more Greenland

So... I was supposed to leave Greenland on Friday, August 23rd. I got up at 5:45 am to check in by 6:15 am for my 8 am flight. After waiting in line for 1/2 an hour, I finally show the lady my passport, who, upon looking at the name, immediately starts to speak in Danish. Which, I notice, is not what they had done for any of the other 30 passengers. So, I get nervous and ask if there is a problem, and the woman informs me that my name isn't on the manifest and then asks where are my papers.

Papers? "Oh, I'm not military..."

"It doesn't matter," she says, visibly annoyed, "you can't just board a military flight without papers! How did you get here in the first place? You can't just be here without papers!"

So I get all defensive - I got here on a military flight! And what papers are we talking about? Long story short, I learn about the travel orders that you are required to have to board any military flight, and since it is 3:45 am in Colorado, where lies the contracting company that was supposed to get said papers to me for the trip, I'm shit out of luck. I had no choice but to stay for an extra week.

All in all, it was great being stuck. I got to go on a couple of extra field trips with my boss and the field team (=helicopter flights) and help install some of the GPS sites, which was also pretty useful for work, it would turn out. Here's a picture of me working at Marie Gletcher as the pilot looks on, and one of the site itself.




More pictures of this and other sites and Greenland in general are up here.

Back in Boulder, one of our co-workers had a medical emergency (his aorta almost burst and he had to have open heart surgery, but he is fortunately recovering well), and he was slated to work the Antarctic leg of this project. Since he's basically out for the next 2 months, someone will have to take his spot, and that someone is mostly me. "Mostly" because we fortunately have another person helping out, also - there's just way too much to do in too little time.