small town tour

The sun has reflected beautiful alpenglow all over town lately as we head down to our midnight lunch at the galley. I've collected a group of pictures around McMurdo Station to give you an idea of where I live.

The first picture is of three of our finest dorm buildings. We are assigned rooms determined by our housing "points." The number of points you have is reflected by the job you hold and they accumulate from year to year. Right now, I still fall in the lower end of the housing point spectrum. I do not live in any of these dorms. In total, there are 13 dorm buildings on station. I live in Building 155 where each room holds four people. Our building has its' benefits: the internet kiosk, the galley, store and some other station offices. The second picture is a photo of the galley-side of my dorm building. I caught the steam coming from the kitchen that appeared as fire from the vents.

The next picture is of our medical building. We all hope to avoid this place, but it serves a purpose here: to treat The Crud (our name for anything cold or flu-like), to provide limited dental and physical treatment to those of us who require it, and to stabilize patients who need to be on a medevac flight. Working in Air Services, I hope I don't see anyone who I know (well, anyone at all) on our flights with red medevac tags. It has happened a few times already this season, and I'm not anxious for any others! In such a tight community, every one's heart falls when the news hits the rumor mill.

The last building is the SSC, or Science Support Center. FSTP (Field Safety Training Program) works out of this building. The support things like Happy Camp and Sea Ice Training so we have the skills and knowledge to take care of ourselves outside, and also support Search and Rescue for the continent. This building is the most modern looking and people often call it the "eyebrow" building because of it's fancy eyebrow-looking architecture over the front door.

These are only a few of many structures in our little town; the best looking in the low blazing sun.