Dear Pam:

           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