2/6/09
Apparently, I have missed many events. There was a rugby throw down on the ice a week ago. I am not sure who challenged who to the duel – whether the kiwis struck preemptively or our boys bragged too much. All I know is now I am seeing patients from the fallout. This is apparently not as bad as the softball game where one guy was med-evaced and multiple bones were broken, but it appears our boys, though giving it their all for the States, did not emerge on the top of the scrum. Sports are not a national pastime down here, they are a come-uppance and a way of blowing off any aggression and steam on the opponent. Volleyball should be loads of fun on the open play Sunday.
All in all, I am settling in well. A tad tired today, but I think that is from smiling too much and just not having found a quiet corner for myself yet. I really just want to hide in a cave for a while. The people here are bright and sunny and supportive, but considering I have a roommate until the winter dorms open, I don’t have any time alone (food is in a cafeteria setting dining hall, I have patients from 7-5 6d/wk, and the library and coffee house are not open during ship offload due to fork lifts, loaders and pickers winging about like they are trying to break the sound barrier).
Speaking of missing things, I missed the Orca today in the ship dock area. One of the guys at the power plant who flew in with me told me about it at lunch. Seems all of a sudden the Weddell seals were scrambling out of the water for land. Normally, these cute little bundles are titled “slugs” as they are about that active. Upon investigation, he and some others noted a fin and got the chance to watch the killer whale surface and meander about in the faintly cleared ship channel for about an hour. The joys of an outside job here are those types of opportunities. The joys of an inside job are I don’t have to go home to the dorm and thaw for 2 hours before I can move. Life, even down here, is a trade off.