My Antarctic Anniversary

Me on Deception Island last December, looking at a nice up-close iceburg (that I later went swimming around)

A year ago today, I landed on Antarctica on Deception Island, up in the peninsula. A year ago today, my fascination/love/obsession with the ice began. What was supposed to be a fun vacation has turned into so much more- a true Antarctic adventure, that after all this time is still going strong.

Antarctic Thanksgiving

So I have survived my first Antarctic holiday. Working in food service, we had to work on the day. I thought I would really hate spending Thanksgiving at work but I actually really enjoyed the day itself. It was really fun to see everyone and just be in the middle of all the fun hustle and bustle and excitement.
Since it’s a holiday, the community gets an extra day off, so we celebrate it on Saturday so that people can have Saturday off and then their regular Sunday off. The prep for it was insane, but there were a lot of volunteers coming in to help all week which was really nice. Plus the entire kitchen staff worked on the day, so it was a little crowded, but very well staffed. We got to eat at 1:30, and then the community had seating’s available at 3, 5 and 7. They could stay for 1 and ½ hours, and then we had to turn over the whole house in a half hour for the next seating. The night workers also had a dinner at midnight.
The general consensus was that the food highlight of the day was the crab legs. They were so big that they hardly fit on the trays. My favorites were the chocolate covered strawberries and all the traditional turkey stuff.
I have to admit, this was my favorite day of work. It was really fun, and I think we all enjoyed the day as much as the community did. I’m looking forward to doing it all over again in a month for Christmas!

The internet is being weird today, but I will hopefully be able to add pictures to this post later!

The Pressure Ridges

Lots of interesting things going on in Antarctica these days. Primarily, I went to the pressure ridges, and saw seal babies!!!

The pressure ridges are where the sea ice, which is about 8 feet thick, meets the ross ice shelf which is 300 feet thick. They crush together and push the ice out of the water, and create these weird formations. Its basically plate tectonics, but with different kinds of ices. We got to go on a tour and walk through all of the pushed around ice.

I admit, Antarctica always feels like a different planet when you get far enough out of town, but walking through these was reallllly like being on a different planet.

It was amazing to see. McMurdo is to the right of and behind that hill on the right, to give you an idea of where the ridges are in relation to town.

I have also started to make field lunches as part of work. Basically, I make the bagged lunches that people take on flights and out on day trips when they go around the continent. Its a lot of fun actually, and I have become quite the sandwich professional.

One thing that was interesting in the galley was veterans day. We have a lot of military people around, I think I have talked before about how its a deployment here for them. On veterans day, a small table was set up very nice, with a bible, and a wine glass, and a candle, as well as normal table setting things. This was for the missing soldiers all over the world. I had never seen this done before, and it was interesting to kind of just look at that table all day and think about it. I wanted to take a picture of it but I wasn't sure it would be respectful. It was a good experience to see though.

I have been here over 3 months, which is unbelievable. Time really makes no sense anymore.

LDB, Arrival Heights, Ob. Tube, and Discovery Hut

I had a very busy day and a half off this week. On my day off, I went out to the long duration balloon facility, or LDB for short. It is about 6 miles from the base out on the ice, and from there you have a beautiful view of the whole island, and can see Erebus, the volcano, with smoke coming out of the top.

The facility is still starting up since its early on in the season, and scientists who are doing atmospheric research with balloons are starting to come. That night I went on a tour of Arrival Heights and the Cosray building, which are two scientific centers studying particles. The Cosray research has been going on since 1960, and is the longest running thing here.

The next morning, I went out to the Observation tube. Past Hut Point out on the sea ice, there was a tube put in that goes under the sea ice and has a little glass room at the bottom so you can crawl down and see what everything looks like under the ice. It’s really neat to see what the ice shelf looks like from the bottom- its covered in crystals. Plus, climbing down the tube gives you a really good visual of how thick the ice really is, about 15-20 feet.

Waiting to go down was really a morning at the Antarctic beach…the sun was shining, we were walking on the frozen ice waves, and we could hear the skuas in the background (which sound like seagulls).

We had to wait awhile to go down the tube, and got to meet a group of people heading to the pole. They were delayed here for a few days, and wanted to see as much as possible during their stay. I ended up giving them a tour of Discovery Hut, the hut at Hut Point, since I am a historical hut guide. This was my first tour, so it was very exciting. Actually, it was my first time inside this hut, so that was exciting as well. It is still full of stuff leftover from the explorers.

This was the first hut built in Antarctica, by Scott in 1901. Although it doesn’t have as many artifacts as Cape Evans, it holds many different pieces of history, as many different explorers used it over the years. It also holds a lot of seal blubber. The hut was primarily used for storage, meat butchering, and as a theater. It was fascinating to see, and really nice to realize how the hut that used to be the portal to the Antarctic (most explorers at least used this particular hut in one way or another) is just a stroll away from where the largest Antarctic community is now, and still serving as the gateway to the Antarctic, as most people come through here to get anywhere on the ice. All in all, another set of wonderful adventures in Antarctica.

The Disconnect with Reality

Today I stayed home from work with a cold. There’s not a whole lot you can do here while you are sick, besides watch TV and try and get better. I never watch TV here, except the occasional movie on one of the movie channels, but I ended up watching the news this morning, which was interesting. We have the armed forces television channel here, so I got to see the nightly news (morning here is last night in the states). It finally hit me how much of reality I have been missing. Like, for example, the Chilean mining crisis. Life here sometimes doesn’t feel that different then life in America, in a very small secluded community somewhere very cold with beautiful views, but we are so very far away from everything, and really don’t come into too much touch with reality (for example, me knowing nothing about this Chilean miner thing until today).

Watching the Armed Forces Network was interesting as well. All of the commercials are aimed at deployed forces. Some were about how to deal with the stress of being deployed. Lots were messages from people in the states to soldiers thanking them for their service. I admit you feel a little odd watching this stuff down here, because even though we are technically “deployed” (and get a newspaper called “Stars and Stripes” for deployed troops) its not like we are actually in similar situations to troops in Iraq or Afghanistan, or anywhere else. Antarctica is a truly unique place.

Things are pretty much the same around here. I went to a science lecture on climate change, which was really hard to grasp, but somehow the ozone hole is playing a small role in protecting Antarctica from suffering the disastrous effects that climate change is having in the Arctic- how’s that for ironic? And that the sea levels are rising not just because of melting ice but primarily because water takes up more space when its warmer. Pretty interesting stuff, overall. Its always nice to go to these science lectures and learn about what is going on in the scientific work on the base…or the work of the entire continent even. I found this lecture really neat because it talked primarily about the peninsula of Antarctica, which I visited on the cruise last December. It even cited scientific work done with ice cores that was done at Verdansky, a Ukrainian station where we got to stop at while on the cruise.

Lastly, the Skua are here. But they deserve their own blog post, once I can take some proper pictures of them.

My Thanksgiving Day

Because I work in the kitchen, I have to work holidays, and so they give us another random day off that month. So, my thanksgiving day was today. It was weird to have this extra day…I will have 2.5 days off this week, which may not sound like a lot, but down here its ridiculous. I have no idea what to do with this amount of free time anymore. I went on two hiking trips today One was the Cape Armitage Loop, which goes down to Scott Base and out onto the sea ice.

It’s very close to the pressure ridges, which is where the sea ice meets the ice shelf. The two ices crush together and it looks like churned up snow.

There are seals that hang out by them as well. Later on I went up to Hut Point, and watched a windstorm off on the ice.

This morning I started my part-time job at the video counter. It’s really fun to do something in the community that is out of the galley, and its fun as well. Its also a way to make myself get up earlier and enjoy more of the morning before I have to go to work. I am also going to start volunteering in the library in the morning once a week. They like to have things open in the mornings so that people who work night shift have a chance to go to things. I am starting to appreciate the nice morning hours more and more, since those are more peaceful than the rest of the day. Population is now over 1,000 people, and to say it is hectic is to put it mildly.

Because it was my thanksgiving I tried to think of all the things I was thankful for, and it was nice to remind myself about how happy I am that I am here. I am getting to see so much and experience so much. I love life here, and all of the adventures it has given to me.

Iceburg and Cape Evans!!!

Last night, I got to go on the most exciting recreation trip, out on the sea ice to see Cape Evans and a huge iceburg. These are the vehicles (called deltas) that we took out there.

It was so great to get out on the ice and away from town for a bit, and really experience the environment and take in the beauty of it all. This picture is taken at about 9 at night by the way, to give you an idea of the sun's height in the sky. There are no more sunsets now.

We went to go see Cape Evans, where Scott stayed before going to the pole. It looks like he left 20 minutes ago, and is coming back any second. Everything is still where it was left, and it is so cool to look around inside. Its really creepy and bizarre actually, like you are going back in time. Its astounding to think that people lived in this hut for a year and a half. Here is a picture of a penguin they had killed and had on the table, and a British newspaper from 1908 that they were reading.

It was such a cool place to go and see. You could walk around the land around it, but I was so absorbed with the hut that I stayed in it the whole time. But, here is what it looks like from the outside. At the top of the hill on the right is a cross, and a dog skeleton tied to it. The story goes that the survivors in the hut saw their ship coming for them from the hill, shot their dog and ran for it, leaving everything inside as if they were coming back moments later.

Cape Evans was simply amazing to see, but my favorite part of the trip was seeing this huge iceburg that was on the way out there. We drove over the ice to get to Cape Evans, and there was this giant iceburg kind of in the way. We got to walk around it and just explore which was awesome. I now want to learn how to climb glaciers, or some such thing.

They gave us ski poles to poke around so that we wouldn't fall down any cracks or crevasses (although I still fell in a small one). The iceburg is moving, very slowly of course, but there are still lots of cracks and fissures in the ice around it. We got to touch it, and investigate the cracks and crevasses in the burg itself, which was absolutely incredible.

It was so, so much fun, and so amazing to see. To give you an idea of the size of it, it took about 40 minutes to walk around, and here is a picture of us walking next to it.

My picture doesn't even reach the top of it!

This was one of those unforgettable, beautiful, epic Antarctic days. Life is simply amazing here.

5 days, 12 hours

This week, we tried changing up our schedule. We worked for 5 days, 12 hours a day, giving us two days off. (Normally, we work 6 ten-hour days and get one day off). There have been lots of new DAs coming in, so it worked for this week, although it won’t last. McMurdo is getting bigger and bigger as mainbody continues on. Here is a picture of the helicopters that I thought looked cool.

Something particularly interesting is that the people who are headed to the South Pole are starting to arrive. They work with us while they wait to be able to fly from here to the pole. Flights try to go every day, but none have been successful yet.

In other exciting Antarctic news, people are starting to see seals on the ice near the base. I haven’t seen any there myself, but its cool knowing that they are around and I have a chance to see them soon. The sun is also up, for good this time. Our last “sunset” was at 12:55am on the 23^rd. It was relatively cloudy, but I still took some pictures.

Its weird to think these were taken at almost 1 in the morning.

Its interesting to think that we will have permanent sun from here on in…its very disconcerting to be honest. I work indoors, but whenever I see the windows it looks like 2 in the afternoon, no matter what time it is or how long I have been at work. Its especially confusing when I am walking home from a party or just hanging out with my friends…one gets tired like normal indoors and then as soon as you walk outside, your body wants to wake up again because its bright out. I can see how insomnia can become a serious problem.

I have been here for over two months, and things are still really fun and awesome. All the people I work with are great. Last night, several of them cut mohawks into their hair for fun.

Don't worry mom, I was the photographer but didn't participate.

Tonight, weather permitting, I am getting to go on an awesome, awesome rec trip. If it ends up going, I will write all about it soon and include lots of pics!

Boondogle!

On Saturday I got to go on a boondogle. This is otherwise known as a working morale trip, or when we go do something random in the community that some department needs help with. It typically involves going outside, or doing something very different then our regular DA duties. We get one a season, so it was a little early to get mine, but the timing really couldn't have been better. It was the coolest thing too, I got to go dive tend.

Dive tending is when you go out with the divers and help them in and out of their suits when they are getting in and out of the water. First I went to the science lab, Crary, and met all the people. There were 2 divers, and two other tenders besides me. Then we went to the next building, where the divers got into their dry suits, and gave me a run-down of my duties. Basically the suits are really bulky, and the more gear they put on, the less they can put on themselves. So, we help them with their gloves, their weights, their tanks, etc. when they are about to get in, and help get all this stuff off them when they come back up.

To give you all a visual, this is one of the divers as she is about to get in- still needing 2 more sets of gloves and googles.

After loading up with the weights and the tanks, and after the divers were in the suits, we went out to the dive site. It was out on the ice, and this is the vehicle that we got to take out there. It was really cool to get to go out on the ice and see the mountains from a little bit closer, and see base from farther away.

When we got there, we suited the divers up some more, and they got into the hole. The ice was 20 feet thick! The man on the left was another one of the diver tenders. He is a diver himself, and had tagged some really cool specimens on a big ice wall decades ago (including a carnivorous sponge!) These divers were going to see if they could find any of his old tags, and tag the specimens again. They were later going to go down and take pictures, to see the changes over time.

This was the "hut" that they dove from. It was a really nice hut for this place. The plastic bag over the ice hole has a fan above it blowing hot air onto the hole so it stays melted while no one is there. While the divers were under, we scooped the forming ice out of the hole with nets.

And, saving the very best for last, a seal kept coming up the hole to breathe! Apparently the seals enjoy using the diver's holes as breathing holes. This little guy is a weddell seal and is about a year old. It was absolutely incredible to see.

This was a truly exciting, incredible Antarctic day. I was really reminded of all the reasons that I came down here, and why I love life here. It was absolutely amazing.

I love Antarctica.

Photos!

So I thought I would post some pictures of stuff I do with my friends, and more indoor activities. I love my pictures from my hikes, but I admit they are rather repetitive, and you all only need to see Scott's Hut from so many angles and in so many weather conditions before it gets dull.

I am not sure if I have posted this before, but it is our weather condition sign. Its right outside of the galley, and I think there is one in almost every building on station. When its condition 3 its like this, condition 2 scrolls across the screen in orange. I have never seen it, but I imagine condition 1 is blinking red.

This is one of the station vans, and happens to have an FL plate which made me smile. I think the plate is meant to stand for Christchurch (the city in NZ where we deploy from)

This was the Winfly Dodgeball Competition. The galley had a team, and of course everyone dressed up (creepy mustaches, white tees, and cut-off jeans were the uniform). Chris and Leon were two members of the team, and were ready to win :)

This is Russell and Chris playing pool. The creepy mustache was an entire galley event. This is American Night at Scott Base. Some people decided to dress in 80s clothes that night.

I have been in Antarctica for almost two months now, and it doesn’t feel that long at all. However, Winfly feels very far away. I miss the calm and peace and quiet of it, but meeting all of the new people has been fun, and with the increase in people, all of the new DAs are definitely needed. We are at about 700 people now, and the population will increase to be about 1200 in a few weeks. A lot of the new people coming in for the season are people working on scientific research. Every Sunday there is a science lecture so the people in the community can learn about the research being done. There have been lectures about nacreous clouds and weddell seals that I have gone and heard. They are very interesting.

We are getting flights in a few times a week, which means lots of freshies. We are serving salads every night and fresh fruit out all the time, which makes the community really happy. I never realized how much I missed fresh fruits and vegetables before now. The daylight is getting longer and longer which is weird. Even in the middle of the night it’s not totally dark out anymore, and by the end of the month it will be very light all the time. It definitely messes with your head; when you are inside you get tired like normal, but the second you walk outside you kind of wake up because of the light.

So things are pretty business as usual here in McMurdo. I work from 11-9 now, and then either go hiking, out with my friends, or just read and relax. A few Thursdays ago I went to American Night over at the Kiwi’s Scott Base. It was a beautiful walk, and you get a good view of the pressure ridges, which is where the sea ice and the ice shelf meet. They look like piles of snow that have been plowed, and are pretty cool to look at.

Besides hiking one of the other things I am getting into here is photography. There is a photography club here, and last week I learned how to work the settings on my camera, so I can learn how to take better pictures. I bought a Nikon Coolpix P100 right before I left but haven’t used the manual modes yet. Lots of people here know how to use their cameras really well, so it’s been great to get advice on how to use mine.

I feel like I am running out of things to write about in this blog; things here seem so normal to me now, I don’t really know what to talk about anymore. If anyone has any questions about stuff here, just let me know and I will be happy to answer them!

Mainbody's Arrival

So after our peaceful first six weeks here, mainbody is starting to arrive. At the beginning of August, a period of time called "Winfly" starts, when a few hundred people come down, some winter-overs go home, and the station starts up to prepare for all of the people coming for the summer, or "mainbody". I arrived on the second flight in Winfly, and now we have 3 flights from mainbody here. The population is increasing (it will eventually double and hit 1200) and it is definitely getting to be a more hectic place.
We are getting more dining attendents, so its nice to have new faces around. And, fresh food should be coming in soon, so that will be a treat. But I think the best part of the summer season officially beginning is that we can hike to more places.
Another exciting change to happen down here is the sun. When we arrived the sun wasn't even up yet, and now it hardly ever goes down. I was out hiking around 10pm and it was still really light out. Soon the sun won't go down anymore, but just go in circles around, and dip a little down towards the horizon.

Pictures!

My new Antarctica friends, waiting to get on the plane- note the awesome gear we all get to wear :)
McMurdo, and the surrounding ice from the hike up observation hill
Nacreous clouds. They are caused by pollution and very cold air, and are evidence of ozone depletion. But are so very cool.
The view looking back from hut point at night. The little white dot in the upper righthand corner is the NASA dome, and to the left of the person is ice.
Us after just arriving in Antarctica, on "Ivan the Terra-bus" going to the station

Recent Updates from Antarctica

So I haven’t posted in awhile, so I thought I would give some general updates. Not much has changed here. Yesterday was my day off, so that was great. It was the first one that I have had that the weather was decent, so I hiked out to hut point during the day. It was very pretty, and I got a better look at the hut itself, which is really cool. There is a dead seal outside that is still pretty much intact 100 years later.

I got to sit out there for a while and just look at the mountains and the ice, which is starting to crack a little because it is getting warmer (relatively speaking) and the sun is out.

Ah yes, the sun. It is on its way up for good- they say in a few weeks it will be up for the duration of my time here. It’s very bright- I got to use my sunglasses for the first time yesterday, which was fun. It’s strange that its up at all to me…a month ago when we got here it was 24 hours darkness. Soon enough we will have 24 hours of daylight. I might become a night worker- but with this 24 hours daylight I don’t think it would change too many things. Plus getting to go out hiking more will be awesome. At the same time, I want to get in as many night hikes as possible before we go to permanent daytime.

One night last week I went hiking up Observation Hill, and watched the sunset. It was gorgeous. In my opinion, hill is a bit of a misnomer. It’s quite a climb, but was totally worth it. There is a cross at the top to memorialize Scott and the rest of his party who died on the way back from the pole. That night there were also some impressive nacreous clouds (these clouds that are evidence of ozone holes, and come up due to pollution and extreme cold), which were cool to see. Another night a few weeks ago I walked out to Scott base looking for auroras. Although we only saw one, it was incredible.

So besides seeing cool things and hiking and getting outside a lot, things are business as usual here. We switched work shifts, so now I work 10am to 8pm. I am enjoying the change for the moment….its nice to sleep in past 5:30am for once. Everyone is getting ready for mainbody to arrive in late September- when about 500 or 700 more people come and fill up the station, and more science stuff gets going. At the moment however, there are about 525 people here. Its nice, and calm. There are a few scientific projects going on at the moment; lots of atmospheric balloons and a group studying how weddell seals eat during the Antarctic winter.

Its weird to think I have been here a month. In some ways its just strange to think its been that long, and in some ways I feel like I have been here forever. It will be interesting to see what happens when mainbody arrives. But at the moment, this place is pretty great.

Condition 2 Day!

So yesterday was a condition 2 weather day (but people were saying how it really should have been condition 1). Youtube condition 1 antarctica weather, there are some videos that show what its like. They put ropes out in between all the buildings so you could get from place to place. It was insane. Other than that exciting weather news, its buisness as usual down here. I thought I would write down my day's agenda so you could see what a day in my life down here is like. I work from 6-4 and we have different tasks every hour or so- helps us avoid repetitive motion injury and so we don't get bored.
Today my day went like this:
6am-7: I washed pots
7-8: I washed dishes
8-8:30: I had a break
8:30-9:30: I restocked things
9:30-10: I washed more pots
10-10:15: I stretched. We stretch as a group twice a day
10:15-10:30: I allocated my labor. Which is typing it into a spread sheet which is saved so people can pay us or something like that
10:30-11: We have family meal, where all the dining people eat lunch together before everyone else eats and we have to work.
11-12:15: I worked the line, refilling food
12:15-1:30: I worked the floor, refilling beverages and supplies
1:30-1:45: We stretched again
1:45-2:15: 2nd break
2:15-3: I swept, mopped, and did laundry
3-4: I deep cleaned the bread boxes and the condiment area. We deep clean something about every day, so everyone is deep cleaned once a week.

Static and Freshies

So I thought I would post about some of the funnier things about living here in Antarctica. One of which is static electricity. Its honestly the only thing I don't like about being here so far...its so annoying! Basically, because it is so dry/cold here, static is worse then anywhere else. Its been known to blow out ipods, and other stuff. You can get shocked just putting your key in your door and it hurts alot! Most people get in the habit of hitting something metal with their palm or arm before they touch it with their hands. I try and use my elbow first.
Freshies is what they call fresh fruits and vegetables. There are 5 flights coming down this month (the first since february) which are bringing the winfly staff and also bringing limited fresh foods. We, as winfly people, aren't allowed to eat too many of them. Or else the winterovers may stab us. They told us this as soon as we arrived. The next day during a safety meeting our superviser had presents for all of the winterovers, which were bananas and kiwis. They were super excited about them.
Hmm, what else can I say about day to day life here? Well, most things revolve around the weather. Today the sun is rising for the first time in months, so everyone is excited. Although, we have been having twilight every morning around 10 for a few hours for awhile so it may not look to different outside. There are three weather "conditions"- #3 is things are "normal", #2 things are getting rough and we aren't allowed to hike or walk certain places, and #1 is we have to stay in the building we are in because of the winds/stormy-ness. Its been condition 3 since I hav been here, although people were saying it was condition 2 last night. I was only out for a few minutes, but I didn't think it was anything different then usual. I go outside a few times a day, sometimes to do laundry for work, to take out the trash, and at night to go places. I want to go hiking on my day off- there are a few short trails we can go on alone that are close to town (all of my friends are either in dining so don't have my day off, or on the community schedule, so won't have my day off), but I think it is going to depend on my exhaustion level, and of course, the weather.
Work is fun, but it gets monotonous and really, really tiring. We get lots of breaks and stretch times so its not so bad. However, my muscles are starting to hurt, and I am only on my 2nd full day. They offer activities in the evening, one of them tonight is yoga so I am going to go. Tonight is also "American Night" at the NZ base which is three miles away. I really want to go to it, but its every Thursday so I think I am going to wait and go some other week when I am more rested.
Well thats all I really have for now. Hopefully I will be able to hike soon and then post some pictures!

Arriving

Well I have finally made it to Antarctica. We left in the early afternoon, which involved getting dressed in all the ECW (extreme cold weather gear), weighing ourselves, our bags, and then watching a safety video and hearing a presentation. Then we got on a C-17 plane (think army plane lol) which was really for cargo and they had just put seats in the front. We also got to visit the cockpit which was really cool. I got my first glimpse of sea ice when I was in line for the bathroom and peered out the one tiny window. I saw these lines which I thought were shadows but actually they were cracks in the sea ice which is starting to break up. It was really incredible to see.
Landing was really cool as well. We landed on an ice runway, and then went to "Ivan the terra-bus" which drove us to town. They had to leave the engines running for us to get off, so the fuel wouldn't freeze or something. We drove to town and then got our room assignments. For all of my knox friends, I feel like I am living in Seymour- I live in the main building, and am above the galley, which is awesome because its where I work. The next morning, we went on a tour of town (in the dark, because it is still primarily dark here, although its "dawn" for a couple of hours a day). And, in an ultimate plug for "ugg" boots, I wore them on the town tour, a 30 minute walk outside, and my feet stayed warm. They are so much better then our "bunny boots" which I swear weigh 10 pounds each.
After the tour, I started work. I will talk more about that later cause its not as interesting. That night I went to an outdoor safety lecture and learned about hiking in the area. There are lots of different trails to go on, and I am really looking forward to it. You can hike some of them alone, which I think could be fun as well. Then, I went to one of the station bars with some friends, and had some yummy NZ beer. However, I went home at 9pm, because I had to be at work the next day around 5:30am!!!
I love it here. Its the best thing ever.

Christchurch, NZ

I am now in Christchurch, NZ. We continued training on Tuesday and Wednesday morning. Then, we flew to LA that afternoon. Next was our flight to Auckland, NZ that night. It was actually a really cool flight. The seats were super comfortable, and the food was decent. They also gave snacks, eye masks, headsets for the on-demand individual tv programs, blankets, pillows, and toothbrushes with toothpaste. I actually realized that I enjoyed the 13 hour flight more than I do the 8 and 9 hour flights to Europe. With the longer flight, you have more time to sleep in between dinner and breakfast. On those shorter ones, it feels like you just finished eating when they wake you up for the end of the flight. At least with the long one, there is some chance for sleep. And I slept a long time. I woke up in the middle though and looked out the window to see tons of stars. It was a really cool feeling, and reminded me how much I am looking forward to this whole experience.

Our arrival in Auckland, and journey through customs was very easy. However, NZ is intense about anyone bringing in anything that can grow from outside the country though. Everyone got sniffed by a dog while waiting for luggage. We were issued 12 month visas, and then got to exchange money for free, both thanks to the USAP program J (typically when you exchange money you are charged a commission). Then we went through declarations, which is where if you told the customs people on a form that you have anything that they might not like (like food, or in NZ’s case, hiking gear) you have to show it to an official to see if its ok. They are really worried about people bringing in dirt on hiking gear. I only had boots, which I had washed the night before so they didn’t take them from me. Then we went to walk to the domestic terminal, checked in, and ate lunch- everything I have eaten here has been amazing so far.

Next was a quick flight to Christchurch, and shuttles to the hotel. After getting settled in, we all went out for drinks and dinner, and I had some amazing sushi. Christchurch is a really cool city. By 9pm I was so, so, so tired (thank you jetlag) so I just came home. I received a note under my door saying our time at the Clothing Distribution Center (where we get our extreme cold weather gear) had been changed from 1pm to 8am. Things change last minute a lot around here, plus the flight that was supposed to go to the ice yesterday didn’t make it out there so things are a little jumbled. The upside of that, we might get to stay in Christchurch for longer!!!

So, we took shuttles to the CDC and arrived at 8. There, we had light vehicle training, got our computers screened (I had failed the first time L), watched an orientation video, and tried on all of our ECW. ECW stands for extreme cold weather gear. They gave us bags of it that had been put together based on the sizes we had given them and what our jobs entail we had to try everything on, get stuff exchanged if it was broken or didn’t fit, and request extras if we wanted any. Now we get to repack stuff for the ice flight. Flying down to the ice, we have to wear certain pieces of our ECW. We also have to pack a “boomerang bag”. If our flight has to turn around (or “boomerang”) due to weather in McMurdo, then we have another night in Christchurch. We would only get back our small boomerang bags- so they have to be filled with the stuff we need for another night in Christchurch.

This trip has been so exciting so far, and it keeps getting cooler and cooler. Everyone here is so nice and helpful, and since I am a newbie, or “FNG” (try to figure out what that one means J) I am always asking questions because I am always confused, so their helpfulness is greatly appreciated. I am so looking forward to getting to the ice- I have missed it so much this whole year since I went to visit in December.

My First Day

It has been such an intense 2 days. I still can't really realize that I am part of the real world. I just feel like this is some weird college field trip. I can't imagine how I am going to feel in a week when I am on the ice.

Yesterday I hung out with Jen and we went hiking, window shopping, got yummy sushi and went to one of her favorite bars. Today training started at 7am, and I learned about food safety all morning. Some of it was actually really interesting- food production is much more intense when you are trying to keep the food from getting contaminated then I ever understood, and I used to work in a restaurant. There are specific temperatures and timings for cooking and cooling food. Its kinda cool- but the downside is I will now always be a little bit concerned when I go out to eat, or especially at a buffet.

I had lunch with the other dining attendants who are on the same flights. The afternoon we did a icebreaker game, and went through our expectations for the next few days, and talked about what our jobs entailed and what was inspected of us. We got more information about life in general down there, so that was helpful.

Tonight I had dinner with some of the food service people, and then just hung out for awhile. But I decided to take an early night because I am so tired! Need to rest up for training tomorrow when I will meet even more new people :)

One week until I go!!!

My address at McMurdo:

Sarah Carlin, NANA

McMurdo Station

PSC 469 Box 700

APO AP 96599

Less than 2 weeks!

It is remarkable how much stuff you have to take care of before you can responsibly fall off the face of the earth for 7 months. Antarctica, being the most remote place imaginable, only heightens this. In the past few weeks since I have gotten home, my to-do list has only grown and grown. Cancelling my cell phone, cancelling my car insurance, paying off all credit cards because I can't exactly get bills, packing- including everything I need but still leaving 20 pounds for the gear they give me when I get there, buying shoes sunglasses and my own winter gear, filling out reimbursements, etc. etc.
But, even though its all this busy work, its getting more and more exciting by the day! And so close! I've had an old friend from high school visiting for a few days, which has given me my own vacation from all of this, but after she leaves it will be pushing towards the finish line for sure.
Antarctica here I come! (Well, Denver first)

Sunglasses and Shoes!

My very awesome sunglasses arrived the other day. They have very strong protection, and have little pieces that cover the sides of my eyes so no light can seep in. Apparently, you can go "snowblind" in Antarctica, which just sounds painful and I don't want to happen to me. I also have ordered shoes for wearing in the kitchen during my workshifts, which should arrive soon.

I got this whole list of things to bring with me to McMurdo, including a halloween costume. So I am thinking that I will bring my old school uniform- always a good costume.

I will hopefully leave between the 6th and the 11th of August. This is all coming up so soon, in just a few weeks! I hope I am ready. I have been going to the gym every day, trying to get in better shape because I will be on my feet 10 hours a day working.

I can't believe its almost here.

Preparing to Leave

So after spending weeks and weeks of medical appointments, needle jabs, the works, I am officially physically qualified to go to Antarctica. My special sunglasses have arrived, I have ordered safety shoes, and am (while still unpacking from college) starting to set things aside to pack for the upcoming adventure.

At the moment its not feeling all too real yet, but it is coming up so quickly and will be here before I know it!!!

Antarctica, again

So I never thought that I would be writing on this blog again, but here I am.

Something that I didn't mention about that day at Neko Harbor was when I sat at the top of the hill we climbed, watching the penguins and the view of the mountains and the harbor and the ice, that I realized I was sad to leave- not just sad my vacation was over, but really, really deeply sad to be leaving this place. And I began to think how wonderful it would be to return, if only I could find a way to get back down there (since I certainly wasn't going to be able to take another cruise)

It was then that I kind of realized that I wasn't done with Antarctica, or more aptly, Antarctica wasn't done with me. And after almost 6 months of searching and pursuing any possible lead that would get me back on the ice......

I'm going back to Antarctica!

From August to the end of February, I will be working on McMurdo as a dining attendant. It is honestly something that has been on the forefront of my mind...something I have thought about, dreamed about, and actively pursued every day since December, so I am kind of in shock that it is actually happening. But it is!