Q&A

OK, I’m about to mark a full week on the ice and it seems like it’s been a month. Let’s do a little Q&A.

Q: What are the living conditions like?
A: The rooms seem to vary quite a bit. I have three roommates in a fair-sized room. We have two bunk beds. I was the last one in, so I’m on a top bunk. The puzzling part is the fact that one of us works at night and sleeps during the day. It’s not much of an issue except on our day off on Sunday. Each of us has a roomy metal cabinet with space to hang clothes and three drawers. There is also a mini-fridge, a desk, a sofa, a phone and a television. Not every room has a TV, though it seems they add a few each year. The bathroom is across the hall. We’re not talking about the Hilton, but it’s comfortable enough, especially considering that everyone is kept pretty busy.

Q: Do you cook your own meals?
A: No, that is considered one of the great benefits about living here. There is a sizeable kitchen staff that prepares four meals a day, which includes midnight rations for those who work the overnight shifts. The food is pretty good, most everyone agrees, though the veterans say you get tired of the same thing by the end of the season. You may eat all you want. They just ask you to take no more than you will eat because food waste has to be shipped back to the United States for disposal. It hasn’t happened yet, but it is said that we will occasionally run out of freshies – fresh fruit and vegetables.

Q: Just how cold is it?
A: I believe the coldest this past week has been about 13 degrees below zero with a wind chill of about 50 below. The high has been about zero. Saturday’s forecast is for a high of 9 above. I hope so since I will spend much of the day out on the sea ice. By the height of the summer – December and especially January – the temperature can be expected to regularly get above freezing, sometimes reaching 40 or higher. It will start cooling down again before I leave in mid-February, but I do not believe it will get as cold as it is now.

Q: What kind of television do you receive?
A: The television is delivered by the Armed Forces Network. Remember that McMurdo was originally a Navy station and the armed services are still involved, primarily in providing transportation. I haven’t paid a lot of attention to the television schedule, but they pick and choose, combining the various networks. Earlier, one channel had a report from BBC, followed by a financial commentary from Fox News, followed by an ABC news program that may be prepared just for the network. Right now, it is broadcasting a Thursday night college football game. There are no traditional commercials. Breaks are filled with blurbs about or related to the military. That makes the programs go faster.

Q: Is there any wildlife?
A: Not yet. The only dependable wildlife, I’m told, are the skuas that will arrive by December or so. They are like large, brown seagulls. Anyone who has been to the beach and tossed bread crumbs into the air know how gulls will swarm for the food. Apparently, the skua is a little more aggressive. I’ve heard that walking outside with a paper sack is an invitation for a skua attack as it assumes you’re carrying food. We’re not supposed to feed them, by the way. There is a slight possibility that we can see penguins pass by later this year and there are better odds that we will see seals in the bay. People sometimes ask about polar bears, but those are only in the Arctic, up north, not down here.

Q: Can you play with the penguins?
A: I’ve read that penguins look at humans as if they, too, are penguins, but I do not know how true that is. However, we are under strict guidelines to never interact with any of the wildlife. It is all part of various international agreements. We are told that we may watch them and even approach them for photos and such, but if our presence causes them to change their behavior, we are too close and must back off. Neither are we allowed to collect anything, such as a penguin feather.

Q: Does it snow all the time?
A: There is snow on the ground everywhere, but there actually is not much precipitation, which is good since it would melt very slowly. Mainly, what you see is snow blown by the wind.

Any other questions?