Fast Times at Pressure Ridgemont High.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  Or at least everyone in Antarctica since we are a day ahead.  Although we don't actually celebrate it till Saturday so it is somewhat anticlimactic.  But anyway, back to my point Happy Thanksgiving.   It has been a while since I have checked in.  Time is flying down here and I can't believe I have been here for almost 3 months.

This entire week has been a great one.  It started with my Monday off as usual.  We had a slow cooker sent down and made tortilla soup and pimento cheese in the lounge so we wouldn't have to walk to the main building for meals and could watch football all day.   All was going well until the Steelers lost, but the soup was amazing so I got over it.   Then I got a second day off today for my holiday.  Tomorrow is my birthday and I get an hour off work to celebrate, and then Saturday is our Thanksgiving where we have adopt a DA and I get another hour off.    Altogether a relaxing week.

All of the time off has been great but the highlight of my week and my favorite adventure since I have landed on this harsh continent is definitely the tour I took of the pressure ridges last night.   The pressure ridges are where the sea ice meets land and the constant slow tide and weather changes causes the ice to buckle and make formations.  We left for them after work at 9pm.  My friend Grace was our guide and drove us over to Scott base where we took off by foot.   She used an ice axe to test the sea ice for cracks and we made our way through the most amazing Tim Burtoneque formations.  At the beginning the wind was blowing pretty hard and snow was blowing over the drifts.   The only thing I can compare it to is what the desert looks like in Lawrence of Arabia.  It was breath taking.   About 10 minutes in the wind died and the rest of the hike was gorgeous.    Below are a few of my favorite pictures.

I hope you are all doing great back home and enjoying a great meal with loved ones.   I am so thankful for this experience, all of the people I have met,  the beautiful landscape and the wonderful supportive friends and family back home.  I hope you all feel as blessed.

The wind and snow blowing over snow drifts

Me, Grace and Gwen

The group taking in the view

My favorite formation next to a melt pool, I really wanted to drink it even though it would be salty

A melt pool

More Happy Camper Pics.

The Great Outdoors.

So.  Bad news on the dinner party.  Although it was a smashing success and I have now brought Sonoran hot dogs to the lovely population of Antarctica (some of whom indulged in many more than one) I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off the entire time making food and didn't get pics.    I really need to get better about remembering to take out my camera and snap pictures but I get so caught up in the moment I forget.   On the plus side, I have a lot of amazing pictures of my recent boondoggle away from station.

I was picked to take part in an Antarctica survival course called Happy Camper.   Basically you learn how to survive outside in Antarctica in Condition 1 weather and how to make it through the night in white out conditions.   You learn how to use everything in our standard survival bags: some crazy manual radio with plugs and antennae, a small portable stove, ice saw and shovel, how to pitch a tent in snow, how to form a quarry and make ice blocks in order to make a wind wall and an ice trench to survive the night.    After learning these skills and working your butt off in -15 degree weather all day the instructors leave you and you are on your own until 8:30 the next morning.

I set out to sleep in a ice trench but after working in the freezing cold all day I could not stay warm and was exhausted.   I helped others build their trenches for a bit and then wisely picked to sleep in a Scott Tent - the sturdiest of all shelters, it fits up to four.  The two other girls on the trip were snug in the tent with me asleep at 10pm while the boys shoveled out their trenches till midnight.  Most of them were overambitious and built too big of shelters thinking they would be more comfortable.  What they didn't think was the bigger the space the more room your body has to heat.   The only time during the entire trip I was warm was for the first two hours I was in the tent.

We luckily had a portable stove and used it to melt snow.  I filled up my Nalgene with boiling water and threw it into the bottom of my mummy bag.    I slept fine for a few hours and then woke up freezing, counting down the hours until we could go back.    I kept thinking the entire experience would have been much better if A: we could have built a fire, but since that would probably break a few international laws I get why it isn't the best idea, and B:  we should have had s'mores and steaks and a good camping meal... oh and beer, that would have helped.   Instead we got dehydrated "just add water" meals in a bag.  I had Beef Stroganoff - WOOF.   On the plus side we also got candy bars to keep our blood sugar up and our bodies from getting frostbite/hypothermia.

Overall I am so glad I did it and was proud I made it through.   I know in 20 years I will look back and remember it as one of the coolest things I have done, but while it was going on all I could think was this is awful and cold and uncomfortable.   Still you need that course in order to do a lot of the cooler boondoggles so I am so glad they were able to get me into the course.  It was definitely a thoroughly Antarctic experience and cool to get out and see the land off base.

This is a Delta, the vehicle that drives over the sea ice to get us to the camp site

Me in an ice trench

The scott tent I stayed in

The ice block quarry and the stove site in the background

Big Night.

So as all of you are probably aware I LOVE dinner parties.  Hence the title of today's post.  If you haven't seen that movie then go out and rent it immediately... or downlaod it since no one rents movies anymore.    It is amazing! (thank you Uncle Mike for the suggestion).   Anyway, back to my point - dinner parties.   Tonight I will be hosting my first antarctic dinner party.  Or at least it started that way.  It is our friend Cole's birthday and another friend, Michael Smith, is leaving to work at the South Pole.  So I decided it would be a perfect occasion to rent Hut 10 and throw a dinner party, not that I needed an excuse.  (Kesa, Shoop, Mic, Crystal, Pat and Jen MAN, do I miss our dinner parties!) 

The second I rented it I started making menu lists, almost all of which were thrown out becuase we are kind of limited with ingredients here... due to us being in Antartica and all.  I thought about throwing a pizza party, but it is so dry here I didn't want to do it and screw it up since I can't just call Pizza Hut and order some if it's a bust.  And then flashes of my first pizza party came back to me with flames shooting out of the oven, smoke everywhere and the entire party in parkas fanning smoke into the 10 degree Chicago night.   I am pretty sure that would be cause for getting fired here.   So finally I decided to keep it simple and make what I miss.  I picked Aunt Sissy's pimento cheese, wings, and sonoran hot dogs.  

Shortly after I booked Hut 10 I found out that Bertha, our 40 year old dishwwasher was dying and being replaced on Thursday.  People take Bertha very seriously here.  The community has a special bond with her.   So there will be a wake held to remember her life.   Anyway long explanation short, my small dinner party isn't so small anymore.  So we will see how tonight goes.   I am sure I will have some stories for you.  

I will have pictures for you soon.  As well as pictures from this Saturday's Halloween festivities, in which I will be performing with the Hip Hop crew.  I miss you all!  Sorry I have gotten so lax on posting!  Will check back in soon!

BTW - Shout out to the soon to be Mrs. Lindsay!!!!!!!  I love and miss you.  Wish I was there.

Ob Hill and Hut Ridge Loop Hikes

I promise I will post more later but until then here are some pics to enjoy!

Cliffhanger...

I know I didn't post today, BUT it was because I was busy going on my first solo climb up Ob Hill.   Pics are to come soon!   Hope you all are doing well!

Insert Clever Title Here.

I don't have a pop culture title to go with today's post, so if you think of one, let me know.    I dont have any new pictures for you this week, but I am working on them!   This week I spent the whole week DAing or being a dining hall assistant.   After a week in the pot room stacking industrial size pans and baking sheets I feel like I am in Crossfit all over again.   I actually have some bicep definition too!   Take that Jeremy, apparently all I needed to be able to have a six pack and hang out drinking at Castaways all week was antarctic temperatures to burn off fat and a manual labor job!  But seriously, I feel like I am on Kanye's workout plan.  The  Biggest loser needs to come here and film.   That being said I have never been so sore in my life.

We had our first Condition One weather this week so I didn't go on any hikes.  There are 3 conditions of weather here, 3 is calm and nice, 1 is don't leave the building.   Hence me not having photos.   It has basically been whiteouts off an on for the week.  With that though, I finally got out to see McMurdos night life and visited the bars here on station.    Gallagher's is the main bar and I went on Karaoke night, so you can imagine how crazy it was.  They usually have another bar open, called The Southern, but it is closed for Winfly (which is the in between season right now before most scientists get here).   The Southern is apparently where the old men go, because they have less events and more pool, shuffleboard and country music.    Gallagher's is more of a bar/club.  There is dancing, rock bands, events etc.

I wasn't there ten minutes before I had 10 guys offer to buy me drinks.   The dynamic here is weird because there are so many more men than women here.  I will definitely have to use the buddy/group system at the bar to keep people at bay.   Overall it was a really fun night though!  (Jenny they have coors light! awesome.)  I stuck to my "no hard alcohol while on the ice" rule and was able to stay sober to watch the descent into drunkenness, which is always fun on Karaoke night.  They made bar hours shorter so everyone left after last call to have little parties throughout town in protest.  Haha.  I passed on the party at the Gerbil Gym (cardio gym)  drinking on treadmills does not sound enticing to me.

I also went to a party at Hut 10 this week.  I think I have talked about Hut 10 on here before but I can't remember.   Hut 10 is a single family home you can rent out to have parties, or just cook your own meal and hang.   I prefer it to the bars because obviously it is less crowded and is similar to going to a party at a friends house.  It is more relaxed.  It was my friend Morgan's birthday, so we had pizza!!!  (forgot how much I love pizza) and fried mozzarella sticks and played music, Jenga and Taboo and just hung out.

I also went to Scott base this week.  Scott base is the New Zealand base.  It is a mile away and they have an American night where you can take a shuttle over and hang out at their bar.  They have different beers, so people get excited.  They also have a shot ski thing where 5 people take shots at the same time that are mounted on a ski.  I forgot my camera at the room but I have pictures of my friends doing that.   Scott base is tiny, the bar is very small and they do their own dishes.  So a much different feel than McMurdo.  I think it only has something like 30 people on it.

I promise next time I will post pictures so y'all can visualize.    I guess I should have named this post something alcohol related... Cheers!   Done.  Anyway, will post again soon.  I miss you all!!

Life Aquatic.

So this has been an AMAZING and intense week!    I am settled in and have gone through training so I am kind of on my own to get my work done.  There is very little oversight, which I like A LOT.  They say, "Clean this, this and this today."  And then you go off, plug in your headphones and clean. I love that aspect of it.  They trust in you to get your shit done.  That has literally never happened to me in any other job I have had.   I have always had employers who micromanage and second guess, so to be treated like an adult is a great and refreshing feeling.

I started this week with Jano and will do my DA stuff tomorrow through Sunday.  The DA job is a little more social and is basically just like working in a restaurant.  But in the mean time I have had a lot of time to ponder.  Like all things in life I have had ups and downs since getting here.  There are moments when you feel completely disconnected from the world down here and that's when I start to second guess my decision.  But, I have heard it is pretty common to do that when you get down here.   However, every time I start to think that, I then meet someone who has amazing stories and experiences, or see the sunset for three hours, or go on a hike, or get sent on a mini adventure (more on that below!) and it just hits me, I am in Antarctica.  I keep saying it because I think I am in shock or 

denial.

  

Also, every once in a while, when I am doing something particularly disgusting in my job I think about my choices and something along the lines of "WTF was I thinking?! I am not cut out to be a janitor!" runs through my head.  But I don't regret my decision at all.  Like I said before you have a lot of time to ponder down here, and I have decided after meeting the most interesting people I have ever met and seeing the most beautiful landscape that I have ever seen, that it is good for the soul to push your comfort limits and boundaries.  It lets you see what you are made of.  And this experience is definitely doing just that.   I am already getting more comfortable doing my job.  I feel stronger physically and mentally.  Incidentally, I have also decided I need to write Mike Rowe and propose he do a segment down here for Dirty Jobs! 

The perks of working down here are all around me.    I am literally left breathless sometimes when I walk outside and look around.  I can't wait till "Winfly"  (basically their spring) is done and I can go on hikes and see outside of town.  Winfly is the most beautiful time, but it is also the time with the most volatile weather so you can't hike to far outside of town.  Until then the views aren't too shabby from town.

On Monday night I went on a hike to Hut Point at night.  It is the only hike allowed during this season.  Hut Point is a hut that was built almost 100 years ago.  Explorers were stuck here for a winter after they missed their boat and had to stay alive by eating their dogs (Jenny I know!  I almost cried just hearing that) their horses, the dog biscuits, burnt seal blubber, basically whatever they had.  I think only 3 of them made it out.  A few went crazy and tried to walk home.  They died.  Wah Waaahhh.  Anyway, it is still standing.   And seals congregate around it.   It was night so my pictures aren't the best, but I got one looking back at McMurdo through the snow.    

The great thing about hikes is your body is so cold that you burn a TON of calories.  And in order to prevent hypothermia you have to eat sugar to fuel your body, so they send you with candy bars!!!  Guilt free eating?  Yes, please!

Later in the week I got pulled from Jano duty to dive tend.  Which basically means, I got to help the marine bioligists and divers get their drysuit and scuba gear on, help them get down in the hole, watch to make sure they made it back in time and help them out.   We were working with Andrew and Rory, from Oregon who are studying micro-organisms that live in the antarctic sea and Rob who works at headquarters and collects all the samples.   We met at the dive center and then drove a Piston Bully out onto the ice.  The ice is about 4 1/2 feet thick right now and will continue to deepen during Winfly.    They need it to be thick because we use it to land planes, drive and make an ice pier to eventually unload a giant ship's worth of supplies in February.

When we got to the hut we helped them get on their weights and tanks and handed down any supplies  once they were int he water, i.e. a flashlight or camera.  After they went down under we watched and waited.  Apparently sometimes seals peak their heads up in the hole to rest in the heat of the hut!  Unfortunately that didn't happen this time but I had my camera at the ready just in case they did.   Once they came up we helped them out by taking their gear off before they climbed up and then helped them unload the specimens they caught.    In this case they were catching stuff for the "Touch Tank" a tank with specimens the base can come see and touch, so I got to hold them.  Normally we wouldn't be able to though.  I got to hold a starfish and an anemone!  It was one of the coolest moments of my life.    And the first time since I have been here that I felt like I was doing my part to help the scientists.    I know that sounds corny, but it was an awesome feeling.

I am going to try and figure out how to upload video so you can see that as well.   Oh and I almost forgot.  I joined the hip hop crew down here!   Yes, they have one.  Awesome, right??  We will be doing a dance to the LMFAO song Shots.  So far it is hilarious.  I will tape it once it is done and post it here.    Nothin like doing some hip hop at the bottom of the world... ya know, no biggie!   Love it!

See ya next week with new adventures!

More Pics...

A reproduction of a Maori carving in Auckland, NZ

A view from the pier in New Breighton, NZ

At the Terminal

The C-17 that flew us there.  The Airforce guys are AWESOME!

Building 155, the main building.  This is where the gallery is.

The Coffee House, a wine and coffee bar... and where I am at the moment.

Southern Exposure.

Hi All!

I am sorry for the huge delay in posting, I have found that the Internet and Internet speed in general is not nearly as important to the Kiwi's or to folks on Antarctica as it is to me.  It is very hard to find an open ethernet cord here.  YES, you just read that right... ethernet.  There is no wireless Internet on the ice unfortunately.   It takes about a half an hour to upload a photo so bear with me.

I am living in Antarctica.  That sentence keeps moseying through my brain.   It is still a shock to me.   I kind of feel like I am living and working at a remote ski resort or in Alaska, but then I walk to work, or in today's case the local bar/coffee/movie screening hangout called The Coffee House, and see a view of Mount Erebus from town and it hits me.   It feels very surreal.   I feel like I am in the show Northern Exposure (oooo, can someone find that for me?!  Katie??  I would love to watch that).  I keep expecting a moose or in this case penguin to stroll through town.

I came down thinking I would have at least three other roommates (woof)  but thank god I only have one!  They put me with my friend Tom, who I met through Rocco when I was in Denver (thanks Co!!).  So I am VERY lucky.  This could have gone really wrong.   My roommate in the hotels in New Zealand snored like a banshee scream at night, I didn't sleep a wink.  Tom doesn't snore, is clean!, and is super chill.   All things I wanted in a roommate.  We were put in building 206, which used to be the dorms for the 109th division.  They were on their own for cleaning it unlike the rest of the town so the whole building kind of smells (double woof).  I have gotten used to it for the most part though (NOTE TO MOM:  send glade plug ins, totally forgot to tell you, something naturey like fresh cut grass, nothing floral).

My job has been pretty great so far.  I finally learned exactly what my job would entail when I got down here.   I basically switch off days being a DA (dining hall attendent) or a Jano (janitor).  I love my work as a DA, it basically is like working in any restaurant so I jumped right in and before I knew it, it was the end of my shift.   The work as a Jano, however has yet to grow on me.  The rest of the Janos are really nice and so helpful.  But I have come to the conclusion that there are people who have the personality it takes to change a urinal filter and people who don't.  I don't.  The rest of the job isn't bad though, I actually find windexing relaxing.  And I got to Zamboni machine the floors!!!  Either way this is going to be a crazy, fun, exciting experience and I am here for the landscape more than the job.    And surprisingly, changing urinals beats the office environment from my last job.   I will say, it is really nice to come to work and have happy, helpful, non catty people around you.  It makes all the difference in the world and even when you are doing unpleasant things it makes coming to work a pleasure.   

Well that is it for now.  Now that I have settled in I will update more.  The last picture is from my ice flight.  I will update with more pictures from the plane and some from New Zealand.      I will check in again soon with more pictures and stories!  Until then, I miss you all!

xo

S

P.S.  I must be getting used to the cold because today I woke up and crossed town to get to breakfast and thought to myself, "Wow, it is warm today."  When I got inside I checked the weather and it was -5 degrees -21 with wind chill.   Crazy.