Frozen Dishes : life after the ice
Saturday, December 03, 2005
I arrived in DC yesterday afternoon. The computers at immigration were down, which caused a bit of a headache. They were letting US citizens pretty much skate through, so it wasn't as bad as it could've been. Always a bit of a shock to be back in the states after a long time away. Traffic was instantly annoying of course. My long day of flying (amsterdam - milan - dc) caused me to be asleep pretty early. Which landed me awake in the wee hours today. I decided to get up and do my laundry. It's good to have clean clothes again, even if they are the same clothes I've been traveling with for a while. Although, I did purchase a cool light jacket in Amsterdam, so at least I have one new thing to wear. Not sure what the day will bring, but I do think I need to indulge in some food that I've been craving. Plus, a stop into Blockbuster to do some movie catching up is definitely in order. I still have yet to see the latest Star Wars chapter. I'm planning on heading up to NY for the new year, but that is looking like my last trip for a while. (not counting my move back to CO in January) Sad really. I suppose I can be patient for Spain. It has been great to see my family though. My niece has gotten so big it stunned me. She is a ball of enregy and fun to talk with. This will be the longest I have spent at home for a long time. I even landed the big guest room. A bonus because the bed in the other one is too small for me.
Monday, November 28, 2005
Well, I have been free of the frozen land of ice for a little over a month now and am loving life. I awoke my first morning in New Zealand to the sounds of birds. That was fabulous. Christchurch is truly a great spot to get readjusted to the real world again. I enjoyed the botanic gardens and was happy to see some moives in a theater again. Spent a week there and then shot over to Australia to visit some friends. Then I returned for another week in New Zealand. This time I spent a week in Karamea, which is on the west coast of the south island at the tip. A lovely spot indeed. A definite must visit if you find yourself in NZ. Then it was off to Samoa for a few days in the stifling heat. A nice place with plenty of tasty fruit, but a bit hot for me. London was our next stop. Spent a few days there. Saw some cool sights, but overall not that exciting. I'll have to come back and see more of that country another trip. From there we made it to Amsterdam. What can you say about Amsterdam? A fun spot. We stayed at a cool hotel located in the heart of the red light district, so there was entertainment everywhere. We had great people watching from our room windows & our hotel bar, which was open 24hrs. We then took the train to Frankfurt Germany. That is where I am today. It's snowing today, not really what I needed to see. Unfortunately we are forced to cut our trip short. This is due to total lack of planning on our part, which makes it much worse I think. The flights are limited more so than we had thought they would be this time of year. We knew they would be busy, but not totally booked up as they are. Oh well, it just gives me more incentive to save up this coming summer for a trip to Spain. Well, time to continue the search for a pub to get out of the snow and perhaps catch another soccer match.
Friday, September 30, 2005
Well, the bowling tuornament ended Tuesday and we were not in the final match. We lost on Monday, so that ended our season. A bummer, but it was a totally fun time while it lasted. Next Tueday we are supposed to start getting planes again. Hopefully I won't get a roommate right away. I'll probably end up with two roommates before I leave, but I hope that doesn't happen as long as possible. Last I heard I still scheduled to fly north on the 17th. Not too far off now. Still working on the travel plans, but I'll for sure be in Australia & New Zealand for a month then probably catch a flight to London and then make my way through Europe for a bit. Looking forward to getting back to the beach. Can't wait for that first dip into the ocean. Tomorrow night is the carp shop party. Always a fun one. There is a band playing and they are BBQ'ing on the back deck. Up here we've got one of the best view in town. Hopefully it will be a nice night and we can hang out on the deck without freezing too bad.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
We won our last bowling match. I had one of my best games this season with a 171. The best part of it all was I bowled that sweet game whilst wearing a sombrero. The other team was full of fun people, so we all had a good time. Today it's a balmy +15. A heat wave for sure. We are wondering if this is the calm before the storm. We haven't had a good storm in a while, so that would be nice. This weekend we are having a rave party. Should be fun. Always cool to see what people come up with for outfits.
Monday, September 12, 2005
When the new people arrive they bring new germs to our once sterile environment. I started to get ill Saturday and went home at lunch to try to avoid total sickness. Took it easy yesterday and feel a bit better today. I'll probably end up sick one of these days though, seeing as how most of the town has some sort of illness. I hope next time it doesn't happen on a weekend, that just wasn't fair. Last night we were treated to some great auroras. They were quite bright and easily viewable from town. Reminded me of the pole auroras. Tonight we are getting our poker game going again, but I might sit this one out. One more night of solid rest might be a wise move. We bowl tomorrow night, so I won't be resting much then.
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Today a friend of mine came up to me excitedly exclaiming "look at me I'm wearing my sunglasses". She was very excited to have seen the sun peak over the hills today. I have recently been given the tentative departure date of October 17th. That can of course change, but for now that is what I am looking at. Not too far off now. Looking forward to hitting the Australian beaches for sure. I've got a few friends coming in at the beginning of October and I'm excited to see them before I split. A new bowling tournament started up last night and my team won our first match. We play again tonight. Our team roster has been shaken up a bit. We've got one guy with injured ribs and another original team member is now working on the night shift. But, we got two quality replacements. I had our team high score of 160 last night. It seems like it has been a while since I've had a good game, so that was nice.
Friday, August 26, 2005
Saw the sun today while I working at the runway. Luckily I was prepared with my shades. Had to look at a few times and yes it is still birght. A welcome sight indeed. 93 people flew north and 102 came off the same plane. Almost an even trade. That's it for passenger flights. The Scheduled flight for tomorrow is carrying a lot of cargo. Once that one is off deck the flights will be done for about 6 weeks.
Saturday, August 20, 2005
The first plane made it safely here today. I've already eaten a banana, my first in around five months, and am planning to have a peanut butter & banana sandwich for dinner with an orange chaser. Heavenly tasting treats. Also today while I was out in a vehicle around the runway I was honored with a viewing of an orange glow on the horizon that lasted for about 15 minutes. A lovely sight. My roommate flys in on Monday, so only one more weekend of the bachelor pad. He's a good friend, so I'm anxious to see him even if it means giving up my single room. I had a friend spike up my mohawk last night and it came out awesome with three big spikes. She used gelatin again and it's rock hard. It's a good style to greet the new people with.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Cut some of my hair off last night. I was getting sick of the back of my mohawk and it was time to change it up anyway. Now I look like the comic character Zippy. Well, my head isn't as pointy and I don't have a bow in my hair. Basically I've got a plume of hair on the top of my head that I tie up so that it stands up, in case you don't know what Zippy looks like. There is currently a mini bowling tournament going on and my team is still alive. We've played three games thus far and won two of them. Tonight will be our toughest match, so it could be the last game of the winter for us. Two nights of bowling in a row will be rough on my liver, but what can you do? The first plane is scheduled to land this Saturday. There are many folks flying out on the plane coming in and they are getting quite anxious to leave. The rest of us staying until Ocotber are excited to see the new people and possibly more so the fresh food coming in. I've got some good friends flying in and am really looking forward to hanging out with them before I leave. But, I too can't wait to have a banana, a kiwi and an orange again. Today it's very light outside and the sun is threatening to peek over the horizon more and more each day. Nice to see the frozen water and mountains again.
Friday, August 05, 2005
The film festival is tonight and I'm happy to report I did indeed finish my movie. It came out good, albeit completely ridiculous. I filmed it all Tuesday night and editied it on Wednesday. I froze my butt off filiming it as the wind was blowing fiercely that night. But, having the wind howling in the background made the film a bit better. The main character, a courageous sock puppet, is an antarctic explorer trying to find science. After braving the storm and falling into a crevasse he eventually finds the science he seeks. But, then an evil guardian of science kills him. Many explorers have died down here, so it's authentic in that sense. I think there are six movie projects being shown tonight, so it should be a grand night. As an added bonus this weekend is a two day weekend, the last of the season. Everyone is excited about getting some extra rest. Yesterday I saw Erebus, the active volcano we share this island with, for the first time in many months. It's good to have the sun coming back. The crew setting up the runway turned on the landing lights the other day. A great sight and that makes it official that the winter is ending and planes are on the way. Very exciting times and in a few months I'll be on a beach relaxing and thawing out.
