OK, so I'm at McMurdo. I finally got connected to the internet this afternoon. A lot has happened in these past few days, and I've got some pictures and blog entries to prove it. The people that I am traveling with are Adam (our fearless leader, his 5th Antarctic season), Doug and Kate (second year grad students from BU). Here goes:
10/17/04
9:12 pm
Chirstchurch, NZ
Another long day. I woke up at 7 this morning at the Windsor hotel to bells over a PA and announcement from the front desk that breakfast was being served. My alarm clock was one hour late, so I stayed in bed. Doug knocked on my door at like 8:00 to tell me that they had all eaten and I should go. I ate alone and then met them at Starbucks for a cup of coffee. The church bells at the Christ Church of New Zealand were ringing nonstop. The walk/don’t walk signals here are funny. They have a little green walking man or a red standing man, but the noises they make are great. Kind of a danceable beat. We went to a little craft market thing and then headed back to the hotel to get ready to go to the CDC (Christchurch Distribution Center - basically a giant closet filled with Antarctic clothes). At the CDC we went through some training, listened to a guy tell us about clothes and then went in to try everything on. There was a lot of stuff.
I can’t believe I’m going to the south pole tomorrow. I tried everything on, and had to exchange about half of it because it didn’t fit. I was really concerned about everything fitting and Adam seemed very laid back about it. I guess he knows best. The boots are awesome. Big, white and heavy - they call them bunny boots. They have a pressure thing too. Kind of like reebok pumps, only for the entire shoe and for the purpose of preventing frostbite and not for dunking. It was more stressful than it should have been, mostly because I was on my own and I didn’t know what was necessary or how concerned I should be if something didn’t fit quite right. I think everything worked out ok in the end. I got a flu shot too, which was exciting. We went back to Christchurch for the afternoon and ate at a little pizza place. We had some good discussions about politics, drugs, people, anthropology, racism and past field seasons. Adam is full of stories. We walked around for a little while looking for a pool hall and finally found one that was open on our third try. It was a great place. The played DJ Shadow. There was also a piece of black, squished gum stuck to the red carpet that had a face carved into it – I couldn’t tell if it was purposely there or not. We laughed a lot and told crude stories.
Tomorrow we have to report to the CDC at 8:15. We are on the C-17 which is supposedly the nicest, fastest jet with the most cargo room of the four that fly people to the ice. The entire flight manifest is NSF grantees, while the other flight (on the slightly smaller, less comfortable plane) is entirely RPSC (Raytheon Polar Service Company - a subdivision of Ratheon that handles all of the US Antarctic Program logistics) employees. I guess we are like business class.
10/17/04
9:12 pm
Chirstchurch, NZ
Another long day. I woke up at 7 this morning at the Windsor hotel to bells over a PA and announcement from the front desk that breakfast was being served. My alarm clock was one hour late, so I stayed in bed. Doug knocked on my door at like 8:00 to tell me that they had all eaten and I should go. I ate alone and then met them at Starbucks for a cup of coffee. The church bells at the Christ Church of New Zealand were ringing nonstop. The walk/don’t walk signals here are funny. They have a little green walking man or a red standing man, but the noises they make are great. Kind of a danceable beat. We went to a little craft market thing and then headed back to the hotel to get ready to go to the CDC (Christchurch Distribution Center - basically a giant closet filled with Antarctic clothes). At the CDC we went through some training, listened to a guy tell us about clothes and then went in to try everything on. There was a lot of stuff.
I can’t believe I’m going to the south pole tomorrow. I tried everything on, and had to exchange about half of it because it didn’t fit. I was really concerned about everything fitting and Adam seemed very laid back about it. I guess he knows best. The boots are awesome. Big, white and heavy - they call them bunny boots. They have a pressure thing too. Kind of like reebok pumps, only for the entire shoe and for the purpose of preventing frostbite and not for dunking. It was more stressful than it should have been, mostly because I was on my own and I didn’t know what was necessary or how concerned I should be if something didn’t fit quite right. I think everything worked out ok in the end. I got a flu shot too, which was exciting. We went back to Christchurch for the afternoon and ate at a little pizza place. We had some good discussions about politics, drugs, people, anthropology, racism and past field seasons. Adam is full of stories. We walked around for a little while looking for a pool hall and finally found one that was open on our third try. It was a great place. The played DJ Shadow. There was also a piece of black, squished gum stuck to the red carpet that had a face carved into it – I couldn’t tell if it was purposely there or not. We laughed a lot and told crude stories.
Tomorrow we have to report to the CDC at 8:15. We are on the C-17 which is supposedly the nicest, fastest jet with the most cargo room of the four that fly people to the ice. The entire flight manifest is NSF grantees, while the other flight (on the slightly smaller, less comfortable plane) is entirely RPSC (Raytheon Polar Service Company - a subdivision of Ratheon that handles all of the US Antarctic Program logistics) employees. I guess we are like business class.
posted by LankyPoobah at 9:12 PM
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