Christchurch

Hello beloved readers,
I will be spending the next three months or so at Amundson-Scott research station, at the South Pole. I am working for Raytheon Polar Services, a contractor which provides the logistical support (construction, maintenance, food service, etc) to the scientific community in Antarctica. I'm starting this blog to keep friends and family updated on what I'm doing. My job title is General Assistant (GA), which means that I have a kind of entry-level position doing whatever needs to be done. There are 10 GAs going to the pole for this season, the austral summer. Rumor has it that we will be spending a lot of time the first month or so shoveling snow to clear out equipment that got covered by snowdrifts over the winter. Beyond shoveling, we should get to help out with a variety of projects around the station. I'm excited to pick up some new skills. The other GAs are all youngish folks from the US with a variety of backgrounds- recent college grads, professional travelers, and seasonal workers. I've spent the past few days attending an orientation in Denver with them, and so far have really enjoyed getting to know everybody.
Our training in Denver was two days of learning about Raytheon's role in the Antarctic. It was a bit corporate, as you might expect, but also kind of interesting. I did have time one night to take the light rail into downtown Denver and walk around, which was nice. Also, Raytheon put us all up in a decent hotel out in the suburbs, and I realized how fun it is to have a hotel room all to yourself! I think the only time I have ever had a room to myself before was in Mexico, and it was certainly not so clean or spacious.
After Denver, we all flew to New Zealand (via LAX), the next stop on our voyage southward. It took about 16 hours of travelling to get here, but I managed to sleep through most of my overnight flight. The planes that Qantas airlines uses for that flight are enormous, with a second story of first-class seats upstairs (I didn't get to see those). They do have a little extra leg room in economy, which I appreciated. Qantas earned my undying love by serving crispy fresh New Zealand apples and grilled ham-and-cheese sandwiches for a mid-morning snack on my last flight. As I was savoring the last bites of my sandwich (it was on fancy whole wheat bread, with warm and gooey cheese), the flight attendant came back around with another tray of seconds. I have certainly never gotten seconds on food on a plane at home.
We crossed the international date line at some point, so we left the US on Monday, November 3rd in the evening and arrived in New Zealand in the morning on Wednesday, November 5th. So we completely missed election day! I did catch the results on TV in a bar later that day.
Christchurch, New Zealand is the launching point for the US Antarctic Program. It's a small city along the coast on the South Island of New Zealand. I'm staying t the YMCA, which is right across the street from the Botanic Gardens. This morning I woke up at 5, thanks to the time difference, and went for a nice run through the gardens along the Avon river. It reminded me of the Smith campus, being underneath these enormous trees on wide open green spaces. It's spring here, so the trees have new leaves and the rhododendrons and roses are blooming.
This morning we went to the clothing distribution center to receive all of our extreme cold weather gear. I now have two big orange duffel bags full of layers of fleece, long underwear, hats, thick socks, and so forth. The outside layer is a gigantic red down parka that must weight five pounds. Underneath that, I will wear insulated Carhartt bibs, and under that I can wear up to three layers of fleece and long underwear. I also received ski goggles (the sun is up 24 hours a day, and the reflection off the snow is very bright), thick rubber bunny boots to keep my feet warm, and several pairs of gloves. We all tried on all of these assorted items, which took a couple hours this morning. Luckily, they keep the clothing distribution center pretty cold, so it felt good to put on warm layers.
After I was done with the clothing distribution, I decided to rent a bicycle and go for a ride, since I figured there won't be any opportunities for biking at the South Pole. I found a nice friendly bike rental shop and got outfitted with a nice hybrid for a reasonable sum, and cruised out to the coast in New Brighton, riding along a bike path that goes along the river Avon. It was a lovely ride through Christchurch's suburbs, and I saw a wide variety of unknown birds. At the beach I ran into two guys who are also going to the ice, and we wandered around the little town and hit up a secondhand store for costume clothes- I hear that costume parties are big at the pole. We all rode back into town together and then I wandered around for a bit, breathing in as much as I could of the sweet, humid, warm New Zealand air and soaking in the city feel that I won't be around for a while. I'm so excited for the flight tomorrow, and finally arriving after months of waiting and wondering about this trip.