A farewell to the frozen land

Wow, five months walking on snow without darkness, plants, bills, or any of you. I will never forget when I stood in the back of the C-17 and the rear door on the plane lowered. It seemed like an eternity until they would let us off. The gusts of wind blew the cold air into the plane as we scrambled to put our jackets on. I did not know a single person, and I had no idea what I would experience. It has been an incredible five months- breathtaking and harsh, beautiful and daunting, lifechanging and reaffirming, isolated and connected. In some respects it seems like I have only blinked and the time has whizzed by, but in other respects it seems I have been here two years. Regardless, I am grateful for the opporunity to live on a continent that most will never dream of visiting and fewer will ever make it a reality. Thank you all for your encouragement through emails, letters, packages, and comments on this blog. Every moment here is not full of amazement as some might think. I have gotten out of bed each day, as many of y'all have, and dragged myself to work when I just felt like sleeping in. Work has been tiring and the weather has beat me up many days with no apology for the soar fingers or numb nose. Some days are full of routine, never-ending storms, or grouchy people at work, but there have been many times when I looked up to be amazed at this place. At the risk of being unoriginal I was going to give a top ten list, but I decided to go for the top 16. These are in no particular order.... - Looking down on the Transantarctic mountains from a small window in the back of the plane - Being attacked by a skua...twice - Extreme sledding! - Driving to work and seeing storm clouds cast beautiful colors on the glaciers - Being blown over by the wind in a white-out condition 1 storm - Being a part of the church community at the chapel each Sunday - Seeing three penguins...they look so awkward, like seventh grade boys - Snowboarding on fresh powder - Being the only american at dinner at the cozy little Kiwi base - Brunch on Sundays. The cinnamon rolls, oh the cinnamon rolls! - The polar plunge...after warming up - Every time I got a letter or package - Finishing the marathon- and eating a TON of food an hour later! - Grabbing some hot chocolate after coming in from the cold - Convincing myself it was warm enough one day to run 14 miles shirtless. Not a good idea. - Sitting by myself in the middle of a bright night watching the icebreaker come in Thanks for tuning in and reading all these. I will be adventuring in New Zealand for about a month and then Kauai for a week. I will try to keep you updated on crazy adventures.