Day 1 & 2 in New Zealand

Once we arrived in Christchurch, NZ we were all exhausted and pretty much just headed to bed to get some decent sleep. The next day we were off to the CDC (Clothing Distribution Center) to try on our ECW Gear (Extreme Cold Weather Gear.) Dan, Dawn and Myself had our fittings at 9am and Erin and Jason had theirs later on at 1pm.

Once we done trying everything on and getting our Flu shots, Dan and Dawn invited me to come with them to Southshore Beach. So we hopped on the bus and headed out to the ocean. It was a beautiful day but a bit chilly. Since it is winter time in New Zealand, pretty much everything was closed for the season. So we got some coffee, took some pictures, and caught the next bus back into town.

Later we met up with Erin and Jason for some drinks and Dinner.

Day 2 started early, we were scheduled to be picked up at the hotel at 3:15am. Well, the weather was really bad on the Ice so they delayed us until 7:15am. We then were further delayed until the next day so we ended up with a free day. So we (Erin, Jason, Dan, Dawn, and myself) took the bus out to Sumner beach to check it out. And as the days before, it was a little cold so we grabbed some coffee and a snack before heading back into town for some dinner and getting to bed early for another attempt to get up at 3:15am.

This is Erin making me feel loved by writing my name in the sand

Sumner Beach

My Vanilla Latte and Lemon Pistachio Bar....yummy!

If you think you know what happens next, you might be surprised.

Autumn :)

Travel Day!

So now the adventure begins! Out first day of travel started out at 7:30am at Raytheon for one last 4 hour safety meeting.....sounds fun doesn't it?....and then on to the airport for a 4:20 flight to Los Angeles. Here is Erin and me still excited and full of energy.

Once we hit Los Angeles we had a 6 hour layover before we took off for our next stop in Auckland NZ. Well, our flight was delayed and out 6 hour wait turned into a 10 hour wait.

Once we knew the plane was close we started stretching and getting ready for our 14 hour flight across the ocean. We were told to move and walk every now and then so we didn't get Deep Vein Thrombosis (http://www.medicinenet.com/deep_vein_thrombosis/article.htm) Once we were taking off I fell asleep and had Zero energy to take pictures, sorry.

We arrived in Auckland and went through customs, The cute little security Beagle sniffed my bag and signaled that I needed to be searched, I had a banana in my backpack during the overnight  and ate it for breakfast, but the smell still lingered so they searched my stuff. Everything was fine and they let me continue on my way.
Our last flight into Christchurch NZ was only 2 hours and then we were taken to our hotels to finally get some sleep.

After 2-ish days of travel, we made it safely and all of my luggage arrived fully intact.

Next Stop? Cold Weather Gear issue and a little bit of sight seeing.


 Autumn :)

The Stats

Alright People! Hear. We. Go!

Its been a while since my last post and a lot has happened. I am going to throw some updates out there and get everyone caught up.
- I am officially going! Yeah!
- My work title will be the Housing Assistant! (with a possible promotion)
- My last day at Tangoe is Friday, August 12th
- I'm leaving for the Ice on Friday, August 19th
- I start working down there on Monday August 22nd

Here is a picture of my future work site!

Ok, whew! Thats as far as I am right now. I have 2 weeks before I leave and I have a ton of stuff to get done. As these steps come and go I will take pictures and keep everyone informed along the way. The next task on my list is to ship some of the bulkier items down there so 'I have enough room in my suitcase for everything else.

I hope everyone is having a good Friday so far!

Autumn :)

A little off the Subject

Right now I am finishing up my medical qualifications and that's not very exciting. But while I am getting all of this done, I am still living a normal life.......for the most part.

I wanted to share a story with you that happened to me over the weekend and it made me feel really good. So here it is:

On Sunday, my Mom and I drove through the back of our neighborhood to get to the gas station. To get there, we pass by a little pond that's sits in the middle of our neighborhood. I pointed out a female duck to my mom that was across the street from the pond and she mentioned that she had seen a female duck just the other day with 9 little ducklings. We then noticed at the same time that this female duck was circling a storm drain and seemed kind of panicked. Our first thought was: What if she was the momma duck from the other day and her ducklings were in the drain? We decided to get gas and come back the same way to see if she was still there.

We drove back by about 10 minutes later and she was still there. We parked the car and went over to look in the drain. And sure enough, all 9 ducklings were in the drain squawking away. We tried to call the Animal Control and apparently they don't work on Sundays? This did not seem right, but there wasn't really anything we could do but leave a message.

About this time a couple had come walking out of a side street  and saw us standing there looking into the drain and came over to see what was going on. The man tried to lift the grate and it came loose. We decided to try and take it off and get the ducks ourselves. This was more of a task than we had anticipated. The average storm grate weighs 175lbs (or so I'm told.) Did I mention the woman helping was pregnant? So after the initial lift she had to let go for safety reasons. That left me and the man to lift this thing....success!! Not without a few scrapes but totally worth it.

Once we got the grate off, a man who was fishing in the pond lent us his net and we got the ducklings out! I have to give a shout out to the man who helped me with the grate because he was the one who willingly went into the sewer water in his flip flops to get the ducks. We set the ducklings into the grass and the momma duck came over right away and led them to safety.

I was so glad that we were able to help out. It made me feel really good knowing that we probably saved their lives. It rained pretty hard that night and I don't know that they would have been able to handle the water flowing in.

I hope this story has made you feel as good as helping them made me feel.

 Next Stop? Saving Penguins from the freezing water?......I don't think so.

Autumn :)

Dental Qualifications

As a follow up to my stress and frustration I was dealing with as I headed to the dentist last Thursday. I went in prepared to lay my money down and walk away feeling numb and broke, and decided to talk to the dentist about possible options in only getting one tooth done or maybe putting a temporary back on the area that needed work.
After taking a look and seeing how well it was holding out, he said that I could still be Qualified for the Ice without having to get my crowns replaced.
YEAH!!!!!!!!!!
This is by far the most exciting news I had all week. He told me that I needed to schedule an appointment to come back in and get PQed and that was it. So I scheduled a time to come in the following day. I returned to the Dental office on Friday and everything went great. It sounds like I am qualified, but they have to send it to this retired Dentist  who looks everything over, and upon his approval, I will be qualified.
In other qualifying news, I had my TB Skin test done on Friday as well and it was examined and approved this last monday.
The last thing on my list to be fully PQed is a trip to the Obgyn. That will be in about 2 weeks and then i can move on to the other list of things that I need to get done, including getting my computer laptop approved for use and travel.

Til Next Time!
Autumn :)

I hate Health Insurance

As I attempt to finish up my medical qualifications, I have run into a few snags with my insurance. After reading a current post from my friend Mattie's Blog (theadventuresofmatilda.blogspot.com) there was talk about how much Health Insurance in the States really does suck. I am currently witnessing a portion of this first hand.

It all started back in November when I started working through a temp agency and signed up for insurance on my first day......yes First Day! I was only working little jobs for them and never saw any medical dues coming out of my paycheck so I assumed you had to be working so many hours a week before you could qualify. Well I didn't start working full time with them until March, at which point I started investigating my benefits....(which I had signed up for 5 months prior on my first day.....yes First Day) The temp agency gave me the insurance companies number and I gave them a call, only to find out that I was never enrolled. Upon asking to be enrolled, I was told I missed the annual open-enrollment in January and would have to wait until 2012 before I could sign up.

Ahhhhhhh! How Frustrating!!!!!

So I went back to the temp agency totally confused and wanted to know why I was never enrolled back in November and if there was a valid reason, why I was never offered open-enrollment in January. I was never told who's fault it was, but they did their best and got me enrolled with the insurance company effective May 9th. Better late than never right?......Wrong.

The point of getting insurance for me was for the dental. I had chipped off one my front crowns and needed to have them replaced before Raytheon would PQ (Physically Qualify) me. I had been putting this off until I had insurance because it costs over $2000 for the procedure and I needed all the discounts I could get.

Long story short.....The insurance company wont cover procedures like these until you have been with them for 6 months. So lets do the math here. If I had been covered on the day that I signed up for this insurance (November 2010) I WOULD have  hit my six month mark in......yup you guessed it May 2011...Ding Ding Ding!!!!! I would have been covered for this procedure! But since someone screwed up, I am just about to hit my one month mark instead. And I cant wait until I hit my new 6 month mark in Oct because you have to be PQed 6 weeks before you leave, and I am guesstimated to leave in August, meaning that I need to have this taken care of by the beginning of July.

So 2 Days from now, I will be headed into the Dentists office with what money I have saved up and 2 credit cards.
In an attempt to stay positive, I will be getting brand new front teeth that will look 10x better than the ones I have now.

Until next time,
Autumn 

Getting Qualified

There is lot of paperwork that goes into being qualified to travel to Antarctica.  First you have to fill out an application (maybe 4 pages), then they send in your New Hire Forms (another 4-5 pages). Then they throw in a few pages (lets say 3) for blood samples and urine tests just for fun. From there you have to sign your contract for the position they are offering you (2 pages). Once you are officially hired, they bust out the big guns and start asking you to sign your life over to them.

First comes the Travel Packet (32 pages.) This includes everything from Passport info, to accommodation requests for the dorm rooms and for your stay in New Zeland, to the sizes you will need for all of your Ice gear, (as in the big red parka we see in all of the pictures.)


Then comes my least favorite part, the Medical Packet (26 pages.) This includes everything from a lengthy medical history on your entire family, to getting Dental qualifications, physical qualifications, and Obgyn qualifications. This year I will be needing to get my veneers on my front teeth  replaced before they will qualify me on the Dental side. I will start that process in about a week.


After you are completely qualified and all of your paperwork is turned in, there are a few more things they send you. One of them is information about bringing your laptop. They check it in the States and in New Zeland to make sure that it has the right software and security on it. They also send you list and advice on what to bring and what to pack, info on shipping items that wont fit in your suitcase and airline restrictions.


And then what? Well, from here I dont know what happens  next. I have only ever been this far and never moved into the "you are actually going" group. I am guessing there are a few more forms and then they send you your airplane tickets.


Overall, I think I am 75% qualified to go. Once I get the dental stuff out of the way I will feel much better and be about 90% qualified. AND I will have amazingly beautiful new front teeth (pictures to follow soon.)


Signing Off,
Autumn

My First Blog!

Yeah! My First Blog Post!
First things first, thank you for taking time to read my blog. I am really excited to share my stories and keep everyone up to date on my trip to Antarctica.

So I know a lot of you have looked at me like a crazy person when I said that I was trying to go to Antarctica. Some of you even thought I was pulling your leg. But alas, I really am going. This is my third year trying to nail down a contract and it finally happened.

How did this crazy mission begin? I will have to give a shout out to some new friends of mine, Dan and Dawn. I met them on a camping trip back in 2009 and they started telling me about the company they work for, NANA Services.  They went on to explain that they lived in Antarctica 6 months out of the year for work. The travel side of me was instantly fascinated and I began asking tons of questions about what it was like living down there. Oh, for those who are geographically challenged, Antarctica is South.
Anyway, after I ran out of  questions I started showing interest in applying for a job and Dan offered to send me some more information. And so the mound of paperwork began.
The first 2 years that I applied to go I was signed on a an Alternate. This meant that I had to be ready to leave at the drop of a hat and replace someone who needed to leave the Ice for one reason or another. Of course that never happened and I never went.

After 2 years of paperwork and still not going, Dan started to feel really bad for roping me into this and was able to find a permanent position that he could offer me. YEAH!!!!!

I will be traveling to Antarctica this year as an Assistant Rooms Coordinator for the 2011-2012 Summer Season.

Let the Journey Begin,

Autumn :)