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.