We published another newsletter, follow the links on my pages to get to it.
Wednesday, 27 June 2012
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
Midwinter: 21 June 2012
We will have our midwinter celebration two days from now. On 21 June we will reach the midpoint of our winter's night. The winter solstice, as it is also known, is celebrated by many cultures around the world as it indicates the turning point of the sun, i.e. days will start getting longer and hence, summer is on it's way. For us in Antarctica it also indicates the symbolic midpoint of our overwintering period.
For me personally it is quite an important milestone to reflect on what I wanted to learn and experience with this adventure and how the reality matched the theory.
In Antarctica it is custom for winter bases to send invites for the midwinter celebration, firstly to the other bases but also to friends and family. It is obviously nearly impossible to access us at the moment so there is some tongue in cheek involved. Follow the link below for our team's invite. Please write any witty reasons for not attending the celebration in the comment line or send it to the address on the invite.
SANAE 51 Midwinter invite
SANAE 51 Midwinter invite (High Resolution)
For me personally it is quite an important milestone to reflect on what I wanted to learn and experience with this adventure and how the reality matched the theory.
In Antarctica it is custom for winter bases to send invites for the midwinter celebration, firstly to the other bases but also to friends and family. It is obviously nearly impossible to access us at the moment so there is some tongue in cheek involved. Follow the link below for our team's invite. Please write any witty reasons for not attending the celebration in the comment line or send it to the address on the invite.
SANAE 51 Midwinter invite
SANAE 51 Midwinter invite (High Resolution)
Wednesday, 6 June 2012
Saturday, 2 June 2012
Shop talk
One of my duties as mechanical engineer is to look after the water treatment plant at SANAE. As all the signees of the Antarctic treaty committed themselves in keeping this continent pristine, we need to ensure the effluent water running from the base is within certain specifications. Despite the immediate impression of grossness with the idea of working with waste water, I think having something that needs routine attention is probably very good for my mental health. In this space-like world, which currently is also mostly dark, days can sometimes merge into each other and things that are sometimes taken for granted, like a sleeping pattern, can start taking a beating.
What I find interesting is the fact that the treatment of waste water is mostly a natural process and our interference with the process is mostly only to create a more ideal environment for the bugs to do their work. We routinely add enzymes to help with the break up of fats; also some lime to keep the pH favourable for the bugs. The temperature is also kept as high as possible, if I remember correctly the bugs reproduce twice as fast at 34 degrees than at 20.
Once a month a detailed analysis of the water from various stages in the process is performed. For this I need to spend a day in the lab. As I do not have the specialist knowledge to interpret this data, it is forwarded to Cape Town for recommendations, if needed.
You have probably picked up that I have not drowned myself in technical books on this topic as I do not consider waste water handling to be a long term career choice; but sometimes to see something beautiful you need to put up with a little.... "waste".
What I find interesting is the fact that the treatment of waste water is mostly a natural process and our interference with the process is mostly only to create a more ideal environment for the bugs to do their work. We routinely add enzymes to help with the break up of fats; also some lime to keep the pH favourable for the bugs. The temperature is also kept as high as possible, if I remember correctly the bugs reproduce twice as fast at 34 degrees than at 20.
Once a month a detailed analysis of the water from various stages in the process is performed. For this I need to spend a day in the lab. As I do not have the specialist knowledge to interpret this data, it is forwarded to Cape Town for recommendations, if needed.
You have probably picked up that I have not drowned myself in technical books on this topic as I do not consider waste water handling to be a long term career choice; but sometimes to see something beautiful you need to put up with a little.... "waste".
Monday, 21 May 2012
"DUIDELIK!!"
A good friend of mine (5 years old) described the scenery in Antarctica as "DUIDELIK!", Afrikaans for "Clear". (Thanks for the feedback Charl, I hope you don't mind me using that as the title of this post.)
As the sun has just crept over the horizon the last few days (with the approaching winter); and since our weatherman insists, despite the current 43 knot winds, there is a storm starting tomorrow; I think the sun has set. By that I mean we entered our winters' night of nearly 2 months and I hope to see the sun again only in July.
As children of Africa I am sure the absence of our beloved sun will render some psychological challenges.
On the bright side we are not ancient Egyptians who may have interpreted the sun's absence as the need for human sacrifice or the like. I wonder who we would have chosen...just imagine the pressure for social acceptance in those times.
Duidelik.
As the sun has just crept over the horizon the last few days (with the approaching winter); and since our weatherman insists, despite the current 43 knot winds, there is a storm starting tomorrow; I think the sun has set. By that I mean we entered our winters' night of nearly 2 months and I hope to see the sun again only in July.
As children of Africa I am sure the absence of our beloved sun will render some psychological challenges.
On the bright side we are not ancient Egyptians who may have interpreted the sun's absence as the need for human sacrifice or the like. I wonder who we would have chosen...just imagine the pressure for social acceptance in those times.
Duidelik.
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Photos
Check my pages for "Photos II" for some newly added photos.
We will have our last sunset this summer within the next day or two so everyone is running around to get the last rays of sunlight on film.
We will have our last sunset this summer within the next day or two so everyone is running around to get the last rays of sunlight on film.
Friday, 11 May 2012
Diet
One of the aspects of everyday life that is severely impacted by a year of isolation is your diet. With the absence of shops, a quick run to the supermarket cannot replenish your salads or fruits or veggies or address your growing craving for roast whole chicken not even your achilles' heel for the occasional half-poisonous junk food like the old Big Mac or McFlurry or the KFC drumstick or your favourite local take away pizza or the famous flame grilled burger with oily fries or your favourite flat white outlet with those bargain mini breakfasts.....I am getting distracted here.....I did want to make a point....oh yea....
Despite the negatives of not having every imaginable source of food within 20 minutes drive from where you are; we, at present, have our stock of food, although limited, within 1 minute's walk from where we are. Seeing that many health experts advise having small yet frequent meals rather than infrequent binge sessions; it is not impractical for us to live healthily by having small meals with every breakfast, lunch, dinner and both teatimes. One of my fellow overwinterers is also quite knowledgable on exercise and healthy diets and he describes your metabolism as an extra invisible muscle. In other words keeping your metabolism healthy (by for example eating less more frequently) will increase your daily calorie consumption and will have many positive effects like excess weight loss, more energy, better general well being, you might even want to start to gym.
This post might sound like your run-off-the-mill-diet-plan advert and I do need to apologise for that, it is just that I am mostly in favour of what is practical and could only learn this lesson now. Previously I was more of a two-meals-per-day-kinda-guy, simply because it is so practical. In retrospect, I must admit that the difference is quite pronounced and the effort to stick to this regime, once back in society, will probably be worth it.
Despite the negatives of not having every imaginable source of food within 20 minutes drive from where you are; we, at present, have our stock of food, although limited, within 1 minute's walk from where we are. Seeing that many health experts advise having small yet frequent meals rather than infrequent binge sessions; it is not impractical for us to live healthily by having small meals with every breakfast, lunch, dinner and both teatimes. One of my fellow overwinterers is also quite knowledgable on exercise and healthy diets and he describes your metabolism as an extra invisible muscle. In other words keeping your metabolism healthy (by for example eating less more frequently) will increase your daily calorie consumption and will have many positive effects like excess weight loss, more energy, better general well being, you might even want to start to gym.
This post might sound like your run-off-the-mill-diet-plan advert and I do need to apologise for that, it is just that I am mostly in favour of what is practical and could only learn this lesson now. Previously I was more of a two-meals-per-day-kinda-guy, simply because it is so practical. In retrospect, I must admit that the difference is quite pronounced and the effort to stick to this regime, once back in society, will probably be worth it.
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