Smaller Details

I forgot in my last post to include something that I learned last night.  Nathalie and I will actually be at the station longer than the winter crew will.  We'll see the summer crew arrive and prepare for the upcoming season.  I guess learning that helped let it sink in that I'm stuck on an icy island in the middle of nowhere for close to seven months.

I also wanted to talk a little bit about my ECW gear since I never made a post about it due to the lack of wifi on the ship and in Chile.  Because I'm staying for the winter season, I was issued more gear than some of the other grantees.  I get my giant red parka for starts, called a "Big Red" around here.  It's nearing the warmest coat that I have ever worn, something that you definitely need when facing the Antarctic winter winds.  I also got some stylish rubber yellow pants and matching button-up coat.  Think of the Gorton's Fisherman.  That's what I look like when wearing them.  They come complete with lovely matching yellow and green colored suspenders.  For my hands, I was issued a pair of fleece-lined orange latex gloves.  All of these together with some tan/brown latex steel-toed boots and you have a waterproof outfit.  I also have a pair of black overall snow pants, just like the ones I used to wear when I was seven.  To stick with the black theme, I was also issued a pair of fleece pants and zip up sweatshirt and black long johns.  In my duffel bag is also a few different pairs of gloves and mittens, all fleecy to keep me warm.  I got some heavy duty wool socks too.  There's also a pair of giant black goggles in case I decide that I want to try to teach myself to ski for the first time on the glacier in the backyard.  We'll take this one adventure at a time.  My snow boots seem like they could be fairly indestructible.  They aren't steel-toed, but they are warm and keep you dry.  I'll probably be wearing those the most when working at the lab benches in the basement.  I'll wear the waterproof rubber outfit and boots when working in the aquarium or fishing on the ship.  The most important thing down here when working out in the field is to stay dry and avoid wearing cotton.  You don't want to feel any colder than you need to.