Christmas

Christmas has come and gone. It was a great time but I have felt homesick this last week. It wasn't quite the same as Christmas Eve back home. The Vehicle Heavy Shop cleaned out the entire place and hosted the town Christmas party. It's quite a project considering there are 10 bays for the station's vehicles and the floor is usually covered with oil, glycol, and a variety of other chemicals. The party was a lot of fun and there was a lot of catching up with people I hadn't seen in a while. I started the night (which was my morning because I'm still on nights) drinking but ultimately stopped because it was my morning and I didn't want to waste away the entire day.

I woke up the next day and to the phone ringing and it was my boss asking me to come into work as there was to be a medevac. The night before there was a scuffle at the South Pole and some guy got his jaw broken. The result was probably about a $100,000 of expense to fly a LC-130 to the pole, get the two guys involved, bring them back to McMurdo, and then on to Christ Church later in the day. About a 100 people had to be notified and worked at some point during the ordeal. So I worked about 4 or 5 hours on the holiday because of a couple of idiots. I did make it in time for the midnight meal (lunch really for the night crew) and it was a spectacular meal. They had some really good duck and roast beef and the desserts were the best. The bakers down here are the best. There is always fresh bread and desserts. Sometimes the meals down here aren't great but there is almost always some kind of fresh veggies. I most definitely eat better down here than I do at home. During the extra time off I also did a bit of hiking and watched some movies with some of the other night people. New Years is right around the corner and I plan on being a little more involved in the party scene.

My morning today was the finals of the soccer league down here. The league here had only six teams and so throughout the season we have been playing each team once. We played pretty well and got into the 4 team playoff as the third seed. It's been a lot of fun playing with Deb and Matt and a few of the other people down here. And we are so fortunate too that we got ourselves a goalie four weeks ago. We struggled the first few games since none of us wanted to play goal and just aren't good at it. Both semifinal games were tonight and the final game. We played amazing in the semifinal and won 5-1 over the second seeded team to advance to the final. We then played back to back games and got crushed by the number one team. The team was stacked and we really didn't have much of a chance but we still played pretty well. In the final I had our teams best chances to score but the goalie they had was a wall and I couldn't get it passed him. Being able to play soccer down here has been awesome since it was a big part of my life back home.

For work, I'm going to be on nights for a bit longer now. About a week ago I got into the office and my boss and Shuttle Bill pull me aside. Bill has been around a few seasons, is 69, and trained all of us on the bigger vehicles. Bill and I had hit it off right from the start of the season. So they pulled me aside and asked if I would be interested in the supervisor position for shuttles if Kris, the current supervisor wasn't going to come back next year. It was kind of a shock to me. I've also got mixed feelings about it since it would be more of a desk job and I wouldn't be going outside as much. I am a bit interested in it though and so now I'm doing a little bit of training for some of the supervisor work. Kris won't decide until March if she is coming back and there is another candidate who will also be training like me. Since I don't have to make a decision right away whether or not to be a supervisor it seems like a win-win situation. So, in order to learn more about the night supervisor position I will be extended on nights for an extra three weeks. That's really the only thing I'm not really happy about since I would have liked to be on days as soon as possible. When I get to days I'll start learning more about the day stuff. It's only three weeks.

On another topic, over the last four weeks I decided to grow out my beard and the whole season I have yet to have a hair cut. I've posted a picture below that shows the new look. I've received quite a few compliments on the beard already so I plan on keeping it a little while longer to see how it turns out. I''ll probably get a hair cut soon to trim the sides and back since It's starting to look like I'm growing a mullett.

I was thinking today that I've got to manage my free time better. I've been able to exercise, read, hike a bit, and most of my time is spent hanging out with people. One of my goals down here was to learn some new things and I feel I haven't been able to do that yet. I wanted to ski some, check out the bouldering cave here, do some of the art stuff here, and learn how to the play the guitar. Free time is hard to come by but I feel like I can manage it better and get some of those things started. Hopefully in the coming weeks I'll have more of an update on that.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone reading!

Christmas is almost here!

Not too much has happened since my last post. I've been on nights now for three weeks. Being a night worker has it's pros and cons. The amount of people out and about decreases considerably. Of the 1100 people on the base there are probably less than 150 people who work the night shift. It allows for some nice quiet times to reflect on being down here, read, and relax. I also don't have an excuse not to go work out and so I've been able to do something almost every day. The food is generally better for the lunch (midrat) meal since there are by far fewer people to cook for. Probably the best thing is that with fewer people around you get to spend a lot of time with a smaller group of people and get to know them better. That said, the biggest con is that I feel like I miss out a lot on seeing people I met the first 7 weeks. I see Deb and Matt only on my nights off and to play soccer. I've missed out on some pretty cool events, parties, and just hanging out by having to work an opposite schedule. I should have about two to three weeks more of nights - Right around New Years - before switching back to days for the rest of the season. I'm looking forward to heading back to days.

Christmas is coming up in a little over a week. It certaintly doesn't feel like Christmas down here yet. While there is snow/ice on the ground it hasn't actually snowed in a few weeks here. There is no Christmas music everywhere and very little decoration around to remind you it's coming. It's a little weird since Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year. I've spent 28 of 30 Christmas's in Chicago with the Ott family. I'll miss being there. It will be nice to have a couple of days off in a row again and the food will be amazing again here. Plus, spending time amongst the friends I've made here at the midnight Christmas meal should be alot of fun.

A lot of people have commented on how cold it looks here. It actually isn't as bad as you would think. For the first month I was here it was pretty cold. Long underwear and Jeans with at least three top layers were a must here with the weather moving between -10 and 10. Into the second month here it has really warmed up. Two weeks in the 20's and now were all the way up into the 30's this last week. 30 here feels more like 50 when the sun is shining here as it does most days. Jeans, a sweathshirt, and a coat is all anyone needs now.

So those that are curious, there has been no romance for me here on the ice as of yet. It's a bit tricky down here considering the small community and that there is really no place to go on a date here to be alone. I've been interested in people but because of the ratio of girls to guys down here the girls that are single have the interest of many guys. It can be a bit frustrating at times. I didn't come down here to find someone but found myself looking for a relationship. I've decided it's best not to look for it here and truly live in the moment. That's all I've got on that subject for now.

I posted some additional pictures below and hope to post more in the next few days.

Today marks almost the exact half point of my time here. I've officially been on ice for two months and am likely to be off the ice around the middle of February. I want to make the most out of the last two months. I've also been thinking about next season already and if I had to make a decision today I would probably sign up. It really has been a great experience and by coming back next year I would be reunited with friends from this season. If I do go the plan is for me to spend a few months after this season traveling, then head back to the states and visit with everyone there for a month or maybe two, and then go off to travel again until it's time for me to come back. Hopefully everything will fit into place.

More Pictures

Here are a few more pictures from the ice. Most are from the Cape Evans trip the Shuttle crew went on last month. We took our yearly picture on the Deltas, which are now the main vehicle we drive as the ice road has turned to slush.