All the small things
A Collection of Small Things
- When we reached the ice about 2 weeks ago, the run rose around 4:30 and set around 4:30. Today the sun rose around 9:30 and set around 6:30 (we’re traveling west and it’s getting toward winter down here, which means dramatic changes in the length of sunlight). But it’s hard to tell exactly when these things happen because dawn and dusk last at least 2 hours now.
- There’s a door downstairs that I call the Beyoncé door because when you open it, air whooshes through and it blows your hair back like you have a wind machine. I think it’s because it’s on a deck where doors are often open to the outside, so there’s a pressure differential thing going on.
- One night I came back to our cabin and the drain sounded like a vortex sucking souls into another world. We called the bridge (where the captain and pilots are, so it functions like a command center) and they sent someone to fix it. The crew member arrived with a plunger and did something with plunging and turning on the sink and anyway I don’t know how it all works but I guess our shower drains are water vacuums???
- Watching the food change has been fascinating. The bananas went first- about 2 weeks after we left, we had a big batch of banana bread and that was it. At this point we have some kiwis, pears, apples, grapes, and oranges that are still fresh (a month after leaving!), but I think the kiwis are about to go. We get canned and defrosted fruit now instead. Our salad bar used to have leafy greens and now we mostly get a coleslaw mix of shredded cabbage. The hot bar hasn’t changed a ton and I’m super impressed with how the cooks can make all this stuff without a resupply.
- Remember I'm on "the human schedule" instead of a 12 - 12 shift so I can maximize daylight in photos and videos. That means I'm going to sleep about an hour before mid rats (midnight rations- a brunchy meal). It's really hard to go to sleep when the ship smells like bacon 😋
- In one of The Last of Us episodes (We had a marathon during our passage to the ice! What a great show!), two people hug. I asked the science crew when the last time was that they had a hug, because some of them have been on the ship since November. One of them said they have something like a mental counter of the last time they had close contact with someone who knew them well. They didn’t seem sad about it, just aware. So hug the scientists and ship’s crew in your life, they could probably use it <3
😊 Virginia
Someone brought sassy adult coloring pages and we have a wall full of stuff like this
The satellite phone is called the “morale phone”
We get the NYT crossword puzzles on about a 3-day delay and now there’s a big dictionary that lives in this lab
I miss taking small bites of things
Ha
I have now seen some version of this sign on every continent.