Life in Ketchikan

For the record my life here in Ketchikan isn't one big adventure/money saver like I thought it was going to be. It's been a lot of fun seeing a different part of the country and meeting new people but its not quite the experience I hoped it would be for various reasons.

1. My Job: my job is a blessing. I'm very thankful to have a job that gives me 39 hours a week guaranteed whereas back in Logan it was whenever Golden Corral was feeling frisky and wanted to give me hours. The problem with my job is that a. I have come to find that I hate sales and b. my boss is kind of a jerk. The sales aspect sucks because as soon as people walk in the door they look at me like I have 2 heads and am only going to sell them crap. Not the case people! It's my job to sell things and I feel like I do it in a non-sharking way. Then when it comes to my boss he doesn't have a clue on how to manage a store. Granted it's his first year managing but still it's not that difficult what he does. He is a nice person but not a good manager. His wife works across the street and he's CONSTANTLY going over there to see her but what does he tell his employees "he's working and making phone calls"...it's total bull. I work in one big hypocrisy! It also doesn't help that his whole family works there and they are what I like to call a little bit sheltered. I'm making it through working there ok but next summer if we come back I'll most likely be looking for a new job.

2. The Church: for those of you who didn't know I absolutely LOVED my ward back in Logan. The people were amazing, very welcoming and we made some awesome friends. Here however the ward has some sort of grudge against those of us who work for the summer. It's quite obnoxious and doesn't make any sense. Because a lot of us work on Sundays from time to time, now would be the easiest time for us to stop going to church all together and fall away so wouldn't you think that we should be fellow shipped even more than the average person? Our first day to church no one talked to us. Then the next time I went I had to go by myself and not a single person approached me. All I got was looks from people. It's hard to want to go to church when you don't know anyone and feel a little lonely. I just keep telling myself that it's the gospel and lessons I'm going for, not the people.

3. The Expenses: I promise that this is one of the last complaints. Alaska is an expensive place to live! I mean we're getting by just fine but we haven't been able to save as much money as we've wanted to. We also have now gotten an estimate on how much it will take to fix our car that currently resides in Portland, OR and its WAY more than we expected. We've worked things out though and we will be able to put away a little bit of money so that's good.

All in all I'm sorry for complaining but this place just isn't what it's cracked up to be. Maybe it's just Ketchikan and the rest of Alaska is cool but I can't seem to get a grip on this place! It rains all the time (that's not an exaggeration) and I'm constantly working (which is good minus the part previously mentioned in this post). I see everyone having fun in the sun in the lower 48 and am incredibly homesick. Don't worry though folks I'm not slipping into depression! The good things here are the friends we've made and the landscape. It's beautiful here!

Thanks for listening to the rant! Here's a few fun pictures so you guys no I don't just stay in my apartment all day and sulk:

Kenyon felt like quite the manly man when he caught a crab in the water with his bare hands!

It took me forever to want to hold it but I did!

Thanks for listening to the rants!