Living Remotely

My sister made fun of me because I packed so much stuff to come here. But I feel vindicated.

If you go into the store and buy lotion or conditioner there might only be one lotion or conditioner in the store. And I don't just mean one type of lotion or conditioner, I mean one bottle of lotion or conditioner so if you manage to get that bottle - congratulations you're the lucky person who gets to have moisture in their skin and tangle free hair. Otherwise you'll have to wait until a shipment comes in later. And don't expect a lot of choice from the different stores (most of the stores I refer to are gas station stores) because all the stores basically carry the same things and for some reason one of those things is several varieties of sardine.

The other day I overheard a conversation about trying to order things, and the fact that your address is either a PO Box number (which has always been a problem with certain delivery services) or a milepost on the highway. This poor girl had been told by a sales representative “A milepost is not an address.” Well in Alaska, IT IS! So you better wise up lower 48! I think I am beginning to see why some people refer to this as the “United States of Alaska” and to the lower 48 as “America.”

If you want a lot of things here, you’re going to have to go to Fairbanks. I never thought I’d ask someone “Where’d you get a magazine from?” But no one seems to sell them here. (Oh, and it turns out that magazine was a month old and just floating around – some good Samaritan had left it out to share.) Another thing no one seems to sell is contact lens solution, so I am going to try to get on a bus in the near future to Fairbanks (a 110 mile journey) so that I can see sans specs.