Danger! Adventure! Penguins!

Emperor penguins! But let's start from the beginning:

Two nights ago I signed up to go on a tour of some ice caves. There is a volcano here called Mt. Erebus (southernmost active volcano in the world) and it has what is called an "ice tongue" at it's base. The "ice tongue" is a fast moving glacier that slides off the side of the volcano into the sea. The waves go up under the glacier and, when they freeze in the winter, form caves.

The caves themselves are really beautiful. The glacier is this deep and bright icy blue color, and the stalactites and stalagmites normally found in caves are icicles with these tiny, really delicate ice crystals all along them and the walls. The floor of the caves is the frozen ocean.

To get out to these caves we had to drive what is called a "Delta" (read: huge truck with monster wheels) out onto the frozen bay for about an hour. We were trucking along, everything was fine, and then the Delta just stopped running. We tried to start her back up, to no avail. The driver couldn't get a good signal on his radio to call for help and ended up going off on a snowmobile. The driver came back after a bit, and an hour after that we got the Delta running again, only to stick in the snow and have to be shoveled out every 200 feet. We got a tow eventually and now our 3 hour trip had turned into about 4. We thought we were just going to turn home, but no! The tractor towed us out to a spot where there were 5 (count 'em, 5!) emperor penguins! Just hanging out!

We got about 10 feet away from them, and they weren't even scared. They were just waddling along, flapping their wings, sliding on their bellies when they were sick of waddling and looking like a mix between adorable toddlers and old school gangsters. Then! We thought we were going home, but again, no! We stopped at the ice caves and noticed some big lumps out on the ice in the distance. What were they? They were seals! GIANT seals! (I thought they were giant, but apparently they weren't that impressive by Antarctic standards). We got even closer to them, and while most of them simply basked in the sun, one of them was doing little waves with his flippers, rolling his body around, opening his mouth at us and posing for the camera like he was made for it.

It was awesome. Apparently a lot of people don't see any wildlife down here, but I've seen animals every time I've left town. I think I must have been some sort of animal witch doctor in a past life. Not sure if I liked the penguins and seals best, or the ice caves. But, fortunately, I don't have to make that decision. We ended up back at McMurdo at about 2am. Still broad daylight out.

In other news: work is going well. The long hours actually aren't too bad. After you count up all the breaks, stretch breaks and other miscellanious downtime, we only work about 8 hours and 45 minutes. Wimpy, I say. But there is certainly a lot to occupy my time. So much, in fact, that I haven't been able to get online very often. Hence my lack of blogging and also my delayed responses to emails (for which I apologize).

Our Thanksgiving meal is happening tomorrow (Saturday down here). They changed the day because 1) people have the weekend off, and 2) this is Antarctica and we don't play by the rules :) The kitchen is a frenzy of acitivity, with something ridiculous like 1300 lbs. of turkey being roasted, with many more lbs. of all the fixin's being prepared. Speaking of food, the food here is surprisingly good. I was expecting canned beans and dehydrated veggies, but we get freshies delivered every few days, and always have at least 3 choices for each meal, including a usually delicious vegetarian option (the head chef is vegan). Tomorrow should be a fun day; I still have to work, but not as much as usual, and who doesn't love being in the kitchen on Thanksgiving?? And I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday yourselves!

And lastly, a note about an earlier post: McMurdo Station is not actually on the coast of Antarctica. It is on Ross Island, which is just off the coast of Antarctica.

Made It!

Made it in yesterday afternoon! The flight was really cool-we flew in a C-17 which is a huge U.S. Air Force plane, the inside is basically a cargo hold with some seats strewn about. It was so loud inside conversation was pretty much impossible and we had to wear earplugs. It was only 5 hours though-after flying 20 to get to NZ, 5 hours seems like nothing :) I got to go up into the cockpit once we got out over Antarctica to check it out. The views were incredible!!! (I'll posts pics soon).

We landed on the bay--yes, the bay! The ice over the sea is about 90 inches thick right now, which doesn't seem enough to land a jumbo jet on, but apparently it is. The ice should be melting soon though, so they aren't going to land there for too much longer. Once it melts the water will come right up to the base and there will be a lot more wildlife.

Speaking of wildlife! I was told by almost everyone I spoke to coming off the Ice in NZ that I wouldn't see any wildlife and not to get my hopes up. But yesterday (my first day) I went for a little hike with Tia and saw the biggest seal ever! It was HUGE! It was way out on the ice shelf and started wobbling its way towards us and came so close we could hear it breathing! It was very cool. We stood there, mesmerized, for about 30 minutes.

It still feels like a pretty alien place to me. For one, its Antarctica, and when I look out over the bay I am impressed with two things. How insanely gorgeous the view is (I'd have to say it trumps any view of the mountains from Denver. Imagine the Rockies there, only bigger, and covered in pure white snow, with a flat bay 60 miles wide in front of it). The other is how desolate and empty that beautiful landscape is. And then McMurdo itself feels totally strange; its clearly a base, with odd buildings that look like barracks, all numbered itstead of signed. But once inside, it feels like a college campus! Dorm rooms, the dining hall, bulletin boards all over the walls, new people everywhere I turn and me, with no clue as to where anything is or how anything works...yet.

I'm learning quickly, and finding that there are about a million fun things to do here! There's hiking and cross country skiing and other recreational trips, but also a lot of clubs and activities indoors. There is a big gym and a few small gyms, saunas all over the place, and the people are super friendly. I also started work today. Its going to be long hours, and not a lot of down time, but the people seem like a lot of fun. I get 1.5 days off, not just 1 a week, so that's a nice surprise!!

Oh yeah, the other crazy thing about being here is that it is daytime ALL the time. And not daytime where the sun is high during the day and close to the horizon at night. Last night I went to a coffee house around 10pm, and when I left at 11pm it was so bright out I had to put on my sunglasses! Right now I am in a room with no windows, but its temporary. Its kind of nice because it actually gets dark at night, but I am hoping when I get my permanent room assignment I have a window--I'm willing to sleep with a little light in order to get fresh air once in a while! Its not very cold here either, and the summer is just beginning. So I am prepared for a few storms, but mostly the weather should just get nicer. Its about 30 or so degrees now, just like a beautiful winter day back home!

That's it for now. I miss you all, and love hearing from you, so keep the emails coming :)

Oh yeah

I found some good not too expensive shampoo. I know you were all very worried.

The word on the street is...

That we are flying out tomorrow morning. For real this time. We'll see about that.

I decided to believe the rumors despite their tendency to be untrue, and treated today like my last day in civilization (for a while at least). Really pushed out the boat at dinner tonight. Tia (my new found Alaskan adventurer friend) and I went to a fairly fancy restaurant, where we consumed quite fancy meals paired with quite fancy cocktails. Fancy fancy. For those who want to know: a little cocoa liquor with chili flakes makes a surprisingly tasty spicy beverage.

Also took a wonderful hike along cliffs by the coast today, got a ton of beautiful pictures, dipped my feet in the pacific, and got a snazzy shirt at a thrift store for two bucks. Not bad.

Now I am all packed, ready to wake at 4:30 and take the last leg of my trip to the bottom of the world. I am very, VERY excited.

Hopefully my next transmission will be from the Ice and will include photo evidence that what I say is true. Until then, :)

Again!

Delayed, that is. Until Tuesday. Which is nice, because it means tomorrow I don't have to wake up at 4, take a shower and then get a call that says don't come. Not that I should really complain-that's been about the ONLY annoying thing thats happened so far, and its not really that annoying.

Last night I went out with some fellow Antarctica-ers (what should I call them...er, us?) and found that Christchurch has a much more vibrant night life than I was expecting. Its a small city, but it didn't feel that way last night. I also met a guy who had just finished wintering on the Pole (which is pretty hardcore-its extra cold there and dark all the time instead of light) and he told me that McMurdo has a ceramics studio! I am really very excited about that. And they have two art shows a summer, both of which I am going to enter.

So hopefully my next post will be from the Ice, but we'll see if the weather holds.

Also, just an fyi since I left so abruptly I didn't really have time to fill everyone in on what was going on: I met a guy in Denver who told me he had worked in Antarctica about 6 years ago, and I thought that was super cool so I applied for all the jobs available. I got hired to be an alternate Dining Attendant (read: dish washer) for the South Pole in early October, but then they decided they needed me at McMurdo Station instead. They called me about two weeks ago and asked how soon I could be ready, and 5 days later I was flying down!

The National Science Foundation has 3 US bases on Antarctica, plus a number of field camps. Palmer Station is closer to South America and is the smallest base with about 15 people working there. Next is South Pole, which has about 50-60 people, and McMurdo is the largest with about 1000. McMurdo is on the coast due south of New Zealand. The National Science Foundation has a contract with Raytheon to provide support to the bases in the form of electricians, carpenters, fire fighters, etc. Raytheon sub-contracts all the cooking and cleaning type jobs to a company called NANA Services, and that's who I'm working for.

Its a pretty cool gig-the pay isn't spectactular but I don't have to pay room and board and Raytheon has paid for all my travel down here. I figure whatever gets me to Antarctica is pretty cool, and the opportunities for world travel after are pretty amazing. So the plan right now is: finish my contract at the end of Feb. and then travel until I can't travel no mo'. Anyone who wants to join me in the latter part of this plan is, of course, more than welcome!!

And I'd love to hear what you guys are all up to! So shoot me an email-I've met a lot of nice people, but its still nice to hear from friends :)

Delayed!!

Our flight down to the Ice has been pushed back 24 hours due to the weather at McMurdo. So I'm stuck in New Zealand for another day, wah wah wah...oh wait, I'm stuck in NEW ZEALAND??? That's pretty freaking awesome.


Not trying to rub it in :)

Burt's Bees

Just a quick note- I went out to pick up some Burt's Bees shampoo and conditioner because it is usually about 8 bucks a bottle and I thought it would be nice to have some good shampoo (I don't know what they will have for me on the Ice) and it was $40 a bottle!! New Zealand dollars are worth slightly less than US $, but not that much less! I have noticed that food is a bit more expensive, but thought that might be because I've only eaten out here. It's an interesting fact, because, as I said earlier, Christchurch is a very small city. It's not as if I'm trying to buy shampoo in Tokyo! (although, apparently, it is).

I guess I'll just go with whatever they give me. And honestly, I think my hair will probably not be my number one priority when I'm living out of my backpack for the next 6 months :)

Christchurch, NZ!

Landed in Christchurch a few hours ago. Its so pretty here!!

I left Denver at 4:30pm Monday, and landed 2:30pm Wednesday! (not as badass as it sounds though-we jumped past Tuesday because of the time change. I still haven't wrapped my head around that completely, I think I need a map).

They put me up in a very nice hotel-my room is teeny tiny but way cool. There are colored lights under the bed and in the shower, it all feels very futuristic. And Christchurch is a very interesting little city. Its very dense and packed in downtown, but its also very small. You can walk right out of the city and there are mountains and the coast right there. No sightings of Aragorn yet....(knee slap here).

I've met quite a few people going down to the Ice, but only a couple to McMurdo. They have all been super nice and helpful. If they are any indication, I think I will be enjoying my time down there quite a bit!

And, in closing, when I got to this internet cafe after already deciding Christchurch was pretty awesome, Bryan Adams's "Have you ever loved a woman" was playing. Officially in love. Sigh.

Going to Antarctica!

Whoa.

I fly out this afternoon, have a quick layover in L.A., a slightly longer layover in SYDNEY! and then two days in Christchurch, NZ. From there, I fly down to "the ice" and get right to work.

So this is my blog. Read it if you want. Read it sometimes even if you don't want. And keep in touch!

alubold@gmail.com

Aileen Lubold, NANA
McMurdo Station
PSC 469 Box 700
APO AP 96599