The sense of community and acceptance in this lifestyle is wonderfully addicting. The seasonal or contract work environment is very different from most real world jobs. Like at Denali, I feel very comfortable here. As you may know I went to Denali for a seasonal summer job and ended up staying in Alaska for 16 years. The sense of community, belonging and acceptance these places offer is awesome and comforting.
The social norms are a bit different in this type of seasonal work and environment. A casual and friendly atmosphere exists, everything's accelerated a bit by necessity. We're all here for one purpose - to support science, furthering man's understanding of where we live. We live, eat, work, play and sleep together, necesitating a close knit community that looks out for each other. It makes me want to know more, do good, be better.
Working and living with people with the same or similar goals, life expereinces, etc is very supportive. It doesn't matter that you have a masters in astropyhsics and are working as a dishwasher or janitor. Generally, stuff doesn't matter, experiences do. Who cares if you have the coolest car, the nicest house in the coolest neighborhood with kids in the coolest schools. Here it's more who you are and the life you've lead (your charater). It's not that this is totally missing in the real world, but maybe it's just a bit harder to find.
Lunch break in the office, Elisha at the computer.
Lunch break, Travis reading a book.
Linnah checking out van 422, we do this twice a day.
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