we're in Anchorage

Welp, we're here!

You can see by the lack of blogging or responding to emails that my attempts at accessing the internet have been Denied with a capital D. We have none at our house, but otherwise, we have the ideal short-term housing set up, so yay for that! One day I walked a mile and a half round trip downtown, Zoralee strapped to my back, and the computer backpack on my front. I was overcharged for a very simple beverage, had the computer refuse and refuse to connect to internet because the battery is shot, finally got it to connect and needed a password, got the password, computer died, Zoralee woke up and got grouchy, switched to a table near a plug-in, had the building fire alarm go off and the workers start evacuating us, alarm quit mid-pack-up and the evacuation was called to a halt, Zoralee wanted to crawl but the floor was filthy so she threw back-arching fits, received real or imagined looks of understanding as well as vibes of frustration from fellow customers, packed up and walked home.

But to put it in perspective, this weekend I also attended a presentation by a midwife who was discussing birth and death rates among the most impoverished people of the Philippines that she works with, and she casually mentioned events in her life like the ferry she was riding capsizing, and floating around in the sea awaiting rescue, and getting to shore only to be directed by uniformed personnel saying, "Survivors, this way..." I am horrid at remembering statistics, but that presentation was eye-opening and saddening. We take a lot for granted, you know, living in a culture that has a basic respect for women and children. In many places, the women eat last, even pregnant ones, which means they don't get enough. Many don't have a single soul looking out for their health, and they're expected to birth in squalid conditions, often on their own or with very marginal help. They die. The babies die from lack of very simple actions like cutting the umbilical cords with a clean knife or wrapping up the babies to keep warm, or feeding them pretty soon! So, women like Vicky Penwell are going all Mother Teresa on their asses.

Anyway! Now I am at Border's, and Z has just fallen asleep on me, so I can finally post some pics and blogs I wrote up ahead of time.