Blown Away by Chile!

1/5/2012

Blown Away by Chile!

Here is the 2012 Antarctic Research team posing in front of a whale statue at the National Science Foundation's base in Punta Arenas, Chile.
L: Dr. Dave Denlinger, Dr. Richard E. Lee,Jr., Natalie Harr, Dr. Shin Goto.

While there, we were issued all of our cold weather gear to protect us on our Antarctic expedition. Here I am trying it all on to make sure it fits!

Brrrr! It's Chilly in Chile!

Since Punta Arenas is in the southern hemisphere, the seasons are opposite here. You may have noticed that we are wearing heavy coats. "Chile" is quite "chilly" in the summer, often with high winds. They were unseasonably strong the day we were there. Watch us above almost get blown away!

We had a few hours to tour the city. It is helpful to be bilingual in Chile. Do you know what two languages most Chileans speak?

Thank You Buckeye! We are Bilingual!

A backwards glance... We skyped with Mrs. Soos's high school Spanish class each Wednesday before I left for my trip. They helped my students and I learn important vocabulary to be bilingual! Did I mention that Mrs. Soos is my wonderful, incredible, amazing sister too? She teaches Spanish at Buckeye Local High School in Rayland, OH.

Watch us skype with Mrs. Soos's class. Here we are learning to say the days of the week in Spanish.
Hablas Espanol?

Giving Back to my Hometown
During NEOEA weekend in October, I visited Buckeye Local High School and gave a presentation about the Antarctica Connection to the students. I graduated from Buckeye in 2000, and I was proud to share this experience with the upcoming graduates and my former teachers. Thank you for all your support of this project!

Stay tuned to learn about the icebreaker ship and my journey across the Drake Passage to reach Antarctica! By the way, be thinking about the items that I may have packed in my suitcase for the Antarctic adventure. We'll be discussing that soon too!!!

28 Comments

Cathy Alder

1/5/2012 09:18:54 pm

Natalie! This is just incredible! I am so excited for you. Glad to hear you made it safely to the station. I love the pictures and the wonderful infromation you are writing on your blog! I can't wait to see and read more! Be careful and take care!
Cathy

Nature Nat

1/10/2012 04:15:18 am

Thanks Cathy!

You are such a great friend. I hope you and your students in Marysville enjoy following the blog.

Mrs. Soos Spanish 4

1/6/2012 12:16:54 am

Hope you're enjoying your trip! We love your pictures. We are glad we could help teach Spanish. We enjoyed teaching your students Spanish. We loved the video of us teaching your students! Hope to see a picture of a seal and more penguins. Find lots of bugs. Be safe and we hope everything goes well!

Nature Nat

1/10/2012 04:17:30 am

Hola Clase!

Thank you for helping my students and I learn Spanish before my departure. It is great to be bilingual! Take care and I look forward to skyping with your school soon!

la clase de espanol tres

1/6/2012 01:05:12 am

Thank you for mentioning us on your website. We liked the pictures of the penguins. How is the fly research going? Try to sneak some penguins and seals back with you! Did you sample the pig head in Chile? Best of wishes.
Sincerely,
Senora Soos's 6th Period Class

Mrs.Soos 9th prd.

1/6/2012 03:18:48 am

Hello, We were wondering what the temperature is? Also, We would like to know how big could the elephant seals get? We were wondering if it snows? Are there walruses there? Did you find any insects yet? It was nice seeing the new pictures! :)

Nature Nat

1/10/2012 04:26:59 am

Hola Clase 9th period!

The average temperature here is 36 degrees. The weather changes VERY quickly here. It can be sunny, raining, hailing, and cloudy all in the same morning! The elephant seals are the largest of all the seals here. The males can grow up to 15 feet long! I have only seen female elephant seals on the islands here. Yes, we have found the insect and we have collected samples for testing. Have a good week!

Nature Nat

1/10/2012 04:20:09 am

Hola Clase!

The research is going very well. The team and I have been in the field collecting Belgica for experiments. I can only bring video and photos of all the incredible wildlife here. No, I didn't try the pig head silly! Take care and thank you for your support!

Jeffrey Durbin

1/6/2012 03:14:23 am

Natalie,
Glad to see that you arrived safely. I look forward to checking out your research as time goes on. On a side note, I had no idea that Chile would be like that this time of year.
J. Durbin

Nature Nat

1/10/2012 04:29:24 am

Hello Mr. Durbin!

Dr. Lee told me to bring a jacket for Chile, but I wasn't expecting it to be so cold either. Thanks for following the blog. I look forward to skyping with your school soon!

Mrs. Chesla's Class

1/6/2012 04:25:32 am

Hello Miss Harr! Have you seen any other animals? Are you having a good time? Is there day and night there? How cold is it there? We had a lot of snow. The temperature today is 51 degrees F. Hope to hear from you soon! Mrs. Chesla's class

Miss Harr (aka Nature Nat)

1/10/2012 04:32:39 am

Hello Mrs. Chesla's Class!

I am having a wonderful time. There is so much to see and do here. I love the wildlife. So far I have seen elephant seals, crabeater seals, adelie penguins, a gentoo penguin, a springtail, mites, and Belgica antarctica! On average is it above freezing here this time of year. Usually around 36 degrees. Sometimes it snows or rains. I hope you are having fun reading Mr. Popper's Penguins!

Steve & Karen Muenze

1/6/2012 11:13:24 am

What an adventure! We can't wait each day to visit the website to see what's new. Take care and safe travels.

Nature Nat

1/10/2012 05:15:30 am

Hi Aunt Karen and Uncle Steve,

I'm so glad you are following my adventure! It's been so nice sharing it with my family:)

Jessica Glasgow

1/6/2012 11:19:31 am

Glad to see you're safe and having fun! I can't wait until you post more pictures! Everything looks amazing there. I wish you and your team the best with the research. Keep us updated with everythig happening. Good Luck!
Jessica from Mrs. Soo's Class

Nature Nat

1/10/2012 05:16:40 am

Thanks Jessica! I look forward to skyping with your school soon.

Darlena Conway

1/6/2012 12:56:23 pm

Hello Mrs.Harr. I'm glad you made it to Antartica safe.Hope to hear more about your research and of your trip. I enjoyed helping your class learn Spanish, it was a lot of fun and they all behaved well for us. The pictures of the penguins are so cute and hope to see more pictures of Antarctica. Hope you have a great time down there. Enjoy your trip and can't wait to start teaching your class more Spanish. Buen Viaje!!!
Sincerely,
Darlena (Reyna) Conway

Nature Nat

1/10/2012 05:19:04 am

Thanks Darlena. You and your classmates did an excellent job skyping to teach my class and I Spanish. Thanks for following the blog!

Bianca Mason

1/6/2012 11:32:21 pm

Hi Miss Harr!
What have you been doing during the day? Are you busy doing research all the time? Hope you are having fun.
We went back in our woods and took more pictures as Nature Detectives. It was snowy and fun.
Bye Miss Harr!

Miss Harr (a.k.a. Nature Nat)

1/10/2012 05:22:21 am

Hello Bianca!

I hope you are enjoying Penguin Month at school. Dr. Lee is keeping me busy during the day collecting fly larvae and then setting up experiments in the lab. I'll have this on the blog soon to show you. Keep up the great Nature Detective work!

Dylan Bliss

1/7/2012 02:26:25 am

i miss you

Miss Harr (a.k.a Nature Nat)

1/10/2012 05:24:22 am

Hello Dylan!

I hear that you are having a great time with Mrs. Haumann and Penguin Month at school. I miss you too! Keep up the great Nature Detective work.

Jim Mason

1/7/2012 07:10:33 am

Hey Natalie, what a great website and Blog for kids. It's fantastic. Glad to hear you made it through the Drake Passage. Hope there wasn't too much sea-sickness. What an incredible experience. Have a great time. I'll be watching your Blog. - Jim Mason

Nature Nat

1/10/2012 05:28:33 am

Hi Jim!

I'm so glad to hear that you'll be following the blog. It's amazing how much Antarctica reminds me of our work in Wyoming. Fast changing weather conditions, incredible wildlife, igneous rock everywhere, and of course great people. Take care and I hope to hear from you again soon!

Vanessa

1/7/2012 11:54:36 am

It looks like you are already having an awesome adventure!! Have fun and stay warm

Nature Nat

1/10/2012 05:30:41 am

Hi Cuz!

Thanks for following the blog. I'm excited to show you all my photos when I get home. Take care and good luck with school this quarter.

Kristyn Moore

1/13/2012 12:36:10 am

I love the pictures of the penguins. Also I seen the wingless fly and I just thought thaty was pretty weird to see a fly like that but at least you are researching it to see if it can help us with anything. I am also glad you are having fun, too. Kristyn Moore from Mrs.Soo's third period class.

Nature Nat

1/19/2012 03:29:17 am

It's really exciting to study the southernmost insect in the entire world. Our team is working to find out how it survives the Antarctic environment here. I'm having a great time. Tell Mrs. Soos that I said hello!

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