Ryan was waiting in town for me when I arrived. It was great to see him after a month and a half. I have quickly taken over the room and made it smell better with the help of some candles.
My first day on the ice I went to Happy Camper School. We got to experience a field camp situation with overnight camping, cooking on stoves and building snow structures to protect us from the wind. It was a great experience some in the group of 20 were not used to cold weather and are headed out to the field for 6 weeks... (should be intersting...)
As for my actual job down here, I am a general assistant for the Carpentry shop, which means I get to play with tools and make various wooden items for scientists at thier field camps or items that go around the station. I am really enjoying working with my hands and piciking it up relativly quickly... i can see a new hobby in my future. Hopefully I will get the chance soon to go out and work at one of the field camps and see other beautiful locations on the continent. (Today I got my first taste and got the chance to set up a big Jamesway tent today at teh willy airfield.)
There is an endless amount of things to do down here, we work 9 hour day, six days a week, but there is a plethroa of activities from Tap Dance to Yoga each night. I helped clear the Observation Trail on Sunday as part of the second official Antarctic Trail Day. Each week there is a couple of science lectures each week and it is great to have a better understanding of the projects that are down here. Just about everything you can think of is being studied here.
I got to see some seals sunning themselves the other day near the New Zealand Station Scott base. But no live penguins so far…
