Yes... I still am in Antarctica!

Hello everyone!

Happy 2010! It is now almost mid January and the countdown is on! For what you ask??? Why for the fun to really begin. New Zealand, Australia, Africa and Puerto Rico, here we come! Eric and I deploy from McMurdo Station, Antarctica on Wednesday, February 10. That is only a month away. Can you believe it? It sure hasn't felt like we've been here for 3 months. But time flies by when you're having fun, right? So here is the update for the past few weeks.

We had Christmas and New Year's in McMurdo. Thank you friends and family for the lovely Christmas cards. They hang in the room as we speak. It definitely wasn't the same as being home with family and friends, but we did our best to stay cheery and in the holiday spirit. I even awoke Christmas morning to some cold weather socks on the wall acting as stockings, and presents we had from family and for eachother. It was very nice of him (Santa of course)! We even had a white Christmas! We went to many Christmas parties that week and I got to sing in the Christmas choir. Not at all like the one at home, but it felt good nonetheless. We sang to the field camps including WAIS and the South Pole. On Christmas Day evening we attended "MAAG" which stands for McMurdo Alternative Arts Gathering. People made artistic type exhibits that either were way out there and made no sense at all or were really cool. A few pictures from that are added. New Year's was a bit different, as we had to work the next day, so we didn't even make it to midnight. Lame I know, but you know how I get without my 8-9 hours of sleep. We ended up watching an old movie, "Arsenic and Old Lace" with Cary Grant. I highly recommend it, if you haven't seen it. But we made up for it by staying up way past midnight the night after! Doing what you might ask...

Why we attended "Ice Stock". It is an all day music festival of sorts. There were 19 bands playing from 12 PM to 1 AM, ranging from rock, ska, funk and punk to lots in between. It was a beautiful day with no wind and great music. There are some pictures of the festivities. Pretty neat to come down here and be able to go to an outdoor music festival. I thought I would only find that at home. They also had a tie dye booth where I made an Ice Stock bandanna, face painting (I got a flower) BBQ, and a "Saw Bucks" coffee stand that the carps ran. I volunteered there for part of the day. We also had a special sauce we added to their coffee or hot chocolate if they asked for it. It was really Bailey's and kept everyone nice and warm throughout the day. Eric helped run the sound booth and seemed to really enjoy his time learning the equipment and assisting there.

Life is still great here. I've been based back up at the Carp Shop and have pretty much been doing various projects in town ranging from doing resupply for the WAIS Divide field camp we were at, putting up a jamesway for when the vessel arrives in a few weeks, to cutting up 2'x8's into 44 3/4 in. lenghts for scientists. That was a fun job. I also got to cut 15 pieces of pink foam insulation for them as well,
2'x 2' and 2" thick. For 2 days I filled in for the WAIS Divide Cargo Coordinator as she went to WAIS for a few days and the carp shop offered me up to fill her shoes while she was gone. I made sure that cargo got to WAIS including passengers and resupply items as well as taking care of lots of other details. I really enjoyed having that different working experience. I had 3 afternoons of trainings with her last week, learned a lot and did my best to keep things afloat until she got back. Good times had by all!

The weather has been pretty nice. We had a decent dumping of fresh snow last week, which made McM beautiful with about 4 inches of the fluffy white stuff. Too bad it doesn't last more than a day or so. It's been in the upper 30's as highs most of the days. I even think that last Thursday, it was warmer here than it was in Austin! Crazy! Last Sunday was a gorgeous day and perfect for a friendly little game of Rugby. The US team took on the undefeated (after 20+ years or so) New Zealand team and alas could not break their losing streak. Oh well, we played our hearts out and it was a fun and crazy game to watch. But what's even crazier and more cool is.....


PENGUINS!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's right! Eric and I went out to the sea ice with a group of others to see 4 Emperor penguins. Pictures, ohhhhhh so cute are provided to the right. We had to take an almost hour (very bumpy) ride, on what they call deltas out to see them. But it was totally worth it. A picture of me with the wheel is provided. The ice breaker, the big ship that does pretty much what it's name is, has arrived in McM and in doing so has broken up the ice enough for penguins to make there way to McM. There have been numerous "peguin spottings" around the perimeters of town, especially up by Hut Point where Eric and I like to go for walks. So far I've seen seals and penguins here. I'm hoping to be able to see some whales soon. People that have been coming down here for awhile have said that this is the earliest in the season that the sea ice has broken up and that our chances of seeing more wildlife is higher than ever! Yeah!

Another "Yeah" item is that I got word today that I get to got on a helicopter ride out to the Dry Valleys to take down some Polar Havens. This area is less than an hour away from here and apparently is beautiful. A very different scenic view of Antarctica. I am very excited as it will be my first Helo ride ever. With Dramamine in hand, 3 other carpenters and I hope to fly Thursday for an overnight stay and be back on Friday. The powers that be have also decided to send me back out to WAIS Divide to help with camp take down. I guess I did a good job with camp put in, that they want me back. Oh tent city here I come! That would be from around January 25 through early February. Eric would also be there for part of that time.

One last yeah for the day! Sir David Attenborough in in town doing some filming with the BBC. I sat next to him at dinner last Friday nigth without even realizing it. That is until I heard that famous voice of his. I grew up watching his nature programs with my family and was so happy to have him sitting a few feet from me. He will be giving, what I am sure will be an amazing and packed Science lecture next week in the galley here at McMurdo. I'll be sure to write about it.


I thought I'd also write about a few things that I do and do not miss from home:

Things I miss:
1. My family and friends of course
2. Greenery, flowers, trees!!!
3. Stars, the moon and darkness at night
4. A bigger wardrobe to choose from
5. Cooking
6. Driving
7. Deciding what I want to eat, not what they tell me is available


Things I don't miss:
1. Car horns
2. People attached to the hip to their cell phones, I-Phones, technology of any kind. People have great conversations here over a cup of hot chocolate or coffee like the old days!
3. Bugs (including spiders,flys, mosquito's etc.)
4. Can't think of much else. I really am enjoying it here.

All is well otherwise. I hope that the New Year is off to a good start for you and that 2010 brings you good health, happiness and a maybe even a little bit of adventure!

I leave you with a couple of quotes I found:

"The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes."
--Marcel Proust

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
-- Mark Twain


Love,
Erika