passing of a year

Happy New Year from the very first timezone in the world!

There's something inherently unfair about having to work on the 1st of January after staying up until midnight (well, just an eency-weency past midnight). 5am rolled around all too soon!

(Photo courtesy of Amanda from our Black & White Ball).

the colors of icestock

Icestock is an annual event to help celebrate the changing of the years. This year was no exception. Multiple musical groups from around station come out to sing their hearts out on an outdoor stage. And, adding to the excitement is a chili cook off. My favorite was the Kiwi's dish; but they did have an advantage in their access to venison to add to their stew!

I noticed a lot of color at Icestock this year; this is appropriate given the huge variety of colorful personalities at McMurdo Station. Everyone has a story. So, without further ado, here are some of the colors I took in yesterday!

Chalet Admin Cindy tasting snowflakes.











Painter Leah sporting an up-do.











Cargo Cary showing his band face.











Shuttle Jaime smiling her finest.











Shuttle Taryn dancing the day away.











Crary Admin Katie coloring the gray day.

my christmas, part 2

Plenty of you have asked what Christmas brings to Antarctica. Or perhaps, the question should be what Antarctica brings to Christmas. Despite being part of a community made of multifarious dilettantes (1/2 of whom indifferently consider the Christ of Christmas to be irrelevant or non-existent), Christmas is an amazing holiday to be spent on the coldest continent. There is next to no consumerism, there are no long holiday lines, or traffic jams; no parades or materialistic parties. It's just Christmas. It comes upon us very quickly and is an amazing time to spend with friends, good food, and a couple of days off.

Our Christmas' are typically not white, but brown. It's summer here and most of our snow and ice has melted; although, the day after Christmas, we did have a lovely refreshing snowfall. It makes everything appear clean and new again.

December 23, I got off work 1/2 hour early since our flights were in and things were under control. Our department closed for TWO whole NO-FLY days.

That evening, I went to the Christmas Party (lots of fun) and sang in the Christmas choir (also fun). The party transforms the VMF (Vehicle Maintenance Facility) and provides good hors d'evours, good people, and nice decorations. I talked with lots of people before heading to bed late and rising again at 5am when my alarm went off so I could work at the Coffee House. I covered my shift; a very quiet (nearly boring) morning as most people were sleeping in after the town party.

About the time I woke up my shuttles roommates got a call that there was a Pole medevac. They had to drive a couple transports out to the airfield for a LC-130 to fly down there and back.

Later in the morning, I volunteered in the dish room for a little over an hour before I took a shower and cleaned up for Christmas dinner which I had at 15:00. I ate with J and Lucas; two of my best friends down here. It was a wonderful meal: roasted duck, king crab legs, and beef wellington. Wow! What we miss in family over the holidays our food services staff tries to make up in food. But, of course, it certainly isn't quite the same as being at home for Christmas.

It was really good that I ate at 3pm because I was just about to take a nap and my senior, Susie, who covered the Pole medevac in the morning asked me to go to work to cover the Christchurch leg of this flight tonight. So, I manifested a medevac flight. There was a fight and the one guy got punched in the face and apparently fell down some stairs, breaking his jaw bad enough that it couldn't be fixed here. I read this appropriate verse last evening: Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise. -- Proverbs 20:1 --

After that excitement, I headed to the chapel where we had a Christmas Carols. I sang a duet of O Holy Night with Martin. It turned out pretty well. Singing old favorite Christmas carols with light still streaming through the windows with a full chapel put the meaning into remembering the night of Christ's birth.

The next day was a day to simply enjoy Christmas. I spent a lot of lazy time enjoying a Christmas morning brunch. In the afternoon, our holiday choir sang over the HF radio to the South Pole and some of our field camps. We also laughed that some random truck driver in Yemen might also have picked up our signal! We had a wonderful time singing at MacOps and the South Pole even came up with their own impromptu choir to sing back to us.

My holiday was the way it should be. I remembered, rested, and celebrated.

Photos (from top down): 1) J & myself at the "bottom of the world," 2) Dennis with me in front of the abominable snowman, 3) Lucas, myself, and J after our enjoyable Christmas dinner, 4) my roommate, Char, and I at the Christmas party, 5) the HF radio handset that we sung over at MacOps.

my christmas, part 1

Well, since I've been receiving e-mails and it appears the story has hit the international news circuit, I may as well tell you about the unfortunate event that cause somewhere near 100 people (from South Pole and McMurdo, to Christchurch and Denver), including myself, to work on Christmas Eve.

There was a drunken fight (also know as the "Christmas Punch-Up" by off-continent news sources) at the South Pole the night or morning of our two day Christmas holiday. One man (not a favorite frequent flyer in Antarctica) had his jaw broken and required a medevac from the South Pole to McMurdo. Unable to treat him here, we had to send him North to Christchurch. You can imagine how excited everyone was to come in on their day off to get this guy to New Zealand. My senior, Susie, worked the South Pole flights in the morning and I set up the Christchurch flight in the evening. I can't say much more than what the press has gotten a hold of; other than most of their information is accurate.

News Stories:
Guardian Unlimited: Antarctic Base Staff Evacuated after Christmas Brawl
The Register: Antarctic Base Staff in Drunken Xmas Punch-Up
The Age: South Pole Slugger gets the Sack

Also in the news was the emergency landing of the Basler aircraft. You may remember this photo of me with the Basler (and the seal) from Christmas last year.

News Stories:
Canadian Content: Canadian Basler Aircraft Crashes in Antarctica
The Press: Researchers Rescued After Antarctica Crash
The New York Times: 10 Survive Plane Crash

Another fun and exciting (but not so news-worthy) event occurring in McMurdo between the holidays was a massive power outage that cut off communications between McMurdo and the northern world. A dump trunk snagged a power line with the bed of the truck in the "up" position. Crazy, but true. This incident downed two power lines, put a few buildings out of power along with T-site; where our back-up communications systems and antennas are run. Who knew a dump truck would pose a threat to our power and communications systems?

christmas

Lucy always seems to come up with the amazing provocative lines in CS Lewis’ Narnia Chronicles. After entering the Stable after The Last Battle in the old Narnia, Prince Tirian meets the royal lineage of the kingdom and:

He looked round again and could hardly believe his eyes. There was the blue sky overhead, and grassy country spreading as far as he could see in every direction, and his new friends all round him, laughing. ‘It seems, then,’ said Tirian, smiling himself, ‘that the Stable seen from within and the Stable seen from without are two different places.’…‘yes,’ said Queen Lucy. ‘In our world too, a Stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.’ " -- The Last Battle, CS Lewis --

It's amazing what a vast amount of hope and joy are on the other side of believing in the Christmas story. My analogy right now would be seeing the earth from the perspective of one who only knew the cold, white, gray, brown, blue of Antarctica. Knowing there is a beautiful world out there is one thing, but stepping out the door of the C-17 in New Zealand to smell and see the green land north of me will be a big and beautiful experience. And that is what it is to hope in Christ. Believing it is one thing; and then I get to look forward to the beautiful experience that will come. Like Lucy, I am miserable in my patience and waiting, but so hopeful and expectant.

So, today, I celebrate the baby that was born into our normal world to offer us all a spectacular amount of hope if we believe.

Merry Christmas; wherever this finds you!

following a star

And the star the wise men had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.
-- Matthew 2:9-11 --

The wise men followed a star to mark the birth of Jesus. And, not that I followed a star to come to McMurdo Station, but I did neatly fit into God's plan when I flew down here, again, this fall and found myself standing underneath this silvery apparition.

I stood, alone, under this holiday decoration strung between some power poles on our dirty road the other day, looked up at the brilliant blue sky, and just smiled; giggled, actually, with joy. Who would have ever believed that I would celebrate Christmas (two years in a row) in Antarctica? It certainly wasn't me, but here I am. And, who would have believed that a child born in a barn would counteract the effects sin brought upon this entire world? But there a Savior was born and people from all around knew, saw, and felt the glory of God come down and the went to seek it with blind faith!

My laughing under our fabricated star came from a joyful heart; a believing, faithful, thankful heart. Sometimes, though, I feel a little like Sarai when she was told she was going to give birth to a Isaac in her old age. Even though I've seen God's work, part of me still laughs at the possibility of God coming up with more big things happening in life, because of their peculiarity, or outlandishness. But, he brought me here. And, he brought Jesus to the world, and no matter where he sets me next, I am still His; doing big things in little invisible ways, or in huge statements.

december one office fun

After our midnight meal, I came back to work on December 1 to Christmas tunes and an office of festive cheer. The eclectic mix of decorations that is stored in our cargo bay the other 11 months of the year was pulled down and, in the absence of any other good work to be done, we strung up garland, tossed beads over our fake palm tree, and bestowed a wreath over our model LC-130.

Dave was our leader in sorting and arranging the decorations around our work space. He appreciates the Christmas season for all the memories associated with family and friends. He's been in the department a few years and knows where things hang. He also has a grand collection of Christmas music which will, no doubt, be played every day he is on shift from now until Christmas, and perhaps beyond!

Amanda had no problem putting on some holiday cheer. She made the comment that our office looked like a Walgreens Christmas; with such a mish-mash of flashy, multi-colored, gaudy decorations arranged in a ridiculous fashion; simply because we have them.

I must admit that our workspace hasn't improved much with the additional "decoration." But, it's not a particularly pleasant space to occupy anyway. It's dusty, sterile, eclectic, windowless, and unfashionable; but that's nearly entirely due to the fact that we sit in Antarctica. Our palm tree and travel posters are, perhaps, the biggest morale boosters in our department; aside from any postcards, letters, and packages that show up on my desk and in my name!

turkey dinner twice

I sort of had Thanksgiving dinner two times. First was Saturday at 7:30pm; right after I woke up on my night scheduled. So, it was breakfast; stuffing, cream puffs, and my favorite: the flourless chocolate cake! I spent time with J, sharing my Starbucks coffee with him, and attempting to wake up.

My second dinner was at midnight. Genevieve and I joined Paul and Jane, and later, Lucas, for our phenomenal meal. I had fresh fruit and vegetables, salad, green bean casserole, potatoes, turkey, shrimp cocktail and, of course, the delectable desserts; like that flourless chocolate cake! Wow!

Holiday meals are grand events in McMurdo. Our galley prepares food nearly all day long to accommodate 4 sittings: 15:00, 17:00, 19:00, and 00:00. White table clothes are unfurled, and the atmosphere changes from the typical mealtime rush to a more formal affair. Earlier in the week, a monstrous amount of freshies arrived on a flight from New Zealand. In honor of the occasion, the town shuts down operations for two days in a row.

The weekend was a wonderful break. The weather warmed up last week to the 30F mark and festivities ran all day and night in celebration of the holiday and each other. Plenty of people took hikes. We even ran a 5k Turkey Trot down the Ice Runway Road. It was a spectacular day for a jog until we all had to turn around and run into the wind back to town! For the miserable shape I am in, I am happy to say that I finished it under 30 minutes. And, I'm glad that's over!

a few more folks

Thanksgiving in Antarctica is a made up of the new friends you spend time with down here. In the absence of family, we gather together around our galley tables and give thanks for our food, our place at the bottom of the world, and each other. So, appropriately, I have posted a few more photos of those amazing faces in Antarctica and added what they do at McMurdo Station this year.

audrey, shuttles

chris, airfield supervisor

jim, shuttles

kris, shuttles supervisor

lucas, cargo handler

thanks and giving

My Thanksgiving day is over according to our U.S. calendars, but our station officially celebrates the holiday on Saturday. This year, among the big needs that were met this year, I'm also thankful for some little things that mean big things to me right now. So, little and big, here's my alphabetized list of thanksgiving:

. Antarctica. God's Creation surrounds me in a very visually significant way here.

. Birthdays. Tia and Lucas in Antarctica, as well as, some friends back in the States, too!

. Coffee.

. Dinner. The anticipation of this event has everyone curiously looking forward to the Saturday spread.

. ECW Gear. It's warm (see W).

. Family and friends. I have been blessed.
. Genevieve. A beautiful woman and wonderful friend.
. Hope.

. Ice. Even though it's cold, it's also intricate and unique.

. Joy. Smiles. Making much out of limited resources.

. Kids. Other people's.

. Light. Lots of sun, and the decorative lanterns hanging over my bed.

. Michael and J. Deployed from Christchurch in time for the holiday in McMurdo.
. No holiday shopping. Don't miss it. Don't want it.

. Odd people. Keeps life interesting!

. Passengers. The reason I have a job down here this year.
. Quiet. There are times down here when the world is so quiet. It's like nothing you've ever known before!
. Rest.
. Space. And a friend to let me in a quiet building to get away.

. Travel opportunities including the three continents I have yet to visit. What's next: Asia? Europe? South America?

. Underwear. Long underwear!
. Vacation. What I'll be doing after I leave here.
. Warmth. Heat. My new Mom-made and oh-so-soft blue bathrobe.

. X-treme. Going out of the ordinary to do something important.

. Yonder. There is a lot of it around here.
. ZCM. The air field designator code for McMurdo Station, Antarctica.

the holidays are coming and other things missed

Hint, hint, hint (a link to my address is above).

With Thanksgiving this week, and Christmas around the corner, I thought I'd list a few things I miss in addition to being "home" for the holidays:

. Chocolate covered espresso beans
. Dried mangoes (trader joe's)
. Fun jewelry
. Gel pens
. Good Earth Original caffeinated tea
. Kleenex (lots 'o lotion kind)
. Nuts (brazil nuts are my favorite)
. Red Vines licorice (brand sensitive)
. Trader Joe's sweet 'n savory trail mix
. Reese's Pieces
. French onion dip (little cans ship well)
. Salt & vinegar potato chips (love Archer Farms/Target Brand)
. Ghirardelli Peppermint Hot Cocoa or Mocha Mix
. Lubriderm: the one with the purple top
. Postcard from you!