Hello to everyone from McMurdo Station, Antarctica!
We arrived here this past Friday October 9 at 2 PM. That would have been 8 PM Texas time on Thursday. We got up at 5AM Friday morning, after no calls telling us that the flight was delayed, and headed to the USAP center. We loaded the plane around 8AM and flew 5 hours to McM. It was a non-eventful flight, just the way I like them. I even got to go up into the cockpit and meet the crew flying us. What a view! Speaking of views I wish you could have been with me as we got off the plane and stepped foot onto the coldest, driest and windiest continent on earth. It was about the most strange and out of body experience I have ever had. There was only 1 word to describe it, well okay maybe 2... surreal and COLD!!! A nice lady named Cynthia that Eric and I hung out with today told me I should name my blog "sureally cold." That would have been a good name!
Next we all took a bus to McM about 18 miles away from Pegasus White Ice Runway where we landed. It is called White Ice because the runway sits on about a 110 foot thick glaciated ice shelf with 3-4 inches of compacted snow on top, also known as white ice. So once we arrived in McM we had more briefings, got our room assignments, bedding and headed to Hotel California. Yes that is the name of the place we're staying. Very appropriate I would say! The view out of the window is stunning. It's overlooking lots of mountains and the ocean which of course is iced over right now, but is beautiful nontheless. Come January we will be able to see the actual ocean.
The town itself is about a quarter mile by a quarter mile. Everything is fairly compact and easy enough to get to. The dining area, laundry and general store is located in a bulding called 155 where we head to at least 3 times a day. The food is actually pretty good. I've had lasagna, chiken and mushroom pasta, steak, fresh fruits and veggies and today there was a Sunday brunch! Can you beleive it??? I had a made to order omlette, Belgian waffle and fresh fruit. It was tasty!
So our work week is 6 days a week, 10 hours a day (with 1 hour off for lunch) and is fairly brutal. My first day of work was yesterday at the Carpenter shop. Technically my title is FEMC GA with the carp shop. That stands for Facilities Engineering Maintenance Construction general assistant. So here I am at 7:30 in the morning doing YOGA with a bunch of carpenters and suddenly realizing that this is really happening. The whole day is more orientation, getting our tools (Yes I have tools. Watch out!) and familiarizing ourselves with the shop. There were just 6 of us new kids on the block doing this orientation. The rest of the 60 or so others had already begun their work for the day, making outhouses for field camps and knowing exactly what they should be doing. So all in all it was a good day, a bit overwhelming but I'm doing well considering where I am and what I'm doing. But I am going to live in the present, one day at a time and enjoy what I have been blessed with.
We have lots of opportunities to learn about what is going on down here which is really great. Right now we're off to have a tour of a lab that will explain some of the scientific research that is going on here. Should be interesting. It is 12 degrees with a wind gust of 30 mph here. That makes it have a wind chill of -12. Yikes! I hope all is well and warm where you are.
Love,
Erika
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Arrival in Christchurch
Hello everyone!
I write to you from the Travel Center at the USAP(United States Antarctic Program) in Christchurch, NZ. We landed yesterday afternoon Wed. Oct. 7 at 1PM from Sydney. That would have been around 5 PM on Tues. Oct 6 or so Austin, TX time. Man... losing a day is such a crazy thing. We had an almost 15 hour flight to Sydney with not much sleep, a couple of weird documentaries and a viewing of "The Proposal" starring Sandra Bullock. But all in all it wasn't that bad. It was a nice flight on a 747 with personal tv's and "On Demand" movies. I think Eric watched "Star Trek" and "The Hangover." The meals were quite tasty as well. I highly recommend transcontinental flights for the food alone. There are around 100 of us traveling together with Raytheon and shall I just say many interesting and different types of personalities. This is going to be fun!
So we are now here on the South Island of NZ (There are 2 islands, North and South. Hey this is also an education for you too, right??), staying at a nice place called Thomas Hotel for a couple nights. The plan is to get up around 4:30 AM tomorrow for an ice flight to McMurdo Station, Antarctica. It will be about a 4 hour flight on a C-17 for all of you Military buffs. This all is of course weather permitting. We just got done at the CDC, (no I haven't contracted any strange disease, it actually stands for Clothing Distribution Center,) where I tried on about 50 pounds worth of ECW (Extreme Cold Weather) gear (Are you staying with me on all of the acronyms??? There will be more to come people!!) I have carharts galore, gloves, huge boots, parkas, windbreakers and let's not forget the long underwear. Antarctica here I come!
So hopefully when I write again it will be from McMurdo and will be able to download some pictures for you to see me in all my glory in Antarctica! I send lots of love and warm thoughts from the Southern Hemisphere and will write agin soon!
Love,
Erika
P.S. I will put on the blog next time information on where to mail things to me in Antarctica to those of you who have asked. Thanks!
I write to you from the Travel Center at the USAP(United States Antarctic Program) in Christchurch, NZ. We landed yesterday afternoon Wed. Oct. 7 at 1PM from Sydney. That would have been around 5 PM on Tues. Oct 6 or so Austin, TX time. Man... losing a day is such a crazy thing. We had an almost 15 hour flight to Sydney with not much sleep, a couple of weird documentaries and a viewing of "The Proposal" starring Sandra Bullock. But all in all it wasn't that bad. It was a nice flight on a 747 with personal tv's and "On Demand" movies. I think Eric watched "Star Trek" and "The Hangover." The meals were quite tasty as well. I highly recommend transcontinental flights for the food alone. There are around 100 of us traveling together with Raytheon and shall I just say many interesting and different types of personalities. This is going to be fun!
So we are now here on the South Island of NZ (There are 2 islands, North and South. Hey this is also an education for you too, right??), staying at a nice place called Thomas Hotel for a couple nights. The plan is to get up around 4:30 AM tomorrow for an ice flight to McMurdo Station, Antarctica. It will be about a 4 hour flight on a C-17 for all of you Military buffs. This all is of course weather permitting. We just got done at the CDC, (no I haven't contracted any strange disease, it actually stands for Clothing Distribution Center,) where I tried on about 50 pounds worth of ECW (Extreme Cold Weather) gear (Are you staying with me on all of the acronyms??? There will be more to come people!!) I have carharts galore, gloves, huge boots, parkas, windbreakers and let's not forget the long underwear. Antarctica here I come!
So hopefully when I write again it will be from McMurdo and will be able to download some pictures for you to see me in all my glory in Antarctica! I send lots of love and warm thoughts from the Southern Hemisphere and will write agin soon!
Love,
Erika
P.S. I will put on the blog next time information on where to mail things to me in Antarctica to those of you who have asked. Thanks!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Am I really doing this????
Welcome everyone to my blog on all things Antarctica!! Really, seriously?? I guess there's no turning back now! So away we go!
I am writing this on my second day of orienatation in Denver, Colorado as I begin the journey to Antarctica. Getting handed $210 for meals and incidentals for the week is not a bad thing! But I now know a lot more about OSHA requirements and scaffolding than most!
We have 2 and a half days of training/orientation here and then will get on a plane tomorrow afternoon (Monday October 5)to head to LA. We will leave LA at 10:30 PM to head to Sydney on a 13 hour flight. 13 hours??!! Yikes! Lots of walking and exercising as much as possible I'm sure will be done on the floght. From Sydney we have a 3 hour flight to Christchurch, New Zealand and then will be there for a couple days. If all goes according to plan we will be "on the ice" as they call it, on Friday Octber 9. But from what we've been hearing, the weather at McMurdo Station has been so rough that only 1 flight has been able to land there. Some people have been in Christchurch for a week and a half. Although if I were to have to get "stuck" somewhere, New Zealand is not a bad place to have that happen. It is beautiful!
So all is well here as I have the afternoon free while Eric is at his Supervisor training. Will he ever be my supervisor I hear you asking? We'll see about that...
I know he'll be a great one, and I'll leave it at that! I'll write again once we're in Christchurch and have taken my allotted 1 hour nap after more than 24 hours of traveling! Really, that's what they recommend in order to get used to the time switch. We'll be 18 hours ahead of Texas time once we're in Antarctica! I hope that you will enjoy following me on this adventure as much as I am looking forward to keeping you posted on this crazy experience that I am about to begin.
Love to all!
Erika
I am writing this on my second day of orienatation in Denver, Colorado as I begin the journey to Antarctica. Getting handed $210 for meals and incidentals for the week is not a bad thing! But I now know a lot more about OSHA requirements and scaffolding than most!
We have 2 and a half days of training/orientation here and then will get on a plane tomorrow afternoon (Monday October 5)to head to LA. We will leave LA at 10:30 PM to head to Sydney on a 13 hour flight. 13 hours??!! Yikes! Lots of walking and exercising as much as possible I'm sure will be done on the floght. From Sydney we have a 3 hour flight to Christchurch, New Zealand and then will be there for a couple days. If all goes according to plan we will be "on the ice" as they call it, on Friday Octber 9. But from what we've been hearing, the weather at McMurdo Station has been so rough that only 1 flight has been able to land there. Some people have been in Christchurch for a week and a half. Although if I were to have to get "stuck" somewhere, New Zealand is not a bad place to have that happen. It is beautiful!
So all is well here as I have the afternoon free while Eric is at his Supervisor training. Will he ever be my supervisor I hear you asking? We'll see about that...
I know he'll be a great one, and I'll leave it at that! I'll write again once we're in Christchurch and have taken my allotted 1 hour nap after more than 24 hours of traveling! Really, that's what they recommend in order to get used to the time switch. We'll be 18 hours ahead of Texas time once we're in Antarctica! I hope that you will enjoy following me on this adventure as much as I am looking forward to keeping you posted on this crazy experience that I am about to begin.
Love to all!
Erika
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