I took one for the team!

Since I had such a wonderful time playing the first round of dodgeball a few weeks ago, I decided to indulge again when my presence was requested by the same team, HOT BALLS.  They were one of the top two teams in the League currently. 

This time I was more prepared, both mentally and physically, or so I thought.

Since there was a few extras, I sat out the first game and eyed the opponents to find their strongest and weakest players.  I tried to identify their ’stratagies’ and watch how they played.  The opposing team was the infamous Antarctic Fire House (not sure why they are infmous, but I might have an idea now!).

I joined in for the second game and had my ‘game face’ on (but not for long…).  I’d been practicing the dodging, the dipping, the ducking, and the diving, so I was much more confident in my dodgeball abilities.

Some fast dodgeballs came right away, but I was able to stear clear and stay safe.  I made it all the way until I was the last man standing.  It was one other guy from the Fire House and me.  I had thrown the few balls I had (unfortunately I’d missed him) and went to pick up another ball.  At that point, I wasn’t sure what strategy to do so I turned to my teammates looking for guidance and right at that point, I got tagged in the leg and the Fire House won game two. 

We started game three and I was all fired up and ready to kick some ___!  The whistle blew and we ran for control of the dodgeballs.  I wasn’t able to get one, but had my eyes wide open and ready to dodge at a moments notice.  I roved back and forth to be a moving target.  That seemed to work in the past.  Unfortunately when I began to duck a dodgeball coming from my left, I missed the OTHER DODGEBALL coming straight at me and it struck me right in the FACE!   Well, I didn’t die, no bones were broken and I could still talk okay, but I felt the wind knocked out of me and a little dizzy.  I heard lots of ooohhs and ahhhs and drifted slowly to the closest wall, fortunatly it was not more than a few feet. 

The game was immediately halted and everyone was very eager to help me and make sure I was okay.  I could still see even though tears were pouring down my face, not so much in pain, but in shock of the big hard rubber dodgeball striking me out of the blue.  Without any help, I slowly made my way off the court, while all spectators and players clapped.  I now know how professional sports players feel when they are injured and when the finally get up they get an ovation from the stadium crowd, well atleast sort of!  It was pretty cool to be cheered for.

I went to the bathroom and checked out my condition in the mirror.  I wasn’t sure what to expect.  The left side of my face (from my perspective) was red and puffy and a friend/fire house employee said she could still see my contact, so I thought I would be okay!  I would hate to have my contact lodged anywere that I couldn’t see let alone reach.  I can only imagine that wouldn’t be a fun procedure to have done, especially down here by the resident doctor that comes from a OB/GYN practice. 

When I returned from the bathroom the HOT BALLS had won the third game.  So not only did my face help take out one player (The rules state that if you peg someone in the face, you are automatically out), but I helped the team win the round that evening.  I was pretty excited.  You might even say that I ‘took one for the team!’

After the three games were over, lots of people checked on me and by then I was fine.  The guy that pegged my face felt really awful, but I knew it was just an accident.  I told him if I got a black eye from this I would hunt him down and we would have to renegotiate.

Rather than continuing my evening plans of attending a friends birthday party, I headed back to my room to ice my face, take two ibuprofen and head to bed. 

For the next two days I had a headache, but other than a little puffyness, I have fully recovered.  I would even consider playing dodgeball if asked again!

Did someone say Dodgeball?

Dodge, duck, dive, dip, dodge.

These were the words of wisdow I was given after I committed to play in the opening game of a dodgeball tournament.  It was a bit intimidating after hearing that line, but little did I know it could get WORSE! 

Some friends of mine (atleast I thought so initially.  I might be reconsidering this) peer pressured me to skip my already made plans and engage in a friendly game of DODGEBALL.  We met after dinner and I soon saw one of my friends/kitchen coworkers strap on a pair of BIG safety glasses.  This terrified me.  And then, we began to watch the current game that was being played.  These people were serious  More serious than the movie.  There were dodgeballs flying very fast in the air and people were getting knocked out left and right.

I decided to stick it out for the night and have since become an alternate for this team.  It was five others and myself and we initially ‘warmed up.’  I didn’t know there was need to ‘warm up’ for dodgeball, but I guess it’s good to prepare for getting pegged by a fast moving, not so soft balls.  As my teammates stretched and moved odd parts of their bodies in very strange ways, I just copied what they did.  I didn’t want to look like the odd duck!  I threw the ball a few times against the target on the wall and tried to look like I knew what I was doing.  I don’t recall ever warming up during gym class in elementary school when we played this and I don’t remember that my young friends put on there ‘game face’ for this sport.  What had I got myself into?

Then it was GAME TIME!  We reviewed the rules with the referee (yes there were two refs) and the whistle blew.  I didn’t realize that this game actually had rules let alone referees and whistles.  The rules are taking directly from the American Dodgeball Association of America and I guess that’s what we follow down here in these parts. 

The dodgeballs started flying immediatly after we all ran to the center line to claim control of the dodgeballs.  I quickly realized that I could dodge very well.  I dodged.  I ducked.  I dived, but only a little.  And I dipped.  I also quickly realized that I couldn’t throw to save my life.  So after the other four men on my team were out from being hit by a flying dodge ball or the other team catching our dodgeball, it was only the two strong women that survived, (I find that strangly curious) Alice and myself, and the one female opposing player.  Knowing that both Alice and I couldn’t throw so well, we tried to strategize on how we could possibly win.  During that time, I got hit.  It was a low blow, but it worked.  I guess we took too long to calculate our plan.  Then it was just Alice and one woman from the other team.  The other woman left was a pro that was carried over from another team since they needed to play with atleast one female.  Alice tried her best to stay in the game and gave it a good ‘ol college try, but eventually got hit.  We both agreed that we need to improve our throwing skills before the next game!  A dodgeball player can’t survive along on dodging, ducking, diving, dipping AND good looks!

We played four more games and won all of them.  I was able to remain until the last two people for each round.  I felt like I could survive the pressure and stress even if I couldn’t throw so well.  I got a few jabs in, but what usually got me out was when another player caught my dodgeball. 

I helped the team start off the season with a win!  I was extremely pleased.  I am not sure if I will get the opportunity to play again with this team, but definitly enjoyed my first experience with playing with the pros!  What a night!

An Awesome Week In Review…

I have had just an amazing last few days.  Let me catch you up…

The week begain with Monday as my day off from work, yeah!  I started off the day by sleeping in (sleeping until 6am is sleeping in because I usually get up by 4am) and then heading to a nice leisurely breakfast (about 2 hours).  I sat with people I had not seen while I eat breakfast and made plans to take a tour of the waste plant later in the week.  It may not sound exciting, but these are cool people, so it has to be fun!  The morning continued by a trip to the gerbil gym for a great workout.  I had the gym pretty much to myself and it was wonderful. 

Next, I headed to visit my friend Peggy, another employee who packages most the food for the groups of people that go out to the field camps and various other expeditions.  The food is mostly dried or frozen, like we have in the kitchen, but a much bigger and better variety to offer.  She puts it all together to make it easier for travel and storage.  Linda and I befriended her during Winfly and realized she’s just this amazing women that is always great to be around.  She’s been coming down here for the last 12 years and has a wealth of knowledge about life on this continent.  While visiting with Peggy, we (Linda and I) made plans for the first (of many hopefully) Fresh Mexican Night!  Peggy had scored some fresh avocado and limes from some friends that just came in from NZ and in the kitchen, we had some lemons, tomatoes, and red onions, recently cooked black beans, and we picked up some frozen fish from Peggy’s stash.  It was the makings of a great Mexican night!  We made arrangements to meet at the BFC (Berg Field Center) kitchen later that night.

Later Monday evening after a day of relaxation and napping, Linda and I headed to meet Peggy and Anne, another good connection down here.  Anne has also been coming down here for the last 12 years and works at LDB (long distance ballon-a balloown that is sent around the earth to gather information about what’s going on in our atmosphere).  What is extraordinary about Ann is that in 1993 she was one of four to ski, yes, ski, across Antarctica in an all women’s group.  If you are interested in more informatio about Anne’s journey, check out www.annbancroftfoundation.org.  When we arrived at the BFC, we were greeted with fresh margaritas and smiling faces of hungry friends.  We sat around and nibbled on homemade fresh salsa and guacamole and had an awesome dinner of fish tacos and bean burrito’s thanks to Linda and some spare time at work!  We sat around and enjoyed each other’s company while Peggy and Anne shared their worldly wisdom of McMurdo with us.  it was an eye opening and educational experience.  I look forward to move night of fresh food, drinks and great company!

What continued my week of goodness was the great day I had on Wednesday.  I worked, blah, blah, blah, as usual, but decided to engage in an aerobics class titled ‘Butts & Guts’ later that afternoon.  How could this NOT be fun!  The class was lead by this extremely energetic women that I don’t think had the total of 1# of fat on her body.  She made my buts and guts move more than they had in since being down here, other than being filled.  I enjoyed the challenge of the class, but didn’t like the format.  I might try it again every now and then, but will have to check out other fitness classes. 

After the B&G class, I decided to stay in the class and join the Tap Dance class.  Now I had danced when I was a kid (many years ago) and have thought that it would be fun to participate as an adult, but had never taken the next steps to try it.  This was my chance!  It was GREAT!  I was one of four and one was the teacher, Dorothy!  Dorothy is this rockstar tap dancer that has been doing this for umpteen years!  She’s an excellent teacher and I was even improving by the end of the evening.  It was great fun and I would like to continue participating in this class.  Maybe when I return I can put on a recital for those interested. 

To conclude my day, yes, there’s more, I joined the group in the dinning room that was playing cards.  It was a surly group with the Rabbi (Dr. Don) and two others that work around the station.  I met nice people and learned some new card games.  I enjoyed the time spent together and look forward to attending this ‘game night’ again next Wedensday!

The next exciting evening took place on Thursday with a hike to the NZ base.  Linda, Jenny (the administrative assistant to the Executive and the Head Chef), and I headed there early in the evening.  It was a beautiful evening, about 15 degrees (yes, that’s beautiful!) and not much wind.  The hike is pretty easy to get there, about 2 1/2 miles with a slight incline, but much tougher on the return trip.  Linda was a bit tired (see below), but we did our best to keep here going strong.  We walked there, played around in the NZ store (got some holiday shopping ideas) and looked at some of the pressure ridges then took the shuttle back to McMurdo (yes, we took the easy way out, but it had been a long day of work!)  When we got back to the dinning hall, we snacked (we’d worked up a good appetite and deserved it) and ran into Dan, the president of NANA Services, Inc. (the big cheese of the company I work for, the company that Raytheon contracts for food services, hospitality, and janitorial services).  Dan was extremely friendly and shared with us how he was enjoying his stay down here so far. 

This is Linda who was too tired to walk anymore.

This is when Linda and Jenny made up!

This is Jenny trying to make Linda get up and walk.

 

These are pressure ridges from the NZ base. This is formed by the sea ice and the ice shelf meeting and pushing against each other.

Another view of the pressure ridges.

I concluded the evening with a stop at Gallagher’s, the local non smoking bar that gets busy as the week goes on.  I ran into some work buddies and was social for a while.  It was a nice way to end a great day!

Okay, so that was just three days of excitement.  I am sure there will be more adventures to report on.  Stay tuned…

Marci Darci enjoys a Saturday night…in spirit!

I have been given the nickname ‘Marci Darci’ from a winter-over and it just seemed to stick.  So since I was (no longer doing this anymore) working the Mid Rats shift (stands for Midnight Rations) working from 8pm until 6am, I was going to miss a very exciting and fun filled Saturday night.  It was one of the first weekends of main body (when there are loads of people here and the station is getting closer to full capacity).  There was going to be live bands playing at the bar, lots of fun and entertainment, and one of the last weekends for a lot of winter-over people.  I was a little bit sad I was not going to be a part of such festivities.

I had a new friend of mine, Rachel, a winter-over, have a great idea of how I could celebrate the evening in spirit.  She took a sharpie, drew my curly hair on her fingers, my face on the palm of her hand and my name on the bottom of her hand by her wrist.  This way, she could hold up her hand during the celebration and I could be there in spirit.  I even got a full run down at the conclusion of the evening about how much fun I had enjoyed.  I was glad that I could be a part of the fun when the rest of the community partied!

The following are a few photos of how much I enjoyed the evening.  I even met and made new friends while I was out (in spirit)!

Here is B. Nelson and Marci-Darci in spirit.

Katie & Marci Darci

Alice, Rachel (the inventor of this whole deal, and Marci Darci

More Jews on Ice-Challah-palooza

So Yom Kippur came and I was fortunately able to get the evening and day off.  Linda and I met in the synagogue (the side portion of the Chapel of the Snows) and met another Jewish friend of ours that is down here, Ben (who works in the food warehouse), and celebrated Kol Nidre (the opening ceremony of Yom Kippur) by listening to Neil Diamond’s version of Kol Nidre from the Jazz Singer.  I know it seems a bit cheesy, but it worked.  It was much less eventful than acutally being a part of a service and listening to the wonderful tune of the rabbi chanting the Kol Nidre melody.  I guess you make things work when you are here on the ice. 

Earlier I had a nice dinner consisting of chicken breast, rice and vegetables.  I would have loved some matzoh ball soup, but I will have to wait until Passover for that tasty treat!  I decided that I would try really hard to fast for the entire time.  I knew that I was in a completely new enviroment and not sure how my body would react to a lack of food and water so I would consider a snack if I absolutely needed to.

The following morning I continued the holiday by meeting Linda, the rabbi (AKA the doctor) and Ben back at the synagogue.  He brought a copy of the services for Yom Kippur morning.  We all took turns reading English and interjecting some Hebrew occassionally.  It was a really nice service and we got into some great discussions regarding the how we could be grateful for the things we have while so much around us was in turmoil.  We even solicited the opinion from the Chaplin as he happened to pass by.  It was a really nice morning and I great way to share the thoughts of the holiday with others.  As the morning service ended, we agreed that a nice break time to relax, take a little nap, and time to reflect was in order. 

We met up later in the afternoon for the evening and concluding services and planned to head to dinner after we finished up.  We went through the evening and concluding services and even included Havdalah (one of the final parts of the sabbath and holiday services).  We didn’t have a spice box so we used a packet of Apple Cider mix and we didn’t have a glass of wine or challah (yet) so we just pretended, but said the prayers.  There was very old grape juice in the box we found during Rosh Hashanah, but all agreed that it would not be in our best interest to drink it. 

Overall, it was a nice holiday.  I didn’t really notice my hunger like I have in the past.  I ended up drinking water during the day because it’s extremely dry here and you can get dehydrated easier here and really sick.  I didn’t want to chance that. 

Dinner was wonderful and probably tasted better to the three of us than any others that night.  We had steak, potatoes, and the BEST EVER challah that I have ever tasted.  It was so perfect that word can’t describe it.  I ate about three pieces during dinner and took a few more with me.  Since I didn’t have my camera with me at dinner, I figured I would use them to capture (as best as possible) the amazing challah we feasted on that night.  This holiday is now known to me as Challah-palooza, the great feast of of Challah.

I know photos don't due the challah justice, but it was beautifully golden, round, and delicious.