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| Crisp, cold, and clear |
In welcoming back the sun, I’ve experienced the strange phenomenon of a sun outage, which happens twice a year. This is the interruption or distortion of geostationary satellite signals caused by the interference of solar radiation. The path the sun takes across the sky in this region is directly behind the line of sight between an earth station and a satellite. The sun radiates strongly across the entire spectrum, and swamps the signal from the satellite. Long story short, sun outages wipe out our internet, long distance phone calling, and video teleconferencing capabilities. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m living with 1990s quality technology services, but it still is inconvenient when communication is cut off completely. On the bright side, I’m enjoying the impressive displays of aurora that accompany this time of year. In the past I’ve had to wake up at 1am to see the lights, but this week they’ve been visible on my drive to work at 7am.
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| These lights stretched across the entire sky! |
Communication troubles further complicated my conundrum of the month, which came to a head due to the waning days of February; finding housing in Nome. Without going into detail, my current living situation has become increasingly intolerable since I arrived back from break in January. My goal is to move out by February 29th (thankfully the leap year granted me an extra day!) to escape the exploitive and repulsive conditions I’m living in. Never has finding a new apartment been so challenging and disheartening. It seems as if even the most straightforward things are complicated and near impossible here.
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| Road clearing from a recent storm |
Rentals are at a premium in Nome, as demand far exceeds supply. Hundreds of people are moving to the area for employment. Construction workers are needed to build the new hospital scheduled to open next fall, three new restaurants are opening in the coming month, and new equipment has allowed gold miners to dig into the frozen tundra encouraging them to stick around through the winter. Compounding my issue is the upcoming Iditarod, where every nook and cranny is rented out to travelers from all over. At the same time, new housing cannot be built. All of the building materials must be shipped up to Nome, causing an additional $5 per pound added to the final price tag. Banks are unwilling to loan money to builders, as the initial debt incurred by the creation of new housing is too steep and too risky to consider. With the current demand there is no doubt that the preliminary losses would be recovered, however from an outsider’s view it is just too big of a gamble.
That being said, I spent all of February trying to pin down a place to live. I started my search confident, knowing that I am an ideal tenant; gainfully employed, tidy and quiet, single, no kids, no pets, no smoking or drinking. I posted my information and request on Nome-announce twice a week, with replies ranging from “We have a 4-bedroom available in June” to “Do you have any leads? I’m having trouble finding housing too”. I called each of the 27 listed landlords in Nome, with even more disastrous results. I was told that I shouldn’t bother relocating to Nome, as housing is too difficult to obtain. I was told that there was no point adding me to their waiting list, which already exceeded fifty people. I was blatantly laughed at. I was told with 100% sincerity that my best bet is to seduce a man so he will invite me to live with him. By the end of the month, things were getting desperate. A friend and I brazenly called a recent divorcee, seeing if his second bedroom was now available (it wasn’t). We walked into kickboxing, and every other community event, shamelessly announcing that I needed a spare bed.
With all of my best efforts, a few opportunities did come up. I jumped on anything I could find, which wasn’t much. I was one of the lucky six to be permitted a viewing of a one-bedroom located next to a bar downtown, “furnished” with a soiled twin mattress sans-bed frame or box spring, tastefully decorated with stubbed out cigarettes for $1,200 a month, no utilities included. I was offered a room for more than half of the total rent by a newly dating couple, greeting me at the door in their underwear. The room they plan to rent shares a wall with their bedroom, and it was made clear to me that one of them has a degree in sex therapy, and I would have to be comfortable with their “recreational activities”. I pursued but was denied a spot in the teacher’s dorms, despite the fact that I work in the same school building and teach some of the same students, because the Bering Strait School District rather than Nome Public Schools officially employs me. The unfortunate reality is that all BSSD teachers are offered school housing, except those living in Nome. Staying in the local homeless shelter was a distinct possibility, and that’s not a good feeling.
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| The Vet Hospital neighbored one of my options - tiny! |
My housing crisis is still not fully resolved, but I have secured a residence in a three-bedroom with two nurses for the month of March. This buys me more time to search, but also brings another month of stress and displacement. I can only hope something opens up after Iditarod. I realize that this is my most negative entry, but this issue has flavored all that I experienced this week. Here is a quick highlight reel of the rest: Marc McKenna and Dusty VanMeter finished the 2,000 mile Iron Dog snowmachine race in the fastest time in history – 35 hours and 47 minutes. Sarah Palin’s husband finished 5th in this race, so there was a stir in town over whether she might drop by as she did last year (she didn’t). Reaping the rewards from a radio contest, I enjoyed a free ticket to the movie Red Wings with a friend. The before film advertisements informed me that Subway as well as Airport Pizza now deliver food on Bering Air to the surrounding villages. The previews showcased movies that were all “coming soon” in January. Temperatures have dropped well below zero once again, and game nights have resumed. While I’m a contender in homemade charades, I can’t compete in Apples to Apples.
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| Waiting at the "chute" for racers |
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| Here they come! |
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| Repair and rest time in the garage |
