I have left Alaska.
So, I guess that this will be the last post on this specific blog. Sure, I'll try to start up another one about my upcoming JV year in Newark, but it doesn't really make sense to keep posting on bethyinbethel.blogspot.com anymore, does it? (The correct answer is no.)
The last month of being in Bethel was probably the best of my life. I was working for about half of it, then I stopped working (officially, I was in the office alot anyway...), then Lisa came home from her Nunivak trip, and things worked out...(for the most part, I mean, nothing works out ALL the time). And I had a blast. I had a birthday, I was in the newspaper a few times, I walked around Bethel and drank coffee and took pictures, and tried to say goodbye. And it was fantastic.
And nothing has been the same since I came back to Washington. I cried the entire flight from Bethel to Anchorage, and as we were touching down, the lady next to me was getting a little nervous with the turbulance on the plane. We got to talking a little bit, and when I told her that I was leaving Bethel, her response was: "Leaving Alaska? Hmmm. I don't know why anyone would ever want to leave Alaska. There's berries...and fish...and moose." Then she laughed. "I'm hungry!"
My only thought was "I don't want to leave Alaska."
When I had been in Washington for a few days, I thought about how, up in Bethel, I often thought of the "real world" as the world outside. And here, all I see is a world obsessed with people, places and things that seem plastic and fake compared to what I had been living, I see that the "real world" exists more fully in Bethel than anywhere else I had ever been.
That isn't to say that I am not excited for next year. As the time here grows short, I find myself unpacking Alaska boxes, and repacking for Jersey. I'm seeing old friends, and that's an entirely different post on how much I changed in the last year, and the struggles with realizing that there are people who I love that I don't have things in common with anymore. It's all been a learning experience. But at the end of the day, at least for now, all I can do is agree with that lady on the plane, and say that I don't know why anyone would want to leave Alaska.
Love, Bethy
PS. A blog about the life of a girl with an Alaskan heart trying to make it as a JV in Newark, NJ coming soon. Hilarity should abound!
