Today is my birthday. Before you wish me happy birthday let me make it known that I really don't like to celebrate my birthday. Reasons being are for a time when I feel like disclosing them. The point is, I really despise celebrating my birthday. I went out of my way to ensure that no one found out when my birthday was. A friend of mine [my ex-girlfriend] down here knows my birthday pretty well because it was the day we first met last season. She swore up and down that she would not let me go my birthday without everyone knowing and she was pretty right. I had done a good job until she told one person within the fire department. Consequently, the entire department found out from that person and, to my surprise, I didn't find this out till about 2 days before hand. At first, I was pretty upset with my friend. Really upset to be honest. I seriously felt like I had been betrayed. Near the end of the day, I traded those feelings in for those of honor because of the friends I made within the department.
I walked into our training room to find my name sprawled across the whiteout board. At first I was slightly annoyed but this soon gave way when I was told they were cooking me a cake in the evening. I really didn't want them too but my friends Justin and Kelly made me an upside down pineapple cake with strawberries and whip cream on top. What was even more spectacular than the cake was the nachos with cheese and salsa made from fresh vegetables from our greenhouse! Although this may not sound that spectacular to those of you who have never lived or worked in Antarctica this is a pretty big deal considering we get fresh food once ever few months. Salsa, one of my favorites, is something you
don't see among those "freshies" we Antarcticans have come to call such food. The day felt really good in the end when I realized how great of friends these people were. The next day brought more birthday cheer because we were now celebrating my birthday back in the states (because of our time difference (18 hours ahead of EST) it was 1 Feb in McMurdo and 31 Jan back home. This time since we were off-duty, we actually went to the bar to have a few drinks. I've said it before, one of the primary reasons I work down here is the friendships you forge irregardless of how far you live from the people you work with. The friends I've made over the past 5 months are the best presents I can ever receive.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment