Wooo!

Excellent news! I got the position on the icebreaker. Looks like I'll be replacing a technician who works with a project on pollution in the Arctic. I'll be doing something with air and water samples. This is super, although I'm a bit nervous that I don't really know what I'm doing. I suppose I will learn, and one of my greatest skills is acting like I know what I'm doing.

So it's off to Quebec for me on July 31st. I'll be hanging out in Quebec until August 15th, when the other people on the project get there and we start working on the ship. The ship actually leaves port around August 18th, and then I'll have a solid two months living at sea. Now, so far, this hasn't phased me one bit - I've never been one for motion sickness and I've spent time on ships before (the Oceania and the Horizont in the waters off Svalbard last summer). But I have distinct memories from childhood of swearing to myself that I would never, ever work or live on a ship. I hated boats, and I'll admit I'm still...deeply distrustful of deep water (which sort of goes hand in hand with my fear of heights). And now taking this job seems like the most awesome thing ever. WE SHALL SEE.

It's not like I'll never see land - I think we stop quite a bit, and get to walk around and visit the local communities. Perfect, really - I'll get to see more of northern Canada than I ever originally thought I would. This is an amazing opportunity in so many ways.

Now I just have to get the guy in Greenland to confirm that they want me to teach...oh, and find somewhere to be in Russia.