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!