More Oddities

This is another post full of catch-up information.

On the 23rd of January I went with some workmates on my first trip to another resort-Lake Louise. It was all our day off so Olivia, Michelle, Sarah and I caught the morning bus from Banff to Lake Louise. With working at the resort I'm at we get to ride there for free and as it's not even an hour trip it was well worth it; bluebird day and a little sprinkling of powder. Woop-woop! It was one of those days where you know that you have improved since first arriving in Canada and I got a complement that made my day; Sarah said I was quite good. (I'm not but it's far lovelier to hear that then that you're terrible and should quit, am I right?) That evening at Trappers was a themed party - Thrift Shop Formal. It was interesting to see how people interpreted that title..some wore horrid old style bridesmaid dress types and others wore a mash-up of tragic clothing articles that probably should have been binned not op-shopped. But it was a good night and entertaining seeing everyones outfits.

This is me at Lake Louise with one of the cool ice sculptures.

With Housekeeping we've been pooling all the tips we find which makes things a lot fairer in this unfair world. The money has been going into the piggy bank but the food, alcohol and other random articles that get left behind get divvied at the end of every day. We've also had the occasional day when Alan the Maintenance man buys us hot chocolates from the hotel cafe, Java Lift and we all sit around in a room (check out, not stay over) and have us a little break. Generally someones found food so we crack that out too. I can't tell you the amount of times we've had these raging parties.. ;) (You might be interested to know that the most common tips are small change, alcohol and three bananas. Honestly, we've found a three banana tip an uncanny amount of times. But we likes it. Free bananas! Who wouldn't love that right?) Anyway, the other Friday we divided the money, finally managed to organise a cover for the late house person shift and went into Banff for our Christmas Work dinner. (Yes, our Christmas work do was in late January but that's how we roll..) It was really fun to get out all together and have a chill meal. And the fact that we were using our tips to pay was the best part - no dipping into our thin pay checks!

My second trip to another resort was to Big White back in British Columbia on the 4th-6th of February.  I went with my rookie Jess and some workmates, Becky, Adam and Elly. To sum the trip up quickly it involved getting on the coach after work at 17:30, a 7 hour trip (with a half hour break in the middle), some sleep in a hostel, riding for two days, getting back on the coach and arriving back in Banff at 2. We didn't get into our beds in the hostel until 3 and with having to get up at 6 for the bus at 7 so we could get back up the mountain for work at 9..I don't think I need to tell you just how tired we were/how long that shift felt. Anyway. It was so cold while we were at Big White! We had to stop every couple of hours to go and warm up as we were literally chilled to the core. I have never had to use toe or hand warmers but we used them both days. And I have never been quiet so sick as I was nearly the whole trip. I've never been able to shake my cold since moving here but I'd had the flu the week before and still wasn't quite over it. But the first day of boarding when I was in the washroom getting ready I got pins and needles in both of my lower arms, then lost feeling in them, my hands clawed up, I felt like I was going to pass out and vomit and my hearing went all cloudy. I freaked out a little and just cried out to God asking Him for help and I gradually gained normalness. I still went out boarding but I called it a day in the mid afternoon and went to bed for two hours before heading out for some dinner and giant jenga. That evening I managed to finally purchase some flu medicine and after taking those I've finally shook the flu but this cold is still hanging around. The second day of boarding (armed with my flu pills) was a lot better and I did my first tree run. That was probably the highlight of my day.

Left to right: me, Elly, Adam and Becky at Big White.

On the 11th of February Becky and I did a First Aid course so I am now qualified up to Level C CPR..so you're safe in my hands..for the next three years.

I've just been on my third trip out and this one was to Panorama on the 13th of February with Reneé and Azarlia. It's about a 2 and a half bus journey and as it was only a day trip and we had to be back by 17:00 for the last gondola we didn't get too long to ride but it was still a good time. I was offered a job there too and decided to turn it down for my current job so I was interested to see what I had refused. Pano has some long runs, like you have to catch three long chair lifts to get to the top and it's an age before you make it back to the bottom. There was heaps of pow as they had just had a dumping so that was fun and also horrible as it had been so long since we'd ridden in powder we'd forgotten you had to ride differently. But once we adjusted our riding style we were sweet.

Reneé and I at Panorama.

And that's about it. I'm off to another resort tomorrow for Becky's birthday. I'll let you know how Norquay goes soon(ish).

For A Realist I'm Pretty Pessimistic

Just as a heads up, you probably won't want to read this entry-it's all complaints and negative thoughts.

I'd been warned that there would be a time where I got tired of being here and would wish to be home but I'd shrugged it off and thought that couldn't possibly happen in my dream land Canada but: that time has come. Gone are my plans to extend my visa for another year and gone is my enthusiasm to be here. I think it's partly to do with coming out of what they call the "honeymoon phase" and constantly being in various stages of sickness but it's mostly because I really don't enjoy my job and I spend all my time working at that job and hardly ever boarding. I tried really hard at the start to overlook all the downs and try keep the positives in focus but there are precious few positives left.

In New Zealand there is the good old She'll Be Right attitude, where we fix something with number 8 wire and duct tape and just get the job done. Here though the She'll Be Right attitude is completely different. Nothing gets fixed or ordered on time and no one cares how that can effect your job/the guests stay. And it seems like there is no use of those good old qualities Initiative and Common Sense.

When we arrived we were told that we were here to have a good time; after all it's a working holiday right? Wrong. For housekeepers anyway. We are the only department on hill that doesn't get ride breaks or shifts that give us time to board so consequently we only get to ride on our days off. And seeing as we work in the hotel and when the snow is good more people come we only get one day a week (sometimes even up to every eight/nine days) off. It's all very disheartening when everyone is talking about how they've boarded every day of the week and are really improved and you haven't improved much at all because you're stuck indoors nine to four thirty-ish working. Take it from me: housekeeping is the worst career ever. I would never have chosen to work in housekeeping back home full time as I really detest it yet here I am doing just that; it's starting to look like I came to Canada to clean rooms when I was meant to come to board. And more and more I feel like I'll need a long holiday as soon as this "working holiday"is over; it's wearing me out (mentally and physically).

It's just gotten on top of me this past week and needless to say I haven't been in the best frame of mind. I just feel like giving up and going home but each time I think that I remind myself there's snow outside and I'll eventually get out there and enjoy it. Little by little though that reminder is losing it's weight.

I've had friends ask me about the possibility of changing departments but the other supervisors don't want to touch a housekeeper-it's like we've got the plague or something. That makes trying for anything new extremely difficult. Also seeing as we are at our full capacity staff-wise there are precious little jobs going.

It's also hard as after a none-stop busy time since opening in mid-November we started to drop in bookings for a few weeks in mid-January and they told us that our hours were going to drop to three working days a week as a result. I was the only one thrilled to hear it as it meant four days to board a week. By the time they implemented it though our bookings were heading back up so we only had that wonderful freedom for about a week. The brief taste I got of what we really came for (in case you hadn't realised, I'm talking about boarding) has made this second dry patch far harder to take.

So in short, I'm starting to dislike Canada. Never thought I'd say that but there it is.

(I first posted this on the 17th and looking back on it it's quite negative so I'll try end this on a better note.) It's not all bad; some days are good, don't get me wrong. Everyone's in a good mood, all the work gets done smoothly and at the end of the day you actually find yourself liking life and enjoying your work and the team you're with. It would be nice though if there were more of those sorts of days.

Little Oddities

[This post isn't really about anything, it's more of a fill in of the difference in stuff over here that I've forgotten to mention.]

If you have never left New Zealand, you will probably have never had to deal with the mocking our accent brings. For some reason people can't understand our 'E' and 'I'. We say 'deck' they think we say 'dick', 'check-in' sounds like 'chicken' and 'Emma' sounds like 'Amma'. The only way to get away from the teasing that follows the pronunciation of one of these or various other words is to say them in a Canadian accent. I learnt that pretty quickly as it got kind of awkward every time I introduced myself; everyone would either ask me to repeat my name and then be like 'Oh! You mean Emma!' or 'Amma, that's an unusual name!' and I'd have to correct them. So now I when I introduce myself I talk Kiwi until my name and then say it Canadianly. I get odd looks but at least I can say my own name right now.

So many odd things here are opposite to home. There are the obvious like driving on the other side of the road but the not so obvious was walking on the opposite side of the pavement. In Vancouver it was difficult to walk as you were dodging people with each step; until I realised where I was going wrong. Light switches are another thing that are different. Normally at home if the switch it flicked up it is off and if it is flicked down it is on. Here it's the other way and it took me a bit to get used to that in the hotel rooms. Also, as I work with a few Brits they call vacuums hoovers, power plugs power sockets and chips crisps. All these odd words are making it into my vocabulary so here's a heads-up; I'm going to sound a bit freakish when I come home. Speaking of home I Skyped there for Christmas and they picked up on a few of the things I saw differently already. As one of my mates here [Azarlia] is from down South in New Zealand she says her 'R' different and as I'm around her all day I now say my 'R' the same as her. Freaky sounding me is already under transformation.

I mentioned in one of my early posts in Vancouver that it was really hot inside everywhere. Good news is that we're now accustomed to the huge temperature variance between in and out. So much so we even feel the need to wear jumpers inside. [Shock and horror right?!] We've had a few chilly days this past month. Today is meant to get down to the early -20s but a few weeks ago it got to round -30 so they shut down the lifts and gondola as it was too cold for the machinery to operate. I had been told that  you couldn't feel that much difference between -20 and -30 and it's true. You're ears and nose just hurt and each breath too. So now when we have days in the minus single digits and early teens it feels positively balmy and we wander around in just shirts.

This thermometer is meant to read -5 or 6 degrees lower then the actual temperature but this is what is read on the day the gondola and lifts shut:

There is a hot tub at the hotel and when we are under 50% full we staff get to use it-it's amazing. The steam condenses and settles on your hair and then freezes, which makes everyone look like they've got grey hair. You can't go out after a shower if your hair is still wet too as it freezes and goes all crunchy like someone clumped too much mousse in it.

On the 12th of December [the night of my operation] there was an event in Banff called Rail Jam. They set up a kicker and rail down a side street surrounded by snow and a pulley gives the boarders enough speed to get up and on. It was really cool watching all the guys and a few girls do it; one of the maintenance workers from the hotel entered and he did really well. No one had too hardcore a stack but there were enough to keep you expectantly on your toes. Totally inspiring too, I decided I'm going to do park one day.

With my injury I wasn't working many hours in the hotel as a housekeeper so I got offered a three hour shift on the 18th of December at front desk while the front desk team had their Christmas dinner in the hotel restaurant. I'd had absolutely no training on front desk previously but I accepted as they said that it would be a really quiet night. I turned up fifteen minutes early to have some time to learn a bit and low-and-behold, they were on the tail end of a rescue operation as two guests had gotten stranded up one of the mountains. That took up my 'training' time so in the end instructions were hastily thrown at me and I was left to it. Thankfully the supervisor had left me a walky-talky to call him on in case there was something I had no clue what to do and not even ten minutes after they had gone upstairs I had to call him down. I had to call someone down about three times that night but each time I was able to learn a bit more so the last five minutes of my shift I felt like I could handle it. Typical. But it was a really good experience to have and actually fun towards the end.

Because I wasn't doing much and the little I was doing was over using my hand I was sent down to Human Resources to help down there. That meant I had to catch the gondola every morning at 7:30 to get down to base for an 8 o'clock start. I didn't mind this daily commute too much as it was great alone time but those cars do get a bit chilly so that wasn't so pleasant. But it was really good working in HR as it helped my hand to heal up and I'm going to be back in the hotel tomorrow. I've really missed my team so it'll be great to be back.

Banff and the Bow Valley being in a National Park are renowned for the wildlife everywhere, but being up here we don't get much variation. There is the occasional bird but that's about it for daily creature spotting. I'd been told that the hotel has pine martins living in it but I hadn't seen any until the other day. It was really exciting to see something different and even though they aren't meant to be approached they are really cute. Azarlia saw a Pika right outside her window a few nights in a row [she's on the ground floor of her building and the snow constantly drifts up to the top of her window; and this Pika had dug a little tunnel right past her window] but the custodians have to clear the windows so the tunnel got dug up and Pika still hasn't returned. She was the only one to have seen him so for a little while the joke was that she had imagined him but as she had been rather attached to the fellow the jokes stopped when he stopped appearing.

I'd better go, but I'll leave you with this. Renee and I went to the Banff Library last week as she had study to do for our staff Fire Crew [I just had the day off] and we saw this little guy right outside the window we were sitting at:

Who knew Housekeeping was a Dangerous Occupation?

Movie night at Trappers was good fun. It seemed like everyone on hill was there and dressed up to the nines, or at least as ninesy as ski bums can get. I contemplated wearing a jumper that has red and white stripes-but only for a moment. I would never have been able to wear it again without getting 'where's Wally' jokes thrown at me. I shouldn't have worried though; I wore it a week later and the jokes came out anyway. Needless to say it's stayed in my draw since.

I stabbed my hand with the stem of a wine glass on the 10th. I was in one of the 5th floor rooms drying it off after washing it when somehow the stem snapped and I drove it into my right palm. I automatically applied pressure to it and somehow knew right away that it was deep and had done some damage. It didn't hurt as much as it should have, my pinky went numb less then a minute after it happened and from time to time odd pain shot up and down my forearm. Thankfully Beckie my supervisor on that day had just come onto that floor as I had heard her talking to Azarlia in a room a few doors down moments beforehand. Unfortunately the room I had done it in was a stay-over so the girls had to clean up the mess I left behind before the guest returned. Beckie called ERT and one of the guys rushed over to come to my aid. I felt really bad as he came into the office out of breath and seemed to be expecting something more sever then a puncture wound the doctor sewed up with three stitches. He gave me the once over, poking my back, neck and head asking if anything hurt and then starting asking me questions like did I know where I was and what was the date etc. Once he realised I was fully coherent and not dying he calmed way down. Once the paperwork was complete we headed to the infirmary to clean up the wound and get one of the on duty hill doctors to take a look at it. As we were leaving the hotel he radioed ahead to let them know we were coming and he described our passage there like this: "Transporting patient to the infirmary on foot." I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing as I thought it a rather obvious fact that we would walk-after all I hadn't chopped my leg off. Once I'd cleaned it up one of the doctors came in. He looked at it for like a second and agreed with the ERT guys that it needed stitches but for some reason he couldn't do it on hill as he couldn't access the right legal medical forms; some change had happened in the last year that meant stitches had to be done off hill now. My hand was then bandaged and slinged up, a taxi called, I went to my room to grab ID and headed down the hill in the gondola. When I finally reached base [after the gondola stopped twice due to high winds] the taxi was already waiting for me. He dropped me off at the hospital where Renee was waiting for me. She had been in Banff that morning and when Azarlia text her to inform her of my accident she offered to meet me there. The paperwork side of things [which I had been worried about] was really straight forward. I think that's because I did it at work so my injury came under the Workers Compensation Board [WBC]. When the doctor finally saw me he briefly checked out the cut and then spent a lot of time poking my hand and fingers figuring out which areas were numb/sore. From the first knuckle of my pinky up, the half closest to my ring finger is completely numb. He was pricking me with a sharp stick and when he touched that area it felt blunt as. It was the weirdest feeling. I got to watch him do the three stitches so that was a highlight and I was informed while he was doing it that if I hadn't noticed any improvement in two days I was to go back in and it would be operated on. A nurse came in after he left and stuck a bandaid over the top and sent us home. We went to Tim Hortons for a hot chocolate and doughnut before catching the staff bus back as I'd done the stabbing at twelve so missed lunch and we weren't done until four so was just a little famished. The next day my roomie Jess who works on front desk at the hotel text me to say the doctor had called for me and wanted me to call back so I headed over there and he informed me that the hand surgeon wanted me to come in the next day as they believed that I had done some nerve damage. Thankfully I had two rostered days off starting the 11th so didn't have to take time off to go in for it. Azarlia managed to swap her rostered days off so that she could come in with me on the 12th for the operation. Though the doctor who stitched me up the first time said that I wouldn't be knocked out but the only my arm would be deadened and the nurses reiterated that while they were prepping me [I had to wear one of those stunning hospital gowns] I was knocked out. I don't real mind as it was a lovely 40 minute sleep but for the next few days I felt so tired from the anaesthetic. A half cast was put on and covered with a regular bandage. I find it interesting that the hospital care here isn't as 'formal' as back home. I mean, there I've never been given a normal bandaid to put over stitches-here they obviously don't make as big a deal about such trivial things. The surgeon said that I had cut 40% of my ulnar nerve [I'll attach some photos I found of the ulnar so you can see more clearly what I've been discribing] but I didn't know the exact number of stitches until I took the cast off-there was ten. Azarlia had to leave to catch the last bus before I was discharged but I'd thought I'd have to stay in town so I'd bought gear with me. Jess and some of the other girls from front desk were coming into town that evening so I meet them at a hostel and we went out for dinner. It was quite nice to chill out in Banff as I hardly ever get down there. The next morning when I woke up I could feel the stitches catching on the padding of the cast-I hadn't realised until then that the wound site on my palm had been numb since the injury up until then. Never thought I would've ever been excited to be able to feel pain. Not being abe to board during the ten days of healing was dreadful, especially as we had a dumping and everyone was out enjoying the powder. I didn't really have much I could do at work except strip beds one handed and fetch missing items for the girls who were able to clean so I had a few days off. That was nice as I had plenty of time to get errands done but not so great for the bi-weekly pay check. While everyone else was counting down the days until Christmas I had been counting down the days to my stitches coming out and finally the 23rd came around. I had gone down to Banff for one of my English friends birthday after work on the 22nd and as I had stayed with Tracey [a Kiwi friend and one of the crowd I flew over here with] I was able to chill out at her apartment all morning before heading to the hospital. The cast and stitches were whipped out in a moment and it felt so good to be able to move my wrist around and itch my arm! I just made it to the bus and showed my scar off to Azarlia and Renee as soon as they finished work. I'm not allowed to board for another week and then I've been told to ease back into it and not rush it. I think I'll heed the doctor on that advice as The stitches came out a little too soon. The end of the incision over the heel of my palm split open a little yesterday so it's back in a bandage to protect from infection. Man I will be glad to finally get rid of all bandages for good!

It's Christmas morning here-but I've got to go and get ready for a day of work. No rest for the wicked.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

Looked innocent enough..

Post op

 

After the stitches came out

I'll leave you with little panorama of the Village from one of the suites in the hotel. The buildings from Left to Right are:

[foreground] Staff Cafe/Daylodge, [just peeking out in the background from behind the far left corner of Daylodge] Laryx Staff Accommodation Building, [poking out from the right far corner of Daylodge] Daycare Centre, Gondola, [building hiding up in the trees] Arnica Staff Accommodation Building [that's where I live], [just below Arnica and beside the Gondola] Mountain Holme/Sunburst Staff Accommodation Buildings, Angel Chair Lift and [nearest you] Trappers, our staff bar.

I'm still alive guys..

The Moose Bus tour we took to get here was really cool. The first day it didn't feel like we traveled very far as we kept stopping for sightseeing but the second day there was a lot of driving.

Day one we drove from Vancouver to Kelowna [the 'w' is silent] and stopped off at Bridal Veil Falls, the town of Hope for lunch [Rambo was meant to have been filmed there. It also has lots of really cool chainsaw art all around the town] and Othello Tunnels. Our bus had a cool driver. She told us about the history of all the places we stopped at. [Don't ask me to write it all here-Google was invented for curious people.] We stayed the night at the Kelowna Samesun and most of the group headed out to bowling [which they got kicked out of for throwing too many balls down the alleys or something like that]. I went to bed early but when I got up I got told that they'd had a wild night so the stories got told during that days drive and it kept us amused. [;

Day two was Kelowna to Banff. First stop was at Last Spike and then we hiked a little ways to some waterfalls. They were pretty but nothing we haven't seen in New Zealand. ;P From there we drove to Revelstoke for lunch and then to Rogers Pass, Emerald Lake and Lake Louise before continuing onto Banff. We passed under some of the bridges they built for the migrating animals to go across. I had been waiting to see them since I first heard about them-they are so cool! Sadly I didn't get a photo as it was on dusk when we came across them but hopefully I'll be able to take a snap of one before I leave. We stayed that night in the Samesun and then us three girls headed to the HI Hostel for Saturday and Sunday nights.

I moved up hill on the morning of the 28th October. We had to meet the bus outside our hostel at 7 and we made it with plenty of time. It was pitch black still and the sun was still down when we had made the twenty minute drive to the gondola base [or Bourgeau as we call it]. We were met by all the supervisors of our departments so the girls and I dragged our baggage through the snow to the main building where we split up and went to different rooms to sign all the finial paperwork. We also got our staff passes issued right after that [they are just quick snap and print photo cards]. We were among the lucky ones as some staff members had to wait a week or so to get their cards as the machine kept breaking down. [One thing you learn while working here is to have patience for everything.]

After all this the sun was well up so everyone loaded baggage into yellow school buses and company trucks and we headed up the access road to the village. It was about a twenty minute ride and the cool thing is that that access road is now closed and we can board down it and take the gondola back up to base. I did it just the other day and it's quite a long run [especially when you fall over a bizillion times]. Once we reached the village we walked up three flights of rusty looking stairs to the employee services office and were assigned our rooms-which is when I found out that I was on the floor above employee services so those stairs and I have become very well acquainted. Turns out they actually aren't rusty, they just look it. And taking them twice a day as well as another flight up to my floor has been good exercise-as has running up and down the five flights of hotel stairs collecting things for the rooms. Watch out guys, between all these stairs and snowboarding I'm gonna be a fit bean when I get back.. ;P

My roomie is a Kiwi girl from Wellington and she works on front desk so eve though our shifts are completely different we see each other every day either at work or at home. She's great fun and boards as well [which is good-I'm not sure I would be able to share with a skier for seven months..jokes to all the skiers out there].

Anyway. First day we were taken to the cafeteria [a place I frequent too often] for lunch and then we had a tour of the hotel and some of the rooms. That day was kinda cool and completely different from what I expected as the manager of the hotel had a welcome chat with us after our tour and told us that we are here to 1] board, 2] have fun and 3] work. He literally said them in that order. So far it has been the other way around for our department but hopefully soon the order will reverse.. ;P At the end we were offered the 29th off but myself and another housekeeper decided to work so we cleaned windows all the next day-and then had to go back over them the day after that to clean all the drips off. It was a mish and a half I'll tell you. But after that we joined back up with everyone else and sorted out the linen cupboard. It's a typical linen cupboard-not big enough and never has what you need in it. But we get to chuck the dirty laundry down shoots so that's a perk. ;P

Halloween on hill was fun. I have never been to anything Halloweeny but there was a little do in Trappers [the staff bar on hill [ermagursh it is my favourite place] we play pool there almost every evening] and I got dragged along to it. Half of us weren't dressed up and the other half had a variety of costumes. Lucky, only two people came in the same outfit-guys in girls dresses. Sadly, I am friends with both of those fellows. [Jokes, they are pretty awesome.]

Most days before opening on the 15th November we only worked 3 hours of mostly deep cleaning bathrooms so that left us plenty of time to bum around and be bored so one day after lunch we decided to hike through waist deep snow to the top of Strawberry [one of the runs close to the hotel]. It took us just over an hour to get to the top and less then 15 to get down. But it was good fun and the view was pretty cool too. Also the sense of actually achieving something instead of sitting around all day was great. [;

Opening weekend was crazy. As is this weekend. We are more organised this time round but last weekend was stressful and insanity. During the week it's pretty quiet though so sometimes we can finish early and get a run in before the lifts shut at four. Most days though we don't so boarding only happens on a day off. One day we started at 10 [we normally start at 9] and since the lifts open at 9 myself and a lovely girl from work headed up Strawberry [this time on the lift-so much quicker!] and got two runs in before work. She was able to give me some pointers about turning toe-side and carving as well so that was really cool.

I had the 21st off and slept in-it was lovely to wake up naturally instead of to the melody of my alarm. We spent the afternoon boarding and I was able to practice what I had been taught on those two runs the other day-and I actually nailed them on my last run. I was fully stoked. My poor mate though [bless her-she has no fear] was just heading down the slope and then wiping out whenever she got too fast or was about to crash so needless to say she was sore as at the end and the next day while we were working.

We were riding the green runs [the easiest] but the lift up Wawa [my favourite run to say] is over a black [that's the third hardest and double black is the absolute hardest]. We were heading up for another run down the green when my mate made a joke and I laughingly hit her with my gloves-and managed to drop both of them. My board caught one of them but the other fell right smack bang in to middle of the black run. So once we got off up the top I headed down to get it. Jeepers. I'm not quite up to taking on blacks ae. I went down as slowly as I could over the humps and lumps and steep sides and lost balance too many time to keep my pride in tack. Thankfully a mate came along who was more then competent enough to manoeuvre to where my glove was and dropped it down at me on his way back up on the lift while I was still half way down the slope. I eventually made it down to the bottom in one physical piece but my pride was in tatters. Little kiddies on their skis were passing me with ease all the way down. Seriously. Why are kids here so good!? It's nearly enough to make you give up-nearly..

The girls and I hired a car and headed to Calgary the other weekend and we stayed in a hotel. How nice it was to have someone come and clean our room instead of having to clean rooms ourselves! ;P We went shopping at the mall on Saturday morning and then that afternoon we went for another shopping mish at Target. Needless to say I spent my pay check three times over that day..was kinda shocked but seeing as I did buy necessary items I let myself off the hook..

When we finished one of our three hour working days the girls and I decided to make a snowman. We had been told that the snow was too dry to form a snowman with and it turns out that it was true-we could build a standing snowman. So we did the next best thing, an unconscious snowman. It was great fun and he actually looked alright at the end of it. We even gave him snow arms and legs-no twig arms for him! [That was really only because we had none and had to improvise.] Drunko McSnowman lasted a week or so but now he is resting peacefully covered by a blanket of snow.

We have been working like crazy in the hotel. I've been reliably informed that we have had one of the busiest opening weekends ever, so it's nice to know that it's not that we aren't working hard enough but that there are slightly too less housekeepers to keep up with everything. But we are hiring some more hands so that will be lovely as it'll mean we get more then one day off a week and we can do more boarding-which is the reason everyone is here anyway. [;

The other day we did a little health and safety course that all employees have to go through upon employment. As part of that we had to go into Banff for a little history lesson about Banff and the surrounding mountains and at the end we had to stand and say a little pledge thingymabob and just like that-we became Banff locals. Sorry guys, I'm never coming back. ;P

Well, that's all that I can think of that I've been up to since that last entry forever ago. I'll try get the photos of the Moose Tour up soon and I'll try to get my camera working long enough to take photos of up here.

Tomorrow evening there is going to be 'A Night At The Movies' evening at Trappers that we are meant to all dress up for so that should be fun and hopefully I'll remember to write up about it sooner rather then later.. ;P

xxx

Last night in Vancouver, Snow boots, and a free Samsung Galaxy Ace II

Hae guys. It's my last night in the Vancouver Samesun, and I think I'm gonna miss it. But at the same time I'm excited that I'm going to making my way across the province to my new job. Each day that passes I feel more excited and less like a fish out of water. [Yayness. ;P ] Speaking of fish, we are going to see Salmon spawning tomorrow on our tour. Hopefully my camera will work and I'll be able to take photos.
Today I bought snow boots and got on a $30 per month cell plan [here, that's like one of the cheapest options there is]. Part of that monthly plan payment goes towards paying off my new Samsung Galaxy Ace ll which came free with the deal. I didn't even have to pay a cent today at the shop for it! I was able to walk out after giving them my passport information and email address. They are so lax here!! [It is locked but I can unlock it and take it home with me - if it survives that is.] I was also given a $50 gift card so I was able to buy a shock proof case and a screen protector as well. I had to pay $17 for them on top of the $50 gift card, so Matthew and Sophie [I know you're reading this], you can do the math as to how much I would've had to spend to get those two items without the gift card. ;P I also thought you might be interested in the fact that an iPhone 5 costs not even $700 here. It's ridiculous how much we are charged for them in NZ.
We meet our two bus drivers tonight; they pretty much kept to themselves though, so we really just had a free dinner tonight - didn't learn much about the tour except that we meet tomorrow downstairs at 8AM. Some of the guys coming with us said that they've been getting up at 12 one 1PM so I hope they all make it.. ;P
After dinner I headed up to my room to pack and I think I've got everything. I feel like I've got a whole heap more stuff but I really don't, so I'm not sure why I feel surprised that it all fits...
Well I had better get to bed. I'm sorry it's short today but I can't live the high life everyday.. ;P

Downtown Vancouver

This is a map of the area of Vancouver I am based in