Originally posted on Beans on toast and beyond…:
University work creates all manner of joyous reads. An assignment for Workplace Communication involved analysising the construction of a relationship theory developed by Tuckman and Jensen in 1977. In this essay I broke down how and why this model proved true or irrelevant to the formation of a group using other theories and considering internal and external…
Category: Antarctica
creating a community
When you are given a brand new team of people to work with it is sometimes hard, they have history, connections, unspoken values and communication pathways all mapped out. You have to negotiate and tread softly until you bed in your power relationships, make the connections that you need and learn who is who. But what if you…
Dress ups
I got to play dress-ups today in the clothing store, one of my favourite parts of getting ready to go South….. there are fur lined goose down jackets, big gloves and beanies, goggles and boots. It’s mind boggling to see all the clothes hung up like the biggest walking robe you have ever seen. It’s pretty…
Packed for Antarctica
I couldn’t put it off any longer this weekend I had to flash the plastic and buy 10 months worth of hairspray, conditioner, moisturiser, toothpaste, toothbrushes etc etc etc……. the list went on and on and on. At the supermarket I chickened out off my original plan; the no shampoo / conditioner scenario and hedged…
Adventures with pork
When I first moved to Saudi Arabia I tried to be a vegetarian for a little while, I even toyed with veganism before finally settling for being a pescatarian. It was a choice based on my inability to purchase free-range, non halal slaughtered meat as well as a growing discomfort with actually eating the flesh of a sentient…
Communication is easier to say then do
Communication is an art form and those people who seem to effortlessly raise and discuss difficult topics while causing minimal angst or offence have always been slightly awe inspiring to me. There are several different types of conversation but I dread most are those conversations that you know you should have, the ones were the outcome is…
Squealing quietly in week one………..
Feels weird that after 2 years waiting I am finally sitting in an office with Station Leader written on the door, I really have never thought that this time would come. I still remember the evening that I rang my now employer and asked if I had been successful, every-one else who had been in our…
Packing (hyperventilation) for Antarctica
This week marks my first week as a Station Leader in Antarctica…………….. only I’m still not quite in the big freezer. I’m sitting in an office waiting for the rest of the team to arrive and impatiently organising all the last minute packing and ordering and starting to mildly hyperventilate at the thought of forgetting something important….
The importance of community, a reminder from Vietnam
reminding myself of the value and importance of community
Jen Wressell 