Oh my, it has been a while, hasn't it!
I'm sorry: I entirely blame the death of my laptop. She and I were happily cruising the internet one day; chatting on messenger, possibly even playing some music when all of a sudden she made a feeble noise and the screen went black. That fateful day will always haunt me: it's a sadness I'll possibly never get over. And made exponentially worse by the obscene price of internet cafes here. All that overtime I worked doing 5am starts at the lift during the Canadian Championships will be cruelly chanelled into the pockets of Whistler's internet cafe tycoons.
There are two weeks left before Whistler mountain closes. All three of my jobs are for Whistler, not Blackcomb (despite the merger in the early 90s, employment remains separate) so I will be laid off. I put my name on the list for spring and summer jobs as I thought I would be staying here until at least June 3rd, when Blackcomb closes but my plans have changed recently.
To clear up any confusion, and if anyone is at all interested, my working week is now as follows:
Sunday - tickets, Monday - off, Tuesday - validation, Wednesday - validation, Thursday - off, Friday - tickets, Saturday - teaching little 'uns to snowboard
I will put a photographic uniform fashion parade up here at some point. Usually I lay out all my clothes the night before, as chances are if I left it to the morning I would do one of my classic alarm turn off manouvres, wake up 15 minutes before I am due to start and put on the wrong uniform.
The last couple of months have thrown me a lot of challenges; namely professional situations turning personal. Never before have I been involved in so much conflict in the workplace. I can only reassure myself that although it has made me unpopular at times, I have always used one set of rules, done my job the way I was trained (it wasn't hard, after all) and stuck to my guns when I think someone needs to be told. At least I know who my true friends are now. And they are all superstars.
Teaching kids has been an eye-opener too. I have never even baby sat children. Imagine baby sitting, but throw in the snowboarding aspect... they fall over. A lot. They cry, they whinge, they make things up. One of my students - 7 years old - told me he had a bloody ankle (not true), his foot was going to come out of his boot or his leg was going to come out of its socket on the chairlift (definitely not true), he didn't feel 'well in head' and he couldn't breathe. I ended up having to carry him, his board and my own down the remainder of the ski slope. The sheer size of the mountain means negotiating it with a bunch of children on a schedule is a constant exercise in judgement and planning. But the fun parts really do make up for it and I love hanging out with them.
Scanning children at the lift means I get full exposure to the names parents use in this country. i have a list at home which I add to almost daily. For example; Mcintyre, Piper, Emerald, Jackson, Griffin, Saxon, Jericho, Sydney, Mackenzie, Dragon, Axel.... and so many more.
I will leave Whistler on 24th April for Calgary, and travel from Calgary to Vancouver on 28th in order to catch the bus to Tofino (7 hours). Rob will already be in Tofino at that point. I have an informal interview lined up for front-line/rental at a surf school. The manager has told me that he pretty much has a job for anyone who can find accomodation, so it seems that may be a bit of a challenge. Being there with Rob will hopefully make that a little easier, or cheaper at least.
So two more weeks and lots of goodbyes.
Hopefully it won't be so long before I update this again. Maybe with some photos.
Laura xx
The Uniforms go back:
