Out on deck for several hours (9 am sunset) watching mooring operations before heading inside to monopolize the computer room to talk to my classes
If it's noon in Chicago and 8:00 pm in Moscow, and you're on a ship moving at 5 knots through the ice, then what time is it if you're at 78 N and 173 E?
Answer, it's 6 am, and you are in the East Siberian Sea. If you followed the longitude lines and went straight south, you'd pass through Kamchatka (Russia), near the Tarawa Atoll (Kiribati) and then to New Zealand.
Time is a crazy concept here. I am on a daytime watch from 8 am to 8 pm, but because of our geographic location, the sun sets after breakfast, and it's broad daylight at 3 am - I have to stop from getting out of bed and looking out the window then. Maybe I'll see a polar bear, I think. 45 minutes to 1 hour later, I'm still up and watching the ice go by. I can always sleep when I get home!
I was very excited yesterday that I got the chance to speak to all of my West Leyden High School science classes and my Senior Advisory. Thanks to a stable internet connection (a rare occurrence this trip) and WhatsApp, I was able to video conference with my students. It was a much better instance of "distance learning" than last year, and I was asynchronous (off-time) and synchronous (live) simultaneously.
Talking to my students at West Leyden High School through WhatsApp video.
Visiting with my classes. There is one ethernet cable and one desktop, so while I was 'teaching,' there were 6-7 other people in the room at any one time.
My classes were able to see me on video; however, I was not able to see them. I had prepared and shared a Google Slide presentation, so thet my substitute teacher Jaime Ochoa was able to project images from the trip. The students had excellent questions: They asked if the data has shown that climate change is occurring - it has. They wanted to know if I had a shower on the ship - I do, but it's tricky when we're in the ice because the water floods the bathroom. They also asked if I was enjoying myself and being a science nerd - I am, and they thought that it was cool that I was posting about how scientists became scientists.
The shower in my cabin. There is a 'lip' around the bottom, but hitting an ice patch tends to splash most of the water out.
I asked if they missed me. My Seniors said that they liked Mr. Ochoa better, but I think they're lying, and I've got photographic proof.
Senior Advisory Homecoming 'Rodeo Theme' Window Decorating. I'm worth a lot!
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