November

Wow, 24 days since I wrote in the blog. It certainly doesn't feel like it. A lot has happened in the last month here so this entry will probably be a random collection of different things that happened in the last three plus weeks.

Happy Camper school (Snow School) is a chance for non necessary employees like me to have a morale trip. For people going out into the field, firefighters, and certain other implortant employees it is required training. I was lucky enough to get scheduled for it three weeks back. It represents a two day hands on training on how to camp in Antarctica. It was definitely the event I was looking forward to most being down here. So I get scheduled during a week in which the weather was about as bad as it gets down here. Lots of restrictions on movement around base, blowing snow, and winds that will knock you down. So the morning of snow school there is some in class training. The winds howling outside make it seems like the roof is about to blow off. The base has different coniditions assigned to the weather. Condition 3 is normal and there can be some pretty good winds in Condition 3. Condition 2 is where visibility is bad and there is usually a good amount of blowing snow or high winds. Condition 1 is basically no visibility (you may see your hand if you put it in front of your face) and crazy winds. We started that morning in Condition 2, which means we are still able to have happy camper. At first I was a bit worried about the weather and was thinking how is this going to be fun. We got through some morning instruction, got the latest weather report that said it was going to get worse, got really pumped up that we were going to have a true Antarctic Experience, got in the transport Delta to leave, heard the announcent that Condition 1 was called and then got out right cancelled. Boy was that a bit of a disapointment. Thirty minutes earlier we would have been out there. In restrosect it was probably a very good thing we did get cancelled because the weather didn't really clear until late in the night and we would not have been able to set up camp. We would have hunkered down in a nearby bunker and not had much fun. The most disapointing part about it was that I was worried I wouldn't have a chance to participate in it again all season because it was not a requirement for me. Luckily I didn't have to wait long and the next week I was the last person to get a spot on the roster of twenty people and was on my way to snow school once again. This time the weather for the first day was the best it has been down here. Of the twenty people in the second group about half of them were people who had been scheduled the week before so it was nice to see the familiar faces of people I already met and we were all excited to give it anotehr try. There were about 8 firefighters in the group, Jana - a fellow shuttle driver, a few other contract empoyees, about 5 scientists, and 2 media people doing a documentary down here. It was a great group of people. Before actually setting up camp you learn about the dangers of Antarctica, what to wear, what to eat, setting up different tents, stove operations, and some other basic camping information. Early in the afternoon we set off to build our camp. The two instrutors are there only to help with initial demonstrations and then we are responsible for actually getting the camp in order. With 20 0f us camping there was quite a lot of work to do. We needed to set up Scott Tent's, build a ice wall, set up mountain tents, build a Qunsi hut and then get the stoves and dinner going. People who wanted to build a ice trench, or ice grave built those for the night. It sounds like it isn't much but it is a lot. I spent about three hours straight helping to quarry the ice wall. The snow is so dry out here that it is really easy for a person to saw into the ice and create perfect ice cubes. We cut them about a foot and a half across and a foot wide. It was pretty heavy work and a lot of fun. So after helping out with all the other tasks camp was set up and ready to go at about 7 o'clock in the evening. The instructors left and because of the nice weather we got to have some fun. Around camp there are bamboo flags that mark the boundary of the camp. One of the campers got the bright idea to use them as Javelins. And so started our version of the Antarctic olympics. For the next couple hours we Javelin, skeet shooted, played darts, and raced to the flag. Pretty good times for camping in Antarctica. As the day was pretty hard and physical at about 11 most people turned in for the night. I got to sleep out in an abaondoned Qunsi hut that another happy camper school had built since the one our camp built only housed three and I wanted to experience of camping in one. The Qunsi hut is built by taking all the sleeping bags and insulator mats and piling them together. Then snow is shovled to bury the pile. The snow is left to harden for a few hours and then two tunnels are dug. One tunnel is dug to get the bags out and closed and the otther is dug down before the pile into the snow and then tunneled to the bottom of the hut. It is basically an igloo and it was an awesome experience to sleep in one. During the night the weather got cold and windy. I was cold a few times throughout the night as my sleeping back poppoed open to the cold air a few times. The next morning we broke camp in the wind, got some more instruction and were back at the base in the early afternoon. My expectations of the entire event were certainly met.

Obviously that was a fun expeience since I seemed to ramble a long time about it. I just think it needed the retelling in full :) My Dad is the master of telling everything in full. I think every once in a while I am allowed to ramble :)

Right after the second happy camper trip was another moral even for me and the rest of the shuttles offfice. And I mean right after. I got back from snow school at 4 in the evening and at 6 I was off to Cape Evans. Cape evans is about an hour and half drive on the ice and is a historic hut were some of the early explorers stationed while trying to reach the south pole. The trip was fantastic. We took two Delta's out and the hour and a half there and back was looking at the beautiful scenery, looking for seals and penguins, and chatting it up with the other shuttle drivers. Once there the scenery around the hut was breathtaking. The hut itself is perserved and it is just astonishing what these guys tried to live on and the accomidations they had. It is just a wooden structure and the stoves, the food, and the sleeping bags they had were not good enough for Antarctica. These guys would lose hands and feet to frost bite, freeze, and starve to death. Pretty damn crazy if you ask me.

Last week marked the 1/3 mark of the season. In shuttles the schedule is slit into three shifts - day, swing, and night. There are 7 people who work the night shift vs other 14 on days and swing. The latest swing shift is a 9:30 to 9:30 shift with most being 7 to 7. All during last week we picked for what shift we were going to get and then picked our preferences on which of the actually night hours we wanted to work. At first I picked a day shift and was pretty happy with it considering I wasn't really escited about nights. Matt and Debbie will always work days. However, as others picked some of the people I was really hoping to get to know better picked night shift. I was convinced by myself and by a couple of the other shuttle drivers that it would be a good idea if I traded the day shift for the night shift. Today actully is the second day I'm on nights with it being an off day for me. It's nice that there are a lot less people around and things move at a much slower pace. I was actually suprisingly busy on my first night shift yesterday so that I feel time won't move at a total snails pace. Hopefully it will all work out and that I will in fact get to know the night crew and become closer friends than if I would have stayed on days. Most of them I can see as people I'll stay in touch with for a long time.

In between going to days and to nights was Thanksgiving weekend. And somehow I scored a three day weekend with Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off. Mostly it was to allow me to transition to a night schedule. It was great to have the extra time off. Thurdsay night I went out and had a good time hanging out with a bunch of galley people I hadn't met before for tequilla night. Friday was my day to catch up on a bunch of sleep and get a work out in as well. Saturday and Sunday the whole base has off for Thanksgiving. I ran in the 5 K turkey trot Saturday morning and was the first time running outside since I've been down here. I've been entirely training on the treadmill for a half marathon that will take place in January. So I knew this was going to be a challenge. I new I needed to start running outside or I'd never be able to run in January. The turkey trot went relatively well. I ran it in 25 minutes and was happy with the time. Though if the conditions are anything like they were for the half marathon I am so screwed. There was about a 15 knot wind on Saturday morning and the course takes you out of town to the ice runway and back again. Going out was great until turning right into the wind on the way back. My feet were hardly lifting and there was still a big hill near the finish. Even though I felt like losing my breakfeast up that hill I was able to pass about 4 people before the finish. The thing I'm worried most about is my lungs though. The dry air out here killed them and they didn't stop burning for at least a half hour after the race. I'm hoping that slower running will help me get to 13.1 by January.

Thanksgiving dinner is a big event down here so that there are actually three different meal times instead of the free for all that is normal dinner. I was lucky that I know Debbie and Matt since they had a private sitting at one of the bars in town. It was really nice to have family for Thanksgiving as most people miss out on having any around. There have been a few Thanksgivings here and there without family the last few years but being so far away from home it was great to eat with them. Thanksgiving night was also a lot of fun but also a bit irresponsible on my part. I decided that I'd drink a lot since the next time I would have to work was 530 pm on Monday night and it might help with the transition to nights. It didn't quite work out that way. While I had a lot of fun drinking with various poeple that night I only made it till 1:30 am and I paid for it the next day.

And that just about catches everything up to today in terms of events over the past three weeks. As far as how things are going. I really have enjoyed my time down here so far. I think now that I'm on nights I will get a chance to think a little bit more about my life and were I want it to be after I get off the ice. I still plan on traveling but I think sometimes I need to concentrate on things in my life and personality. I am a very intraverted person who strives to be an extraverted person. And being down here is a bit of a challenge sometimes. A lot of people down here have amazing stories of what they have done already. Sometimes I don't have that much to add and don't have much to say. Not many people want to hear about that happening board meeting where we went over financial results. I know that this experience and the experiences I will have after this will help me to feel like I fit in a little more, but there are sometimes that I wish I was just a bit more extraverted and have more to express and say. Maybe I should just accept that I am a quite person. It's something I'd like to have figured out while I'm here.

More to come soon. Those of you reading and leaving comments - thanks :)