I come from the land of the ice and snow.

Okay, so I've been in Antarctica for a week now.  I would have posted sooner, but I've been working 9 hour days and just vegetate most of the evenings.  We're 18 hours ahead here, so making phone calls back home requires very complex math (add 6 hours, subtract a day).  I'll get through to someone on a phone at some point.  Hopefully my calling cards aren't drained by then.

Here is a quick photo of the Windsor Bed and Breakfast hotel I stayed in.  It doesn't look like much, but apparently they have FORTY rooms.  On Monday, the day of our flight, we were to be on the shuttle to the Antarctic Center at the Christchurch airport by 4:15 or 4:30.  I actually got up before 3am because I was having some very strange dreams caused by a strong need to pee. So I just stayed up once I was up.  We piled into a couple of shuttles and were promptly...well, shuttled.

Here I am in the building of the Antarctic Center for the people actually flying down to Antarctica.  The Center itself is actually a tourist attraction, but I didn't see that section if we were even near it.  I am wearing all issued clothing here.  I should have gone with my original plan to dress in my street clothes with the required exterior Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) gear on over, but after watching several others pile on the long underwear and having one particularly bossy fellow traveller (who by the way has never been to Antarctica, but BRAGS about having been in Iraq) tell me to wear other stuff I ended up going along with the pack and piling on some of what was in the two bags.  I ended up being a little warm for the flight, but was fine once on the ground. 

Mid flight.  This is the passenger section in the front of the C-17 we flew down in.  The seats in the middle are on a large plate on a set of tracks in the floor like all the cargo.  When the plane got bumpy, the plates shift, so anyone there got a little more jostled.  I wound up sitting on the row along the left side, under a power outlet (which apparently I could have used, but never did).

In the photo above is a large wooden box stacked atop large rolls of a plastic material (fuel bladders, I heard).  My seat was lined up on the left of that last roll of plastic.  Despite having gotten up so early, I didn't get any sleep.  I talked with other passengers as well as you could in a cargo compartment that wasn't insulated for sound (I wound up wearing the earmuffs I brought with me the entire flight) and after a bit I watched a movie on my PSP with another coworker.  In the middle of the photo above are several people sitting on a short crate of science things playing Scrabble.

Here is one of my first views from the plane.  I don't know if that is part of Antarctica or not, as we were maybe halfway through the flight at that point.    We had plenty of views of snow and ice for quite a while.  Eventually we got told to buckle in for landing.  it is an interesting experience landing in a plane when you have no idea where the ground is.  I kept listening to the plane noises to give me some kind of hint as to when we would be getting close.  For an ice runway the landing at Pegasus was quite smooth.  Apparently Fleet Ops has been doing a kickass job at keeping the roads and such in good repair.

A photo taken through the filthy window of Ivan the Terra Bus.  There was a large greeting party outside the plane, which amused me.  One of the first things I immediately noticed about the Ross Sea was that we were on a massive flat area.  I think I heard that the ice runways are usually on SIX FEET of ICE.  Looking around it is just flat 'land' as far as you can see, with mountains containing the whole thing like a giant, flat valley.  It is all very surreal, but fun to just stare at.  McMurdo base is on the edge of the sea, so you can see all the way across in good weather.

A photo of McMurdo on a good day.   The place is like a small town.  There are several dormitories and plenty of shops.  I found out I was assigned to the Carpenter shop.  It has been an interesting place to work, and I like all but one of my coworkers (there are only a handful now, at least until Mainbody arrives in the summer).  Working in the Carpenter shop is good because we can access to tool and scrap lumber to work on craft projects in our spare time, and I've been told it is where you want to work if you want to get out because they do a lot of work setting up field camps.  I look forward to that, and taking the Happy Camper course which clear you to work outside of the main stations.  Happy Camper consists of 24 hours of roughing it in the wilderness.  You have to make shelters in the snow and then sleep in them.  You also have to pee in bottles, since the USAP does not like people 'leaving things behind', even if they've collected later.  Odd, since we're driving about in gas and diesel trucks and all sorts of stuff probably blows out of McMurdo in a strong wind.

I think I have adjusted fairly well to living down here.  One of the only problems I had was a bad headache on Thursday or Friday supposedly from not getting enough water.  I'm better now, though.  Also, the day we flew down I started having allergies on the plane, and by the end of the night my I was sneezing constantly and had all sorts of sinus pressure.  Great way to spend you first night in McMurdo.  But by the next morning I was fine.  I still have minor sinus problems, probably from all the dust in the stations and the sawdust in the carpenter shop, but it isn't bad.

A photo of McMurdo in Condition 2, taken from the carpenter shop.  It was actually bad enough at one point you couldn't see much beyond that first yellow container on the edge of the hill.  The whole carpenter shop would occasionally shake in the strong wind which blew up the fresh powder from the day before.  Normal days with no restrictions are Condition 3.  When the weather gets bad and you might not be allowed outside and might have trouble seeing is Condition 2.  Condition 1 is so bad they don't let you outside.  If Condition 1 hits, you stay indoors until it clears.  Supposedly they only had one of those so far this year.  

Work in the carpenter shop (Carp Shop as it gets called here) isn't bad.  I tend to do a lot of cleanup chores on my own since they are simple and I like keeping tool chests organized.  Some of the other guys in there like that too, since they now tools fit in the drawers AND they don't have to dig through a pile of things stored in the wrong drawers just to get what they need.  I was originally supposed to work with welders, but apparently Raytheon is going through budget cuts from the National Science Foundation so projects were canceled.  I guess since I was already cleared to work they decided to keep me and just put me where they needed me.  Since I'm down here for Winfly/Springfly we do a lot to open the research camps.  One of the projects we've been working on is for the camp that studies the seals.  We have been repairing older boxes for containing seals for observation.  Yesterday I also helped stack on a pallet a plywood 'corral' for holding the seals.  I also shovel snow!  A lot of the snow is built up from over the winter and such, so you can't just use a snow shovel on it, normal shovels work better.  I enjoy shoveling snow so it isn't too bad and it is fun to dig around in some of the larger snow drifts outside buildings.

All in all it hasn't been too bad down here.  The worst I've had so far was when I was woken up just before midnight to the sound of my roommate drunkenly urinated on my shoes and wardrobe.  That has been worked out but I still put in for a roommate change since that is just not something anyone needs to experience.  

The cold hasn't been too much of a problem, just wear enough layers and you're fine.  My only problems with it are when the wind picks up.  That windchill is annoying, and can make need to cover your ears and nose.  Indoors are warm, and the workshop can be a little too warm with all the layers I wear up there.  Since I need to go in and out all the time I cant do much more than just take off my jacket.  Quick trips outside I can go without my coat for too long, and can sometimes walk from the 155 building which houses some dorms, the store, the computer labs, the cafeteria and other central offices to the 191 carpenter shop without gloves or a hat on.  Otherwise I guess I'm enjoying myself so far, and I may be eating just a little too much in the cafeteria which has so had pretty decent food.  

I'll start uploading some photos, but maybe not too many at once due to bandwidth sharing and restrictions, and I'll start posting more on here whenever I have time!

With a run skip around we go yes

So, I'm in New Zealand!  But before that:

We spent two in a have days in training/orientation.  This mainly consisted of OSHA laws and learning about the company and what to do/not do.  It was a little slow most of the time and while I managed to stay wake through everything, I don't quite remember it of all (you can either have me awake or remembering).  Lunch was usually provided by the company (the same thing every day) and then evenings were spent dining at the hotel.  I really liked the Staybridge Suites in Park Meadows.  They provide dinner Tuesday though Thursday with free beer and wine!  Altogether not that bad.

After the last few hours of training on Thursday we went outside to load into the busses.  They had one large charter bus to shuttle everyone to the airport.  Unfortunately, when they figured in shuttling 50 passengers they had forgotten to account for fifty people's worth of luggage for a six month stay in Antarctica.  The luggage compartment was full (it was amusing watching people walk around to the other side, expecting the compartment there to be magically empty, and as they started to cram things in there it would push things out on the other end.  Eventually everyone realized they would need to send the bus back for more, so the people with luggage already on the bus left, and we waited.  The company was nice enough to go for pizza, though their "Back in 20 minutes with pizza!" turned into "Back in an hour with pizza!"  Then it turned out to be Pizza Hut, and not even thin crust.  I guess there wasn't a Blackjack in range.  Still, you can't beat free lunch.  Once the shuttle came back (much, MUCH later) we piled in and rode over to Denver International Airport.  I got through security screening surprisingly quickly, considering what I had packed.  Even though we arrived there over an hour after the first group we were still several hours early for our flight.  Probably a good thing were scheduled to head to the airport at noon for a 5pm flight, huh?

The trip to Los Angeles on American Airlines was uneventful.  Free drinks and pay-for snacks, and the pilot didn't even notify us when we flew over the Grand Canyon.  We landed in LA, caught a small airport shuttle over to the international terminal and after a wait we loaded into the Quantas plane.  It has been a while since I've been on a plane of that size for that length of a trip, and I must say the plane was very nice.  The seats were okay, I would have liked more legroom or the ability to recline, but upgrading to business class apparently would have cost $4,000.  SO I resigned to my seat, watching Ironman and the latest Indiana Jones movies on the on-demand setup built into the seats.  Everyone had their own personal TV screen with a remove in the armrest.  We could queue up movies, television shows, CD playlists or even simple video games (I gave up on mini golf rather quickly).  After we had been sitting on the in the terminal for a while, it occurred to me we were still in LA.  Then the plane took off.  Every so often I would check the channel that showed the flight's progress across the ocean, but most of the time I watched a movie or slept.

Then we arrived in New Zealand!  At first look it isn't too different.  Maybe all airports look alike.  The first thing I did was say 'Hello' to every employee I past, listening to all their accents.  It was a full day before anyone actually said G'day to me!  I exchanged currency and got my New Zealand dollars, little bills with windows in them that felt distinctively different from the US tender.  More waiting.  I hung out with someone else flying with me, and watched a lost little girl run back and forth along the terminal on her own.  I reported that to a couple of men in uniform who said there were with the fire department or something like that at the airport.  Walking from the International Terminal to the Domestic terminal at Auckland airport I noticed how chilly it was.  Later on when I was back outside, it seemed to be getting colder even though the sun was coming up.  I watched some television at the gate, it was confusing whenever they would use a term I didn't understand, but it was interesting otherwise.

We loaded onto the third flight of the day.  About as large an aircraft as the AA Denver-LA fight, but with another row of seats.  Luckily the two rows behind me were empty and me and one of the grantees jumped back to claim window seats.  I got a lot of photos of the land.  I never realized that New Zealand had so many mountains.  I'll also say this: Quantas is the BEST airline I have ever been on.  The seats all still have radios built into them (something it seems like flights in the United States phased out about a decade ago).  The flight crew was very courteous, and the free portion of the meal for the flight (which was SHORTER than the Denver-LA flight) consisted of coffee, tea, juice, or water and a croissant filled with cheese, ham, and tomato, and an apple.  You could pay for soda, which I did no need.  I have started enjoying having tea everywhere.  

We landed in Christchurch.  Again, an airport is an airport.  We loaded our luggage into our respective hotel shuttles and took off (metaphorically, we're done with planes again until tomorrow).  I wished I was sitting in the front passenger seat in the shuttle van, if just to experience life in the from of a car from the left side without driving.  The road system seems a little more fast-paced over here.  Or maybe its just a busy part of town.  The houses along the roads have are not too different from houses in the States, but they do still have unique touches I can't quite place.  My hotel is the Windsor Bed & Breakfast in Christchurch near the main square in town.  It is a very nice little hotel with a very friendly hostess.  When I call it a little hotel, I mean how it appears from the outside.  It had never occurred to me that the building was so huge!  Very nice little place, even if I don't have a private bathroom.  They have a dining room for breakfast every morning and a lounge where I am sitting now.  They also have a somewhat long dachshund who watched me eat the spuds and mushrooms bought from the square when I got back later that day.  I walked through town the other day.  I had a conversation with a very friendly man who just started talking to me while I was waiting for a light.  I managed to pick up a copy of Spore with has so far worked without flaw on my computer (luck, since I won't be back in the States for six months).  It is interesting how many Asians I saw on the streets.  There are also quite a few Asian businesses and Japanese restaurants are definitely more common than in the States, as there was almost one on every block.  I plan to go back to the OK Gift Shop later on and buy a little wooden Kiwi bird.  I assume it to be a Japanese store.  They sell gifts and noticeable stock of Japanese items, and there was a group of Japanese girls playing with gloves and giggling.  The store also carries wool socks made from possum, it seems.  They have a slogan proclaiming something along the lines of 'Buy socks, save a kiwi'.  Apparently possums are an invasive species that eats kiwis (I assume the bird). 

The whole city center of Christchurch has a feel that kind of think Japan would be like.  It is a lot of little stores, many times there will be TWO of the same store within just a few blocks of each other.  Some of them are just little counters in the wall of the city block.  I feel back for having given myself a haircut before I left the states, as I passed the shop for Bob the Barber.  Glancing in as I passed, he appeared to be a young man around my age with a young pregnant woman with him who I assumed to be his girlfriend or wife.  Maybe I'll go in and ask them to shorten me up more or trim my sideburns up a bit.

At some point I'll visit the Aquarium and Kiwi House, a small building with a gift shop in front.

Suspiciously Auspicious

So I drove the 60 or so miles to Denver (technically Littleton) to check into the hotel the company has set me up at during training.  I talked to the nice girl at the desk, and apparently they did not have me listed for a reservation.  I'll chalk that one up to me being a recent addition (I got my amended offer in the last TWO WEEKS) and that I only got my itinerary around Thursday last week.  She kept saying it was alright, that she could set me up in a room anyways.

This room surprises me.  It has a nice bedroom, a HUGE bathroom, a living room and a complete kitchen (though no oven, yes a dishwasher).  The Staybridge Suites in Park Meadows is very nice indeed.  There is even a small store in the lobby where I can buy food to make my own dinner, like spaghetti.

Lets hope that my training days go better.  I still don't know what I am doing tomorrow, or even when.  My only clue is that the shuttle for the company leaves at 7:00am, and that my itinerary for Wednesday lists that training begins that day at 7:30am.  It would have been nice if they were more thorough in putting together their 2-day orientation schedule (which really should be 3 or 4 days long to match my itineraries).

And they had better have made my plane reservations.

Ah, I just noticed that the bathtub in my shower has a fold-down wooden seat.

Optimistic Indifference

So every so often I stop and think, and I wonder if this is really happening. Everything is shifted to the internet these days and things just become so impersonal. My hiring on, for example. The first two instances I had with Raytheon about work were through emails. My actual 'interview' was conducted over the phone. Then everything was handled through emails. Instructions emailed to me, forms downloaded off a webpage, more forms emailed, etc. Every so often I stop and wonder if I really was hired by a company to work at the end of the Earth. I feel as though I haven't talked with anyone, or met anyone, and that its all not really real, or that its an elaborate scam/joke, and that there isn't a job waiting and that come next week I'll get left behind with all the gear I've bought and packed and readied.
But then I stop and remember that I have spoken with people, gone to medical appointments, and even dropped off some paperwork in person at the company headquarters and that I've had actual physical interaction with the institution of Raytheon. That is how this sort of thing SHOULD be handled (unless of course you live in another state or something, then I can understand telecommunication). People should interview you in person, meet with you regularly or make phone calls or have you actually INSIDE their office at some point.

Oddly, I'm not really anxious about any of this. I'm not excited, I'm not nervous, I'm not afraid. It is something I want to do, without a doubt, but now that I've been accepted and I know I am going I've kind of just fallen back, relaxed and waiting. I saw 'Encounters at the End of the World' today with my mother. Afterwards she asked if seeing the movie made me more excited or nervous. I said that I would have been more motivated to go if I didn't already know I was going.
I think I've developed an odd, liesurely outlook on life lately, which is good. I don't get all upset at most things though my parents might disagree with that, but then again they've formed their opinions without all their facts.

I gladly look forward to getting down on the ice, to doing something completely new, something I have never done before, some place so far away from where I am used to. I want to do this, I will do this, I will do whatever it takes to get this done and stick through it, but at the same time I feel like I am just sitting back and enjoying the ride, letting what happens happen and looking at life with a weird sense of optimistic indifference.

Waiting Game

Okay! The purpose of this blog is to chronicle my misadventures in the land of the ice, penguins, Elder Things and outposts of the Ancients. Next week I deploy to Antarctica until roughly February (I do not yet have my exact dates). I have no intention of keeping a day-to-day journal of events, but I will try to post often enough with anything of interest that has happened.
Right now I am just waiting. Waiting for for September the 2nd. Waiting to confirm my travel itinerary.
For those of you that don't know, I will be going to work As a General Assistant at McMurdo Station in Antarctica for Raytheon Polar Services Company. I have been trying since February 2006 to get in and finally I'll get to go. I don't know yet if this will be something I will enjoy, but I do know that this will definitely be interesting. Originally I was supposed to deploy early October. Then a couple months ago they sent out an email asking who wanted to deploy early to help out with Springfly, which helps set up the polar stations in the antarctic. Well, I didn't get in with the first group of acceptees (I just invented that word, back off!), but apparently my name was on the top of the list of standbys, so with two weeks notice I accepted the offer. My On-Ice date is set for September 8th with an orientation date of September 2nd. I will be flying down through New Zealand where I will wait for a few days until weather is clear enough for travel. New Zealand will be my first time outside of the United States, though apparently I have been to Guam back before I can remember and that technically counts and U.S. soil. But as I cannot remember it, it does not count!
As a General Assistant I assume I will be going the general labor down there on the ice. I have been told multiple times that there WILL be snow shoveling, which I assume to be a task entrusted to only their most capable and intelligent employees. I do not know for certain yet what I will be doing down there. I was initially interviewed to work on some kind of fuels pipeline, though I have heard that because of funding cuts that job may not be there this season. However, since I was among the first to be fully PQed (Physically Qualified) for deployment they would keep me on anyways and they'll just have me do something else. Let someone else be standby.
So I sit here prepared, waiting, listening to Afuro Gunso while typing this up. I have a nice, new camera for taking pictures which I'll share with all of you once I start getting this voyage underway.