A Hiking Celebration

So for those of you who don't know our story here's the short and nasty:

For 3 years, Eric and I have been trying to do a winter here in Antarctica. Never has it worked out. Including this year....sort of. Eric got a contract but I didn't. So for the past month or so, we've been agonizing over whether one of us stays, or we both leave, and the money we could make by staying versus the happiness we would get by leaving.

Today, the decision was made.

Eric turned down the offer and we decided to get the heck out of here!!!

So, it being the perfect day for a hike, we went up Observation Hill. The photos follow...

The girl afraid of heights was scerrrd...but she made it to the top!

Ice Stock & The Chili Cookoff

Every year for New Years, we have Ice Stock...the biggest party at the bottom of the world. Bands play all day, Chili abounds from the opening of millvans, and all are merry. This is where the freaks come out to play. The weather usually sucks, but we stay out all day regardless. This year was no different. It snowed for most of the time, but hey, we like snow....we wouldn't be here if we didn't.

We mingled.....

We danced....

I played with Mike's beard yet again...

And there were ROBOTS, I tell you!!

Yes, this is New Years in Antarctica

Happy 2008!!!

To go with Christmas? A party

The town party was held this weekend also. Usually its a bit lame, so we figured we'd go late...spending the early part of the evening having drinks in Mike's room. It was a great time, and Eric read aloud from a book called 'Woman: an intimate geography'. After a few too many experimental shots (SoCo, whiskey, & baileys), this book provided hoots of laughter - and much discussion. The neighbors were lured into the room from the hallway as they heard us discussing the true size of a woman's clitoris shaft.

And always a great topic of discussion - what Mike is going to do with his beard - when he'll shave it, or if his girlfriend is really going to dump him for how ridiculous he looks!

We did eventually get to the Christmas party, but I'd say we were all a bit intoxicated! I forgot to bring my glasses....so lucky me got to wear my sunglasses for the entire evening just to see. In my state of mind, I guess I didn't care so much. There was dancing, sausages, wine, and a lot of pole dancing on a candy cane. I'm not embarrassed. I owned it.

Afterwards, we were graced with the best burritos we'd ever tasted (funny how you always think that when you're drunk) and some pretty funny conversation (like when Mike demonstrated how we should move the Christmas tree to the OTHER side of the pole so that the pictures would come out better). All very philosophical.

Xmas morning

Christmas morning in Antarctica is always great. We don't have our families, our pets, or the familiarity of our home, but we do have each other, and we've created wonderful traditions down here. Eric and I sleep in, drink coffee, and sit around the room opening our presents and playing just like little kids.

To start with, we opened the box his mom had sent us - and found cute little pajama sets. Of course we had to put them on for all our Christmas morning pictures.

This year, Christmas had a 'Feet' theme. I got him the ninja-toe socks that fit his strangley separated big toe. In return, he gifted me some funky gel 'Yoga Toes'. The goal of these little contraptions are to slowly train your toes to spread apart. The idea behind them is that we as a society are always cramming our feet into shoes (especially the insane women who have fallen in love with pointy toed heels) that go against every natural anatomical position for our feet. So Yoga Toes helps to undo the learned positions our toes have grown into. Its hilarious to feel! My feet had shooting tingling sensations, and I found that my little pinky toes had developed a parasitic relationship with the toe next to them...hahaha, but with some practice, maybe they'll

get better :)

Also on the gift list was a gorilla pod - a hardcore tripod for the camera I got Eric for his birthday. This is the ultimate travelling tripod and can be wrapped around trees, fence posts, etc to always get the shot. We tested it out with Eric's head.

He got me some great new clothes, my favorite being my brand new cammo pants. Yes, this girl has always wanted cammo pants. Not to blend into the background, not to be in the military....just because some good ol' cammo pants make you want to go get DIRTY. I got my wish! I also got some new yoga CDs and a powerball - If you don't ever get to play with one of these in your life, you're missing out.

From my family I got some cool stuff - attachments for my heart rate monitor to measure running and biking info, some meditation CDs, and a great neclace and earring set.

We had a blast opening and playing with all our new stuff - and then we went to brunch to pig out and brag to our friends!

Christmas Dinner

Piggy Pig Pigs. It was our last chance for the idea of good food until we got off the ice in February. We piled up our plates, took pictures, and enjoyed every moment.

Countdown to Christmas: 2 days!

Now it is Sunday, and although we worked today, it wasn't too bad. Its 4 pm and I'm officially on Holiday! Gotta love that. To the left, you will see my array of wonderful presents - all from Eric & my family. I even received a postcard from Ana Bell today! I wish you were here Ana Bell :)

Last night we had our department Christmas party. The theme was 'Christmas Morning'. We decorated Hut 10 with a Christmas tree, lights, and stockings for everyone. I made breakfast with the help of many people who came and went throughout the afternoon. Happily, I found that there is a brand of Italian Sausage named after me. (FYI: there is no town, street or anything I can find with my name in it, but I have found that there is an island called Jost Vandyke. Cool enough to make up for the rarities) By 6:30 pm, everyone had shown up in their pajamas and we had breakfast and our white elephant gift exchange.

Strange gifts were given, and we ended up with a hockey stick, some used shoes, dancing penguins, a fake fish tank with fish, and lots of chocolate. A great time was had by all, and after the presents, it progressed into a dance party and then into a wrestling match. By then, I had a few too many mamosas and convinced myself that someone had hidden my shoes. After walking home in my bedroom slippers - yes, over rocks and dirt - I realized I had been looking for the wrong pair of shoes! Ooops.

We'll see what fun I can get into this evening - tonight is our Town Xmas party. Santa Claus will be there, and I just may sit on his lap! We are having an experimental drinks evening where we use up whatever we've got left in our "liquor cabinets".

MERRY ALMOST CHRISTMAS!!

Countdown to Christmas: 3 days!

It is Saturday today and as I sit here at work, I think to myself "No, I will NOT do anything today." They can make me sit here, but they can't make me work. And I'm scatterbrained and burnt out, so I'm taking the day off while still being here! So what better to do than update the really old posts on my website?

Me & Eric recently were able to do a hike over the pressure ridges on the sea ice. It was absolutely amazing to get out there and see the formations up close. There were large cracks forming in the ice though, a sign that we soon would not be able to travel on it any longer. The ridges of ice that rose and fell in strange shapes around us reminded us a lot of the desert formations from the summer we lived in Moab.