Things to Get Use To

Things I'm still getting use to:

Static: Fuck me, there is a lot of static in this place. Not just a lot....I mean a lot of static. I have been shocked on places of my body that I didn't think could be shocked. I even shocked, ahem, "myself" on my zipper because I moved wrong while I was walking. Yesterday morning when I was getting up for work, I was walking blindly in the dark to the light switch and a bolt of electricity reached out about 8 or 10 inches from my hand to the door handle. I shock myself every time I touch my bed, my computer, a door handle, etc. I shock myself when I touch electrical outlets. Getting into bed creates a light show in the dark that rivals the southern lights. My legs are constantly in pain from the electric charge in the hairs of my leg...

Perpetual Light: It's light 24 hours of the day. The sun may set at 2000 and rise at 0500 but it doesn't go far below the horizon. Several of us at the firehouse stayed up till 1 playing Halo 3 and when we walked pass the window, it looked like it was still 2000.

Cold: Now, before you label me an idiot for complaining about the inevitable cold in Antarctica, I'm talking about anything below -30. The temperature has never risen above -20 (I'm including wind chill) since I've been here. So far, for the most part, I've gotten use to it. Yesterday the winds picked up to about 35 knots which dropped the temperature to about -60. Now that, my friends, is fucking cold.

Static: Did I mention static?

Small Community: It's a very small community down here. Everyone knows everyone and if they don't know you, they've seen you around. My face, being one of 5 or 6 black ones, is a pretty distinguishing face which allows people to remember me very easily. I recognize faces, but trying to remember 200 names really is hard in the course of a week.




Yesterday was an eventful day. We ran two calls (trust me, in Antarctica, that's a lot) and did a lot of training. It's nice to be able to unwind after 1700. With the exception of the one medical call we had, we pretty much slacked around till we went to sleep. Today, my day off, is a day to catch up with laundry, take a shower, work out, play some volleyball, and meet a few people at the bar. I hope you all have a great day as well.