Arriving Anchorage + First Week
It's a long journey from Baghdad to Anchorage. I left my room in the International Zone at 21:15 on Monday 11 July. Took the Rhino from the IZ to Camp Striker. Cecil picked me up and took me to his camp as he had kindly offered me a real bed and shower in the morning instead of my sleeping on a cot in a tent at Striker. One of his group was on R&R and so there was a free bedroom just for me. Cecil and Brian took me to breakfast the next morning as well. So now it's Tuesday and Brian is going out on R&R and I'm repatriating, so we were on the same military flight from BIAP to Kuwait. Showtime was 11:00. Well, when we got to the PAX desk, showtime had changed to 12Noon. And showtime just kept getting pushed back hour by hour. To make a long story short, we just stayed in an air conditioned tent waiting and waiting until about 18:00 or so. The temperature that day was the hottest it had been so far this year ... the loudspeaker at BIAP was announcing 120 degrees F. So by the time we were walking out on the tarmac to the plane that had been sitting there all day, it was a very personal and up close 120 degrees +. Finally got to Kuwait that evening. Had good pizza to celebrate.
The next evening, 13 July, at 22:00 I left the hotel for the commercial airport. The flight left Kuwait at 01:00 on 14 July. Kuwait to Amsterdam - flight time of 6.5 hours. Managed to buy Paul some of his favorite cheese in the Amsterdam airport between flights during my 4-hour wait for my next flight. Amsterdam to Atlanta - flight time of 9.5 hours. Had 4 hours waiting time in Atlanta and then Atlanta to Anchorage - flight time 7.5 hours. If you add that up, it's about 32 hours of travel time from Kuwait to Anchorage. I arrived Anchorage at about 22:00 on Thursday 14 July. I was sure glad to stop flying by that time.
Friday 15 July was a rest day for me. The time difference between Iraq and Anchorage is 12 hours, and that's a tough one. I did go to the grocery store to pick up a few grocery items. I'm staying in a guest hotel with frig and microwave and I wanted a few food items. Skim milk -- real milk and not long-life milk was priority on my grocery list. I've missed milk so much while in Iraq! But I have to admit that the grocery store was a bit overwhelming. So many aisles full of stuff. In Iraq I've been eating whatever is served at the defacs (mess halls) and for shopping we had one small PX with little choice. The grocery store here, Fred Meyers, has food as well as clothing and household items. I couldn't handle all the aisles on my first trip ... just got a few things and left.
Saturday 16 July was my first day of househunting. I had been looking at www.alaskarealestate.com for weeks and had sent some choices that I thought looked good to Manny, my Realtor. I am used to California home prices, but I did expect it to be less expensive in Anchorage. Unfortunately, it is not less expensive. And the market moves very fast here. If you see something you like, you'd better make an offer fast. We had 17 properties on the first-day's list. Some of the ones I had told Manny I liked, from the week before, were already sold, so he had pulled other similar ones for the list. The first place we looked at was the least expensive at $269,000. Very small, 1200 square feet, but clean and fairly well-kept ranch house in a dumpy area with a train track right in back. Well, it would have been livable, but I would not have enjoyed living there. So we just kept looking and driving around looking at houses in neighborhoods that Manny said were good ones. We got lucky and found a house I really liked. Met the neighbors who were out in the yard and talked to them -- they were really nice. It was a 2-story house and I had really hoped to find a single story ranch. But this house spoke to me. It was, of course, more money that I had intended to spend. It still didn't have everything I had hoped to find in one house, but it has a wonderful spirit and I knew it could be my home.
So then we had to try and contact the listing agent who was in a golf tournament that day. He didn't call back for about 6 hours and during that time I really didn't know if "my house" already had sold already or had offers on it already. So we kept looking and I found 2 other places that were possible backups. I didn't like them as well, but they might be contenders if I need them.
I guess I should say, as I write this, that I don't know yet if "my house" is actually going to be mine. There were 3 other people who looked at my house yesterday and the way offers go here, it's entirely possible that there are multiple offers in play. As I write this I'm waiting for Manny to call and tell me the status of my offer. The home owners are out of state right now and I don't know how quickly their agent will be able to get in touch. And until they accept my offer, other offers could keep coming in. So I could be greatly disappointed yet. And it's entirely possible that the backup contenders could have sold already as well. I could be back to square one.
"My" house was built in 1993, and it's very clean and well cared for. It's a 2-story with 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. It's in a spacious-feeling subdivision with wide streets and well-kept homes. It's one of the only subdivisions in Anchorage that actually has sidewalks. When you walk in, it's very open and inviting and the living area has a cathedral ceiling with a wall of south-facing windows. The entire house has a light and bright feeling to it, which I love. Behind the house is a greenspace! It is so nice looking out over the back yard to a huge expanse of green. I suppose I might have moose come visit. Total square feet is 2246. It has an attached 2-car garage. It's got an energy rating of 4+. The kitchen is a little smaller than I'd like, but it's still fine. I'm going to put in a gas stove in place of the electric one there now.
There is a fireplace in the living room area. Most fireplaces in homes here are pre-fab ones. I asked the Realtor why there are not great big roaring fireplaces here ... this is Alaska and fireplaces here should be fabulous. Manny said because so much heat is lost through the fireplace that they just don't build them big. The prefab ones usually have doors on them and they generate heat but they aren't real manly fireplaces. So I have a fireplace, but it's not the kind I'd really like to have.
If I can figure out how to put a picture in this Blog, I will include one of my home to be.
Update: The sellers accepted my offer.
Tomorrow, 18 July, I go into the office and start my new job.
20 July ... There are moose and fox and other wildlife that visit the building where I work. Today I saw a moose there. She had 2 babies with her, but the babies are in the background and you can't see them. We'll keep up the moose watches and I'll try to get a good picture of the babies soon.
The next evening, 13 July, at 22:00 I left the hotel for the commercial airport. The flight left Kuwait at 01:00 on 14 July. Kuwait to Amsterdam - flight time of 6.5 hours. Managed to buy Paul some of his favorite cheese in the Amsterdam airport between flights during my 4-hour wait for my next flight. Amsterdam to Atlanta - flight time of 9.5 hours. Had 4 hours waiting time in Atlanta and then Atlanta to Anchorage - flight time 7.5 hours. If you add that up, it's about 32 hours of travel time from Kuwait to Anchorage. I arrived Anchorage at about 22:00 on Thursday 14 July. I was sure glad to stop flying by that time.
Friday 15 July was a rest day for me. The time difference between Iraq and Anchorage is 12 hours, and that's a tough one. I did go to the grocery store to pick up a few grocery items. I'm staying in a guest hotel with frig and microwave and I wanted a few food items. Skim milk -- real milk and not long-life milk was priority on my grocery list. I've missed milk so much while in Iraq! But I have to admit that the grocery store was a bit overwhelming. So many aisles full of stuff. In Iraq I've been eating whatever is served at the defacs (mess halls) and for shopping we had one small PX with little choice. The grocery store here, Fred Meyers, has food as well as clothing and household items. I couldn't handle all the aisles on my first trip ... just got a few things and left.
Saturday 16 July was my first day of househunting. I had been looking at www.alaskarealestate.com for weeks and had sent some choices that I thought looked good to Manny, my Realtor. I am used to California home prices, but I did expect it to be less expensive in Anchorage. Unfortunately, it is not less expensive. And the market moves very fast here. If you see something you like, you'd better make an offer fast. We had 17 properties on the first-day's list. Some of the ones I had told Manny I liked, from the week before, were already sold, so he had pulled other similar ones for the list. The first place we looked at was the least expensive at $269,000. Very small, 1200 square feet, but clean and fairly well-kept ranch house in a dumpy area with a train track right in back. Well, it would have been livable, but I would not have enjoyed living there. So we just kept looking and driving around looking at houses in neighborhoods that Manny said were good ones. We got lucky and found a house I really liked. Met the neighbors who were out in the yard and talked to them -- they were really nice. It was a 2-story house and I had really hoped to find a single story ranch. But this house spoke to me. It was, of course, more money that I had intended to spend. It still didn't have everything I had hoped to find in one house, but it has a wonderful spirit and I knew it could be my home.
So then we had to try and contact the listing agent who was in a golf tournament that day. He didn't call back for about 6 hours and during that time I really didn't know if "my house" already had sold already or had offers on it already. So we kept looking and I found 2 other places that were possible backups. I didn't like them as well, but they might be contenders if I need them.
I guess I should say, as I write this, that I don't know yet if "my house" is actually going to be mine. There were 3 other people who looked at my house yesterday and the way offers go here, it's entirely possible that there are multiple offers in play. As I write this I'm waiting for Manny to call and tell me the status of my offer. The home owners are out of state right now and I don't know how quickly their agent will be able to get in touch. And until they accept my offer, other offers could keep coming in. So I could be greatly disappointed yet. And it's entirely possible that the backup contenders could have sold already as well. I could be back to square one.
"My" house was built in 1993, and it's very clean and well cared for. It's a 2-story with 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. It's in a spacious-feeling subdivision with wide streets and well-kept homes. It's one of the only subdivisions in Anchorage that actually has sidewalks. When you walk in, it's very open and inviting and the living area has a cathedral ceiling with a wall of south-facing windows. The entire house has a light and bright feeling to it, which I love. Behind the house is a greenspace! It is so nice looking out over the back yard to a huge expanse of green. I suppose I might have moose come visit. Total square feet is 2246. It has an attached 2-car garage. It's got an energy rating of 4+. The kitchen is a little smaller than I'd like, but it's still fine. I'm going to put in a gas stove in place of the electric one there now.
There is a fireplace in the living room area. Most fireplaces in homes here are pre-fab ones. I asked the Realtor why there are not great big roaring fireplaces here ... this is Alaska and fireplaces here should be fabulous. Manny said because so much heat is lost through the fireplace that they just don't build them big. The prefab ones usually have doors on them and they generate heat but they aren't real manly fireplaces. So I have a fireplace, but it's not the kind I'd really like to have.
If I can figure out how to put a picture in this Blog, I will include one of my home to be.
Update: The sellers accepted my offer.
Tomorrow, 18 July, I go into the office and start my new job.
20 July ... There are moose and fox and other wildlife that visit the building where I work. Today I saw a moose there. She had 2 babies with her, but the babies are in the background and you can't see them. We'll keep up the moose watches and I'll try to get a good picture of the babies soon.
posted by Jeanne | Wednesday, July 20, 2005
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