Gigantic Midwinter Photo Entry!

I so look forward to your entries. Every time you pop up on my friends list, I'm like, "Hey! Here she is again!" and call in my husband and the roommate to see.

*blush*

Awesome! The festivities looked like a lot of fun. Thanks for sharing!

Just for that disgustlingly jealous display of food I'm going to order heaps of solid sushi take out right now. Damn you! No really that looks so GOOD!!

How is life there? Sell me on it. I'm looking for new things to do.

Gah! Damn you. You know that classic image of the guy, dying of thirst, walking through the desert, gasping, "water...water..." Well, that's me with sushi. First thing I do when I get back to Christchurch. Well, second thing, maybe. First thing will probably involve falling down and rolling around in the grass.

Life here is totally surreal, exhausting, and often ridiculous. It's probably not for everybody. For one thing, it's a sixty hour work week at minimum, and the entry level jobs can be pretty taxing physically, not to mention dealing with the associated bureaucracy. I think it's a good time, though.

The best endorsement I've found comes not from me, but from Big Dead Place.

This place has the most insane bureaucracy I have ever seen. Living in McMurdo is like living a real-world Catch 22 (in the sense of bureaucracy, not of the war scenario), and though South Pole is sane in comparison, it's rapidly moving in that direction. South Pole may be the "last frontier", as it says on the souvenir t-shirts in the store, but it may also be the "last suburb."

Though it is nearly impossible to exaggerate the absurdity that flourishes here, that is not the whole story. What is unique about Big Dead Place is that it fills a gap in Antarctic literature that for decades has been passed over in the rush by writers to document harsh weather, natural beauty, and remote deprivation. These stories have been around since the beginning, but only in the oral history of those workers engaged in the Antarctic Program, whom professional journalists from the papers talk with for about five minutes before writing about blizzards and penguins and making do with instant coffee.

My point is this: Big Dead Place does not generally focus on natural beauty, rugged conditions, science, camaraderie in remote isolation, or any heroism that may be involved in the Antarctic lifestyle, because those topics have been steadily beaten like a dead pony for the past hundred years. Nonetheless, those stories are not necessarily false ones, and anyone really curious about Antarctic culture would best serve themselves by reading a wide variety of Antarctic literature, including the penguin and iceberg stuff, which omits the true stories I record as surely as I omit the true stories of penguins and icebergs.

A worker writing about some of the better activities here might result in NSF attempting to put a stop to them, so though Big Dead Place strives to record something of the overlooked truth about this place, I have also kept plenty of polar pleasures purposefully partitioned from the prying eyes of the public. This influence tints the site with an air of the Negative Nellie, which is a distortion, and which tells little of the curiosity and enthusiasm that drives this site. In short, it's really beautiful here, there's some good people, and the work can be interesting, so come on down.

You may believe that you are only going to Antarctica for one season. Though that may be true, it is not. Antarctica will pierce you in the heart, and even if you don't come back, you will think about it off and on, probably for the rest of your life. North America to New Zealand is one hell of a long round-trip, so do yourself a favor and start a frequent-flier account so that when you do come back, you will accumulate free airline tickets.

Anyway, what's so great about where you are now?

Utilikilts are so hot :)

Not really. But a lot of people I talked to beforehand mentioned it. Probably because we spend most of our time bundled in grubby Carhartts and androgynous Extreme Cold Weather gear, people take any excuse they can to play dress-up. There's a costume party of some kind or other practically every weekend. And lots of people donate their costume clothes to Gear Issue when they leave, so people who didn't realize they'd need to pack clothes for Mardi Gras, and a Hillbilly Party, and a Black Ops Party, and a Seventies Disco Night can always check stuff out from there.

As I heard someone describe it, "People up North think that every day in Antarctica is like Christmas. But actually, every day here is like Halloween."

Do you guys have inter-station rivalries? Do you talk shit about the people from the other stations? Give us some dirt on them. The folks at Mawson station are looking a little iffy.

Well, people at South Pole call McMurdoites "tourists" because, admittedly, this place is like summer camp compared to the hardcoreness of Pole life. Meanwhile we talk about how Polees are insane and smell, because they are and they do. Apparently some of them don't even take advantage of their two-minute showers twice-per-week ration. We all bitch about those lucky saps out on the peninsula at Palmer, who live in the lap of luxury all winter, getting fresh food once a month and surrounded by wildlifes.

But, in the end, we pretty much realize that we're all stupid fools because we managed to get ourselves into this mess, and that all the foreign stations are better than ours, because they're not run by Raytheon. Those Aussies are kinda sketchy though.

But...no sabotage? Any merry pranks?

Is Antarctica not the wild frat party continent I always took it to be?

Congrats and congrats!

So this is half-way through a long darkness that can only get more lit. I guess this would be the time to light a fire under something and watch it explode, perhaps to have the light, or more likely just to have something distracting happen... ;)

I'm so envious it's not funny, but thanks for posting and keeping my goal in site.

chipotle

Re: Congrats and congrats!

Well, I did hear that a couple 4th of Julys ago, somebody blew up a bunch of dynamite out behind some unused building...

You should definitely Winter, Rich. I think you'd love it.

Your journal is fascinating. Thanks for writing.

I've been putting off travel for so long because of financial reasons and career obligations. I've come to the realisation that if I don't do it now, I'll never do it. I travelled from Ireland to Canada but never left in 2001 and you've inspired me once and for all to move on again. Thank you.

Staying in tune with the Antartica, is it a good spot to save money? Seems like it would be since there doesn't seem to be a lot to waste money on! I work in IT and am wondering if I could work up there (are there a lot of jobs?) in a help-desk type position and save enough for a round-the-world trip within 6 -8 months.

What an experience the Antartic must be!

Thanks again.
I love your journal.

Hi there,

Glad you're enjoying the journal. :) Antarctica is definitely an experience worth having.

I don't know much about anything besides the US Antarctic Program, but yes, it is a very good place to save money - because the pay is sub-par compared to what you'd get in the World, but you have effectively no expenses. I've probably saved about $15,000 in 11 months, and that's on a janitor's pay. IT folks get much more, even the entry level PC Techs and Helpdesk people. That said, hiring is extremely competitive, especially for entry-level positions, because so many people want to come to Antarctica. Still, it's totally possible to get down here.

Again, there's nothing specific I can really tell you, if you're not a US citizen. (Are you Canadian? Irish?) I'd Google your country and Antarctica to find out the details of your nation's program - or if you're eligible to be hired by one from another country. I know that Antarctica New Zealand has an Aussie and an Englishwoman working for them this season, and are looking into hiring an American. And we've got several people on station who aren't Yanks - including one Irishman - but I'm not sure what their technical immigration statuses are etc.

Anyway, again, glad you're enjoying it. Good luck!

Thanks for the info! Much appreciated.

Yeah, I have an Irish passport and a Canadian one - no American. I'll look into Canadian-specific programs. Volunteer work in South America would be ace too ;)

Thanks again. Love it.

I'm a new reader and I'm really enjoying your journal. I'm at work and about an hour just went by and I didn't even notice. Your entries are fascinating! Keep it up! I'm expecting that you get a lot of questions, probably a lot of the sames - as I've seen on other communities, maybe you can start an FAQ section that people can link to if they're curious about something. All of these questions keep popping in my head, but I think, that poor girl has probably been asked that 1,000 times!

Haha, and I just thought I'd comment on - the Maine lobster - how was it? I'm from Maine and its always amusing to see how much people from other places enjoy "Maine" lobster. I personally don't eat it myself which people from other places think is absolutely horrible. :)

Hehe. It was the first real seafood I'd had in many, many months, so for that reason if no other, it was absolutely fantastic. :)

That guy in the blue shirt and tie holding the can of beer...is it possible that he was in Christchurch this month?

Extremely possible. Probable. Likely, even. I'd heard he was in town. I'd heard stories. One often hears stories when it comes to Chris Wilt. Why do you ask?

Oh wow, I believe I ran into him in a local bar here. Chris was definitely his name. He was quite drunk, though :)

One also often hears that when it comes to Chris Wilt. ;)

Which bar?

The Dux! He was drunk, but a good drunk. Funny and engaging, not odious and obnoxious and loud. It was a good crowd!