I initially introduced you all to Vladimir in the ship’s radio room, who helped me get my first emails and blog posts sent off the ship to you. But I have to introduce you to Oleg too. From the second or third day into the expedition, he has been the person onboard who helps me transmit all my messages out to you, every single day. And it is always with patience, a smile, and a little English practice for him and Russian practice for me! Lately, he has been giving me daily updates about a butterfly who has been hanging out in the radio room (you never know, on a ship). And for my birthday, he gave me these two hand-carved, hand-painted birds, which he made himself while onboard. They are beautiful/красивый!
I noticed that the crew is made up of many nationalities. I think it is amazing that you get to experience new cultures, the ship is like a melting pot. How did such a diverse crew end up on the same ship? Also, how was the screening process, if there was one, for you guys?
Dear Indigo, that is a great analogy, the ship is totally like a melting pot of nationalities. It started because the expedition is a collaboration between a US organization (the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks) and a Russian organization (the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute), and then you have graduate students and scientists from all different countries working with those places, and then other organizations working with the two main ones. So it can get global pretty quickly! For the students there was an application process to participate.
Oleg is so talented and you are very fortunate to be the recipient of these beautiful birds! What is Russian for ‘parrot’?
Hi Judi, I know, what a great souvenir this is for me! Here’s the word for parrot in Russian for you: попугай, pronounced “pah-pu-gai.” Eric is the star of our onboard Russian class by the way! 🙂
hi i am student from ms.gilbrut class have seen any bugs there
Hi Kenya, interesting question! Yes actually, but not very often at all. But they are on the ship only. We are all surprised when we do see a bug (we’ve seen a couple gnats, a couple moths, and even a butterfly), but they can travel on the ship too! There are tiny microorganisms in the Arctic though. And since the definition of “arctic” technically means anywhere with average yearly temperatures below freezing, that means some especially cold parts of Canada and Russia are technically “arctic” too, and there are definitely bugs there!