Staying Busy in Antarctica

Emperor Penguin Sculpture

One of the many challenges when working in Antarctica is not getting bored. Although we work 5.5 days a week, there are still 1.5 days of free time and after hours. Well one would think you'd be able to fill your time going on walks, photography, reading, watching movies and writing blogs.  

This of course is all true, but for a lot of the time the weather out side is not great for walks and photography, and movies and reading is good for some, but not others.  The important thing is to get into a project that not only burns up time but lessens the chance of spending to much time thinking about home and finding yourself in the bar.

As a tradesman who can work metal I have found that fashioning sculptures is a good way for me to pass time both on bad weather days and at night after work. Others on station knit, form bands, make models, make jewelery, clocks, sew, read,go to the gym and leather work to name but a few.

Something about models is that they can be fragile and getting them home can be tricky. So before you buy that "Golden Hind" wooden model, think about how you are going to pack it up to get it home, or where it is going to be displayed on station. Also, stations do not supply much in the way of materials, so bring your own if it is specialized.