Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!
Christmas is official today! This is my first Christmas in Antarctica. The holiday season has been awesome; the lack of family is made up by the wonderful friendships that have been made here. Today has been a really relaxing day, sleeping in, watching movies and swapping a few gifts. I made a couple of guitar hangers for Ry in the carp shop and made sure Santa filled his stocking. Santa was good to me giving me a 1-hour massage and a few sweet Skua items (Skua is the station free thrift store).
Tonight was the big Christmas dinner. This is formal dinner you have to reserve your seats. The Galley is all decorated up and the spread is phenomenal, crab legs, duck, prime rib, fresh veggies, cheese, salad and killer desserts. ….
As for what else I have been up to here ….
Many of you would be surprised to know that McMurdo is not covered in snow and many days here are warmer than you are experiencing at home. We have been having temps 15 – 30 degrees F, quite enjoyable. The thing that is the toughest to get used to is the 24 hours of sunlight – this can make it tough to wind down after a long day …. ☺
Took my second Helo ride, this time to the Dry Valleys. Ryan was the helo-tec on the flight. The Dry Valleys are on the Main Continent (I can now really say I have been to Antarctica now (McMurdo is located on Ross Island, not on the actual continent)) and are an area is where a lot of science takes place. Zack, Danny and I were sent out to re-paint a research hut on the shores of Lake Frxyl. The three of us got to spend 3 nights camping, hiking (we did a little painting) and doing our own cooking, a rare pleasure. We got our water from the streams feeding the fresh water lake that is thawing and gets quite a bit of water from the surrounding glacier melt. This area was beautiful with two large glaciers at each end of the lake, the Commonwealth and the Canada Glacier. The valley floor is covered in rocks, mainly small ones that have been exposed to years of erosion from glaciers and now wind. The ventifacts were relatively small but beautiful in this area.
I don’t know when or where my next working adventure will go, but is amazing to get out and see the continent. The life in the actual Carp shop is pretty fun as well. I have been tasked with a few more of my own projects. I am currently building a shelf system the largest project I have been assigned to yet…. I am hoping it all works out so the shelf is stable and doesn’t fall over by the time I am done…. A true test ☺
Well I wish you all a Happy Holiday. Enjoy a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year with all your favorite friends.
Thaona
