The Week of Spring Break

It was the week of Spring Break. In an effort to assimilate to the American college culture I started the break by getting impressively trashed at the Marlin on a very slow Thursday ending in some less than remarkable karaoke versions of Kismet’s (the band I’m in) songs and Tommy (the friend) and Harley (the dog) sleeping on our couch after several toasts in Danish liquor “Fisk”. Tom took off the next day, Harley is still with me and in addition we are looking after another dog this week so the house is quite alive.

This was also the week where I read a 300-page book on incest for a class. I do enjoy reading academic literature but spending my break reading 300 pages on incest is a little too much even for me. As an extra treat Jehovah’s Witnesses also knocked on my door very early one morning this week giving me a flier. It was a bizarre experience: I was reading in bed when a big black truck screeched to a halt up our drive way and a guy in a suit jumped out and ran up to our door. I hurried up to open and looking terribly frightened the man handed me a flyer without saying anything. Meanwhile Harley was jumping up and down the guy’s leg trying to get his attention. The guy, still too frightened to talk half smiled and then took off for the truck that was already half out the driveway again. As I returned to my incest book James asked who’d been at the door – I told him and he (half-jokingly) said I should run after him with an axe or a shot gun next time. This is the moment where I realized why being a Jehovah’s Witness in Alaska might be a bit scarier than in Denmark.

This was not the week where I got my Alaskan drivers license. It also was not the week where I got my financial papers in order. This also wasn’t the week I got to go to Chena Hotsprings. Well, actually I did go, but it turned out to be crowded like corn in a can and so the thought of sharing the small hot water pool with 50 strangers all squeezed in there convinced me and James to go back to town un-hot springed.

Biggest of all this was the week of Saint Patrick’s Day. The Irish saint celebration that is one of the biggest parties of the year in Fairbanks as well as in other parts of the states with many Irish immigrants/ancestors (I don’t think I know a single American who doesn’t claim some Irish heritage). Everyone dress up in green outfits, funny hats and green beads. The beer at the bar is colored green, live bands play Irish tunes all night and you can win green prizes. I off course had to go read my book on incest and didn’t stay out too late, but long enough to enjoy the celebration and wish everyone Happy Saint Paddy’s Day!

Spring time ?

It’s been two weeks since my last blog  - midterm exams came and got me.  And then I spent three days not doing anything that has to do with computers. In the meantime I turned 26. It feels good to be that much older and wiser. My birthday is usually the starting point for spring back in Denmark. In Alaska? Not so much. We just had almost three feet of snow – that is almost one meter. I practically had to dig my way out of the house. Our car has four-wheel drive and so we made it out of our driveway, up the small hill and out on the main road. My friend Heather who later came to pick me up does not have four-wheel drive and so for the third time this winter her and me got stuck in my driveway. This time completely blogging the road. For 45 minutes we tried to push and dig the car out with the neighbor lady screaming at us from her porch to try this and try that. The car didn’t move. We couldn’t get a hold of anyone to come pull us out and had almost given up making it to class and rehearsal when a lady pulled up with her truck with a plow in front. Someone had called her and asked her to help the two young women – who remains a mystery. This was a truly Alaskan lady and after one look at Heather’s car she decided she could single-handedly push it out of the ditch. Of course I supportively pushed next to her, but really that was more a matter of pride than actually helping. Out we came in the end.

In some ways spring is here. I saw a barelegged lady in a mini skirt at the grocery store. More people are coming out to the bar including (James confounded told me) an 86-year old grandma who danced all night. And the trees (James excitedly told me) have started to crack – giving in to the long winter – a sure sign of spring. And so even though the temperature just dropped to minus 25 C and the snow is knee deep this week of spring break lures me into thinking that it is actually spring. Tomorrow I will provide photos of this wonderful season.