Station Tour, A pod, lower level

Zoomed in and labeled map to help identify things

Today's ramble will just walk us down the left side of the lower level hallway of A pod. On the right, A1 and A4 start with bathrooms and then split into two hallways with ~12-20 berthing rooms per hallway. Some rooms are internal with no windows, which some folks love in the summer when the sun does not set. The rest are external rooms with windows. Unfortunately, our windows have to be covered up for about 3/4 of winter so no white light escapes station and throws off the scientific cameras.

The Quiet Reading Room

The first room of interest in A3 is the Quiet Reading Room or library. There is a great Antarctica history section here and a bunch of other good books. However, some folks just use the room to get away to a quiet space, but station is almost always bustling.  In the summer, finding a room to hang with your friends can be tough so folks often end up there.

The next room up is the laundry room. Laundry and detergent are free. We are limited to one load per week.

The Laundry room.

Just past the Laundry room is the volunteer-run Greenhouse and one of my favorite spots on station. I'll do a separate post on it, the store, and the post office tomorrow.  

After those three spots is one of our recycling centers. The US Antarctic Program has an incredibly detailed recycling system. It is one of the most comprehensive on the planet. Everything except human waste is returned via plane to McMurdo Station. The different categories that I can remember are:

1. Ferrous Metal
2. Non-Ferrous Metal
3. Landfill (does not fit any other category)
4. Food Waste
5. Mixed Recycling (what you normally do back home)
6. Corrugated Cardboard
7. Printer Toner
8. Light bulb Ballasts
9. HazWaste
10. Electronic Scrap (minus the cords that go in Ferrous Metal)
11. Fabric (for the craft room)
12. Skua (think Goodwill, the skua is an Antarctica scavenging bird that lives near the coast)
13. Sani-waste (anything with body fluids)
14. Wood Scrap. 

Personally, I hate digging through and sorting my garbage so I always just take stuff directly to the correct bin. Other folks fill their garbage cans then walk to the center and sort it, piece by piece. No thanks.

One of our recycling centers

Next stop past the recycling center is a set of stairs to the upper level. Past that is our sauna. I don't use it much because I never plan ahead enough to heat it up for the 60-90 minutes before I want to get in. Some folks it almost every night. The last time I did it was around 8pm two weeks ago. After I was done, I had to drink a ton of water to hydrate and ruined my night's sleep by waking up repeatedly to pee. I have to figure out a way to get in a morning sauna session instead.

South Pole Sauna

It's important to not sit in the sauna too long without cooling off a bit. DZ is one of our three exits from station and is right by the sauna between A1 and A4. It's a great place cool off in a hurry.

Another coat room between the Beer Can and DZ.

The last stop on the lower level tour is just another coat room. There are two entrances to the elevated station in A pod, DZ from summer camp and the Beer Can from the arches (B pod just has one, DA). The coat room is an easy place for folks coming into A pod to drop their coats off before heading in for a meal or to their room. The coats are so big they are always in the way if you hang them in your room or from a chair.