Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 01/24/2011 - 18:38
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Oden Antarctic Expedition 2010

Hi Ms.Wotkyns was your expidition fun! I have a question,Did you see any emperer pengiuns,or some albatros? Is Pascy fine,cause i thought he was eaten by that curious pengiun,that we talked about in class. I saw the (ginger bread) cookies,they were just so cute,and delicious that i could just eat them! Was it hard to drill in the ice? Were the samples from the seal hurt it,cause it was just so sad. Did you touch a seal,or a pengiun? Was it freezing cold in Antarctica? Did you go to the South Pole? How did you get use to the coldnest? I saw your expiditions,and when i saw them,i was amazed! Did you see a Bolooga Whale? If you went to the South Pole,did your compass stop working,and why? Did you make snow angels,was it fun? Happy New Years!!! Merry Christmas!!! Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) L.O.L. CHEERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Sincerely,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Your Student-David Mkrtchyan
Mon, 01/24/2011 - 22:09

Anne Marie Wotkyns

Wow David - let me try to answer your questions. Yes, we saw a lot of emperor penguins, mostly at the last few ice stations we worked, and we saw several different types of albatrosses while we were sailing from Chile south to near the Antarctic Peninsula. The gingerbread cookies we made (Pepparkakor in Swedish) were delicious! I don't think the seal was too bothered by the blood draw and skin biopsy because when the team was done and released him, the seal just wriggled slowly away and went back to napping on the ice. I think it was like getting a shot at the doctor's office - it hurts for a minute, but then you forget about it!I never touched a penguin or a seal - only the seal research team had the special permit to be allowed to touch the animals to do their science. The rest of the people did not touch or bother the animals, that is a rule all people in Antarctica have to follow.
The South Pole is in the middle of the continent, but remember, I was on a ship near the coast, so we were not very close to the South Pole. No Beluga Whales - they are found in the Arctic. I'll tell you more in class!