Antarctic Christmas

Here's two more for you. Uploading crashed after this, but I guess it's better than nothing.

Myself standing in front of a C-17 engine out on the ramp of Ice Town.

Looking down from Ob Hill towards the road for the old Navy pier and Scott Base (the green buildings off in the distance)


.
So, it's no longer Christmas. It's kind of sad, since that was something most people were looking forward to. Now all we have to look forward to is New Years. Over at Scott Base. With much reveling and costumes.

Drat. Life is tough here.


Christmas went well. Presents did make it down here, and I am mostly thankful for them. The can of nuts and a copy of Dostoevsky's "The Idiot" from my family left me wondering if there was some hidden message in there somewhere...

In a remarkably unusual turn of events, I actually dressed up and looked nice. That makes about three times in the last year, far more than normal for me. Nice pants, shoes, a new sweater vest, and a nice shirt all went into use for the dinner.

Christmas dinner itself was tasty. Lobster tails were available as well as juicy cuts of steak. Since we always do things together, the fire department also ate together. Everyone was prepared with a bottle of wine and the meal and conversation was greatly enjoyed.

After dinner, the group meandered over to Southern Exposure for some table shuffleboard and more good company.

Also on Christmas Day was the McMurdo Alternative Arts Gallery, or MAAG (pronounced mog). It was originally started to poke fun at modern art and its obscenely obscure and overpriced nature. While it still pokes fun, there are also many amusing and interesting exhibits that I wouldn't actually mind buying.

It was held up at the Carp Shop, and they went all out. They had constructed a giant seesaw and a massive version of one of those desktop toys with the balls that swing back and forth knocking the opposite balls into motion. I'm sure there's a technical name for it, but I don't know it.

Stepping into the Carp Shop was like stepping out of this world (or out of this continent, at least). Black lights, the fog machine they stole from us, some kind of odd noise band, and laughably great art rounded it out.

My favorite exhibit in there was the shirt worn by Shuttle Megan. It was made completely of laminated plywood and was actually very stylish, though I doubt it was comfortable.

It just goes to show you the creativity of the people here. Also, when this is combined with having to do something to keep sane, it doesn't really come as much of a surprise.

Following these festivities, life has returned to normal. Mostly.


Another thing that happened since the last time I updated this is that I have made the discovery of all that is good and wonderful about burger bar.

Burger bar is pretty much what it says. Three nights a week, the kitchen over at Gallagher's opens up and makes burgers. What would be considered a normal burger back in the states is a little taste of joy for the mouths of McMurdites. After weeks and weeks of sometimes questionable food in the galley, a burger tenderly hand made by our very own Jeff hits the spot. This, combined with my first taste of an unexpired beer in three months has officially made me a huge fan of burger bar.

The last and final thing worth mentioning of late was our little going away party last night. As the rotation for three of the people at Pole is coming to an end, the time has come for us to send off some of the guys we've gotten pretty close with.

Doing things in true firefighter fashion, the whole of A shift raided Gallagher's, tripled business at burger bar, overwhelmed the bartender, and in whole caused a ruckus that would've probably had us ejected from any place stateside.

It was a good time. We bade our soon to be Polies farewell. Then we saw them again today as all flights were canceled due to the weather.

That's the very short version of the last few days. I'm sure more will happen soon. Now for a nap.