Minke Whales.

So I saw whales. In Antarctica. No big deal, right?

Not for the Faint of Heart.

This post is about poo.

Just thought I'd get that out there before you keep reading.

Because you see, people poo here at McMurdo, and we have to do something with their droppings.

Which is why the Wastewater Treatment Center exists. And yesterday, I got to tour it! Sounds gross, but it was actually really interesting to learn about the process...of processing...what our body processes. :)

I'm sure you're dying to know about processed poo (and other such nastiness), so I'll explain it. The waste (everything from toilet water to galley water to shower water) comes in and is ground up before it goes through a filter. After passing through a filter, it goes into the Aeration Tank, where it literally gets eaten by amoebas and other tiny bacteria-eating parasites.

After all the "bad stuff" is eaten by the amoebas, the solid waste settles on the bottom of what's called the Clarifier, and the water runs out of the Clarifier to get disinfected by UV light.



Yes, I did ask if I could use this machine to work on my tan.


After it goes tanning, the water just goes right back out into the ocean! The solid waste, however, still has a ways to go. After the waste is separated from the water, it goes into the Digester, which aerates the waste further and separates more moisture from the solids.

After it goes through the Digester, the waste moves on to the Belt Filter Press, where it gets pressed to squish out all of the leftover moisture. The leftovers are packed away in boxes so the vessel can carry them back to Port Hueneme where they meet their tragic fate: death by incineration.

Belt Filter Press

Box o' Poo

So....that's how poo gets processed down here. I thought it was interesting, albeit a tiny bit disgusting. :)

Peace, Love &....well, Poo!

Russians to the Rescue.

So maybe I'm a dork, but I am fascinated by the arrival of the Russian icebreaker, whose name I will never be able to pronounce: the "Vladimir Ignatyuk."

I am shocked that a boat of that size can actually break through sea ice; however, equally surprising is the fact that the NSF actually managed to acquire an icebreaker for this season. (Read this article for more information!). NSF has had long-standing contracts with the Swedish icebreaker, the "Oden", but this year the Oden wasn't available. The icebreaker is a critical need for the USAP, because it cuts a channel through the ice that allows the fuel tanker and re-supply ship to access the ice pier. There was a lot of drama/back and forth/panic when we found out that the Oden was inaccessible, especially because the U.S. Coast Guard doesn't have any operable ships with icebreaking capabilities.

But don't worry, the Russians came through and saved everyone. And now we will have food and fuel.

Life is good.

Peace, Love, & IceIceBaby.



Cravings.

I swear, I get more cravings than a pregnant woman down here. It doesn't make any sense because it's not like I'm really deprived of much down here. I have soft serve ice cream, and cookies, and vegetables (or "freshies" as they're called here). So why have I been having so many cravings?!

I don't know, but I started making a list and I thought I'd share because it's kind of funny. And really random. And I feel like I need to get it out of my system so I stop craving things.

Here goes.

Nachos. With tons of nacho cheese. (What the heck? When do I ever eat nacho cheese? I don't know, but I wanted it real bad.)
Moose Tracks.
Ballpark Hot Dogs. (Again, I probably eat those like twice a year...why do I crave them?)
Dunkin' Donuts Coffee.
Real bacon.
Frosted Shredded Wheat.
Nutella.
Marshmallows. (I seriously just wanted one marshmallow yesterday. Just a nice big, puffy marshmallow to go along with dessert. Is that too much to ask?)
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.
Chinese Take Out? (Seriously haven't had Chinese in over a year)

What is wrong with me......?

MUST. HAVE.

Peace, Love & INEEDTAKEOUTNOW.

Castle Rock.

I've been staring at the screen for 5 minutes, trying to come up with a way to explain how beautiful, incredible, awesome, and wonderful my hike out to Castle Rock was today. Some things are just better left unsaid, so I'll let the photos do the talking.

Trailhead

An "apple" shelter along the trail, for safety during a storm.



Red flags that mark the road

Megan & I. I did, in fact, carry a snowboard on my back for 6-miles, just so that I could go down one hill.

Erebus & Castle Rock from afar.



Castle Rock & the wonderful Antarctic sunshine.

Megan & me on top of Castle Rock.

I could not get over the scenery!

Icebergs.

Open water.

On the way back down.

Snowboarding! In Antarctica! In Jeans! :)

Happy girl :)

Hands down, one of the best days ever. Hiking is absolutely one of the greatest sources of joy and humility for me; I love to take in the Lord's creation, and it reminds me of how small I am compared to his greatness.

Peace, Love, & SnowboardingInJeans.

Robert Falcon Scott.

I was randomly invited to go ride bikes out to Hut Point this evening, which was awesome because a) I hadn't ridden a bike in awhile, and b) Discovery Hut was open for tour!

Discovery Hut was built in 1902 by Robert Falcon Scott, who I would like to meet just so I can tell him that his name rocks.

Anyway, the hut was built on the Discovery Expedition as a storage facility and laboratory. It was never used as sleeping quarters, because it is extremely drafty and very cold inside. There is a main storage area, a kitchen, a laboratory, and a slaughterhouse with the carcasses of 2 lambs and 2 penguins. Nope, not kidding. There is also a handful of poor frozen seal carcasses, blubber and all. They definitely don't smell that great, but given that they have been there for awhile, it could be much worse! Interestingly, they used the lab for gravitational experiments -- they thought that being on the bottom of the planet would cause gravity to behave in a different way. (It doesn't, in case you were wondering. If you fall on a bike, you still fall down, and it still hurts.)

I only had my little pocket Canon on me, so I didn't get the greatest quality pictures, but they are still pretty neat. I'm excited to go back with my big camera and get some more shots. The lighting was awesome in the hut, and it shifted like crazy! (I did do some photo editing for fun!)

Courvoisier.

Yep. Seals.

There is still seal in that pot!

  

Peace, Love, & Insulation :)

Firefighter for a Day.

One thing I have never wanted to be was a firefighter. Nope, no way.

However, the Fire Department on station hosted their Open House this Sunday, so I got to go be a firefighter for a few minutes! I got all decked out in the gear, which weighs about 80 pounds! Of course there are no firefighters that are 5'6", 130 pounds, so the gear was ginormous on me. I felt like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man with everything on!

I also learned how to roll out a fire hose in a straight line (which I couldn't do because I'm not strong enough), and how to roll it back up (which I couldn't do because the over-sized helmet kept falling in my face). And I got to spray the fire hose! You know how in movies, the fire hose always has a lot of power and sometimes goes flying around out of control? That's because the power comes from the fire truck itself. Lucky for me, this hose wasn't actually attached to the truck, so the water pressure wasn't bad at all. Laugh away at the photos. I know I look ridiculous.

It was going to go do a "rescue" in a room filled with fake smoke, but then my air tank wasn't working and I felt like I was suffocating in the mask, so....I quickly took it off and said no thanks :) The ride in the fire truck was much more up my alley.

Peace, Love & Fire.

Something in the Water.

I swear, being on the bottom of the planet makes you weird.

Maybe it's the slower rotation around the earth's axis, or the high levels of UV radiation, or maybe there's something in penguin poop that gets into our drinking water, but I'm telling you: this place is doing things to me.

On Monday, my left eye twitched for the entire day. Like, 8 hours. Twitch. Twitch. Twitch. Over. And. Over.

On Tuesday, I wrote a short, one-sentence email about a personnel file. Somehow, in about 20 words, I managed to string together a completely non-coherent sentence with multiple verb tenses. I was actually kind of impressed with myself.

On Wednesday, I almost walked into the men's restroom. Literally. I had my hand on the doorknob.

And today, I went to wipe down my treadmill after I worked out. Only I never used the treadmill. I used the elliptical BEHIND the treadmill.

Other small things that point to my decline: I have to re-do about 50% of all words I type (I'm normally a decent typist). I wake up every morning with my comforter half off the bed (I normally sleep very peacefully and daintily). And at lunchtime, I can never remember to hang the sign on the door that says we're at lunch (and I eat lunch every single day).

Oy vey.

Peace, Love &...Why Am I Cleaning a Treadmill?

Blasting.

What did I do today?

I blew up 70 pounds worth of TNT.

AND IT WAS AWESOME.

Crary.

Once upon a time in Antarctica...

...I did a 10k! Go me!

And then I walked. Haha.

Came in third from last (granted, there weren't many people that did it). Whatever, I am not in good running shape and my asthma did not like the cold weather and mile-long hill! But, I did a 10k in Antarctica and that is more than a lot of people can say! :)

I also went on a tour of the Crary Science Building, where all of the scientists on station do their science-y things. :) It was incredibly interesting, and we only scratched the surface of the science that takes place down here.

This is the skull of a Weddell seal. See how his teeth are pretty sharp? Weddell seals make holes in the sea ice to get in and out, and they keep these holes open the entire year. The seals use their teeth to prevent their ice holes from freezing over during the cold winters. Over time, their teeth get really worn down, which you can tell from the next picture. (I thought it was interesting).

We happened to come across some scientists doing work on Mt. Erebus on our tour, so we stopped to talk to them. Mt. Erebus hasn't had a large eruption (with lava flow outside of the Erebus crater) since the mid-80s, but they said it's probably going to have another big eruption within the next 1,000 years. Eek. Hopefully it won't be an Antarctic Pompeii. :) I did get to hold a pumice rock from the crater, which was very interesting. The rock was a decent size, but it was as light as styrofoam!

Pumice Rock

(The entire time the Erebus guy was talking, I kept thinking about Dr. Evil's secret volcanic lair with liquid hot mag-ma. I was trying really hard not to laugh)

We also got to talk to someone from the University of Wisconsin team that sets up automatic weather stations across the continent. These stations don't do much, if any, forecasting, but they look back at weather data over the course of a season. They have about 60 stations on the continent!

Bearded Man with a Weather Station :)

Last, but not least, we got to see a bunch of fossils. Scientists have used this fossil of the fern leaves to support the idea that Antarctica used to be further north and had a climate that sustained plant growth.

Oh, and here is me with a stuffed penguin :)

 Peace, Love & Science-y Things. :)