So, I dug out my United States Antarctic Program (USAP) Participant Guide and looked up what CHC stands for - it's an abbreviation for Christchurch, NZ. Another abbreviation for Christchurch is chch. Christchurch is the city that people who are going to many parts of Antarctica pass through, and is home to RPSNZ - Raytheon Polar Services New Zealand - where some of the logistics support for USAP comes from. So, basically what that last email was telling me was that someone from the Christchurch office will help me arrange post-Ice travel stuff sometime in the future.

Speaking of New Zealand, dad and I got to wondering about where the name New Zealand comes from. Turns out it's named after Zealand, which is the largest island of Denmark.

I also have a mailing address that can be used to send stuff to me on The Ice:
Ian Rees, RPSC
McMurdo Station
PSC 469 Box 700
APO AP 96599-1035
The mail system to Antarctica is a bit complicated, so it can take quite a while for things to get through. Letters have higher priority than packages, so they typically arrive faster. It can take up to six weeks for a package to make it from the states to McMurdo, so don't send anything that's time sensitive or perishable. Since nearly all the waste from McMurdo (called 'retro') has to get shipped back to the US, do not send any styrofoam packing materials, use crumpled up newspapers instead.

In other Antarctic news, it's looking like my friend Molly has a job on The Ice too! She hasn't gone through the entire hiring process yet, but all indications are that she'll be going down there as a vehicle operator in a couple weeks. Molly still hasn't been PQed (deemed physically qualified), but she doesn't anticipate having any problems with that and is going to be rushed through so it shouldn't take too long. Will post more when there's more to post!