Alex's first post

This is my first post to any blog ever.
I'm sorry I have not been as faithful as Lucas, but I will try to get better. The last month or so has been so intense-- We've been reconnecting with friends and family and doing so much travelling. New Zealand was/is beautiful as always. We stayed in the same hostel where we got engaged! We were only there for about two days...in that time, we managed to meet these interesting people in the christchurch square-- one of whom (I can't pronounce or try to spell his name) invited us to the hare krishna temple for dinner-- We ended up getting a huge vegetarian meal and I saw the most gorgeous child ever-- she had these amazing dark eyes--

Our flight to Antarctica was so early in the AM-- We boarded this crazy military plane with all this cargo. It was really loud and uncomfortable. I ended up reading most of the time and trying to absorb everything that was happening. I looked out the window, at one point, and the sea was covered in ice--we were getting closer and closer.

When we finally landed, I put on all my big United States Antarctic Program issued clothes and said a small prayer as I was getting out of the plane-- The COLD was so incredibly COLD that it deserved capital letters-- the kind of cold that slaps you in the face...the kind of cold that is a presence--forcing you to always remember that it's there--it was the coldest I have ever felt so far in my life (-17 F) as I am from the south and have always hated winter-- The second thing that I was struck by was how incredibly beautiful the landscape is--A surprise to me as I've seen Lucas' pictures. They were beautiful and he would always tell me that the pictures didn't do it justice-- now I understood what he meant....

There were shuttles to come meet us and take us along with our belongings to the town of McMurdo. I tried to keep tabs on Lucas as we all looked the same in our Huge red parkas. It turns out I had met our shuttle driver, shuttle bob, in christchurch, NZ last year. Lucas and I climbed into this unheated tin can on wheels and drove to Mcmurdo-- it was too cold to take pictures, but I wish I could post a picture of this transportation device so you all could see what I was talking about...

McMurdo was not as ugly as I thought it would be. It's acutally kind of cute, in it's own way. We live in a teeny tiny room in a dorm called Mammoth Mountain Inn or MMI. It's not very mammoth at all. I really like our room and the dorm, but lots of folks complain about the size. I'm just grateful I don't have to share my room with four other strangers.

I started being a lunch lady the very next day after getting on the ICE. It turns out that I was the last and only lunch lady to arrive to the ICE so it was a little awkward for a few days. Everyone I work with is really really nice. I'm slowly making friends.

The bummer is that Lucas and I don't get to see each other very often because our schedules are different. Thankfully, I got Sundays off so we can spend one day together. The nice thing is that I get to go to the gym every morning before work and listen to "this American Life" on my I-pod. I enjoy having quiet time as life has been so busy for the last few months...

I will try to be more faithful about my posts-- my love to everyone--alex