Hi Everyone!

Now that the holiday weekend is over, I thought I’d pass along a few updates. John and Brian remain in McMurdo, getting things together for the upcoming season. The remainder of the crew (sans Marc Caffee, who heads south later) were scheduled to leave the US on Saturday, 30 December.   That worked out for all but Jim Karner,  whose departure from Salt Lake City was cancelled due to weather.  He was rescheduled for Sunday (1 Dec) and he is reportedly on his way across the Pacific right now (see update below).

Meanwhile Alex, Cindy, Emilie, Lauren, and Nicole are all together staying in the same hotel (I believe it’s the Crown Plaza) in Christchurch. They will go to orientation and the CDC this morning after  breakfast together, which (if I have my universal time coordinates correct) should be occurring right now!   Jim should catch up with them all late morning,  and probably will get rushed through the CDC right away so he’s on the same departure schedule as the others, on a flight that should take place tomorrow morning early.

Update, 1:57 EST:   Jim Karner has arrived in Auckland, is catching his flight to Christchurch shortly, and should be able to join the group at the clothing distribution center!

Update #2: Alex reports that their flight might have been pushed out a day, to Thursday instead of Wednesday like originally scheduled.  No confirmation of that yet.

-posted by Ralph from gloomy lake-enhanced-snow-season-and-Browns-lost-yesterday Cleveland