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!