Thursday, January 31, 2008
We Miss You, AB!
Ralph and Joolee, who oversee the TV stations and local McMurdo TV scrolls down here, made this poster of Ana Bell when she picked the movies a couple months ago. I would just watch the scroll to see Ana Bell every 8 minutes!
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
The Southernmost International Rugby Game in the World
Pictures from the Southernmost International Rugby Game in the World held on Ross Island (technically it's on the Ross Ice Shelf next to Ross Island) between the New Zealanders and the Americans. I'm not sure how long this annual tradition has been going on, but I do know that the Americans have never won. I don't know if they've even scored in a game.I was asked to sing the National Anthem for the annual International Rugby game this year. Last year, the team sang it themselves and they apparently were not impressed with themselves. This photo is courtesy of my neighbor Lizzie Smith. I kind of blend in with the players, but if you look hard you'll see me towards the righthand side of the picture. This marked the first time I have ever 1) sang at an international sporting event and 2) sang into a bullhorn.
After I sang, the kiwis lined up for the haka, a traditional dance form of the Maoris of New Zealand. This photo is also courtesy of Lizzie Smith.
Toby drove in on this ride. His coworker Bob and he made this Snow Chopper from scrap parts after work. It took them 6 weeks and has a mattrack back tire and snowmobile ski front.
Lizzie is a kiwi living at McMurdo (just like my roommate Helen last season). She couldn't decide which team to support so she dressed half in red, white and blue for her American friends and half in black and white for the New Zealanders, right down to the ribbons in her hair and the stockings on her legs. She even had two flags and would wave them depending on which team was doing well at the time.
Each year they have a hard time finding an unbiased ref for the game. This season it was a Scot, but he lives at Scott Base with the kiwis.
This is my suitemate Emily just about to go down. She's one of two women on the American team.
Monday, January 28, 2008
January 28th??? WHAT?
I haven't updated in 3 weeks! Yikes! Where does the time go? I can't believe I only have two more working Mondays and then I am jobless until mid-May! I can't wait!! I'm just going to slap up a handful of pics for your entertainment today. It's that time of year where I begin to lose focus on everything but travel. Beaches, campfires, kayaks, roadtrips... ah, just weeks away!On my buddy Jonathan's last night in town, we chilled our drinks using glacier ice. If you look closely in the next two pics, you'll see it in our cups. Big chunks of ice with tiny little air bubbles in it.
This is me in a hammock at the Greenhouse. There is someone on station who gets paid to work in this building. It's a highly sought after job. Lots of lettuce, herbs, cucumbers, and tomatoes come out of here. Everything is raised hydroponically, and I'm pretty sure they have to have a bunch of permits to raise non-native plants here in Antarctica. It's mostly done for the winter crew who get no freshies due to no incoming flights for 6 months at a time, but they maintain it during the summer too.
Before Jonathan and a few of his coworkers left, I took them on a tour of Discovery Hut. This our obligatory "hero shot". Everyone has to take a couple of these in Antarctica. Like we just discovered the place or something.
Monday, January 07, 2008
Icestock 2008
I don't think I've mentioned in previous entries the band I've been singing with this season. When I first got on station, I knew I wanted to sing in a band but it seemed everyone already had someone else in mind. Finally there was a band looking for a female vocalist as their's decided not to sing with the band this year. I started practicing with the group in early November, and we had two main shows we wanted to play for: Icestock and the Waste Barn Party. Both events are two of the mostly highly anticipated parties of the season. The Waste Barn Party is yet to come... more about that in a couple weeks. Icestock, however, was held on the 30th of December. It has to be on one of the two days we get off for New Year's. This year we had either Sunday or Monday off, meaning we had to be back to work on the 1st, so Icestock was a Sunday event. Along with Icestock also goes the Chili Cook-off. Last year, some of you might remember that I was an integral part of Team Nick for the cook-off. This year, I was focused on the music... a nice change. An assortment of pictures from the day's events...Anyone singing at Icestock was asked to come early in the morning to cheer on the solo and early group acts. I decided to be as colorful as possible... this is me wearing a selection of knits.
My friend Brian Nelson had asked me a few weeks prior if I'd be interested in singing "The Girl from Ipanema" with him at Icestock. He didn't want to sing the Portuguese part, so our friend Bill volunteered to do it. We practiced for a total of maybe on hour on the song, but it came together really well. There was a strong sense of irony in chosing the song, especially considering the weather during the morning of Icestock. Since Bill and I both showed up in fun, bright scarves we called ourselves B. Nelson and the Scarves and stayed on stage to help with another song as well.
Then I ran inside for my "costume change" and put on this loud pink and orange wig. This is a picture of my boss Cara and I. She later convinced Dave, the Station Manager, to wear the boa for awhile.
My outfit kept accummulating throughout the day. Brian Nelson gave me these sunglasses to wear with the costume I had planned for the band's performance, but they went with the bright wig so perfectly I wore them all afternoon. This is Erin and I... I told her this picture was for her mother.
A group shot of our band in the warm-up hut. Unfortunately I can't mention the name of our band on here (it's rated PG-13 and there are little kids that read this blog), but I will refer to us as P Spill (an abbreviation). We all have stage names, so from the left you've got Poopsie Starfish, Peaches Delite, Mashed Potato, Jimmy Large (back, white wig), Tasty Crumbles (aka Ralph), and Boom Boom (me, down in front). Before the day's event, we hadn't really mentioned much about our costumes to each other. We just knew we would all show up wearing something hilarious... who knew there could be so much baby blue in one room?
During one of the songs, we have a choreographed little bit that goes "Shake your money-maker! Shake your money-maker!" over and over. While we sing, we shake our booties back and forth. Thanks to Brian Nelson for this and the next two full stage photos!
Some of our fancy foot-work for "Get Up!" by Rick James. This is how we start the song and end it.
"And they were dancing and singing and moving to the groovin'!" We were all so energized on stage that we couldn't help from jumping during the chorus to "Play That Funky Music White Boy!"
On our first day back to work after Icestock, Brian Nelson sent me this next picture and titled it, "Look Mom, I'm a ROCKSTAR!" What a great pic this is, but I have no idea what I was doing!
After we finished our 30-minute set (there were a ton of bands - see the sign in the back of this picture), I ran into my friend Emily. She told me that I was an amazing singer and she wanted to have my babies. It just so happened that my good friend Bill was standing on the other side of me, and he had already asked to have my babies the week before when I had sung at a party at the BFC. I told Emily she was going to have to fight it out with Bill. Joolee (Bill's girlfriend) jumped in the background just as I snapped this photo.
I finished my day at Icestock up by dancing to the last band with my buddies Justin, Erin, Nick, and pretty much anyone else I managed to dance around with. It was a super fun day, and I already cannot wait for next year's Icestock!
Sunday, January 06, 2008
What a Blur
The past couple of weeks have just flown by. I can't believe it's already a week into 2008. My apologies for not keeping up on the weblog lately. I'm posting a few massive posts of pictures to make up for it. This entry includes pictures from a few of the things that have kept me busy in December.This first picture was taken at two of my co-workers' birthday party. The venue was the BFC (Berg Field Center) where all of the gear used at field camps is stored and cared for. The woman who is running the building for this season picked up these fun headbands at an art sale this past summer, and they made their first appearance at Cara and Joselyn's birthday. Thomas and I thought it would be funny to wear the spatula and knife headbands near the fresh pie! Thanks to Cara Sucher for the photo.
At the very last minute, I was asked to volunteer to help with the cyclecross. Luckily, I was enjoying a nice slow Sunday so I agreed. My job was to stand at a certain corner and direct participants to the next turn. The first picture from the cyclecross race is of Kish, from Recreation, directing the racers. As you can see, most people turn out in costume! The second pic is of my friend Brian Nelson who dressed as the Biking Viking and strapped the viking helmet to his bike helmet. It weighed an extra 5 pounds easily. The third pic is of Brian on the course coming towards me. My friend Dave, another volunteer, is crouched in the background.
My boss Cara let me sneak out of a Wednesday Night Science Lecture early so that I could go watch the annual McMurdo Geography Bee. I figured I would be too late to participate, but due to a late start not only was I able to join, but I WON! The grand prize was a day swimming with dolphins in Akaroa, a town south of Christchurch, New Zealand!
Right after that last picture was taken, I raced outside to Derelict Junction (where this next picture was taken... also a Shuttle pick-up and drop-off point) for the Longest Chain of Katies in Antarctica. Last year, two other Katies approached me and asked if I'd be interested in helping them break a world record. One night prior, they had made what they thought to be the Longest Chain of Katies in Antarctica. The two of them held hands and stretched as far as they could. As most of you know, I'm up for anything random so of course I agreed. One night we grabbed hands and made the Longest Chain of Katies in Antarctica at three Katies in length. Well, this year one of those Katies returned and we started talking about breaking our record. We recruited three other Katies, and I took it upon myself to make a poster to hang around town and post on the TV scroll. We even ended up getting a 6th Katie to join us at the last minute. The only picture I have is of 5 of us stretching out. After this picture was taken, the 6th Katie showed up and we stretched a total of 41'8" (12.73 meters), thanks to Katie (Kate) Austin's genius plan to stretch as long as possible by going hand to foot. We did a few stretches to prepare, and we even had a few spectators. Special thanks to the Carp Shop (Carpenter Shop) for supplying us with the incredibly long measuring tape, and to Rich Joss and Jeff Bechtel for being the Official Measurers! The Julies threatened to break our record, but I told them we weren't in competition with any other names on station (the Mikes would beat us all - there must be 15); we are out to beat the Longest Chain of Katies in Antarctica record. Even if you made the Longest Chain of Katies in South America - you wouldn't beat OUR record!
The town Christmas party always promises to be a fun night out for almost everyone in town. The VMF (Vehicle Maintenance Facility) cleans out their workspace and calls it the VMF Grand Ballroom. There is a big screen showing a slideshow of pictures that anyone can include, and there is a DJ and a dance floor. Every workcenter is supposed to submit a decoration as well. Some people get really dressed up, but I just decided to wear a mistletoe headband. It served me well...
Michiel, my Dutch friend, and me
Bamma, Jonathan, and me
Usually you can run up and sit with Santa to get your picture taken. I'm pretty sure Santa had been hauled off to HR for harassing too many women, so Jonathan and I decided to hop on and take our own pictures.
On Christmas day, there is an event that used to be run by Sandwich every year. Since this is her first year off the Ice since it started in 2003 or 2004, Richard (on top of the sign) decided to take over. Santarctica is the largest southernmost gathering of Santas in the world (that we know of). Basically a bunch of crazy people running around in Santa and elf suits harassing people on the "streets" of McMurdo. We also crashed a firefighter party at Hut 10, visited friends who had to work at MacOps and Firehouse Dispatch, lifted weights, went climbing in the bouldering cave, and yelled at Brian the bartender at Gallagher's and Peggy at the Coffeehouse before stumbling into dinner.
New Year's Pics coming soon...