Krissie's Blog - 10

Jul 9, 02:44 PM

Be sure to click on the image to view larger picture!

Hello. I’m back. I let the blog fall to the wayside last week when disaster struck me. About a week ago I said to Jeremy, “When we get home, I need to buy a hard drive to back up all my files.” He said, “I have about 5 here.” I didn’t take that as a cue to immediately back up my stuff. Three days later, I was transferring a file from one of the network drives to my laptop, and I got this strange error box about, “Cannot find USAP folder.” I ignored it because I wasn’t even using that folder, which contained my one thousand pictures from down here. Two hours later, when I was about to upload some of my photos, I couldn’t find my “USAP” folder. I searched the entire computer for it. Gone. I restarted the computer, which apparently was a bad thing. I figured it was the right thing to do, because whenever I call Jeremy for IT help, he asks if I have restarted my computer. It rebooted, and the folder was still nowhere to be found. And then the waterworks started. I don’t think I’ve cried so hard since the last century. Jeremy was in a meeting, so I knew he was unavailable at the moment. About 15 minutes later, he was in his office. I came in and asked between sobs, “Can…you…help…me?” So IT Jeremy went to work on my laptop.

I was in no condition to be around people, but I had to eat dinner early, because I was playing in our ten-week-long 8-Ball pool tournament quarter-finals in less than one hour. With the wound still fresh, I would immediately start crying whenever I thought about it. My face looked like I had been punched many times. I sat down across from Jeremy and next to these two 50ish-year-old men, one of whom is one of the toughest dudes you’ll ever meet. He stared at me and said, “Are you all right?” Of course, that got it going again. I tried to calmly explain what happened, without full-on crying again, while dabbing my eyes with napkins. The two guys were completely taken aback by this crazy lady. I shouldn’t have to mention that this isn’t really an environment for tears. How embarrassing. I should’ve just had Jeremy bring a plate back to the bedroom. I wouldn’t care if I lost photos from home, but I don’t know if I’m ever coming back here again. I had just lost seven months of photos from the Far Side of the World. It felt like a friend had died.

My pool game was Big Tex vs. Little Tex. Texas Todd won games 1,2, and 4. And even though I lost it, my last game was brilliant. Jeremy ran a 5-hour-long recovery program on my laptop that night and got most of the photos back. I was too emotionally wrung out to exercise, so I watched happy movies on his office computer while he worked on mine. He wouldn’t let me peek at what he was doing because he didn’t want me to get my hopes up if I saw the pictures on the screen. There were only a few pictures I didn’t see recovered. So he still has my laptop and is still working on the recovery. Hard drives have a very hard time surviving the altitude here, and Jeremy thinks mine might be dying. Super. But I’m eternally grateful to him for what he did recover.

So I’m going to use pictures from our common drive in this entry to tell you about Midwinter, the biggest holiday that we celebrate down here. And it’s not just us here at the South Pole; the entire continent celebrates it. How cool is that? 29 Midwinter greetings were exchanged between nations. I’ll try not to post all of them. But here’s ours: 43 people, minus the 9 who didn’t come out with us for one reason or another.

Jeremy’s lying down in the center. I’m the one in the green parka behind him. This is a really neato photo taken by Patrick Cullis (Cully). We’re on a hill in front of the Dome. The Station is behind that. This was a several-second exposure. The moon was up, and the sky was mostly clear. The A4 pod is pink because of the 4 red lights at Destination Zulu. We didn’t have to hold our breath during this one because there were no lights on.

Midwinter marks the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere and the half-way point in the South Pole winter season. Not all the bases have winters as long as ours. McMurdo’s winter will be over in about 2 months, whereas ours ends in late October/early November. We celebrate ours, first, with a viewing of The Shining in our “drive-in theater” that we turn the gym into. Then, the next night we have our second sit-down dinner of the season. Steele designed a really cool menu, which the chefs turned into a delicious reality.

Chefs Francis and Keith are very modest about their culinary prowess. (Photo by Cully)

We are toasting here. Note the Ceremonial Pole flags hanging up in the galley. (Photo by Cully)

Then on the final night of festivities, we had activities, an auction, and concerts. There was Beat the Trivia Master, Tarot readings, ring toss, Zany Putt-Putt Golf, a beer tent, the beard growing contest’s finish line, and a chili cook-off between two chilies, with which you could top your dinner hotdog. Raffle tickets were given away at some of the booths.

The Limey Beaver Pub beer tent was sponsored by a Dutchman (IceCube Erik), a Brit (South Pole Telescope Ross), and a Canadian (Aurora Tech Jonathon). So, rather than drink your beer in the middle of the gym, you could be swept away to Munich inside that tent. German volksmusik played during the gym festivities. What you don’t see is how short Erik’s shorts (corduroyhosen) are -- they end just below the edge of the picture. I say this completely objectively, Science really does have the most fun down here. (Photo by Cully)

I’ve mentioned sacrifice in a previous entry. You’d be amazed at what people will pay to have a taste of home. Here is the price list of auctioned items.

1 bag of Peanut M&M’s $3.50

Personal ultrasonic humidifier $7

1 pair of Hostess cupcakes $5

Book of crossword puzzles $1

1 Snickers bar $10

Box of cookies and candy $11

1 can of Dr Pepper $20

Handcrafted wood flute $240

20 homemade croissants $50

1 bag of Cooler Ranch Doritos $66

1 bottle of vodka $30

1 can of L&P soda (It’s Kiwi.) $6

1 day of get out of dish pit duty $60

1 can of Pepsi $3

Texas Todd’s mom’s chili recipe $6

1 bottle of scotch $26

2 pies in Darren’s face $10

2 pies in Logan’s face $30

Total $584.50

The auction money was raffled off, using the tickets from the activities. It should be sourly noted that I did not auction the Dr Pepper. That person auctioned a can that I gave him/her. If someone wants a can, they can just ask me for one; they don’t have to pay $20 for it. Jeremy and I bought the croissants. I only had $20, but I looked at him in that desperate sort of way, and he kept on bidding. You don’t understand; IceCube Camille, a Frenchie (PC?), makes the BEST croissants in the world, and they disappear as soon as she makes them. We’ve already eaten the first batch of 10. They apparently take three days to make. Well, I can assure you that they taste like love. (Photo by Cully)

My singing group, the Pole Cats, had been rehearsing every Sunday for the past few months. Chef Michele, Grublugger Erin, Inventory Control Specialist Emily, and I sang “Down to the River to Pray” and “The Water is Wide” a cappella.

The Rookies and April the Leukemic Cat were rock bands who played. Unfortunately, I had switched from the night shift to the day shift that day, and I was exhausted. I crashed right after I sang. But we all had a lot of fun here, and there are now fewer days ahead than behind. I guess we have roughly 125 days left.

Now let’s check out the other Midwinter celebrators. I’ve included some (but not all) of the e-mail greetings they sent. Hopefully this isn’t like suffering through some people’s photos of their children. We down here think the greetings are very cool. World Peace through Science!

McMurdo Station (United States)

Palmer Station (United States)

Vernadsky Station (Ukraine)

Dear Colleagues, Dear Friends, Dear Polar Explorers!

On the behalf of management, and all of staff of the Ukrainian National Antarctic Scientific Center and Ukrainian Antarctic Station Akademik Vernadsky, and from myself, I would like send to you all our greetings and best wishes a very happy Mid-Winter’s Day, 2009.

We wish you continued success this season and a safe return home to family and friends. We hope this message finds you happy, healthy and with work going well. It is an honor for us to be included among the ranks of those who have wintered in Antarctica and to be a part of the continued peaceful scientific endeavors that are done here.

Best wishes to all

Dr.Valery Lytvynov

Director

Ukrainian National Antarctic Scientific Center

Maitri Station (India)

King Edward Point (United Kingdom)

Jubany Base (Argentina)

Dear Friends in Antartic:

The winter team here at Jubany Base wish you all the most wonderful and happier midwinter!!!

We hope you all have a great year in Antartic and return to home full up of beautiful experiences.

Enjoy Antartic!!, we are really privileged persons.

Thanks all for your friendship.

Best Regards

Luis Daniel Molina

Chief of Jubany Base

Scott Base (New Zealand)

Mid winter greetings from the crew at Scott Base.

We would like to offer our congratulations to all the Bases and Stations throughout Antarctica for reaching the middle point of the longest night. We wish you well for the remainder of the 2009 season and extend our friendship to you all.

We will be celebrating this significant achievement on Friday night with guests from the neighbouring McMurdo Station.

Apsley Cherry-Garrard – 1910 – Midwinter:

”We are very merry - and indeed why not? The sun turns to come back to us tonight and such a day comes only once a year”

Take care and enjoy the remainder of the season.

Nathan Cross

Winter Base Leader

Scott Base, Antarctica

Rothera Research Station (United Kingdom)

Syowa Station (Japan)

Mid-Winter Dinner invitation from Syowa Station,

The 50th wintering team at Syowa Station would like to invite all of you at Antarctic bases to our Mid-Winter Dinner which will be held on June 20th and 21st. The first and second nights will be served by our two chefs, respectively. The former is a typical Japanese style full course dinner and the latter is a French style full course dinner, as shown in the attached menus.

We welcome all of you if you could come in time to each dinner whichever you like. We have enough accommodation, maybe, and you could see a fascinating appearance of auroras during your stay.

Best regards,

Akira

Halley (United Kingdom)

To all our colleagues, friends and Antarctic neighbours,

At this special time of the Antarctic winter (marking of course a turning point in the darkness) our minds turn to the celebrations of Midwinters Day. We hope that everyone has had a successful season so far and that the remainder of the winter period continues to bring joy to you all as it has to us.

All of the 2009 winter team (Karen, Rob, Ben, Niv, Colin, Susanna, Robbie, John, Nick, Giles and Agnieszka) here at Halley Station wish you an enjoyable midwinter period full of memories to take home.

Regards

Agnieszka

PS (No skidoos or animals were harmed in the process of making the photo)

Concordia Station (France & Italy)

Macquarie Island (Australia)

Bird Island (United Kingdom)

Dear Antarctic and Southern Ocean colleagues,

Now that the fur seals, black-browed albatrosses and macaroni penguins have abandoned our little island for another year, and as the fresh vegetable and egg stocks are running low, the small wintering team of five at Bird Island Research Station, South Georgia (54º 00' S 38º 03' W), wish you all the very best for Midwinter. It is a wonderful time to reflect on the busy season that has passed, look forward to what is to come, and to enjoy the peace, tranquility and beauty of this time of year.

Our plans for the day itself include a traditional Full Bird Island Breakfast, the Midwinter Highland Games, followed by a long soak in the outdoor hot tub. We will of course raise a glass to you all on Sunday!

We wish you all the best for the coming months, and may all your winter projects be enjoyable, safe and successful.

Love and best wishes, from David, Derren, Ewan, Jose and Stacey

The White House (United States)

That was only a sample of them. I hope you enjoyed them as much as we did. Somebody printed them out and taped them to our leftover refrigerators. I only included one menu from the Syowa Station, but you get the gist. Overall, each person who comes to Antarctica is part of something really neat. You don’t have to spend a very long time with people to know you’ve made friends for life. And it’s great living and working with other nations. Down here the borders fade away and one’s nationality doesn’t matter to other people. It reminds me of John Lennon’s “Imagine” down here. We all forego the comforts of home to live on the coldest and most isolated continent. We all miss green, fresh fruit, eggs from eggshells, milk from cows, young bacon, normal sleep that comes from producing melatonin, “normal” brain function that comes from not ailing from Polar T3 syndrome (aka “toastiness”), family, pets, and friends. And we’re all down here to further our knowledge of the planet and for the experience of a lifetime.