Aug 23, 20193 min read

New Beginnings in Bethel

I’ve been in Bethel for two weeks. There have been sunny days and rainy days but mostly dusty days. I walk two miles to my service site and two miles back five days a week. Boardwalks reminiscent of the Jersey Shore connect opposite ends of town over the tundra. The tundra is beautiful. Life feels slower in Bethel. In a good way.

Bethel boasts a few paved roads but many are gravel. I’ve been offered quite a few rides on my way to service from people I know and don’t know. I have just figured they are a friend of a friend or at the very least, someone’s friend and I’ve been fine every time. I have been humbled by the generosity of others.

I live with five other Jesuit Volunteers: Alana, Gabby, Jaela, Julia, and Nick. Alana, Gabby, and Jaela were JVs last year in Bethel and loved it so much that they decided to keep walking to work and choosing to live well below the poverty line for an additional year. We are extremely privileged to have this choice.

This picture is from our weeklong orientation in Oregon. We dressed up and decorated a mandala. The Tender Tundra, ’19-’20. From bottom left to bottom right: Alana, Julia, Gabby, Jaela, me, and Nick.

The house we live in needs leveling. It’s an uphill battle to my bedroom and a slide on the way back to the front door. When water spills, it travels and pools in one corner of the house. Houses and buildings in Bethel are on stilts because the ground is not sturdy enough for foundations. Permafrost beneath the surface melts and changes with the climate, causing houses to shift and tilt. Owners call people to jack up the house, like a car, and level it. We’re ninth on the list in Bethel and have no idea when our house will be leveled. In a way, I might miss the slant. Like the little prince and the fox, I’ve grown to expect it.

Our neighborhood is called Uivik. I’ve been told uivik is a Yup’ik word for circle and December. If you erase your Westernness and take a circular approach to time, the double meaning of the word makes a great deal of sense, especially because the houses are arranged into two circles. Additionally, we live on Qugyuk Street, except no one refers to it that way. Even cab drivers don’t respond to street names—just neighborhoods, landmarks, family names.

Also at orientation; clearly already getting along.

I’ve eaten salmon almost every day that I’ve been in Bethel, boated on the Kuskokwim twice, fished for salmon once, picked tundra berries many times (they grow abundantly and seemingly everywhere. The tundra provides!). I’ve eaten salmon caviar, swan meat, moose meat, and lots of tundra blueberries. I've had a beginner's crash course of how to gut and fillet salmon. But mostly, I've been blown away by the social gatherings and people I’ve met. I’ve attended three potlucks in 10 days and I find that equally confusing and amazing. Everyone actually brings something to share at potlucks here and the dishes and homemade breads, soups, and salads have been so good. Potlucks seem more prevalent here than in the lower 48--at least in my corner of it. So far, the people I have met have been extremely welcoming and generous.

Our really nice friend took us salmon fishing on her boat. We caught 10 massive fish.

All six of us are busy at various service sites throughout the day: the university (me), university library, district attorney’s office, public defender’s office, inter-tribal fish commission, and local radio station. At night, we come together to eat and share quality time in our WiFi-less, tilted home on the tundra while the world outside continues looking like 3pm.

It’s a good life.