Hydro Ceramics technician supervisor…

That’s the new job title…and if that wont look good on a resume, nothing will! To take it one step further I am a Hydro Ceramics Technician Supervisor aiding the NSF in the advancement of American technology and science. Sounds pretty important right? I thought so!!

There are no windows in my room so I was sure that getting up for work today would have been difficult (not that having a window would have made a difference…as of today, this continent still only sees about 3-4 hours of light a day and the sun has not yet peaked over the horizon) but it turns out that over-sleeping was not the problem but rather getting any sleep at all was the battle to be won. Even with the serious amounts of jet lag I was trying to overcome, sleep was the last thing on my mind. I felt like a child on Christmas Eve who subconsciously fights the heavy eyelids in anticipation of the day to come…and oh what a day it was.

We had yet another orientation this morning to cover more safety issues and all of the typical “welcome to your new home” discussions that I had expected. That was followed by quite possibly the most surreal and eternally memorable “tours” I have ever had. I took a “dirt” tour of the base, which could only be compared to a tour that a high school senior might take of a college campus.

“To your left is the gym, and over here is the Galley. The building in front of you is the medical building and the building to our right is the bar…that over there is the coffee shop, you will pick up your mail in building 140 and that way out in the distance is Hut Point…………………….”

We could have been following the yellow brick road to Oz for all I knew…or cared for that matter

Every word that came out of his mouth was supplemented, in my head, with “in Antarctica” and every time my brain recited that line the smile on my face grew bigger and bigger, much like that same child on Christmas morning who cant open their gifts quickly enough…

“To your left is the gym, and over here is the Galley…”

“…In Antarctica”

The building in front of you is the medical building and the building to our right is the bar…”

“…In Antarctica”

“That over there is the coffee shop”

“…In `Antarctica”

“You will pick up your mail in building 140”

“…did I mention that I’m in Antarctica?”

“…and that way out in the distance is Hut Point…………………….”

“HOLY HELL, I’m in ANTARCTICA”

I’m in that place that you only learn about a few times as a child. Maybe once in second grade when you learn about the continents and perhaps a couple of more times throughout middle school and high school if you’re lucky…You learn that its composed of ice and snow and that it sits at the bottom of the globe. You learn that its cold……….

but then the more you learn about other places in the world the more you forget about this cold rock. Before you know it, Antarctica is a place that you only read about in books and occasionally hear about in passing…No one ever travels there, no one ever talks about wanting to travel there (at least no one in their right mind) and when it comes time for a vacation you never hear people suggesting Ross Island or the Pressure Ridges. Even as the world becomes smaller thanks to technology, there is just something that remains so far away and so out of reach about Antarctica…8000 miles out of reach…

 It becomes impossible to view Antarctica as an actual place because going there seems impossible…

And here I am…

I wish I could say that the views have been amazing, but I cannot. What I have seen has been breathtaking but the majority of it has been in the dark. The few hours of light I saw today was witnessed from inside the Galley, working…while, initially, I was bummed, I have said from the start that I feel like the work will be a small price to pay for the fact that I am here in this amazing place.........................................................................................................................................................