It's true, folks. On January 6 (or thereabouts), I will be arriving on the Ice and will begin my 6-week deployment! I will be living at McMurdo Station, the U.S. Antarctic Program's largest station. The U.S. has 3 stations -- McMurdo, South Pole, and Palmer. McMurdo is located on the southern tip of Ross Island, and hosts approximately 1,200 people during the austral summer (a.k.a our winter).
McMurdo Station, Ross Island, Antarctica
For those of you not aware, I work in Human Resoures for Raytheon Polar Services, which is the primary government contractor for the NSF's U.S. Antarctic Program. Our main function is to provide support personnel to manage the stations and keep the program running while the scientists do their work. I'll be working in HR on the station as well -- taking care of paperwork on the Ice and helping transition into the new government contractor that will be taking over the USAP contract on April 1.
It's going to be a crazy awesome experience, and I am SO excited to be able to go. I'm currently working on getting "PQ'd", meaning that I have to get stuck with a bunch of needles and have doctors look at me to make sure I am physically qualified to go. I don't foresee this to be a problem, but I won't be able to officially go until I've passed all the medical requirements. I'm not looking forward to the needles though. There's a reason I work in HR and not in a hospital, people.
I'll be coming off the Ice on February 20 (Pending good weather! Cross your fingers!) and will make my way to Auckland, New Zealand to hang out for a week and see some good friends who live there (that's you, Brooke Scott!). Mike will be flying out to meet me in Auckland a few days after I get done with Antarctica, too, and we will have the most awesome-est vacation EVER. That's the plan, anyway. Things can sometimes get a little hairy with catching flights off the Ice, and I'm praying that all of this works out, logistically-speaking. But there will never be another time where we have the opportunity to do this, so we have to at least try to make it work! :)
If you're the praying type, Mike and I would both greatly appreciate some prayers surrounding all this. Right now, it's incredibly exciting, but there's a lot to plan and a lot to work out (and a lot to trust God with). There are a lot of firsts that we're dealing with (both exciting and scary): we've both never been off the continent, and I'm going to the furthest one away; we've been away from each other for 6 weeks before, but never THAT far away; we both have to navigate serious worldwide travel logistics; I'll have a lot on my plate once I get back to the States; Mike will have to learn to cook more than just macaroni.......etc. etc.
I will be keeping you posted on updates, and I'd love to answer any questions anyone has about the USAP, Antarctica, traveling down there, etc! It's a fascinating operation that I had no idea even existed until I started working for Raytheon. I will also be posting photos once I'm down there, especially when (if) I get to see these guys:
Peace, love, & Ice.
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