Another day in paradise!

Is a commonly vocalized saying around these parts. It might be surpassed by only "It's a Harsh Continent" used only at ironic times or as a reminder that our problems are not so bad - (here, have a cookie, a sauna and a hot shower!).

Today feels quite like paradise in many ways. Surrounded by good folks all day long, it began waking to an alarm at 6:30 AM, a jaunt to the internet while still in bed from my wireless-equipped tent, followed by the warm bathroom (often something I live without) and then off to a breakfast of home-made granola that I helped with. Stretching begins at 7:30, a practice that is really not-so-craftily disguised Yoga. One of our materials hunters, who is a masseuss and pilaties instructor in her real life; leads the class, puts up with the groans of the older crowd (the occupy "crumudgeon corner" as posted on the wall!), and smiles when everyone starts joking around halfway through... It's a requirement and the best way to warm up in the morning before heading out in the cold and the wind. (The joking and the yoga)

(the next guy to the left is actually on the floor :), and our shop is of course organized just as well as we organize all of our things at home, though perhaps labeled better!)

Reporting to the "Naked Lady Shack" so named by a female carpenter for the puzzle attached to the cieling, My crew hangs out to talk about the day, tell jokes, fill out safety papers and get dressed to a sound track of good ol' american hip-hop, or classic country. Our poor Kiwi co-worker has not yet learned to appreciate a good country song unfortunatelly, but we keep singing along as best we can hoping he'll come around. (He has a wonderful sense of humor!) After applying 30-50 lbs of gear, we head back out into the great outdoors!

OK, so here is where the irony of "Another day in paradise comes in." Maybe my blood is getting thick, but lately it has often been quite nice outside. -11 this week, the warmest we've seen since getting here, and at times we find ourselves stripping layers to avoid the sweat! Of course, this is only without wind. -20 with 20 knot winds, amplified probobly 2 fold since we are under the station, and out of the sun, equates to the coldest any of us have ever been since being here. (this also happened this week!) Int the end though, I've spent the past two days working myself down to a hoodie, long sleeve shirt, thermal bottoms and insulated carharrtt overalls... and 10 pounds of head gear of course! A couple folks think i'm a little bonkers, but others on my crew wear less! It must be that Scandi blood coming out of us.

So work. What have I been doing with 60 hours of every week since I got here eh? I'm a carp on the siding crew is the answer that suffices around here. That means we work in the coldest place on station (underneath), outside for most of the day; climbing up and down scaffoding, cutting, screwing, stapling, banging; on the ground, the roof, and if you work night shift right outside your bedroom window every second of the day apparently! We have a lot of fun and work as a pretty tight-knit constantly sarcastic, and at times somewhat crude construction crew... really it's not that different from a crew in the states, except for the goggles!

Shoveling is a prerequisite to all work all the time.

My specific duties are often as the cut-man, and so far I've cut every piece of siding we've attached to the side of the building! By the end that will be about half of the sides of the entire station! So I cut for about a day, then help on the roof for a half a day or so, install or cut some trim on the scaffold, and then...

Every two days or so we have to move our scaffold. This entails all 14 of us running around bolting, unbolting, checking, spotting, maning the tag lines, tightening, measuring, but mostly praying nothing goes wrong as we lift the scaffold with a crane and move it! Ok, so apparently this might not be THAT uncommon at home, but I don't usually work on big corporate construction projects! It's pretty wild!

Every now and then we manage to stir up some tr0uble too of course! (This plane broke and hung around for a couple of weeks. We considered listing it on Ebay, but figured the shipping would kill the deal!)

So work runs in two hour increments with at least a half hour break in between. This means we start at 7:30 and go till 5:30 when we all go plop our gear in the shack and the evening begins.

It's hard to believe how many activities there are to do down here, and how little time it seems we either have to do them, or if we choose... sleep! Lots of sports and lots of dance classes mostly fill up my evenings, that and my favorite pastime of sitting in the galley and talking to new different, or familiar and wonderful people. Tonight, and every friday, I did Circuit Training. We set up 15 stations and rotate every minute for 45 minutes. weights, pushups, sprints, jumping rope, etc... it's pretty much completelly exhausting, but I figure when I drop 10,000 feet I'll be a pro. I am definetally acclimating pretty well to the altitude.

Afterword, dinner awaits in the galley and conversation with friends or folks passing through, and tonight a quick departure to the sauna downstairs. An hour in and out and a run out into the snow complete a physically altering day. Somehow my exhausted body manages to plan for a future pub trivia I hope to host with a friend and then finally retires back to my room for writing and reading myself to sleep... With that friends good night, and in case I don't call you this week, Happy Holidays!