Almost Ice Bound!

     Hello Everyone!  Well I'm not quite sure where to start.  This is my first time ever "blogging" so bare with me :)  As everyone already knows, I'm going to be living in Antarctica for 4 months as a shuttle bus driver.  Yes, you heard me right.. a shuttle bus driver :) And I couldn't be more excited about this.  From what I've heard is that I have the best FNG (f-$%#*&@ New Guy as people on the ice would call it) job. I guess I should explain this a bit more.  I will be staying at McMurdo Station and working for Raytheon Polar Services.  I was contacted about a week before I actually left Grand Rapids telling me that I was going.  They told me basically I had a week to get ready.  Talk about a borderline panic attack!  So much to do, with so little time.  Surprisingly, I was packed and ready to go on time. Anyways, being employed through RPS, they foot the bill on all my flights, accomodation, and food.  I must say, this is by far the best way to travel!  So they flew me from Grand Rapids, to Chicago, and finally to Denver where I had 1 1/2 days of orientation.  While waiting for my shuttle bus to the Red Lion Hotel, I immediately met 2 others who would be joining me on the Ice.  Not two minutes later, did we pick up another Ice goer.  How great is this?!  I was instantly given friends, which definitely made a lot of the nerves disappear. Turns out most of the people I have met are exactly like me when it comes to traveling.  One guy, my age maybe a year younger, pretty much lived my exact same story.  Traveled to Oz, went up to Asia, going to the Ice, also grew up for the most part in Michigan, ect. ect.  Wierd!  Anyways, after arriving to the hotel we all made dinner plans together and met 2 firefighters who were going down to the Ice as well.  Once again, more friends!  And maybe I should clarify this.  The "Ice" is a nickname for Antarctica. 

Orientation!
Orientation, like for any other job, was long and overwhelming with information.  So I'll keep this part short and simple.  Forty six of us, all going to somewhere on the ice: Mcmurdo, the Pole (South Pole), Palmer, on a vessel, or going out to field Camps, were shuttled to RPS headquarters promptly at 7:15.  It was quick moving after arrival; fix any paperwork, pick up your issued per diem until we leave for the ice ($210 just for food!  Awesome!), then off to get a quick, semi painless flu shot. The first seminar was all about the company. The second was about finance and filling out our expense/reimbursement forms (personally my favorite because I would have been 150 % lost without their help). The third was not actually a seminar, but more or less we were put into a computer lab, had to read 30 pages on computer security, then take a test.  Next came free pizza and mingling.  Also, could count for my favorite part as well.  Moving on. After lunch and mingling we had an HR seminar.  And finally was the travel seminar.  This was all about what to expect on our travel from Denver to Christchurch.  This was pretty interesting as well.  I found out that traveling through RPS definitely has it's perks!  I was issued a 1 year visa in New Zealand for travel after and I can reroute my ticket home (ie. NZ --> Hawaii-->Dallas--> New York--> then home).  As long as it is approved by RPS and enroute home, it should be no problem.  And if not they will reimburce the amount for the flight and I can go anywhere.  I'm thinking I definitely need to take advantage of this :) Oh... and they put us up in some nice hotels!  Day 2 of orientation was only a 1/2 a day, but felt longer than Day 1.  Day 2 consisted of a 1 hour presentation on environmental saftey and a 3 hour presentation of work saftey. I had to force myself to stay awake for that one. 

At noon were were picked up and transfered to the airport.  I was on the first flight out of 3 to L.A, leaving me with a 5 hour layover when I got there.  The layover wasn't too bad, but the flight, on the other hand, was a different story.  12.5 hours, Seat 35F, middle section, middle seat, right in front of the bathrooms so I knew everytime a toilet was flushed (when I was awake) was a bit tragic.  Now, I've been on long flights before, but this one was my first experience in the middle section and middle seat of the plane.  I hope to never have to experience that again.  My legs went numb, I definitely felt a little claustraphobic, and not to mention its a bit wierd to have to tap the fellow next to you, waking him from a deep slumber, to let you out because you have to go to the bathroom.  I actually ended up sleeping with one leg up on the tray table for a bit to make it a bit more comfortable.  The only good part of this whole flight was sitting next a very good looking English bloke name Tom with a "to die for" accent.  After arriving in Aukland, going through dreadful customs and waiting 3 hours we boarded the plane to Christchurch.  This flight was much more enjoyable being only 2 hours long AND I had an aisle seat! 

At Christchurch we were picked up by more shuttles and dispersed amongst 4 different hotels.  I am staying at the Hotel So.  Now, although the rooms are quite small, this is quite possibly THE coolest hotel I've ever stayed at!  And by that I mean the rooms are sooo sweet!  (The picture doesn't do it justice) First of all, it looks like Ikea threw up in the room and I love Ikea. The first thing I saw when I entered the room was a blue light under the bed.  I can choose from different color lights to light my bathroom with.  It took me a good 2 minutes to decide whether I wanted to shower in orange, red, blue, green, or purple.  I opted with green, purple for the 2nd, and maybe red for tonight.  But thats not all!  The alarm clock is a "natural awakener".  Meaning that 10 minutes before your alarm is set to go off the light above your bed slowly turns on.  When your alarm is actually set to go off your t.v turns on playing a good morning song, Regge themed.  This one went something like this: Its time to rise its time to rise.  Get up and go out.  You have the power to climb mountains.  Get up and go out.  Its time to rise... now imagine that to a Regge Beat.. so cool!  Definitely beats my singing alarm at home!



notice the blue light... and the bathroom where that glass sliding door is.. soo cool!



The rest of the night was ours to explore.  Dinner at a turkish kebab shop (I've been waiting to eat one of those since I left Australia!)  Then a bunch of us sort of did a little bar hopping.  I lasted until about 10 p.m before my body was screaming "Swan Dive!"  For those of you who don't know me "Swan Dive" means I'm so tired that it is 100 % neccesary that I jump into bed.  I ended up sleeping, a very much needed, full 12 hours!



Fully geared up!



And that brings us to today, Sunday the 17th.  Like I said, I slept a full 12 hours, so today I rolled out of bed at 11.  One hour to get some breakfast before I had to be on the shuttle to go back to the Antarctica Center area? near the airport (I'm not sure what that area is called where we went), where we were issued our ECW gear.  ECW meaning Extreme Cold Weather.  What you are issued depends on your job.  For example, people going to the Pole, a field camp, or constantly working outside recieve the nice blue boots, where the rest of us get the very flattering, heavy, white bunny boots.  My gear consisted of: one parka (Big Red), one pair of bibs, one snow goggles, one balaclava, one hat, 2 pairs of leather work gloves, 2 pairs of wool socks, 2 pairs of long underwear, one pair of fleece pants, one fleece pullover, one fleece wind shield zip up, and one pair of bunny boots!

Again, after issued our gear, we were given the rest of the day to explore.  Thai food for lunch, with a bit of walking around, followed by a Diwali festival in Victoria Park.  Now, if you didn't know, Christchurch recently went through an earthquake.  Apparently, the night before I got here, there was an aftershock of 4.6.  I, personally, am hoping there will be one more teensy weensy after shock, just so I can say I've been in an earthquake.  Just as long as no more damage is done.  Its wierd walking around town and seeing cracks down buildings or, better yet, in the ground.  Apparently this earthquake was worse than Chile and Haiti, but since the building are built so well you can't tell.  But, some buildings did get hit quite hard.  Some of the old brick ones have whole walls missing from them and you can see inside.  I would post pictures but technology hates me and for some reason the blog won't let me upload anymore. 

On that note I need to head back to the hotel and sort my stuff out.  The shuttle bus will be picking us up promptly at 5:15 a.m (I think I will have to use a little something more than the natural awakening alarm for this one) and bringing us to the airport where we will be boarding a C17 and flying to the ICE! And so, tomorrow morning, the REAL adventure begins :)

Much Love!