Tongue Tied
It is my 5th day in McMurdo and I must admit that I am still a little confused by McMurdo Speak. This part of Antarctica has its own language! It is a mix of military terms, slang and acronyms. For instance, today I went to the BFC and SciCo to pick up some bamboo and TCN them. I walked past a pile of tri-walls, avoided the crud and had freshies at lunch. I watched a helo take off over Mactown, stepped out side in "big red" just as the delta was passing, and cut layflat tubing. To translate: I went to the Berg Field Center (BFC) and Science Cargo (SciCo) buildings to pick up some bamboo poles and get them a Transportation Control Number (TCN) so they will be shipped to Taylor Dome. In the Science cargo building, I walked past a pile of cardboard boxes (tri-walls) that have three layers of cardboard in each wall making them very durable for packing field gear. I washed my hands before I ate lunch at the hand washing station to prevent illness (the crud) and had fresh vegetables and fruit (freshies) with my meal. I watch a helicopter (helo) take off and cruise over McMurdo (Mactown). It was cold so I wore my heavy red parka (big red) when I went outside where a giant wheeled vehicle that carries passengers in a large box on the back (a Delta) went by. Then I cut over 100 strips of flat plastic tubing (layflat); Ice cores are put in layflat tubing to protect them from contaminates.
In case you are as confused as I am with McMurdo Speak, I have provided a link with the definitions of all the slang. Read up and you will be able to speak to anyone on the Ice.
http://penguincentral.com/MCMslang.htmlToday the other US ITASE team members here in McMurdo continued to work on organizing gear. Dan continued to make sure the 2" drill was field ready. Brain and Andrei made sure the radars were functioning correctly and had all the proper mounts for the vehicles. Brian also paid a trip to the MEC to make sure that the upgrades to his new radar sled were being done correctly. Joe and I helped with a few odds and ends that still needed to be put into the cargo system and then we cut and stapled over 100m of layflat plastic tubing ready for ice coring.