The document summarizes the writer's experience during a trip to Antarctica over several weeks in March and April 1996. They describe activities like fishing, skiing, and attending a funeral for a staff member who passed away. The writer befriends another visitor named Mia from Japan and they partner together for many activities. On the last day, they get to hold penguins and are sad that the trip is ending, but had an enjoyable final day celebrating with a roast dinner.

1. 21st of March, 1996<br />I have just arrived at the one and only Arctic Antarctica. It is freezing cold, but not as cold as I thought it would be. I was sea sick 3 times on the way. The crew captain, Itish Ishan (which means ‘such a lord’ and ‘lord Shiva’) is from Kandla, India. She is jolly nice but we can barely understand her. When it’s dinner time, it’s actually dinna tum. We have just arrived at our huts’. I am sharing one with a lady called Mia and two men twins called Lexy and Maroon. They are both gay but terribly kind. Mia is quite serious but very loyal. It is now dinna tum and we are having a beautiful roast to celebrate that we are here and safe. Tomorrow we are going fishing with Stan the chef. He will cook the fish for dinner. Two men called Tom and Golly are coming with us. They are in cabin 13 next to us, 12. We are so lucky to have heating and warm clothes. I hope we get to go skiing soon. I had the most amazing experience at my school camp years ago. I went down the mountain with my high school boy friend don. He almost crashed into a tree and I won the school race by doing a flip. I don’t think I’ll take the chance to here. Anyway, its bed time now and the heating is on so high I wish I brought my night gown. At least it’s not cold.<br />It has been a good day, Krystyna.<br />22nd of March 1996<br />Today was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I went fishing. Ok, fishing, snapper, father son thing. It’s much different in Antarctic water. There are different fish that can cope with the temperature. We caught 3 fish all together. 2 large and 1 medium sized. We also learnt about different fish and wrote them all down our information diaries we got the night before. We went on a walk to a large area where you could only see ice. We are huddled up in a group and talking about survival. I wrote so information in my information diary. Mia started skating on the ice with her shoes and Lexy started applying some of his foundation. Golly is talking to Mia about the fish they learnt about. She decided she was too bored to hear it gain so she came over to me. We had a lovely talk about our family, friends and country. She comes from Japan but was brought up in Florida. I told her that I had a boyfriend called Don and I lived in London. Mia has been exploring places for over 10 years. She is 34 years old. When we got back to the camp for dinner, Mia and I sat together and talked about what we thought we would do tomorrow. Mia was right. We were going skiing down the snowy mountains’. Really hoped we would do skiing soon. It is time for bed and the heating is still great. <br />I hope Mia and I can partner up tomorrow, Krystyna.<br />23rd of March 1996 <br />What a lovely morning. I woke up to the sound of footsteps’. I looked out my window and to my surprise see Mia walking with the penguins. I put on my clothes and walked outside. I join her and walked with them. She told me that they were called gentoon penguins. I stuck a picture of one that I took a few days later in my diary. Exactly 1 and half hours later we went to the skiing base. The mountains looked perfect. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought it was wiped marshmallows. A man called Peter taught us how to ski. Tom was defiantly the best at it. Mia is so bad you could not believe it. Not trying to be rude but she said it herself, she’s bad. I wasn’t bad. I can say that one. I have been skiing for as long as I can remember. Mia is actually slowly improving. When we got back to the camp, we found out that the stove was broken. We had cookies, milk, chocolate and hot drinks’ for tea. <br />We didn’t have a full on day on the 23rd of March, Krystyna.<br /> <br /> <br />24th of March, 1996<br />Today was a terrible day. The chefs’ helper Mong Chong is very, very sick. He almost fell into the water while fishing. We have not cancelled all activities though. Mia, Lexy, Golly and I were all in a group. Mia and I are partnering up in skiing again. I am happy to be with her, because she is my friend and I can teach her how to ski properly. We are learning the basics’ again, but it really helped Mia. She is excellent at it now. When we got back to the camp to have some dinner, we heard the terrible news that Mong Chong was going to be taken to a white tomb. He was dead. The hospital had to turn off his life machine. He had brain damage. Tomorrow we are having the funeral and cancelling all activities. <br />Today was one of the most terrible days of my life, so far, Krystyna.<br />25th of March 1996<br />Today is the funeral. We are all trying to find some suitable clothes for the funeral. It is being held in the main house near the kitchen. He was 69, so he lived up to a good age. It only went for an hour or so. We went over the foods’ loved and his passion for cooking. It wasn’t much excitement, but it wasn’t meant to be. It ended at 12.00. The rest of the day was being stuck in a cabin. Mia and talked about different types of penguins and had a make- up competition with Lexy and Maroon. We ended up on the bright side at the end of the day, Krystyna.<br />12th of April, 1996<br />Today is my last day here. We were all supposed to be here for 2 months, but there are going to be terrible snow storms in a week. Mia and I are very sad to go but it does not look like anyone else cares. We packed last night because we wanted to have some fun all day. Luckily we did because we got to hold penguins, live penguins. Mia was so fond of them she decided that when she will go home, she is going to save up all her money, and come back to Antarctica. And for me, I just want to make a model of a penguin to earn me a few bucks. There is a picture bellow. This is the only picture of Mia I have. We had to go in for dinner early because there was a lovely roast awaiting us. Today was the best day ever. <br /> <br /> <br />