The Subtle Art of Candy-Caning

Now that science is wrapped up, being on a boat with no internet and limited activities can get a bit tiresome. There’s only so many crosswords and games of Werewolf you can play before they lose their novelty. Thankfully the crew and passengers of the NBP are pretty adept at creating fun games, making the time go by in between stations and especially during the long transits from Antarctica to the rest of the world. From corn hole tournaments, to games of Fishbowl, to watching an original movie made by one of our very own scientists about the phenomenal videos he’s captured of various marine invertebrates throughout the trip; there’s always something to keep us occupied and out of boredom’s reach.
 
One of my favorite activities that first began around Easter is candy-caning. Basically, the goal is to hide a candy cane on another person’s clothing/belongings without them realizing and see how long it takes until they notice. Why candy canes? Because the Marine Lab Technicians had a box of them from last Christmas and apparently no one wanted to eat them outside of Christmas time. People kept trying to hand their candy canes to others and so began the candy-caning saga.
 
Currently I hold the record for not noticing two candy canes on the back of my jacket for 5+ hours. In my defense, I was very busy crocheting gifts for people at the time and that’s what I get in return…and no, I’m not bitter about it. But it’s ok because I got back at Candace Grimes (the culprit) by printing out 20+ candy cane pictures and sticking them to as many of her things as I possibly could. She’ll be finding them well after getting off the boat and I’ve never felt more satisfied. Some were broken during transfers and had to be bandaged back together carefully with tape.
 
We’re about two days out from Albany, Australia and so the game’s coming to a close as we prepare to head back to our respective homes. As much as we’ll all miss each other and our adventures in Antarctica, I can say that we are all looking forward to being with our friends and families again. Thankfully, we will have internet to keep in contact with each other.
 
Nusrat Noor
Auburn University