After getting rested and updating my blog this morning, I decided to spend the afternoon on station. I picked out a quiet corner of the galley with a nice view and worked on a manuscript, wrote some postcards, and thought about my upcoming experiments. It was really nice. It's funny though - sitting in one place you realize how quickly the weather changes (and apparently this is normal at Palmer). It goes from a snowstorm like this:
To being completely clear like this within about 10 minutes:
The wind, however, is always howling. It's been between 20 and 40 knots since we got here, I'm convinced. It's quite impressive. And I really do think I've seen more snow falling out of the sky in the past 48 hours than I have in my entire life. Loving it.
For dinner tonight, we had a "Crossdown Pizza Dinner" where all of the people on board the LMG went over and ate with all of the people from Palmer Station - both the "winter over" crew who will be coming back on the ship with us, as well as the "summer crew" who we just dropped off to stay until May or June. It was a good time for sure. It's interesting to talk with the people who decide to come work at a place like Antarctica. They're all very well-traveled (or want to be), they live pretty neat lives, and have some of the best stories (I mean...you would too if you lived in Antarctica for a majority of the year). Their work schedules are pretty interesting, too. For example, the people working on the ship with me (Stian and Lindsay and Skye) will work for 1-2 months solid, then have a month or so off to do whatever they want, and then back again. They make enough money to have vacations constantly throughout the year (and they deserve it too - because they're basically on 24/7 while they run the ship). The station workers are different - they work for the months that they are on station with a few days off here and there (about 1 a week), but then get 3 to 8 months off depending on which season they've worked. A lot of them spend this time doing things they wouldn't be able to do otherwise (one told me he volunteered to go down to an island and study birds, and another built a research site on an atoll). Like I said. They do cool things.
After dinner, I helped the crew clean up (an intensive process...they keep this place spotless!) and went over to the lounge for a movie. I must say, though, the food tonight was fantastic. Some of the best pizza I've ever had...and they made cheesecake and tiramisu for dessert. Absolutely to die for. Can't believe people eat this well in Antarctica...but hey...you gotta keep people happy in a place this cold. At times during the meal I had to remind myself that I was hundreds of miles from any other type of civilization. They've done a great job making the station feel like home.
For movie night they decided to watch Boondock Saints II. Now I loved the original. But seriously? It was awful. Laughed at it the entire time because it was so cheesy / ridiculous. Don't waste your time, unless you go Mystery Science Theater 3000 on it with some friends. But for now it's bedtime. I'll leave you with what I think is the best picture I've taken yet. The island in the background is Torgersen Island, and it's where the Adelie penguin colony is that's studied the most from Palmer Station. No sightings yet (breathe Allie!) but I hope to snag a picture of them soon enough!
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