Which Way is Up?

In my constant state of trying to make my blog more
user friendly, I found a great map that shows the
immediate area around McMurdo and some of the places
I have mentioned or will mention in the next few
months. If you click on it, it gets big enough to
read. Maps are a great thing to have around here.
For several years I couldn't get it through my head
that the mountains outside my window were northwest
and that Black Island was south. It's somehow
disorienting. If I were at the South Pole, everything
would be north and it would be much easier. The other
day I thought to myself that I was looking due north
and I was actually looking due west. I think a lot
of it has to do with how McMurdo is laid out.
Certainly it wasn't designed on a grid. It kind
of follows the local terrain and geography.
Speaking of geography, on December 29th, I'm going to
participate in the McMurdo Geography Bee. I'm very
psyched up for it, yet a little nervous at the same
time. I think there are possibly some great geographers
here. I'm no slouch, but I'm going to study. I am
quite confident that I know that Ulan Bator is the
capital of Mongolia, but I have no idea what the capital
of Dahomey or Togo is. Africa is a tough one. Of course
I'll write more about it when it happens. In the meantime,
I'll have my head buried in a World Atlas...ok more than
usual.