Penguins, Seals, and Skuas... Oh My!

Hey everyone!  I know, I know.... You have all been waiting patiently with anticipation for this next blog post.  So sorry to keep you hanging for the past 2 weeks!  There has just been so much going on, with so little time.  I actually feel like I won't get any proper sleep until I get back to New Zealand.  Or better yet, maybe until I actually get to swan dive in my own bed, own pillow, and minus 2 obnoxious snorers (nothing against them...bless their hearts).  But enough of that.  I'm definitely getting ahead of myself. Soooo.... where to start?

I'm sure you all have been wondering about the wildlife situation down here at Mactown.  I bet you think I'm constantly being chased by giant, leech looking seals and playing patty-cake with the penguins.  Well, sorry to disappoint, but it is quite the opposite.  So far I have seen 3 penguins from a distance.  And when I say "distance", I mean they looked like black toothpicks popping out of the ice - they were so far away.  They have, however, been spotted next to the galley out at the Ice Runway town.  I just was never there to see them.  There have been quite a few seals lounging around on the ice.  What they do is somehow break through the ice and just sunbathe.  But, nothing so grand to take a photo of.  Well, scratch that, there was one wicked photo opportunity the other day of a seal floppin its way along on the Ice Runway ramp, that I had to drive around, but of course my camera broke the day before.  Just my luck. I would say the closest encounter I've had so far with any wildlife is with the Skua Bird.  You might have heard of the skua bird?  If not, consider yourself lucky.  I had the unfortunate opportunity of meeting the skua bird on a one on one basis.  See, if I had to guess, I would say that skua birds are the result of a seagull and vulture mating.  They are very ugly birds and look like seagulls on steroids.  And, worst of all, they are not afraid of humans... AT ALL!  What happened was I was minding my own business, leaving the galley to walk back to work, and I had a plate of cookies to bring to the night crew.  (Wednesday is cookie day and its a real drag if you miss it, so I volunteered to bring the night crew some).  Anyways, I walked outside, headed up the hill, and BAM!  A skua bird sneak attacked me from behind, hitting me right in the dome.  I scurried back inside building 155 to get control of the situation and to wrap my scarf around the plate.  Putting my brave face on I walked back outside to find another girl trying to pick up her dropped plate and scattered food off the ground and the same skua trying to snatch whatever he/she could grab.  Poor girl definitely got it worse than I did.  And of course any passing bystander feels obliged to laugh since it's very likely they have been there a time or two once before.  Needless to say.... Lesson learned!

Hmmm... So maybe ya'll are wondering what has been occupying my time so much, besides the 54 hour work weeks, that I just have not had the time to blog.  I think since the last time I've sat down to do this there have been a few parties and/or events that you just don't miss.  Along with that, my free time is consumed with hiking, gerbil gym, soiree practice (the shuttle ladies are dancing in the annual Women's Soiree in December), or searching for a quiet place of solitude to have at least an hour to myself (so much easier said than done), before making the attempt of swan diving into my bed. 

One party I attended was the Shuttles Party in Hut 10.  Hut 10 is pretty awesome.  It's like a mini house that you can rent for the night.  It has a few bedrooms, kitchen, bathrooms, and a living room.  My supervisor rented it out one night for a "shuttles" party.  This party consisted of homemade pizza, homemade ice cream, and homemade lemon lime off brand kool-aid (kool-aid was courtesy of moi)  Oh, and did I mention some intense Catch Phrase.  Definitely can't have a party without Catch Phrase. 

But, the party that kicks off the season for parties was the Halloween party.  This Halloween party was probably one of the best Halloween parties I've ever been too.  First of all, its amazing how creative people are down here.  Unless you thought ahead of time and brought/sent down a costume, you had very little resources to work off of.  Most people made their costumes in the craft room out of various things that you would never think to make a costume out of.  Or the other option was going to skua or gear issue.  Skua (named after the bird) is like Mactown's own little, free Goodwill.  In each dorm their is a skua cubby

Last weekend was Phatass Bluegrass night at Gallaghers (1 of 2 bars here).  This night was probably the most fun I've had so far.  Phatass Bluegrass is a band that was put together here.  It was straight bluegrass all night with lots and lots of dancing.  My friend Will taught me how to 2 step and after that I don't think any of us left the dance floor for the rest of night.  He and his friends are from Canada, down here working for Kenn Boreck Air.  And, wow--who would've thought?  Those Canadians sure know how 2 step.

What else... Oh yes. I conquered another hike.  Well, most of it at least.  This one was on the other side of base called Hut Point Ridge Loop.  Although, I didn't really make it all the way around the loop because at one point when I was close to the end, I feared I was in Arrival Heights Territory.  See, the trail walks along the edge of Arrival Heights. Well, that is what I know from the route mapped out on paper, but I couldn't see the red trail markers anywhere so I had no idea whether I was in it or not.  Arrival Heights is an off limits area of the base where they do some radio wave testing?  Something of the sort anyhoo.   Because of this there is a certain area that you can't go in and if you do you will be fined a very big chunk of money.  Therefore, you can understand my reason for panic forcing me to turn around.  Regardless, the majority of the hike that I completed was pretty good.  A bit steep at points, but worth it. 

One thing that's pretty cool down here is the obtube.  The obtube is a very claustrophobic tube that was put in to view whats under the ice.  You climb down this tube like, what do I know, 10-12 feet under the ice, into a tiny chamber of windows.  In this chamber you can look up at the ice, all around at the wildlife, and down to the ocean floor.  You can't really see the ocean floor from what I remember, but you can see pretty far down.   When I was there, there wasn't really much to look at.  There was a lot of little white fish and that's about it.  But, it was pretty cool to see all the ice crystals and what not.  Some people have been really lucky to see seals swimming around.  Once again, I have yet to be that lucky to see cool stuff like that.

Maybe you would like to know a little bit about McMurdo station?  The best way for me to describe McMurdo is that it is like living in a very industrialized setting (that is a simile) or mining town.  Not that I've ever lived in a mining town, but it is what I would imagine living in a mining town would be like.  It is very dirty/muddy and there are loads of hills since we are living on a little mountain of volcanic rock. The buildings are very dull and quite the opposite of anything modern.  The weather here has been pretty awesome.  I expected that by living on the harshest continent in the world would mean I would be constantly freezing, but that's not the case at all.  I find myself wearing thermals, jeans, a fleece with hiking boots and gloves.  If I'm going to be walking outside I will throw on the Northface.  Yesterday it was 28 degrees, sunny with no wind.  I actually saw people walking around in shorts and lounging outside in chairs trying to get a.......tan?  I don't know.  Maybe they were just enjoying the weather, but regardless you would have thought it was 70 degrees down here by the reactions of certain people.

Oh! One major thing I forgot about was my Happy Camper experience.  Finding out I was going to happy camper was a bit of a shock to me and I can't say I was extremely "happy" about going from what I had heard about it.  I find out the afternoon before that I was going with my co-worker Blake.  Happy Camper, like I've stated in a previous blog, is a 1 1/2 day survival training just off the base.  We started at 8:15 a.m in a classroom talking about our goals of the training and weather injuries.  Then we were picked up in a Delta (the big red vehicles) and dropped off at the training site.  From there we went into a make-shift classroom for lunch and a briefing.  After that we had stove training.  The stoves we were trained on were little camping stoves that could use multiple types of fuels.  Once that was completed we gathered up our sleeping gear, which was provided, tents, shovels, axes, saws, stoves, and our ECW gear and headed to the "campsite".  There we were taught how to put up the tents by digging holes, anchoring them in, and tying them down with some crazy type of knot, which turns out I'm really good at doing.  Once that was complete, we then moved onto building our snow wind wall.  By using our saws and shovel we were able to cut blocks of snow out of the ground and then stack them into a wall.  Of course you want to build your wall in between your tents and the direction of the wind flow to block the wind.  At this point the best description of our "camp" is that it looked like an Indian village in the middle of nowhere in the snow.  We were then taught, in our dug out make-shift kitchen, how to use the stoves and snow to make water.  We ended up having to melt snow for a good 6 or more hours to make enough water to eat our dehydrated meals (YUM! in the most sarcastic tone you can imagine me saying), to drink, and fill up hot water bottles to sleep with. During this time, the instructors left and most people who were not designated or taking their turn monitoring the "kitchen" were building their trenches.  The trench, which very much resembled a grave, was an optional place beside the tents, that you could sleep in if you wanted to take the 2 + hours time to dig it out.  As tempting as digging my own grave sounded, I opted for the tent for the simple reason that in order to keep warm at night and trap the heat you had to come up with some type of "ceiling" to put over the trench (the majority is made out of thick blocks of snow).  Now I don't know about you but the thought of sleeping in a deep trench (most were at least 5 ft deep), covered with thick snow blocks, borderline gave me a panic attack thinking that at any moment in my sleep it could collapse and I would be smothered to death by snow, therefore justifying my decision to sleep in a tent.  I can't say that it was much better though.  My sleeping bag was made to fit the size of a 5 year old child causing me to be stuffed in there sleeping like a mummy with my hands crossed over my chest (another simile), with 2 hot water bottles stuffed in socks to make sure I would not freeze to death, causing me to repeat over and over in my head to "just breathe, just breathe" as a way for me to forget that I couldn't move.  Therefore, helping to move along the sleep process .  At 3a.m. I awoke in a panic not being able to move, sweating like no other, ditching the the water bottles, unzipping the sleeping bag and ditching the thick down mittens I was wearing.  After that, with the help of my Qantas eye mask (24 hour sunlight...remember?) I slept like a baby and woke up to people shaking our tent.  When Blake and I finally got up and out of the tent to pack up, we realized that we had slept through the take down of both tents on either side of us.  I'm still not sure how that happened.  Once camp was down the instructors picked us up, we put away all the gear and returned to the "classroom" for radio training and learning about all the things that come in a survival pack on a plane.  A little fun fact:  the survival kits provide you with a fictional book to read, just in case you get bored while stranded in the middle of nowhere in Antarctica.  Once that was done we slipped into two groups to practice what you would do in two different scenarios; an airplane crash and finding someone who was lost in a white out on the way to the out house.  Both of which were quite interesting.  To emphasize the "white out" conditions we had to put buckets over our heads in order to not see.  And finally at 2 o'clock the delta came to pick us up.  I must say that was the "happiest" part about happy camper :)  Now don't get me wrong, happy camper was a great experience and I did have a semi-good time.  On top of that I did learn a lot.  If by chance I get stranded in a snow storm in Michigan I now know how to make a wind wall and to make shelter (assuming that in the aforementioned snow storm I "happen" to have a shovel, ax, saw, and stove).  Happy Camper is something that I prefer to only experience once :)

My friends, dinner time has arrived and I prefer not to miss it :)  You should know that I truly am loving life down here on the ice.  I've made some good friends and am constantly meeting new, fascinating people everyday, and learning the most interesting and random things.  I've definitely had to do some adjusting to the lack of privacy and alone time, but it is worth it.  I find myself running off to the local library for a bit of peace and quiet from time to time :)  I hope this blog reaches everyone doing well... Much Love!

P.S so sorry for not posting any pictures this time.  Unfortunately, my camera R.I.P-ed at happy camper and I have no way of uploading the pictures at the moment.  No worries though, a new camera is on the way.  And if you are interested I do have an album started on my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/album.php?aid=2501546&id=21704017

Life as a Fingy

Hmmm.. Wow!  Where do I begin??  So much has happened in the last week.  Between constantly meeting new people, retaining enough information to fill a book the size of a dictionary, and trying to keep my sanity while living in transition, I am mentally exhausted.  Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have it any other way.  Well, that's a lie... I take that back.  I would definitely change my living situation.  Maybe put myself in a quiet, peaceful room, with my own wardrobe right from the get-go.  As of now I am living in transition.  Meaning, McMurdo was too overpopulated when I arrived so I got thrown into a room, stuffed like sardines, with five other people, living out of my suitcase at the end of my bed.  Oh and did I mention I'm on the top bunk of the only bunk bed in the room?  How did I get so lucky you ask?  A few select complained that they were "too old" to climb up.  Mind you these "few select" are not any older than 30.  Joy.  In the meantime I am all over the housing department to get me out so I can have a wardrobe.  Side note:  Since this is my blog and it takes me quite some time to write in it, it has now become my journal.  And since I do not have the patience to rewrite all of this in my journal, this has now become it. Therefore, bear with me in my venting :)  Thank You :) 

I can tell you, one place that has helped me hang on to that small piece of sanity I have left is the gerbile gym.  Oh the gerbile gym... I love the gerbile gym.  The gerbile gym is a small gym filled with treadmills, bikes, elipticals, and small weights.  Very small and has the potential to build up quite the sweaty stench.  Spin class and the treadmill have become my new best friends.  Because, you see, when you are working out you have no one there.  It's the only alone time I get.  I savor every minute of that.  Along with that there are many, many recreational activities to participate in to keep me up and moving, out and about.  Just to name a few:

P90X abs
Belly Dance Lessons!!!!
Kung fu Karate lessons... something of the sort
Stitch and Bitch
Craft shows
Craft room
Boot Camp
Bible Study
AA
Tours of the important and/or restricted buldings/areas
about 8 or 9 local hikes varying from 3-9 miles up and down old volcanic hills
Cross country skiing
With an invite from the kiwis--snowboarding
American Night at Scott Base
Off station trips with the rec department
Yoga

Like I said "to name a few."  Oh and lets not forget all the parties the different departments host.  So, with all that and 54 hours of work a week I am pretty well occupied :)  And since I work 12 hour shifts I get 2 days off a week (instead of 1 like most) to enjoy all these recreational activities.  I'm pretty sure I have more of a social life here than I do at home.. Who would of thought!?

" Shuttle Kristy, Shuttle Opps" 
"Go ahead Shuttle Opps" 
"What's your 20?"
"Just arriving to the Ice Runway."
"Copy"

Ahhh (relaxing sigh).  The life of a shuttle driver.  Not a bad gig if you ask me.  So, basically, this whole last week has been training, training, and more training.  There seriously is sooo much to learn as far as safety and procedure goes.  Let me tell you an example of what a normal day would be like as a shuttle driver.

• Arrive to work between 5:30 and 7:30 a.m (depending on when I am scheduled to come in)
• First thing in the morning all the vehicles need to be checked.  Meaning we have to check the oil, hydrolic fluid, and transmission fluid? (could be wrong on that one... this part of my day is the most overwhelming since I've never done any of this before at home).  We also have to check all the tires, check for any leaks, and check all the lights.
• During the day, we usually switch up the tasks so the days are not so repetative.  I could start 3 hours on dispatch, then 3 hours on town taxi, 3 hours as a shuttle driver to and from the Ice Runway, 1 hour picking up happy camper, and 1 hour cleaning. 

What is happy camper you ask?  Happy Camper is a boondoggle, something our supervisor will decide if we can participate in or not.  It is about a 1/2 hour away from base.  And when I say 1/2 hour that is with the slow moving vehicles on the Ice.. Definitely not a 1/2 hour away compared to normal standards.  It's just down from Scott Base.  Basically, a group with 3 instructors get dropped off and picked up the next afternoon.  The instructors teach us survival skills such as how to make a shelter.  They actually sleep in that shelter at night.  As far as what else we learn I'm not quite sure, since I have yet to attend.  It sounds fun yet dreadfully cold at the same time.  It will be very interesting when I go.

Moving on.  I told you that departments tend to throw parties.  Well, I attended my first one the other night.  ATO (don't ask me what that stands for yet--- remember I'm still in the learning process) hosted a party/meet and greet.  Now, I can tell you that Shuttles is a part of ATO along with cargo and some of the airfield people.  All I know is that all of us are in building 140.  The food served was the best I've had since I left home when Kel and I made homemade tomato basil soup.  They flew in two grills, and set it up in the back of a cargo van where they cooked pork, chicken and steak.  And for dessert..... cookie dough chunks.  Yep, you heard me right.... cookie dough chunks.  Regardless, the chunks were good.  This party also consisted of free beer and wine.  But if you don't like speights dark, speights ale, or tui (an Indian beer) you were SOL.  So, the nice dinner party turned into a rockin dance party.  It was pretty cool though.  I was able to have proper conversations with my co-workers and after the party some of us went to Gallagher''s.  There I ended up meeting a few of my friends AND got conned into singing solo karaoke.  Yes.. I shared with Antarctica my Award-winning-American- Idol-worthy voice by singing Band of Gold by Freda Payne.  My 7th grade choir teacher (who by the way, strongly advised I lip sync at the 7th grade choir festival) would be so proud.  Lucky for me I had Sunday off so I was able to sleep in.

Now, let me tell you about the infamous "Sunday Brunch".  Sunday Brunch is not something one voluntarily misses.  They really bust out the big guns for this one.  Fresh Fruit Galore.. I'm talking watermelon, muskmelon, pineapple, grapes, apples, bananas.  But remember "don't be a banana hog".  It's funny to see everyones plates just overflowing with fruit.  You don't realize how much you miss "freshies," as people call it down on the ice, until its controlled by a higher power and you only get it when they give the go ahead.  Same goes with salad. I don't eat them all that often at home, but when those 2 salad bowls (the size of giant tires) are filled to the top with that mouth watering green I just dive right in!  Back to brunch...  Along with the freshies, they also make doughnuts, danishes, Belgium waffles cooked in front of you, chocolate chip pancakes, eggs and omelette's of your choice (that's every day of the week), and some extremely high calorie casseroles.  Like I said, Sunday Brunch is not something you miss!

Cape Evans Trip
The Cape Evans trip is one that the rec department puts together.  It's something that you wait in a massive, long line and hope that you will make it to the front to sign your name on a sheet of paper before it fills.  But, I got lucky. I didn't have to wait in the massive, long line.  My supervisor was training a group on how to lead future trips to Cape Evans so it was mandatory that the whole shuttle crew came along.  I know what you are thinking.  How horrible that my supervisor would make a random trip out into beautiful, pure, fresh, blue Antarctica mandatory.  We took all 3 Deltas out on the 1 1/2 hour journey to Cape Evans.  Once we arrived one Delta, the training Delta, took off to the Iceberg while we explored Scott's Hut.  Now Scott's Hut was made by a New Zealand crew trying to make it to the South Pole in 1910 or 1911.  When they made it the South Pole they realized that the Norwegians had beat them to it.  Disappointed yet ecstatic that they accomplished what they had come to do they started to head back to their hut, some 620 miles North.  Along the way they hit some bad weather one or some died.  The leader, Scott, ended up dying in his hut before returning to New Zealand.  And I think a few others died there as well.  I don't really have the whole story straight.  Sorry.  Anyways, they knew that they were dying so they kept their journals next to them along with letters to their loved ones for someone to find.  The hut was kept as it was.  So, basically when you enter the hut you are walking through pure history.  It was fascinating.  After the hut we switched and went to the iceberg.  The iceberg is frozen in permanent ice.  It looked like something straight out of heaven.  All of that frozen water, clean and untouched.  It was like paradise blue and shimmered in the sun like it had tiny diamonds all over it.  It honestly was so sweet to stand next to something so huge and old!  Literally, once in a lifetime opportunity (unless I come back next year as a shuttle driver and the trip is mandatory again... haha).  Hopefully I will get lucky and get to go on some more fascinating trips. 

Well friends, family, and readers I do not know, I have now been working on this blog entry for quite some time and since I missed breakfast, I don't want to miss lunch.. Until next time!



Scott's Hut at Cape Evans




Memorial Cross




Notice the Iceberg in the background




Shuttles Crew posing on one of the Deltas





Unknown Antarctica.. We were about 10 miles from the ocean




View from building 140 (where I work) at about 11:40 at night

 Much Love!

P.S "Fingy" means f@#%-ing New Guy

You have gotta see this place!



Well hello again!  Now, don't get too comfortable with a daily



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Briefing before jumping on the bus

blog.. My days are about to get really hectic! :)  But, I just couldn't contain myself.  I had to share, as soon as possible, what it was like to step foot on the bottom of the planet!  So, I guess where I left off was packing and swan diving.  Not sure how I pulled it off but I woke up to the natural alarm at 4:40 a.m.  Thank goodness I did because I accidently set my other alarm for p.m and not a.m.  So many kudos to the coolest alarm ever!  Right on time I walked into the lobby at 5 a.m only to find out the shuttle was delayed and wouldn't be picking us up until 5:45.  Bugga!  Oh well.  After arrival at the CDC (clothing distribution center next to the airport) we quickly put on our gear.  Well, most of it at least.  I held off on Big Red since its the thickest, warmest parka I've ever put on, therefore making it stifling hot!  After getting dressed we went straight to baggage security.  Our luggage was weighed and then we were weighed, as well, with our carry on luggage.  The CDC was pretty awesome and supplied us with a cheap $13 breakfast.  Notice the sarcasm.  They served us some delicious water eggs, hashbrowns, ham, and toast with red plum jam. Not worth the $13 if you ask me.  After breakfast we met promptly at 7:20 for, yet again, another briefing.  Once that was done we were finally able to line up, go through security, and jump on our bus that would bring us over to the plane. 

The C-17 was absolutley huge! 

 In the front there were some comfy seats and on the sides the not so comfy seats.  They reminded me of folding chairs.  Yup! You guessed it! I was definitely on a side seat.  Five hours of flight time, with ear plugs, on 4 hours of sleep, sitting in something that resembles a metal folding chair quite possibly takes the cake for most uncomfortable flight.  Even beats the one from L.A to Aukland.  But, let me tell you, it was well worth it!  Let me repeat... WELL worth it!  Upon landing my emotions were flying and my stomach was definitely fluttering with the butterflies!  I was so excited to take my first glimpse of Antarctica, but a little nervous with fear of the unknown.  On top of that I knew I was going to be overwhelmed with meeting new people and training for a new job.  So much was going on in my head.  But, it felt great to feel all those feelings.  They really make you feel "Alive" if you know what I mean.  You might laugh at this, but I was so concentrated on taking a picture of my first glimpse that I almost fell down the steps getting off the plane.  I caught myself right before it happened.  Anyways...  The view was awesome.  I don't know if awesome will do it justice, but it was awesome!  and Cold!  But not too cold.. I think the tempature was about 0 degrees.  Nothing that us Michiganders can't handle.  But, it felt much colder being thrown into it.  As I was about to climb up on into "Ivan" (56 seater shuttle bus) I was pulled aside by the driver and given a nice warm welcome.  Also, letting me know my bags would be in the shuttle office.  The first thing I noticed while on the shuttle, and this is something they have mentioned many times in orientation, was static electricity.  Because it is so dry here static electricity is crazy!  My hair was sticking out everywhere!  The base was only a 5-10 minute drive from the runway.  And that is driving at speeds not exceeding 25.  Right when we arrived at McMurdo we had another briefing in the galley (dining hall), assigned our housing, then set free to get our linen and explore.  My room is room 108 in building 155.  That is the building with the galley in it.  Meaning I don't have to gear up for meal times.  Apparently, I will be changing rooms in a few days though.  McMurdo is extremely over populated so rooms are super cramped at the moment.  My room has 6 girls total.  I was told once people leave for the Pole, field camps, and the winter overs go home I will switch rooms to a less packed room.  I made it as far as getting my linen and making my bed by the time it hit dinner time.   At dinner I made friends with a few of the janitor crew.  My friend that I met the first day on the shuttle in Denver is a janitor so he introduced me.  Surprisingly dinner was pretty good.  I've definitley had worse so I can't complain.  So, that leaves me to where I'm at now.  Writing in this blog in the "internet cafe/room of computers".  Tomorrow will be a long day of training.  I have to go through "drivers training" on the ice.  And then a bunch of other stuff.  I have to be at bulding 140 at 7:30.  Lucky for me building 140 is right across the street. Until next time! 



Flight on a C-17



me on the C-17

First glimpse of Antartica from 1 of 2 small windows on the plane



And there it is! My first Glimpse/step onto Antarctica---Notice Ivan!



Yup! I'm at the bottom of the earth!  This is so cool!

 

McMurdo station... The blue building is where I reside :)



Much Love!  

P.S I tried to work the photos within the blog, but it would only let me do it with one photo.. AND sorry about the layout.. I swear technology really hates me!



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!















Is this real life?

This is Kristy's sister, Kelly.  I set this blog up for her so she can give us a window into her life while she jet sets across the globe to the tiniest corner of the Earth.  Most people will never get to see Antarctica, let alone know someone who has gone.  But not us.  We know someone, and love that someone, and now we can live vicariously through her as she travels to places unknown.

Sooooo, Kristy, now is the time to start writing!  Record everything!  Tell us stories about the people you meet, animals you see, visions you behold.  Write in color!  Post pictures (I personally would like to see a penguin.  Fans, please comment your wishes so Kristy can accommodate).

Happy travels and we can't wait to read/see all about it!
Onward!!