Everyday life in Fairbanks

A new section today: “Everyday life in...” With it, I'll try to humbly describe what I see and understand from the living conditions of people in places I was. To do so, I will take main themes such as habitat, social life, etc. Today: Fairbanks. And for my Alaskan friends, please comment if there is anything to complete.

Habitat

What surprised me a lot when arriving in Fairbanks is that habitat is very spread. There is a city centre with residential houses. But it seems that only a third of Fairbanks inhabitants live downtown. The rest is living on hills surrounding the city. So you can easily find people living in the middle of the wood, at the end of a remote road, 8 miles from downtown where they work.

Most people have their own house. They are called cabin. Out of town, there is electricity but no water system. It would be too difficult to bury because of permafrost, and pipes would freeze if they were overhead.

So houses have indoor tanks (to avoid freeze) that are supplied with water thanks to another tank that is filled up at the water station. It works exactly as a gas station. Then water is used for kitchen and shower (quick showers requested!), and toilets. Otherwise, you can find dry toilets. Organic matter is recovered by a blend of potting soil and bark. The advantage of it is that you make your own compost, and it doesn't smell anything.

Other cabins don't have running water. They are called “dry cabins”. People have smaller tanks of water that is used for kitchen. For toilets, you have outhouse. You can take your shower at work or after sport. You go to the laundry to clean clothes. See! It is just a question of adaptation and alternative solutions always exist.

Food

Alaskans give importance to local products. Imported products are anyway a bit more expensive. But this is not the only reason. You can grow vegetable during the warm season and put it in the freezer or in can. Little by little you eat them in winter. Some organic farms may use geothermic energy to grow vegetable in greenhouse. Thus you can find fresh products in grocery stores in winter.

Alaskans like fishing, hunting and trapping. It is part of the culture. You can fish salmon in rivers, there are also a lot of caribou and moose to hunt. Then again, you freeze and you eat it in winter. By the way, I tasted salmon, caribou and moose. It's yummy! Alive, I also saw some of those animals. Some days ago, there were two moose around Andrew and Anna's house.

Moving around

Everything turns around cars. It is the only thing that goes the other way round. Indeed usually you find solution to adapt the environment. Here you have a car, so there is very few public transportation, very few bikers, very few ride-sharing, etc. The car industry has been so important for the US that it is in the heart of American daily life. If anyone is interested in how to use a car in those climatic conditions, please refer to my previous post “Alaskan lifestyle” for technical information.

Here we can find two types of car. You have the inevitable pick-up or “truck”. Its size can differ from one to another. And some people say that it doesn't depend on the use of the truck but more on the owner's need to show off. And you have what I call normal cars, which seem much smaller in this context that they seem in Europe. They can adapt the weather conditions.

There is very little public transportation. There are five bus lines in town. But none of them reach the outskirts of the city. In winter, there is a bus going three times a week from Fairbanks to Anchorage. And once a week, a train doing the same. Otherwise, you can always fly!

Social life

Ending with the most important. What is also remarkable is that very few people that I met are actually originally from Alaska. Most of them are from the Lower 48. The Lower 48 are the 48 contiguous states of the Union. For your information, there are 50 states in the Union: the Lower 48 lower states plus Alaska and Hawaii. Then you have Washington DC and a couple of oversee territories (Guam, Porto Rico, etc.).

In Fairbanks, everyone knows everyone. Circles of friends overlap very often. Most people see their friends in winter: for sport, for a drink, for a week-end, etc. Then when summer comes, you don't have time. Summer is time for family, repairs in house/car, hunting, fishing, etc. Even if days are longer in summer, they seem to be too short still.

I hope this reflects what I could see in Fairbanks. Once again if any additional remarks need to be made, please do not hesitate to use the comments!