Today was an absolutely beautiful day! We got up late, around 10:30 and the sun was shining brightly in the sky. There are no clouds anywhere and only a slight breeze. The temperature right now is 14 degrees. It sounds very cold, but if you’re not in a breeze or wind it’s very bearable in a jacket and jeans.
After breakfast, we suited up in our long underwear, ski pants, two layers of coats, gloves and hats and got a taxi to the hospital so Jeff could show me where he worked.
The hospital here is quite extensive with services for pediatrics, obstetrics, mental health, nicotine and alcohol cessation, dentistry, chiropractics, optometry, and physical therapy to name a few. There is also a specialty clinic for chemotherapy treatments, oncology, ENT’s, Orthosurgery, where specialists come in to provide the specialty services.
There are also pre-maternal homes for the pregnant women to come and live at a month before they’re due, so that they’re close to the hospital when they have their babies. They have 1800 employees and 5 sub regional clinics which provide these services for 52 Eskimo villages spreading over an area the size of Oregon. The picture below is of Jeff in front of the hospital sign. The building in the background is the hospital. The building looks futuristic in shape, but has the colors of seafoam green and a brownish-orange that makes me think of native American art.
After the hospital, we walked about a half mile to the “center” of town. It was so cold that if you breathed through your nose, after a few breaths, you could feel the moisture inside your nose freezing a little bit. It wasn’t painful or anything, just a little uncomfortable. We were able to see the post office, the DMV, the police station, the fire station, and the library and check out a bunch of ads for different activities around Bethel and cars and houses for sale or rent. We ended at one of the two main grocery stores to get groceries for a couple of weeks. We checked out their upstairs floors where they have furniture and appliances. We liked a couple of sofas, loveseats really, which cost around $900- $1500. And then we left. J
Down at the grocery part of the store, we checked out prices for some of the things I had shipped from Oregon and decided that I probably saved us a lot of money in the long run. A gallon of milk is about $9.49; Chicken is more expensive than beef; Fresh vegetables run more than triple the cost of them in Oregon. A pound of cantaloupe for example is about $4.75 per pound. A small box of Tide laundry detergent is $21.99. When you get to the checkout stand, they ask if you want a box or a bag. Apparently a lot of people will buy food their food before flying out to their village, so have it boxed before they head out.
As we left the grocery store with our half full cart, Jeff called for a taxi. About 2 seconds later, someone honked a horn at Jeff and drove over to us. A number of taxis were sitting in the parking lot waiting for a phone call for a ride which was very convenient. She came over and helped us load our items and drove us back to our house.
Being near the airport, we often have airplanes flying over as they take off for Anchorage and the surrounding villages. It is surprisingly busy for a small town airport, but the different sizes of airplanes are neat to watch out of the window. It’s hardly noticeable unless it’s one of the larger planes, especially 737’s roars directly overhead.
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