Seasonal Workers

A lot of the seasonal workers here are from places like Bulgaria and Macedonia - so much so that with the change of scenery it kind of feels like I moved to a different country entirely with a lot of American tourists. It seems there are job fairs in those countries that recruit future rocket scientists to come clean rooms and carry bags in Alaska. It’s an opportunity to make some money, improve their English, and having been to America looks good on their resumes. Whatever wrorks, I guess! It's nice having a mix of cultures.

Other than eastern European/eastern block workers, there are a lot of young Mormons. I’m not sure why that is exactly. After that there are people in their late teens and early twenties. Then there are also older people who enjoy the seasonal worker lifestyle.

Most people here seem to smoke and drink a lot (excepting Mormons). When not doing that, there is a lot of time spent talking about smoking and drinking. Or reviewing who is a drunk, who got drunk, or who isn't at work because they were drunk last night. For a change of pace people discuss who has gone to go smoke, when they are going to go smoke, or how smoking doesn’t seem to be affecting their health at all – so what’s the big deal.

Pictures: Scenery; Wildflowers; Ptarmigan