I.A.T. In Antarctica With Martin Barnett – Cosmic Bowling…

I haven’t written for a while so I thought I would say a quick hello. I have just come back from Cosmic bowling.

 We have a small two lane alley here which is quite fun but not exactly the flattest lanes I’ve ever seen. It is very old school but that is one of the main reasons I like it.

We have pinsetters (People) that set the pins after every bowl and they wear stripy socks so we can see when not to bowl. Apparently, there are only a couple of these left in the states now so it is quite a novelty here.

I would be interested to hear if any of you have ever bowled like this before.
 
All is well here but I did go to the doctor the other day to look at my knee. It was quite weird being there as it was like I was in a MASH (US TV program) episode. Everything was all built years ago in the military style. Many of our doctors are military so they wear camo and green. Anyway, the doctor said I may have torn something and told me to stay away from any physical activities. We eat and do the same recreational activates as the Air Force and the National Guard here but they do sleep in different dorms from us. Played soccer that evening and we won so I was quite pleased about that.

 
The word got out the other day that we were going to have a MCI (Mass critical injury) practice excise. Nothing came though on our pagers so I didn’t think anything of it. I found out later that somebody had actually been ran over by a trailer with mac track wheels. He crushed his pelvis and his legs and was medi-vacked to NZ straight away. I am not aloud to say anymore about it but I here he is going to be ok. That is the second person that has been run over this season and one of a few medi-vacs. It is generally very safe here but you always have to watch out with the large machinery.

 
I actually got to do some welding last Wednesday. I was quite excited about that as I have always wanted to learn. I got to try all the different styles which was fun but my attempts were not very pretty. I will try and do some more over the next few weeks but we will see how that goes. I also learnt how to use a GPS in SAR last night so I was quite pleased about that too.    

One place that is a popular little hide out it the greenhouse. It is a small place which somebody started as a sideline project and the NSF (National Science Foundation) has aloud us to keep it so that is great. They grow all different kinds of vegetables and we get to eat them from time to time. There are two hammocks in there so it is a great place to hang out and actually smell some vegetation every now and again.

 
We had a solstice party on Sunday night. It didn’t actually mean a lot to us as we haven’t seen it get dark since I got here but hey, any reason for a party, right. The weather here has been a lot more milder lately. If there is no wind, we can walk even walk around with no gloves. The temps don’t change between day and night so you really do have to work off your watch as it can screw your whole sleeping pattern up, very easily. Its is not so bad for me as I can usually sleep anytime.
 
I will leave it as that for now. I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas (Hanukah for you Brian) time and you are all well.
 
Take C.
Martin.