The ocean gods have been smiling on our Antarctic expedition. The weather so far has been clear, the swells modest. Some people on the ship have felt seasick, but never for very long.
Because of how smooth the sailing has been, the roughly 40 scientists on the South Korean icebreaker Araon have been able to prepare for their field work at the Thwaites Glacier instead of, say, lying in bed ill. They also were able to spend New Year’s Eve playing Korean drinking games.
The first holiday activity on Dec. 31 was Icebreaker Bingo in the ship’s conference room. (Get it? An icebreaker aboard an icebreaker.) Everyone was given a seven-by-seven grid containing various descriptions — “Has run a marathon,” “Has been to the Arctic and Antarctic,” “Saw the iceberg today” — then we went around the room finding people who fit the descriptions to complete a column or row.
After dinner, the drinking games got underway in the mess. In general, this is not a boozy cruise: Beer and soju, the Korean spirit, are available with dinner only twice a week. But on Dec. 31, a little lubrication helped transform this group of serious science types into people who would happily nibble on an imaginary carrot while loudly chanting “bunny, bunny, bunny.” (Instructions for this and other Korean drinking games are here.)
Don’t get the wrong idea: This was not a bunch of repressed bookworms letting loose to forget their sorrows. In the expedition’s first week, it has been clear how genuinely excited everyone is to be on this ship heading for Antarctica. Several of the scientists expressed extraordinary gratitude for having found a path through life that takes them to a place that so few people ever experience, even if it means being far from home for long stretches.
Keith Makinson, an oceanographer on this voyage, recalled the first polar expeditions he joined after the British Antarctic Survey hired him out of college, nearly 40 years ago. He had grown up on a farm in northwest England. Suddenly he was on the opposite side of the world, flying over Antarctica in his first trip on an aircraft. “You’d have paid to do it,” Dr. Makinson said. “It really didn’t feel like a job at all.”
At 9 p.m., the ship’s clocks were moved forward another hour, making it somewhat easier to stay up until midnight. Outside the portholes, it didn’t look much like night. We had sailed far enough south that the skies were still illuminated when the researchers counted down the seconds to 12 o’clock.
Hyun A Choi, a doctoral student in physical oceanography at Kyungpook National University in South Korea, rings in each new year by listening to a song to set the tone for the year ahead.
Her pick this year was “Landed,” by the South Korean group Day6 (Even of Day). It’s a song about putting an end to aimless wandering and finding direction, Ms. Choi said. “I have too many things that I want to do this year,” she said.
She spent the first hours of 2026 making a list of those things. They include doing more trail running, learning French, submitting her dissertation and presenting her research at an international conference.
Ms. Choi and a few other scientists stayed up until 4:48 a.m. to watch the year’s first sunrise from the deck. But heavy clouds blocked their view.
Lunch on Jan. 1 was a Korean New Year’s specialty: tteokguk, a soup of coin-like cakes of pounded rice in a milky bone broth. Eating the soup is said to complete the process of becoming a year older, which is why some Koreans avoid it. They would rather not be reminded of mortality and the passage of time.
As it happens, the members of this expedition will be reminded of those things a second time during our eight-week journey. The Araon’s kitchen will serve tteokguk on Lunar New Year, in mid-February, when we should be on our way back to New Zealand from Antarctica. In changing time zones during this voyage, we’ve already lived through the same day twice. Why not the same new year?
Raymond Zhong reports on climate and environmental issues for The Times.
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