Not bored

13 days here. My friend works in the Recreation Department, making sure that we all have lots to do between working and exclusively drinking or wandering off to find a penguin. The enthusiasm of community already makes it feel like college. That is fine, for now, it should wear off, it’s more humorous than anything else at this point. Behind my friend’s enthusiastic cheerleading for REC, she’s a bit more ambivalent like me about all the activities. Everyone is saying that they just don’t have as much time as they thought down here! There is so much to do! So far, I was talked into playing bingo but failed to win the $200 jackpot or any lame prizes. I’ve been to some science lectures regarding research going on down here and also attended the outdoor safety lecture for going on trails outside the station. I’ve also been to each of the bars on quiet nights and also on the night that many bands played (huge musical community down here). There are 3 bars—a smoking dive bar, a general dive bar, and the coffeehouse which is a pretty cozy dive and they sell alcohol there also. Last Saturday (the big night to go out), my roommate invited our room to a pig roast at the Vehicle Maintenance Facility. Yes, the Galley actually orders some pigs for folks to roast if they sign up (I’ve heard about this pig roasting thing way too much this year). We made it after the food was served, but it was nice to hang out in a different space, one that houses large vehicles called deltas and piston-bullies. Sure, why not.
I am also drinking lots of water, putting on lots of lotion, and getting shocked constantly because of the dry weather and abundance of fleece and wool. Touch metal first. Touch metal first. I am also reading.
Our room is pretty nice, considering. Considering I share it with 3 people and there are no windows and it has dorm furniture. At first I inhabited a bottom bunk bed, but came up with some schemes and we all decided it would be nice to change the layout so all beds were in separate corners. I spent the first two days of work (before the supervisor got here) creating 3D models of our room as I was pretty bored. My room is in the main building that also houses the cafeteria and store and shared computer lab. I like not having to go outside for meals and being able to bring them up to my room easily and still warm if I am not in the mood for small talk in the galley. The other dorm buildings mostly have 2 person rooms and some of them I hear are nicer, or at least there are a lot of regulars in those dorms. The more time you spend on ice, you tend to get a better dorm situation. You can request roommates if you know them, or you can shack up with your husband or significant other (you’ll get the really small rooms).

my room

the hall outside my room

the common lounge on my floor

recycle center... a bin for everything.

recreation board

there are 4 coat alcoves like this outside the galley, i lose my coat alot.

the galley and main meeting space. science lectures are here too.

the handwashing station outside the galley - let's not get each other sick

the library, very cozy and has internet hookup for laptops

9 hours a day/ 6 days a week

For two days this week I sat at my new desk with nothing to do. The other drafter, James, did not get to town until Wednesday and he is the one who knows what needs to be done, essentially he'll be my supervisor. I looked at the town map many times to acquaint myself with all the different buildings and I met some folks who worked down the hall. Now that James is here, I finally have the real scoop on my job. Officially, I am the South Pole drafter and he is the McMurdo drafter. There is limited bed space at the Pole, as apparently they purposefully try to keep the population there as minimal as possible, and that is why I am actually stationed at McMurdo. But I will be headed to Pole, at least once, maybe more, depending on how much work needs to be done there. And if I need a break from that, James could head down there also. I will say more about the Pole later (apparently, lots of people try to make it down there), but when I am not at the Pole I will be working on projects in town. Basically, a lot of the town buildings (warehouses/shacks/trailers, etc.) were built awhile ago, in the 40's,50's, 70's, etc. The Navy used to operate this whole station until the last years of the century and I've been told that there are not a lot of good records for those buildings . There are also constant projects going on for remodeling, moving trailers, re-allocating space, etc. and sometimes the end result of a construction project is different from what was shown on the construction plans. This can happen anywhere, but in this environment, things need to move fast and materials and labor will vary. Improvising and working around conditions is reality. Our job as drafters is mostly to go back and make note of those changes, creating as-built drawings. There will be times when I will go around to different buildings (inside and out) and measure them and take notes and photos. Then I will draft them up and send them on to the Denver Raytheon HQ as they have a team there to some of the work also. I think this is pretty much what I expected, but I only thought there was a chance I would go to the Pole. The more people talk about really wanting to go there, the more I think it is a good idea. If I'm down here, I might as well.

on the way to work today... my work building ahead.

my desk in the drafting room

the drafting room

passengers together

I am in Antarctica.

It has been over a week since leaving Portland and most of it has been pretty boring. I flew to Denver for 2 ½ days of slow-going orientation. I flew through LAX and Auckland, NZ to Christchurch NZ. Christchurch is the Deployment Center (CDC) for the McMurdo and South Pole Stations. The city itself is not very exciting for 2 days of visiting and I kept a low profile as I felt a cold (illness) coming on. On Friday Oct. 5th, I went to the Deployment Center to try on the Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) gear and that was my only official duty other than to show up the next morning at 6am for the flight.

Getting ready for the flight means re-packing some items into the appropriate luggage, deciding what items can be stored in the Deployment center (adjacent to the airport), putting on required ECW gear for the flight and arrival, and packing the rest of gear to make sure that the checked baggage weighs less than 75 lbs total. The CDC has its own terminal where we checked with the Military personnel that would be flying us to the Ice. We watched an introduction film, grabbed a box lunch, and took a shuttle to the C-17 military jet across the street. I was the second person off the shuttle and on to the plane, in a matter of seconds. This flight had more cargo than people, so most of us were seated against the sides of the plane, facing inward to the large pallets of cargo running down the middle. There are only a few precious windows on the plane, so for the most part I actually didn’t feel like I was flying. Some of you know that I am not always comfortable flying, or more accurately, flying with turbulence. But I have been able to lessen my flying anxiety greatly and the Antarctic flight was actually quite peaceful. The plane is so open and the exposure of all the cables and structure and such really helps me understand the entire machine as a whole. It will keep flying. The last hour of the flight (out of 5 hours total) was the opportunity to peek through the windows and see the beginning of the continent, and under clear sunny skies. As we landed, one could say the weather changed, although we couldn’t tell. There was no chance to anticipate that when the doors opened, it would be -51 degrees outside with wind chill. Filing out of the plane, there is not much chance to stop and think about it. Move towards the red shuttle in front of you and get inside. Look back at the plane. Wait, I can barely turn around with my red jacket and when I do, I just see the inside of my hood.