Hey everyone!
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| The Waste Barn after Trash Attack!! |
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| 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?
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| Chomping the 55gal drums |
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| My metal cube creation! |
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| Observation Tube! |
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| View from above the ice |
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| View from below the ice |
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| Snowmobile Training |
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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). |
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| Model Pose! I was so excited to see a seal out in nature I couldn't stop giggling! |
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| The Pressure Ridges I felt like I was in a frozen Dr. Seuss story. |
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| 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. |
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| View from inside the Ice Cave |
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| The Delta that took us out on the ice. Check out those tires! They're almost as tall as me! |
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| 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.
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| 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!
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