A Strange New World

Three weeks ago tomorrow was the day I flew out of Anchorage.

Destination? The Farm Lodge.

To reach the lodge, you can either fly in or take a boat across Lake Clark. I haven’t flown anywhere in the past ten years, but I was supposed to reach the lodge, and I was aboard an airplane for the third time that day—from the short-hop plane out of Eugene, to the 737 from Seattle, and finally to the nine-seater belonging to Lake Clark Air. I have pictures of nearly everything else, but not the plane—mostly because I was inside the airplane, not outside taking pictures of it.

Take-off to Alaska

How to begin?

I’ve now been in Alaska two weeks and some-odd number of days, and yes—I’m collecting stories to tell. The problem is, I’ve put off beginning this far too long, and now I’m almost overwhelmed by everything I’d like to tell you about. So, I’ll break the story into parts and tell you about it a little at a time—with pictures:

Folk Song

A couple of Anna’s friends in my story like to sing. This is a folk song that they would know—it comes from Jiscwia, their home country. I tried to use a ballad’s 4-3 rhythm, but the scansion was a little tricky and the rhymes are missing entirely. I only know these four stanzas, but as you might guess, this sort of song could go on indefinitely. It always stops with the wolf, though:

I went out one morning to hear a fox bark;
He was asleep in the hay,
With a bag full of feathers lying by his side
And two chickens gone from the barn.

I went out one morning to see a fish jump;
But he hid under a log
In the shade and the shadows of the old cow pond,
And he wouldn’t come out to play.

I went out one morning to see a hawk fly;
He soared on most beautifully
Till I climbed a tree to gather an egg,
When he swooped down and drove me away.

I went out one morning to watch a wolf run;
I found him snarling by my barn.
Then I waved my arms and shouted “run away!”
And he chased me home again.

Areaex I, updates

Continuing the story from Friday:

Areaex I, updates

It’s a little challenging to find a section of my story that doesn't connect to half-a-dozen other sections. I’ve broken this scene into two posts. The second half will come on Tuesday.

Here, the company has halted on the second night of their journey. The first night, they stayed in one of the hamlets, but now they have to camp out. Meygar, one of the soldiers had gone to find game, while the others built a fire:

Greek, continued

As you might have guessed from a previous post, I like studying languages. Working with a foreign language has given me a more thorough understanding of English vocabulary and grammar.

As I’ve studied Greek, I’ve found that its grammar has some odd twists now and then. Most double negatives, for example, simply intensify the statement—“you may not jump off a cliff at all.” In certain uses, though, the double negatives cancel each other. Thus, a proverb saying “No one will not die,” actually means “everyone will die.”

Travel Plans

As most of you know by now, I have a summer job in Alaska for the next two months. I flew into Anchorage Thursday afternoon, and flew out again about an hour later to the lodge where I will be working until October. The last stretch of my flight was clear and sunny, so that I was able to see some gorgeous mountains.

Building Sand Castles

Last weekend the mountain, this week the beach at Lincoln City—and I brought home the sunburn to prove it. Actually, I was sort of smart. I put sunscreen on my face and arms, but I decided not to put any on my legs—playing in the water, I figured, would just wash it off again.

I should have at least tried.

Sunburns aside, it was a beautiful day—hardly any clouds, fog, or wind, and just enough warm enough to be pleasant.

Greek to me?

In my Greek translations, I recently ran across a number of proverbs. Apparently the textbook likes these proverbs—especially the ones expressing futility. I thought you might enjoy some of them (they are mostly my translation):
 

You are spitting into the sky.

You are devising a small rope out of sand.

You are singing a victory song before the victory.

You are bringing the war engines after the war.

You are shaving the lion.

A big book is a big evil.

A bad egg is of a bad crow.

The roughness of a road tests the usefulness of a donkey.

The wolf changes his hair, not his purpose.

A mob is a poor judge of beautiful things.

Lions at home, foxes in battle.

You are writing on water.

You are seeking milk from a bird.

You are lending light to the sun.

One proverb sounds suspiciously like a mixture of Shakespeare and Julius Caesar: “The world is a stage; life, an entrance—you came, you saw, you went away.” Just remember, though, “without health, life is lifeless.”

Hiking: A Photo Story

Last weekend, with some family and friends, I packed a lunch and headed into the wilderness—the Table Rock Wilderness that is, a place where only my brother could get cellphone reception.