MERRY CHRISTMAS AUSTRALIA!!!
Unfortunately our internet is so weak and slow that I can't Skype call! Feeling very far away and isolated. Doesn't really help that my three house-buddies are working today and I am home alone AND the cafe I was going to treat myself to brekky at was CLOSED!
I've never received a bunch of flowers before so you can imagine my excitement when there was a knock at the door and a big beautiful bunch of flowers was pressed into my hands! "Aaaaaaaaaaaaawww! How thoughtful of Zane!" I thought to myself, feeling the glisten of tears welling up in my eyes. I carefully removed the plastic bag covering the bouquet, gently plucked the card from amidst the fragrant flowers and candy canes (yes, candy canes in a bouquet!), and turned it over to see... To Robyn and Adam. Sigh.
But there is some consolation. I got a few moments of excitement, thinking that I had been given flowers, and last night the Christmas Tree Santa brought a little Christmas tree with lights and baubles and set it up above the fireplace! Such a surprise this morning! It makes our house feel all the more festive!
Tonight we're going shopping to get lots of nice goodies for a Christmas Feast tomorrow night! Yum!
I hope everyone is having an amazing, sunny, warm, beer and seafood filled Christmas. All the very best wishes for 2011!!
Lots of love Z and T
PS. Go to the website below for another awesome Christmas video :)
http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/51S2u7kBTpJCvaiG?cmpid=jj_fb_self_holidays
Friday, December 24, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
BRAMBLES!
The past week or so has been fairly uneventful. We’ve all just been working and hitting the slopes whenever possible. We’ve all seemed to have aged around 60 years though, come 8pm we’re all fed and showered, in front of the telly, Robyn and I knitting, Zane and Adam having a nightcap and then in bed by 9pm!
Work has been going great; I really love it up there at Lost Boy’s. My workmates are all really nice and we all get along really well. It’s so funny though, Zane and I originally showed an interest in working in Fernie as opposed to other ski resorts, as we assumed there would be fewer Australians and we could have a more Canadian experience. So you can imagine how I felt when I first introduced myself to my new workmates and heard four other “howyagoin?”’s in return! Yes, including myself, there are 5 out of the 7 Lost Boy’s staff that come from the great land I have left behind. It’s sort of nice though, because we all immediately had something in common. Two are blonde surfer types from Sydney, one from FNQ (Fucking North Queensland, as he refers to it..) and one from Darwin.
The other two of my workmates are both French speaking. I try to have a bit of French chat with them but I get lost after bonjour. One is from Belgium and we call him Belgium and he wears a hat with cowprint on it and little horns and ears and he comes up to you and says ‘moo’. The other is from Sorel in Quebec and is THE most Canadian person I have ever encountered. He doesn’t say “oot and aboot” as all self-respecting Canadians do (they have a funny accent when they say their ou’s so south is sooth and so on) BUT he goes hunting and hiking and ice-fishing, he thinks -25 degrees isn’t really that cold, his Grandmother is a Native Canadian Indian AND... the most compelling evidence, his family makes maple syrup!
I have found that this year, I have been noticeable slower on the slopes. I’m not sure whether I am still getting the hang of it or if I have lost my youthful exuberance and thirst for jumping off stuff, but I have gone down nary a black run and ripped through scarcely a mogul or two. After some thought, I decided to invest in a helmet. This is not a decision to be made lightly. I have never worn one while skiing and have, quite frankly, scoffed at the idea when it has arisen in the past. But now I have one.
I call it the cone of silence. As you might know, I am not very good at hearing. I’m not sure if it is a oracular issue or if I’m just really vague and have the uncanny ability to block people out when they’re less than a metre away from me, yelling my name. It is quite an issue at work. I feel sorry for my workmates who have to repeat everything they say to me, as after the first time they say it they are either met by a vacant stare or a “huh?” or an “excuse me?” if I’m being a good girl and remembering the manners my mother taught me.
So, after considering that I am now getting on in age, with the knitting and whatnot being persuasive indicators, I am now a helmet-wearer. And I have found that there is quite a transformation in my skiing prowess. I am still uncoordinated and unstable on my feet but now my brain is encased in loving, caressing, sound-proof foam! And now, with the confidence that only a half-price helmet can give, I am throwing myself off 20cm high cliffs and speeding down the green runs like there’s a nice cold beer at the end of it. I jest. I have noticed that I am getting faster and I am not so scared to push myself anymore. Still avoiding the black runs, but I’m sure with time comes confidence.
I did, however, have an unfortunate experience the other day. I was going along through the Cedar Bowl, and I was traversing along trying to get to some nice tree runs. There is always really great powder in between the trees if you can get to it before it gets skied out. So there I was, crossing a relatively clear space to get into the trees. All of a sudden, in front of me, was a patch of brambles. Adam calls them brambles and out of habit so do I, but I suppose they’re like a bush of twigs that stick up out of the snow. Every time I’ve encountered them I’ve just skied through and it’s been fine. Adam, on the other hand, seems to stack it, spectacularly, every time he comes within 10 meters of a patch of brambles but I guess it’s just the luck of the draw.
So I mustn’t have been concentrating because all of a sudden POW brambles right in front of me!! For some strange reason, out of all the possible reflexes that could’ve kicked into gear (maybe turning might have been a good one?) my body decides that the best option is to close my eyes. And that’s what happened. I can’t explain it. So I ski straight through the brambles, wincing, with eyes shut tight, open my eyes and BAM! there’s a tree right in front of me! By now my reflexes had clearly been used up for the day so I just skied straight into the tree. I should state that the tree was barely a metre in height but it had already developed some good branches, one of which gave me a good whack on impact. Somehow I ended up with one leg either side of the tree and then I’m not really sure what happened, I was just lying there gasping and moaning a lot. I think I must have skied over/around it, as I have a massive bruise running all down the inside of my right leg. And that was my tree encounter. I’m sure someone watching would’ve been like “why’d that boy ski into that tree?” (ski suits are very androgynous) as they would assume that any normal person would have their eyes open to distinguish oncoming hazards but not me! I live life on the edge! I wear a helmet!
Santa comes soon!!!
Much Christmas love and best wishes, Z and T
Work has been going great; I really love it up there at Lost Boy’s. My workmates are all really nice and we all get along really well. It’s so funny though, Zane and I originally showed an interest in working in Fernie as opposed to other ski resorts, as we assumed there would be fewer Australians and we could have a more Canadian experience. So you can imagine how I felt when I first introduced myself to my new workmates and heard four other “howyagoin?”’s in return! Yes, including myself, there are 5 out of the 7 Lost Boy’s staff that come from the great land I have left behind. It’s sort of nice though, because we all immediately had something in common. Two are blonde surfer types from Sydney, one from FNQ (Fucking North Queensland, as he refers to it..) and one from Darwin.
The other two of my workmates are both French speaking. I try to have a bit of French chat with them but I get lost after bonjour. One is from Belgium and we call him Belgium and he wears a hat with cowprint on it and little horns and ears and he comes up to you and says ‘moo’. The other is from Sorel in Quebec and is THE most Canadian person I have ever encountered. He doesn’t say “oot and aboot” as all self-respecting Canadians do (they have a funny accent when they say their ou’s so south is sooth and so on) BUT he goes hunting and hiking and ice-fishing, he thinks -25 degrees isn’t really that cold, his Grandmother is a Native Canadian Indian AND... the most compelling evidence, his family makes maple syrup!
I have found that this year, I have been noticeable slower on the slopes. I’m not sure whether I am still getting the hang of it or if I have lost my youthful exuberance and thirst for jumping off stuff, but I have gone down nary a black run and ripped through scarcely a mogul or two. After some thought, I decided to invest in a helmet. This is not a decision to be made lightly. I have never worn one while skiing and have, quite frankly, scoffed at the idea when it has arisen in the past. But now I have one.
I call it the cone of silence. As you might know, I am not very good at hearing. I’m not sure if it is a oracular issue or if I’m just really vague and have the uncanny ability to block people out when they’re less than a metre away from me, yelling my name. It is quite an issue at work. I feel sorry for my workmates who have to repeat everything they say to me, as after the first time they say it they are either met by a vacant stare or a “huh?” or an “excuse me?” if I’m being a good girl and remembering the manners my mother taught me.
So, after considering that I am now getting on in age, with the knitting and whatnot being persuasive indicators, I am now a helmet-wearer. And I have found that there is quite a transformation in my skiing prowess. I am still uncoordinated and unstable on my feet but now my brain is encased in loving, caressing, sound-proof foam! And now, with the confidence that only a half-price helmet can give, I am throwing myself off 20cm high cliffs and speeding down the green runs like there’s a nice cold beer at the end of it. I jest. I have noticed that I am getting faster and I am not so scared to push myself anymore. Still avoiding the black runs, but I’m sure with time comes confidence.
I did, however, have an unfortunate experience the other day. I was going along through the Cedar Bowl, and I was traversing along trying to get to some nice tree runs. There is always really great powder in between the trees if you can get to it before it gets skied out. So there I was, crossing a relatively clear space to get into the trees. All of a sudden, in front of me, was a patch of brambles. Adam calls them brambles and out of habit so do I, but I suppose they’re like a bush of twigs that stick up out of the snow. Every time I’ve encountered them I’ve just skied through and it’s been fine. Adam, on the other hand, seems to stack it, spectacularly, every time he comes within 10 meters of a patch of brambles but I guess it’s just the luck of the draw.
So I mustn’t have been concentrating because all of a sudden POW brambles right in front of me!! For some strange reason, out of all the possible reflexes that could’ve kicked into gear (maybe turning might have been a good one?) my body decides that the best option is to close my eyes. And that’s what happened. I can’t explain it. So I ski straight through the brambles, wincing, with eyes shut tight, open my eyes and BAM! there’s a tree right in front of me! By now my reflexes had clearly been used up for the day so I just skied straight into the tree. I should state that the tree was barely a metre in height but it had already developed some good branches, one of which gave me a good whack on impact. Somehow I ended up with one leg either side of the tree and then I’m not really sure what happened, I was just lying there gasping and moaning a lot. I think I must have skied over/around it, as I have a massive bruise running all down the inside of my right leg. And that was my tree encounter. I’m sure someone watching would’ve been like “why’d that boy ski into that tree?” (ski suits are very androgynous) as they would assume that any normal person would have their eyes open to distinguish oncoming hazards but not me! I live life on the edge! I wear a helmet!
Santa comes soon!!!
Much Christmas love and best wishes, Z and T
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Work!
First things first, exciting news!! Zane got a job! He will be working at the Bear’s Den Cafe, a little coffee and snack stop half-way up the mountain. It will be a great spot for him as it has lots of customer interaction and he’ll be able to ride to and from work like me!
This week I worked Monday to Thursday. It has been really quiet up at work but it has still been fun, getting to know the rest of the crew and getting good at ladling chilli into bread bowls. After my first failed attempt I was told I could cross “work at a soup kitchen” off my list of things to do, but I’m getting the hang of it now, it’s all in the wrists.
It’s great fun skiing home at the end of the day. It’s nice because no matter how the day is or how tired you are or if you’ve had a bad day (hasn’t happened yet) you know that you get to have one good run. It’s a really nice run as well, with great views the whole way down.
I feel like all I’ve been doing lately is work, ski and sleep. I feel that if I was getting the real and more common Fernie experience I would be doing nothing but work, ski and drink. But I’m twenty-three now, I can’t just throw them back like I used to.
Having said that, we did go out for beers and hockey last night and I ended up drunk. It was great though, because a few people from work were out as well so it was like a little workmate bonding exercise. All was well until 9:30 this morning when I was awoken with the call that no one wants on their day off. The can-you-come-in-for-a-few-hours call. Of course I obliged.
Ooh, the other day I made snow angels, it was really fun. Robyn and I made some up on the hill, off the side of a run. It was fun to close your eyes and fall straight back into the snow. It was a bit scary when you just tipped back and committed to the fall but then the snow was so soft it felt like falling into bed.
There has been some amazing snow up on the mountain. We have been skiing most days in knee-deep powder, finding fresh tracks all day. It’s amazing how it tires you out though. After a big day on the slopes and a beer in the hot tub, we’ve been pretty knackered. Some of us have even gotten into the habit of having a little nanna nap on the couch... well the older ones amongst us (Adam).
Only two weeks until Christmas! So exciting!
Counting down the days, love T and Z.
Welcome to Lost Boy's Cafe!
Fancy a nice cold Kokanee on the deck?
The view from the top
This week I worked Monday to Thursday. It has been really quiet up at work but it has still been fun, getting to know the rest of the crew and getting good at ladling chilli into bread bowls. After my first failed attempt I was told I could cross “work at a soup kitchen” off my list of things to do, but I’m getting the hang of it now, it’s all in the wrists.
It’s great fun skiing home at the end of the day. It’s nice because no matter how the day is or how tired you are or if you’ve had a bad day (hasn’t happened yet) you know that you get to have one good run. It’s a really nice run as well, with great views the whole way down.
I feel like all I’ve been doing lately is work, ski and sleep. I feel that if I was getting the real and more common Fernie experience I would be doing nothing but work, ski and drink. But I’m twenty-three now, I can’t just throw them back like I used to.
Having said that, we did go out for beers and hockey last night and I ended up drunk. It was great though, because a few people from work were out as well so it was like a little workmate bonding exercise. All was well until 9:30 this morning when I was awoken with the call that no one wants on their day off. The can-you-come-in-for-a-few-hours call. Of course I obliged.
Ooh, the other day I made snow angels, it was really fun. Robyn and I made some up on the hill, off the side of a run. It was fun to close your eyes and fall straight back into the snow. It was a bit scary when you just tipped back and committed to the fall but then the snow was so soft it felt like falling into bed.
There has been some amazing snow up on the mountain. We have been skiing most days in knee-deep powder, finding fresh tracks all day. It’s amazing how it tires you out though. After a big day on the slopes and a beer in the hot tub, we’ve been pretty knackered. Some of us have even gotten into the habit of having a little nanna nap on the couch... well the older ones amongst us (Adam).
Only two weeks until Christmas! So exciting!
Counting down the days, love T and Z.
Welcome to Lost Boy's Cafe!
Fancy a nice cold Kokanee on the deck?
The view from the top
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
SNOW DAY!
Adam and Robyn returned from Australia on Friday. Boy, did we miss having Crystal! Oh, we missed Robyn and Adam too, but having to walk into town in -30 just wasn’t much fun. To welcome them home, Zane cooked up delicious ribs on the BBQ. Unfortunately, Robyn had to go straight into work and she was thrown straight into full-on busy work, with no instructions or training, and battling jet-lag. What a trooper! AND she had to go to work the next day as well, which was not only my birthday, but also the first day for us to get up onto the mountain and ski! Poor, poor Robyn.
So it was with a heavy heart that we headed up the mountain without Robyn. It was AWESOME. There was around 2 inches of fresh powder on the groomed slopes and in some sections off the trails the powder was waist deep. It took a few runs for us to get back in the swing of things but after a while we thought we were ready to head further up the hill and right into the powder. Big mistake. We all ate serious snow, and Zane had a bit of a struggle getting out of a particularly deep ditch of powder. When we got down, we decided it was time for some warmth and lunch. After nourishment and defrosting, we hit the slopes for a few more runs and then it was beer time.
Here are some photos of our epic day on the slopes
We went up to the Griz Bar which is the main pub for après drinks and nibbles. It was packed. There’s a massive long table in the middle of the bar, which seats around 30 people and is called the locals tables. Some of these locals told us that during times of extreme intoxication, it is a regular occurrence to see people strip down, get their whipped cream on various body parts, get a good run-up, and slide down the length of the table. You’ll be happy to know that, even though it was my birthday, I didn’t consume enough alcohol to perform to whip-n-slide, as I like to call it. I did, however, get to encounter a “muff dive”. This delightful concoction, generously given to me by our landlady Deb, is a shot of Bailey’s, in a shot-glass, inside a martini glass filled with whipped cream. Whipped Cream seems to be a recurring theme at the Griz Bar. Add alcohol, whipped cream and crazy people and you get fun! And, potentially, nudity. Anyway, the aim of the game of the Muff Dive is to navigate your way around the cream to get the shot of Baileys. Sound easy? Not when your hands are behind your back. Sound messy? Oh yeah. Sound embarrassing? OH YEAH. Especially when half of the bar knows what’s coming and turns around to watch. I think I did well though, judging by the cheers. You can see the results below.
That night we went out the Yama Goya for dinner, a Japanese restaurant in town. It was delicious, and as a birthday surprise the nice waitress treated us to complimentary shots of tequila! I have a long-standing hatred for tequila but somehow, the shot went down without my gag-reflex kicking in so happy days! We then went to the Ghostrider’s game (they won! And we saw a punch-up, of course) and then we went to the pub, where the shots continued. It was lots of fun but unfortunately, or probably fortunately for me, we all forgot our cameras so there are no incriminating photos. We were going to go up and enjoy the snow on Sunday but we were just too hungover.
Today Robyn, Zane and I all had the day off so we made a snowman! It was heaps of fun, not nearly as hard as we thought it would be, sort of like jack-o-lanterning!
First day of work tomorrow, how exciting!
Much love, Z and T
So it was with a heavy heart that we headed up the mountain without Robyn. It was AWESOME. There was around 2 inches of fresh powder on the groomed slopes and in some sections off the trails the powder was waist deep. It took a few runs for us to get back in the swing of things but after a while we thought we were ready to head further up the hill and right into the powder. Big mistake. We all ate serious snow, and Zane had a bit of a struggle getting out of a particularly deep ditch of powder. When we got down, we decided it was time for some warmth and lunch. After nourishment and defrosting, we hit the slopes for a few more runs and then it was beer time.
Here are some photos of our epic day on the slopes
We went up to the Griz Bar which is the main pub for après drinks and nibbles. It was packed. There’s a massive long table in the middle of the bar, which seats around 30 people and is called the locals tables. Some of these locals told us that during times of extreme intoxication, it is a regular occurrence to see people strip down, get their whipped cream on various body parts, get a good run-up, and slide down the length of the table. You’ll be happy to know that, even though it was my birthday, I didn’t consume enough alcohol to perform to whip-n-slide, as I like to call it. I did, however, get to encounter a “muff dive”. This delightful concoction, generously given to me by our landlady Deb, is a shot of Bailey’s, in a shot-glass, inside a martini glass filled with whipped cream. Whipped Cream seems to be a recurring theme at the Griz Bar. Add alcohol, whipped cream and crazy people and you get fun! And, potentially, nudity. Anyway, the aim of the game of the Muff Dive is to navigate your way around the cream to get the shot of Baileys. Sound easy? Not when your hands are behind your back. Sound messy? Oh yeah. Sound embarrassing? OH YEAH. Especially when half of the bar knows what’s coming and turns around to watch. I think I did well though, judging by the cheers. You can see the results below.
That night we went out the Yama Goya for dinner, a Japanese restaurant in town. It was delicious, and as a birthday surprise the nice waitress treated us to complimentary shots of tequila! I have a long-standing hatred for tequila but somehow, the shot went down without my gag-reflex kicking in so happy days! We then went to the Ghostrider’s game (they won! And we saw a punch-up, of course) and then we went to the pub, where the shots continued. It was lots of fun but unfortunately, or probably fortunately for me, we all forgot our cameras so there are no incriminating photos. We were going to go up and enjoy the snow on Sunday but we were just too hungover.
Today Robyn, Zane and I all had the day off so we made a snowman! It was heaps of fun, not nearly as hard as we thought it would be, sort of like jack-o-lanterning!
First day of work tomorrow, how exciting!
Much love, Z and T
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