orientation

First, I would just like to point out my grammar was unacceptable in that last post. I was pretty excited and did not go back to proofread....I'm expecting a email from Cassie with corrections any minute! I am supposed to be in orientation this afternoon. They scheduled it for 3 hours and I just finished all of it in less 25 minutes.
I had lunch today with a Baptist missionary from Arkansas.She was reading the Arkansas newspaper with a picture of her family on the front page that someone mailed to her with the headline "Arkansas couple SAVES Native Alaskan Baby from Abortion." (a little intense but I guess that's Arkansas for you) The story describes how her and her husband adopted a newborn Eskimo baby from Barrow. The baby's family treats her like she is the real birth mother of the child so she loves it here because that whole family takes care of her. I guess I lunched with a Barrow's biggest celebrity today.
After asking around, I figured out what the boat with a flag is doing in front of the house I am staying. Evidently, when a family catches a whale, they dock their boat with the colors of their family at the spot where they go out to fish. Looks like a whaling festival will be right outside my front door this weekend. Not really sure what a "whaling festival" is, but if it involves a belly flop contest into the whale blubbler, I might never leave this place. Just kidding, but seriously that would be awesome.
I just got an invite to the local ice hockey game tonight. It's an outdoor ice skating rink on the outskirts of town. Supposedly they get pretty competetive. I was just thankful that I got invited to watch and not actually play....
The road in front of the house I am staying is called cakeater and is known for the best bird watching in the state of alaska (and I use the word "road" loosely as there are not paved roads in Barrow and everything is covered in snow). The owner of the house left me a 5 pound bag of birdseed for me to throw out. I'm going to throw it when i get home and see what happens being careful my sunglasses are on.....i don't know how agressive these birds might be. So, I guess it is time to get back to "orientation." Too bad this dental stuff is going to get in the way of all of my other plans.....