Saturday in Barrow

Barrow is still so much a foreign land to me. It certainly does not feel like America. It almost feels like I’m in space, not that I have any notion of what space feels like or have even tried to imagine what space feels like. I took a walk today, as the sun was setting, perhaps around 6:45 or 7. I could see the reddish orange glow in the distance as well as the bright moon. Everything is just white and flat.

I tried to walk on some streets I haven’t before and came across a couple of restaurants. Most of the restaurants I had encountered before were on the other side of town, Barrow-side; I live on the side of town known as Browerville. First I saw Northern Lights restaurant with its sign that’s a neon outline of a whale. I walked a little further and saw the Thai Restaurant. Next door to that was a Thai Massage place, and then a barbershop. And then I spotted the Oriental Store, a tiny building. I couldn’t tell if it was even open until I walked in and sure enough there were shelves of Asian food. It was a little sparse but they had some amazing items like dried mango from the Philippines and rice flour. And behind the counter was Ernie, a long haired Filipino man. He’s lived in Barrow for a few years. His brother owns the store. His English wasn’t that good, but I could get the gist. There’s a large Filipino population in Barrow as well as Korean. I guess all of the cabs are driven by Filipinos and many of the restaurants are run by Koreans.

It was a nice walk.

Earlier today, after Doreen and I did a StoryCorps presentation to a crowd of 37, we drove out toward Point Barrow to try and spot polar bears. We heard there was a mom and cub hanging out. We didn’t see any, but I took some pictures of what we did see.

Below, a boat launch.



And here are a couple of pictures of the Arctic Ocean. It’s just starting to freeze. When I first arrived last Saturday, there was no slush or ice in the ocean.