Wow. A lot of action with GOFLO sampling from aft deck. Submersible pump from starboard with red winch. Filling the 1000-liter tanks from the sea water intake and pump. Trying to coordinate time to get the filtrations out of the way before next station. Poking ice away trying to get the equipment safely in the water and safely up from the water both with long boat hook and with fire hoses. Also small tasks are continuously being done. They are equally and highly needed – like putting needles in rubber stoppers (if you want to cap a bottle filled to the brim with water you need to get the overflowing water that amount to the stopper volume out somewhere – this is done via a needle though the stopper where the water can go out). Printing labels to mark bottles. If you don´t know what a sample is which when you get home – you might as well not have taken it at all… so it is equally important too. This is the thing. All the little and larger tasks are needed for coordinating so that all of this actually works together to retrieve data and samples. It is an amazing puzzle and we have successfully gotten samples for all work packages in now 57 stations! We are GOOD!

We have reached the last transect of stations. I think many are starting to recognize the intensity of the work we are doing. To me, there is a certain level of being tired that sits in the body at all times. I am in good shape though. I sleep, socialize, eat properly, and exercise. It still adds up. You are working on a gear you normally do not have, and there are so many elements that you did not think would affect you. It will also sound like a cliché, but you learn about yourself, and I think we are many to agree on this point.

At moments here when I have been alone with my thoughts I have started thinking about my life. What are the important things to me? Who do I want to spend my time with, what can I be without. When life is turned into an everyday kind of pattern with things you never do normally, excluding all that you are used to – these thoughts rise to the surface as sure as anything.

How does truly repetitive tasks affect you? What time of day is it when you get up after sleeping? The light is all the same. How long does your body actually need between meals? Is dinner-food ok for breakfast? What kind of tasks are you limited to when you are tired, which ones do you have to avoid? What truly regenerates your energy, and how do you prioritize between these?

Basic things about your physical and mental state that you explore. I love it!



 
I have also found a crowd of people that like me enjoy the sauna. There are two onboard and I normally use the third floor sauna and showers a lot. It is only a couple of doors away from my cabin. Much more space than the little bathroom/toilet that is in the cabin – and you don´t disturb the sleeping part of the cabin through the very loud flushing of the toilet, opening the door to the inner room and letting daylight in there before you have gotten to close behind you. But, the best part is when you pop your head in at an hour or two after dinner, there is the usual crowd. Starting off in the actual sauna, then laughing away in the relax room outside. Music, the odd snack and many jokes. People come and go, but the core gang is always there. Some that leave say – goodnight, others – like myself will say – time to go to work. Sometimes, there is a sudden joint parting, where we all leave in mutual silence due to an approaching station. Off we go. We are here for the research no doubt.

The sauna, the common room, the dinner tables and labs. We spend a lot of our time together. This is a place to get to know other people. A place to share, get close, connect and have ideas. Meetings where you can change your life often happen in relaxed environments where you get close to other people. Of course this is nothing you plan, but it can happen. Right Frank? And just enjoy the great company.

This night, or early morning it was raining quite a lot. Snowy heavy rain… tent of the sediment slicing corner was really weighed down with water on the top part. Per from the crew was trying to get it out and warned me when I was coming close to fill some containers with water. Emma – you will soon get really wet if you stand still… ops! J

The deck also filled with water really quickly, and there was a great flooding outside the main lab. I had to switch to wellingtons to get out with dry feet. Otherwise I am normally the one to get the deck wet here when I need to empty the large 1000-liter containers.

Now, time for bed!