Deutschland Diary 7

 Sunday 23 September 1984

Thursday and Friday were uneventful.  Friday evening and the rest of the weekend made the trip almost worth while.  Our weekend excursion started out like the rest of our time in  Germany - confusing.  The 25 of us were to meet at the Div Arty TOC which was at my location.  We were supposed to leave around 1800 but since we wanted to make sure everyone was accounted for we did not leave until 1900 and even then we were short 3 people.  Two were accounted for and would show up at our destination.  I was sent out with the Polezie to get the third one.  We went 30K and ran into a road block consisting a helicopter that they were taking apart and mounting on a truck and got stuck in several other locations before we found where Jack Stewart was supposed to me.  He had already left.

We headed to Rothenburg along dark and winding roads through a misting rain in the mountains of Bavaria During our trip Ollie and Rolf turned on their flashing blue lights and siren and weaved in and out of traffic.  It was an experience I wont soon forget.

We arrived in Rothenburg about 9:30 pm.  We drove thru the old Walled City and eventually fond the motel or guesthouse.  I checked into my room and joined the others in the dining room.  I had Cordanblue, peas and French fries.  About 10:30 I went with the rest of the guys to a German bar.  It was a typical place, one which you think a German bar would look like. Old wood paneling, rustic looking place.  There was a lot of singing and dancing.  Jerry got the chicken dance going.  Most were good sports about it, other Germans just sighed when it started.  I guess it would be like someone go to the states and start doing the twist.

The next morning I got up at 5 am and had strong black coffee, hard roles, cheese, and meat.  The breakfast came with the room.

I then started about doing one of the most enjoyable things as it turned out in my life - walking around the streets of  Rothenburg.   

.....continued

Bear Quest - Alaska

My Quest to See a Bear:


The first two years I lived in Hooper Bay next to the Bering Sea there were no bears around there and hardly any other type of animals that were not connected to the sea in one way or another.  Hooper Bay was to far south for Polar Bears, but someone claimed they had seen tracks a year or so ago -probably a village legend. .

The third year I was located in Pitka’s Point along the Yukon River and the students would tell me stories about bear encounters.  I had to take the trash to the dump one afternoon in the school truck and noticed that there were a bunch of dead fish lying out on a platform.  I figured that if there were bears in the area they would smell the fish and eat a tasty meal.  I discussed the plan with my principal and was given permission to use the truck that evening.  The locals had told me that the bears come out just at sun set, so 10 PM would be a good time to be at the dump.  I arrived about 9:30, got into a position to see the fish fairly well and I waited, and waited, and waited some more. It got pitch dark, around 11:30 but still no bears.  I decided I had waited long enough.  I turned over the ignition on the truck, and nothing.  I tried again, and nothing. It would have been an easy mile and half walk back to Pitka’s Point but I thought if I started walking in the middle of night it would be my luck to come upon a bear with only my clothing to protect me and not a truck cab.  I tried one more time to start the truck and the engine cranked over to my great relief.  I never purposely went looking for a bear again and in fact avoided those places where I thought one might be. I was almost successful.  But that is another story.

Church Incident-Buckland, Alaska

Church Incident - Buckland


                  The last six weeks of my stay in Alaska I was transferred to Buckland to fill the slot of a teacher who had to leave for medical reasons.  I had no TV so I had to fill my evenings with watching movies at school or just about anything to keep from going crazy.  The teachers that were there had already established their relationships and for some reason did not seem to bother trying to welcome a stranger.  I found this little church that had Wednesday and of course Sunday meetings so I started attending.  The congregation was non denominational as far as I could tell and consisted mainly of people giving testimonies.  I learned a lot about the wages of sin and forgiveness in this little Eskimo Village. 

One evening towards the end of the service a lady came in and said we all had to stay in side because Sally was shooting at Freddy again.  I had no idea who Sally and Freddy were but everyone else just looked at each other with knowing sad nods and sat down.  After about 30 minutes a lady stood up, instructed all of us to get into a circle and hold hands.  She then commenced a prayer  asking God if it was OK for us to go home now.  I didn’t hear a reply but she said,  “Ok, everything is alright we can leave now.”  I got back to my abode alright so she must have had a better communication link than I.    As an aside, the next day I saw an Alaskan Trooper in town.  He said he had just flown in to see what was happening between Sally and Freddy this time.  He said it wasn’t any big deal he guessed.  “She is always shooting at him but always missed.

Caribou-Alaska

Caribou Hind Quarter– Noatak.

One day in the early fall a knock came to the door.  My roommate, Eric, answered it and it was Michael.  A local Eskimo man in his very early twenties.  He asked if he could borrow $20 from each of us for gasoline to put in his four wheeler because the caribou were crossing down stream on the Noatak River.  He needed to get there.  I had loaned money before to villagers and seldom had it returned so I wasn’t to hep on the idea.  Eric on the other had, being just a little older than Michael, said he thought we would get the money back.  I came up with a better idea.  Since we had not bought any meat yet from Kotzebue (large village to the south right on the Arctic Circle) I said why don’t we take some caribou meat in exchange.  I thought we might be more likely to get some meat than cash.  How much meat Eric and I decided would be left up to Michael.  Two days went buy and no Michael, meat, or money.  I was already to chalk up another lesson learned.  Two more days passed.  Eric and I came back to our apartment at about the same time after school and there, leaning against our door was a hind quarter of a caribou.  The whole hind quarter.  I asked Eric how we went about skinning and cutting the meat from the bone and he was as lost as I was.  We did not have the right sort of knives and it seemed like it took hours de-boning the quarter section.  I am sure we left a lot on the bone.   We borrowed a meat grinder form the school to ground what we had cut into one pound bundles, and put all in the freezer feeling pretty smug about having enough meat to last the winter (along with some salmon given us.)   The only problem was that  I found out that I did not like caribou meat.  I had to mix many spices and seasonings before cooking and douse it a lot with catsup and other condiments to make it palatable. 

Deutschland Diary 6

Monday 17

The "war" has been delayed for 24 hours because of the mud.  It is raining and cold.  It would be very pleasant if we were normal tourist, dry, worm, and able to eat normal food.  It is a very boring experience so far.  The anxiety is gone and now it is a matter of marking time. 

In Ellensberg there is a flax tower close to us.  That is where they sat up anti aircraft guns during WW II.  Now it has been converted to a water tower.

I miss you all and the U.S. more than I did anyway.  I'll be glad when this is over.

Wed 19

Yesterday was dull.  I only pulled my 12 hour shift and then went to bed.  This morning I got a ride into town with Oliver, one of the Polizie who accompanies us so we don't screw up traffic.  I went to the rest room and a small grocery store.  Mailed some cards, called home.  It was nice to talk to you all, wish Darren and Meghan had been awake.  I will call again Saturday.

We move again tonight some place north.

I have met many people here but I am not really friends with any of them.  I have made what I think are close friends with the two German Polizie  Oliver and Roth.  Roth is a heavy set blond guy who has a crooked nose.  Oliver is then and has a beard.  He has an extra long finger nail on his little fingers and wares a earring while not on duty.  Both of them have eyes on the black female troops.

While waiting for the phone the other day I met another German couple who new some English.  They are eager to talk to us.  I am beginning to feel like I am in Germany finally.  love you all.

Noatak, Alaska

This picture was taken in 1917 near Noatak, Alaska.   I lived in Noatak for over a year.

Hooper Bay, Alaska