A Friday night at the South Pole

It is Friday night here, and you probably wonder what is going on at the South Pole on a Friday night. Well, not much, really. People here work 6 days a week (Monday to Saturday), and have Sunday off. Since it is extremely expensive to have people here at the South Pole (feeding them, housing them, keeping them safe…), everybody who comes here works basically as much as possible. South Pole is definitely not a holiday destination to hang out and relax. Since I will be here only two weeks, I might even work the whole week, just to make sure that I get everything done before I have to leave again. Extending a stay at the Pole is super difficult, since space is limited. The room I am currently living in, is probably already assigned to somebody who will fly in on the plane I am supposed to leave on. So getting things done in time is crucial.

My Friday night was a bit more entertaining than my last nights. I decided that I am officially over the altitude sickness, and that I had enough time to acclimatize. So I went from work to do my “house mousing” chores (more on that later), and then decided to try out the erg in the gym. I only rowed a recreational 4k, since I didn’t want to overdo it right away, but it felt really good to exercise, even though I got out of breath relatively quickly. Effects of the altitude (not so much of my overall fitness level – at least that’s what I am telling myself…). The exercise done, I went to go shopping in the station shop (where I have been every night since Monday – well, what can I say?! I just love shopping…), then had a really refreshing two minute shower, and headed to the dining hall (also known as “galley”) to find steak and mash potatoes on the menu for dinner. The steak was really well cooked, so that was just a nice reward for erging earlier. And since I didn’t have much else to do, I joined a friend in the library where we sat and did some knitting and crocheting. That was my Friday night at the Pole.  :)