oh, bama

greetings!

it's been awhile since my last entry... i have been devoting my little bits of interweb time to applying for jobs for next season down here.  the count down has begun and i am due to fly from here through mactown to christchurch on feb. 4th. this leaves little time to do so many things!!! i played pub trivia for the 1st time all season on weds. night and we won the over all booty aka a 6 pack of beer.  just an example of 1 of the many activities that i feel like i must experience before the season ends... we had the privilege of seeing the inauguration speech tonight in the galley, they flew it in from mactown...such a breath of fresh air!!! we took a photo at he pole and submitted it to various news outlets to show our support and excitement for the new era that is our time! otherwise, there's been lots of finishing work to be done and everyone is scattered to and fro in order to complete all the loose ends of the season.  it's getting quite cold again and the shadows are growing longer by the moment.  many of the workers here are not due to fly out until mid feb. but our crew is the 1st to dept. because we are not on a specific project,  and they need to fill planes earlier than later, the last possible flight is feb. 15th (weather permitting).  we (the GA's) are excited to get a jump start in NZ before all the other antarcticans flee for the winter! i will be spending a few days in christchurch with my pal trudy lyn and then i have no plans!! there will be many folks filtering in as the days progress and i have spoken with many friends about travel adventures, mostly i am interested in circling the island and then heading back to the states.  the exciting thing is that the exchange rate is almost 2 kiwi to the dollar, this will help in my endeavor to see the south island! i am currently most excited about an art project i'm doing with my pal moose (who has been pictured several times in the blog).  we have collected discarded electrical conduit and have cut it down to create giant windchimes that we will hang from other scrap metal we've collected to create a Calder-esque mobile out of the chimes. we will hang this assembly in some arches that are at the "edge of the world" (end of the station) that have also been discarded.  a found art sculpture and installation!!! mobiles and windchimes and trash...it doesn't get any better!! i will try to get photos up of the process soon, it's been a blast so far- our next step is tuning the individual chimes, this will be a challenge, but so fun!! besides that, everyone is just figuring out what do due post-ice... it's so exciting to know that you will be on vacation at the same time as your friends...it's the perfect reward after working 60 hrs a week for 4 months!!! i will endeavor to write more soon, until then, i hope you are all having a lovely day and staying warm!! take care!! karengrace*