Jenn

Saturday 10th February 2007

We have new housemates now. Two more Aussies from Syndey, Tammy and Erin. They are cool and thankfully clean and tidy too so we have breathed a sigh of relief about that.

Still no new snow but apparently that is normal for this time of year and we can expect the next big dump in March. I really hope so it hurts lots when you fall over. My knees are brown/red with bruises. Also it makes it much harder to break on an edge when you’re going fast and you can’t seem to dig in. At least that’s how it is on my board!

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Monday 29th January 2007

Haven’t written in a while and feeling some guilt! What is the news? My housemates the Aussie couple split up so it’s just George and I in the not so House of Harmony right now although we are expecting new people any moment. Should be interesting although I doubt we’ll be lucky enough to get clean people again. It has not snowed in a week and it makes such a difference to the condition of the snow. Yesterday I fell not very hard but it like falling on concrete not the usual soft powder landing. I feel like a true Whistlerite being desperate for the pow pow.

Not much news recently. Mark and Alex were up for a few days last week which was cool although I missed the foamy incident. Loads of people are moving out at the moment and going home so it’s all starting to change a bit.

Ian does in fact have video footage of me snowboarding which I wanted to put up here as evidence of my progress however he tells me it is not working! I am not sure what to make of that. I think he is worried I will show him up!!!
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Thursday 4th January 2007

Well New Years sucked! I was in bed with flu. It has lasted 4 days and has been quite horrendous and then to top it all off I slipped over backwards on the icy road and cracked my spine and back of my head extremely hard. It has not been a good few days.

On the upside I have bought new snowboarding boots since I last wrote here and they are brilliant. I am slowly improving every time I go so sooner or later I will be of a decent standard although John took me down a blue run the other day (intermediate) and I wasn’t really ready for that! I don’t think it will be long coming though. I am optimistic.

That is pretty much all the news. It’s peak season here over Xmas and New Year so everyone’s working overtime and barely going riding as you can’t move on the slopes. Peak so far had 26,500 visitors go up in one day. I was in Guest Relations that day it was not fun!
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Monday 4th December 2006

I have had my first snowboarding lesson. It was good and bad at the same time. Unfortunately I have discovered that my boots are just too small so I am going to have to fork out more money to buy some new ones. Hopefully I can sell the others! Snowboarding is pretty hard to pick up but I think when you grasp it then you improve very quickly. I just need my new boots then I can start doing more practicing. I’m doing another lesson on Friday and I’ll practice Sat and Sun too so soon I will be a pro!

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Monday 20th November 2006

Whistler Mountain is open. Blackcomb will open on Thursday. I have worked 2 full days and now I am dead. I have today off but then I’ll work the next 4. On Saturday I am going to take a snowboarding lesson and it will be my first time up the mountain. I am scared!

Finally we have all started to get some hours work and I think by next week most of us will be working our normal schedule which is 4 days on 3 days off. 10 hours per day. It feels like we are approaching some kind of normality and can get into the swing of things. I think then I will be able to figure out how often a week I will be able to go boarding.

Tonight it is the Iron Chef competition in Shudder (our building). Each unit gets a box of Kraft Dinner which is basically packet macaroni cheese and you have an hour to create some fantastic meal from this. Sometimes they do free rent for a week as prizes for these things.

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Thursday 16th November 2006

Good news all round. Ian got a job with the mountain so he gets to stay in staff housing. He even managed to move into the spare bed in John’s room.

The mountains open on Saturday so John and I both have to work. I’ll be going from no work in 3 weeks to 20 hours in 2 days. I’m not quite sure how that’s going to be. It’ll be madly hectic though on opening day.

We have all moved into different units on the top floor of our building. No more mice!! I’m in the unit across the hall from John and Ian living with the cleanest people in Staff Housing.

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Friday 3rd November 2006

Finally winter appears to have arrived in Whistler. This must be the only place in the world where people pray for the rain because that means snow on the mountain! Yesterday it snowed. It was serious snow not like English snow at all. Today however it is raining again in the village which means it is melting once more. Everyone here is desperate for it to snow as it means we can all start working and get paid!! Although I have done my 2 weeks training and (thank god) been paid for it I do not start work properly until the mountains open on 23rd Nov. John is doing some training for his cleaning job but again he probably won’t start properly until the same date. Everyone in staff housing is running out of money and the rush to get second jobs has begun.

On a different note I found out that there is an animal shelter in Whistler and I have volunteered as a Catery Attendent. I have to do 2 hours a week but to be honest as I’m not working I’ve been virtually every day. There are currently 3 adult cats, Tom, Angel and Nenya, and 4 kittens, Toby, Taz, Gypsy and Diesel. All I have to do is sit with them and play or take them for some quiet time in a seperate room. It’s my dream come true!!! Pity I can’t borrow one to catch Monty!

There is a gym in Whistler and with our staff passes we can go on a Sunday for $2. Definatley going to do that this week. Need to tone up for snowboarding.

Tomorrow it is the Whistler Welcome Dinner. For $2 we can go to a full meal with live music where we sit at a table with a local family or business representative and they will tell us all about Whistler, give us advice and answer our questions. Should be fun as I heard there are 700 people going.

Still waiting to hear about Ian’s job and accommodation as we don’t really know what is going to happen with that. If he doesn’t get to stay in Staff Housing then I think John and I will look to move into some different units.

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Wednesday 25th October 2006

Just finished work for the day. I’m in to the last couple of days training now and I think some time next week I will be doing a few hours for real as the main village office opens for the season on Saturday. We have been doing dress rehearsals today which have been very useful to learn the full process from start to finish and there is so much to remember and so easy to forget stuff which you then have to go back and sort it out afterwards. I think the first couple of weeks are going to be a very steep learning curve!!

It’s Halloween next week and there are laods of parties to go to. I just hope I am not working the next day. It’s pretty social here already and half the staff housing people haven’t moved in yet. There are some hilarious people in my team at work so I can see some crazy nights happening right there.

I haven’t taken any photos in ages but I will make a point of taking some as soon as I can so you can get an idea of what it’s like here!

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Wednesday 18th October 2006

We have moved into our apartment and by some sheer luck we have managed to get one together. The shared room was still free when John and Ian went to move in so they took it. Our flatmate is a Northern Irish guy called Eddie. He seems nice enough but we hardly know him yet so we shall see how it works out.

A couple of nights ago I was in the village waiting for John and Ian and a bear ran past me. I must admit I was a little shocked but I think it was far to busy looking for food to be bothered by me. Anyway everyone here is so complacent about bears I assumed it was a normal thing but then everyone suddenly started freaking out and the bear patrol was called!

I started training for my job on Monday. The training lasts 2 weeks and I wondered what could possibly take 2 weeks to learn? Now I know! There is a hell of a lot to know. We have 5 days set aside just to learn the computer system. On the up side it is a really diverse, social and friendly team of people and I know it will be a lot of fun working with all of them.

Now we’re just waiting for John and Ian to have interviews and see where they will be working and also to have some snow! The mountains are due to open on 23rd Nov and it is definately getting cold enough. The clouds are really low around the mountains now and it’s really cool to watch the changing weather. Sometimes clear blue skies other times thick low cloud that at home would definately be full of snow. I cannot wait to start learning to snowboard.

It is pay day for me in 2 weeks and I am very excited about that. I can’t wait for the day that I can stop using my savings and rely completely on my wages.

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Wednesday 11th October 2006

We are back from Tofino with mixed feelings. The place itself is quite amazing. It is a very small coastal village with many beautiful sandy beaches. We only got to go to one of them but that was worth it. The beaches are then backed by dense forest and finally mountains. It is a truly stunning place.

We were able to go whalewatching which was so much more than it was made out to be. Firstly we all suited up in what appeared to be fishermans overalls then we boarded our boat which was this small inflatable bottomed boat that was so powerful we must have gone miles in it. The speed we were travelling at was totally exhilarating. Firstly we went to watch some Humpback whales then we went to an outlying rock island that was a bird sanctuary (on the way I saw a Porpoise). At the santuary we saw Harbour Seals and Sea Lions. Then we headed to a different location and watched some Grey Whales for a while and finally headed to a couple of different nesting sites for Bald Eagles and we saw both pairs and one HUGE nest! It was an absolutely amazing trip.

The hosel we stayed it was not a place I would ever go back to. It was recommended to us by a guy that came over on our flight and it was the cleanest, tidiest and nicest hostel I have ever stayed in. It has won awards for being the best hostel in Canada so that is a pretty massive boast however the staff were quite the worst staff I have ever come accoss. They did not want to offer any help at all for anything. They made it very clear they begrudged answering any questions or being useful in anyway. Then they would close the kitchen off at lunchtime while they all sat outside eating lunch. So those of us who were paying to stay there all had to wait for our lunch until they decided that they were finished and would reopen the kitchen for us. Of course by then we have probably all starved to death! In the evenings they would use the one set of hobs (the others were broken) for hours on end so that twice we had to eat at 10pm as we couldn’t get to use the kitchen before then due to the staff using it. They also then left all their washing up for others to do even though the rules of the hostel are everyone must wash, dry and put away everything they use. It made us all quite angry to say the least!

Anyway rant over. I’m off to Whistler tomorrow to move into my new house so looking forward to that!

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Thursday 5th October 2006

Plans have changed a bit due to the fact that I have to be in Whistler a few days earlier than I originally expected. We were going to go to Tofino on Sunday and come back on Thursday, use Friday to buy snowboards and then head to Whistler on Saturday. We’ll still be going to Tofino on Sunday but will come back a day earlier and I’ll go to Whistler on Thursday followed by John and Ian on Sunday 15th. That means I have to buy my snowboard tomorrow or Saturday and leave it at the hostel in Vancouver while we head to the Island.

I have also just opened a bank account with TD Canada Trust. They gave me a debit card straight away which is good. They do however charge you for any transactions that you do including paying cheques in to your account. How money grabbing is that!!! I get 25 free transactions a month and after that it’s 65c a transaction. Bizarre.

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Tuesday 3rd October 2006

Well there’s really very little news to tell at the moment. I think the current plans are to hang around in Vancouver until Sunday. There is an Alexisonfire gig on Thursday that we are going to try to get tickets to. I also desperately need to buy some warmer clothes as the weather is really starting to get chilly. It’s fine in the day as it is still lovely and sunny but as soon as the sun starts to go down the temperature drops rapidly. I am still managing to wear flip flops though!! I need to buy some warmer shoes though probably tomorrow and some winter trousers. Also a winter coat although I may have to get that in Whister as it will no way fit in my bag!

Anyway on Sunday I think we will head to Tofino on Vancouver Island as we have it on very good authority that it is a very beautiful place and one of the hostels there is really good. I think we’ll head back to Vancouver on the following Thursday in time to buy snowboards and head to Whistler on Saturday.

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Friday 29th September 2006

I am no longer unemployed! I have a job lined up in Whistler to start in 2 weeks. It will be good when some money starts coming in as well as going out.

Barclays have managed to cut off my card even though I rang them before I left to tell them I was going. Still I’ve sorted that out too so hopefully no further problems there.

Last thing on the list of things to do is to sort out moving in to staff housing at Whistler. We are currently due to move on the day I start my job so that isn’t going to work. Now I’ve got to call them to see if they can do something to help us out.

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Wednesday 27th September 2006

Lots has happened since I last wrote. We had a walk round Stanley Park on Saturday. Then on Sunday we went back there to go to the Aquarium and saw Beluga whales which we decided look like a cross between a marshmallow and a sleeping bag. Really odd but fantastic.

On Monday we got the Greyhound bus up to Whistler which looks like Disneyland. All the buildings look like the type you see in theme parks. It’ll take some getting used to but it was very beautiful all the same. I had a general interview in the afternoon after being told that the job I had applied for had been taken. Then suddenly it emerged that it hadn’t yet so I went in for another interview straight after the first one. They still had a couple of people to interview but were hoping to let me know by Friday whether I was successful. The job is for Guest Relations Host and is one of the highest paid jobs out of the ones that we are eligable to apply for. It seems that qualifications and past jobs don’t mean much out here as there are trained doctors working the ski lifts so I guess project management is on the back burner until I get home again. Nevermind!

While in Whistler we stayed in a B&B with a crazy but cool lady who owned it. We stayed in the Wild West Room which was unexpected but interesting and John went in the hot tub when it was dark.

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Saturday 23rd September 2006

Well John is better so that’s at least one thing.

I just found out that the earliest we can get in to apartments in Whistler is 13th Oct so we’ve got a few weeks of hostelling to go. This may get expensive!

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Friday 22nd September 2006

Hey everyone. We have been here 2 and a half days and a lot has happened in that time.

We have been stuck in Canadian Immigration for 2 hours or there abouts. Some of us have accidently found ourselves in gay bars (I was not one of those people) Mark are you feeling left out?? We have working mobile phones. I have got an interview at Whistler on Monday. John has got sick. We have moved to a hotel. Tomorrow we move to another hostel. I have begun to read the manual for my new camera.

Will update again soon

Jenn