The Powell Recovery Center

I arrived in Christchurch and was lucky enough to be met at the Clothing
Distribution Centre by our friends, Christine and Antz. They live in Southshore,
on the beach, and have been nice enough to take in Lynn and our friend,
Kaska for the past few nights. When we drove from the airport area to their
house, I could see a lot of damage, but we weren't able to drive into the
Central Business District where much of the major damage occurred. They
have a beautiful cozy house a block from the beach. I visited here last year
and they're wonderful hosts.


Antz is essentially an electronic genius! Even though the house had no
running water or electricity due to the earthquake, Antz was able to hook
up the generator, phone service and even internet. I'm pretty sure that
no one else in the neighborhood had these luxuries.


I was very impressed with the City of Christchurch's and New Zealand's
ability to make things work. Even though the power was still out, porta potties
were placed on every other block, giving at least a small bit of comfort to
the residents. In general, the folks in New Zealand are keeping a Stiff Upper
Lip and are struggling through this.

Earthquake in Christchurch

At 12:51 pm today, a 6.3 earthquake hit Christchurch. It was centered
near Lyttelton, and only 3 miles deep. Very bad news. What is worse is
that Lynn is IN Christchurch. Of course I was very worried. It was several
hours until I heard anything, but then our friend Leighton from the
Antarctic Centre called and Lynn was with him. She told me that she
and our friend Brenda were going to meet another friend, Natalie to
go shopping. They were in the lobby of the Hotel So, where they were
staying, when all heck broke loose. They were thrown into the wall and
then they ran out into the street. Destruction was all around. Lynn
said it literally looked like a war zone. What's worse, all of her stuff
is in her hotel room, including her computer and passport and she
probably won't get it back because the Grand Chancellor Hotel, where
we've stayed before is LEANING on the Hotel So! It's the second tallest
building in Christchurch (almost 30 stories) so if it goes down, it's going
to take a lot of buildings with it, including the Hotel So.

After getting their wits about them, Lynn and Brenda, joined by our
friends Jamie, Matt and Kaska (who was barefoot) walked through the
rubble, all the way to the Antarctic Centre/Clothing Distribution Centre (CDC)
(about 6 miles). It proved to be a good meeting point for many other Ice
folks as well and is acting as kind of a command centre for USAP folks
who have recently left the Ice. That's where she found Leighton and
was able to phone me on the Ice.

In the meantime, Christchurch is a mess. This is a much more destructive
quake than the one that struck in September. The entire Central Business
District is closed off, including all of the hotels USAP people stay at and
nobody is allowed there. Dozens of people have been killed and many many
more are missing. Lynn will be staying at the CDC for at least tonight
and probably a few more nights as well.

Facebook has become a huge connector of people during the crisis and
some folks have started a spreadsheet charting the whereabouts of Ice
people who are in Christchurch. So far, everyone is safe and no one from
the programme has been injured.

It's going to be a long few days/weeks/months for Christchurch. Our prayers
and thoughts are with our friends and people we haven't met. Lynn is safe.
Our friends our safe. Not all have been so lucky. Please think of them and
pray for them.

My Birthday

I received several nice surprises on my birthday today.
First, when I got up, I found that Kaska and Jamie who
work in Air Services with me, had given me my own slide
on the Channel 7 television scroll!


Then, when I got to work, I found that someone (I suspect
Lynn and Christen) decorated my desk. All in all it was
a pretty nice birthday, even though I had to work.

Christmas at Dave & Kelly's

On Christmas Eve, I was invited to hang out with
my friends Dave and Kelly, in their room with other
folks from our shift. They advertised it as BYOG
(Bring Your Own Glass) and the guys were
fantastic hosts, providing as much in the way of
beverages that anyone would want! i'm also sure
we broke some fire code regulations by having this
many people in one small dorm room!


I also got a chance to get a nice photo with two
of my favorite people...Susie and Kaska.

Thanks to Dave and Kelly for the great photos!

Night Shift Family Photo

Click on each photo to enlarge

Tonight, we took a group photo of our shift.
This includes Air Service Reps (Sadly, Kaska missed
the photo because she was off), Load Planners and
Cargo Handlers. The vehicles on the left and right
are Cargo Deltas, that carry all of the heavy freight
to and from the airfield. In the middle, is a loader,
(a VERY heavy duty forklift) which moves the cargo
from place to place and onto and off of pallets. The
first photo was our "serious" photo, where everyone
looked dignified and "professional". I'm in the red
jacket, toward the front.


The next photo was our "fun" photo where everyone
acted a little silly.


Lastly, everyone felt the need to jump! Look at
me...I must have gotten at least 3-4 inches of
hang time!

My Last Day...on Days

Today was my last day. Wait, let me clarify
that. For one thing, it's always day here this
time of year. The sun never sets. I also don't
have an illness so it's not THE last day. It's
just my last day on "days". My last day on the
6am to 6pm shift. After 72 hours of transitioning,
(adjusting my sleep patterns 180 degrees) I will
be working from 6pm to 6am. Effectively working
"nights". I enjoy working the night shift as
there are a lot fewer people around and it almost
feels like a winter season here. However, I will
miss working with several people in the office who
are not moving to nights...most notably Kristan,
Nichole and Jane in the field camp cargo office,
Bill and Pete down the hall and of course, my
boss, Susie. They stay on the day shift all season.
All my other shift-mates will be making the
move to the night shift as well, including Kaska,
but it will have a different feeling. It may take
a few weeks to adjust. However, with only eight
plus weeks left in the season and the very busy
redeployment season coming up, it is sure to fly by.

My Substitute Lynns

Although Lynn isn't with me this season, I have
three guardian angels looking over me, and for the
first time this season, they were all in the same
place. Kaska (in front) was my card-playing Lynn
stand in this weekend, Carrie (middle) was my going
to a party Lynn stand in this weekend and Susie (back)
was my going to Thanksgiving dinner Lynn stand in this
weekend. Of course, I think that they would all agree
that none of them holds a candle to the real Lynn in
my mind, it did make a long holiday weekend a little
nicer to have them all around.

Working with Kaska

I'm lucky enough that for a second year
in a row, my shift partner is Kaska. For
those of you who aren't on the Ice, I've
included a photo...see above. I often tease
Kaska that I can't see her face because her
sunglasses are so huge. I guess for internet
incognito purposes though, they work just
fine. Why am I lucky? Besides being a very
smart, hard worker, Kaska is also from Poland
so she has that ability to keep me in my
place. Kind of like another woman of Polish
descent when I was growing up. All in all,
though, I enjoy working with Kaska and never
tire of her stories from traveling around the
world. She's a good friend.

My Birthday!

It's never fun to be sick...especially on your birthday!
But, I was invited over to Carrie and Tony's to play
Euchre with Kaska as my Lynn-surrogate partner.
When I walked in the door, I was greeted with a cool
looking Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting (my fav)
and this very fun cut out of Lynn in a showgirl outfit
popping out of the cake! Being a Hamann, I was early
and was the first one there instead of the last one so
the "surprise" was out of the bag. I did have a great
time though and it took my mind off a being sick for
a few hours. Most of my closest Ice Friends were there
including many from our favorite winter of 2007. It was
a great time and I've very grateful to everyone who
attended to make it a special birthday I will remember
for many years to come.

Air Service Reps

Pictured left to right:
Mia, Amy, Susie, me, Kaska, Billy T, Kristin

Last year, when Lynn was in New Zealand, she sent me
a bottle of champagne that I should share with my
small group of co-workers at the end of the year, in
celebration of a successful season. Well, we never had
time to open it and it sat in a drawer all winter long.
Tonight was the beginning of the season ATO party.
A chance to get everyone in the department together
for one last relaxing time before we go onto 12 hour
shifts and things get really busy. As it turns out, all
of the Air Service Reps are back on station for another
season. Kristin is now working with Science Cargo
and we're joined by Mia this year. Amy will be working
with Mia on the night shift and Kaska and I will be
working on the day shift. Susie is our Supervisor and
Billy T is our Department Manager. It was a good chance
for everyone to get together, and we finally enjoyed our
champagne.

A Good Day

There haven't been a lot of good days lately, so
when one does come along, it's certainly worth
noting. I got up this morning and received a
call from our friend Deb, that lives in Vermont.
She was my first boss on the Ice and she's having
her 60th birthday party in March and wanted to
invite Lynn (it's an all-girls party). She
can't go since we'll be in NZ, but it was nice
to hear her voice. Next, I talked to my Mom back
in Indiana. Although it's been a miserably bad
winter weather-wise, it was 50 degrees Fahrenheit
when I talked to her. Always fun to talk to Mom!
Then I talked to Lynn for a while. Less than 2
weeks til I'm in Christchurch! Yay! For someone
who doesn't like to talk on the phone...I sure
did a lot of it. After helping Kaska with the
first big transport of the season...about a 100
people leaving...I started walking down the hill
toward home. I hear this rumbling coming up the
road and it's my friend Tony driving in a Pisten
Bully. It's a small enclosed snow-cat sort of
vehicle. He's the head of the MEC which is
responsible for all of the equipment that the
scientists use while they're here. He had to
go to Castle Rock to move some snow around so
he asked if I wanted to hop in and go. Sure,
I said and off we went.


I had never been to Castle Rock during the day.
Only last winter I went there in a Tucker
(another track-type vehicle), so it was a treat
of sorts...kind of a mini-boondoggle. I'm way
to lazy to walk the 7 mile Castle Rock Loop so
getting a ride there is definitely the best
option. The first half mile though was hellish
since most of the snow in that part of the trail
had melted and big ruts formed the trail.
Picture a ski mogul run without the snow.
However, soon we were on the path and were
climbing to the top of the trail. The view from
Castle Rock is pretty amazing. Even if it was
a cloudy day, you can easily see for a hundred
miles. Tony even drove around where we could
see open water just north of Cape Evans and
All of the islands in the area. The view
looking the other way is just as amazing as
you can see the Trans-Antarctic Mountains and
the cluster of buildings that makes up Williams
Field. The way down is really steep and I'm
glad that I was in a vehicle and not walking it.
We saw the Kiwi A-Frame from above...which I've
also never seen in the daylight and got a good
view of the Kiwi Ski Hill.
When I got home, I was just in time for "John
Simonson Appreciation Day". John is a longtime
ATO cargo guy and several folks in the department
felt he has never gotten the recognition he
deserves. Lots of Sushi made by Sam and Molly,
BBQ Scallops wrapped in bacon by Hooch and a
good time had by all. A great wrap up to a good
day!

Christchurch Envy

I'm suffering from a major dose of Christchurch Envy.
Lynn has been enjoying Christchurch for almost 5 weeks now,
spending time with our friends Anna and Chris and earlier with
Christine and Antz....and now Kaska is there! Kaska was supposed to
be flying back to McMurdo today after an unexpected trip to Europe to
be with family, but today's flight was cancelled. The good part of that
is that she will be bringing a lot of goodies to us ATO folk that Lynn
purchased in NZ. The bad part is that she and Lynn are going out to
New Brighton tomorrow to go to the beach! Then they're going to
spend New Year's Eve on the square. All this topped by lunch today at
a new Indian restaurant on North Colombo. The green-eyed monster
called jealousy is alive and well and living in my brain!

All To Myself

How does one gain access to thousands of books and
have to share them with no one? Become a night shift
Librarian at McMurdo. Kaska decided she was going to
volunteer in the Library on Tuesday nights from 2am to
4am and I thought it was a good idea that I do the same
on Wednesday nights. So tonight I'm going to have
several thousand books all to myself. Why to myself?
Well, I don't expect a lot of customers...that's why.
At most, a couple, at least, none. A good gig if you
can get it. Of course it's volunteer work so I don't
get paid anything, but it's a nice place to read for
a few hours, surf the internet, drink coffee and generally
hang out while Lynn is sleeping in our room. Plus, it's
a community activity that will make my end of season eval
look better. And again...all these books! Yay for me!

Making the Transition

There is no way I should still be up at 11:45pm posting
on my blog, but it's that time of year where I need to
train myself (and my brain) to stay awake. Tomorrow night
I'm working my first night shift of the season. Kaska and
I will be working from 5:45pm to 6:00am. Silly thing...we
both asked to be on this shift. As Air Service Reps, we have
to spend half the season on nights and we both wanted to
get it out of the way. It also helps me adjust to the throngs
since just a little over six weeks ago, I remember this place
only being home to 125 people instead of the almost 1000 that
now reside here. What's odd is that there are still about
20 people up and about in the kiosk where I've set up my
don't-fall-asleep-camp for the next six hours. I have a
feeling that many of them will drop off over the next few
hours while I am battling drowsiness and keeping company with
a big cup of tea.

Re-Learning The Job

I'm very lucky this year as I have a great boss
and great co-workers. All of us already have
experience as Air Service Reps but I'm a little
frustrated as I feel that I should remember every-
thing and not have to ask questions or consult my
notes from two years ago. I know I'm just being
hard on myself and Susie, my boss and Kaska, my
co-worker remind me of this but I just want to step
right in and do everything 100%. That will happen.
It just may take a few days.