beautiful people

A good portion of the reason I returned to Antarctica was the people. Here everyone is "different." Everyone has a unique reason to be here. Everyone has an interesting past. Everyone is at least a little bit of adventurous spirit. No other community on earth can quite compare to the group at McMurdo Station.

Tia had a recent trip to Christchurch, and in celebration of her return, she invited a few friends out to a night of fresh and tasty food from New Zealand; including cheese! Tia is my best girlfriend in McMurdo. We met through e-mail before we even arrived in Denver for training my first season down since we both flew out of Chicago. We both drove shuttles last year and got to know our differences throughout the year as we each waded through the tides of life together. Tia is an incredibly creative artist. Her specialty on The Ice is making paper jewelry. Her smile is refreshing and always cheerful and just seeing her often makes my day!

Genevieve and Rich were also at Tia's gathering.

Genevieve and I traveled New Zealand's South Island together with three guy-friends last year when we arrived back in the "real world." She is a fantastic woman who has done nearly everything you can think of from barista to plumber to midwife. Down here she is a dispatcher at the firehouse. Our South Island antics include sleeping three of us in our van (nicknamed the "chartreuse caboose") between two sheep farms and in a sand fly infested campground, encountering sea lions, and tossing back Bluff Oysters in Queenstown. Genevieve and I also both indicated our interest in working contract in Saudi Arabia for two months when the opportunity was presented through Raytheon last year. We spent many dinner-hours daydreaming about the good and the bad experiences we would encounter as women in that country. Perhaps we'll still have that opportunity someday!

Rich is a fun character. You'll notice in this picture, that the fresh avocado in his mouth matches his green sweater. I recalled a hilarious moment with Rich from last year. He took me on a short Ski Doo ride during the marathon. When he dropped me off at the van I was driving, we couldn't get my helmet off. When I say "we" I mean he had me in a headlock and I was elongating my neck as I pulled the rest of my body away from the helmet. Looking back, it must have been the most comical scene. All I could think of was walking around town in a helmet trying to explain what had happened. It took us awhile, but Rich finally found the clips inside the apparatus to release it from my head. Phew!