Tonight we went to the rotary meeting. One of Ian's colleagues is from Tuscaloosa and had been home to help out with tornado relief and was giving a speech on his trip. I find it both funny and bizarre that here we are something like 4000 miles away from Alabama and I run across a rival. It's like we can't get rid of alabama fans no matter where we go! :) It was a good speech, though, and he and his wife are extremely nice. It looks like we'll be getting together for bbq in the future. The great thing about the meeting was that it was full of the people who love living in Barrow. So we came away feeling really positive. The alabama fan's wife is originally from South Africa and had so many interesting stories to tell. They've been up here for 17 years and have even lived in some of the small villages like Anaktuvuk Pass and Wainwright... and they loved living there too! It sounds like I have a lot of interesting experiences ahead of me from polar bears and walrus to the whale hunts.
The woman who sat next to us was a probation officer. She has been up here for a while as well. One of her funny stories involved a drunk man approaching her while she was taking a walk and suggesting he should be her boyfriend. When she said no, he invited her to a party. He tried to tempt her by telling her there would be marijuana and alcohol. So she asked if she could invite her friends so it could be a real party. He was really disappointed when her friends turned out to be the cops! That just cracks me up! Word to the wise: if you're on probation, do not approach a probation officer and invite her to your illegal party!
I'm glad that you've gotten to spend time with people who are positive about the place.
ReplyDeleteI find it curious that they can score pot in Barrow. Where does it come from out there? It's hilarious that he just invited the cops to come take it.