The Whole Wide World

Sunday. I keep getting nervous that after the first seven days of writing, which give you insight into what each day is like down here, I will run out of things to say. I am also fairly sure that won’t be the case, that it’s just anxiety saying hello. This place is so bizarre, interesting and weird that there shouldn’t be a content shortage over the next ninety-six days.

Most of the station are off work today, which means the Gallagher’s (the pub) was busy last night. We have brunch on Sundays. Brunch is special because the food is different than the normal spread. There is typically an array of cheese and crackers, chips and dips, ahi tuna, spanakopita and all kind of other yummy treats. During the summer season brunch meant the galley was buzzing with people, but Sunday mornings are pretty quiet here now. I call it hibernation day. Brunch runs from 10-1PM and it seems that most people sleep in and surface in the galley around noon, which is also when the store opens. With the last flight only just over a week ago, we are also still enjoying freshies (fresh produce). Eventually we will run out of fresh food and we will once again be eating frozen and canned food. Our kitchen team are fabulous at making the most out of whatever ingredients they are given (no matter how many decades ago it expired).

My morning routine is pretty much the same as the other days; gym, shower, work, coffee, happy light and then brunch before the store opens. The store is open from 12-6PM on Sundays which makes for a fairly long day. The rest of the week it is only open 12:30-2 and 6:30-7:30 except for Mondays when there are no evening hours. I have coloring books and colored pencils out though and a handful of people come by and spend a good portion of the early afternoon coloring and chatting which is nice.

We were also recently given access to Starlink on Sundays, which is a treat. I was able to FaceTime very briefly with my best friend, Francesca, this morning, She just had her second baby, Ava Maria, and I saw her for the first time today outside of photos. I also got to say hello to little Miss Luisa, her first baby girl, who was excited to tell me all about volcanoes. I miss getting to spend time with all of them, but am grateful for technology, which brings us closer. I think having access to Starlink on Sundays also accounts for the lack of people around on station. Lots tend to pack a Tupperware of brunch items and go back to their rooms to download and stream as much content as possible over the course of the day.

The biggest news for today is that I put out new shirts for sale and 15 packs of Sour Patch Kids. Like I said before, everything is rationed. The Sour Patch Kids were gone in the first hour of the store being open. For the shirts, I made a sign to place above them that read: 

NEW STUFF. How Exciting. OMG. 

WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT WE GOT.

Before you ask, please read:

There are no additional sizes or colors in the back. 

Other new items will appear over the course of winter on Sundays. 

But not every Sunday. 

Please refrain from asking what/when. 

One item per person while on this rack -to allow everyone an opportunity.

K Thanks.

~mgmt 

Men’s $40 Women’s $32

In case you are wondering, it is a serious sign, that is meant to be informative and sound ignorant. I am one person with 143 people asking me about ‘new stuff’ on the regular and it gets very old. I do my best to be patient, but the sarcasm is heavy and I have threatened to ban and/or shank people (jokes…mehbe) for asking questions. A large portion of my job throughout the winter is tagging the items that were received on vessel this year. The community see the new items when I am tagging and get excited about the prospect of buying it, but they forget that only a very small quantity will get put out over winter as it has to last through the summer when the population is closer to 1200 people. Plus, just because I’ve tagged it doesn’t mean it is ready to sell as it has to get entered into the system back in Denver and these things take time. I’m just saying, it ain’t always easy being the store lady.

As always, people could not refrain and I was asked questions. The most common question was why there is a price difference between the two almost identical shirts besides the cut and a different neckline on the women’s. It is most likely because the women’s cost less, but rather than give the most plausible answer, I replied to that question with the following answer. The price difference is because there is a sliding scale to accommodate the lower wages that women make for doing the same job as our male counterparts, thus keeping things equitable between men and women.

There are events such as pickle ball, Spanish conversation club, volleyball, rock climbing (we have a small wall) that happen in the afternoon on Sundays, but since the store is open I haven’t made it to any of those. I’m going to post the funeral pictures from yesterday on Instagram this evening, so be sure to check those out (as long as you are in a good place mentally and don’t think it will bring you too much sadness). And now, I’m going to go watch Ted Lasso and try not to shed too many tears or laugh too loud. If you haven’t watched Lasso, well, you are missing out.