The Halfway Mark

 Hey everyone!



Marty and I at the top of Observation Hill



You ever notice how much harder it gets to write everything down the longer you wait to do it?  So much has happened since I wrote my last blog I hardly know where to begin!

Well, first off, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.   I hope the day was full of really good food and even better friends and family. Here at McMurdo I was lucky enough to have lots of friends and my brother around, the weather was gorgeous (probably up in the mid-20s and sunny), there was an organized 5k turkey trot, and we had both Saturday and Sunday off which gave us a much appreciated break!  My brother Marty finished the trot to complete his first race (Yeah!  Way to go bro!) and we celebrated with beers at Southern afterwards.  It's been great living near him again.  I think he's really rad and I love him a lot.  Although we both had great Thanksgivings here, we agreed being home with mom and Pat and the pets would have been the best!



The last month has been a whirlwind.  Time here is so distorted.  The sun is always up, the town is mostly dust now (I keep forgetting it's December), I work six days a week, and most nights there are things going on that keep me busy. A week back home can feel like a month here or can change to warp speed so that I hardly know where the time went.  It's hard to believe I've been here close to two months already.  My season is already half over!



One of many great recreational activities - the Dodgeball Tournament!
This is Night Moves! - made up of the Waste and Environmenal Dept's
Marty's team beat us this time - but we'll be back for another round!
(Note the Mardi Gras headband - always representing!)



Things have been going really well overall.  I'm not quite in the same honeymoon stage that I was in my last post, but I definitely feel like this is a home already and I find myself happy almost everyday.  I love that I live in such a remote place that so few people have been to.  I love that I can look out my window and see the Antarctic Royal Society mountain range.  I love that I can go on hikes and runs around town.  And I love that my free time truly is mine - I never have to go to the grocery store, fill my tank with gas, figure out what to eat, or even clean the bathroom.  It's like I've slipped back into childhood where everything is taken care of by mom and dad only I'm an adult and don't have to ask anyone for permission.  Granted, I live in a tiny room with three other women but hey, I lived a year with my 6 female teamates in the same room so this is nothing!  I actually love the communal aspect of this place and the fact that all of my friends and my brother live within a five minute walking distance.  Want to go out drinking and need to get to the next bar?  Don't worry about a designated driver!  Just walk the 100 ft and you're there!  Forgot your money in your room?  No problem - it's right next door.  As you can imagine, this also has its downsides - almost no privacy, very little alone time, and forget trying to "sneak" anywhere - everyone can always see you!  But, everyday I get to high five all of my friends as I see them throughout the station and I probably make 10 new friends a week.  It's totally my cup of tea and worth some lack of personal space.



View of town and the Royal Society Mountains

I wanted to give you all a little better idea of what I do here on a daily basis.  My job is actually a lot cooler than I pictured it and I geniunely enjoy going to it day after day.  Like I've said, we work Mon-Sat 7:30am-5:30pm but are given short breaks and lunch.  First thing after stretching, two of the recycling technicians (there are five of us and three equipment operators- E.O.s) take a walk around town to check all of the recycling and trash bins and mark down which ones need to be dumped (this takes about 45 minutes since there are 40ish buildings here split between the two of us). I like the system quite a bit and it seems to flow well most of the time.  We have something like 12 different types of recycling including plastic, aluminum, mixed paper, cardboard, glass, wood, heavy and light metal, paper towels, and then non-recyclabes and food waste.  We head back up the barn and give our marked sheets to the E.O.s so that they can go through town in the large loaders and bring the bins back to us to sort through.  When a large bin in the barn is completely full we close it up, band it shut, mark what the contents are, and forklift it to be stored in a millvan (20ft storage unit - they make me think of the piles near Bart's house in New Orleans).  We also deal with trash that is flown in from the South Pole and field camps so we have plenty to keep us occupied!  At the end of the season, a ship will come down with all of the supplies for the winter months (which will start in March and last through August).  Our job as Waste Techs will then be to make sure all of the waste has been put in its proper millvan and then weigh it to be put on the ship.  After that's done, my job will be over!  The ship will sail back to California to be offloaded and all of our recycling will go to it's proper place in the U.S. to be processed.  Crazy, huh?  Who would have known?  I've been told that we recycle over 70% of the waste produced on the continent - not too shabby!



The Waste Barn after Trash Attack!!



The Metal Bailer

Another really awesome part of my job is doing all sorts of various tasks in order to store all of this trash.  My favorite so far?  The Metal Bailer. 

Picture this:  your darling friend in a giant loader with a claw.  Over to the 55 gallon barrels.  Claw descends over two.  CRUNCH.  Pick them up and swing them over to the tray.  BOOM!  Drop 'em in.  Once there's twelve of them, just press a few levers, push a few buttons, and all the metal is smashed into a tiny little cube (probably 3x3x3).  Ahahahahaha!!!  I rule!!  And all the while I get to look around at the amazing Antarctic scenery from my perch.  How did I get this lucky?



Chomping the 55gal drums





My metal cube creation!










Observation Tube!

During my off hours I've gotten the opportunity to go out and see some of what Antarctica has to offer and what I've seen so far has been absolutely breathtaking. Included in my adventures have been a gigantic ice berg, the hut that the Scott company built while on one of the first expeditions to the South Pole, the ice pressure ridges nearby McMurdo, an ice cave, big fat happy seals, a half day of snowmobile training, and an amazing view from underneath the ice sheet in the observation tube.  Check it out: they installed a green Mario Brothers-esque tube in the ice sheet (it turns out the cold levels in Mario are actually Antarctica!) that extends about 3 feet above the ice and then about 15 feet below.  Once you crawl down the very narrow tube, you (and perhaps one other friend - there isn't room for many more than two people) can sit in a 360 degree glass encased area and look around at the scenery around you.  Talk about a cool moment.  I was giddy looking up at the ice above me that I normally walk on and checking out the ocean floor below me.  No seal sightings but a lot of little fish and a jellyfish.



View from above the ice



View from below the ice



Snowmobile Training

So fat and happy!  This is a Weddell seal, named after one of the first

explorers.  Weddell seals live farther south than any other mammals

and have almost no predetors here!  (Hence the fat and happy).

Model Pose! 
I was so excited to see a seal out in nature
I couldn't stop giggling!

The Pressure Ridges
I felt like I was in a frozen Dr. Seuss story.

Skua!
 These are one of the few birds that migrate to Antarctica.
They know you have food and they're not afraid to come after you to get it.

View from inside the Ice Cave

The Delta that took us out on the ice.
Check out those tires!  They're almost as tall as me!



Beautiful Ice Berg

What else?  Oh yeah!  The friday night before Thanksgiving (we celebrated on Saturday) I had my first show with my band Banana Hog and it was AWESOME!  Man, why haven't I joined a band before this?  It was such a thrill to stand on stage and rock out in front of so many of my friends.  Definitely one of the highlights of life so far.  Our next show will be at IceStock on New Year's Day and I can't wait.  If you are on Facebook you can check out a video my brother posted on my profile.



Banana Hog! 



Well friends and family, I think that's it for this installment.  I hope everyone is happy and healthy wherever you may be.  Happy happy holidays and talk to you soon!

.

First Weeks

Hey Everyone!

Wow.  What an amazing adventure this has been already.  I am in full-blown honey moon stage with Antarctica right now.  Let me start from the start though...

I had a lovely couple of weeks home in Colorado with my mom spent gathering all the things I needed for my trip and a whole lot of well needed down time.  I didn't get nervous about leaving until a few days before my it was time to go but soon after I arrived at orientation those feelings quickly went away. Orientation took place in Denver for a day and a half and then I was loaded onto shuttles to DIA with about forty other people.  That day of travel was by far the hardest (I got to DIA around 1pm on Monday and didn't land in Christchurch, NZ until Wednesday at 2pm - which in CO time was really Tuesday at 7pm - needless to say it was a lot of travel) but it was an awesome opportunity to meet new friends and get to know people before getting to the ice.  The flight from Los Angeles to New Zealand was really cool.  I just kept thinking, this is all free!  I'm going to the other side of the world for free!  Luckily, we flew over what was essentially all of our bedtimes anyways, so I just ate my dinner, drank my free wine, watched a movie, slept for 8 hours, and was there shortly after I woke up!  (I believe the flight was 12 hours total).



Decent Plane Food! 

                                                                        
I then got to stay in the quaint city of Christchurch, NZ for two nights and two days and was given plenty of Kiwi dollars to keep myself full and happy.  Since the Southern hemisphere is on opposite schedule from home, I got to see springtime complete with beautiful flowers and baby ducks. 

                                                                               
Friday morning at 9am we boarded our military C-17 aircraft and were on our way to Antarctica.  The flight was a short 5 hours and I was able to go up the stairs into the cockpit and see the breathtaking landscape as we flew in.  I was almost jumping out of my seat when we landed I was so excited to finally be there.  (Plus, I was really glad to be safely on the ground - landing on snow and ice is a bit nerve wracking for the average joe like me).



C-17 Military Plane





First Picture of Antarctica from the Cockpit!  So beautiful.



                                                                    
We were loaded into shuttles and drove about 10 minutes to my new home, McMurdo Base.  For some quick facts and a map check out:  http://www.coolantarctica.com/Community/mcmurdo/mcmurdo_base_antarctica.htm
Waiting for me and my new friend/coworker Lindsay was our Waste Crew welcoming us to the continent!  I feel so lucky to be a part of the team I'm on.  I got the opportunity to meet many of them at a training I attended in TX in July so it was great to see some familiar faces so quickly!

Waste Crew!!

                                                                     
The next few days were a bit of a blur meeting new people, moving into my room, (four roommates, but they are all cool ladies) learning the lay of the land, and trying to soak in all the information about my job responsibilities that I could.  Friday evening I went to my first band practice - I'm one of two lead singers in an awesome new blues/funk band down here called Banana Hog (inspired by the sign in the Galley cafeteria that reads: "No One Likes a Banana Hog - One Banana Each Please") - and afterwards went to visit my brother Marty at work!  He works the overnight shift in the heavy machinery shop as a mechanic so pretty much the only time we see each other is at my breakfast/his dinner.  We were both so happy to see each other!  What a cool place to meet up with family!


Marty and I at the cafeteria!  Yay!  We're finally here!

The base itself is very Americanized.  I live in dorm style housing and walk down the hall to take hot showers and use the restroom.  My room is just big enough to fit five twin beds plus dressers and drawers and has a window!  I love getting back to my room around 10pm and still having light coming in.  Don't worry though, I have no problem sleeping.  I just put in my earplugs and I'm out.  My room resides in the same building as the Galley (where you go to eat/socialize) so it's pretty stress free in the mornings.  Work at the Waste/Recycling Barn begins with stretching at 7:30am and goes until 5:30pm Monday through Saturday.  This includes two short breaks and a break for lunch.  Along with our waste barn duties, our entire staff is also responsible for any oil spills that may happen on base.  This means that when I'm on call I could be cleaning up a spill day or night (and I've heard spills rarely happen during regular hours of course).  But in the meantime, it makes for relatively stress-free days full of sorting trash/recycling, moving around bins on fork lifts (I was so excited to finally learn how to drive one!), and various other tasks around base and the barn.  The Waste Crew is known for being a really tight team and I know I've lucked out with my coworkers and boss.  We laugh a lot and just generally enjoy being at work.  The base also has three small gyms, a coffee house, two bars (with reasonably priced beer/liquor), a small store, a library, a radio station, and much more that I haven't even found out about yet.  There's always lots of recreational activities going on as well so there's always something to do if you're interested.  It feels a lot like college except way cooler.

Last Tuesday and Wednesday I attended "Happy Camper", which is an intensive Antarctic survival class geared at teaching you the basics should you find yourself outside for an extended period of time.  (Temps range from -20 to +40 throughout the summer months - right now it's been getting up in the low positives most days).  We spent the first day outside learning the basics followed by camping the night outside and ending with real life scenarios to help us practice for a real situation.  I loved being outside in the sunshine (we lucked out on weather - sunny with almost no wind) and learned lots of applicable tricks including how to build ice walls for protection and how to dig out a trench to sleep in should you be without a tent.  Crazy! I stayed relatively warm most of the time except for sleeping at night.  I was way cold at one point and had to get up out of my trench and move around to warm back up.  Definitely not my favorite night ever but well worth the experience.

Building a protective snow wall for our camp.

My ice trench/bed.  This baby took about 4 hours to construct.



My view from inside the trench laying down.



The ice "kitchen" where we boiled lots of snow for water/dehydrated food.

View from camp - 11:30pm



Brrrrrr.

  I was also lucky enough to have sea ice training later in the week which involved learning how to recognize cracks in the ice and how to measure them to make sure you can actually cross them by foot or in a vehicle.  I am awed by the beauty of the landscape and recognize that I'm very fortunate to have the opportunity to get out and see so much of it.  (Many departments can't authorize these types of trainings because the positions don't require the workers to be outside much). 

So, to conclude, I LOVE ANTARCTICA!!!  It is freakin' sweet here and I'm so happy to be here.  Thanks everyone for all of your Internet well-wishes and notes.  I love hearing from all of you.  (And please forgive my bad manners if I haven't managed to write back - things have been a little crazy here). 

Again, my address is on the right side of this post and you can always e-mail or facebook me!

I miss everyone and hope you're well wherever you are!  Talk to you next time!

                                                                   



Preparation

Hey Friends and Family!

You have found your way to my first blog ever!  I have seen many blogs through other traveling friends and hope this will be a great way to keep in touch and show pictures of what I'm up to in the next few months.

 Leaving New Orleans last week was surreal and hard but I have a very good feeling we are not done hanging out yet.  That city will always be a home now.

I have 10 days until I leave for McMurdo base in Antarctica.   Soon, I'll be hanging out with my brother Marty!  Quick background for those of you who I haven't told:  my mom's boyfriend went to Antarctica to do research in the 90's.  After my mom retired the two of them decided to go down for summer season (Oct-Feb) 2008-2009.  Last year, my mom and my brother went down, and this year so far it looks like just my bro and I will be there.  McMurdo houses an average 1000 people during the summer and is the biggest base on the continent (there are actually 19 bases of which the U.S. runs 3).  Essentially, any job or function that is needed to run a small town is done there.  So, I will have the illustrious job of....solid waste/recycling technician!  Anything that comes onto the base must also be disposed of properly and taken back off the continent.  Trash smell here I come!

I am elated to be going on this adventure.  At first, I was pretty opposed to the idea.  But, as usual, my mom broke down all the benefits and general coolness of it all and I was hooked.  Free trip to the other side of the world, good pay, medical and dental benefits, food, housing, and lots of world traveling.  Sweet!  And hey, it's only four months, so I'll be back before you know it!

I'll post pics and stories as they come.  I'll have internet the whole time and you can leave messages on my phone that I'll be checking sporadically.  Talk to you soon!