We celebrated Thanksgiving at the Pole on Saturday. The day started with a traditional Turkey Bowl football game played by about twelve guys. The opening pass ended with a head-jarring quadricep across my face as I tackled Kiwi into the hard packed snow. I wouldn’t see a bruise hooking around my cheekbone into my nostril until later that night, an outline of where the goggles mashed into my skin. The kiwis loved running inside and just crushing people upon contact from their upbringing in rugby. As for me, I would like to consider myself more the speed demon on the outside, running fly patterns like Randy Moss. Each play had everyone panting for oxygen sprinting at high elevations in heavy boots. Recapturing our youthful playground days of yesteryear proved to be nice male bonding time followed by a couple of beers. Some limped afterwards, but at least no one lost any teeth like others had in previous years. After resting for a while, my appetite grew steadily.

The kitchen staff served dinner in three different shifts. The special occasion beckoned all to shake the dust from their fine threads. Some women wore elegant black dresses and a couple of men wore suits and ties. Eyes popped out all over the place seeing images transformed from grubby work clothes to upscale. I stuck with a white linen button down that looked more at home on a Mexican beach than at the South Pole. After shaving my accumulated facial hair from the previous month I joined the crowd eating hors d’oeuvres while a four-piece band played soothing background music. The galley transformed from a sterile food hall into a fine dining establishment complete with candles, cloth napkins, wine glasses, and a repeating clip of a burning Yule time log flickering on TV screens.

I washed the mashed potatoes and stuffing down with a glass of cabernet sauvignon. All of the siding carpenters sat together cleanly shaven in our freshly ironed button downs. As the conversations ranged from women to travel my mind drifted away to the Wasatch Mountains of Utah and my family. I thought about how lucky and grateful I am to have the supportive and loving family that never gave up on me even when I was in a self-destruct mode. I thought about the extended relatives that I am so close with and feel a sense of foundation and family. I thought about the many wonderful friends from all walks of life I have met over the years, ones I have loved and have loved me.

I thought of opportunities that I have had for education and recreation simply because of where I was born. I thought of my health and the fact that I have lived a relatively peaceful existence unlike many souls born into war torn countries, eras or lifestyles. The blessing I have had to travel to six continents in the last two years of my life, culminating in a reality of seeing many sights that were mere dreams captivating my imagination not long before. And as I thought of these things I raised the glass of wine to my lips and took another sip. Here I sat, eating turkey dinner at the South Pole.

Monday will snap me out of my reverie as I begin work again though. Last week I found out that three others and I would be shipped out of our current assignment. Rather than siding the main station, we have the privilege of utilizing our construction skills in an area called the Dark Sector. This location is where many of the actual science projects are being conducted, including one of the largest in the world called Ice Cube. I’ll specifically be working on the building that houses the largest microwave telescope on the planet, known here is 10 Meter because of the size of its primary mirror. Each day we strap on helmets and then climb onto our snowmobiles for the ride out there. The work is pretty much the same thing, installing siding to the actual structure.

I’ve met a few of the scientists (kindly nicknamed beakers, as in the muppet). During our breaks we go inside the building where I’ve had the chance to talk with some of them about the project. It makes one feel humble. I’m hanging plywood, coated with colored metal, on a building and they are searching for distant solar systems and the origins of all creation. In addition, each Sunday evening, a different beaker gives a lecture in the dining hall. The South Pole telescope was implemented to study cosmology, which is essentially the history of the universe on a grand scale. Exactly what they are trying to do is figure out what the universe is made of as well as how it was created. The discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background, in the 1960’s led to this project.

The South Pole is an ideal site for this specific kind of instrument. Some reasons include the high altitude and dry air because water absorbs microwaves. Also the fact that there is only one sunrise and one sunset each year means that the air is very stable due to zero diurnal variation. The 1,000 detectors are all temperature sensitive too. Since the sensors seek heat in the universe, the colder the temperature the more responsive the sensors are to heat. So far they have identified up to four galaxy clusters. They hope this may help figure out what exactly is dark matter and dark energy. What that means for you and me, I have no idea. But the government is willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars for the research, so it must be important right? It took over 600,000 pounds in parts alone just to construct it. Now take into account that a C-130 can only handle a little over 10,000 pounds of cargo and you’ll understand it was a painstaking process just to get the thing here.

As for me, I’ve been gone for over a month, a third of the way finished with my experience here. Soon I’ll be jumping off bridges tethered to a bungee cord and trekking through beaches, fjords, and the Southern Alps in New Zealand. Truly life is good and I have much to be thankful for.

written by  JCinTheSouthPole on November 29, 2009 from Christchurch, New Zealand
from the travel blog: South Pole
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Awesome Jake! thanks for sharing so much. The scientists projects are really interesting. It must be amazing to be among them. Do you know what I would ask if I was there? hahah guesss? have you ever seen a UFO!?

Glad you are enjoying yourself!!!

written by  Paola Cantoni on November 30, 2009

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Wow, it just keeps getting better and better over there. Sounds like you had a great Thanksgiving, one that I'm sure you will never forget. I think it's hysterical that you actually brought that white linen short sleeve button down shirt from Banana Republic with you to the South Pole! I'm so glad you keep wearing it and all, but come on!
Glad to see that Licensing is following you to the South Pole (the Muppets). Any PEANUTS references? :-)

written by  Tara Botwick on December 1, 2009

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