Coming soon

A post featuring pictures and stories from the Sitka to Glacier Bay kayak trip soon to come.  In the meantime, here are a few pictures.

Performance at monthly grind

I finally got this video uploaded.

It's been one year

A whole year has passed since I came to Alaska; it's hard to imagine time has flown so quickly.  Dan, David, and I went out in Dan's boat during work.  It's herring season and that's when Sitka really comes to life.  The fishing season begins with the intense herring openings. Herring seems to be the snack of the sea, so all the other wildlife, like whales and eagles, are out and about.  We were going to try and make it out during one of the fishing openings, but the timing was too hard to manage with work on the house.  When we went out, the department of Fish and Game was doing a herring sampling.  We also saw a very large gathering of bald eagles and a few whales.  We had a good time.

  

There's Dan taking his famous pictures.  You should become a fan of him on facebook.

 

This is my picture of the bald eagles as they perched in the trees watching the activity in the ocean, waiting for a good opportunity to nab some fish. Dan got some pictures of when they were feeding, there were at least fifty of them!

I'll write more later!

<3 Joshua

A hike up Mt. Verstovia

A cruise ship came into town on a very sunny day in Sitka. I hiked Mt. Verstovia with my friend Ronny. It was about a 2 hour hike up and 1 hour hike down. We had a few rests, too. It was such a gorgeous day for a hike. My favorite part of the hike is heading back down where there is ample snow on the mountain and it is steep enough to just sit and slide down on your butt. I am hoping to go again soon just to enjoy that again.

The variety post

Hello everyone. I was hoping to upload a lot of videos, but I think pictures will have to do for now. We had a day at the pool where we were given Alaska Marine safety training. We wore "Gumby" suits and practiced swimming as a group. The suits are actually the color of Pokey, I was hoping they were going to be green. I really liked Gumby when I was a kid.The day after swimming we went out to a Ropes Course center. The Ropes Course is primarily used for people who are battling addictions and have to learn how to face obstacles and learn to trust others. I'm not battling any addictions and I might be too trusting, so I had no fear.

The Ropes Course was on Saturday, the next day was Easter! I went to the Sitka Lutheran Church again. This time I took pictures of the organ. Last week I was invited to eat waffles at some nice folks' home. After eating waffles with Alaskan huckleberries and blueberries, we went to the Blessing of the Fleet. I was going to make a post showing the Blessing of the Fleet, but I will have to wait till I can upload some videos in a more timely fashion. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, I talked with my new friend, Shirley, and the Pastor and they were saying they will most likely need an organist starting sometime in the summer. They offered me to try out the organ and I did. It is very nice! Quite simple, too. It's not nearly as fancy as my Grandma's organ.The name of it is the Kessler Organ and it was the first pipe organ on the west coast of North America. The organ was manufactured in 1844 in Estonia. When it was shipped to Sitka in 1846, it served the Finnish-Lutheran congregation established in 1840 "on this site."

The beginning of this week started off with lovely weather and I went on a couple hikes. Here is one picture from a hike.

Things are rolling right along

My Adidas didn't fit in here, these are known as the "Sitka Sneaker."


I fit in now.

These are the dorms where I live. I found out yesterday there is a piano in the dorm. I am very happy about that. Just so you know, I won't be moving it into my room, I learned my lesson in college. :)

There was an opening for fishing today down in Silver Bay. The Department of Fish and Game selected a location the fifth and final opening for herring fishery. The announcement for a 15-minute fishery was made two hours before the 2:30 starting time by a F&G Biologist over the radio. The boats raced down to the location and dropped their nets. In those 15 minutes they brought in 1,209 tons of fish. I left with the group from the career center to watch the show, however, we went to a wrong location at first and got there just at the end.

We went out to the job site this morning, however, I didn't get any pictures. The house that was built last year has a few things to finish up. Tomorrow, I'll be taking the participants out to a lady's house to do some landscaping.

Have a good Friday!

First day(s) in Sitka, Alaska

Last night was funny. Ben (the coordinator of the YABAH program) picked me up at the airport. I called him when my plane landed and said I would meet him at the baggage claim. He laughed to himself because, unbeknownst to me at the time, the airport is pretty much one large room with the baggage claim back in the corner. Then, as we watched the same three bags go around on the luggage belt, I tried to describe to Ben what my suitcase looked like. "I don't think it's black... or red... or gray..." It happened to be that my suitcase didn't make it from the Boise-Seattle flight to the Seattle-Sitka flight since the Boise flight was delayed. Thankfully, I had the legs to run to my gate, and I barely even made it. :)

I joined Ben and his friends for some whale-watching, which was a very nice way to start my stay here. The whales come really close to the shore to eat the herring which are making their way up here this time of year to spawn. After that was dinner and bed.

Today was beautiful and sunny and I guess that is rare. I got to explore and run lots of errands. Plus my luggage came in so Ben drove me to the airport to pick that up. And the lady at the airport and I discussed the color. I thought it had a green tint to it and she said it was brown. I was thinking my bright green jacket made it look brown. I guess I only knew which color it wasn't.

I'm very excited about my stay here and so far it is an amazing city. I'll talk to you soon!

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