be important to know once I get to Dutch Harbor.

            Today I start my first day of training.  I’m really excited!  I’ve done the pre-class reading, which explains the history of the fisheries and how the observer program started.  First off, only males crabs are allowed to be harvested, and these must be at least a certain size.  The size requirements ensure that males have had the chance to mate at least once before they are harvested.  All females and small crabs must be thrown back.  In the late 80’s/early 90’s the Board of Fisheries made it mandatory that there be an observer on board all fishing vessels because of a suspicion that boats were illegally keeping female and undersized male crabs.  (Catcher/processor boats, boats able to catch and cook and freeze their catcher while at sea, were reporting consistently higher catch rates than the catcher vessels.) 

That’ll be my job.  Making sure that the boat is in compliance with fishery regulations.  Training will be learning the regulations, the various species that may appear in the pots, and how to fill out paperwork.  I also hear that we watch a lot of Deadliest Catch.  Wish me luck!
            By the way, thanks for the comments!  I like hearing your thoughts.  Any comments or questions, I'd be happy to hear them.

It Begins!

            So this is going to be Megan’s Blog, also know as my Awesome Alaskan Adventure Blog.  My goal is to try and keep people back home up to date with what is going on during my time in Alaska, as well as to create a record for myself to look back on when everything is over.  I don’t know how often I will be able to update it, but I’ll try to keep it current.

            From the beginning!  On Friday, November 26 (in about 6 hours) I will be boarding a plane to Anchorage, Alaska to begin a two and a half week training course to be a scientific crab observer for a company called Saltwater Inc.  Here’s a description of the job http://www.saltwaterinc.com/alaska_crab_observers_saltwater_inc/alaska_crab_observers_saltwater_inc.html .  In short, I’ll be working on a crab boat (like the ones you see on that Deadliest Catch show) collecting data to help with fishery management.

Since graduating, I’ve been feeling like I need an adventure.  Something somewhere far away, doing something big, novel, challenging, meaningful, that will use this darn degree that I worked and paid for, well, am still in the process of paying for.  Something that, when it is over and finished, will provide me with lots of good stories to tell, and a sense of pride for having experienced it.  That description is vague enough that this opportunity completely fills all of those requirements.  This is my challenge.

So far I have had quite a variety of reactions to this whole Alaska thing: envy, worry (quite a bit of this), excitement, incredulity, amazement, admiration.  Basically, I’m feeling a combination of excitement and terror.  Trying, pretty successfully, to override the terror with the excitement.  The more I learn about Alaska and the job the less fearful I am becoming. 

To quell everyone’s fears, I will not be doing the same job as the people on Deadliest Catch.  Yes, there will be some danger involved, mostly just by being on a ship in the middle of the Bering Sea surrounded by potentially dangerous equipment and being days away from any medical help, but my job will simply be grabbing some crabs from the pot the fishermen pull up and measuring them on deck.  I think that’s what it’ll be like anyways…I won’t really know until I get there, I guess.  However, my safety will always come before the job.

Some people have also expressed concern with me being a female on a ship full of men.  Letters from previous observers said that everyone on the ships were very professional and courteous.  I have no worries in this area of the job.  Even without this reassurance, logically it would be almost impossible since there will be almost no privacy on the ship, so nowhere to secretly drag me away to.  Just in case, though, my mom made me get pepper spray.  I think I’m more likely to use it on a charging bear than a person, but it makes her feel better at least.

One friend via text message said, “You gonna be hardy enough for the job?”  I felt slightly offended, liking to think of myself as being physically able to handle most challenges, but he clarified, “you aren’t going to freeze to death?”  Actually, that’s one of my main fears in taking this job.  As many of you probably know, I absolutely hate being cold.  So!  I’ve been trying to get myself used to being cold.  It’s mostly a mental thing anyways, right?  Yes.  Don’t you dare disagree.  I need to hope that I can adjust to the cold, and it’s working…I think.  Yes it is.  Actually, my mom and I checked the weather both in Anchorage and Dutch Harbor, and it seems like the winter averages aren’t that much different from those in Minnesota.  Right now it’s actually warmer there.  So I should be fine!  Yes, I won’t be cold at all.  

The largest concern is that I will be away from all of my friends and family, probably without many opportunities to contact them, and in such a transient lifestyle that I won’t be able to create many new real friendships.  I’m going to be lonely.  Again, I figure it’s sort of a mental thing.  I will be extroverted!  Yes, I am an extrovert.  Well, I can be if I try really hard.  I’ll try my best to make fast friends, and to think often of my friends and family back home.  Hopefully this blog thing will help too! 

This is getting long.  If I were you, I’d be tired of reading this by now.

            So, if anyone has any words of advice, encouragement (and I suppose discouragement if you feel the need to express it), or simply fun facts about Alaska I would love to hear them.  Also, from what I’ve heard, I’m going to have quite a bit of spare time on my hands once I get out to sea.  Any suggestions as to what I should do?  I am thinking drawing, writing (that’s sorta what this blog is for), learning to crochet, and reading.  And maybe some walrus taming. Anything else?  Please share!