School holidays are sweet especially if you have had some form of test or something beforehand. However, having sadly outgrown my carefree years of primary and secondary education my opinion has been changed on these mid-term breaks.
Let me put it another way, the last two weeks of my life have been among the busiest, most exhausting and stressful as I have ever experienced. Granted exam period at uni is pretty intense but there is something a little more intimidating about a group of 40 tired Koreans who need fitted for skis, boots, poles, jackets, snow pants, gloves, goggles and they all need lift passes although they demand that they do not. This is then followed by a large family group of around 6 parents and between 10 and 20 kids of various ages. These family groups can contain several different characters varying from relaxed father who waits patiently, he understands that there are more people in the shop than there are staff, to the demanding housewife whose little chookum needs the best of everything even though the last time he went skiing he barely managed to stay on his skis long enough for it to be called skiing.
Although I have to admit the feeling you get after you fit 40 sets of skis and about 20 boards and you have given all these people an opportunity to have a great day/weekend/week is a pretty damn good one. This only lasts till you realise that you have to service all this equipment as it comes in.
On the other hand, working in the ski shop is amazing. I may be busy and tired for long periods of time, but I get to talk about the sport I love on a regular basis and people don't get bored. You get approached as some sort of ski guru, the unknown realm of the workshop belonging to you, the magic of the DIN setting understood by only the select few. This may all be incorrect to varying degrees and you may know just barely more than they do but it is one hell of an ego trip, which kind of makes all the work worth it.
There is also the other fact that I live within a stones through of the ski field, which is plain awesome to tell you the truth having the opportunity to throw on your ski gear grab your skis and just go ride for a day when the feeling takes you is incredible to me and hopefully something that I won't get over while I am here.
It may also make me appreciate the efforts that I go to get my snow in the UK and make every turn, jump or jib that little sweeter because I know that it was an effort to get there.
OK apologies for the epicness once again and also for my continued inability to keep these posts regular but I promise (he says speculatively) that I will try and have at least one a week from now on. As I mentioned earlier the kids have all gone home, the mountain is quiet and work shouldn't be too busy so this blogging business should become easier than it has been. Catch you on the flip side.
Much Love xx
Thursday, 23 July 2009
Saturday, 11 July 2009
Closed Mountain Facts #1
The mountains is closed today so I am just going to write a small paragraph to kill some time rather than wax another set of skis or another board as I have been at it since seven this morning. Basically all I wanted to say with this post is that Whakapapa the resort that is nearest to where I am living/working is actually pronounced Fakapapa and with the Kiwi twang that lead to several double takes when I heard it at first, but its now pretty fun to almost legitimately swear at really annoying customers.
That's really all I wanted to say, but I will get back to you with more exciting adventures in a bit.
Much Love xx
That's really all I wanted to say, but I will get back to you with more exciting adventures in a bit.
Much Love xx
Saturday, 20 June 2009
Falling At The First Mogul
First things first if you're buying a car in NZ make sure the clutch works! This statement will be explained momentarily, but ill give a brief rundown of what has happened since my last post. Also apologies for the wait, I'll get to that as well.
As you have probably already guessed I am finally in NZ. I say finally because the epic flight through god knows how many timezones and across the international dateline ( I think) takes a certain toll on you. But I'm here and I can't really complain.
NZ is awesome. That may sound like a proper tourist remark, but unless you've been here your opinion doesn't count, like the awesome Maori dude I sat next to on the plane said "All the pictures and stuff don't even come close" and its true. Even before I got to the mountain I was in awe of this place. Granted this may have had something to do with the Sky Tower in Auckland, which although looking like a giant hypodermic needle is really very impressive.
However, not as impressive as Mount Ruapehu. Even without snow the volcano looks absolutely fantastic and after all the effort it took to get here from Auckland I am so glad that it does.
As I said earlier buying a car with a clutch that works is imperative to any road trip. That's why when Jeremy, the lovely car that my friend bought, broke down 200 odd kilometres away from our final destination life got a little difficult. To cut a long story short we ended up having to rent a car to get me to my job interview in National Park costing a remarkable amount of monies for the time I would have it. Jeremy had to be towed by the New Zealand AA who would then phone say it would cost a fortune to fix (about two-thirds the cost of the car to begin with) so me and my friend went back and got the car scrapped to cut our losses. We then hitched back to Nat Park where I bought a 19 year old Mitsubishi Lancer promptly named Harmony. Exciting stuff this road tripping to the mountain ain't it?
During all of this I also had to do my job interview. It was a really chilled out affair with a tour of both shops and a little chat about experience and such like, but in the end I got the job so I am now officially a rental/retail assistant and ski technician for Ski Biz Ski & Snowboard.
I organised all the interview and stuff before I left but it has to be said that is possible to get a job just by rocking up here and saying I'm here for the season and ill do anything. I have a few friends who have done just that: two are now snowboard instructors and one has work in a ski shop and cafe. Basically they need workers and you need work so with a little negotiation its possible to get the hours you need to survive and if your lucky fantastic staff bonuses like free season passes and discounts on retail.
Right, I apologise for the epicness and delay of this edition, but life is a little hectic over here just now and I'm also working 7 days a week as its the school holidays and the busiest time of the season so far and internet access is hard to find when I have time to write. However, never fear as internet access will improve at the lodge I'm staying at (that is to say there will actually be internet access) so I will be able to update things more often. That being said I'm a busy boy so delays may be possible.
As usual fire any questions at me in the comments section and ill try and reply as soon as possible.
Much love.
However, not as impressive as Mount Ruapehu. Even without snow the volcano looks absolutely fantastic and after all the effort it took to get here from Auckland I am so glad that it does.
As I said earlier buying a car with a clutch that works is imperative to any road trip. That's why when Jeremy, the lovely car that my friend bought, broke down 200 odd kilometres away from our final destination life got a little difficult. To cut a long story short we ended up having to rent a car to get me to my job interview in National Park costing a remarkable amount of monies for the time I would have it. Jeremy had to be towed by the New Zealand AA who would then phone say it would cost a fortune to fix (about two-thirds the cost of the car to begin with) so me and my friend went back and got the car scrapped to cut our losses. We then hitched back to Nat Park where I bought a 19 year old Mitsubishi Lancer promptly named Harmony. Exciting stuff this road tripping to the mountain ain't it?
During all of this I also had to do my job interview. It was a really chilled out affair with a tour of both shops and a little chat about experience and such like, but in the end I got the job so I am now officially a rental/retail assistant and ski technician for Ski Biz Ski & Snowboard.
I organised all the interview and stuff before I left but it has to be said that is possible to get a job just by rocking up here and saying I'm here for the season and ill do anything. I have a few friends who have done just that: two are now snowboard instructors and one has work in a ski shop and cafe. Basically they need workers and you need work so with a little negotiation its possible to get the hours you need to survive and if your lucky fantastic staff bonuses like free season passes and discounts on retail.
Right, I apologise for the epicness and delay of this edition, but life is a little hectic over here just now and I'm also working 7 days a week as its the school holidays and the busiest time of the season so far and internet access is hard to find when I have time to write. However, never fear as internet access will improve at the lodge I'm staying at (that is to say there will actually be internet access) so I will be able to update things more often. That being said I'm a busy boy so delays may be possible.
As usual fire any questions at me in the comments section and ill try and reply as soon as possible.
Much love.
Friday, 12 June 2009
Through the Starter's Gate
Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends and Randoms welcome to my blog!
This is quite an undertaking for me as I have always been a little lazy when it comes to writing any form of continuous journal or diary so bear with me if it takes me a while to get into the habit.
First things first: this post is not coming from New Zealand! I haven't left yet - although by the time some people read this I may have already be there, but we'll just breeze over that. I will be leaving for New Zealand next Tuesday and currently I am pretty much massively disorganised. By this I mean no confirmed job, no confirmed place to live apart from the kindness of a friend's aunt and the banks are screwing me over in trying to move my own money around. However, none of this will detract from my overall keenness (keeness?) for the idea of a ski season, which is rapidly approaching...Yaldi!
For those who are wondering where I am going to be I will, hopefully, be around Mount Ruapehu on the North Island on the pistes of the Whakapapa resort working the greater part of the season for three whole months. It is probably quite obvious that I am overly keen for this and should probably calm down quite a bit.
However, less of the details of the trip and more of what this blog is about. This ski season will be my first season and hopefully not my last and so I want to write a little about it each day to let friends and family know how I am but possibly as a sort of 'How To' guide for potential seasonnaires. I'm also really keen to become a much better skier so with the help of a few racer friends I am going to be practicing pretty hard. I'll post updates of training regimes and such forth so I can keep track of where I am at and where I want to be and once again to help anyone who wants to get better at skiing. I also want to learn to freestyle so I can compete for the uni team so I may post photos depending on if I get any good.
Since I am leaving in little over 48 hours this will probably be my last post until I am actually in New Zealand, but feel free to leave comments and ask questions and I will try and answer everything in each subsequent post. However, for now all I'll say is much love and ill catch you on the flipside xx
This is quite an undertaking for me as I have always been a little lazy when it comes to writing any form of continuous journal or diary so bear with me if it takes me a while to get into the habit.
First things first: this post is not coming from New Zealand! I haven't left yet - although by the time some people read this I may have already be there, but we'll just breeze over that. I will be leaving for New Zealand next Tuesday and currently I am pretty much massively disorganised. By this I mean no confirmed job, no confirmed place to live apart from the kindness of a friend's aunt and the banks are screwing me over in trying to move my own money around. However, none of this will detract from my overall keenness (keeness?) for the idea of a ski season, which is rapidly approaching...Yaldi!
For those who are wondering where I am going to be I will, hopefully, be around Mount Ruapehu on the North Island on the pistes of the Whakapapa resort working the greater part of the season for three whole months. It is probably quite obvious that I am overly keen for this and should probably calm down quite a bit.
However, less of the details of the trip and more of what this blog is about. This ski season will be my first season and hopefully not my last and so I want to write a little about it each day to let friends and family know how I am but possibly as a sort of 'How To' guide for potential seasonnaires. I'm also really keen to become a much better skier so with the help of a few racer friends I am going to be practicing pretty hard. I'll post updates of training regimes and such forth so I can keep track of where I am at and where I want to be and once again to help anyone who wants to get better at skiing. I also want to learn to freestyle so I can compete for the uni team so I may post photos depending on if I get any good.
Since I am leaving in little over 48 hours this will probably be my last post until I am actually in New Zealand, but feel free to leave comments and ask questions and I will try and answer everything in each subsequent post. However, for now all I'll say is much love and ill catch you on the flipside xx
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)