And the sun is out!!!!

Well, today was absolutely beautiful! The skies cleared and the sun came out! So, I think that has made a bit of a liar out of me - the sun does shine, it's just that there are quite a few cloudy days! There has been heaps of snow, though, and I have had to learn how to shovel snow off the stiars and deck at our place... It's not my favourite task, but hey, it has to be done. My neighbour Lisa has taken me on a few walks around the area; it's definitely a good way to get out and about, and Lisa knows some beautiful spots. Brian and I also went on a walk through a park with heaps of totem poles throughout. It was very cool - the toem poles

all have various animals carved into them and they all have a certain significance. I particularly like one pole which had a whale, a frog, a fox and a bear carved into it. Most of these poles that I saw stand on the sight where the Tlingit Indians battled the Russians some hundreds of years ago... I am discovering more and more of the history of the place, which I intend to include in a future blog.

Oh, and I have also learned two Tlingit words:

"tlei-tlee" which means 'limp' and

"tuk" which means 'bum'.

I'm here in the land of the midnight sun.... and it's DARK

Alaska is well and truly amazing!
It has some breathtaking beauty, but I am led to believe that it is even more beautiful in the spring and summer, so I think I will be in for a treat.
At the moment, though, it's the middle of winter; the days are very short. There doesn't seem to be any real sunrise or sunset as such, it becomes light after ten am and by four pm it's dark. One real highlight of my few days here so far has been snow! Apparently it rarely snows it Sitka - the bus driver told me that she hasn't seen snow in Sitka for more than 20 years, however it has been snowing for the last 24 hours. There is a really nice cover of snow everywhere and I got to walk around outside in the snow a bit today. Tonight there was heaps of snow built up on the roof and large tracts of snow would crash noisily to the ground! Very exciting stuff! One thing that has really surprised me: it's not cold. Well, I mean, yes it's cold, but it's really pleasant and you don't need layers and layers of clothing. The air doesn't have the biting chill to it like in New Zealand. Even better, everywhere has central heating!
I've been here for nearly a week now and I am starting to get out and explore more and more. Today I managed the bus - this town has a grand total of two bus routes! I've also found the Sitka job centre and my job hunt has started!