Life at McMurdo Station, Not the 9 to 5 Crowd

I have been here now about a week and am learning the culture and meeting many people here. 

What is this place like?  We work 12 hours days, 6 days a week.  Being the chaplain, I do not get Sundays off, so there goes a day off.

We live in dorms, just like the college days.  Some people are doubled up, some dorms are open bay with many beds. 

As I write this, it is the beginning of Spring here, and more and more people are coming in to work the season here.  In February, the vast majority will leave. 

We are 77 degrees south latitude here, and currently 20 hours ahead of you in Arizona  or Pacific time.  So today is Tuesday here, for you it is Monday, but you are 4 hours ahead...but yesterday!


Presently, the sun does set, at about 11 pm, but it does not get dark here.  The sun skims the mountain tops, and rises a few hours later.  It is strange to walk outside at 10 pm, and it is still light outside!   Soon, the sun will be up 24 / 7, and just circle around in the sky.

There are many agencies here, the National Science Foundation, a company called Raytheon, the US Antarctic Program, the USAF, and the Kiwis (New Zealand). 

There is a distinct culture here.   Many of the people here come back, year after year, season after season.  I am one of the rare ones, as this is my first time here.  Most of the people all know each other and have many friends here.

The crowd reminds me of Boulder, Colorado, a bit of Berkeley and Seattle.  There is a mountainy - artsy - adventurist feel to the people here.   The vast majority are civilians working various jobs; scientists, research, support services... Many of them are world travelers.  When not here, they are in Nepal, or going across Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, or some other exotic place.

Many have very high educations, graduate degrees, but may be doing the dishes here.    They come for adventure...and to pay off student loans.

It is a close community.  It is like a small mining town in Alaska.  There are no cell phones here, but we do have pagers.  Being that there are no cell phones, people actually talk to each other!!  In person!!  Amazing!

McMurdo has three bars, a small hospital, a chapel, many dorm buildings, 2 ice runways, the science labs, supply, a very small store, a large dining facility (and the food is very good), and many other buildings.  The buildings are not pretty, they have an industrial look. 

Mt Erebus is only a few miles away, and it is an active volcano.  I can see smoke coming out of its top!  So, isn’t that comforting...we live in sub zero weather, land on ice runways, and live on an active volcano!!

There is a distinct vocabulary here.  Here are a few words I have picked up: 

“Winter overs” - the people who stay here over the Antarctic winter (April thru SEP).  It is mostly dark (night) and very cold.  These are hardy souls. 

“Freshies”  - fresh vegetable and fruits.  These are very coveted things, as all fresh veggies must be flown in.  They last only a few days and then run out.    My first 5 days here we had no freshies, no salads, no veggies.  It was rough!  The winter overs have no freshies all winter long!

“The gerbil gym”  there are 3 gyms here at McMurdo, one of them has treadmills, and stationary bikes, called the gerbil gym.

“Win-fly”  - this is when people fly in at first light, in early August.  Usually no planes can come in during the winter due to the extreme cold and weather. 

“Finjee” - a word made up of an acronym FNG.  It means (expletive) new guy.

“Skua”  - skua means things that are stolen, taken or found or salvaged.  It is from the Skua birds that come in later, aggressive seagulls who snatch the food from your hand as you walk out of the dining hall.  So if you get something stolen, it is “skua’d”, or you just got "skua'd"!

More later!!