Back at it again!

I'm a pretty terrible blogger, and I wasn't going to even attempt blogging during this year's trip to Antarctica. But, I was informed that apparently some folks actually read this (yea!) and were hoping I'd post stuff this time around. So - here's the first.

After ~30 hours of flying and running around airports, yesterday evening I made it to Christchurch, NZ - the jumping off point for much of the US Antarctic Program. This morning, I met up with a few members of the Polenet team I'll be working with this year - seismologist Erica from Penn State and two GPS students from Ohio State, Jie and Loren. It's kind of exciting to have a team to work with. For much of my field work, I've flown solo, and last year at Pole, my team of four ended up being just me and one other person.

Our only order of business today was to visit the CDC (Clothing Distribution Center - not that other CDC!) to be indoctrinated with many videos and to be issued our cold weather gear. I think it's a toss-up over whether this is actually fun. On one hand, it's the first real sign that you're actually about to go to Antarctica. On the other hand, you're trying on super-warm layers designed for extreme cold weather, but you're actually in Christchurch in the summer, so it's a little uncomfortably warm. In reality, it doesn't matter whether it's fun or not because it's 100% necessary.

After taking care of business, the Polenet team set out for a day of mini-trips to the supermarket for all the things we'd forgotten, downtown, the botanical gardens, and a lovely dinner at a restaurant serving raw meat that cooks on a hot stone at your table (yummy!). New Zealand is really a lovely place to spend some time wandering around. I'm already questioning my decision to not travel in New Zealand after returning from Antarctica this year. It's so beautiful here, and it seems impossible to be very grumpy when surrounded by so many friendly Kiwis. (After several conversations today about the negative impacts of stereotypes - even positive ones - I'm about to make myself a hypocrite.) I really think that New Zealanders are the most cheerful people on Earth. I'm sure there are some unfriendly Kiwis, but I haven't met them!

With that, I'm calling this post quits. It's 11pm here and I have a 6:30 shuttle to the airport tomorrow, which will be followed by a long flight to the ice. Here's hoping for good weather so we can land!