McMurdo Station

How do I describe my delightfully eccentric new home?

If you take a Canadian mining camp, a party university campus, an Alaskan reality show, a crappy all-inclusive ski resort, and NASA’s control room, and throw them all into a big blender, you might end up with a McMurdo Station cocktail.

This place has everything. Weekly science lectures, recreational and scientific field trips, cross-country skiing, hiking, marathons, 2 bars, a coffeehouse, a library, a music room, a sewing room (Yaaay!) volleyball, basketball, yoga, 2 gyms, costume parties (which got me really excited), Russian lessons, book clubs….I am overwhelmed with options.

There are over 1000 people living and working here in the summer months (October-February). It is a small, self-sufficient town with every person working hard and pulling their weight. McMurdo runs like a frenzied (yet well-oiled) machine. Every person is important and each job is important to keep that machine running.

You just never know who you will meet next. Every day I walk into the galley (dining area), sit down, and break bread with a table full of strangers. These strangers could be scientists, pilots, weather balloon experts, cargo handlers , cooks, janitors, bus drivers, fuel handlers, waste workers, mechanics, carpenters, administrative assistants, IT nerds, nurses, the president of National Geographic, firemen,  dispatchers, ice drillers, meteorologists, Air National Guard…..the list goes on.

(And many of these people moonlight as bartenders, outdoor guides, librarians, yoga instructors, masseurs, etc, in order to make our quality of life better).

Each person is fascinating, has a great attitude (usually), and an unusual back-story. Square Pegs living in a world of round holes.  The Island of Misfits. I have not run into a “bad apple” yet. (There might be a few bad apples, but in general the sunny, “pull-together” morale floating around McMurdo is infectious).

I now understand why it is so difficult to break into the NSF program. Job retention is extremely high, and people keep coming back! I had lunch today with a lady who had just started her 29^th summer season in Antarctica. (Granted she was a little nutty, and she kept telling me that ham radios will take the place of cell phones when the whole world goes rogue in 2021). But she was a wealth of Antarctic knowledge, and she generously shared all her tips with a newbie like me.

…..and now I know who to call when it’s time to get my Mad Max on.