Settling in to Winfly

Sunday brunch is one of the best times of the week: homemade waffles, fresh fruit, sweet rolls, real eggs...all to enjoy for 3 liesurely hours in our one day off. My boyfriend, Will has to work a few hours on Sunday, so I read for while, then waited for him at the cozy Coffee House to watch a 4:00 movie. I had tried to go on a walk during the afternoon but my glasses freeze over from my warm breath & I can't see out of them. I'll have to start wearing goggles over them, as I have to have my lower face covered when it's this cold out (up to minus 40F with wind chill!). The pix attached are me & Will standing out in the evening on a particularly cold day.

I have signed up to host a radio show again (I've had a show the past two seasons) with a girlfriend I worked with last year in the Heavy Shop. I'm also thinking of getting a part time job either pinsetting or working at the video counter in the store...there are so many opportunities of stuff to do in one's free time.

I'm also attaching a lovely photo of penguins! We don't see these big guys here in Mactown...just the occasional Adelie model. Don't have too much more to say at this point...just working & training each day, and trying to get enough sleep. My room has warmed up to about 65 degrees so I can sleep in regular pjs instead of my ECW...more later!

4th Day on Ice

Despite the -22F ambient temp, it is warm & cozy in my dimly lit, plastic flower laden office with celtic music in the background (which reminds me of my other favorite place on Earth: Ireland!). I have only deployed to the Ice in October in previous seasons (with 24 hour sun), so to be here in August & see pitch darkness & pink sunsets is incredible. There are also only 300 folks on station so far, whereas there will be up to 1100 when all the mainbody flights get in in October. Like everyone has said, Winfly (August) season is magical - walking up the hill to work this morning & watching the wind blow waves of soft snow across the ground under a streetlamp surrounded by an inky black sky - there are no words...it probably isn't as stunning to someone from a cold climate, but I am from a place of perpetual blinding sunshine & oppressive triple digit heat for 5 months of the year. I hate hot muggy weather! I seem to thrive in this climate! I must've been a polar seal in a previous life...here are some more pix, including some of the amazing giant vehicles used on the Ice. Enjoy!

Down Under Part Three

I am in Antarctica...it is cold, desolate, beautiful, dark, surreal, and most important: it feels like home. Do you think I'm kidding? Most people ask me how I can take the isolation & lonliness - these, of course, are people who've never been here...so I got news for you! It is cozy & homey & filled with closeness & caring people who are all here for a common purpose: to support science research blah de blah blah..I could say all kinds of official sounding things about the station but you can read all about that stuff anywhere. What I hope to reveal in this extended missive is the elusive underbelly of why this place is so magical to me... of why I feel "safe" here...and how it has met long, deeply "intergenerationally entrenched" unmet needs in the deepest part of my soul.

Wow! That sounds heavy doesn't it! This is a place that pulls you here...you are either drawn to the stark cold remoteness or you are not...and what you find what you get here your own self staring back at you with no defenses or barricades. But then, this could be only my personal experience!

I'll keep this initial post short..and here's a stunning photo of my plane arriving at the Ross Ice Shelf on August 22nd, 2006. More later!