Eating in McMurdo

All meals at McMurdo station is served in the galley, there is no other options. They used to have a burger bar in one of the bars, but that is no longer in service.

The galley staff is cooking for approximately 800 people 3 times a day.  I think the station population is 792 today. There are more people coming in every day. Mostly grantees that are here on station for a few days before they head out to their field camps. We currently still have freshies being flown in and that means salad with lunch and dinner, fresh eggs for breakfast for those who want that.

We also have “Frosty Boy” in the galley, which is an ice cream machine. The galley staff like to experiment with different flavors every week. So far the experiments have been both hits and misses. The worst one so far has to be the “pear blue cheese” flavor, with “Fat Elvis” (peanutbutter, vanilla, bacon) coming in as a close second. The good has been Turkish coffee and Mexican chocolate (spicy flavor). Regular vanilla icecream with select toppings will always work as well. There is still a lot of time for them to continue to challenge our tastebuds. The other day we had Pho and it was very good, the baked goods for dessert here are very good. It is a good thing that I have decided to run the half-marathon here in January and I am training accordingly for it. That helps to equal out the desserts that have to be tasted. That is one area they are doing an excellent job in. The baked goods here are awesome.

Yesterday was the first day in awhile we saw blue skies and sunshine. It felt nice and warm in the sun and it is the first time since I got here that the sunshine felt warm.

Work is still pretty slow and I am trying to find things to do, both in the clinic and around the station. I am hoping to be able to tag along with a science group and get out in the field and help them or just observe them.  One of the places I would like to go and visit is the Dry Valleys, but it seems like it is one everybody’s list so it will be hard. The Southpole is still on my list as well.

New people arrive to McMurdo

Mode of transportation from the air field one of the Deltas

Our Pharmacy tech hard at work