Galley food, an orange moon, and celestial talking

All in all life down here, on the Ice, has been really sweet. Although, I will admit, those first few hours on the ice were surreal. When I got off the plane, I was giddy with Antarctia. Erebus looming and pluming, the Terra Bus awaiting us. But after 30 seconds in the galley I felt (very very oddly) as if I never left. Everything was known. So many of the same people greeted me with big smiles and familiar embraces, the food tasted the same (it was definitely not better than I remembered), and even the table conversations familiar. It was odd, like being home again, yet in some desolate far off land. Very very odd.

Yet then, at night, it got dark! *grin* The one continual day that I knew Antarctia to embrace broke open to reveal saturated black. I love the darkness down here! I love it.




The darkness feels special, and Winfly weather is wild. We've had some of the most beautiful sunsets and sunrises, some full on crazy Condition 2 (should be 1) storms! Last month, I also watched the lunar eclipse and as a group of us gathered up by the start of the Castle Rock Loop Trail. Dressed in what felt like a dozen layers, with our heads gazing toward the sky, we were all visited by a celestial god!

Photo by unknown artist

Aurora are AMAZING! I've seen them before, only once or twice as a child in Iowa, but this time was absolutely phenomenal. We laid on the ground and watched the white on the horizon grow to fill the whole sky with dancing green. Then the green swirled into pink and bright turquoise. The clouds opened and the stars sparkled above. Blue and green wisps dancing among bright twinkles everywhere. To the north, the moon shown orange. It was awe striking!

Photos by Erik Kawasaki

I am one of the luckiest women in the world!

Intermediary

In between June 23rd and September 22nd....I continued to write to all of you.

The problem is I have many ambitions. *grin* (I definitely haven't failed to post out of lazyness!) My postings are handwritten in my journal, and the photos in my library. At present I'm working to transcribe these onto my computer, match them up with photographs...and proof read them in attempt to catch my miserable spelling before you do (which rarely happens!).

But, in the mean time, I want to get on with telling you about my here and now.

So here is a wee overview to catch you all up to the present. (Don't forget details will come! LOTS OF THEM!)

End of June: After I left Japan, I continued my travels through China. I was based in Beijing, and took a few excursions from here including a stunning trip to the Great Wall in Huang Huay.

July: I traveled (mainly solo) through Thailand and Laos. I hiked through the jungle, lived in tree forts and at a temple, and spent glorious time swimming in Thailand's turquoise waters with J. It was absolutely amazing.

During the end of July I cherished a week with my WHOLE family in Iowa. I love that miraculous week each year!

Photo taken by my Pops, editing done by me.

August: I visited Teeo in Seattle; fell in love with the city and the fellow. Then I spent more cherished time in Iowa AND...

August 18th, I redeployed for Antarctica.

I have a position working in Mac Ops: McMurdo Radio and Communications Operations. I operate High Frequency (HF) and Very High Frequency (VHF) radios and utilize Iridium Satellite telephones to communicate with the South Pole, Scientists and support staff working in remote deep field locations. I also monitor and track flights, making comms with pilots flying helicopters, twin otters, and C130 military planes around the continent.

I love my job and my co-workers.

Down here on the ice August through October is considered Winfly, or Winter Flyover. Three flights are sent down the last week of August to officially end the Antarctic winter and prepare for the Austral summer; I was on the third flight. After these flights we are locked in, no more flights touch the continent until mainbody begins in October. Over the course of 6 weeks the sun very slowly rises, transforming 4 hours of light per day (as it was the first day I arrived) to 24 hours of daylight (as it will be in two short weeks).

Photo by Wade, Pegasus Electrician

The sunsets are phenomenal, the storms fierce, the temperatures frigid and the community cozy.

I am happy here.

Evans Again

Yesterday, I had one of those days, one of those days that remind me why I love this continent.

I went on a working boondoggle, a flagging trip out to Cape Evans.

Photo by Rob, a Line Soo Chief

Webster Dictionary describes a boondoggle as:
“Work or an activity that is pointless but gives the appearance of having value.”
This cracks me up. I especially find humorous the descriptor: pointless, which transforms the phrase 'working boondoggle' into an absolute oxymoron.

Photo by Erik Kawasaki, Network Engineer

My boondoggle: placing flags every 150 yards on a newly mapped sea ice road. I got out of town, back to Barnes Glacier (where I went on my birthday last year), into the Cape Evans Hut again!



Photo by Erik Kawasaki, Network Engineer

AND I got an amazing workout! Holding a running motorized drill and hopping on and off a snow mobile about 100 times while wearing 10lb boots and 4 layers of heavy clothing can keep the heart rate up! *laughter*

Photo by Erik Kawasaki, Network Engineer

We had contests to see which teams can make straight lines, laughing and poking fun at each other the whole way. Plus the –10 below temps really gave me (and the others) a reason to dance around out in the snow…

I had so much fun.

Why Antarctica?

There are many, many moments when I wonder why the hell I live in Antarctica. Usually this question follows a meal at the galley (our dinning hall), especially during winfly when the freshies (fresh vegetables and fruit) are at an all time low and my diet restricts me from seven eigths of the meal. Mush only tastes so good for so long.

Why Antarctica? That’s what I ask on a slow day at work, in our over heated building from the late 70’s; i feel like i could be anywhere in industrial america. Or on my walk home when the ambient temperature outside is 28 below and my hair wet from the gym freezes in the short 100 feet. Of all places, why did I pick the most isolated continent on earth? Sometimes, after I phone conversations Teeo, J, or my family I feel like I am 15,000 miles away…and know that I actually am.



But then, there are other days when nearly every second I am grinning ear to ear, giddy as a gallant hero or a 4-year-old full of laughter. All the details of habituated life are cared for, the creatively constructed parties turn me into a dancing machine...and the people make me laugh (hard!). Plus, the adversity of this lifestyle, the challenges that emerge from the climate, the isolation, and the intense social sphere push me to look inside and ask really big questions. Down here, I feel alive, more playful than I have been since I was a roll-y little tike living in Dyersville, Iowa. And strong. I am reminded of why I love traveling, what I love of life, and that…

I love Antarctica.