Long overdo
Trip Start
Oct 13, 2005
1
25
Trip End
Ongoing
South Pole, Antarctica
Monday, January 2, 2006
Chapter 1- It took so long
So I am sorry this e-mail has taken so long to do. I have been working mad hours and our comp/phone times have changed to the complete opposite of my schedule so I either have to stay up way late or wake up super early to e-mail and make calls. So my deep apologies for the lack of emails believe it is not from a lack of desire or interest that I can't write or call. I thank you all for the emails and believe they help me so much!!!
Chapter 2- Baby Jesus b-day
So up till Christmas I was working like a dog. On Thursday before Dec. 22nd I believe I worked 18 hours in one day. Then on Friday DEC. 23rd I had a 13 hour day. I was so tired. I ended up having to work Christmas. It was really fun actually, I think I had a better time working rather than having the day off. The day worked much like Thanksgiving with 3 sittings for dinner and apps in the hallway. I made egg nog (magda style and regular style) everyone loved it. I was also in charge of watching the apps. I ended up eating with the kitchen staff at the end of the night. We had beef Wellington. At the end of that weekend I was so tired. I had Sunday off.
Chapter 3-Fallen Warrior
The whole season the build to the race around the world has been happening. There has been a ton of smack talk and bets even made(just kidding). The race around the world is a 2 mile race that occurs that everyone participates in. I was the sure win this year. So day of the race I was super nervous and felt like I was going to puke. The race begins, I had a great start leading the females in the pack. It was 2 long laps essentially around the pole. People where on every possible kind of transportation. Bikes, snow mobiles, piston bullies, trucks, loaders, walking, running, etc. So I saw my competition out of the corner of my eye. Sara a early 20's CO gal, who is great. See starts to pass me. I go to dig in and sprint when I hit one of the courses obstacles, what I call quick sand. Deeper snow inside the track that you get into and go down a few inches. I try to sprint out of it and felt my leg just fill with pain. I tried to quickly shake my leg out but by then Sara was out of my reach. I walked after that. But Sara is a super cool girl and I am happy that she won.
Chapter 4-Galley Time
So after Christmas I continued to work crazy hours up until New Years. I had that Friday and Saturday off and spent most of Friday sleeping. See on your day off here you do several things. #1-Sleep, you will find people sleeping every where here. #2-Watch Movies. I have watched like 3 or 4 movies in one day here. #3-Eat. That's about it. Some people will get crazy and play a board game, pool or ping-pong. Or maybe even go for a ski but mostly its rest and relaxation to the max. Anyhoo back to my Friday, as in December 30th. Then we had our Galley party that night(stay tuned for pictures to come from my hotmail account). IT was nice my friend Dehlia who used to be head Chef at Palmer Station, made all of us dinner. The whole Galley had this day off because it was Managers cook day. They made food all day. Anyhow we hung out in the Quiet Reading Room and drank wine and ate and goofed off. Then we played white elephant game. I got twister as a gift and gave Spam. I drank a lot of wine. It was really fun to hang out with everyone in the Kitchen, my coworkers are probably the best group of people I could as for to work with down here.
Chapter 5-Almost time
So New Years Eve came. My friend Dehlia and I had prepared a block of ice to my an Liquor Louge. THis is an ice sculptor that you carve and make tracks in it to pour alcohol down it to take a shot at the bottom. So we spent the day in the Heavy Shop where the party would be at chain sawing and chipping away at ice to make this kick ass mountain that was so cool. Once again you will receive pictures at a later time. After that I helped set up the heavy shop for the party. It looked like a club in there. It was so cool with a giant parachute hanging from the ceiling and balloons everywhere. A cage for dancing, couches, bars, a stage for the band, food everywhere. Then we hung up a ton of Christmas lights so we could turn off the main lights. Oh by the way blowing up balloons here with the altitude nearly killed me. There was three or four of us that had blown up at least 100 balloons and then someone was like guys we have a tank of helium. We all nearly passed out.
Chapter 6-2005 over, it's party time
So after getting cleaned up and getting in my new years finest. It was time for the party to begin. OH it was the group from Ice Cube(science project here) to cook dinner. They made a tailgate of sorts. And guess what game they showed---THe Broncos vs. Packers in the SuperBowl. I was cheering like crazy. Great Game with all the old great players. A small prediction of the future. I am saying it right now it will be the Broncos vs. Redskins in the SuperBowl, a repeat of the 1980 game when Broncos lost to the Skins but this year--LOOKOUT! Anyway back to New Years--after the game headed to the heavy shop. IT was pretty relaxed at first. The first band started and was chill music. Just hung out and drank and talked. It was nice because the UT's (Utility Tech's) made Jungle Juice with fruit. So I drank that and hung out by the super yummy buffet. At around 10:30ish, people started to show and the new band took the stage, I broke out the Liquor Mountain and the night took off. IT was fun, a lot of people wore crazy hats and everyone was dressed up. I danced and hung out and had a good time. So midnight came around and we even had a giant disco ball drop. Soon after a little more dancing and chit chatting with people, I headed home because lucky me I had to work the next morning. I went home and watched the Simpsons and went to bed. Of course I would have loved to be with all my friends and see my family on New Years, but I am going to say that I had an amazing time and will always remember the night.
Chapter 7-Just resting my eyes.
Well to say the least the next morning was hard to get up and go to work even though I ditched out on the party relatively early and didn't have to work until 10am, the whole station had a hung over lazy day feel to it. THis week has been good, rather painless and has gone fast. Leading me to 12:23am Thursday night with two days off ahead of me, I am so happy right now. I also get to shower tomorrow-a 4 minute one so I am so excited.
Chapter 8-DV's
So on Saturday we have a ton of distinguished visitors coming to the South Pole, Senators and Representatives from 12 different states are coming including Sen. John McCain(R-Arizona). So every Saturday I run the store from 12-1. So apparently all the DV's will be coming through the store, I am so nervous and excited. I will let you know how this story turns out. Everyone has been cleaning this place like crazy, scrubbing floors and wall even the stairs. I am glad I dont have to work in the Galley that day.
Chapter 9-
Well as you may or may not know I have decided to try to do the Winterover season.I would be here from now until October or November of 2006.
Comments
wow my dumbass just realized this was about 5 years ago.Still i want info on how u got there please