ugashik
White Beluga whales swam past us sometimes in those jaded emerald waters and seals would steal fish from our nets, damaging them.
White Beluga whales swam past us sometimes in those jaded emerald waters and seals would steal fish from our nets, damaging them.
Mounts, volcanoes, dangerous bodies of water, the wind. From the plane leaving the birth place of the winds (Adak?s motto) I ask myself when will I returned, when is it that I?ll come back again to this island. I miss it already, kind of got attached. Feelings of anxiety of returning to Washington seeing trees, family and friends, returning to class. I didn?t ever write everything in my blogs, some of the things I did forget to put in, I did erase some of my entries once they were posted on the web. March was crazy, I was ready to loose it. Maybe I?ll go back in August for crab season and see a different Adak that I?ve been told about, since the grass will be green, more birds are seen at that time of the year too. During the summer there is less snow and more fog I was also told.
So I?m back. Arrived around midnight last night.
Currently I?ve been working at the Hotel Adak. The only hotel on the island. They actually only rent entire houses for the night. They don?t exactly rent rooms. Not that there are any tourist on this island or have been any this year, but some biologists, inspectors and fishermen sometimes need a place to stay. My new job consists of changing the sheets on beds, washing them, washing the towels, folding the towels correctly, vacuuming, etc. I get paid better by the hour then I did at the plant, but I prefer working with fish than breathing dust and cleaning furnisher. Plus they don?t need me at the hotel every day. It?s 150 dollars a night to stay in one of the houses if any one is interested.
The fish obsessed girl saw her first halibut yesterday. I?ve eaten lots of halibut but never had I seen any of them that weren?t chopped up into pieces on someone?s plate. Yesterday I saw them being unloaded from a boat (first halibut on Adak this year) with there head still attached to their bodies. For supper we fried halibut. The neighbor?s had halibut head soup with cabbage, they always give us some of their food. It was oily but very delicious.
I been fantasizing about not leaving Adak. I?ve stayed on the same side of the island all of the time. The roads had been blocked with snow. Parcel four, the restricted area sounded exited to go to, I have my tent here for camping but that probably won?t happen. Someone had gotten mad at me for walking on the tundra because the scare of UXOs (unexploded ordnances) the possibilities of hidden Rommel stakes, mines, booby traps, etc. There are hiking trails, just stay on the road everyone says.
Fossil fuel is what they use to get electricity on this island. It makes everything a little bit more expensive, but with a microphone between my hands singing songs from a TV screen with the seven Filipinos left on the island makes me appreciate it more.
I have to think how nice it is to have a jukebox at the bar, or heating in these houses, or just being able to charge my computer wherever I am. In this ghost town that at one point was the home of 90,000 humans and now is only habituated by about a hundred, the reminisce of the past seems obvious.
Maria and I baked bread today, in someone else?s house because both of our ovens don?t work. She has three children. One of them is only three months old. She had night shifts so I never hang out with her before. Sara her sister in law took care of the children during the night. Sara worked day shifts with me. Sara left two weeks ago. They were the only two Mexicanas on the island. Isidro (Maria?s husband, Sara?s brother) signed a contract for a year, so the family will stay here that long.
Early in the morning the Barbara J came to town. She is the first longliner, fishing boat this year that has arrived to Adak. With only 7000 lbs. of black cod, it exited me with my first encounter with the species. I had only been working with pacific cod. We?d process half a million lbs. in a day. I feel lucky that I?m getting to see the Black Cod season begin.
Strong incense in St. Innocent Chapel, we stood for hours each one of us holding a candle. I don?t affiliate with any religion, but I been going to service here. Holy week is always exiting in my opinion. I stayed after everyone left to clean and vacuum with Anita the other night. She is from the Pribilof Islands. Everyone is too that comes to chapel, well from one island or another along the Aleutian chain.
First signs of spring, patches of green on some areas of the island. I?ll miss running in the snow, since it seems now that it has rained a couple of times and probably won?t snow much again, although here is still some snow on some locations. The wind here it seems will never stop blowing though.
Haven?t missed going to council meetings at the City Hall since I stop going to the plant. There were elections on Tuesday for different seats. About forty people voted. They been talking about that the last two meetings. Other subjects as well as land transfers, etc. They pass roll, see if any one is absent, document time of when it commences and ends. They ask for public comments. Ask each member of the council if they approved or not what is being passed.
Today I went to the plant to pick up my final pay check and the last of my food allowance. I?ll miss the loudness of the machines that now rest. I?ll miss the hard working people that have left. I?ll never forget what occurred here.
So our diet has changed. Since the processing boat, Discovery Star left us. Left us without our free dinners, lunches, midnight meals and breakfasts, we are now in charge of feeding ourselves. Jackfruits in jars from the Philippines, Top Ramen, at least once a day rice, Spam, ginger, etc. My supervisor cooks for me. I?m being treated pretty nice. It has to do with me being a girl, I?m told.
In the Viet Cong, Cu Chi tunnels near Ho Chi Mihn City (Saigon) we met someone who asked us, knew about Victor Jara. Victor is a Chilean folk singer who they killed after Allende?s goverment in 1973 was overthrown. He went to Vietnam. Here on Adak the Cubans recognize him too when I play his songs.
Yesterday Pulu who works at the airport had taken his skiff for a ride around the channels, cruising between islands. The weather got bad. The waves are the worst between the straits where the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet. He couldn?t return. People tried radioing him. With so many mountains all over the place communicating with him was impossible. He was too far away from Adak. People looked out from the beach and different location to the east. No sign of him. At the end they sent out a big fishing boat to look for him. They found him, everyone was happy.
Roaster?s hurting roasters, cock fighting DVD. Two years ago I witness an alive show of this on a street at Kota Kinabalu in the island of Borneo. On the island of Adak they can only watch it on the TV screen. The Filipinos tell me that Borneo use to be part of the Philippines and there is a connection through history between Chile and their country because of Ferdinand Magallanes.
Last night time changed, it made me a hour late to mass this morning. Worshipping with praise in Russian, Unangan (Aleut) and English. An old gray haired man led us into prayers, he wore a red golden dress. It was only ten of us in the chapel.
Dominoes and card games are popular on this island. They always gamble for money. It makes me kind of nervous. One night at my old house, two men that were playing and betting money with dominoes got into a fight. One of them broke a beer bottle and cut the other one?s hand. It was bloody.
I was wrongly informed. They shut down the only store in town. At least you can buy dried can goods at the restaurant still. In the same building one can find the post office, city hall, school. Two teachers, thirteen students. Yesterday they had a fundraiser. I bought five dollars worth of cookies. With the money they will send two of the students to these Native Olympic games that will be happening in the future.
I ate out of dishes that had imprinted the Navy seal. It felt weird. Left by the families who use to live in these houses.
1rst layoff was Sunday, 33 people went home. The plant seems empty. Again today Thursday, people leave, 25 of them. This next Sunday almost everyone else is leaving. In about a week Adak’s population will be cut in half. I’m moving in with my supervisor who is one of the few who isn’t leaving. People keep telling me it isn’t good to live alone or very safe here. The processing plant is the heart of Adak. I heard the prices at the store will rise and the variety of products drop. If they ever close the plant, there would be no reason to have two airplanes come in every week. The aircraft is divided in half, no first class, leaving everyone (not many people) setting in the back. In the front they fill it with cargo, bulk things. In May again another season begins, I believe it is black cod and gray cod time. I took the day off work today. No need of Quality Control today, if there is no fish any more. Everything seems so silent.
The telephone rings, the doorbell wakes me up, the alarm clock prepares me for the day and I notice that most of us here are being changed by this place. Two nights ago I went to the “B” (bar), the only bar on this island now. They didn’t even ask me for my ID. I was one of four girls at the bar. All of the girls were observers, who had to go to college, study biology and after four years take some training to be an observer. I guess all fishing vessels around here are required by law depending on their size to have an observer on board at least some of the time so the by catch can be monitored/recorded and they can take samples.
I been having forklift lessons. It is fun and easy. Nazario from work has been teaching me. I have a new roommate who is from Ethiopia. She is in night shift, so I don’t see her much. There are a lot of spam eaters on this island. A gallon of milk at the only store is 16 dollars. There is one restaurant, but I haven’t eaten there yet. I haven’t heard any good thing about it, but eventually I’ll go eat there before I leave. Blistered feet, swollen hands, hungry, cold and wet here I am, most of the time. Some of my coworkers have said that not even in Cuba they’ve had to work so hard. Some say that there is never nothing to look forward to here. Work seven days a week, day after day the same things repeat themselves again and again, and if there is no work, there isn’t much to do but drink. I think it is more about an attitude situation, about endurance. At the processing plant we are so under staffed.
Tagalo music at Work
I left the house that had no door knob behind. I left the crazy couple behind. I entered a house that has telephone and TV. The first news absorbed from places not from this island. This is the first time that I feel I can have my own time, my only roommate is never home. My roommate is Canadian and is the plant observer. She doesn’t exactly have shifts. The owner of Adak Fisheries is from Norway. He is a big white man that stands out a lot. Leo (one of the cooks, Mexican ) and me went for a walk today after we both got off work. We went into some underground hidden bunker like shelters with flashlights. The place looked like new, except for all the rat excrement on the floor and beer cans/bottles on the floors. There were no cob webs. Navy papers, cots, broken gas masks, chains on the walls, phones, speakers, warning signs, bulk paper cups.
Half a hour late to work today. The night had already started to turn to day. Walking quickly alone with disappearing morning stars above me for some miles. At the plant a bitter day awaited. This might sound stupid, but on this island there are barely any women and there is plenty of men, but three women have told me when being drunk how jealous they are for multiple reasons and at work they rather… Will I should stop now… But... Ok maybe I better just stop. There is this saying “Pueblo chico, infierno grande”. Small town big hell. I have to try really hard to not let stupid rumors and gossip irritate me so much. People are saying things about me that aren’t true.
There is no doctor on this island, but there is a chief medical officer who happens to be the mayor too. The mayor of Adak, Chuck Luck was born on Portland, Oregan. He sat across from me during dinner in the table, in the galley of the m/v discovery star. Tonight we talked about how last year they killed all the foxes on the island and now the island is invaded by rats. We have to go to this processing boat on the dock for meals. Sometimes while we eat the boat rocks back and forth because of weather creating bigger waves. Most every one goes there because it is for free. The only other Chilean here (Ramon) usually translates in meetings and helps the Cubans and Mexicans when they have problems to talk to the bosses. I?ve been having to do the same thing, giving out announcement, translating them in Spanish so the workers who don?t know English can know what is going on. Today I weighed pacific cod milt (fish sperm, semen) for twelve hours strait. I have to admit it wasn?t too fun, and I get so cold cause I?m not moving too much. As long as my body is doing enough movement I don?t get so cold. The milt goes to Nippon. The stomachs, livers, heads, eggs goes to the European market, South Korea, Japan, Russia and China I think or to some of those places I think. I forget what goes where. I?ve tasted fried cod eggs and stomachs that some of the Filipinos here have cooked. Taste delicious. Been eating lots of fish too, some octopus and squid too. It is 100 dollars a month to have a phone. Not many people have phones.
Domestic Violence occurs in every corner of this world. It also occurs on islands. Islands like Adak. No man should be allowed to hit his wife. Alcohol does not justify anything. The money is staying on Adak if they spend it all here. Alcohol is an issue here. Most people here seems to me are between the ages of 20-40, are mostly men, are married, or have children and are immigrants. They leave their children and wife back home and stay for months here. It been struggling in keeping up with what day I’m in, the dates, etc. It isn’t hard to forget here that there is a world out there. Haven’t heard much news from the continents. No radio, no tv, no newspapers. Drunks screaming and fighting sometimes all night, preventing restfulness before our shifts. Gossip is big in such a small community. Everyone already knows everything if something happens. Rumors are popular. Wear two pair of pants every day and/or with long underwear, and everyone wears at least one wool hat. People are strangely too nice here. I been given wool hats, bandanas, a coat, pairs of wool socks, calculator, lunch box, gloves, food. Working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week isn’t really that bad. They made us work 16 hrs the other day because we left the night shift crew a big mess at the plant. Fish heads, fish guts, dead fish every where on the floor. Took hours to clean up, after we were suppose to go home. We are allowed to work 18 hrs if we want to. I’m happy with the minimum (12) hours we are permitted to work. What happens here stays here. I’m not sure if that makes any sense. Or if it is the rite thing I want to say.
Weighing fish livers, eggs and milt. We never do the same work every day. Flattening heads. Picking up guts/stomachs that have fallen to the ground. Most of us get less than four hours of sleep every night before our shift begins again. I moved a few days ago. I now live with a couple. A Cuban and a native American, very nice people, clean freaks. Not that something horribly wrong occurred, I still do hang out after work with my old roommates. Loudness, party people are terribly fun, but maybe not every night. So my hands come in direct contact with fish all day. Twelve hours standing up all day. Trying to learn some Filipino words. Getting my time card checked. Thurdays and Sundays when the plane comes only a few of us get mail. Went to the high school played some basketball. Lima means five, ima means hand, salamat means thank you (but then again I could be wrong.) You can be about 5 feet from a bald eagle before it flies away. This is a gorgeous place, but there are lots of first timers, home sick people. I am not one of them. Every one knows everyone and their story. So what are you going to use the money you get from this for? Where are you from? What do you think about this? Are you catholic? Etc. Etc. I am the first Chilean woman citizen in this island. There is already a Chilean man who works here. Ramon use to coincidently only lived a few block from my house when I lived in Santiago. I m waiting for a boat called the Equinox. Mart Schomberg is on it. He was my first skipper but on another boat. When we don?t have work, the only thing to talk about is when the boats are coming.
The alarm goes off at 04:45 am. The Bus leaves at 05:30 am. No free breakfast so I make some tea and eat a few dried figs that I had brought with me. The school bus was left behind by the Navy. People keep their lungs warm inside by smoking their cigarettes while we ride to work. Inside the old bus is just as cold as outside. No heater. Once we get to the processing plant they tell us if there is work that day or not and if there is enough for everyone. The phones we have in our houses don?t work. Luckily there was work to be done, the first morning that I showed up. You have to show up everyday each morning, even if they sent you back home, because there is no fish. It is in the contract. I started that day by panning. What panning consists of is folding the cod with out heads or guts into trays/sheets so they can be frozen. It is like working inside of a freezer/ refrigerator. I wore three pairs of sox and my feet were still numb from all the cold. Outside it can be snowing sideways one minute , and in twenty minutes it could get sunny. The weather here changes quickly. Many islanders on this island but none of them were born here. My supervisors, boss, plant workers and crew leader are Filipinos. They speak Filipino all day long. Lots of Cubans boys working at the plant as well. Met a guy who has lived here since the Vietnam war ended and was wearing a Penang Island t-shirt. I was like I?ve been there, Georgetown, Malaysia.
2/22/04
So I’m here. It is sunny, yup I’m in the Aleutian chain and it is sunny. A bit weird. The wind is blowing. There are white snow covered mountains all around me. It is beautiful. Empty streets, empty houses,. Thousands of birds every where. Fat eagles every where. Over weight ravens or crows flying like mad. This is definitely one of the weirdest places I ever been to so far. I got day shift, I think I would of preferred night shift, so then maybe I could do my things in brood day light. I start at 06:00 am tomorrow morning. I get allowance once a week for 50 dollars a day. Two free meal a day if I work 12 hours, 3 if I work 18 hours. I’m staying with native American from the Yukon, Marshall they told me. yupik eskimos. Two brothers, a sister and a cousin. Friendly, accepting, this place is very diverses. White people are a minority.
Bitter hot tea I made the Russian fish buyer, drink. Him and me went skiing together. I mostly snowboard but he insisted that he?d pay for most things since he invited me. Renting skis was a little less expensive. The company, I?ll be working for invited him to Adak, so then maybe he feels an interest in buying/importing fish to Russia. He told me that he is worried that the weather will get bad on Adak once he is suppose to leave and his visa will expire, getting him into trouble, since he won?t be able to leave. After returning from the choppiest, bumpiest flight I ever been on, I could see how that could become a problem. He tells me that if I ever do visit Siberia I should go to Baikal lake. So the scheduled time of my arrival on Adak tomorrow is the same time like it was on Thursday. So I guess I have to write with in 48 hours once I get there. The wind made the rain/snow slush hit my face like if needle were going through my skin.
Sara and I woke up to the knocks on our door from the guys who are going with us to Adak to work. It?s day time, it?s time for breakfast, wake up, they told us through the door. We told them we were sleeping and they left. Then we got dressed and joined them downstairs for breakfast. Non of us have ever gone to Adak. Two of them had been waiting here since Sunday to go to Adak, but they had missed their flight, and yesterday the weather did not permit us to land. One of them showed us a needle mark on his arm, telling us that they had tested his blood for drugs. When we had returned last night I over heard that he wasn?t suppose to go to Adak, that they didn?t want him to work there. I know that they have zero tolerance towards people who do drugs. Over breakfast another man showed us lots of fake IDs obviously fake. Both had missed their flight last Sunday and had been waiting four days. After breakfast Sara and I went for a short walk, she needed a telephone card. I had let her use mine for a call yesterday when we were in King Salmon, when none of us knew what was going to happen next. Now the only thing we are waiting for it?s to be Sunday, so we can (weather permiting) get to Adak. That is the next scheduled date for an airplane to fly there. They can?t yet tell me if they are having work tally, adding the pounds of pacific cod, doing math on paper, etc. They tell me that I will only find out once I? m actually there.
From a metal bird I saw the birth of a new day. Light oranges, pinks, and blue colors announced the sunrise. The stars had began to disappear and under us a thick sheet of clouds. The airplane was half empty. I had three seats for myself. My first stop Anchorage airport was covered in snow. Snow covered mountains, snow covered beaches. Circular bodies of ice seen floating on the water. Seemed something more like from an unrealistic panoramic scenery painting. It didn?t look very real. 2nd stop was King Salmon. The airport in King Salmon is right beside the Naknek river which I have fished before. This summer I?ll I fly back here to fish again on the F/V Ironic (my father?s gillnetting boat). The Naknek river now is frozen. You could probably walk on it.
I saw Adak today. We flew around the island for longer than a hour trying to land. Stupid dumb weather. The airplane was running out of fuel so we had to return to King Salmon, and from there to Anchorage to where I am now. The company is letting me stay in this hotel with meals included till Sunday. Sunday there is another airplane to Adak. I?m stuck here with five of my future coworkers. They are all filipini, latinos and there is one russian fish liver buyer. They are all very nice so far. I have to help them translate things. It SUCKS that I have to wait two other days. I guess I can play in the snow here and become better aquainted with my new roommates.
I?m ready to go. Everything is packed. Books, rolls of film, waterproof clothes, laptop, tent, sleeping bag, etc. maybe I?m taking too much. I have to be at the airport at 06:00 am tomorrow. Got an e-mail that the internet maybe isn?t working so good on Adak. Hopefully it will still be possible to write on my blog within 48 hours of my arrival time. Haven?t finished saying good byes to people. I should go do that. You all have nice adventures now.
There were a lot of activities occurring in the Aleutians during 1942. Japanese did land on Adak. They invaded Kiska and Attu and bombarded Dutch Harbor. Not to say that they were many people out there. That same year the U.S. created the Naval Air Station on Adak. The Japanese tried to attack the base but it didn?t exactly work. This is some of what I have read today.
hola
seeing if this works,
it better work