Saturday, October 31, 2009
Prayer for Carol
Yesterday morning Carol had a weird incident. In short what I think happened was she had a varicose vein in her leg rupture, it chose the path of least resistance which happened to be a small scab on her leg. There was a lot of blood that came out, so much so that she could not believe it, I was talking to her later and asked her if it had hurt and she said that was the odd thing because she kept pulling her towel away to see if it was stopping, she could not feel anything at all. Anyways she was taken to medical and they were able to stop the bleeding. However the doctor is pretty freaked out about the whole situation, he thinks that she is not going to heal at this elevation. So that means that she will be on the next plane to McMurdo where they are going to do some more tests on her and keep her until the scab heals. So pretty much the best case scenario is that she will be there for up to a month, and worse case is that they send her home. Hmm, yeah, wasn’t really expecting that. When I had seen her shortly after it had happened it sounded like she was just going to be out for a few days, so I was pretty shocked to find out she was getting sent back to Mac town. So my request is that you all would be praying for a quick recovery for her, I told her that I would be asking you all to pray and she was very grateful for that. The additional awful part of this is if she heals and gets to come back, she will have to re-acclimate to the elevation, which will take about another two weeks. Yuck, yuck, yuck. Please, please be praying. As far as the kitchen stuff goes, for the next week I will be working with Chris the midnight sous chef who got here last week. That will be fine, I worked with him yesterday and he is a nice guy, however in about a week our midnight shift will start and he will have to move over to that. So I’m not really sure who I’m going to be working with, most likely it will be the guy who got promoted to lead sous, Beaver, and if that is the case then it will be fine. He is quite that character and I enjoy working with him. Anyway, all sorts of craziness happening, so please just keep praying that everything will work out.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
From the Pole at last
Ah, the South Pole…I have been here for over a week now, ten days to be exact. I am amazed at how easily I am able to settle into a place. Ten days is not that long but somehow I almost feel at home, not quite, the going to a different building to get to the bathroom in the morning is still taking some getting used to. :-) I am living out in what is called summer camp, it is only used in the summer time because in the winter there are more than enough rooms in the station to accommodate the people who are living here. The “building” I am living in is called a jamesway. I’m not exactly sure why they are called that, they just are. I think there are eight or ten jamesways out here in summer camp. They are essentially a thick canvas stretched over a metal framework. Yep, that’s right, I’m living in a tent in the coldest environment on the planet. Each jamesway is divided up into twelve rooms, each separated by a plywood wall, and if you are lucky you have a door and maybe even a window(depending on who has lived in the room prior to you and how handy they were construction wise). If there was not a carpenter living in your room sometime in the past then you have a canvas curtain separating you from the hallway. I was very blessed to have my friend contact the person in charge of housing and she was able to request a particular room for me, not something that someone coming in for the first time hardly ever gets or even knows to do. That being the case, I got a room with both a door and a window! Yay!
It is pretty small, about eight by six, but its mine and I don’t have to worry about sharing it with anyone else. That’s one of the nice things about pole, no matter who you are or how little time you have been here you would never have to share a room with anyone. Now the longer you have been here the options for rooms increase, for each month you spend on the ice you get one point. Over time, once you have enough points, you are eligible for nicer rooms. Some of them are actually pretty decently sized, but you would have to have a LOT of ice time to be able to get into one of those rooms. I am very content with my little space. At Mac town, no one ever gets their own room, no matter how long they have been there, you would always have at least one roommate. No thanks.
Anyways, summer camp is about a quarter of a mile from the station, a nice little hike in the morning and back out again at night. I only make one trip each way per day, not that it’s really that far, but I have to put on all my gear to make the walk and that is just a pain. I would rather not do that more than I have to. Later on the season it may warm up enough for me to be able to cut down on the stuff that I have to wear and I may be more inclined to walk back and forth if I need to. However, since the first day I got here it has not been warmer than -45F, -65 with the wind chill, so its still a bit chilly to be wandering around without most of my gear on. Amazingly it’s not as cold feeling as I thought it would be, although when the wind is blowing really hard it does cut right through you. I went outside the other day, I think it was Wed, to watch the first Herc, LC130, of the season come in, I just grabbed my big red because I was not going to be out for very long. Well the top half of me was warm, but man, I think I made it like a minute before having to go back inside while waiting for the plane to land. It was brisk, to put it mildly.
Work has been good, for the first four days after I got here it was just the 16 people who came on our plane and the winter-overs, a mere 56 people. It was pretty astounding to go from over nine hundred people to less than sixty. I really enjoyed it though, so mellow and quiet around the station. It was really nice to just have a few people to get to know, I almost wish that we didn’t have so many more people coming. Four days after we got here, the second plane made it, our population went up by another 16, a very manageable increase. I felt really sorry for the people still stuck back a MM though, there were people who had come in with us who were still there, over two weeks at this point. The weather was giving us a run around though, if it was good here, it was bad back at Mac town. Early this week we started to hear rumors of a herc possibly coming in, more than a week before the first one was scheduled to come. They don’t normally have the hercs this early otherwise they would just send them because they can hold so much more than the little baslers. Sure enough, Wed afternoon we got our first herc of the season. It was bearing a whopping 40 passengers and some much needed fuel, sadly no luggage for us, we will still have to wait at least one more week for that. At this point the station feels overrun with people, I can’t believe we are still going to double our population, it was really weird to look out in the galley today and see most of the tables full. Thus far we have only been using a couple of the long table in the middle of the room, pretty much all the winter-overs are in hiding, they wait until the crowds have dispersed and then they creep out of their rooms. I don’t blame them though, if you spent nine months with only forty people and then the population tripled in just over a week I think most people would freak out too.
The station is nicer than I expected it to be, I was thinking it would be similar to McMurdo, which has been there a lot longer than this station. I think this one was started about seven years ago and finished in just the last few years. We have several really nice lounges, a sauna, a greenhouse where you can go if you feel like you need some moisture, a game room with pool and ping pong tables, a big gym for basketball and volleyball among other things, and a nice workout gym as well. The station is elevated off the ice, it is on pillars that can be raised as the snow level rises over the years. The problems with past stations here is that they slowly were buried under the snow and ice. The landscape is completely flat, we are on a big plateau, when the day is clear you can see for miles. The way that the wind blows the snow around, it has formed little peaks, so standing up in the galley looking out the windows you feel like you are on a ship looking out on a big frozen ocean. It’s a pretty amazing sight, I never thought something so seemingly plain could be so beautiful.
I know there is so much more to tell but I just can’t think of it at the moment. I know that it will be a great summer, I am feeling so blessed to be here. God is so good.
It is pretty small, about eight by six, but its mine and I don’t have to worry about sharing it with anyone else. That’s one of the nice things about pole, no matter who you are or how little time you have been here you would never have to share a room with anyone. Now the longer you have been here the options for rooms increase, for each month you spend on the ice you get one point. Over time, once you have enough points, you are eligible for nicer rooms. Some of them are actually pretty decently sized, but you would have to have a LOT of ice time to be able to get into one of those rooms. I am very content with my little space. At Mac town, no one ever gets their own room, no matter how long they have been there, you would always have at least one roommate. No thanks.
Anyways, summer camp is about a quarter of a mile from the station, a nice little hike in the morning and back out again at night. I only make one trip each way per day, not that it’s really that far, but I have to put on all my gear to make the walk and that is just a pain. I would rather not do that more than I have to. Later on the season it may warm up enough for me to be able to cut down on the stuff that I have to wear and I may be more inclined to walk back and forth if I need to. However, since the first day I got here it has not been warmer than -45F, -65 with the wind chill, so its still a bit chilly to be wandering around without most of my gear on. Amazingly it’s not as cold feeling as I thought it would be, although when the wind is blowing really hard it does cut right through you. I went outside the other day, I think it was Wed, to watch the first Herc, LC130, of the season come in, I just grabbed my big red because I was not going to be out for very long. Well the top half of me was warm, but man, I think I made it like a minute before having to go back inside while waiting for the plane to land. It was brisk, to put it mildly.
Work has been good, for the first four days after I got here it was just the 16 people who came on our plane and the winter-overs, a mere 56 people. It was pretty astounding to go from over nine hundred people to less than sixty. I really enjoyed it though, so mellow and quiet around the station. It was really nice to just have a few people to get to know, I almost wish that we didn’t have so many more people coming. Four days after we got here, the second plane made it, our population went up by another 16, a very manageable increase. I felt really sorry for the people still stuck back a MM though, there were people who had come in with us who were still there, over two weeks at this point. The weather was giving us a run around though, if it was good here, it was bad back at Mac town. Early this week we started to hear rumors of a herc possibly coming in, more than a week before the first one was scheduled to come. They don’t normally have the hercs this early otherwise they would just send them because they can hold so much more than the little baslers. Sure enough, Wed afternoon we got our first herc of the season. It was bearing a whopping 40 passengers and some much needed fuel, sadly no luggage for us, we will still have to wait at least one more week for that. At this point the station feels overrun with people, I can’t believe we are still going to double our population, it was really weird to look out in the galley today and see most of the tables full. Thus far we have only been using a couple of the long table in the middle of the room, pretty much all the winter-overs are in hiding, they wait until the crowds have dispersed and then they creep out of their rooms. I don’t blame them though, if you spent nine months with only forty people and then the population tripled in just over a week I think most people would freak out too.
The station is nicer than I expected it to be, I was thinking it would be similar to McMurdo, which has been there a lot longer than this station. I think this one was started about seven years ago and finished in just the last few years. We have several really nice lounges, a sauna, a greenhouse where you can go if you feel like you need some moisture, a game room with pool and ping pong tables, a big gym for basketball and volleyball among other things, and a nice workout gym as well. The station is elevated off the ice, it is on pillars that can be raised as the snow level rises over the years. The problems with past stations here is that they slowly were buried under the snow and ice. The landscape is completely flat, we are on a big plateau, when the day is clear you can see for miles. The way that the wind blows the snow around, it has formed little peaks, so standing up in the galley looking out the windows you feel like you are on a ship looking out on a big frozen ocean. It’s a pretty amazing sight, I never thought something so seemingly plain could be so beautiful.
I know there is so much more to tell but I just can’t think of it at the moment. I know that it will be a great summer, I am feeling so blessed to be here. God is so good.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Still catching up
So after going to Scott’s hut on Sun, which was a week ago, wow I’m really behind, I climbed the hill that was right next to it so I could take some pictures. The view was great, the scenery around Mac town is so beautiful. Really pretty mountains, some close by some in the distance.
After dinner, I hung around in the galley because there was going to be a science lecture that night. In McMurdo they have a science lecture every Sunday night. It’s a great time for the scientists and grantees to share with us what they are studying and the things they have discovered down here. That night it was the people from Planet Earth. They are down here filming for their next series which will be called Frozen Planet. It will be a series on the poles. They have already finished filming in the Arctic, so now they are down here for the summer. It was so amazing to see some of the footage that they have shot so far. It was neat to see stuff that will not be seen by the public until 2011. The guy who did the presentation was the guy from the caves episode, he was the one that got covered in bat poop. I got a chance to talk to him after the presentation was over, I guess their crew will be coming down to the pole the week between Christmas and New Year’s, although they are just going to be filming human interest stories(since we have no wildlife down here) for the episode that will be called People in the Poles. I guess the guy who narrates the show will be coming down for a few days as well so I might get to meet him as well. It was really neat to see something like that in the making.
After dinner, I hung around in the galley because there was going to be a science lecture that night. In McMurdo they have a science lecture every Sunday night. It’s a great time for the scientists and grantees to share with us what they are studying and the things they have discovered down here. That night it was the people from Planet Earth. They are down here filming for their next series which will be called Frozen Planet. It will be a series on the poles. They have already finished filming in the Arctic, so now they are down here for the summer. It was so amazing to see some of the footage that they have shot so far. It was neat to see stuff that will not be seen by the public until 2011. The guy who did the presentation was the guy from the caves episode, he was the one that got covered in bat poop. I got a chance to talk to him after the presentation was over, I guess their crew will be coming down to the pole the week between Christmas and New Year’s, although they are just going to be filming human interest stories(since we have no wildlife down here) for the episode that will be called People in the Poles. I guess the guy who narrates the show will be coming down for a few days as well so I might get to meet him as well. It was really neat to see something like that in the making.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Catching up
Soooo, I'm a few days behind and need to catch you all up. Last post, I had just boomeranged on the flight on Friday. Saturday nothing super interesting happened, I went to work after the flight was delayed right off the bat, everyone was pretty sure that we were not going that day. And so we didn't. They never fly on Sundays, which was nice because it was my day off, so I just got to relax and hang around Mac town for another day. In the morning I went to church at the little chapel the have at the station, I went last week also, it was nice. Quite a bit more fomal than I am use to, but it was good to connect with some of the people there. The service was pretty small, only about 20-25 people there, so it was easier to meet some of the polies that would be going down. There was a couple that I met last week who are very nice and I will look forward to getting to know them better in the future. This week, I was surprised to see my boss come to the service, I didn't know that he was a Christian so it was nice to see him there. Also the man who is our station manager has been at both services and I have gotten to talk to him just a bit. He is a very nice man and I'm sure he will do a great job running the station.
In the afternoon, after partaking in the amazing brunch that the do on Sundays, I got to go take a tour of Captain Scott's hut which is at McMurdo. Sometimes when the polies get delayed they will arrange for some special tours and trips that only we are allowed to go on. It was amazing to see the conditions that those men lived in, everything was so well preserved, it was like one day they went out and never came back. All of their stuff was still there, right were they left it. Amazingly preserved by the cold. It was incredible to see, and made us realize that we would never have anything to complain about concerning our living conditions.
In the afternoon, after partaking in the amazing brunch that the do on Sundays, I got to go take a tour of Captain Scott's hut which is at McMurdo. Sometimes when the polies get delayed they will arrange for some special tours and trips that only we are allowed to go on. It was amazing to see the conditions that those men lived in, everything was so well preserved, it was like one day they went out and never came back. All of their stuff was still there, right were they left it. Amazingly preserved by the cold. It was incredible to see, and made us realize that we would never have anything to complain about concerning our living conditions.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Boomerang
Our flight to the pole was scheduled to leave around noon today, so my plan was to get up around seven, get some breakfast and then take my time getting my stuff packed up. Well that all changed when just minutes after my alarm went off, I and all of my roommates were still in bed, the phone in our room rang, startling us all. One of the girls answered it, of course it was for me, I just had this feeling when it rang, the lady told me that there was a window in the weather that they were going to try for, so could I please be down at the cargo building in just under an hour?
There is nothing like a call like that to wake you up really quick. I shoved all my stuff in my bag, got dressed and headed up to cargo. There was quite the energy in the air, all of us who were flying today, 16 people, were very ready to be on our way. The forecast was looking really good and it sounded like we were going to be able to get at least the first plane in. They have another flight scheduled for tomorrow, the second DC3 or basler, but Tim, one of the guys that will be in charge of monitoring the weather down at pole, said that the forecast was not looking good for tomorrow and most likely that flight would not go until Monday. Oh well, at least we were going to be able to get one flight in. I know the winter-overs are ready for the freshies, fresh fruits, veggies and eggs, that we are bringing them.
Well that was the plan anyway. Everything looked really good, we took off without a hitch, everybody was doing good, all of us very careful to not drink many liquids before leaving because all the plane had for bathroom facilities was a bucket behind a curtain. Yeah, I definitely was not going to be making use of that. I could certainly hold it for four hours until we got there. The flight was great, lots of leg room no one was sitting next to me, and I was not on the side of the plane where the heaters were so my legs didn’t get fried off. The views were amazing, flying up and around the mountains, it was sooooo pretty. The windows frost up pretty quickly and one of the pilots asked us not to scrape them with anything so I was not able to utilize the card that I had brought along for that purpose. So instead I would melt the ice with my hand and wipe it away with my glove, not great, but better than not being able to see at all.
Well, we were about three hours into our four hour and fifteen minute flight when the guy who had been staying in the back of the plane with us, passing out our oxygen tube and whatnot, came up to the front and said, “Well guys, I have some bad news. It sounds like the visibility has gone down at the pole and unfortunately we are going to have to turn around.” Noooooooo, the only thing that could have been worse was if we had actually gotten to pole, circled it and then had to head back, which has happened before, quite a few times. So we turned around and headed back to MM. I was a long six hours just to wind up back where we started. Although we tried to cheer ourselves up by saying that many people paid thousands of dollars for the flight that we had not only gotten for free, but got paid for it as well.
We landed back at MM, these little planes with the skis on take forever to stop, it was really odd, we just kind of had to coast along, skiing on the sea ice, so to speak. After off loading, one of the guys in our group started telling us that they had another plane and that we might try again. We all told him to stop spreading rumors, both MM and pole have amazing rumor mills, we were most certainly not going to fly again today. There was a shuttle there waiting to pick us up, but when we asked our driver if she could just drop each of us off at our different dorms, she told us that we were not leaving yet. There was indeed another plane and crew and they were checking on the weather to see if they would be able to get us through if they sent us again. Noooooo, again! Come on! The flight was very nice the first time, and I’m more than willing to go again tomorrow, but I don’t think I could take two boomerangs in one days. That could equal up to fourteen hours of pointless flying, I just don’t think that would be fun. Thankfully, they decided fairly quickly that they were not going to send us again today. I’m so glad, that means I get the rest of the night to just chill and relax. We got back in at around four, and normally I would not get off work until seven so it’s like getting a couple hours off in addition to a nice plane ride. The only unfortunate thing about coming back is my bed got commandeered by the lady sleeping on the only top bunk in our room, I had the best one in the room too because I had been the first one to get there last week. Oh well, I had told her she could have my bed when I left and I had not been planning on coming back. Hopefully I will only be here one more night, although most likely we will be here over the weekend. That’s okay, I can just look forward to having my own room, which is nice and close to the bathroom building, when I get to pole. Whenever that may be….
There is nothing like a call like that to wake you up really quick. I shoved all my stuff in my bag, got dressed and headed up to cargo. There was quite the energy in the air, all of us who were flying today, 16 people, were very ready to be on our way. The forecast was looking really good and it sounded like we were going to be able to get at least the first plane in. They have another flight scheduled for tomorrow, the second DC3 or basler, but Tim, one of the guys that will be in charge of monitoring the weather down at pole, said that the forecast was not looking good for tomorrow and most likely that flight would not go until Monday. Oh well, at least we were going to be able to get one flight in. I know the winter-overs are ready for the freshies, fresh fruits, veggies and eggs, that we are bringing them.
Well that was the plan anyway. Everything looked really good, we took off without a hitch, everybody was doing good, all of us very careful to not drink many liquids before leaving because all the plane had for bathroom facilities was a bucket behind a curtain. Yeah, I definitely was not going to be making use of that. I could certainly hold it for four hours until we got there. The flight was great, lots of leg room no one was sitting next to me, and I was not on the side of the plane where the heaters were so my legs didn’t get fried off. The views were amazing, flying up and around the mountains, it was sooooo pretty. The windows frost up pretty quickly and one of the pilots asked us not to scrape them with anything so I was not able to utilize the card that I had brought along for that purpose. So instead I would melt the ice with my hand and wipe it away with my glove, not great, but better than not being able to see at all.
Well, we were about three hours into our four hour and fifteen minute flight when the guy who had been staying in the back of the plane with us, passing out our oxygen tube and whatnot, came up to the front and said, “Well guys, I have some bad news. It sounds like the visibility has gone down at the pole and unfortunately we are going to have to turn around.” Noooooooo, the only thing that could have been worse was if we had actually gotten to pole, circled it and then had to head back, which has happened before, quite a few times. So we turned around and headed back to MM. I was a long six hours just to wind up back where we started. Although we tried to cheer ourselves up by saying that many people paid thousands of dollars for the flight that we had not only gotten for free, but got paid for it as well.
We landed back at MM, these little planes with the skis on take forever to stop, it was really odd, we just kind of had to coast along, skiing on the sea ice, so to speak. After off loading, one of the guys in our group started telling us that they had another plane and that we might try again. We all told him to stop spreading rumors, both MM and pole have amazing rumor mills, we were most certainly not going to fly again today. There was a shuttle there waiting to pick us up, but when we asked our driver if she could just drop each of us off at our different dorms, she told us that we were not leaving yet. There was indeed another plane and crew and they were checking on the weather to see if they would be able to get us through if they sent us again. Noooooo, again! Come on! The flight was very nice the first time, and I’m more than willing to go again tomorrow, but I don’t think I could take two boomerangs in one days. That could equal up to fourteen hours of pointless flying, I just don’t think that would be fun. Thankfully, they decided fairly quickly that they were not going to send us again today. I’m so glad, that means I get the rest of the night to just chill and relax. We got back in at around four, and normally I would not get off work until seven so it’s like getting a couple hours off in addition to a nice plane ride. The only unfortunate thing about coming back is my bed got commandeered by the lady sleeping on the only top bunk in our room, I had the best one in the room too because I had been the first one to get there last week. Oh well, I had told her she could have my bed when I left and I had not been planning on coming back. Hopefully I will only be here one more night, although most likely we will be here over the weekend. That’s okay, I can just look forward to having my own room, which is nice and close to the bathroom building, when I get to pole. Whenever that may be….
Visiting the Kiwis
Sure enough, the flight got cancelled for the day. That was fine though, because we got to go over to Scott Base, the Kiwi(New Zealanders are called kiwis for some reason, not sure why, I guess that's something I should find out) station. It was really fun to got over to their station, see what it looked like, all of their buildings are painted kiwi green, btw, and to see a different side of the island. I got a really nice red murano wool jacket from their gift shop, which I'm super excited about, and then we went up to their rec room and Carol and I both had a ginger beer, kind of like a ginger ale, only better, and something that can be hard to find in the states but very easy to find in both NZ or Australia. Yum!
Well, hopefully the flight to the pole, scheduled for noon, will go through without any hitches. We shall see about that.
Well, hopefully the flight to the pole, scheduled for noon, will go through without any hitches. We shall see about that.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Weather delay
Well, I was suppose to be flying down to the pole today. It's nine in the morning, which is the time we were suppose to meet to get shuttled out to the airstrip. Unfortunately, I guess the winds are too strong at this point and they are going to wait and see if they settle down later in the day. I'm kind of sad, but on the the other hand, if we get delayed a whole day, then I get to go over and visit the kiwi station, Scott base, which is right near ours. Normally you can not go over unless you get invited, but on Thursday nights they have American night where the people from MM can come over for a visit. I would really like to go if possible, so maybe the plane should be delayed just one day. Only one though. None of this, pack up my stuff every morning, are we going? Are we not? Yuck. When we go we just need to go and not mess around with it.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Breathe in the fresh air
It’s Wednesday morning and I just went outside for the first time since Sunday afternoon. Crazy I know, but everything I need here at McMurdo is in the same building. And by the time I get off work I don’t really want to put all my ECW gear on just to go for a stroll outside. Not anywhere interesting either, just up and down between the buildings, because if you want to go do any hiking at all you have to go take the outdoor training class, which has only been held while I was working. Sad. No hiking at MM for me. There is a lovely semi-large hill that is close that I very much would have liked to hike up, but, there is no time for that because…..I’m flying out tomorrow! Hooray! I get to go on the first flight down to the pole this season! It should be really interesting because I hear the winter-overs are a little weird when the first people get there for the summer. It has just been the fifty of them for about 8 months so they feel slightly invaded when the summer people get there. Thankfully for them, a couple of years ago the company started flying smaller planes in to start with so they could get people in earlier. So they will send I think ten basler planes in, one per day, and then in November when the weather warms up(so to speak) they will send in the big planes which are the Hercs or LC130’s. Unfortunately for those of us going on the baslers, we can only take one small carry on, mine weighs about 25lbs, with us because the planes can’t hold that much weight. So that means the rest of our bags will arrive with the hercs, in NOVEMBER. It will be interesting, me and my one pair of pants and couple of shirts. *Sigh* Oh well, I shall survive. J
For the last couple of days I have just been working, they put us on full time after the first day which we only worked for half of. It has not been to bad though, except for the first full day I worked when I made a salad that took me the better part of the day to do, and we are talking like 6 hours here, because it was so huge and involved. There were so many steps with it, I swear it felt like I did not get anything done that day. It has been much better since then though, and the days have passed quickly. I am glad though to be moving on, I’m ready to get settled in my room at pole, not have any roommates, and get into a routine with work and everything else too.
Okay, so about the pictures—I guess I was trying to upload too many at a time so it was freaking out on me, and wouldn’t let me do anything at all. I’m going to work on that after I get off work, which I need to head to now. Ta Ta.
For the last couple of days I have just been working, they put us on full time after the first day which we only worked for half of. It has not been to bad though, except for the first full day I worked when I made a salad that took me the better part of the day to do, and we are talking like 6 hours here, because it was so huge and involved. There were so many steps with it, I swear it felt like I did not get anything done that day. It has been much better since then though, and the days have passed quickly. I am glad though to be moving on, I’m ready to get settled in my room at pole, not have any roommates, and get into a routine with work and everything else too.
Okay, so about the pictures—I guess I was trying to upload too many at a time so it was freaking out on me, and wouldn’t let me do anything at all. I’m going to work on that after I get off work, which I need to head to now. Ta Ta.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Mac town
Hmm, first day to work…they don’t really give us any time to get settled. I guess they figure you will do that along the way. It felt really weird donning a chef jacket this morning. It’s been over three years since I put one on and I think that when I got rid of them last time I didn’t really think I would be wearing one again. Interesting how things come back around. It was interesting how familiar the kitchen felt and yet odd at the same time. How easily I remembered lingo that I had not heard in three years, funny stuff like that. Other things like the spot right at the base of my index finger on my right hand where the callus from my knife is long gone, and where a blister developed today from chopping a huge pile of onions and potatoes. Feelings I thought my fingers had long forgotten, and yet still remember somehow. A very odd step into the past, yet I fell into the rhythm easily enough, thankfully. I wondered how I would do after taking such a long break from the professional kitchen; however, all of those tidbits of information and training from the past are quickly coming back.
I think the magnitude of the cold really hit me this morning as a trucked up the street from the building I’m staying in to the cargo building where my big bags are. I stepped out the door and came around to corner only to be hit by a huge blast of wind that took my breath away. I took a couple of steps, thinking that maybe I could tough it out, after all it was only a short walk up the hill, however it quickly became apparent that I would not be able to tolerate even a short distance without more layers on. I went back in, put on my bib pants over my jeans zipped my vest over the top and headed back out. I thought about grabbing big red(our ginormous red parkas which everyone fondly call big reds) but decided I would be okay. Man, the walk up that hill was so brutally cold! The wind was blowing so hard it was making my eyes water. I just concentrated on getting up to the cargo shop, after all it was only about a two to three minute walk, but somehow it felt much longer than that. When I got inside I reached up to wipe the moisture away from my eyes, but as I was doing that I felt something on my eyelashes. I grabbed it and pulled it off my lash, realizing that the moisture from my eye had frozen, forming an ice chunk on my lash. Yeah, that was a different experience. It made me realize that I am less prepared for this whole coldest place on earth thing than I thought I was. In addition to that experience, I was talking to the breakfast-lunch sous chef for pole today, Beaver is his name, and he was telling me that he worked a Mac town(McMurdo) for three years before going to work at the pole. He said that when he stepped off the plane down there he thought, “Oh man! It is cold down here!” He could not believe how much colder it was at pole than at Mac. Great, I’ve really gotten myself into something this time. Me, the girl from the mild Pacific Northwest, going to somewhere colder than here, which is colder than anything I have experienced yet. I think this confirms that I am truly crazy, because I’m still excited to go down there. Meh, it’s more fun to be a little crazy anyway.
The first flight down to the pole is suppose to be on Thursday, I think they are going to try and send two planes one the first day too. I'm suppose to go on Friday, but we shall see how the weather cooperates. All could change in the blink of an eye as the people who are in CHC well know as they have gotten delayed until Monday, lucky ducks. We were one day shy of getting to stay longer, bummer, bummer. Ah, well, until we leave to pole we shall put in our time here at Mac town, enjoying while we are here. I'm going to try and take some hikes around if I can, try and see some of the surrounding areas.
I think the magnitude of the cold really hit me this morning as a trucked up the street from the building I’m staying in to the cargo building where my big bags are. I stepped out the door and came around to corner only to be hit by a huge blast of wind that took my breath away. I took a couple of steps, thinking that maybe I could tough it out, after all it was only a short walk up the hill, however it quickly became apparent that I would not be able to tolerate even a short distance without more layers on. I went back in, put on my bib pants over my jeans zipped my vest over the top and headed back out. I thought about grabbing big red(our ginormous red parkas which everyone fondly call big reds) but decided I would be okay. Man, the walk up that hill was so brutally cold! The wind was blowing so hard it was making my eyes water. I just concentrated on getting up to the cargo shop, after all it was only about a two to three minute walk, but somehow it felt much longer than that. When I got inside I reached up to wipe the moisture away from my eyes, but as I was doing that I felt something on my eyelashes. I grabbed it and pulled it off my lash, realizing that the moisture from my eye had frozen, forming an ice chunk on my lash. Yeah, that was a different experience. It made me realize that I am less prepared for this whole coldest place on earth thing than I thought I was. In addition to that experience, I was talking to the breakfast-lunch sous chef for pole today, Beaver is his name, and he was telling me that he worked a Mac town(McMurdo) for three years before going to work at the pole. He said that when he stepped off the plane down there he thought, “Oh man! It is cold down here!” He could not believe how much colder it was at pole than at Mac. Great, I’ve really gotten myself into something this time. Me, the girl from the mild Pacific Northwest, going to somewhere colder than here, which is colder than anything I have experienced yet. I think this confirms that I am truly crazy, because I’m still excited to go down there. Meh, it’s more fun to be a little crazy anyway.
The first flight down to the pole is suppose to be on Thursday, I think they are going to try and send two planes one the first day too. I'm suppose to go on Friday, but we shall see how the weather cooperates. All could change in the blink of an eye as the people who are in CHC well know as they have gotten delayed until Monday, lucky ducks. We were one day shy of getting to stay longer, bummer, bummer. Ah, well, until we leave to pole we shall put in our time here at Mac town, enjoying while we are here. I'm going to try and take some hikes around if I can, try and see some of the surrounding areas.
Friday, October 9, 2009
At McMurdo
We arrived to the ice safe and sound, the temperature was a lovely -33 C when we got here. That translates to about -27F give or take. I stepped off the plane and the view was amazing, mountains all the way around us, everything covered in pristine snow. The inside of my nose started to freeze up immediately, it was a weird feeling. They put us in vans and various other vehicles to take us to the station which is about a half hour or forty minute ride from the landing strip. As soon as we got here, we had another orientation. I'm so tired of them. After the orientation, they gave us our room keys and we went to get our bags. I left my big bags up where they dropped them off and just filled a duffel with stuff I would need while I am here. Right now the first flight to the pole is scheduled to go out next Thursday, hopefully I can get on one of the first ones. Until then, we get to work. :-) Tomorrow I report to the kitchen at nine AM, although it sounds as though we will only be there for a couple of hours, maybe four or five, which is awesome because I am feeling so wiped out. It's only 8:30pm here but I am headed to bed, for some much needed rest. That whole 4AM wake up call this morning is soooo catching up with me.
P.S. --About the pics that I promised, my comp was not getting a good signal the other night and kept on stopping right in the middle of me uploading them. I will work on that tomorrow, I'm to tired to try and do that tonight.
Pictures soon, I promise. :-)
P.S. --About the pics that I promised, my comp was not getting a good signal the other night and kept on stopping right in the middle of me uploading them. I will work on that tomorrow, I'm to tired to try and do that tonight.
Pictures soon, I promise. :-)
Flight to the ice
I’m sitting on the plane, on my way to the ice, so this will be posted once we arrive. No extra days in CHC for us, too bad. Oh well, I can look forward to spending time there when we get done. Right now, I am sitting in a canvas fold down seat, I put my down vest on the seat and my ginormous red jacket behind me. Not too bad as far as plane rides go. It is quite loud in here though, I have an earplug in one ear and my earbud in the other. I just got to go up to the cockpit and was chatting with one the guys up there. He is from Lacey, which was cool. I could just start to see the ice through the clouds; you can see where it has not quite frozen over yet, so there are blue and white patches. I guess we have about two and a half hours left until we get there, from what he said.
It was raining pretty heavily this morning when we got up, at 4am L, I guess all the bad weather decided to settle in CHC. The shuttle took us to the CDC where we put on our ECW, and got our bags ready to check in. With all the added gear and uniforms that I got yesterday, my total weight came to 140 something lbs. Yep, that’s right, slid in right under that 150 lb limit. After we weighed our bags we had to grab our carry on and jump on the scale as well, and I can tell you that with all the gear I’m wearing, plus what my carry on weighs, that number was appalling. Lol. With my jacket on, I feel like a big red marshmellow. It was funny, yesterday when I was trying on my jacket, I had to have the lady that gave it to me start the zipper because the coat is so long, plus its kind o f stiff because its new, that I could not get it zipped. Go, go gadget arm extenders please!
After checking the bags and ourselves in, everyone headed over to the Antarctic center(kind of like a science center) to get some breakfast and chill before it was time to leave. We ate, visited with people, and then headed back to the CDC to our pre-flight briefing, which basically told us not to be stupid while on the ice, and to not mess with the wild life. I guess if we are lucky enough to see any penguins, we won’t be petting them J.
So now it’s just a waiting game, trying to hydrate without drinking too much water, so that I don’t constantly have to use the one lavatory that is one the plane, which there is always a line for.
Just a few more hours and my Antarctic adventure will begin.
12:30 PM
It was raining pretty heavily this morning when we got up, at 4am L, I guess all the bad weather decided to settle in CHC. The shuttle took us to the CDC where we put on our ECW, and got our bags ready to check in. With all the added gear and uniforms that I got yesterday, my total weight came to 140 something lbs. Yep, that’s right, slid in right under that 150 lb limit. After we weighed our bags we had to grab our carry on and jump on the scale as well, and I can tell you that with all the gear I’m wearing, plus what my carry on weighs, that number was appalling. Lol. With my jacket on, I feel like a big red marshmellow. It was funny, yesterday when I was trying on my jacket, I had to have the lady that gave it to me start the zipper because the coat is so long, plus its kind o f stiff because its new, that I could not get it zipped. Go, go gadget arm extenders please!
After checking the bags and ourselves in, everyone headed over to the Antarctic center(kind of like a science center) to get some breakfast and chill before it was time to leave. We ate, visited with people, and then headed back to the CDC to our pre-flight briefing, which basically told us not to be stupid while on the ice, and to not mess with the wild life. I guess if we are lucky enough to see any penguins, we won’t be petting them J.
So now it’s just a waiting game, trying to hydrate without drinking too much water, so that I don’t constantly have to use the one lavatory that is one the plane, which there is always a line for.
Just a few more hours and my Antarctic adventure will begin.
12:30 PM
Bummin' around CHC
Christchurch….I love CHC! It is such a beautiful city and I am so looking forward to spending some time here. First thing this morning, we had to go back to the CDC to be fitted for all our gear that we are taking down to the ice with us. We had to be there at 9 am, and the shuttle was going to pick us up at about 8:15. So funny thing, I am staying on the 5th floor and Carol is staying on the 3rd floor. I had talked to her about a half hour before we needed to leave and I was going to come down to her room when I was ready because she had the food that we had gotten the day before for breakfast. So I got all ready to go, got on the elevator and got off at the third floor. I marched myself all the way down to the end of the hallway where her room was, and proceeded to knock on the door. I could hear the hairdryer running and thought to myself, “Man, is she just now drying her hair? She should be all ready to go by now.” Well I knocked again because she was not responding, and again, and once more. I finally heard the dryer go off, and stood waiting for about thirty seconds, preparing to give her a hard time for not being ready to go. The door swung open and it was not Carol who answered, but Jeremy, one of the other production cooks, who looked at me and said, “What’s up?” I looked at him in utter confusion, the first thoughts running through my head were, “What is he doing in Carol’s room?” Then my eyes landed on the lovely little number next to the door which said 426, not 326, which was Carol’s room number. All the meanwhile stuttering and stammering, I…um…hi….I’m….um…on the…wrong floor! Uh….you have…the same room number as Carol…only a floor up from hers. Um…whoops. Oh man, I could not stop laughing as I went down the hall back to the elevator. Jeremy is someone that we have been hanging out with, both in Denver and during our travels, I had no idea which room he was staying in and find it very hilarious that I found it by accident.
Anyway, after that fun incident, we headed down to the CDC to get our ECW(extreme cold weather) gear. What they do is, they take the measurements that you sent of yourself in the piles of paperwork that you have to fill out initially, and give you two big bags filled with all sorts of gear. You try it all on, make sure everything fits, and is in good working order. If you need to exchange anything, you just take it up to the counter and trade it in. I think the stuff the put in my bags were: a pair of bib snow pants, 2 pairs of fleece pants, 3 fleece jackets, 6 pairs of socks, a big pair of boots, 2 pairs of gloves and a glove liner, a pair of mittens, various hats, neck gaters and goggles, and of course, the big jacket. I only kept about half of the gear, because I won’t be working outside I won’t be needing it constantly, and I didn’t want to have to haul all that stuff down with me. I also brought some of my own stuff, like hats and goggles so I didn’t need two pairs of things like that. Also in my bags were four pairs each of chef jackets and pants.
The two bags that your gear comes in are for you carry on baggage and your boomerang bag. The boomerang bag is for you to pack enough stuff in to get you by for a few days in case the weather gets bad after they check your bags in. After you give them your big bags, the palletize them and will not take them off the plane once they have been loaded. The boomerang bags are the last one to go on, so that if you don’t wind up making it to McMurdo that day, or the next few days, you have enough stuff to get you through. Sometimes the weather will turn sour after the plane has already left CHC, if this happens they will turn the plane around and come back. They call it a boomerang. They told us the record for boomerangs is 7, yuck! I can’t imagine! Because by the time you went through the whole process of getting in your gear, checking in, flying, and then turning around and coming back, most of the day is shot. And it’s not like you could stay up late to enjoy the city, because you have to get up at 4 in order to be at the CDC on time. Not a fun thing. Hopefully there will be no boomerangs in our future. If we are going to go and don’t get to stay longer than planned in CHC I would rather make it there in one trip.
After finishing at CDC, we were off to explore the city. Carol, Jeremy and I wandered around together for most of the day. We had lunch at this Turkish place that was really good(we wanted to go to a fish and chip place and had one recommended by one of the hotel staff, but found out upon arriving there that it was only open in the evenings), got some coffee from the 2nd best espresso shop in NZ, or at least so the window told us, and then headed to the botanic gardens. We stopped in a few shops along the way, Carol bought a few charms for her bracelet and a nice purple fleece from earth, sea and sky (NZ company). After poking our way along for a bit, Jeremy headed off to try and find this store that someone had told him about and C and I went to the gardens. CHC is called the garden city of NZ and it truly is. There are beautiful flowers all throughout the city, but the botanic gardens are amazing. It was still a little early in the season for everything to be in full bloom, but there was still plenty to see. The gardens are acres and acres big, we walked just a small portion of it. It reminded me of a grand estate for some palace or something along those lines. I would love to spend more time just wandering through there.
CHC is a great city and I’m really looking forward to spending some time here, C and I already have a long list of restaurants that we want to eat at. Unfortunately, that may have to wait. It looks like we are going to be leaving tomorrow, right on schedule. There is stormy weather blowing into CHC, it has already started to rain here, but it sounds like the weather at McMurdo is just dandy. L No free time in CHC for us I guess. Oh well, I can look forward to coming back here at the end of the season.
To finish off our last night in CHC, we, Jeremy, Carol and I, went back to the fish and chip place that we tried to go to before and had dinner. It was a bit pricey, but very tasty none the less.
The time change has still not fully taken hold of me, I’m still a little behind at times, but it is getting better.
Well, in the morning, the shuttle picks us up at the hotel at 5:15, so I will be up at 4 to get my stuff ready to go.
Tomorrow-Antarctica!
Anyway, after that fun incident, we headed down to the CDC to get our ECW(extreme cold weather) gear. What they do is, they take the measurements that you sent of yourself in the piles of paperwork that you have to fill out initially, and give you two big bags filled with all sorts of gear. You try it all on, make sure everything fits, and is in good working order. If you need to exchange anything, you just take it up to the counter and trade it in. I think the stuff the put in my bags were: a pair of bib snow pants, 2 pairs of fleece pants, 3 fleece jackets, 6 pairs of socks, a big pair of boots, 2 pairs of gloves and a glove liner, a pair of mittens, various hats, neck gaters and goggles, and of course, the big jacket. I only kept about half of the gear, because I won’t be working outside I won’t be needing it constantly, and I didn’t want to have to haul all that stuff down with me. I also brought some of my own stuff, like hats and goggles so I didn’t need two pairs of things like that. Also in my bags were four pairs each of chef jackets and pants.
The two bags that your gear comes in are for you carry on baggage and your boomerang bag. The boomerang bag is for you to pack enough stuff in to get you by for a few days in case the weather gets bad after they check your bags in. After you give them your big bags, the palletize them and will not take them off the plane once they have been loaded. The boomerang bags are the last one to go on, so that if you don’t wind up making it to McMurdo that day, or the next few days, you have enough stuff to get you through. Sometimes the weather will turn sour after the plane has already left CHC, if this happens they will turn the plane around and come back. They call it a boomerang. They told us the record for boomerangs is 7, yuck! I can’t imagine! Because by the time you went through the whole process of getting in your gear, checking in, flying, and then turning around and coming back, most of the day is shot. And it’s not like you could stay up late to enjoy the city, because you have to get up at 4 in order to be at the CDC on time. Not a fun thing. Hopefully there will be no boomerangs in our future. If we are going to go and don’t get to stay longer than planned in CHC I would rather make it there in one trip.
After finishing at CDC, we were off to explore the city. Carol, Jeremy and I wandered around together for most of the day. We had lunch at this Turkish place that was really good(we wanted to go to a fish and chip place and had one recommended by one of the hotel staff, but found out upon arriving there that it was only open in the evenings), got some coffee from the 2nd best espresso shop in NZ, or at least so the window told us, and then headed to the botanic gardens. We stopped in a few shops along the way, Carol bought a few charms for her bracelet and a nice purple fleece from earth, sea and sky (NZ company). After poking our way along for a bit, Jeremy headed off to try and find this store that someone had told him about and C and I went to the gardens. CHC is called the garden city of NZ and it truly is. There are beautiful flowers all throughout the city, but the botanic gardens are amazing. It was still a little early in the season for everything to be in full bloom, but there was still plenty to see. The gardens are acres and acres big, we walked just a small portion of it. It reminded me of a grand estate for some palace or something along those lines. I would love to spend more time just wandering through there.
CHC is a great city and I’m really looking forward to spending some time here, C and I already have a long list of restaurants that we want to eat at. Unfortunately, that may have to wait. It looks like we are going to be leaving tomorrow, right on schedule. There is stormy weather blowing into CHC, it has already started to rain here, but it sounds like the weather at McMurdo is just dandy. L No free time in CHC for us I guess. Oh well, I can look forward to coming back here at the end of the season.
To finish off our last night in CHC, we, Jeremy, Carol and I, went back to the fish and chip place that we tried to go to before and had dinner. It was a bit pricey, but very tasty none the less.
The time change has still not fully taken hold of me, I’m still a little behind at times, but it is getting better.
Well, in the morning, the shuttle picks us up at the hotel at 5:15, so I will be up at 4 to get my stuff ready to go.
Tomorrow-Antarctica!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
New Zealand!
Ahhh, the flying day was one looonnnggg day! Surprisingly, the flight from LA to Sydney was not too bad. I was able to sleep for almost five hours straight so when I woke up from that, there was only a little less than 7 hours left on the flight. These international flights, they just feed you and feed you and feed you. And then when you think that you are done, they feed you one more time just for good measure! Well, I guess they are making up for all the US flights where they nickle and dime you for everything. The flight from Sydney to CHC was actually the roughest one of them all. It was only just under 3 hours, but since it was the end of such a long day and we only had just enough time between those flights to walk from one gate to the other, basically a brief stretch of the legs.
After arriving at the airport in chc, and going through customs which for me was a breeze, we went over to the CDC(clothing distribution center) to drop of our huge bags that we did not want to haul all over town with us. This is the also place that I am leaving my big backpack for traveling with after the season is over, just put the stuff in it that I won't need whilst on the ice, put a tag on it with my name and it will be waiting for me when I get back. I just packed a small duffel with stuff in it for a couple days and left the big bags there. Then we caught a shuttle which took us to our lovely modern hotel in the center of town. Hotel So, its a very nice place with super comfortable beds. I was so confused when I got into the room though because none of the lights would work! I went around pushing all the buttons, trying different lights, none of them would turn on. I was just about to call downstairs to tell them all my lights were broken when the phone rang, it was Carol calling to ask me something. So I asked her if she had any ideas about why my lights didn't work, she laughed and told me that I had to take my room card key and plug it into the little box next to the light switches. Doing that activates the lights and you can then turn them on. Odd, but kind of nice when you are leaving because instead of having to turn off each light, you just pull out the card and within about ten seconds all the lights turn off. Kind of fun anyway.
After taking a much needed shower, which felt amazing, it was time to go take a turn around the city. We walked around the center of the city, grabbing a coffee, kabab, and a piece of carrot cake(which the guy asked me if I wanted some yogurt with, evidently they eat yogurt with many of their desserts here). We made our way to the local market to get some stuff for breakfast and by the time we were headed to the front of the store to check out, both of us were starting to sway from exhaustion. We agreed that a nap was in order, only an hour though because we really need to try and adjust ourselves to the time change. After a nap that felt like it pretty much had not happened, we went out to get some dinner. I wasn't feeling very hungry and nothing really sounded good, but we went to this great pizza joint that had tons of character. We ate our margarita pizza, quite possibly my favorite kind, strolled through town for a bit and headed back for some much needed rest.
I uploaded some of the pics I took to facebook, they did not want to upload to here...I will have to work on it...
After arriving at the airport in chc, and going through customs which for me was a breeze, we went over to the CDC(clothing distribution center) to drop of our huge bags that we did not want to haul all over town with us. This is the also place that I am leaving my big backpack for traveling with after the season is over, just put the stuff in it that I won't need whilst on the ice, put a tag on it with my name and it will be waiting for me when I get back. I just packed a small duffel with stuff in it for a couple days and left the big bags there. Then we caught a shuttle which took us to our lovely modern hotel in the center of town. Hotel So, its a very nice place with super comfortable beds. I was so confused when I got into the room though because none of the lights would work! I went around pushing all the buttons, trying different lights, none of them would turn on. I was just about to call downstairs to tell them all my lights were broken when the phone rang, it was Carol calling to ask me something. So I asked her if she had any ideas about why my lights didn't work, she laughed and told me that I had to take my room card key and plug it into the little box next to the light switches. Doing that activates the lights and you can then turn them on. Odd, but kind of nice when you are leaving because instead of having to turn off each light, you just pull out the card and within about ten seconds all the lights turn off. Kind of fun anyway.
After taking a much needed shower, which felt amazing, it was time to go take a turn around the city. We walked around the center of the city, grabbing a coffee, kabab, and a piece of carrot cake(which the guy asked me if I wanted some yogurt with, evidently they eat yogurt with many of their desserts here). We made our way to the local market to get some stuff for breakfast and by the time we were headed to the front of the store to check out, both of us were starting to sway from exhaustion. We agreed that a nap was in order, only an hour though because we really need to try and adjust ourselves to the time change. After a nap that felt like it pretty much had not happened, we went out to get some dinner. I wasn't feeling very hungry and nothing really sounded good, but we went to this great pizza joint that had tons of character. We ate our margarita pizza, quite possibly my favorite kind, strolled through town for a bit and headed back for some much needed rest.
I uploaded some of the pics I took to facebook, they did not want to upload to here...I will have to work on it...
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Orientation
First day of orientation-I had to be up and ready to catch the shuttle to the Raytheon headquarters first thing this morning, 7:30 to be exact. Upon arriving I checked in, was issued my travel funds, told that I needed to complete the internet training(they want to make sure everyone doesn't go crazy with the internet, sending confidential, or otherwise important, information to anyone off the ice) and then sent me in to get my flu shot, which upon receiving they bestowed a scooby-doo band aid upon my arm. :-) My arm actually hurt a lot more from this one than the flu shot I un-necessarily got earlier this spring, its still a little sore this evening.
Most of orientation was pretty boring, the president of the company giving us the run down about the company and singing its praises. The rest of the time was spent talking about what to expect once on the ice, all the travel arrangments and so forth. One of the nice things about our long flight tommorow that is different from what they have done in the past, is when we take our luggage to the airport in Denver tommorow, we won't see it again until we get to Christchurch. Normally before, one would have to collect the bags in LA, then again in Sydney, and then again in Christchurch. Taking them through customs each time! What a hassel. Anyway, this year, for our group anyway, all our luggage will be loaded into a container at the Denver airport, which will then be sealed, "bonded" I believe is the official term, and won't be opened until we get to NZ. So nice not to have to go through all those customs.
Anyhow, we were done with all that around one and then the rest of the day was free for us to do whatever we wanted. Carol had rented a car so that mad tooling around the city much easier. First, we went and scoped out this bagel place where we are going to stock up on stuff tommorow so we don't have to eat the nasty, overpriced airport food. Then, we went to get lunch at this great Indian grill place, which I guess is similar to a Chipotle. It was so yummy, great flavors. I wish we had one of those in Oly. Then we went to run some errends, Target and Costco, just to pick up a few last minute things like some new sunglasses for me!
This evening we went to Carol's good friends', Rachelle and Brian, house for dinner. The live about an hour and a half outside of Denver. Dinner was great and they have three really cute little boys who are very well behaved most of the time. The littlest one, Chase, was a doll. He had the cutest face and the way he talked to you was very mature for his three years of age. I was telling him about the shot that I had to get earlier this morning, showing him my band aid and all, and he went over to Carol and asked where the gun was that shot us! Too cute!
The running joke when Carol goes to there house, is that she always bring bad and crazy weather with her. Well not to disapoint, some of the heaviest fog I have ever seen rolled in right after we arrived. I was not really a problem until we went to leave. Carol was pretty tired, and I had had some coffee so I drove us back to Denver. Getting out of the neighborhood, or rather, spread out development, was pretty tricky. I had a really hard time seeing the road at all, and then when we got out onto the main road, unfortunately it was not much better, although at least at that point I had the lines on the road that I could follow. It was amazing that once we got to the freeway, poof-all the fog was gone, just like that. Driving through it, I felt like I was in Beauty and the Beast at the beginning of the movie with all the eiry fog in the woods, at any moment I was expecting something to come off the side of the road in front of me. Thankfully, the rest of the movie did not play out during my drive, although thinking about it makes me want to watch that movie again. It has been a long time.
Well, tommorow begins our extremely long travel day to Christchurch(otherwise known as cheech or CHC). All in all, we will be flying for about 24 hours total, with layovers and airport time adding another half a day. Ugh. We have a few more hours of orientation in the morning and the we head to the airport mid-day.
We have been hearing that the weather in Antarctica has been pretty bad this week, which means that the have only been able to get one plane of the summer-over staff down there so far. This is good news for us, because if the weather stays like it is, it means that when we get to CHC we would be stuck there...with our hotel payed for...and money for food...ah, it would be rough, but somehow we would manage. :-)
Well, time to go to bed because I doubt that I will be getting a whole lot of sleep in the next two days,
Next posting---NZ!
Most of orientation was pretty boring, the president of the company giving us the run down about the company and singing its praises. The rest of the time was spent talking about what to expect once on the ice, all the travel arrangments and so forth. One of the nice things about our long flight tommorow that is different from what they have done in the past, is when we take our luggage to the airport in Denver tommorow, we won't see it again until we get to Christchurch. Normally before, one would have to collect the bags in LA, then again in Sydney, and then again in Christchurch. Taking them through customs each time! What a hassel. Anyway, this year, for our group anyway, all our luggage will be loaded into a container at the Denver airport, which will then be sealed, "bonded" I believe is the official term, and won't be opened until we get to NZ. So nice not to have to go through all those customs.
Anyhow, we were done with all that around one and then the rest of the day was free for us to do whatever we wanted. Carol had rented a car so that mad tooling around the city much easier. First, we went and scoped out this bagel place where we are going to stock up on stuff tommorow so we don't have to eat the nasty, overpriced airport food. Then, we went to get lunch at this great Indian grill place, which I guess is similar to a Chipotle. It was so yummy, great flavors. I wish we had one of those in Oly. Then we went to run some errends, Target and Costco, just to pick up a few last minute things like some new sunglasses for me!
This evening we went to Carol's good friends', Rachelle and Brian, house for dinner. The live about an hour and a half outside of Denver. Dinner was great and they have three really cute little boys who are very well behaved most of the time. The littlest one, Chase, was a doll. He had the cutest face and the way he talked to you was very mature for his three years of age. I was telling him about the shot that I had to get earlier this morning, showing him my band aid and all, and he went over to Carol and asked where the gun was that shot us! Too cute!
The running joke when Carol goes to there house, is that she always bring bad and crazy weather with her. Well not to disapoint, some of the heaviest fog I have ever seen rolled in right after we arrived. I was not really a problem until we went to leave. Carol was pretty tired, and I had had some coffee so I drove us back to Denver. Getting out of the neighborhood, or rather, spread out development, was pretty tricky. I had a really hard time seeing the road at all, and then when we got out onto the main road, unfortunately it was not much better, although at least at that point I had the lines on the road that I could follow. It was amazing that once we got to the freeway, poof-all the fog was gone, just like that. Driving through it, I felt like I was in Beauty and the Beast at the beginning of the movie with all the eiry fog in the woods, at any moment I was expecting something to come off the side of the road in front of me. Thankfully, the rest of the movie did not play out during my drive, although thinking about it makes me want to watch that movie again. It has been a long time.
Well, tommorow begins our extremely long travel day to Christchurch(otherwise known as cheech or CHC). All in all, we will be flying for about 24 hours total, with layovers and airport time adding another half a day. Ugh. We have a few more hours of orientation in the morning and the we head to the airport mid-day.
We have been hearing that the weather in Antarctica has been pretty bad this week, which means that the have only been able to get one plane of the summer-over staff down there so far. This is good news for us, because if the weather stays like it is, it means that when we get to CHC we would be stuck there...with our hotel payed for...and money for food...ah, it would be rough, but somehow we would manage. :-)
Well, time to go to bed because I doubt that I will be getting a whole lot of sleep in the next two days,
Next posting---NZ!
Saturday, October 3, 2009
First part of the trip
I have arrived in Denver; the first stop on my trip. I will be here until Monday when we will start our long journey towards the SP. Here in Denver we have orientation for the next two days. I guess the will tell us all the ins and outs of what to expect and everything else. My friend Carol has been to the SP before, this will be her 4th season, so she has preped me pretty well for what to expect. I have a really nice hotel room at the Red Lion hotel, a nice bathroom and a flatscreen plasma tv! Won't be suffering to much while I stay here :-) Denver is really pretty, I like the way the Rockies form a semi-circle around the city. I haven't noticed the altitude yet, so hopefully I won't have any problems down at Pole either, even though the elevation is double what it is in Denver. On the shuttle from the airport, I met some other people going down to the ice as well, however, they all will be at McMurdo, the coastal station that we will pass through on our way to the pole. Still, it was fun to talk to them, one of the ladies is going down for her seventh year! She just loves it I guess. Well, thats all for today, Carol is going to come pick me up (I got moved to a different hotel) so that I can get some dinner. :-)
Welcome to my blog
Hello friends and family...I am writing this blog so that you can travel with me to the southern most part of the earth! For those who may not know, I am going to be spending approximately the next four and a half months in Antarctica, the world's largest desert, at the South Pole research station. I will be one of the support staff at the station working as the dinner production cook. I am so looking forward to this amazing adventure, although I will surely miss everyone back home(especially come Christmas time). I will be posting as regularly as I am able, so please stay tuned...
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