Update of the last week

Thanks to everyone for the prayers for Carol. She went to McMurdo last Monday where they checked her out. I guess that when she got there they looked at her leg and then were like “why are you here?” So that was good, I think the doc here was just a bit paranoid, this is his first season here so he freaked out a bit. Anyway since she was already there they decided to have her stay for the week so they could keep an eye on it and make sure it was not going to do anything strange. Well the week is up and she should be on the plane that is on its way here right now. I think it will be here in about an hour or so. The only bad part is that she has been back at sea level for a week and that is enough time to un-acclimate her from our altitude so she will have to start the process all over again. Oh well, at least they didn’t send her home. If you all would be praying that she would acclimatize quickly that would be great.
So this last week I did something pretty fun that is a bit of a south pole tradition. First I went to a circuit training class that one of the winterovers had been holding during the winter, he is one of the last ones here, the last of them will be leaving sometime next week. So anyway, after the class each week they go into the sauna to chill out and let their muscles relax. I had not been into our sauna yet so I decided that it sounded good. Well what we do down here is sit in the sauna for a bit, at about 190 degrees, or at least that’s what it was at when we started, and then after about a half hour when we are all pretty warm we run out onto one of the deck outside! I think the temp that night was somewhere around -45 or so. I thought that it was going to be awful and ridiculously freezing but surprisingly it felt really good. It was funny because the longer you stood out there the more the sweat that you had developed in the sauna would freeze on you. It was really hilarious looking because it was almost like we were all going gray from all the frost on our hair and you would ‘grow’ really long white eyelashes too. During the winter they have something called the 300 club, which not everyone who winters will get to be a part of, it only happens on the years when it gets to be -100 outside. So, they heat the sauna up to 200, sit in it for a while and then go outside. Ta dah, the difference of 300 degrees! No 300 club for us but we still had fun anyway, and it felt so amazing to go back in the sauna after being outside too. A fun pastime for us polies, I will have to grab my camera next time so I can get a picture of my “aged” self.

Last night was the first night of Midrats, the midnight rations meal, so that means I start my new schedule today. I had been working 10 am to 8pm, a shift which I liked pretty well but today I switch over to my summer schedule which will be noon to 10pm. That will be a pretty good schedule for me because it will allow me to get some stuff done in the morning before I go to work. I think that I will like it pretty well. Its nice to wake up in the morning and have hours until I have to be at work, or so sleep a while longer if I want to.
Anyway, I think that’s all for now.