July 17

Hello again from beautiful Pentecost.

Alex and I have a few friends who are currently spending the Antarctic winter in Antarctica. For them, it's been 24-hour darkness for months. Presumably the first sunrise should be coming soon (I don't know and I can't google it).

Our friends that are currently living in Antarctica are friends that we met when we were working there. We had similar lives while we were working together. We shared the same meals everyday, knew the same gossip and had the same after-work social options. And there seemed to be this level of kinship because we were going through the same exotic experience together.

And now are lives are vastly different. Most of their food has been in the freezer for years; our food is typically in the ground the day before we eat it. On exceptionally cold days they must ensure bare skin is not exposed; we must put on a long-sleeve shirt. We don't wear shoes; they wear gigantic boots. They are making tons of money; Peace Corps Volunteers do not make tons of money. They have lots of social options that involve alcohol; we couldn't buy a beer if we wanted to. (This list could go on, but I don't see the point.)

I have never (nor will I ever) be in Antarctica in the winter time. I don't have a clue what it is like to live in 24-hour darkness with no possibility of escape. Nor will most of them ever understand the Melanesian culture as Alex and I do.

I want to write about how it's neat to have friends whose lives are so drastically different from your own; and I want to write about how our lives are similar because we are both just trying to live in a world we have not known before and that there is kinship in doing so; and I want to write about how friendship transcends environment; and such.

But most importantly I think I just wanted to write about some of my friends from the ice, as I've been thinking about them lately.

To my friends on the ice - if your after-ice travel plans include small tropical islands, I doubt there is a better option than to come and visit your friends on beautiful Pentecost. E-mail us before mid-September and we'll get back to you with all the logistical information you will need. It's a little expensive to get here, but Alex and I will take care of all food and such things after you arrive. And it should be the beginning of mango season come late October.