Wrapping Things Up.

It's my last week with the Polar Program, and I have so many mixed emotions about it. I am so thankful for what this job has done for me, yet I feel deep down like it's not the right place for me to be.

This job allowed me to move to Denver, which has proven to be one of the biggest blessings in my life. I am in love with this city, with this state, and I feel that there is absolutely no better place for us to be than right here. We have experienced so much beauty here -- not only in the mountains and breathtaking landscape, but also in the friends we've made and the relationships we've formed. We're so blessed to have found Denver Pres, and we just cannot believe how incredible the community is there. What we love about it is that it is real community made up of real people. People who aren't afraid to talk about the hard stuff in life, and who aren't afraid to expose their failures. People who really desire to pursue the Lord, and who desire for us to know him better too. People who will go out of their way to help us, like our friends that picked us up from the airport, bought us groceries AND made us dinner the night we got home from New Zealand. Plus, it is a community who likes beer and wine, which makes retreats and get-togethers really fun. :)

This job also allowed me to establish a career, which is something I'm so thankful for. I've always been envious of those who know exactly what they want to do or be when they grow up, because I've never had an inkling of what I wanted to pursue as a career. I've had lots of ideas -- everything from a physical therapist to a lawyer to an architect -- but nothing in particular ever emerged as my "calling." While that has been frustrating, it has also been a blessing in disguise. You see, I'm a Type-A person who needs to control every aspect of my life. Usually a good thing, because it makes me really organized and very disciplined. However, not having control over my career has been a difficult exercise in faith, and I think God's used it to teach me about trust. Did I ever want to work in HR? Nope, not really. But after being in this line of work for a year and a half, I actually see how it is a really good fit for me, and how God kind of just plunked me down into it because I'm good at it. I'm a people-pleaser (again, sometimes a fault), but I love helping people, I love the customer service aspect of HR, and I love the challenges that HR can bring (read: employee relations). Who knows what will happen, but I'm really glad that I landed where I did!

This job also got me on a sweet trip to Antarctica and New Zealand. I don't really think I need to say much else about that. :)

I'm so grateful for my experience with the Polar Program. But, I do feel like it's time to move on, and I'm so thankful that God opened up a door with Arcadis. Can't wait to begin the next leg of the journey!

Peace, Love, and NextSteps.

Ship Offload.

One of my fellow McMurdo-ites made this awesome video depicting the annual ship offload. I wasn't there for this event, but I'm glad I get to see it on here! Check it out.

Musings.

I leave the Ice in 5 hours, and it's a bittersweet feeling.

Much more sweet than bitter....like 99% sweet and 1% bitter...but I do feel a certain sense of sadness to be leaving.

I have words for this sadness - lots of words. But right now I don't have time to write them all down, or to eloquently compose the emotional insanity that I am feeling right now: Excitment. Stress. Nostalgia. Eagerness. More excitement.

I'll be on the South Island until the 22nd of February, then I'll be in Auckland until March 3. I will post when I can, update when I can, but mostly I am taking this time to relax. To decompress. To re-insert myself into normal society. To think. To enjoy. To simply be.

Can't wait. :)

Fire in the Hole.

Yesterday I walked across the ice pier to get onto the NBP.

Today it got blown up.
(I totally jumped because it was so loud. And also, sorry for the sun glare. It's a little intense down here.)

Nathaniel B. Palmer.

The Nathaniel B. Palmer (NBP) is one of the NSF vessels that is used primarily for scientific research on climate change, geophysics, biology, oceanography, etc. It operates year-round and actually has ice breaking capabilities (The reason the USAP doesn't use it as our ice breaker is because it isn't qualified to escort the fuel tanker). Anyway, the NBP docked at McMurdo a few days ago for a crew change, so we got the luxury of being able to tour the boat!

Like I already said, the NBP is used for scientific research. The tour guide talked about the science they're working on, but the only words I really understood were "ocean floor sludge" and "radar." Seriously, no idea what the dude was talking about. Oh well. Here are the labs on the boat:

The "morale" section of the boat was way more up my alley. They have a cute little eating area, with rails that can be pushed up on the sides of the tables to prevent any plates from flying off when a big wave hits.

They also have a sauna, which they intelligently promote as a "safety item," for when people go overboard and need to be thawed out after becoming hypothermic in the icy Antarctic waters. Which obviously happens like, ALL the time. So...they have a sauna.

Only 72 people max are allowed to sail on the NBP. Why you ask? Because their lifeboat can hold only 76 people. When they first mentioned the lifeboat, my oh-so-cultured mind immediately thought of the dingy little boats in the movie Titanic. So when I saw the lifeboat, I thought to myself, "Dang! Nice lifeboat! I'd totally be ok in that thing!" However, apparently it is not as cushy as I thought it might be. Even though the boat is covered and seemingly unsinkable, there are a few minor issues: 1) There is water for only a few days. 2) There is no toilet, only a bucket. 3) You are forced to take seasickness medicine as you enter the boat, which for some people only makes them sicker. 4) You are strapped into your seat on the boat which makes you feel every single wave.

Basically, what I'm saying is that you would be strapped into a small floating windowless pod (hello, claustrophobia), with the swirling odors of 72 people's vomit and excrement (hello, disgusting), with no food and only a little water (hello, pain).

So then I decided that didn't sound so good and I'd rather just die in a Titanic lifeboat.

My favorite part of the tour was going up to the Bridge, where all of the controls are to steer the boat. It was very cool, and absolutely beautiful.

My second favorite part of the tour was the fact that there is a workboat on the NBP called the Cajun Cruncher. The NBP was actually built in Louisiana, and since I was born in Cajun country, I was pretty excited.

Here are just a few more random shots I took on the boat. 

 Pretty cool stuff.

Peace, Love, and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Phun with Photos.

Ironic

Much humor to be found at McMurdo

Most remote church in the world

Butts

 

Well that's comforting

30° Below.

Through a series of unfortunate events, I have now traveled to one of the most unique places on this planet.

On Monday, I was invited to go to Happy Camper, which is an overnight camping trip where you learn winter survival skills (i.e. what to do in a white-out). Happy Camper was to be held Tuesday and Wednesday, so I would have missed 2 days of work. That was my legitimate reason for not wanting to go. My silly, girlish reasons were that I did not want to have to sleep in a dug-out snow cave and I did not want to have to pee in a bucket for 24 hours.

So, I did not go to Happy Camper. (Darn).

On Wednesday morning, I woke up abnormally early. I couldn't fall back asleep, so I decided to just move on with the day and grab breakfast. I ran into the gal who schedules "sleigh rides" to the Pole, and she mentioned that someone *might* be dropping from the flight, and that I *might* be able to go *if* said person *actually* dropped. But she told me to have my ECW gear on hand just in case.

At 7:20, about 25 minutes before passenger transport for the sleigh ride, I got a call telling me to GO GO GO. I made the flight! So I threw on my ECW gear, ran/hobbled up to the transport building, and was on my way!

So then I flew to Pole. Talk about being in the right place at the right time!

Our flight to Pole was 3 hours long on an LC-130, covering about 840 miles. The plane itself was delivering fuel to the Pole, and about 30 of us just went along for the ride!

Once we landed, we had 30 minutes on the ground. It was a whirlwind. Because there are actually two "poles" to go see: the Ceremonial Pole (mostly for photo opportunities) and the Geographical Pole (the actual Pole, which moves about 33 feet per year due to shifting ice). So we clicked away at one pole, hobbled over to the next pole, clicked away again, hobbled inside, used the bathroom, and then had to get right back on the plane! It was -30°, so quite frankly I was very excited to be on a nice warm plane again. My nose hairs had frozen and I seriously felt like I had wads of boogers hanging out. Gross, I know, but seriously. That's what it felt like.

Ceremonial Pole

Geographical Pole: Every direction points north!



Tebowing in every time zone. I only did this for you, Mike.



Standing on 9,000 feet of ice!

Pole marker. A new one is crafted every year.

 
I also got to sit in the cockpit during take-off on the way back to McMurdo. It was an amazing experience!

 

How do they keep all these gauges straight?!

Also, the discovery of the South Pole has a really interesting story to it. For the factual version, go to this website: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/09/amundsen/alexander-text. For the comical/explicit version, go to this one: http://vimeo.com/35084075. :)

Peace, Love, & BottomOfTheWorld.

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.