shuttlie

so, life here has begun full force.

all and all, i am slowly beginning to feel settled, but to my suprise everyday is full and very busy (relatively low stress but busy!). i work a lot. and by a lot, i mean A LOT. my schedule thus far has been monday through saturday 7:30 to 17:30 (we run on military time here); in total i work 60 hours a week. if you add on a 30 minute breakfast in the galley (dining hall) before work and about an 1 1/2 after work, that gets my day finished around 7...i then email for an hour, chat with folks in the hall, maybe go to the gym (my new FAVORITE WARM activity), the store, or the coffee house...and then to bed. it's taking some adjustment, especially having just come from being self employed, on my own schedule, for the past few months. and this week i started my 6:30am shift...which is rough. i don't like going to bed, but without it 5:30 am is EARLY --even when it's always sunlight! the two photos above are shots taken at 10pm from the door just outside the shuttles office.

with all of that said, i totally love my job-now that training is coming to an end i am finding the environment pretty chill, and the scenery continually stays beautiful.

today i took a solo drive in one of our big red deltas out to willy field to drop of happy campers. williams field, our summer airplane runway, is built on the frozen ocean about 14 miles from station. our ice/happy camper school and two science projects are based off willy road. ice school, which i'll be doing in a month or so, is a overnight camping excursion to learn the basics of surviving antarctic storms. the two science projects, the Antarctic Geological Drilling Project called ANDRILL, and the Long Duration Balloon (LDB) Project are phenominal. scientists collect data on the origins of the universe, information on the growing ozone hole, data early geological formations of the world, and photographic images of cosmic activity.



these huge delta's just feel like monsters. the tires literally stands 5'4'' tall (just two inches shorter than me.) and climbing up onto them in all my gear is a bear!! especially when doing our daily engine checks.



the drive down willy road this time of the year illuminates antarctica's vastness. today the sky was this stunning dusty grey blue color that made the snow sink into my chest. it was so pleasant.



this is an image of willy road from a few days ago. the day to day changes are subtle but stunning!
i've started shooting video footage as well, i can see a new video project manifesting!!!!