I hope Seattle is treating you nicely. The weather this time of year tends to suck so I hope you're staying warm. Down here it has hit t-shirt weather! Today is a high of 28 and the snow has started to melt. Huge difference from two weeks ago when we weren't allowed outside because of poor visibility. The wind sheer was at -48 and I didn't step out for three days. So much better now that the freezers are colder than the outside again.
Work is going well. They just pulled me off of a two week stint as a Midrat where I was learning to make lunches for people at the field camps as well as the military pilots flying cargo from McMurdo to the South Pole base. Much harder than I thought to fit 2,000 calories into a paper sack.
The two weeks working nights made it easier to tend bar at 6am. Southern Exposure is my favorite as it is the diviest. Pool table, shuffle board table, foosball, and signs that say "Derelict Junction" and "Metaphysical Pole." Add a dart board and low lighting and you get the picture. It's here that the raucous crowd goes to hit up any of the five whiskeys we have down here and play "whiskey slaps". Basically you stand around in a group and take a shot, then everyone else slaps you across the face. After the first round you can't tell who's flush from the drinking and who just has had the crap smacked out of em. Cabin fever I guess.
The second bar is Gallaghars and is bigger. This is the place live music, burger bar, karaoke, bingo night, dance parties, and any other social functions take place. It also has free arcade games and air hockey. My Ms. Packman skills are improving.
After 10-12 hour work days most people here like to relax a little. There is the coffee bar that houses the wine list. Mostly American wines, but as Scott base (the Kiwi's) is only a mile away I go and get better stuff there. If they aren't lounging in the library or drinking in the bars, there is usually a house party going down somewhere. I can now say I have enjoyed a game of beer pong in the place presidents, kings, and prime ministers stay. It was a little weird at first thinking of the kind of people who have stayed in Hut 10, but I ended up laughing to myself thinking of Obama trying to separate his plastics into the ten different bins for recycling.
As far as the task list you guys sent me:
1. 1000 year old Ice with 5 year whiskey
- If 12 year old Glenlivet Scotch and 1000 year old ice run through a purification system then refrozen counts then that's one down.
2. Schnappsickels
- If they had schnapps here I could make this happen, but alas....
3. Antarctic Electric Slide
- I am still singing along and dancing behind the bar. "Boot Scoot and Boogie" is a favorite at Southern. I will need to see how I can bring out line dancing to the ice.... more on that one later.
4. Learn ice sculpting
- If I get to go to "Happy Camper" training then yes, I will learn how to fashion a sleeping area, wind block, and table area out of ice. I don't think, unfortunately, they teach how to make swans.
More on your list for me at a later date.
In terms of penguin recipes, they'll start to show up in a few weeks to moult. I don't think I can legally catch and eat one, but there's always the mummified penguin in the hut. They pulled out the Ob Tube this week since the ice is getting thin. This also means there are more holes opening up that the seals are popping out of. On my break I like to go out and watch them lay there and twitch. Much less exciting then you'd think a live seal would be, but they are the top land predators here, so there's that. Kind of like a giant tire and a basset hound combined, only smoother.
It's these breaks that make life here worth it. I took a nine mile hike out to a place called Castle Rock. It's surrounded by nothing but glaciers as far as the eye can see and it was the first time I got to get away from the base. At 4am it is a trip to think about hiking through the wilderness like that, but seeing as the sun hasn't set in a month, who's to say what night and day are anyway? Otherwise I am stuck in the kitchen, scrubbing pots and having chicken juices spilled on me and thinking "This is my life.... I chose this." Without the reminders that there are wild seals just off the front porch, I'd be a lot less happy.
Once again, I hope you're doing well in Seattle. Please tell everyone hello for me!
Chris
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Time Warp!
One of my favorite things about living here has been the sudden change in technologies and color schemes. Basically the only stuff that is here are things that people have brought with them and left. It's great to rock out back in the 1900's in many different ways.
1900 - 1920 There is a hut that stands maybe 1/5 a mile away from McMurdo. It is where Shackleton and Scott set up a shelter that was made for the desert of Australia. Obviously, heating a building made to keep cool became a nightmare and they used it as their supply hut. The hut was eventually used as a shelter due to multiple failed attempts at reaching the South Pole and the isolation of winter. While the majority of the people went crazy and died, some survivors stayed for almost half a year eating seals and burning blubber to stay warm. The hut was eventually closed up and left to be found by people building McMurdo in the 50's. It is now a perfectly preserved building.
When I got to go in and see what it was like, it really tripped me out. The majority of the things in the room have been unmoved and are exactly as they were left. The outside of the building has a pile of burlap with a mummified seal carcass on top. When you step inside, you're met by not only more visual carnage, but the smell. To the right of the door is a small room that houses two sheep and part of an emperor penguin on meat hooks. Directly in front of the entrance is a stack of hay used to feed the horses and sheep brought by the explorers to help sustain them. When you enter the large open space of the hut the smell of burnt fat, hay, and dirty people lingers very strongly. Living in an icy environment keeps your nose void of smells so facing such a thick stench really hit me in the face. The ceiling is covered with black from the burning animal fat and all around the walls were more mummified seal bits. It was cool to see the shiny drips of fat that collected under the pieces of meat that were left to hang and dry. Also cool was the wood boxes full of old cans of cocoa and dog biscuits. Old tools, clothes, and other bits polished off the shelves and storage area. Creepy to be in a hut that people clung to life in for months, and yet awesome!
1950 - 1970 The building I work and live in is one of the originals. The dorms are on the second story and have mostly no windows and padded walls to help absorb sound and light. It's really great until glycol and melting snow starts leaking over your bed from the old pipework and the ceiling collapses. It doesn't help that they made it a point to mention the use of asbestos in the building when this happens. The fun continues when you go to work and are working with machinery that breaks down frequently and in a different place each time. "Bertha" and "Slim" are the machines we run dishes and pots through. The poor characters have had a good run, but may want to retire before we're ready for them to.
1980 - 2000 The technology at McMurdo may be cutting edge in terms of science, but for recreation the machinery goes about as far as the invention of cell phones. The lounges are a kick back to the 90's with wall to wall VHS's and a giant block of a TV. The couches are the big overused Goodwill variety. Faded flower print fabric with a shape that makes it look like it was molded out of chewed gum. If a movie isn't your fancy the station has six option of live television which brings it back to the days before cable. As far as phones are concerned they do exists. All have that mustard yellow sheen with the six foot long spiral cord. It's been a blessing not having texting and cell phones to distract. The closest thing people get here is a beeper, but only if your job requires it. Someone was joking to set the alarm clock on their cellphone during a meeting and falsely answering it to see how many people noticed the impossibility of this.
Along with the technology, the majority of the food comes from this period too. There is a huge warehouse that holds the giant shipments from years and years of buildup. Unless "freshies" are flown in, this is our source for food. The oldest expiration date I've come across so far is 98', but I've only been here a month which leaves plenty of time to find the ketchup from the year I was born.
The thing that brings all the time periods together is Skua. Skua's are birds that scavenge here during summer. Along with eating baby penguins and dead fish, the are also known for dive bombing people crossing from one building to another who are holding food. Can't wait to see this! Point being the Skua I mention is an old shack around the dorm buildings that is a pack rat's dream. Things people don't need, can't fit into anymore, or have just left get put into Skua and they are free game. You want some $200 hiking boots for subzero climates, they are there. You'll probably need some shoe laces because they are hot items and get picked off as soon as a shoe of any sort is put in there. Where else would you have use for these shoes? I don't know either, but when you're done here just return them back to Skua. If I ever come back I'm packing my own underwear in a back pack and scavenging for the rest. My buddy and I noted that this was how the crazy neighbors became so comfortable rummaging through other people's garbage, as I walked out with an armful of great finds.
More soon as I finally have a day off,
Chris
1900 - 1920 There is a hut that stands maybe 1/5 a mile away from McMurdo. It is where Shackleton and Scott set up a shelter that was made for the desert of Australia. Obviously, heating a building made to keep cool became a nightmare and they used it as their supply hut. The hut was eventually used as a shelter due to multiple failed attempts at reaching the South Pole and the isolation of winter. While the majority of the people went crazy and died, some survivors stayed for almost half a year eating seals and burning blubber to stay warm. The hut was eventually closed up and left to be found by people building McMurdo in the 50's. It is now a perfectly preserved building.
When I got to go in and see what it was like, it really tripped me out. The majority of the things in the room have been unmoved and are exactly as they were left. The outside of the building has a pile of burlap with a mummified seal carcass on top. When you step inside, you're met by not only more visual carnage, but the smell. To the right of the door is a small room that houses two sheep and part of an emperor penguin on meat hooks. Directly in front of the entrance is a stack of hay used to feed the horses and sheep brought by the explorers to help sustain them. When you enter the large open space of the hut the smell of burnt fat, hay, and dirty people lingers very strongly. Living in an icy environment keeps your nose void of smells so facing such a thick stench really hit me in the face. The ceiling is covered with black from the burning animal fat and all around the walls were more mummified seal bits. It was cool to see the shiny drips of fat that collected under the pieces of meat that were left to hang and dry. Also cool was the wood boxes full of old cans of cocoa and dog biscuits. Old tools, clothes, and other bits polished off the shelves and storage area. Creepy to be in a hut that people clung to life in for months, and yet awesome!
1950 - 1970 The building I work and live in is one of the originals. The dorms are on the second story and have mostly no windows and padded walls to help absorb sound and light. It's really great until glycol and melting snow starts leaking over your bed from the old pipework and the ceiling collapses. It doesn't help that they made it a point to mention the use of asbestos in the building when this happens. The fun continues when you go to work and are working with machinery that breaks down frequently and in a different place each time. "Bertha" and "Slim" are the machines we run dishes and pots through. The poor characters have had a good run, but may want to retire before we're ready for them to.
1980 - 2000 The technology at McMurdo may be cutting edge in terms of science, but for recreation the machinery goes about as far as the invention of cell phones. The lounges are a kick back to the 90's with wall to wall VHS's and a giant block of a TV. The couches are the big overused Goodwill variety. Faded flower print fabric with a shape that makes it look like it was molded out of chewed gum. If a movie isn't your fancy the station has six option of live television which brings it back to the days before cable. As far as phones are concerned they do exists. All have that mustard yellow sheen with the six foot long spiral cord. It's been a blessing not having texting and cell phones to distract. The closest thing people get here is a beeper, but only if your job requires it. Someone was joking to set the alarm clock on their cellphone during a meeting and falsely answering it to see how many people noticed the impossibility of this.
Along with the technology, the majority of the food comes from this period too. There is a huge warehouse that holds the giant shipments from years and years of buildup. Unless "freshies" are flown in, this is our source for food. The oldest expiration date I've come across so far is 98', but I've only been here a month which leaves plenty of time to find the ketchup from the year I was born.
The thing that brings all the time periods together is Skua. Skua's are birds that scavenge here during summer. Along with eating baby penguins and dead fish, the are also known for dive bombing people crossing from one building to another who are holding food. Can't wait to see this! Point being the Skua I mention is an old shack around the dorm buildings that is a pack rat's dream. Things people don't need, can't fit into anymore, or have just left get put into Skua and they are free game. You want some $200 hiking boots for subzero climates, they are there. You'll probably need some shoe laces because they are hot items and get picked off as soon as a shoe of any sort is put in there. Where else would you have use for these shoes? I don't know either, but when you're done here just return them back to Skua. If I ever come back I'm packing my own underwear in a back pack and scavenging for the rest. My buddy and I noted that this was how the crazy neighbors became so comfortable rummaging through other people's garbage, as I walked out with an armful of great finds.
More soon as I finally have a day off,
Chris
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