The last two weeks have been a whirlwind. My days have been filled with work and hanging out with my fellow Polies.
First, work!
There are six experiments that I maintain (though three of them won’t get turned on until March or April when it starts getting darker). The ones that are running have daily checks that I perform to make sure everything is going smoothly. In addition to those, I also help the meteorologist observe the weather and launch weather balloons. For each observation, I climb up to the roof to get a 360 view around the station. I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles….
When there are no planes on their way, we perform four weather observations a day. But when there are planes on their way, we make hourly observations and sometimes even more if the weather is changing quickly. Plane days are very busy days.
Now, since I’m a professional weather observer and all, I feel I should give a weather report! The temperature has been between -10 and -25 Fahrenheit with a windchill around -40 Fahrenheit. It’s probably 50/50 cloudy and sunny with only a few completely overcast days. The sun never sets, it just circles around the sky (it makes me want to make a 24-hour sundial). It never really snows, I think it’s actually too cold for snowflakes to properly form. We do, however, get ice crystals which are tiny bits of ice that fly through the air and make it sparkle!
Second, people!
After everyone finished getting here and settled in, it was time for Thanksgiving (only about a week late)! Since the population was relatively small (about 80 people) everyone was able to eat at one seating instead of the normal two. Everyone helped to setup and decorate the galley to make it special for our Thanksgiving meal.
Our galley staff really outdid themselves! There was turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, rolls, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, four kinds of pies (which I didn’t try because I was so full from dinner!), and more!
After dinner everyone chipped in again to undecorate the galley and then partied the night away at the Gobbly Wobbly Dance Party!
To thank the galley staff for their incredible Thanksgiving work, the next Saturday everyone on station pitched in to cook. The facilities department made breakfast, science and IT put together lunch, and cargo and supply finished up with dinner. (I was so busy that I forgot to take any pictures!) It was really fun being behind the counter for a change but also made me appreciate even more everything that our amazing galley staff does for us every day!