Ships and Goodbyes

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Since I have gotten many requests for what it's "really" like here in town and I'm a little too lazy (and I'll admit it, bashful) to go around taking photos of all the normal and abmnormal stuff, I'll instead reference my friend Kevin's blog (he's a Red Sox fan, but we've agreed to disagree that the Yankees are the greatest baseball team ever) who has done a much better (and funnier) version of what I would do: http://riceonice.blogspot.com/2008/02/welcome-to-mcmurdo.html. His next blog posting, Funny Signs Around Town, http://riceonice.blogspot.com/2008/01/funny-signs-around-town.html, is equally amusing.

On to my own writing... I am currently out of work for a few days due to a nasty bout of the "crud." It's almost mandatory to get sick with the crud or the flu at least once during the season so I guess I'm just taking my turn. I picked a good week, too, because the station has gone into overdrive for the annual vessel arrival this week. And, as predicted, the weather has quickly changed, Big Red parkas have come out en-mass, snowflakes are once again falling, and rosy cheeks are the tell-tale sign of those who work countless hours outside. In the past few weeks, the Swedish ice breaker Oden has come and carved a shipping channel through the ice to McMurdo's floating ice pier. Subsequently, the fuel ship came and unloaded 8 million gallons of fuel (enough for McMurdo and the South Pole stations for the entire next year) and the Nathaniel B. Palmer research vessel docked to unload scientists and their experiments and refuel for its next voyage. I was fortunate enough to take a tour of this state-of-the-art floating laboratory and it was pretty neat to check out firsthand. When you live on an island completely surrounded by frozen ice, the sight of open water... and vessels making their way towards you through it... is extremely exciting and everyone made frequent trips to Hut Point to take in the sights of the boats. As our only tangible contact with the outside world (besides the Air Force cargo planes), each boat's arrival is thrilling and creates a buzz about town as we gawk at the new arrivals’ different cold weather gear and watch them awkwardly navigate our galley and Highway 1, as the main hallway thoroughfare is called in Building 155 (where I also happen to live).
First we had Thanksgiving, then Christmas, and finally New Years. Now, we have come upon the last big event- vessel offload! In preparation, our population has swelled to over our maximum capacity of 1,100. McMurdo actually has around 1,300 beds, but the cap is regulated by the amount of water we can produce and the number of people the galley can feed. We exceeded our capacity because of the annual arrival of the NAVCHAPS (Navy Cargo Handlers and Pier Support) and Kiwi (New Zealand) Army cargo handlers who do most of the work for unloading the vessel. Although I hate to say anything bad about others who I barely know, the NAVCHAPS reputation precedes them and I have definitely followed the advice of Ice veterans to begin locking my doors and staying out of their way. It's amazing what an annoying splash a few hundred extra "outsiders" have made on our tiny town... now I know why the winter-overs get so flustered when all the summer folk descend on McMurdo each October... we get so set in our ways and suddenly there's a line to get bread, your usual table in the galley is overrun by strangers, and the computers are all crowded all the time!

It’s been really interesting to overhear the NAVCHAPS conversations. As I’ve gathered, they come in for a couple weeks (after everyone here has already made their friends and is ready to go home) they do their job, and leave. Unlike us, they didn't choose to come here and can’t quite grasp why we are all here. I overheard a few gossiping in the laundry room the other evening about how upset that they weren’t able to rent skis (Gear Issue closed last week for inventory), or snowmobiles (never a recreational option… for good reason) and the only thing here to do is work out and walk around. Walk around?!? We have some of the most incredible scenery to hike around and besides, there are a gazzilion things to do every night that I can never make up my mind- bowling, library, chill with friends, bike around town, practice in the band room (well, not me but others), play frisbee-golf (again, not me), soak up the moisture in the greenhouse, or catch one of the science lectures and travelogues about a far-away place. I busted a few for smoking in our lounge while hanging out the window… it’s sickly like the college experience I avoided at all costs. It all has reminded me how down-to-earth and interested-in-everything most of the people who actually choose to come here are, whether they be janitors, beakers (researchers), carpenters, dining attendants (DAs), electricians, recreation coordinators, safety monitors, heavy machinery operators, or general assistants (GAs). People down here are a rare breed- no matter what their “job” in Antarctica, they all have a story to tell of how they got here and where they’re traveling next- and I’ve come to treasure many of the friendships I’ve developed over the last three and a half months. As someone said the other day, “when you shake a can of screws, the loose nuts fall to the bottom.” Oh so true.

Vessel offload is the busiest time of year for a lot of people in town, especially Supply and Fleet Ops (heavy equipment operators) who must unload 11 million pounds of stuff, receive it, and then reload all of the shipping containers back on the boat full of retroed materials, garbage, recycling, and our dehydrated poo. Lots of people who normally only work nine hours a day are expected to work twelve hour days and many switch to night shift so the whole operation can run 24/7. It's almost like NYC, except people are still overly friendly, the streets don't smell like urine, and they close the bars (so people will drink more in their rooms and wake up the day sleepers?) which would never happen in NYC, even though everyone thought it might after they banned smoking. It's tough to relax during vessel offload but having the crud has helped me block out most of the chaos and sleep sleep sleep.

On top of this, everyone is getting ready to redeploy. Some people have been here since Winfly (August) and are about to hit the 6-month mark. The winterovers are beginning to arrive and take over their jobs. Many of them come back year after year and are jumping back into their old routines, while others are newbies and are weighing the decision to spend the next eight months here, completely cut off from the outside world. Some people I’ve summered with have signed winter contracts, thereby committing themselves to a full year on the Ice. I tip my hats to them, but there are too many places in this world for me to explore, too many causes for me to tackle, and too many people I miss like crazy back home!
It’s been pretty hard to say goodbye to friend after friend. I've chosen to stay as long as possible because I arrived fairly late in the season, so I still have two weeks left to enjoy my life here. Everyone has been discussing travel plans ("How many days will you spend on the South Island of New Zealand?" "Want to rent a car and drive to Ayers Rock in Australia together?") and it's amazing how abstract all the plans to camp, surf, climb and trek (hiking in Kiwi terms) seem while we're still living in the land of snow and ice. As much as I can't wait for darkness, stars, fruits and veggies, humidity, children and all the other stuff that I've been missing down here, it's going to be difficult to say goodbye to this incredible continent and give up being fed, clothed, sheltered and entertained for free in Antarctica for the expensive world of New Zealand.

Thank you so much for all the goodies you have mailed me so far but, alas, I have all I need and the post office here will soon be closed for the winter… besides, I have only 2 more weeks here and then it’s on to New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii for more adventures!

I will be catching up and posting more updates about my adventures over the past few weeks very soon… I promise!

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