South Pole Recreation

Although the main past-times at the South Pole are alcoholism and Seasonal Affective Disorder, there are other ways polies can occupy themselves over the course of the winter. A recreation schedule is posted on the galley scroll and station intranet so that people can view the events of the upcoming week. I'm actually in charge of updating the schedule. 

The sample schedule above shows some of the ongoing activities and special one-shot events. Over the course of the winter sports like Badminton, Volleyball, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu have survived and are practiced on a regular basis. Early starters such as Soccer, Fencing, and Basketball died off. The gym at the pole is actually quite large, with plenty of space for a variety of sports. In the summer, there are more people around and Dodgeball is common. 

Besides sports, there's been a couple TV nights that have come and gone, such as Mad Men Mondays, Game of Thrones Wednesdays, and Always Sunny in Philadelphia Sundays. Having exhausted those episodes people are now on Tudor Tuesdays. About once a month a "Drive in Movie" event is held, where a projector is set up in the gym, filling the white screen seen behind the basket in the above photo. Chairs and pillows are brought in and people enjoy a big screen movie. 

Our resident German organized viewing of WWI documentaries and films, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Great War, but for those seeking a lighter does of television there are Sunday Morning Cartoons. 

With only 41 winter-overs, finding someone to share in your hobby can be difficult, and I'm very pleased that the station machinist has continued to train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with me all winter. Generally to train BJJ at the pole we go off of instructional DVDs that I brought down. There are sufficient mats to make a decent training space. I brought down a couple gis as well but because of the height difference we only train no-gi, although it did come in handy for the obligatory pole shot.

Other events:

• Really, outside of work most people just stay in their rooms and watch movies / TV
• The travelogues are a recent trend to get everyone excited about end of season travel
• Blues Dance didn't last, R.I.P.
• The galley scroll which rotates through pages such as the rec schedule, menu, weather, aurora cam, and gifs, is displayed on TVs visible in the galley (the one seen here is showing the upcoming internet passes)

Next Week in Pole: How many movies / tv shows can a polie get through in a season?