Journalist's Report
11/25/2014
Anastasiya Stepanova
Sunset after sunrise, fatigue after excitement, smile after indifference…The days pass by and we are losing the touch with reality. What day is it today? There are no weekends for us. We proceed to follow the same schedule every day. It looks like a routine, but I don’t remember when, every day and every hour of my life was so interesting, cognitive and exciting. MDRS, nature, crew members and life here itself – everything teaches us something new. As expected by majority, with more days we spend together the more chances to have a conflict of interest we have. This might be the exception, but day by day we understand each other better and discover new qualities. I have a strange feeling of unity with those five strangers, feeling, which we all felt from the beginning. Paradox is to be united with people that are so different in every way, whether it is nationality, culture, profession, background or gender. I call it the power of Space, which brings best in us. I have seen many times when Space brings people together, where in daily life they would never ran into each other. We don’t need a cooking or a cleaning schedule, because everyone is very responsible and helpful. We enjoy doing all the house duties together. We don’t judge each other or see a competition. Ten days together and you can rely and trust! How crazy is that? Somebody asked me to describe the feeling of loneliness in this vast dessert among five strangers. Till this question aroused, I never thought of loneliness, neither did the rest of the crew. We are so busy that simply there is no time to think about it and no premises for that. Even when you walk in the desert, where there is not a soul, you think of your research project or how beautiful is the view. Of course everyone misses their beloved ones, but it is not a disturbing feeling, rather a bitter sweet one. Vacation from whole civilization is a rare luxury to many people and also for some of us. But this isolation doesn’t mean you go insane over philosophical aspects of life. My only thoughts were about human abilities to adapt to any condition. Probably here works the instinct of self-preservation. You have the goal and your whole organism participates in it or in other words the power of thought. We were all prepared for worse conditions and difficulties. The adaptation period was quiet fast and felt right from the beginning. The only thing we miss here are the three Bs: Bed, Butter and Beer!