Commuting to the Suburbs

I suppose I've been living the American urban/suburban life here on the ice as of late. As many of you know, I work on the runway here in shifts of about a month loading and unloading all kinds of cargo from big and small planes with forklifts and by hand. For the last month or so I have been based on the runway each working day. The runway moved a few weeks ago from the sea ice to the ice shelf 8 miles away. So I guess that means I am living in the city and commuting to the suburbs for work each day. They moved the runway to create space for the icebreaker ship that will come in less than a month to cut a channel. Before the planes landed on wheels on hard blue sea ice, but now they land on skis on the softer snow piled on the Ross ice shelf. Due to the soft snow on the road out to the new runway we have been driving vehicles with HUGE tires described as "dinosaurs of the ice." They don't go very fast, and that has changed my work day quite a bit. Instead of taking about five minutes to get to the sea ice runway it has been taking just under an hour each way. The days feel brutal sometimes leaving at 5:30 and returning at 7:15, but the window time is nice for just enjoying the view, sleeping, or reading. I am a bit blown away that the longest commute I might ever have to work is on snow trails in Antarctica. I have enjoyed the time at the runway, but for the next month of so I am stationed mostly in town. One more change in my schedule as of late is the switch to night shift. I will be eating breakfast for dinner the rest of my time down here. While that sounds weird at first, be reminded that it is always light here so adjusting the schedule just takes pulling an all nighter and then sleeping a lot. I continue to love life down here as I take time to learn, grow, hike, and prepare for the exciting things ahead in life. There is nothing I have experienced that is as different as life in this frozen land.