emma leigh’s antarctic blog

okay, sorry about the delay in all of this. thing have been insane since i stepped off the plane at laguardia last saturday afternoon.

laguardia you say? oh yes. let me start there. saturday morning i got up way too early after watching some of the olympic opening ceremonies in denver. the hotel wasn’t serving breakfast until 7am since it was a weekend, and i had to be at the airport at 7am. my shuttle arrived for me at baout 6:30, as planned. the driver was very nice, and we chatted the whole way to the airport. he drives a lot of raytheon people too and from the hotel and airport, and was very sure that i had passed my psych evaluation. (he was right)

so, he drops me at the american airlines door, where i head on over to the self-check ticket area. there i’m told that i need to see a ticket agent. i look for the roaming man that is sending about half of the people in line to another line, and he informs me that i’m part of the “northeast problem”. great.

i get up to the counter, and was told that american wasn’t flying to hartford that day due to the blizzard we were going to get. ooookay. it wasn’t supposed to snow in hartford until at least 7pm, and i was arriving at 4:30pm, but who am i to make such decisions? they offered to get me to another airport in the northeast, and then told me that they weren’t really flying anywhere from dc to boston except laguardia. okay. so my parents were going to have to drive SOUTH to where the snow was starting earlier to pick me up at the airport that is notorious for closing if someone breathes too hard. i took the flight, knowing that if i didn’t, i’d be stuck in denver for a few more days, and with the short time that i had left at home, i thought it would be better to actually be there. my parents were good enough to tell me that they would come get me in nyc.

so we board the plane, and i’m in a window seat next to the guy about my age from boston. he’s upset because he’s going to hartford and he has to get to boston. i was annoyed. apparently they put him on another airline to get him to hartford. i vowed that as soon as we touched down in chicago i would try to switch airlines, even though i had a feeling it would be too late at that point. i was right. by the time we landed, everyone was doing everything in their power to get to the northeast, and they were being told that they couldn’t get there until monday or tuesday. i actually had a ticket agent on the phone that told me they could switch me to a united flight that would get me to hartford at 10pm, but i’d have to go through charlotte. i said no thanks, because i had a feeling that i’d get stuck either in chicago because it would be bad in charlotte by the time i was leaving, or stuck in charlotte if it was snowing in hartford. i decided not to give up my seat on this, the last flight to the northeast for the day.

the flight was packed. i ended up having to check my carryon, which pissed me off, but whatever. there was quite the traffic jam on the plane trying to get everyone’s luggage on and getting everyone seated. no one would move out of the way to let other people by to get their luggage checked. when all was said and done, the flight was good, and i’m glad i don’t have to do that again.

we landed in nyc, and it started to snow just as we were getting off the plane. mom and dad were there to get me. thank god for them, they’re the best. we headed home, and stopped to have dinner with grandma millie and stuart on the way home. we got back home at about 8:30pm, and i took a quick napo, then headed to work at 10:30pm.

the snow didn’t even start until after midnight, but when it started, it was crazy. we got about 22 inches of snow in not a very long amount of time. it was coming down at like 2-3 inches an hour at one point in the morning. i drove myself to work, but i had jeff drive me home so that i didn’t have to keep moving my car for my landlord when he was plowing.

let’s see, the week was pretty much spent packing. i gave my notice at work monday morning, how liberating. i know i’ll miss the place, even though i’ve had my moments of hatred towards it. i’ve grown accustomed to it, and its easy. but its time for a new adventure, a challenge.

monday night we had dinner with grandma jay for her birthday (valentine’s day baby!). we went to the 99, and it was pretty good. when i woke up though, ihad a call from raytheon that they had questions about my medical and dental. so i called them back, and figured out what they needed. they needed pap smear results faxed to them, and new bitewings done from the dentist. they said that the original ones had an overlap.

so, i called the doctor’s office, and asked them to fax the results, and they were nice enough to do so. then i called the dentist (i thought i was done there!) and then scheduled a time to go in and redo the xrays.

monday night i got a nice warm hat with rabbit fur on it from jeff. so nice of him! i asked how many little rabbits died in the making of the hat. he didn’t know the answer though.

then tuesday morning i headed over to get my bitewings done.  dr. farber decided that one of my fillings should be redone, so i scheduled to come in wednesday morning to get that done.

other than that, pretty much packing and getting everything done. kevin’s been over helping, and sarah and chels of course. my mom came over twice to help as well. its been insane. i saw heather this week as well. good times.

the people on my shift at work had a “surprise” going away party for me, paul dropped the ball on that one. poor liz, she tried so hard to keep it a surprise. it was very nice, i got a HUGE chocolate cake - mmmmm.

okay, i’m going to continue packing. still a lot to get done. gotta clean out my closets!

well, here i am. denver, the sunshine state.

i got in late last night (late for me on east coast time), and passed out in the shuttle on the way to the hotel. the flights were good. i sat next to a nice girl on the way to dallas named sarah. she’s on her way to australia (brisbane) to study til july. she was really nice, and fun to talk to. she shared her gum and her wheat ritz crackers with me. walk the line was the movie that they played, so that was fun…though they cut a lot out of the movie, i’m not sure why. it wasn’t anything risque, so i can only imagine that it was due to time constraints. then, the flight from dallas to denver was good as well. the window woman next to me was very sweet as well, but i didn’t get her name. she gave me her mini tostitos bag that we got for a snack. we didn’t get snacks on the first flight, but they did have a snack pack for sale. (what’s THAT about?? not even free peanuts anymore. pssh.) 

got to the hotel about 8pm denver time, 10pm my time, i’d been up for about 2 days at this point with little sleep. i dozed on the second flight a bit, but not enough. i came in, ordered myself a sammich from room service and devoured it. i was starved. then, this is the best part, when i was putting my tray outside the door, i heard it go *click*. ah yes, the sweet sound of me locking myself out of my room. don’t think i didn’t still try to open the door. of course i did, even as i heard my cell phone ringing and i could picture the key right next to it on the bed. ah yes, there it is. so, i walked myself down to the front desk in my pjs and begged for a new key. they were so nice about it, and yes, i know that’s their job.

last night i started to get a little freaked out about everything. like, am i doing the right thing, i’m going to be wicked homesick, i can’t handle all of this. good things to be thinking of right before a psych evaluation, right? so i got a pretty good night of sleep and woke up this morning to a snowy wonderland. i had some breakfast before i headed to raytheon and then took the seemingly excruciatingly long shuttle ride. as soon as i got there, this young woman opened the door for me, with her visitor badge. i signed in for my visitor badge, and then we got to talking. her name is simone, and turns out she’s here for the same thing i am! she did her psych eval this morning to work in the dining room as well. we got a van key and were turned loose on the denver roadways to head to the psychologist’s office. she and i chatted the whole way there, and that made me feel about 100 times better about everything.

well, we got to the psych eval late, of course. with traffic and snow, how could we get there in time? lo and behold, we had to take the MMPI II personality test. and another test as well. totalling about 800 fill in the bubble questions. i was ready to die at the end of it. i think my favorite question was the one where it said something along the lines of “do you ever feel like you’re being tested?”

along with the bubble hell, we had a short one-on-one evaluation with kristen. she was very nice, and has been down to mcmurdo a few times. she had a sheet that she checked things off of, and made notes on. i hope i will pass. if not, please let me know.

after simone and i both finished our evalutions, we decided to hit up some food. well, before that we purchased some wiper fluid for the van, because it didn’t seem to be working. turns out there was enough in there, but oh well. in the gas station, i had the idea to look for salsa verde doritos (they come in a green bag). they had them! we don’t have them at home, so i bought the only 2 bags that they had. they thought i was crazy i think. i’m hoping to hit up a gas station tonight sometime, or a grocery store. kevin’ll be so happy. then, simone and i went to REI, which we don’t have back home. its like EMS, but huge. i will admit, i spent money there. i got a nice orange hoodie sweater. i love it.

let’s see, we went to noodles & co. for lunch, where i got some delish pasta with baby spinach and tomatoes. then simone took me to jamba juice. a smoothie bar type dealy. omg. if we had one at home, i’d be there all the time. then we headed back to raytheon to pick up our shuttles. hers to the airport, mine back to the hotel.

now i’m here, and going to head to the pool in a bit, and figure out where i’m having dinner. i’m theoretically flying home tomorrow morning, but i guess we’ll have to wait and see with the weather. i hope i get home, i have to work saturday night! okay y’all, i’m off!

well, i’m off to denver this afternoon for my psych evaluation. i fly in to denver this evening, and have my eval first thing tomorrow morning. i’m sure i’ll be wicked chipper.

i got myself a storage space yesterday, so i got that goin for me. i took a load over at lunch time, thanks to the help of chelsea and lenny, who were awake and semi-lucid when i came home at 2am for break. we packed up the jetta and took a lot of the boxes that were piled in the living room out of mix. that’s good, i feel like i’m making progress this way.

this morning i have a ton of things to do, so this will be short. i’m starting to get a bit sad about leaving work. why? i don’t know, i hate the place. but i guess, after 6 years, its still hard to go. last night was bad because it was so slow that i didn’t have much else to think about. i’m sure i’ll get over that pretty quick. at least i hope so anyways.

 okay, off to get crap done for this 2pm flight i have. more tonight from denver, i hope!

well, its wisdom teeth extraction day. and let me tell you, i’m giddy with excitement. or not.  i have a 9:30 appointment to get these suckers pulled, and i think the rest of the day will be quite painful.

this weekend was pretty good. susan came over and we packed up most of the kitchen stuff. it doesn’t look like a lot, but all the cabinets are empty, so that’s good.  then i had my physical at dr. manfredi’s. that went well. i have to go get my TB skin test read this morning before i get my teeth pulled. that nighti went to see Narnia, finally with mom and kevin. mom was crying within the first 5 minutes of the movie. but she liked it. i thought it was great as well.

saturday night i was lucky enough to go to the Connecticut Forum in Hartford with naomi and mom. it was “an evening with our favorite writers” - joyce carol oates, kurt vonnegut and jennifer weiner, moderated by colin mcenroe. it was freaking awesome. so funny, and enlightening. naomi’s favorite author ever is kurt vonnegut, so she was psyched to be there. at intermission i ran into mr. murphree, my british lit teacher from my senior year of high school. it was great to see him and chat for a little bit about the show. now, the excellent part. my dad’s boss was awesome enough to get us backstage after the show, and since it was looking like we weren’t going to be able to get our books signed by vonnegut, he finagled a picture with the whole group instead. oh my goodness. naomi was freaked, i was freaked. we got our picture taken with some amazing authors! after that, i was able to get Good in Bed by jennifer weiner signed for my mother. she was very nice and approachable as well.

sunday, more packing and a bit of visiting with my mom and my uncle keith. all in all, i still have a hell of a lot of packing to do, but i’m getting there. i came home at lunch last night and packed some too. i think i’m going to try and get a bit in right now before i head to have my teeth yanked. more later, when i’m all drugged up from the dentist.

well, today was pretty good. i got up at 7:30 to get my dad to the airport for his weekend away. then susan came over, thankfully, to help me pack. i really just need that extra push i think. she was great. she wrapped up all my dishes and glasses and then i packed them into the boxes. i got most of the kitchen stuff done except for the pots and pans. so i got that goin for me.

my laptop came today, that’s what i’m working off of right now. woohoo! i love it. its an HP L2000 special edition. (i think that’s tech talk for “the lance armstrong laptop”) it seems to be pretty good so far. i tested the speakers, and they sound pretty good, and i’m already leeching someone else’s wireless!

i went to the doctor for my physical this afternoon as well. what a crisis that was. i swear to god i was told that my appointment was at 12:45, but at 12:20 the office was calling wondering why i wasn’t there for my noon appointment. so i picked up the phone as they were leaving a message (i was downstairs signing for the laptop, second delivery attempt of the day). i sped on over there, and didn’t get out of there until about 2:15. i got a TB test that i have to get read on monday morning. i had an EKG - came out normal, don’t worry. also a breathing test, lucky i’m pretty good at that. all in all, it was a kickass time for a mere $300. yep, had to pay out of pocket because i just had a physical in september and the insurance won’t pay for another one this soon. i’ll get reimbursed at some point, but it still sucks in the interim.

i took susan out to lunch to thank her for her insane help this morning. that was a good time. i just love red robin =)

thennnnnn i went with kevin and my mom to the movies to see Narnia. it was awesome, even if my mom was crying in the first five minutes. at least she didn’t cry the whole way through. then we took in some dinner at the cracker barrel. it was delish.

that’s all i have for now. i’m going to fork over the laptop again so kevin can make magic on it and trillian will be installed. in the meantime, i’ll be….packing. shock of shocks.

i feel like i’m about to die. seriously. if i had known the amazing hoops i would have to jump through to do this….i’d still do it. there’s no way i wouldn’t. however, i would just like to lay down and take a hundred hour nap. or a coma. i can’t wait til i can do that!

let’s see….i’m pretty much done at the dentist other than the wisdom teeth. let me just say, Dr. Farber and his team at day hill dental have been *amazing* through all this. if you’re ever in the windsor, connecticut area, GO TO DAY HILL DENTAL - they’re awesome. they like hoop jumping as much as i do i think! amber was nice enough to call me today to remind me to take my panoramic xrays back from the oral surgeon monday, and she ended the message with  “i hope you’re packing!” i need that, thanks amber =)

let’s see. i spent too much money at EMS the past 2 days. at least i had sarah there with me the other day to keep a list for me. i’d have forgotten half of what i went there for if she wasn’t there! i got a rucksack for a third suitcase, because i know i’ll use it in NZ on the way home. i also got thermals and other assorted items that i knew i needed. its not as if i’m just pissing my money away, i think.

on the tech front, my laptop shipped and should be here soon, tomorrow hopefully. i ordered my camera as well, and that should have shipped today, so that’s cool too.

 next week i go to denver for my psych evaluation. we had originally thought that i would fly there on thursday and then home on friday. not the case anymore. they couldn’t get me a flight home friday evening, so i have to spend another night in denver. now, this sounds good up front, but i know i’ll be freaked out about getting everything packed in this apartment before that. the way i see it, i don’t have TIME to spend an extra night in denver. not that i have a choice, really. everyone else sees this as a way to force me to relax for a bit. sit by the pool, read a book. i hope i’ll be able to without stressing about everything getting done in time back home.

i’m hoping to get the bulk of my apartment stuff packed this weekend and early next week. i’d love to have that out of the way, and then i can maybe start getting everything into storage. sucks, but i don’t really have any other options at this stage of the game. i’m so bad at packing. susan said that she’d be over tomorrow morning at 9 to help with that, so i should head to bed soon so that i can be chipper for that. at least i’ll already be awake from dropping my dad off at the airport.

in other news, my pharmacy was amazing as well in getting me my prescriptions. these are the times that i’m glad i go to a small pharmacy and not a big chain one. lance (the druggist) was amazing and got all my drugs for me that i’ll need for the next 10 months between friday when i asked for them, and monday when i shipped them out. amazing. utterly amazing. another hoop jumper! i’m starting to like this sport more and more every day!

so, i packaged up a box of stuff to send out, and toted it down to the post office up by the airport. the stuffy jerk behind the counter told me that my box was too flimsy, but that he could weigh it and tell me what i was looking at for postage. it came to about $100. all in all, not bad to priority mail myself 50lbs of stuff that i save from carrying. almost all of my toiletries went as well as a humidifier, munson’s chocolate, some clothes and a blanket as well. i ended up splitting the stuff up between two boxes and shipping them out that way. hopefully they get there, because i’ll be up the creek without a paddle otherwise.

well, that’s it for now. i’m off to bed to ready myself for packing tomorrow and a physical. good times!

i know, i know. the worst is yet to come!

i have a dentist appointment tomorrow late morning for some fillings. then, the lovely Arlene at the dentist’s office was nice enough to book me wednesday morning at 8:15 to finish that off. rest between fillings? PSHAW! i’ll have none of that. that way i can get my ticket and have all that out of the way. i have exactly one week until i get my wisdom teeth out. that outta be a great time.

let’s see….had a nice weekend full of not getting things done. friday night i went to see The Matador with drew and kevin. what an amazing movie! i recommend it to everyone! then my mom’s cousins ronda and art came up to visit saturday, so my mom and i made sure we were home from target to visit with them for a bit. that was nice. then we had a family brunch at the Dakota yesterday morning. also very nice. excellent food! ronda came up again, with my uncle bob. great to see him, as always.

oh, friday i found out that i will be going to denver on the 9th of february for my psych evaluation. they’re flying me out sometime on the 9th, for the eval early on the 10th. that’ll be neat. this is truly fitting the bill of travelling and having someone else pay for it!

now here i am, trying to get all my paperwork done, and i have to go get a box from my parent’s house to ship my humidifier and my prescription medications in. should be expensive. i have to overnight it. awww yeah.

alright, off to take care of that. more as i know more =)

well, i went to the dentist yesterday morning. wisdom teeth are coming out the 6th of February and i have to get some fillings before i go. i’ve maxed out my insurance just by getting the wisdom teeth out, so that’s going to suck. i also dropped off my medical forms at the doctor. they looked through them and called me back this morning at 8am (who wakes up at that time of day??) and told me that i had to come in for another physical, even though it says that i have to have had a physical within the past 6 months, and i have. not that i’m horribly mad about this all, i just know that insurance won’t cover it, so i’ll have to pay for that out of pocket as well.

in other news, i have a headache and i’m trying not to eat anything so that i can go to the lab that’s about an hour away to get my drug screen and labwork done.

last night as i was trying to sleep, Sally from the ice called to talk to me about the timing of everything and when they were going to try and fly me out to denver to get my psych evaluation done. they’re looking at doing that somewhere around the 9/10 of february. she also suggested to me that i get myself a humidifier and ship it down to myself. she says that if i get it and ship it down today i should still get it as long as i write “WINTER OVER” on it in huge letters. add it to the list!

okay, i’m going to shower and try to call this lab about getting my work done today. hopefully i don’t need an appointment, because i couldn’t get a hold of them yesterday.

okay. i got my deployment itinerary yesterday in my email. i’m leaving on 20 February from Hartford and going to Denver. i’ll be in Denver until wednesday for orientation and safety training. from there i head to LA to pick up my flight to Auckland. then on to Christchurch for just one night, and then to the ice by 25 February. in theory. its been known that it sometimes takes more than one attempt to get to the ice from christchurch. i read that it once took someone 11 tries to get there. hopefully that’s not the case for me. though i am going in very late in the game…i’ll probably be on the last flight onto the ice.

 now, this morning fedex was so nice to drop off to me 2 packages that had been overnighted to me. one had my offer letter and all drug screen kit and all that happy horseshit in it. the other had my lab kit and all the shit my doctor needs to fill out. i’m frankly too frazzled to even LOOK at it all.

 the first thing i did was freak out and become overwhelmed by all the paperwork. then i took it all in bits and pretty much have it figured out. (thanks mom!)

then i called the dentist and rescheduled my appointment again to today at 10am. that way we can get everything rolling and rip out these wisdom teeth if we have to. i also called the doctor’s office and told them i would be stopping by with paperwork for them to look at.

then i looked to see where i have to go for my drug screen. webster, massachusetts is the closest place, so i’m guessing that’s how i’ll be spending tomorrow.

okay, i’m off to the doctor and the dentist. and then maybe i’ll get some packing done this afternoon. blah.

well…this is my first official post of my antarctic adventure. i’ll clue you all in to what’s going on now. i suppose the best place to start this is at the beginning…….

 take a trip back a few months with me to the springtime. i had been looking for a new job at www.coolworks.com as i normally do when i get annoyed with my job. i always think that doing seasonal work could be so much more fun than what i’m doing now.

 i came across a link that said “Work in Antractica” and being the type of person i am, i clicked on it! there before me was the chance of a lifetime. a chance to work in Antarctia on one of the science bases for a few months. i debated with myself, and then got a resume together. alas, by the time i did all that, all the jobs that i was even remotely qualified for were not posted anymore.

 fast forward to a few weeks ago. i had just logged in to the site that has the job listings and found that they were indeed hiring again! and this time there were two positions that i felt i could get hired for! i quickly submitted my resume to both positions late on a sunday afternoon. the following friday i received an email from the company saying that they would like to go further with the hiring process if i was still interested. i had to tell them by monday if i was still interested. well, i was giddy, let me tell you. i couldn’t sleep, my mind was racing. i emailed them saturday morning and told them i was definately still interested.

that monday evening i got a call from the woman in HR, but alas, i was asleep. we played phone tag until wednesday evening when i finally got to speak to her and had a preliminary interview. she thought i would be great for the job, and was going to pass my info on to the hiring manager who was currently “on the ice”. she warned me that it would be a bit before he would be calling and i may even get an email from him first asking when a good time to call would be.

 again. i couldn’t sleep. it was nearly 6pm, and i had to get up for work in 4 hours and i had a total of about 45 minutes of sleep. just as i was fading back into dreamland, at about 9pm, my phone rang, and it was the hiring manager! he was just calling to set up a time to call, but i told him there was no way that i could sleep so we may as well do it then. he told me that he’d get all my info together so that he could give me the attention that i needed, and he’d call back in 15 minutes. well, here i am, alone in my apartment, jumping up and down, watching the phone and waiting. and waiting. and waiting.

 after about a half hour i said to myself “i have to shower for work in case he calls and we’re on the phone right up until i have to leave!” so i put the phone in the bathroom and take (what i feel was) the quickest shower in the world. just as i was getting out, the phone rang.

 ”hi, emily? so sorry about that, we just had someone drop off 6 tons of freshies on our back door step. we had to get all that inside before it froze. on the upside, everything now smells like bananas…” (freshies = fresh fruits and veggies - quite the luxury)

and on to the interview. i passed with flying colours! the person hiring me won’t be my boss when i get there. he’s summer help, and he does the winter hiring. and vice versa at the end of our season.

 so in about a month’s time, i will head to Denver to have a physical, dental and mental exam. hopefully i pass all of these and then i head straight to LA, then to Auckland, and then Christchurch, which is where i will be until i fly to the ice. in Christchurch i will receive my EWC (extreme weather clothing) that is provided to me. after all this is done, and everything is fitted and whatnot, i wait for my flight. i could fly to the ice that day, or a few days from there.

i’ll fly to the ice on either a LC-140, a C-141 or a C-17. the time it takes to get to the ice depends on the plane. more on that once i get down there =)

 anywho…basically i have to get everthing ready to go ASAP and give my notice at work. i’m wicked excited and can’t wait to get on my way! or course, i go through bouts of “what exactly am i doing?? am i totally insane to leave a perfectly good job with good pay and benefits to work for less than minimum wage until October?!” but then i tell myself “its all in the experience…its worth it.”

so i leave in february, come home sometime in october. once i get to the ice, i can’t leave, as it will be the winter and we will get no new flights in until the weather is acceptable. the sun actually sets on my birthday, what a cool present =)

more details about what i’ll be doing and where i’ll be exactly.

i’ll be stationed at McMurdo, which is on the Ross Ice Shelf, just below Australia and New Zealand. this is the largest of the US bases with about 200 people in the winter, up to 1100 or so in the summer. its pretty much a little city, from what i have read. its about 85 buildings and there’s actually stuff to do there! there’s a gym, a climbing wall, a bowling alley with 2 whole lanes (though i hear one is warped) and a manual pinsetter. there are 2 bars (one smoking, one non-smoking) and a coffee house. they even have a pottery studio! those classes i took with my mom will pay off =) i’m sure i’ll have plenty to keep me busy in the little down time that i’ll have.

 i’ll be working 60 hours a week as a dining room attendant (DA from here on out). its six 10-hour days. but honestly, what else is there to do? it will mostly be physical labour, but that’s good. i’m hoping i’ll lose a bit of weight while i’m down there as well!

 i guess that’s all i have for now, i’m going to attempt to get some errands done this morning and try to get packing. i have a lot to do in a very small amount of time.

any questions, drop me a line =)

 ~*~em