Life in Town and the Next Couple of Months

I find myself working more and more in a supervisory as the season's end draws near. With the hustle and bustle of the town because of the arrival of the ice breaker and cargo ships to come, injuries and medical emergencies are starting to rise. Between that, training, and deadlines to be met, my life at the fire department has been a hectic one. On top of all that, I have employee evaluations to work on. Sometime this week I find out what my tentative departure date is next month. I'm actually pretty excited for that and really excited to get home. Anyways, with the arrival of the ice breaker comes an abundance of wildlife the likes of which usually isn't seen until this time of the season. With the broken ice comes seals that pepper the landscape as far as you can see, adelie and emperor penguins running to and fro, as well as orca and beluga whales which I've yet to see.

I've been working on my NOLS application and scholarship for the past couple of days and I came to find out that my Veterans Affairs educational assistance does not apply for certain NOLS classes with the Wilderness EMT class I'm looking to take being one of them. What does this mean? It means, if I don't get this scholarship, I'll have to fork over $2950. If I do get the full scholarship (full meaning the full amount I had asked for) then I'll only have to fork over $1000. Still that's a lot of money. The closer I get to march, the more detailed and concrete my plans are turning out to be. I'm continuously becoming amazed at the benefits this job offers whether they're on purpose or not. One of the great things about this job is that since most of us down here are working a seasonal contract and this branch of Raytheon is based out of Virginia, everyone that will be filing for unemployment has to file through Virginia. Me being from Virginia means that Raytheon will take care of most of the paperwork for me so that I'll be receiving unemployment checks the second I get home until I start working May 15th. If I can find a decent job I'd enjoy that pays more than whatever it is I'll be getting from unemployment, I'll gladly take it. If not, I'm going to spend a lot of time in the Monongahela National Forest or the Fire Department. I'm also hoping for a busy fire season in Virginia. Maybe I can get deployed on a few fires within the state to get some extra money. So far, everything is looking good for the next couple of months. God willing, it will stay that way when those times come...