Saturday, November 29, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

At the South Pole, we celebrate Thanksgiving on Saturday instead of Thursday. It's one more way for Raytheon and the NSF to squeeze more work out of us, but everyone is pleased because it means we get a 2-day weekend instead of the usual 1-day weekend. The kitchen staff and a group of volunteers did a great job making a special occasion out of the day. They decorated the galley with Christmas lights, real linens, and candles, and make a fantastic meal. We started with appetizers and wine and live music in the hallway at 3:30, and then ate a great Thanksgiving dinner in the galley. A number of people volunteered as wine stewards and came around to each table refilling wineglasses as soon as they got low, and bringing slices of pie and whipped cream towards the end of the meal. Dinner was served in three sittings to accommodate all the shifts. After dinner, some friends and I took a break to digest while watching Elf and drinking the complimentary sangria, after which we played pool, went sledding on the "hill" made out of snow that the heavy machinery operators have piled up, and hit both of the dance parties. It was a great night- not your usual celebration with family, but a lot of fun.
Today (Sunday) we have scheduled a photo shoot out by the pole marker for the NH contingent (there are somewhere between 15 and 20 of us here). I met a guy who went to ConVal last night at dinner! He lives in Peterborough, although I had never met him before. After the photo shoot, I'm hoping that I will have the energy to go out skiing- although it's much more likely that I will fall into my Sunday habit of watching movies, reading, and spending all day sitting around talking.
The Internet has been very slow lately, and my laptop is having problems, so I apologize for not doing the best job of posting pictures. I will get some up soon.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey Molly!
I have a friend named Julie Scala from Walpole, NH who may or may not an employee of the South Pole. Met her? That would be one weird-ass coincidence!

Also: Howdy! Do you end up feel more or less closer to God in such a surreal environment?

Ice Ice Baby said...

Darry- I haven't met a Julie Scala yet, but that doesn't mean she's not here. There are around 250 people, and the scientists tend to stick to their own instead of mingling with the proletariat, so I certainly haven't met everyone. I will ask around. It helps that she's a woman- we tend to stick out more.