Frohe Weihnachten!

Liebe Familie, Freunde, Zechkumpanen, Tauchers, Rocker, Vorgesetzte, alt Bekannte!
Aus der fernen Antarktis sende ich euch allen herzlichste Grüße und liebe Weihnachtswünsche dahin, wo immer ihr seid. Mir ist klar, dass das vielleicht etwas früh ist, da e-mails in der Regel schneller zugestellt werden als Briefpost, aber ich bin nicht sicher, on ich in den nächsten Tagen zum Schreiben komme.
Nach einem außerordentlich schönen Besuch bei der Forschungsstation "Neumayer II", die von der Polarstern mit Nahrung und Sprit versorgt wurde, hingen wir nun seit zwei Tagen im Packeis fest. Letzte Nacht konnten wir uns befreien und haben den Weg zu unserer zweiten
Toefsee-Station angetreten, bei der wir in wenigen Stunden eintreffen werden. Dann geht es an die Arbeit. Bisher lief die Arbeit mittelprächtig, aber ich bin zuversichtlich. Der Spass- und Überwältigungsfaktor der Expedition war bisher sehr sehr hoch.
Frohe Weihnachten und einen guten Rutsch!
Der Torben

15.12.2007: Visiting Neumayer

Saturday, 15 December 2007: We all got up early to see the Pistenbullys of Neumayer-Station approaching. It was some minutes after 8am, when they arrived to manage all these containers.
All scientists were invited to Neumayer for today and therefore I waited for my helicopter-shuttle to the station. I never went in a helicopter so far and it was a great and thrilling experience. The view on icebergs and the Polarstern from above and also on the big colony of breading emperors was overwhelming. Neumayer Station was build as an under-ice construction and consists basically of two tubes. In these tubes are living- and laboratory containers. During winter eight people live there to keep long time studies in geophysics, air-chemistry and meteorology running. During summer, several more people from different countries live there to do research. They have additional over-ice camps. At the moment, the
"overwinterers" from the last season is still there, while some of the new team already have arrived. Mentally it is a very hard struggle, I think, to live in Antarctica for one year, especially as the winter is so long, cold and lonesome. Because of this we had to keep quiet and not to disturb the privacy of the people there. But we got an insight into people's life in the station and got a guided tour. We also saw, why there is the need for a new station: in some places, the tubes are already heavily deformed because of the heavy load of snow. At the beginning, 15 years ago, the station was close to the surface, but every year 80-100cm of new snow buries the station and it is by now about 10-12 m under the surface.
Outside Neumayer it is very beautiful. Despite of the windmills and antennae coming out of the surface, the glacier seems to be endless and totally flat. The sun was shining and we c ould see Polarstern in the Bay. And there was absolute silence, when you went off for just some hundred
meters.
Later on, when I was already back at the Ship's place, I had a meeting with two Adelie Penguins. I was lying on the ice when they came closer and closer. Finally one of them was even closer than 1.5m when the helicopters arrived and scared away the penguins.

We, of course, also invited the station's people to Polarstern. They came and got some tours through all the facilities and labs of the ship. Today is Judith's birthday. Therefore I will have some fun tonight. It was a really beautiful day!

Landed at the Shelf Ice Edge

Tuesday, 18thDecember 2007: Since we left Atka Bay two days ago, Polarstern tried to find a way to a special spot at the shelf-ice edge. This spot was localized by helicopter and is the only area in reach where there is water reaching the edge. We are here now but it was not easy.
Polarstern followed a track an iceberg had cut through heavy pack ice.
This track was covered by dense "porridge" ice and we had to ram using all four engines. We crossed an iceberg cemetery and the number if icebergs and the various forms were amazing!
Finally we reached the polynia we had looked for and were able to do some station work using the "Rauschert"-Dredge yesterday while waiting for people from Neumayer. Today we landed at the edge and pumping of the fuel to tank containers started.

Antarctic Diary 14.12.2007 Finally: Neumayer

Freitag, 14. Dezember 2007: Seit der ersten Tiefsee-Station hat das Systco-Team fleißig gearbeitet, Tiere aus den außerordentlich schlammigen Sediment gepickt, fotografiert, DNA extrahiert und sich einen ersten Überblick über das Leben an diesem Punkt der Tiefsee verschafft. Das gilt besonders für die EBS- und Dretschen-Sortiererer. Die letzten Tage waren
dominiert vom Kampf der Polarstern gegen das Packeis, welches teilweise locker, teilweise sehr fest gepackt war, sodass das Schiff oft feststeckte und zum Rammen zurücksetzen musste. Wir kamen dem entsprechend nur langsam voran.
Heute um ca. 15Uhr stoppte die Polarstern im Festeis der Atkabucht, nachdem sie sich ca. 500m des Weges in die Bucht gerammt hatte. Hier ist das Eis nicht zerbrochen, zusammen geschoben oder von Eisbergen zerpflügt worden, weshalb die Eisdecke bis auf Schneeverwehungen und Pinguinspuren absolut glatt ist. Von hier aus sind es noch etwa 20km bis zur Neumayer-Station, doch um näher an die Schelfeiskante zu kommen, müsste unverhältnismäßig viel Diesel verdampft werden. Da macht es mehr Sinn, auf dem Meereis zu entladen und die Container mit den Pistenbullys der Station abzuholen. Es wurde eine Brücke zum Eis herabgelassen und wir durften von Bord gehen. Zuvor wurde das Eis vom 1O geprüft und ein sicherer Bereich abgesteckt.
Wir sind natürlich sofort fast alle auf das Eis gegangen und es war komisch. Die letzten Tage ist alles an einem vorbei gezogen, wie in einem Film. Jetzt fühlte es sich einerseits erschreckend normal an, hier zu sein, so, als ob ich nie woanders war. Aber andererseits sind die Eindrücke, die Bilder, die Geräusche und das Wissen, hier zu sein unglaublich überwältigend. Man, ich halte das kaum aus! Vor Begeisterung könnte ich glatt platzen! Es ist schwer, das zu realisieren. Ich sehe
endlose Eiswüsten, riesengroße Tafeleisberge, Kaiserpinguine, die in Kolonnen von der Jagd zu ihren Küken über die flache Ebene rutschen, Adélie-Pinguine, die ständig aufgeregt wirken und sich voller Neugier bis auf weniger als 1 m dem liegenden Menschen nähern, die Polarstern liegt
wie ein schlafender Koloss mitten drin. Und ich bin auf diesem Schiff. Ein
Traum!

Es hat einige Zeit gedauert, bis ich auf die Idee kam, auch mal meine Handschuhe auszuziehen und den Schnee wirklich zu berühren. Das hat im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes geholfen, die Situation zu begreifen. Natürlich haben wir eine ganze Weile auf dem Eis verbracht und Bilder
geknipst, was das Zeug hält. Wir hatten viel Spass und ich fand es besonders lustig, die anderen dabei zu beobachten, wie sie beim Beobachten und Fotografieren genau das gleiche Verhalten an den Tag legten, wie die Pinguine, mich nicht ausgeschlossen. Die Kaiserpinguine wirken so
menschlich, wenn sie aus einen zu rutschen, sich dann mit Hilfe des Schnabels und der Flügel aufrichten und sich umsehen und umher stolzieren, wie steife dicke Männchen mit zu kurzen Beinen.
Wenig später kamen der Doc und der Leiter der Neumayer-Station auf Skidoos an, um uns willkommen zu heißen. Wegen der Versorgung der Station waren zu diesem Zeitpunkt bereits intensive Vorbereitungen im Gange. Das Ausladen sollte bald beginnen. Allerdings ist da noch das Problem der Betankung der Station. Die Diesel-Container können aus Sicherheitsgründen nicht auf dem Meereis betankt werden. Sie sind schlicht zu schwer und das Risiko einer
ökologischen Katastrophe ist zu groß. Wir müssen einen Platz zum Anlegen an der Schelfeiskante, also am Gletscherrand finden. Allerdings ist dieser hier in der Atka-Bucht zu weit weg.

Since the first station the SYSCO-Group has first preliminary results. Especially the people working with the EBS and the dredge continuously sorted the samples. As Angelika, Laura, Lydia and I concentrate on Isopods, we also took pictures of the several hundred specimens and Saskia and I started to do DNA-extractions for molecular phylogeny studies. The last days were dominated by a hard struggle of Polarstern against the dense ice-girdle around the continent. The ship had to stop very often, to retry to break the ice.
Today at about 3pm Polarstern stopped ramming the strong ice cover in Atka Bay. It is still about one hour and 15 minutes to go to Neumayer Station by Skidoo, 8 minutes by helicopter or about 20 kilometres, but ramming is much too expensive. The cargo for the german research-station will be unloaded tomorrow on the sea-ice and the Pistenbullys will come from
Neumayer to carry the cargo-containers.
A stairway was installed and we were allowed to go onto the ice after the Chief-Mate and crewmembers had checked the ice for risks and dangers. We went on the ice and it was great.
We spend quite some time to take pictures and pictures of emperors, of the ship, of each other. It was a try to make this an everlasting moment. We had fun. Jumping around, lying in the snow, enjoying the warm light, the calm but cold wind, and these birds, sliding towards us in curiosity and looking at us the same way we were looking at them. Wonderful!
During our first steps on the ice, the stations chief and the doctor arrived to welcome us. A lot of logistics had already started to unload the ship and bring all the supply to the station. Still during the next days, we will have to look for another place at the shelf-ice edge to unload the fuel for the station, as it is much to dangerous for the environment to unload it on the sea ice.

Antarctic Diary 12.12.2007

Wednesday, 12.12.2007: Finally we come very close to the continent of Antarctica and the ice-cover is almost complete. It is that much light outside, that you can barely have a look out of the window without using sun glasses with high UV-protection, otherwise you would risk "snow
blindness" and sun-blocker to avoid heavy sun-burn within minutes. At the moment we are even stuck in the ice and Polarstern slowly goes backwards to accelerate again and ram the ice. It is still about 200 nautical miles to go to Neumayer-Station. I really look forward to have a walk on the ice and to visit this station, which, during next year, will be deconstructed completely to be substituted by a new one.
I am fine so far. Unfortunately I have a little cold and a throat-ache, but that is nothing. We started lab-work and I am preparing to give a talk in the daily seminar. There are also already ongoing Christmas-preparations but I avoid being involved. I don't like these things too much.

Yesterday Matilda organised a Party in the "Zillertal" in honour of "Lucia", the saint of the blind and the light. This tradition is celebrated in Scandinavian countries every year on the shortest day to welcome the light. Also yesterday, the doctor gave a lecture on secure behaviour in the
Antarctic and in the ice. Really nasty things can happen because of high radiation levels, magnetic storms, extreme changes in weather or e.g. cracks in the ice.

Antarctic Diary 10.12.2007

Monday, 10.12.2007: We've reached the ice!!! Yesterday was marvellous! The first thing I saw, when I looked out of my window, was lots of "Antarctic Petrels" and "Black-browed Albtrosses" accompanying Polarstern. We did not see these species so far and especially the Albatrosses are so beautiful! They were very close to the ship and I took lots of pictures.
Also yesterday the ship's weight-watchers club started. This is a weekly event, which to me seems necessary, as the food on Polarstern is excellent. It must be that good, as food helps to create a good mood for crew and scientists as a contrast to harsh conditions and hard work. For
the weight-watchers you have to bet 0.5€ how your weight will develop during one week and you The money collected will be given to an organisation caring about children suffering from cancer.
During lunchtime we were passing huge icebergs outside with Penguins. It was really amazing: Polarstern was passing by between two quite huge and blue icebergs. And there were hundreds of penguins sitting on these. The icebergs were closer than 500m each and when we were right between them, it was 12:00 and Polarstern's daily horn was blown. This was an incredible
feeling! It is hard to realize where I am and in this moment I really got overwhelmed!
Today we also started to sort our first samples that were now fixed in cool and pure ethanol for 48 hours. Not many animals could be found so far, but there are some in it. Tomorrow we will start extracting DNA. As it is the 2. Advent today, we had some festivities and lots of fun.
After days of storm and waves hitting the ship hard the waves decreased more and more during the evening. Afterwards I went to the gym to run some half an hour and to do some workout, when suddenly I heard ice scratching on the ships hull! We have reached the sea-ice!! It looks so great and I really look forward to see the endless ice -desert tomorrow.
The ice extension is very big now and we expect to have some problems in reaching "Neumayer II" station. There is a big storm approaching and we hope, that it will blow away some of the ice.

Antarctic Diary 08.12.2007

Saturday, 08.12.2007: We solved our first station and are now heading
southward to the German polar research station "Neumayer II". We will
supply the 8 overwinterers with food, fuel and equipment. It is still one
week to go, until we reach the edge of the continental shelf-ice. But we
will reach the sea-ice within the next couple of days.
Until then we will work on our samples from the first station and create
plans for Christmas. It really gets chilly outside even though we are at a
latitude similar to northern germany. We already passed the polar front
and entered the circumpolar current, which isolates Antarctica from the
world's other oceans. Water temperature sank to less than 5°C. Yesterday
there was the first iceberg I saw in my life! It was the first impression
of the ice-desert we will face the next weeks and it was beautiful! Today
I saw even six icebergs, and tried to get good shots of birds like "Sooty
Albatrosses", "Antarctic Prions", "Giant Petrels", "Cape Petrels",
"Southern Fulmars", "Blue Petrels" or "Antarctic Storm-Petrels". So far I
did not see any whales.
Last night my professor Angelika and a ship-mate called Ekki celebrated
their Birthdays in the ship's equipment-store. At the beginning it was a
very strange athmosphere, as there seemed to be still quite an inner
distance between scientists and crew. This wall broke and it became a
fest! There was dancing and loughing and "the ice" between scientists and
crew melted.
The increasing waves and the rum made the dancing a pogo soon and as food
and glasses were flying through the room and it became too dangerous Ekki
made an end.

On the one picture Lydia (right), Saskia (center) and me stand on the
aft-deck of RV Polarstern next to our gear, the epibenthic sledge called
"Meta" and on the other picture you see a Sooty Albatross.

Diary 02.12.2007

Sunday, 02.12.2007: It is Sunday and after some day of building up laboratories and preparing first station, most of the scientists aboard RV "Polarstern" relax a little bit. We all by now became quite used to customs and rules on board.
If you want to know exactly where I am at the moment, visit the webpage http://www.awi-bremerhaven.de and look for the Polarstern. There you can find a cruise plot with our current position.
It is still four to five days to go, maybe more, as we are inside a high pressure system and have to steam against storm and waves. By now, just some groups have started their work. The plankton group has deployed the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR). This gear is towed behind the ship and needs no additional ship-time, except for the deployment and the heaving.
It will always be used between the stations as long as we are out of ice-covered areas and stays in the water all the time. Depending on speed and cable length, the depth to sample at can be adjusted. This gear was used since many years worldwide and catches zooplankton. It gives an
overview on species composition, abundance and distribution. On the "Peildeck" the Top- Predator-Group counts birds and whales. Unless the storm is too strong they stay there outside from dawn till dusk. Every day! This group also uses a towed gear, the „Surface and Under ice Trawl" (SUIT) which can also be used in ice-covered areas and consists of a very
impressing steel frame with car-wheels to roll underneath the ice and heavy weights. They try to investigate Top-Predators and their food from the surface of the water column.
Once we reach the first deep station, the ship will stay approximately at the same coordinates until all the work is done. During the stations a lot of different instruments will be deployed. There is gear that will just be lowered down to the deep-sea floor for example to measure physical parameters like currents, oxygen-content, CO2-content, salinity and temperature, but also to get water samples from different depths, or graps and corers to sample the sediment. We also have a Free-Fall-Lander and a Bait-Trap on board. Both throw off weights triggered by acoustical signals and float back to the surface. With the lander, e.g. oxygen-gradients can be measured in the bottom-surface layer. The traps are used to catch scavengers. When all this gear is done, trawled gear, like our EBS for benthic organisms or the "Rectangular Midwater Trawl" (RMT) for pelagic organisms like Krill is deployed. All together a station may last more than 36 hours.

Diary 28.11.2007

Mittwoch, 28.11.2007: Es ist wahr geworden. Irgendwie hatte ich mich nie
gewagt, davon auch nur zu träumen, aber nun bin ich auf der
FS-Polarstern!! Am 28.11. um 20 Uhr sind wir pünktlich in Kapstadt
abgelegt.
Da das Schiff wird genutzt ist mit Wissenschaftlern, Hubschrauber-Crew und
Wetterfröschen vom Deutschen Wetterdienst. Ich muss ich mit der
Isolierstation des Bordhospitals Vorlieb nehmen. Ich teile das Zimmer mit
zwei netten Kerlen in meinem Alter, Falk und Jens. Beide machen ganz was
anderes als ich, aber wir verstehen uns sehr gut. Gleich beim Auslaufen
hatten wir Windstärke 7. Das ist nicht sehr viel, gerade bei der Größe
dieses Dampfers, aber für den Anfang war das schon ganz ordentlich, sodass
ich die erste Nacht nicht besonders gut schlafen konnte.
Diese Fahrt bedient unter anderem das SYSTCO-Projekt, welches das
ehrgeizige Ziel verfolgt, Fachgebiete übergreifend Zusammenhänge zwischen
den Verschiedenen Lebensräumen von der Wasseroberfläche (oder sogar
darüber) bis zum Meeresboden zu finden. Besonders geht es darum, wo der
vom Phytoplankton gebildete organische Kohlenstoff durch das Nahrungsnetz
fließt.
Meine Aufgabe im Speziellen liegt im Probensortieren und heraussuchen von
Isopoden, mit denen ich in meiner Diplomarbeit arbeiten möchte und
Bivalven und Scaphopoden für eine Dame aus England. Ich arbeite
hauptsächlich mit dem EBS (Epibenthos-Schlitten). Das ist ein Gerät, mit
dem man den ersten Meter über dem Meeresboden in so gut wie jeder Tiefe
beproben kann und vor allem Tiere zwischen 0,5 und 10mm fangen kann.

Wednesday, 28.11.2007: It became true. Even though I never believed in
that, I am now a participant in a Polarstern-Cruise! Today we left Cape
Town in time and were at once confronted with harsh weather. 7 Bft. is not
that much, especially as we are on a huge ship, but it was enough to
disturb my sleep quite a lot.
A significant project of this cruise is allocated to SYSTCO- (System
Coupling in the Deep Antarctic Ocean). Its aim is, to simplify it a bit,
to find out about where organic carbon and other nutrients go, whom eats
whom and how different habitats from the surface of the ocean down to the
fauna living in the deep-sea's sediment are connected to each other.
I am on board to help sorting samples, especially from the Epibenthic
Sledge (EBS). This gear can be towed in almost every depth and catches
small macrofauna basically consisting of crustacean, polychaetes, molluscs
and more. I am also here to pick out Bivalves for a professor from the
British Antarctic Survey and to pick out isopods for Laura's PhD-studies
and my Diploma-thesis.

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The picture with me on it, sorting in the lab, was taken by Nils Brenke,
the picture of the sea-ice was taken by Jens Edinger and the "Penguins on
the iceberg" picture was taken by me.
Tschöö.. Torben

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This picture shows Nils and me...
Cheers.. Torben

Some animals of the Cape..

Assel in der Brandungszone
Sea-shore isopod

















Hagedasch
Bostrychia hadedasch
Hadada Ibis

















Jersey-Rind
Bos taurus
Jersey Cow
















Klippschliefer
Procavia capensis
Cape Hyrax / Dassie

















Nilgans
Alopochen aegyptiacus
Egyptian Goose
















Afrikanischer Brillenpinguin (ausgewachsen)
Spheniscus demersus
African Penguin (adult)
















Afrikanischer Brillenpinguin (Jungtier)
Spheniscus demersus
African Penguin (juvenile)
















Rotschwingenstar
Onychognatus morio
Redwinged Starling
















Kap-Frankolin
Francolinus capensis
Cape francolin
















Waffenkiebitz
Vanellus armatus
Blacksmith Lapwing

The first time I saw RV "Polarstern"

Moin!
Today, again, was a really really wonderful day! But I start getting tired of those ass-kissers that always show a faked smile and give crooked compliments and slag you in your back.
We did a wine tour today. We had a german speaking driver and guide. She was born in Namibia and speaks perfect English, Afrikaans and German without any accent. We visited three wine farms and tried dozens of white, rosé and red wines as well as port wines. We saw wine cellars and the very old farms and farmlands around the old colony Stellenbosch.
When we drove back to Cape Town on the highway we had a nice view on the Waterfront and the harbor and I saw Polarstern the first time in my life. Maybe it sounds overstated but as I really look forward to the day after tomorrow and the coming three months, I was quite impressed, seeing this ship, the old lady, for the first time.
Lutz, a guy we met before, had contact to Polarstern and told us, that they are not allowed to land as it was plnned. A crane is broken in the harbor and it will take several hours, until this is fixed.. Poor crew, poor scientists on board!

2007/11/26: RV Polarstern waiting for landing permission; Tablebay

Simon's Bay and The Cape of Good Hope

Today we rented a car and drove to Simon's Bay and to the Cape of Good Hope. Driving on the left hand side was done by Saskia. She has had experience with that before and she did it very well. Roads in this area are very good and traffic is not stressful.
In Simon's Bay we visited the Pinguins Colony. Those birds are really good photo-models and cute, too.

At the cape we saw some big animals like ostrychs, baboons and kudus. In the morning we had about 28°C and no wind, but in the afternoon, clouds came and it got very stormy. At the cape we also met some scientists from the Netherlands, which will be on Polarstern, too.

The Burger Experience

This post is to all people that appreciate good food, especially those, that are non-vegetarian. This post is dedicated to Tim and Harry. I have often had Barbie or Burger together with you, mates, and I always liked it and appreciated it very much! During this dinner Tim and Harry were with me in a spiritual way:

Today I had the biggest and the best burger ever in my life!!!!!! On the menu there was written: "Only for the hungry!" That was a provocation. This burger was made of a burger roll, 250 gram minced beef burger, tomatoe, 200 gram minced ostrych burger, bacon, fried egg, onion and salat! This came along with fried western potatoes, trimmings and with fried onion, cream spinach and with ginger pumpkin. It was unbelievable! And it was a challange. I barely made it through, but I did! And afterwards I was really happ y. This burger I will never forget.
And I feel sorry for all people, like Tim and Harry, that do not have a chance right now, to share this experience with me.. I am with you, guys!
Now I'm really done.. Torben

Welcome to Cape Town

Hi All!
We have arrived in Cape Town and it is great! I am on vacation in South Afrca's most beautiful city together with Saskia, Laura and Lydia. But I have to start from the beginning: Yesterday we departed from Hamburg and the flight to Frankfurt was ok. We originally should have had to wait for something like 1.5 hours but our flight was resceduled to 00:55am next day. Two more hours to wait. Shit! The Lufthansa-People told us, that the plane had been hit by a lightning during the last flight and they - of course - had to check it. That did not bring more confidence
into our minds - so to say.
But the plane was checked and it was ok and we started. It may be due to my last experiences with Singapore Airlines, but for me Lufthansa is crap! Service is not good, food is bad, no screens in front of every passanger no choice of tv-chanels, little space and little comfort at all. And by the way: Lufthansa is quite expensive in relation to better Airlines.
But finally we arrived. At the Airport we passed through immigration and customs quickly to meet with our transfer-guy. At first we could not find him until we saw him - identified by a sign in his hand with Saskias name on it - discussing with somebody who had arrived with our flight too and his name was Dr. Blix. That is very funny, as Saskia's surname is Brix and she is a Dr., too. And this man argued, that he was the only Dr. Blix in the world, therefore this "r" must be a mistake and he needs a transfer now and wanted to take our driver.. But we intervened early enough.
Our Hotel in Camps Bay is amazing. This suburb of Cape Town is were the rich people live and i tmakes me feel uncomfortable staying between those snobbish people. But at least we can walk on the streets here feeling safe. It is very comfortable and much like nothing I've ever stayed at. And today it was 25°C, though strong wind and we can see the South Atlantic, Table Mountain, the Twelfe Apostels as well as Lion's Head from our Room!!!!
We already planned and booked a lot of things for the next days. Tomorrow we will rent a car and drive to the "Cape of Good Hope" and to Simon's Town where the pinguins dwell. On Monday we will do the wine-tour and on Tuesday we want to climb Table Mountain and have a look at Cape Town's Waterfront. O Wednesday we will finally go aboard "Polarstern".
Today we walked down to the beach of Camps Bay and looked for ATMs, Restaurants and SuperMarkets. On our way we saw Sea Lions and Dassies. Dassies are not the cutest mammals. They more look like awkward, fat rats without a tail and clumbsy feet (Picture). They are the closest related species to elephants alive, though quite small!!
We found a very very nice SeaFood Restaurant close to the beach and Saskia and I shared a big SeaFood plate. This plate I will never forget! It was unbelievable delicious. We had a bottle of white wine from the cape (very low-priced) and really enjoyed being in South Africa.
Afterwards we took a cap and drove to Alfred&Victoria Waterfront. There we walked through the streets and had another beer.
That is the news for today. All the best to you.. Torben

Time runs short now!

Hi mates!
Tomorrow I will leave! And so far I did not pack my bag at all.. so many other things remain to be done.. but I'm starting to get nervous.
In Cape Town I will stay in Camps Bay (Accomodation: http://www.bateleurshouse.co.za/rontree/index.php)and will hopefully meet with Caro. She also studies in Hamburg and will arrive there on November, 26th for a Cetacean Conference. So far..
Cheers.. Torben

Rönne - A sheer cosmopolitan village ( Ein reines Weltdorf)

Rönne is where I come from. It is but a small village in northern Lower Saxony, southeast of Hamburg. And Rönne stands for a glorious history through ages. Napoleon himself marched through my Rönne on his way to Russia, the famous but hated nuklear powerplant "Krümmel" can be seen from my house, and surely many more important things happened and still continue to happen in, around or because of Rönne. Thus, it is once and for all famous all over the world and not only gave name to Rønne, the capitol of the danish island of Bornholm but also to the Rönne Ice Shelf (see figure!), being part of the second largest ice sheets in the Antarctic. Isn't that amazing? This is, where the famous "calving" of the A-38 iceberg took place (remember "Tagesschau"?). Wow.. I am proud to be a true Rönnesian! And soon I will come close to the Rönne Ice Shelf myself, when I'm on "Polarstern" visiting and supplying the german Polar Station "Neumayer II" (see arrow on figure). The red line is approximately the heading of our cruise.
So far.. cheers..
Torben

Food - what's more important?

Lonely Planet's travel survival kit for South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland (2nd edition, 1996) says:

"Despite the fact that South Africa produces some of the best meat, fresh produce and seafood in the world, the food is often disappointing. [...] The British can take most of the blame. Large steaks (admittedly, usually excellent), overboiled vegetables and fried chips seem to be the stable diet for whites. Vegetarians will find the country a nightmare. [...] Basically, if a dish can have spices removed and sugar or animal fat added in large amounts, it will." That doesn't sound too good to me.. I hope, things have changed a little in eleven years since.
But what gives me confidence is the fact, that "Polarstern" will refill it's stocks in Cape Town. That means, we'll have Crocodile, Oryx, Ostrich, Zebra and probably more exotic meat during the first weeks on board. And I'm quite sure, with this delicious things in his store the chef knows how to satisfy his guests!!

Getting hungry..

Testicals.. one, two..

This is some kind of test.. for how the e-mail blogging works..

But I will use it to give some news anyway. Today I had lunch with Lydia, Laura and my boss Saskia. Together we will fly to Cape Town November 23rd and have a three days vacation. We planned. And it became gooooooood!
We'll stay at some kind of lodge outside Cape Town City, close to the beach (100m) in a relative secure area. It is quite cheap , though a ****Hotel. As far as this is possible, we want to visit some wine cellars, a colony of pinguins and of course Cape Town itself within this three days. On November 27th we will bord "Polarstern" and the cruise will start one day later.
Besides: Saskia told me, that unfortunately some of the scientists had to reject from the cruise. But for me this is relaxing, as I feared, I would probably have to sleep at the quarantine ward of the medical station. Originally the shipping company had agreed in letting three more scientists take part in the cruise than "Polarstern" has beds for. So they planned to give the two beds in hospital and the one in quarantine ward to scientists also - at least as long as there is no case of emergency.. and as I wrote before, I still do not know with whom I will share my cabin.

Huhu..

Halli hallo..
it is more than four weeks to go, until I will leave Germany for South Afrika to enter the most powerful ship in the german scientific fleet: the ice breaker, supply and research vessel "FS Polarstern".
I really look forward to it!!!
It is an honour to me that I was chosen to take part in expedition ANT XXIV-2 to Antarctica. I was integrated into the team of SYSTCO, which is a project to analyse the oceans' biological system coupling from the deep sea up to the surface. I will help sorting and fixing sampled material and extracting DNA from Isopods (Crustacea: Peracarida) on bord.
At the moment I am stuck in planning, buying, packing and mostly thinking.. I still don't know, with whom I'm going to share my cabin.. one of my biggest fears is that I may have to live three months on bord sharing my privacy with a fat old unfriendly guy who is smoking, snoring and farting all the time and a professor in physics.. well.. I'll be aware of it soon enough..

Cheers.. Sasquatch