My room and first looks around

Well I'm here and getting settled in. So far so good. I was ready for the whole roommate thing but was a little shocked by the rooms. None are the same and they all have different stuff in them. Here is mine:

Yes it is as small as it looks. Bed wall locker and nightstand. Guess you get what you pay for!

I took a quick walk outside. It had warmed up to about 5 degrees F, so it was nice walking weather. I was not actually authorized to go anywhere other than the immediate area until after last nights safety briefing. (More to follow) So here is a preview of my new home town.

The have giant sterioded out seagulls called Skuas here. Have not seen one yet, not until summer, but they are scavengers. They have a Goodwill of sorts where you can donate anything, and people scavenge it. Anything from hair clippers and board games, to shoes and sweaters. Its called the "Skua"

So as you can imagine plowing is a big deal down here. They use bulldozers, escavators, and this sweet number..

I've sat through about ten saftey meetings in the past week. This one will scare the crap out of you though. "Do this, you die" "Do that, you die" ; " Do this, you only freeze and possibly lose body parts!"

This video is a little shaky. It was hard to hold the camera and walk in the drifts, and breath.....I chose the more important of the tasks and cut the camera off......

 

Message heard. Now I'm not sure if I want to leave the building. Most of it is common sense. BUT....

The danger is real. It'll be summer soon......uh? I have my first day off tommorow and am planning on doing a little exploring. Very locally. Will post more then.





Finally!!!!!!

This is gonna be a short one. I finally made it. Wow its amazing! I was thinking I'd never get here. It's a lot to take in. New place, new roomates, new job. Started work today. Really tired and thirsty ALL the time. So here are some pictures of the flight in and runway. Landed on the ice. Pretty wierd, especially because you can't see out of the plane and you face inwards instead of forward. Till next time stay warm, for me. Safe and sound at the bottom of the world...

Delayed again!!! But vacation is great.

So once again got up at 230am, once again, delayed 4hrs. Got up at 730, and canceled...again. So went to the coastal town of Sumner. Wow was it beautiful! Reminded me of Germany a little.

I have never seen a rocky coast. Some of the rock were actually damaged by the earthquake.

They were kind of roped of and kind of said do not go near or climb......kind of.....

Mom look away!

This is what happened to houses right on the cliffs. The last one shows a pile of debris above the trucks or connex containers, that is half of the house in the picture above. Sad.

But there is still beauty to be seen. And the seagulls, a little better than NJ still love fries!

A LOT!!!!!!

Hope to leave tomorrow.....

Christchurch New Zealand

Went to CDC (Clothing Distribution Center) not the bad CDC (Center for Disease Control), got all my issued clothing. Uniforms, long johns, gloves, parka and such. I'll post pictures of the get up on my next post.

What a beautiful city. Just walked around for 5 hours or so. They have a Kiwiburger at McDonald's...OK I'll try it. Like a Quarter Pounder with egg, and pickled beets. Weird but surprisingly good. Who knew? And L&P soda, world famous...in New Zealand.

Unfortunately, Christchurch was devastated by a earthquake last year. Sad. I've never seen this kind of destruction up close. You can see businesses still set up, houses with all their stuff still in them, and people walking around still checking it out. They are rebuilding so it is hopeful.

  Delayed in New Zealand for 4 hours. Hopefully we will leave today. Worse places to be stuck I guess.

.....until next time.