November 26th

I am helping make pies for Thanksgiving

The door of this thing was the 7th hole of freezbee golf

After playing freezbee golf with no face covering

Progress on the building.... the corner on the top of the angle, Breenen, Josh and I finished yesterday. Today we are starting on the rest of that angle. Should go much faster.

November 25, 2007

Happy late Thanksgiving!!! I am on my Thanksgiving break as well. We are given two days off for Thanksgiving compared to our usual one day. So this is a very nice long weekend. Hope you are enjoying yours as well. We had ordure’s in the hallway before turkey dinner. Some of the beakers (scientists) had a banjo band playing while we mingled before dinner. We had hot apple cider, salmon, shrimp and various other goodies just for appetizers. It was really good. After that we went in the galley for dinner. They blacked out all the windows, rearranged all the tables, used table clothes, candles and had wine servers. It was a very nice effort to make things different from the usual cafeteria eating style. We had turkey and all the fixings’. I think my favorite was the freshies (fresh fruits and veggies just arrived this week). Although we had all the food and entertainment, it just wasn’t the same. No family, football, cards, naps on the couch and leftovers. But they did a very good job!

Work is going well! We had some very cold days this week with temps still down in the -43 area. But on Friday we had a very nice break and the temp got up to -32 which doesn’t sound like much, but I could definitely tell the difference. It was a blessing right before our two day weekend. I’m currently working on four levels of scaffolding applying siding to the top corner of the angle of the building. Sorry, very hard to explain! We should be done with that particular piece on Monday. I think this will probably be the hardest part of the entire job. Once we are done with the angle portion of the building we will then always be working on straight up and down sides of the building. I deem that to be much easier than the angle. We will see though. I’ve had some questions about how I keep my face warm….. so here it is….. I first wear a neck gator/head covering deal. I tuck that into one of my inner layers and zip that layer up. Then I wear a ski mask and windproof beanie hat. Then goggles and a hardhat. Eventually the goggles will fog up, but we have to have eye protection. When in reality it is safer to work without goggles then it is to work with iced up goggles….. Thanks corporate America! The hardhat doesn’t bother me as much down here because it is on top of so many layers I hardly know it’s there.

Yesterday I was able to play the inaugural round of Freebee golf out in the brumes. The brumes are where everything is stored… siding, screws, track, plywood, rumor says there is a pool table out there. Just rows and rows of stuff they don’t tell you about anywhere else in the world. I will try and send a picture of me sitting on them. It was very nice to get outside and do something other than work. They made a sledding hill in front of the station for the holidays. One of these days I’m going to go. I have to go before someone gets hurt, because after that they usually close it down!

This is a very cool year to be down here. They are dedicating the station this year around January 12. We are having around 40 DV’s (distinguished visitors) fly in on that day, tour the station, take a picture with all of us and the ceremonial South Pole in front of the building. I don’t know who’s coming, but probably important people in the project and maybe senators. Then the all leave that night and we have our own party. Now I’m not sure of the party is because they all left or because we are celebrating the station!

Hope all is well with you and if you have any wonders or questions, just let me know…

Andrew

November 19, 2007

Welcome back to the bottom of the world. If you are getting cold reading these emails, it’s ok I’m getting used to it. This is becoming a neat community down here. Yesterday we had mail call. The hoist is not working right now so our carpenter crew and a bunch of other people adding up to about 50 or 60 (about 25% of the station population) lined up the stairs to unload four crates of mail. One caught my eye that said Williams, but turns out it was for Suzie Williams. That’s not me. Mail is kind of a big deal down here. We then went to the other side of the building to unload four crates of adult beverages of several kinds and soda. For some reason there was an extra amount of Diet Sprit and Canada Dry. I guess when other people in the world don’t want it, it ends up at the bottom of the world. The station is up to about 240 people right now. Now that flights are actually making it in, there are anywhere from three to six flights coming in a day. They are mostly C-130 and a few twin otters. The C-130’s never stay grounded for too long. They unload people, cargo, food, fuel, etc. load up and take off again. During this time they never turn off the engines either. The planes are affixed with skies under the landing gear. We got to talk to one of the higher ups a few weeks ago and he guessed that each flight in on a C-130 from McMurdo Station to the South Pole Station cost around $75,000. That adds up after a summer of flying into the South Pole. I’m glad to be here and I’m ok with Uncle Sam paying the bill!
Last night they showed films from the BANFF Mountain Film Festival up in the galley(cafeteria). There were several short films that had the honor of being shown at the film festival. The last film they showed was about 30 mins. long about a couple from Canada. This couple road their bicycles… yes bicycles from northern Mongolia to Calcutta, India. That is 8000km on a bicycle. I have no idea why, but I wanted to cry when they made it to the Bay of Bengal in India. My favorite part was when they visited the locals in various places, from Mongolia, China, Tibet, Nepal and India. They were invited into the home of nomads in Mongolia for over 10 days, despite the language barrier. This was the true meaning of hospitality. On a much smaller scale it made me think about some of the awesome adventures that God has lead me through around the world in places like Papua New Guinea, Ethiopia, Australia, etc. and the people that I get to meet and even worship the Lord with. It really gave me a renewed spirit for being at the South Pole. I would recommend this films as a real story of overcoming difficulties and just some neat stories.
Work is going better and we are getting a good system in place. In just the last few days there has been a fair amount of siding put on the building. The actual siding is just ¼” plywood with a 1/16” aluminum cover on the outside. It is not very heavy stuff. I’ve been doing mostly furring out of the building and attaching Tyvek vapor barrier. We have been joking about how we have to apply at least two layers of vapor barrier on the building for the next time it rains down here. If it ever rains down here, we have bigger problems then water getting into the building. We think we saw some snow flurries last week. It’s funny how we are constantly surrounded by all snow everywhere and it effects everything down here, but seems as if it never snows. It’s because it NEVER melts.

The First Post...Last

November 3, 2007

Hello Everyone,
Welcome to the South Pole! Yes, It's cold. After five flights and about 24 hours of flying I set foot on the continent of Antarctica Oct. 30 at McMurdo Station. But more importantly I made it to the South Pole on Wednesday Oct. 31. The temperature when we walked of the C-130 military plane was about negative 45 with a wind chill of around negative 75. So cold is cold. It's a bit like Kansas, it's always windy. The weather has been bad around here because we were on only one of three flights that have made it into the South Pole in the last two weeks. I guess you would call that lucky? I am living in a Jamesway located grid south from the new South Pole Station. Grid North is considered to be towards England and East, South, West follows as it normally would. I don't know the details, and you are not allowed to quote me, but I'm assuming the Navy built these Jamesways in the 60's or 70's. I have a room to myself, which I would consider a luxury, although it is only about 6' x 8' with a curved ceiling. The new station is so modern that it is easy to forget you are in Antarctica, until you go outside. My room barely stays at 60 degrees, but I stay warm at night and Megan is sending me a blanket and flannel sheets in the mail, something to look forward to. Last night I left my bottle of water on the floor, and it was nice and chilly this morning like taking it out of the fridge. God has truly crated a magnificent place beyond anything we could ever imagine. I'm thankful to be here
There is a group of about 14 carpenters for this particular project. We started working on the siding on Friday. There is no doubt in my mind that everything takes at least three to four times long than it would in normal conditions. The new station is built elevated about one full story off the ground. The reason for this is to allow the snow to blow past the building instead of drifting up against the building. The South Pole is on a huge plateau of ice at approx. 9,500 ft. in elevation. So there is nothing to stop the snow except our man-made buildings. The bottom corners of the building are angled and designed similar to how an airplane works. The reason is to accelerate the wind carrying the snow beyond the building. Well I tell you this because we are currently working in the zone where the wind accelerates…. It makes for a chilly work environment. Our crew seems to be a great bunch. I live right next to a few of them and we get along real well. They have some good stories to trade and always make me laugh.
With all that said, I'm very glad to be here! I feel very lucky and blessed to have and opportunity like this and travel to places that I'm not real sure God intended people to live. So far I regularly wear six on the top, five layers on the bottom, two or three head/face coverings and some massive "moonboots" designed for extreme cold weather. Today was the first day that we haven't had basically whiteout conditions and all you see is white snow for miles and miles. It is one of the most magnificent things I've ever seen in my life.
Sorry for the delay in the update, but it's the South Pole. We have limited communications to begin with, but one satellite is down somewhere in the world, so that limits us even more. Besides the time I can get online is usually during work time anyway. I've been able to call my folks and megan and let everyone know I've made it, but not much more. Please pray for me to trust the Lord, get enough rest , to avoid getting too cold and frostbite, and to maximize my experience. I'm sure I've missed details and fun things, but those are the basics. You are welcome to email me with questions or answers. Thanks for listening….

Oh, and by the way…….. the sun NEVER goes down, it just goes in a perfect circle around the sky.

AnDrew

Address:

Hey Everyone,
I forgot my new address if you are interested.

Andrew V. Williams, RPSC
South Pole Station
PSC 468 Box 400
APO AP 96598

If you do send anything please be environmentally conscience, like no styrafome peanuts, and anything you send, I have to bring back. But I'd love to hear from you. :)

Andrew