Читать книгу Racing Toward Recovery. The Extraordinary Story of Alaska Musher Mike Williams Sr. онлайн

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Sometimes he kept his feelings inside and sometimes he talked about it. He mentioned how hard it was to adjust to Akiak after seeing all of that killing and what the army did to all of the villages and women and children there. It bothered him.

It was good for me to be back and hunting and fishing again. But there were no jobs in Akiak and I had the disability discharge from the army. I did have the GI Bill to use for school. After a few months in Akiak I decided to look for a job in Bethel. Bethel has more than 4,000 people so the odds were better I might find something. Also, Kuskokwim Community College is in Bethel, so I could take college courses.

I landed a job at the hospital doing kitchen duty and washing dishes. It paid pretty well and I enrolled at the college. I worked full-time and I took courses full-time. I got my own place and I was busy, busy, busy. I began studying behavioral health counseling. I wanted to be a mental health counselor.

This fit in with my plan of wanting to help others and I began studying for that degree. After washing dishes I got a job as the recreation director for the city of Bethel. I was nearly at black belt status in tae kwon do, so I wanted to do something using sports or physical education. I also was involved in karate. I began teaching an hour-and-a-half course each evening in karate at the recreation center. Then I was asked to teach karate at the high school, too, an extended hour. I was doing everything all at once for a while. I don’t know how I fit everything into the day. I was taking sixteen hours, sixteen credits and doing all of that teaching, as well. I didn’t have time to do anything except work, teach karate, and study.