Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 12/15/2006 - 08:44

Hello Allan,

   Neil Smith provided me with this site. I am Isabella Smith's third grade teacher. My students and I are checking out your amazing adventure via the internet! What an awesome journey you are undergoing! We are studying "Christmas around the World." This is a great site for the kids to check out because it is such an unique place. I hope you do not mind my students emailiing you some questions. IF you get time I am sure they would love some of their questions answered. You can, of course, just email me back any information they asked. I know you must be busy but it would be great to hear back from you. Any information on Christmas in Antartica would be particularlly helpful! 

 - How cold does it get there? Are there towns, villages? I can't even imagine how different it must be! Thank you for your time!

   Sincerely,

                  Jennifer Dziki

my email is: jenniferdziki [at] gmail.com  

Allan Miller

Ms Dziki - thanks for following our expedition, we had some communication difficulties enroute that made it tough to track all the questions so I hope that alot of the info came through in the journals I sent out.  If the kids have other questions - they can still post them to the site and I'll be monitoring from back here at National Science Foundation.  Also if you have would like some Antarctica info or materials just drop me a note to my e-mail at amiller@nsf.gov and I'd be happy to track down some things for you and the class.  For info on the stations in Antarctica check out the site:
McMurdo has 1200 people there now, and 200 in the winter, so I guess you could almost call it a town, we have smaller settlements in Alaska that we call towns - the difference those have some permanent residents and although people put in many research seasons in Antarctica I have never heard it called "home" by anyone.  Incredible place to visit, work, and research - but I don't think we'll see families raised there or kids running through the rocky streets anytime soon.  Hope 2007 is off to a great start for you and your class.   Allan