Day One Antarctica

August 27th, 2006

My first full day in Antarctica was a station wide off. Sunday's in McMurdo are a treasured day, that traditionally begins with a lazy sleep in, then a long social brunch, followed by some activity. For me this usually means a long day outing. In spite of the wind, the -30 to - 60 temps with wind chill, and our relative un-acclimatization my colleague
Thai and I went out for a daylong ski. While out, we would need to put on nearly all our clothes to buffer against the wind, but still it was a lovely outing. In spite of the -60F temps. I also experienced something new for me: darkness in Antarctica. The light when we arrived lasted for only 6 hours, and even this never really extended much beyond a warm dusk.
This ski was followed by the standard Sunday night science lecture. That night it was hosted by a film team that I would end up spending quite a bit of time with. Anne Aghion and her team had spent close to three years in Rwanda researching the Gagacha trials to reconcile communities ravaged by the genocide of the Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 1994. Incredible to come all of the way to Antarctica and be able to engage in such an important and socially challenging discourse as ones I had that evening. Perhaps this touches on why I returned.