Mission:Kalskag: The Journey Home

Whenever I travel to or from Kalskag I always experience some degree of culture shock. While in Kalskag, I settle into the rhythm of slow village life. An environment without radio, TV, internet, billboards, traffic, restaurants, banks and other amenities. When I travel to Bethel, Anchorage, Seattle or Kona there is always some trepidation of entering into a high pace culture with people, lots of them, cars, traffic, horns, lights, well, you get the picture. You probably live it every day and that is the norm. This summer I traveled to Anchorage then out to Wasilla to visit my daughter. Next stop on the summer itinerary was Seattle to visit my parents and son who reside in Olympia, Washington. I met two of my friends in Seattle and off we traveled to Kona, Hawaii, where I stayed in my brother’s house for a month. I reversed the itinerary home, with a stop in Bethel overnight, then out to Kalskag. I watched the terrain from Bethel to Kalskag and wondered why I chose to be so isolated. Only God knows! I must admit that this is the first year I returned to Kalskag and felt like I was coming “home.” Through all the stops in major cities I realized that I missed the people and the lifestyle here in Kalskag. I am home and looking forward to another year!