While the people working here vary from chefs, to plumbers, to scientists, there is one profession that is entirely absent: janitors. What does this mean for all of us living here? It means that everyone does their part to keep our home clean and tidy. Each week, in groups of 3 to 4, we get assigned cleaning tasks (called House Mouse) throughout the station. Some of the tasks include mopping the hallways, cleaning bathrooms, and shoveling snow. With all of us pitching in to help, the cleaning goes pretty quickly and our home stays nice and clean (though there is quite the competition over the limited number of mops!).
One of the other ways that everyone helps out is by taking a shift washing dishes. All of the dishes (both from the cooking/preparing of food and the eating of it) make their way to the dish pit to be washed and put away. Most of the dish shifts are covered by our steward coordinator but there are way too many for one person to do alone. So, about once a month, each of us takes a shift doing dishes (even our winter site manager!). I’ve usually ended up volunteering more than just once a month though, since I like helping out my friends when it’s their turn and they like to help me out too. It’s a lot more fun (and goes a lot faster!) when you’re working as a team (and having dish pit dance parties!)
