I have a friend who got a gig working at the McMurdo station in Antarctica, what interesting questions can I ask him?

“Can I have a sample of your blood? I need to make sure you are human”.

I have an old friend who’s Australian who worked there for a season. She loved it and made some lasting friendships.

Ask you friend if they get mail year round, or if there’s a time it’s cut off, and ask if you can send anything.

Is it true that every brand name chocolate bars is available in one South outpost?

What are his/her favorite chocolate bars?

Ask them if they are going on a Antarctic Search for Meteorites team ?

Are they able to fish and eat fresh food? or is literally everything imported?

I noticed some of the areas there are devoid of snow and ice.
Is this due to climate change?

My old navy roommate re-enlisted to get Antarctica as the station…McMurdo. It was a good deal for navy folks because every month you spent down there counted as 2 months off your enlistment.

I didn’t realize he had gotten the assignment until later. He was originally told no by the Navy. That was where it was at when I got out of the Navy. When I sent him an invite to my wedding, he called me from Antarctica to tell me he wouldn’t be able to attend. It was one of the strangest phone calls I’ve ever had. When I answered the phone and said “Hello?” that had to go from my phone, through the phone service in our country, over to New Zealand where it was radioed to Antarctica where he could pick it up. His reply was the reverse of this trip. Each time one of us talked, it took about 7 seconds for the other to hear the words and their response took another 7 seconds to get back. We ended up talking for 45 minutes. It was great hearing from him but the time delay made it really interesting. I’m guessing comms have gotten a bit better since 1987.

Things we talked about varied. Basically I was curious what his daily routine was, if he (being from New Mexico) was adjusting to the freezing temperatures, and all those sorts of things. He did tell me about one really bad storm that came through and they gathered everyone into the central complex. His normal area was his work area that was another building…much smaller. When the storm passed, they got the snow moved away from the doors of the central complex and everyone went out to their own buildings. He had on snow shoes and went out, but couldn’t find where his building was. At first he thought it might have gotten crushed or blown away, but he eventually realized he was standing on top of it and that it was just buried in the snow. They managed to dig it out, but that would be strange.

How smelly are the penguin colonies?

You can ask him if he has tried throwing water into the air to see if it would become snow. Cold water vs hot water?

Didn’t we have a jelly like 15 years ago who lived/worked at a station in Antarctica?

I like hearing about people’s “normal” lives. What do they eat? How do they get food? What’s the weather like? Sleeping accommodations? Does everyone get along? Do they interact much? What do they do when they get bored? Is there anything they wish they brought with them?

I seem to recall stories from a jelly who was in Antarctica… even hearing about how they opened and closed outside doors (due to extreme wind/cold) was interesting (if I recall correctly). So many things that we just do automatically and don’t give a lot of thought to are different there… so it’s all interesting.

^^We’re suggesting to him to write up a blog about his experience. He’ll be there 5 months.

Thanks ALL so much for your responses and questions jellies!

Was it Espiritus_Corvus maybe?

@JLeslie No, he lived in Florida. I think it was someone named Len but I thought they were in the Alaskan wilderness.

^^He lived right near me actually. For some reason I thought it was him, but I guess not.

Les?? I found someone referring to them from a google search, but I can’t find actual Antarctica posts.

Could be Les.

It is Les and they were in Antarctica.

This is from their profile:

“My name is Leslie.

I am a meteorologist/atmospheric scientist, I’ve been to Antarctica twice to measure stratospheric ozone and I’m from Chicago. I’ve lived in Wyoming, and now am in California. I miss the cold!!”

Great memory! Len was close enough that in my book you get credit.

@JLeslie Thanks

@Cupcake My friend said he doesn’t get bored because he is always working, eating and sleeping. He will answer more questions on Sunday when he’s off.

@mazingerz88 Very cool. I wish I didn’t get bored… lol.

^^I think I’ll ask him if they have a recreational facility for those who do get bored and what are the things they do when they’re off work. Aside from sleeping.

@Hawaii_Jake
@RedDeerGuy1
@Cupcake
@Brian1946
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@Tropical_Willie
@RocketGuy

Here’s my friend’s response. There might be one or two unanswered questions?

————

Sorry to take so long to get back to you.

There is mail delivery. They had said that letters would get here in 2–3 weeks but packages could take 2–3 months. But I know people who have received packages in three weeks.

There is a very small store here that sells chocolate but a very limited selection. Most of the stuff is from New Zealand. The funny thing is that a lot of food here is well past its expiration date. I saw a bag of nuts two weeks ago that had a 2014 expiration date!!

I think the answer to the climate change question is yes but I can’t really quantify it for you.

No fishing. First of all the sea ice near us is about 3 feet thick rn. It will break up in January but even then absolutely not. All the countries here are subject to the Antarctic Treaty. They are super serious about not affecting the environment as much as possible.

I don’t know anything about meteorites here. Again we are not even allowed to take rocks home.

There are close to 1,000 people here now. There are lots of activities going on and of course people drink. And everyone works six 9-hour days so people are sleeping a lot.

It’s not that cold rn. Maybe in the winter. South Pole station is much colder than here. They do a thing in the winter called the 300 club. On a day when the outside temperature is below-100 Fahrenheit they heat a sauna to 200 degrees and then go from the sauna to running around outside!!!

Not me!!

@mazingerz88

Thanks for your efforts to answer us. :)

Has he seen any wildlife where he is?
Has he seen the aurora australis, or will it not be viewable until sometime around June?
Has he seen John Carpenter’s “The Thing”? ;-0

^^He was in a helicopter ride last week. Told him if they saw a dog below running…that thing is not a dog!