28 December, 2005 (Wednesday)

Random Fragments
Tanya stories on the snow (24 December, 2005 - Saturday)
I went skiing with Tanya on Saturday morning. After a few false starts (she lost me in the fog on the way to the Black Forest chair, then told me she was back at the Bullet Express lift!) we managed to get some pretty decent runs in.

The latest member to joing our ticketing team, Tanya only arriving two weeks ago. Her sense of timing is therefore either impeccable (managing to score a job at the 12th hour) or dismal (joining right on the cusp of peak season). Nevertheless, she’s managed to establish herself pretty quickly with her forthrightness and amiability.

Tanya comes from an Human Resources background, most recently with the Department of Education in Melbourne. She’s also variously dabbled in other pursuits, even spending a season in ski rentals and minding a chalet in Hotham. This of course means that she’s a really neat skier – legs stable and relatively close together. Wish I had that sense of style, right now I just bull down runs and try not to collect a tree.

The runs between the trees were fantastic, although the visibility was still relatively poor. We had sleet adhering to our goggles and spaces of intense fog-like cloud, brought on by warm currents from the coast. I managed to stack it horsing around on Black Jack on the flat. I 180-ed it and then somehow crossing my skis on the return. The ski lift was spent chatting about life and jobs and the rest of it – where to from the ski hills? Big questions, only a few answers.

It was a nice way to spend a morning, but Tanya had to start work at the tubing Cabin at 1:30pm so we only got in a few fast hours. Hopefully next time we’re out she’ll find it in her heart to give me some pointers on my skiing. I hope I’m not beyond help!


The Oreo run (23 December, 2005 - Friday)
Last Friday I was in a flippant mood. I had the night off after a day in Happy Valley with the ice skates. Getting home I cleaned up a little, cooked pasta with a mushroom / sauvignon blanc sauce (Dave said it was my best effort yet, double thumbs up) and served up.

It was a quiet night in the apartment, so somewhere along the way I thought I’d check out the on-mountain mini-mart ($6.50 for a 4L bottle of milk. We tend to go through 2 or 3 a week between us. Josh and his white Russians!) for something for dessert. One thing led to another and I found myself walking out with a family-sized pack of Oreos ($5 CAD, an expensive treat) and the idea that I’d visit my fellow ticketeers working that night. First stop was Tanya alone in the Cabin. She seemed happy to see me and overjoyed at my offering of oreos. Twenty minutes of chat later I headed into Happy Valley to surprise Lesley, Kate and Jo, before finishing my lap with Tim in the Village. A nice Christmas gesture. Next time I think I’ll bring some milk to go with the oreos.


Do I have an accent? (21 December, 2005 – Wednesday)
Tuesday is usually staff night, the mid-week big night at Sam’s. But for some reason it was Monday and Wednesday that the bar got packed out last week. On Wednesday I caught up with Cass (Activities Desk), who I always seem to be ringing with Big White customer queries. She was out with her local pals up for a few pre-Christmas days of partying. Let’s just say the crew was in good cheer.

Somewhere along the night I found myself chatting to Terra, one of the local gals – a slim blonde with a real Canadian drawl. She seemed particularly fascinated by my ‘Australian accent’ (I still hold that I don’t have an accent!), parroting my mispronunciation and Australianisms with a fervour that was a little worrying. I guess living amongst predominantly Australians you don’t realise it, but the Australian accent is considered a novelty around Canada (well, off the ski fields in any case). Apparently it has some kind of charm to it, although I can’t help but cringe when I hear the harsher varieties.

I must admit that I have started getting into the habit of broadening my accent and sentence structure around certain customers – “How ya going?”. I’ve also found myself becoming more aware of the Australian idiom and particular phrases that don’t seem to quite work in Canada. The number of strange looks I’ve got from my phrasing or word choice has been pretty consistent. Hopefully I’ll keep the supposed accent. Last time I spoke to Mum she suggested that I’d come back with some kind of bastardized mess of an accent… I don’t think I’m ready to quote her verbatim this week.


Night skiing (28 December. 2005 – Wednesday)
Tonight I went night skiing solo. The rest of the house was out of action – Josh and Jae were both asleep (I think I’m going to have to start referring to Jae as Sleeping Beauty – he seems to be (just) surviving on 18 hours sleep right now!), Dave is keeping to his “this week is going to be a quiet one” policy.

The evening was clear as I’ve seen it this last few weeks and while it was cool (at -3 degrees) it wasn’t anything more than what I’d consider more than chilly (how things have changed in a month!). Quite a few people were around the village and thankfully more mainstream music was pumping from the speakers.

The initial ride down was fine, and while there was a slight lift line, it was nothing like the 10 minute wait that you can expect from the Ridge Rocket right now. The trip up on the chair was picturesque in the extreme. It was all towering snow-laden pines, semi-groomed runs with shadowed bumps and bright lights. The air was so crisp and the night clear. I wish I brought my camera.

Straight off the chair and onto the run and through a gaggle of snowboarders, the initial slope was reasonable and well groomed. Taking the left hand fork I managed to lose balance and catch an edge, spinning out and losing my left ski, pole and goggles. I also managed a good knock on the head. Thank goodness for the new snow. I think I should start wearing that helmet I bought.

The next three runs followed with some small improvement, although I found myself barreling through the fast icing runs rather than approaching them with any real finesse. I know that I have to work on my style and especially my parallel turns, but I suspect that it’s also influenced by my skis. I seem to manage to go that much faster than anybody else I’m encountering on runs. Just have to learn how to lean into it, rather than pitching my weight back going over humps.

Compared to my first night skiing adventure though, it was a dream. It was a little bit chilly, and I still had to go goggle-less as my Oakley’s cut out too much light, but without the sleet and thick fog the runs were a lot more comfortable. I’m still having to dodge too many tourists camping out on runs, and gaggles of family groups blocking whole swathes, but I guess you get that on a family resort.

Next time I guess I’ll have to find company… if only to have somebody laughing at my next big stack!

27 December, 2005 (Tuesday)

Hi there,
And a cheerful season's greetings! Hope that you've enjoyed a very Merry Christmas (but gone easy on a very sherry Christmas), and that all is shaping up well for the New Year. Hip hip hooray!

Here at Big White we've been enjoying all varieties of White Christmas behaviour. We've had everything from snow to rain to sleet to more snow. The temperature has hit Spring highs of zero degrees, melting the ice rink and icing our ski slopes. I wonder what the New Year will bring?

Big White news:

• Still no new lifts open - Currently running with half of our lifts, one-third of runs. I'm unreliably told that we require another foot of snow before we can open Gem Lake. Expect another week or two before we're able to make use of the other half of the mountain.
• New snow? We've had some half-decent snowfall in the last 24 hours - some 14cm. Apparently we've had a cold current running over the cloud, giving us snow rather than sleet. This should mean that the low hanging cloud which has fogged us so badly for the last week will disappear. We can hope.
  Skiing is so much better when you can see where you are going. Rumour has it that our mountain is faring a lot better than a lot of the other mountains in BC - Whistler has been rained out and Mount Washington looks pretty bare.
  
• Spreading the love - The house is sick and over worked. Both Dave and Josh are suffering from the cough that I was enjoying last week. They both look pretty miserable.
• Ice rink closed - the outdoor Ice Rink was closed on Saturday due to a warm change that started melting the rink. When I arrived at 4pm on Saturday things were frantic. By 5pm they had closed the rink and suddenly all was dead. Lesley decided I deserved to get the early mark last night. The extra double time would have been nice.
  

24 December, 2005 (Saturday) Christmas Eve
Twas the night before Christmas
All was quiet as a mouse
Working my split shift
Wish I was back at my house -
Christmas is beckoning
As I watch the clock tick by
Thinking of family
Summer and pie

Despite pre-travelling intentions, I haven't been writing as much as I'd like. My life seems to have succumbed to a routine of early work, skiing in the Big White-out, and token social interaction out and about at Sam's. There is some comfort in routine and, truth be told, livins here so far I only feel like I've started to settle. I haven't been in the most reflective of mindsets mindsets travelling and finding my space. Yet, it's the eve of Christmas tonight and it is quiet.. and it feels right that I should sit down and scribe some of it.

Even with all this White Christmas hype of snow sleighs and happy chipmunk music I'm not feeling the most festive. Sure, I did a touch of Christmas shopping and thought some Christmas thoughts for a while, but between work and it all, the Christmas season has kind of dropped off the radar. I know a lot of the houses on the mountain are holding Christmas feasts, and I have even been invited to a few - but I'm not really in the mood. Perhaps it's the 46 hours in the last week, or perhaps it's the whole blurring of days until you can't tell whether it is a Sunday or a Wednesday... but it just doesn't feel like Christmas.

Today I worked a split, and I've got more of the same to look forward to tomorrow. The place is crawling with tourists and last minute purchases are so expensive around here. So between these sensibilities and worked to the bone housemates, I guess we're having a quiet one. Which isn't a bad thing (or so I keep telling myself). Sure, it feels a little empty and drawn, but there's more to it than that. What it does do is really bring home what Christmas is to me - special family moments, enjoying the company of my nearest and dearest, and going to some extra effort to get into the spirit. I kind of enjoy the process of searching for presents for others, finding something that 'fits', that somehow says something about them or my relationship with them. I think that my time here has made me appreciate family and close friends that much more. It has been often said that distances makes the heart grow fonder - and despite the cliche I have to admit that I find some truth in that.

25 December, 2005 (Sunday) Christmas Day
Christmas day, sitting in my ticket booth at The Ridge. It is dark and overcast, a mirror to a lot of fuzzy heads on the mountain. The time is just edigng past 10 and its been a relatively quiet morning here. Last night was fun, but a tad expensive. I've made a resolution to stay clear of Sam's for at least a week. I know I've probably said it before - the same vibe, the same crowd, and the same bad music selections. It is fun - but there's other things I need to start spending my time on. So no more Sam's for at least a week. It's probably a good idea, especially considering the hours I've been clocking. Then again, I thought I was doing well for hours - hitting over 40, but Sarah tells me (my Ridge buddy for the morning) that she managed a staggering 52 hours last week. I guess those Happy Valley day shifts add up. Ouch!

I just had a bus load of Chinese tourists come by. Infuriating. The woman in charge was wandering around in her purple ski suit without a clue. After disembarking from her bus she came to my ticket window and demanded tickets and rental gear from the lodge... both of which we don't supply here. "I have credit card numbers for ticket. Give me ticket and rental.". Problem was, I told her that she needed to move her busload of tourists down to Happy Valley to get it done, but she just wouldn't listen. Even after I gave her directions 3 times. So much for my festive spirit! Finished shift early and cruised through an icy white out back into the village. Nasty. Midday was spent cleaning the bathroom (now squeaky bleached clean) and night was in Happy Valley.

25 December, 2005 (Sunday night) My Christmas Dinner
I finished work early this evening. The skating rink has been closed until further notice (or at least cooler conditions), our Spring-like 0 degree heat melting the surface and leaving us with puddles of icy slush. Without a skating rink there’s really no need for 2 of us to work in the Happy Valley lodge (“Heppy, Heppy, Heppy Valley!”), so Lesley sent me on my way (apparently working last night was reason enough. Guess she really is in for the extra dollars at time and a half!). After turning in my $12.04 in cash sales (around 8pm) I left a tired Tim to his village vigil and headed to a quiet condo to change and decide where I should head.

Christmas cheer has passed our house by. It’s hard to get into the spirit of festivities when everybody is sick, tired, run-down and working way too hard. We opted out of cutting a tree free of the Ridge, and Kris Kringle boycotted our end of the Ptarmigan. Instead, we made a vague attempt at a ham, lunched on a Kraft Dinner and just said Merry Christmas a lot with Big White customer service grade enthusiasm.

Looking about our apartment, I decided that I didn’t want to cook on Christmas night. In fact, I’ve been here a month and have yet to properly sample the local cuisine. What better excuse could there be? Walking down the main strip, past Sam’s, Frank’s Chinese Laundry and down the stairs past the mini mart and Underground Pizza joint, I realized that Christmas night past 9pm probably wasn’t the perfect time to be shopping for a place to eat out. Still, strolling past the Village Centre Mall (VCM) the neon “Open” sign for the Copper Kettle (in the White Crystal Inn) beckoned me.

The main dining area looked busy of the Kettle (and a little too formal) so I opted for the Ghost lounge dining area. Within a few seconds I found myself a seat by the window, looking out at the fairy-lighted houses (they sure know how to cover something with fairy lights around here!). The menu looked pretty standard - cuisine and price-wise, with a good selection of burgers and gourmet sandwiches, moving onto steaks and roasts. I'd been hankering a steak for a while, so it wasn't too hard a choice at all.

Sitting in the dining room, San Pelegrino in hand, it felt good to relax, reflect and have some quality self time - something that has lately seemed to be in short supply with the mountain rush of work and all the rest. I sat and people watched and enjoyed the quiet ambiance for a while, then found myself pen in hand furiously scribbling stray thoughts onto a napkin - very hollywood hack. Still it was something that I haven't done for too long and the time felt right. Sometime sitting there I realised that Phoebe was working, cruising the tables, so I waved a 'hi'. She came over and we had a short chat, about the place and how great it was that I could come here and dine in style... alone.

Phoebe? I met Phoebe randomly one day working tickets in the village. It was her first day and she was hanging out with Lauren, a British med student who I'd met catching the bus up from Kelowna to Big White. Phoebe just kind of rocked up with this cheeky grin of hers to buy a ticket and from there I seem to run into every so often where she gives me a wave and comes over to say hi. She's a laid back Australian gal. Her current pet peeve is the amount of bogan Australian guyswandering around Big White. Still, I think she's settled now - I've seen her more than a few times at Sam's lately mingling in. Definitely an on-mountain gal now. My $29CAD (before tax- approximately 5 hours work at the ticket office) New York steak came out on a bed of mash with boiled veges. I hoed straight in, enjoying the flavour and steak goodness. Admittedly there were some grizzly bits and the veges were under-cooked, so my 5 hour work expectations were a little disappointed, but it was still a good feed.


Meanwhile my introverted navel gazing went through the usual litany:

• What is my current direction? Where to from here?
• Am I here to just break even after the snow season?
  
• What kind of profit is this place making - what are the fixed and Break even on a snow hill? Fixed and variable costs of running this mountain? (It's true. Right now how much money these guys are making is one of our pet topics in the apartment)
• What are my New Years resolutions?

Connoisseur or pretentious wanker?
With all that thought, I decided that I should indulge a little bit more. The Kettle sports a good selection of single malt scotches, with a big board displaying the locations of a dozen of the finest complete with a map and short description. While my first 2 selections were out of stock, I finally settled on a dram of Tallister 10 year old scotch, neat. The taste was fiery but smooth with a warm bite - an enjoyable taste. Compared to my bottle of Laphroaig it had less smokey peat taste and a stronger scent, with a burn that hit as soon as it touched my tongue. Somewhere along the way I decided that I'd have to visit once a week to work my way through the complete scotch menu. Apparently the head bartender is a bit of an officiando.

A Merry Christmas indeed…
As I was finishing my meal an older blond sitting alone on the table next to mine leaned over and asked if I was waiting for anybody. Cougar! I replied that I was just enjoying my company and politely inquired the same of her. She asked if I wanted to join her, but I pleaded that I was on the way out, paid my bill and fled. She looked disappointed.

So that was my Big White Christmas experience. A quiet and introspective night with a steak. What more could I really want?

21 December, 2005 (Wednesday)

This update comes somewhat belated. I wrote it about a week ago, but haven't had the opportunity to upload it since - blame work and the Big White Out. Our neighbours in 306 down the hallway have finally secured an ADSL that we are planning to capitalise on though - so look forward to some pictures to go with the prose. Unfortunately we've run into some technical difficulties with our mid-corridor firedoors (a legacy of the 80s, it wasn't just flouro that we have to thank from that decade), which has meant that the wireless signal is being blocked. Twice this week I've sat myself in the corridor around midnight to check email. Happy days.

18 December, 2005 (Sunday) Something about Sam’s
Snowshoes Sam’s – our local watering hole. At least this week. There really isn’t much of a choice on the mountain to tell the truth. Of a night you can try and sit in and watch bad TV, or it’s out and about to mix and mingle at one of the mountain pubs.

Down slope around Snowpines Estate the options are limited if you don’t want to hike all the way up hill. It’s all house parties and random gatherings – Snowpines itself is pure housing. Up in the village though you’ve got two main pubs – to choose from: Snowshoes Sam’s or Raakels. Each of the main hotels around here have their own bars, but they tend to be a bit too classy for the young on-mountain crowd (not to mention a little pricier) - the Chateau and its ilk are too good for the likes of us working class slobs.

Raakel’s is a few steps below ground and retains that dank and slightly seedy ambiance inside. Its low ceilings, smokey wood veneer and slow bar staff all contribute to an edgier vibe which is reflected in its clientele – think a mix of dreads and sports jerseys. To tell the truth, I haven’t seen much of the slimy underbelly of Big White. Rumour has it however that Raakel’s is a hotbed for such activity, with coke dealt under the counter and illicit substances consumed in the washrooms (note difference: in Australia I’d say bathrooms). Raakel’s tends to get less traffic than Sam’s, hidden away behind the main strip. It still fills on Tuesday with 30 cent wings night.

Which leaves good old Sam’s - just a 1 minute stroll from our front door (never mind the three flights of steps on the way back up to the apartment!). Sam’s apparently can hold 300+ people, with two smoking rooms, pool tables, arcade games and narrow bar. The bar is housed downstairs, with a restaurant for medium-level fine-dining upstairs. Bar girls wander the floor serving in designated areas. After a while you start to recognize the regulars – blonde Sarah with the attitude, dark Sarah with the black top and pants, Chloe with the Bandana, little Phoebe with the cheerful greeting.

21 December, 2005 (Wednesday) The Big White Out
The last three days Big White has lived up to it’s name. We’ve been having the Big White Out up here, with low hanging clouds obscuring the whole village. It manifests as a kind of fog, which is so thick that you have trouble seeing a few feet in front of you. Never mind the lay of the land. Still, with it has come the snow clouds and a few centimeters of snow.

Today I had to ski back from my morning at the Ridge, but a generous fall of sleet obscured my goggles and I found myself skiing blind down the mountain. With the holiday season upon us, there were a lot more people on the mountain, so I found myself doing a lot of last minute dodging and side-hugging to avoid ignorant tourists who had decided to camp right in the middle of runs. On the way down Highway 33 I caught an edge and stacked – knocking my head and almost losing my goggles. Later, after meeting up with Dave, Josh, Hills and Liz I waited back for Josh and ended up losing the rest in the Telus Park area. My first attempt at a slide lost me a ski and not a little dignity.

So a light day of skiing for me. It’s still falling snow (although our balcony is a long way from needing a sweep), and hopefully we’ll see the ski starting to clear up, so that we have the visibility to give skiing a proper go. I think I’m overdue lessons.

One month down? Don’t ask about the rental. Crazy!

Happy Valley - “Happy, happy, happy valley! How can I help you?” Kasia, Big White Tickets 2005/06 answering the phone.
Happy Valley - home to the Happy Valley Day Lodge (even thought it is still open nights), Kettle Valley Stakehouse, Loose Moose Cafeteria, foot of Lara's Gondola, bunny hill (for beginner skiiers), tubing mountain... and of course the outdoor skating rink. In tickets there's a general resentment of Happy Valley shifts with its wet, rusting and blunt skates, demanding swarms of customers and invariable late ending shifts. As a result the crew has taken to calling Happy Valley a variety of names ranging in acidity and crassness. By and large we've taken to calling it Crappy Valley. Let's face it, the original name was just begging for it.

Skate rental and a rink ticket costs on average $11.16 CAD (with 25% for season pass holders). Every skate rented must come with a 5-signature rental form ("Please sign here, here and here... and on the back initial here and sign here.") which also acts as a liability waver ("This means you can't sue Big White if you stack it, just because we're such nice people"). For the majority of punters we also require a credit card imprint as security, although I've also taken everything from licence numbers imprints to car keys. No kidneys as yet. I've had more than a few customers complain that their mortgage was easier to come by. The paperwork is a pain. Trying to work out who has returned skates can be even worse. At least the company isn't too bad.

Actually, I enjoy sorting the skates into their different pidgeon holes. There's something mildly therapeutic about it: Pick up pair of skates; Look for serial number; Match number with corresponding space; Pick up skates...

I think part of the problem with the Happy Valley shift is the combination of parents with families and hordes of kids. I never realised before how annoying parents could be - trying to impress their kids or going on the offensive about some imagined injustice or over-pricing. Sure, paying $68.48 for a day skiing pass or $16.05 for a 2 hour tubing ticket when only 30 minutes remain before we close up might be tough - but they should have known the deal before they turned up. It's not like we can justify keeping the circuit open just because they decided that we closed at 11pm. Then there's the irate parents who want to talk to The Manager or decide they deserve kind of refund because of the conditions (last time I checked controlling the weather wasn't within my control). I've acquired a habit of calling anybody to "check with my Manager" as a means of dealing with these incidents - the deniability of having consulted management and enforcing a standard policy is somehow easier than making the whole incident personal. It's not personal, it's all customer service!

Happy Valley - I haven't even made it onto the ice this season, let alone ridden a tube... yet. I guess it's just a matter of time. Maybe things will be different when I'm on the other side. Maybe things will get better when the holiday 'rush' eases. Maybe. Perhaps. Possibly.

19 December, 2005 (Monday)

Quick Update
Still alive and kicking, although this cough is taking its toll - I swear I've coughed up a lung in the last day. Nevertheless, I'm riding it out and after a 2 hour ski session yesterday between my split shifts actually seem to have progressed to the stage of moving beyond involuntary coughing fits. Big win! Otherwise things have been more of the same - still working a lot, getting out skiing more and mixing it in with the other mountain natives.

Snow has finally returned to the mountain, with flurries progressing to real snowfall today. Apparently the current forecast is for snow over the next few days, looking outside at a misty Big White village, I think there is some hope.

Big White news:

• Alpine T-bar opened today... which of course meant Josh and I had to be in the first group to give it a go. Unfortunately, we chose to give it a try halfway through a snow storm, which meant that we could barely see our own hands. In bumping down the mountain I managed to go over some rocks, so I think Dave is going to be pretty pissed off with me after the repair and tune job he did on my skis on Saturday.
• Big White reaches capacity: The mountain is apparently 100% booked by Wednesday. It's starting to get crowded on the mountain already, with tourists camping in the middle of runs. My dodging skills are improving.
• It's snowing!: Finally, much promised snow has hit the mountain just in time for the holiday season. Apparently we need another 40cm worth to start opening the big chair lifts on the left side of the mountain. The snow is so dry here we don't need drying rooms. It's great.

15 December, 2005 (Thursday)
It's sad to admit that I can barely remember back this far! The days are starting to blur a bit and bleed into one another. The daily churn of work, eat, ski and sleep interspersed with social activity mixes things a bit. Part of the problem is the variability in schedules, so there's no clear differentiation between a week day or weekend.

Thursday highlight - quiet day at Happy Valley bonding with Kiwi Kate, swapping life stories and selling skating tickets to our outdoor rink. A quiet night in.

16 December, 2005 (Friday)
My weekly shift at the main ticket office in the Village. Got into trouble from Zia for arriving 2 minutes late to work - apparently my $8 an hour includes an expectation that I have my till setup for 8am. Finished shift too late to make proper use of the ski lifts.

17 December, 2005 (Saturday)
Managed to get in a decent morning's worth of skiing with Josh. We zoomed down from the Ridge and Bullet lifts carving up Exhibition and Sundance. In the tubing cabin from mid-afternoon until night. It was a quiet session where I finished my instructive How to be a Canadian primer. I am now ready to be a Canadian!

Chatted to an Australian group up from near Byron Bay and Oately while they took cover from the cold (it hit around -16 degrees that night) about their Big White experience so far. They confessed that they were spoilt be a week at our sister resort SilverStar, and said that generally they found that the staff were better trained and prepared there. SilverStar has had better snow retention that us, with 9/11 lifts open, and close to 100 runs. Here at Big White we've barely got 1/3 of our mountain open and about half our lifts. Then again, the capacity at SilverStar is about a third of ours, so could make it a little easier to run a tight ship. Arguable really.

After work headed to the Coor's Lite (American beer?) White party at Sam's - the premise being that attendees are required to wear full white (and drink lots of alcohol). By the time I arrived at quarter to 10 the place was really packing out. It was a pretty big night all around, with lots of familiar faces about - Josh (who arrived a bit late, after losing a hockey game bet and having to do a boxers run around the village in the -10 degree cold) and Dave (of course), the tickets crew (Tim, Lesley, Kate, Sarah, Tanya), the retail gals (Grace, Marissa, Sarah) and the usual mix of other mountian folk. Party ended at 1am when they kicked us all out of the pub. Dave and I toddled off to bed while Josh headed to work.

18 December, 2005 (Sunday)
Split shift day, starting at 8am at the Ridge with Aenne (pronounced "Anna"). The morning passed quickly, although not a whole lot of customers.

Aenne had some good stories about her university lecturers. Apparently the other semester for English literature her lecturer gave them haiku topics - they had to write poems about sacks, flowers, a window... When the class asked the lecturer how he came up with these topics he told them that they just came to him when he got high. Role model material! Then she started telling me about this other lecturer who was married with 5 kids and had a habit of having relationships with his students. At one time he was dating two students at the same time. Apparently it's against faculty policy, but he gets away with it anyway.

When the first part of my shift finished at 11:30 (it took me half an hour to work out that I was 1c out) I headed up the Ridge and skiied for a few hours. The cold air helped wash away any remaining tiredness from the previous night as well as ease my cough (somehow).

Second half of my shift started at 4pm in Happy Valley, working with Gabbi and Sarah. First time working with Sarah so I plied her with the usual work 50 questions. She was a little worse for wear from the night before.

The Sarah story: Sarah is tall and blonde with slight brunette streaks leaking through. 23, she hails from Bendigo and likes to spend her summer's at the beach. Sarah majored in marketing before doing her Dip Ed. She's at Big White to learn how to board and made the choice to come here from her cousin's experience last year (where apparently she won Employee of the Year in Tickets - Wow!). Since starting the other week Sarah has managed to make it in with a hangover at least every second day.

19 December, 2005 (Monday)
Day off today. Managed to sleep in until midday (first time to sleep in properly since I arrived here!), then a lazy midday grabbing something to eat and skiing for a bit with Josh. The Alpine T-bar opened today, so we had to check it out. After a long drag up the mountain, we arrived at the top and couldn't see a foot in front of us. Normally a green run, the way down was a little on the challenging-side when we couldn't even see which way to go. Managed to run over more than a few rocks - my poor, poor skis!

A quiet afternoon eating, before making it out for night skiing. Night skiing runs from 5pm to 8pm at night from the Bullet and Plaza chairs. Josh and I found our way down to the Bullet around 6pm, but by the time we were half-way up the mountain we could barely make out the chair in front of us. Snow was blowing around at the top and it was a bit chilly. The extra layer provided by my baby blue pyjama flannel bottoms kept me toasty warm. The way the lights were spaced out - just far enough to let us see the next one ahead, meant that we had to go goggle-less. Cold eyes.

The first run down was tricky, feeling our way down... but after that it got easier. Our eyelashes were white with snowflakes, and we soon had a coating of rime but it was fun bumping our way down from one spot of light to the next. By the end we were coated in fresh ice but still grinning. No major stacks or faceplants. A successful first night ski!

Reasons for a Mountain Experience
I enjoy finding out people's stories on the mountain. There's a whole range of people from all different places, and, while a lot share the same kind of background - just out of university or following the snow, there are enough quirks and personalities to keep things interesting.

I'm slowly searching out the good stories - tales of illict romance, long distance relationships, weird and wacky past job experiences and foreign climes. It's more than just asking the set of stock standard questions though, it's trying to get into their head a little and understand what makes them tick. For some it's simply a matter of escapism. Others it gets more complicated and emotionally involved. The trick now is to separate the wheat from the chaff and find someway to capture it all!

14 December, 2005 (Wednesday)

11 December 2005 (Sunday)
Full day shift at Happy Valley with Kate. Day passed relatively fast. A quiet evening. Dropped by the ticket office at 9pm in evening wanderings and helped a distressed Lesley clean up skates.

12 December 2005 (Monday)
Day out on the slopes with Josh. A lot of fun skiing down the open runs, groomed and ungroomed. Going down Mervyn's, an ungroomed blue with a lot of bumps, Josh came unstuck on some uneven ground and did a beautiful headfirst somersault. Once we'd determined that the only damage done was snow down the back of his jacket we killed ourselves laughing. Hot tub evening, met some of our neighbours - a family from Wollongong (Lisa, Chris & Tash?).

13 December 2005 (Tuesday)
Josh and I did the day trip to Kelowna to do rent, shopping and send a few bits and pieces home. Early morning packed bus. Thank goodness for the iPod, else I'm not sure how I would have survived it when the manic bus driver decided to crank up the local radio station (Silk FM).
I managed to leave my CIBC debit card in the drawers (ditz moment), so had to request a teller withdrawal which took an hour for them to fax through my signature. Banking in the stoneage.
Commentary: I think Canadian Banking is still based on branch-based accounts rather than having a consolidated banking corporation system. Authentication is still held in hardcopy rather than being able to be electronically requested /transmitted instantaneously. This means significantly more paperwork and waiting time.
Among other things purchased a laptop computer (ouch! Although I think prices are probably more competitive than back in Oz) which I'll need to setup in the next little while.
Carrying up the trolley load of shopping (which included a vital stock of 2x 30 pack of granola bars) stretched both Josh and I to our limits. We had to catch the Gondola up from where the bus dropped us, then up the hill and three flights of stairs. The aftermath left us taking heaving breaths. Pity about those bananas.
Tuesday nights are staff nights at Sam's. After a fantastic dinner of honey-garlic marinated steak (care of Dave the marinade king!), mash and garden salad we headed in to check it out. After 9:00pm it started to really fill up. A lot of familiar faces. Circulated around chatting to people I recognised (Chloe says "Hi". Jess!). The ticketing crowd were out in force, with both Kate and Lesely mixing it up on and off the dance floor. Sarah, our newest recruit joined sometime later in the night. Somehow ended up on the dance floor making a total goose of myself. Turned in just after 12 with my early morning shift in mind.

13 December 2005 (Tuesday)
Into Village Tickets at 7:45am to pickup grooming report and my float for the day, then off skiing down the hill to The Ridge to sell a few tickets. A quiet day with maybe 20 sales, I spent my time alternately playing solitaire, eating and reading my newest acquisition How to be a Canadian (Will and Ian Ferguson) - it has a lot of handy tips, although I'm still to be convinced that the Canadian "eh" is an endearing linguistic phenomenon. Managed to squeeze in an hour of skiing up and down the Ridge Rocket! Our 1.5cm of snow last night was pretty token and the day was clear so things were quite crunchy out. Didn't balance again - a dime out. Driving me nuts!
Dinner out at Sam's tonight - 30 cent chicken wings. We managed to get through 100 wings between 5 of us (Caleb, Ryan, Mel, Dave and myself). Early night home, should be in bed by 10:00pm. Hurrah!


In other news

• Jae seems to have majorly bruised / cracked his ribs boarding. He's taken to bed and the ice skating rink.
• Josh is juggling multiple potential relationships and seems to be enjoying managing his hotel during the midnight hours. Apparently he's a huge hit with the girls staying there on the weekends who get him to play music and dance for him.
  
• Dave gets the next 2 days off and has confessed that he's fallen in love - with a pair of Rossignol z5s. Apparently they "ski a treat" and at 170cm turn beautifully. I'm wishing him a happy wedding night.
• For myself, I've been relatively well behaved, although I've managed to get a dry cough which is really bugging me. Looking forward to Saturday where I've got the day free and then work in the evening at the Tubing Cabin. Should be pretty cruisy.

Drying out
Growing up in Australia, I've always taken the old washing line for granted. You do your washing on fine days and hang it out to dry. No mildew, no shrinkage - nature's own way of drying.

But it's cold here and we don't have washing line. Heck, there's snow on our balcony most of the time and, while our living spaces aren't cramped, hanging lines everywhere would bring the whole tone of our decor down. So they tumble dry everything here. And I mean everything! Trouble is, most of the clothes I brought over specifically state Do not tumble dry. I think my work v-neck has shrunk 2 sizes as a result and is just short of being officially declared a mid-drift (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). I've also managed to share my fluffy socks with my darks. Dave was almost in hysterics when I admitted that I'd packed a lint brush. Sticky tape is often more effective.


Watching trash
It's amazing, but with 30 available free to air channels there still isn't anything worth watching on TV here. Admittedly, 20 of those channels are coming straight over the border from the U.S. of A. but that still leaves 10 channels that (could/)should have good Canadian content. Nevertheless, we seem to spend a lot of time flicking from channel to channel to channel. I think I'm starting to understand the attraction of cable around here. Right now quality television is composed of Everybody loves Raymond, repeats of Frasier, South Park and The Family Guy. Help!

The other thing that gets to me with the TV stations here in Canada is their marathon viewing where they show the same movie three or four nights running. I think this is the second week running where they've featured Adam Sandler. The Waterboy was watchable the first time around, but the third time... sorry Bobby, I'm not playing any more ball.

Granola (Updated) - An ode to Granola
To my dearest tasty treat
So wholesome yet so sweet
Covered in sugared slop
A bargain at 33 cents a pop
Eat at home or take you out
Just let me cry and sing and shout
Every single simple way
You help me make it through the day.

10 December, 2005 (Saturday)

The last few days have been a bit of a mixed bag. I'm getting used to the ticketing life, and the system isn't too bad once you've done a few transactions, but the money handling part can be a real pain. Still, it's nice to chat to a variety of people and pretty different to what I've done before.

Friday - A life in tickets
Yesterday I was finally back in the Village, our main ticket office, after spending the last few shifts relegated out to The Ridge and Happy Valley (our quieter outlying ticket offices on-mountain). It was good to work with some different people - we had Carla (NZ) in from Guest Services for training, and Aenne (Germany) and Zia (second-in-charge) upfront with me. Steve (our ticketing manager) and Tammy (accounts) were working back office.

The day wasn't overly busy, although we had more people up making a long weekend of skiing, but it managed to pass fast enough. The Village gets a lot of seasons pass holders as well as gift certificates and day ski passes. I was asked to work back a bit, and everything seemed to be going well until I closed off my till and found that I was $100 short. Not a good way to end the day. It's possible that I miscounted a cash payment for a seasons pass - they go for around $970CAD now (although, when you think about it that's not too bad. In real terms that's about 15 skiing days, or just over 2 weeks on mountain). $100 short means that I'll have to make sure I balance a lot more, and no doubt Steve will be keeping an eye on me.

Saturday - skiing or skates?
Late night tonight. Just got home (it's just hit 10:45pm). I had an evening shift at Happy Valley selling tubing tickets and outdoor ice skating with Kate (NZ). Tubing is kind of like taboganning where they haul you up an icy mountain in a large inner tube and then spin you down. Ice skating just opened yesterday, and besides having to fill out a painful amount of paperwork, we also have to deal with skate rental. It's a bit of a headache. The shift was supposed to run from 3pm to 9pm, but we didn't manage to get out of the place until sometime after 10pm after cleaning up and packing up the last set of skates. The evening was kind of frantic, but it came in waves of people. It's official - family groups scare me. Mothers are fearsome and Dads need to smile more.

Still, today's late start meant that I could get some skiing in this morning (finally!), which was terrific. It was a warm day, just edging over 0 degrees. Snow was melting a little, but it wasn't too icy and I got in some decent runs. I got out with Sarah (Retail) and we did a few runs across the mountain - the Ridge, Bullet and Black Forest. My skiing felt more natural, more parallel and less throwing around of the body. One random crash out where I lost my goggles and almost brained myself with my skis, but otherwise not too bad.

Random observations
Names - This mountain seems to attract certain names. Right now there seems to be a surplus of Sarahs, Phoebes and Laurens. There's Barmaid Sarah and Barmaid sister of Chloe Sarah and Tickets Sarah and Retail Sarah, and I'm sure a few other Sarah's who don't immediately spring to mind. Heck, I'm sure I've seen a few Bens around, and more than a couple Steves and Daves. You'd think it would make it easier to remember names around here... but I can't say it does. I wonder if it's something in the air around these parts, or whether these were just the in vogue names in the early 80s. I guess creativity isn't really a pre-requisite to parenthood.

Shrapnel - I never really appreciated the phasing out of 1 and 2 cent coins in Australia until I hit Canada. Around these parts they seem to revel in having weirdly priced items and handing you a sizeable mound of coinage after each transaction. My 1 cent (pennies) collection is growing too fast for me to work out what to do with them, and I'm still trying to get used to the idea that the 5 cent piece here is twice the size of their 10 cent pieces (dimes). The mind boggles. Then you've got the quarter... but no 50 cent piece! Maybe the idea of all this change is to support their tipping culture, although how mounds of 1 cent pieces factor into that concept beyond insulting poor service I'm not entirely sure. Why doesn't the 5 cent piece get a special name when all the rest of the coins around here do?

Eh? - If there's one thing I want to avoid before leaving Canada, it's ending every second sentence with "Eh?". While I think the Canadian accent is kind of cool, and definitely more fun than the American accent (and yes, I think there is a significant difference... well as much as there is between Australian and New Zealander accents), the whole "Eh" thing is beyond me. The "Eh" is somewhere between a question and an exclamation. It's often documented and can easily insinuate itself into a conversation. It's also redundant and reminds me of the caveman grunt often adopted by sports jocks to punctuate sentences. Maybe we should start an "Eh" jar in the apartment?

Depth and the usual questions - I've had a few good conversations since coming on the mountain, but only with a handful of people. Usually conversations seem to follow the same structure before people lose interest and wander off. While I'm all for shallow mouthing of social platitudes as a way of passing time and pretending to get to know other people, the on mountain 5 questions is starting to wear on me.
1. "Hi, I'm . How are you?"
2. "Where are you from?"
3. "How long are you here for? Are you travelling on from here?"
4. "What did you do at home?"
5. "Do you ski or board?"

I'm still trying to work out whether it's:
a) Due to the relative youth on mountain (estimated average age would probably be 21),
b) Whether people visiting Canada for a ski season are naturally vacant, or
c) Whether I'm just pressing the wrong buttons.
I guess I've just had a very different experience to most of the kids on the mountain. The majority of them are fresh out of school or university rather than suffering from a newly minted quarter life crisis. It's little wonder that my wiring is slightly different.

Happy Holiday Makers - One thing that has consistently surprised me since arriving at Big White is the number of couples who have come here for the season. Apparently snow hills are popular places for home-wrecking, certainly the supposed partying and debauchery have a part to play in it all, but Big White seems to have more than it's fair share. Perhaps it has to do with the reputation for being a family resort, or it's just become fashionable to travel with your long-term squeeze... I don't know. The majority of the gals I work with in tickets are here with partners. I guess it will be interesting to watch the action this season and see how they last? Temptation Island here we come?

Okay, well time for me to sign off. It's just touched midnight and Jae and Josh have risen and left for their midnight shifts which means I should probably head bed-ward. I've got another fun day of skates and snow tomorrow at Happy Valley. It should be a quieter day, but 8 hours isn't short. Time to plug in the iPod and my 600 megawatt grin.

08 December, 2005 (Thursday)

December 08, 2005 (Thursday) - The morning after
Last night was the staff Christmas party. Before you ask, yes - I was relatively well behaved. No battle wounds. Walked into work with dark glasses, but only because of snow glare not hangover. The night? I'm glad you asked...

Celebrations started last night at 6:30pm at the Happy Valley lodge. It's a largish building which has a few eateries, the company store (selling Big White branded gear), ticket office and cafeteria. I've done a few shifts there (one today) in the ticket office. The Happy Valley area caters more for younger kids, and features tubing (basically you get dragged up a hill on a huge tyre, then they spin you, sliding you down the mountain), snow mobiling and a large outdoor ice skating rink (which will hopefully open this weekend). Both levels of the lodge had functional bars set-up, although the upper level definitely had more ambiance.

The party was for all Big White staff, some 400 or so of us. The majority I'd guess were (rowdy) Australians, with a smattering of other nationalities. Most people were just dressed in t-shirts and jeans. A few of us fashion plates went as far as collared shirts. I saw one stiff in a white dress blazer with a tie. He didn't look right. Think it was the hair and the lost look on his face.

My first half-hour was spent in a line up for cut-priced drinks. There was 4 staff on, but with every second person ordering 2 jugs of beer and a glass of soda pop the line didn't feel like it was moving at all. That kind of set the tone for the night, which for the next few hours felt like something between a pep-rally and a huge buffet. Truth be told, it started pretty painfully.

So, the buffet turkey dinner was acceptable, and I have to admit that the desert was fantastic, but the christmas carols playing in the background interspersed by random pumpings by the DJ were just too much. "Hey there Big White people how are you? Which of you are from Australia? Give me a cheer!". Wait a second. Let me just get out my pom-poms and cheer stick. Oh, and while we're at it - please douse me with cold water and tar and feather me. Easy on the feathers.

After dinner the resort CEO got up to mouth something incomprehensible about 2005/2006 staff. Everybody was cheering and drinking too much. Things started to get more interesting around 8:30pm. I guess the point where people start to get well and truly pickled - a girl climbed the wall to 'ride the moose', people started dancing on tables and chairs (5 tables broken, current record set last year was 7), and just generally getting messy. I was in a bit of a mellow mood, so I just watched and circulated to chat with the few people I recognised.

A few good photos, selective mingling and flirty exchanges later I found myself dancing with the local contingent of my department: Zia has been with Big White tickets for 7 years and seems to be still enjoying it. Tammy does the accounts. Kristi is still studying at school (university) and looks after Happy Valley ticketing on the weekends. Kaisa is from the Island and works mainly weekends too. Josh and I had a quick B52 each, and then onwards to Snowshoe Sam's to continue the celebrations before it got packed out.

Sam's was the same old, just with people dancing on the tables. The dance floor packed out quickly, but the bar area wasn't any busier than last Tuesday. The crowd was just as drunk and frantic as at the work party (that I guess most had come from), which of course meant that bar service was a bit slow (you could tell from the slowly moving lines).

I finished up around 12:30am. Just tired and thinking of my early start the next morning. A lot of people didn't make it in with the bouncers deciding it would be fun to leave people waiting in the cold at around 10:30pm.

Work at 08:00am this morning and quite a few people looking a little on the seedy side. I managed to avoid the worst of it, and was feeling relatively awake after a good breakfast and shot of Berocca in the morning (cold weather always leaves me wanting to sleep even more). Today I was posted in the Happy Valley office. To get there you have to catch Lara's Gondola - basically somewhat like a chairlift, except instead of a chair you get a bright yellow pod that can seat 8. No heating though, so it's quite a chilly trip.

Happy Valley today was on the quiet side. Highlights included serving maybe 10 customers and removing rust from ice skates, in between reading the Salman Rushdie novel Al gifted me before I left and listening to my iPod. There is now rust on my white shirt cuffs. I think I need to buy some fabric softener and stain remover.
... I also think I need more sleep. Another shift tomorrow. Can't believe tomorrow is Friday already. Ski-daze!


Randomness
I want to be poetic -
Wax lyrical
Script song
But I'm too tired
Tonight.

Thoughts on... Youth hostels
I've decided that youth hostels are populated by a few distinctly different types of people:

• Residents: Residents are in the hostel for months at a time. They claim to like meeting new people every day and don't mind that they disappear as fast. Residents like to tell others that they revel in the party atmosphere and the transitory nature of the hostel. They use the hostel fridges for their shopping and cook all their food in the shared kitchen.
• Travellers: Travellers have no fixed destination and are just between places. They like meeting new people going in new directions, which they may adopt for their own. Travellers usually only stay at the hostel for a few days and inevitably look for cheap food and cheap drink. You can invariably find travellers at the hostel bar each night mixing with other travellers.
• Oldsters: Oldsters are 40+, often badly dressed, who stand out from the relativel youth of other hostel residents. Oldsters may be trying to save money or going through some kind of mid-life crisis trying to get back in touch with their lost youth, but whatever the case other hostel residents tend to give them a wide berth. Oldsters can be residents.

Quick profiles
My room mates are great - I'm not gushing, honest. It’s still taking a bit to get used to Jae and Josh’s night shift hours and we’re yet to work out permanent sleeping and cupboarding arrangements (because everybody keeps such different hours), but they’re all easy going and relatively responsible (when it’s required) guys. Without further ado, introducing...

The room mates:

• Dave: A mechanic by trade, Dave hails from Dapto - not Sydney. That's something he likes to be clear on. He likes his sport, is a big hockey fan, but one sure way to get him riled is to compliment Gridiron. Dave likes nothing more than a few beers at the pub (Granville Honey brew is his current preference), a good yarn (and he’s got a few corkers to share), or a few good runs down the ski slopes. Dave is the resident lady's man, with this blond locks and chisled bloke-ness. He likes his food and is a bit of a chef in the kitchen. This isn't Dave's first time in Canada, he's visited a few years ago, touring the mountains. Dave is a fairly accomplished skier, having also skiied Austria. Dave is in ski repair for the season, which should be handy…
• Jae: The organizer of our current apartment, Jae is relaxed, outgoing and friendly. He seems to know half the mountain on a first name basis and is always ready to help out a mate. Before this season Jae was working nights for TPG (an Australian Internet service provider), so he’s kind of used to odd hours. He’s a keen snowboarder and doesn’t mind a few drinks or the odd game of hockey. Jae doesn't mind organising and is more of a socialiser than a drinker. By the end of the season he intends to be able to "skate like a fiend" and ski as well as snowboard. Both Jae and Josh are working night audit in the bigger hotels in Big White.
• Josh: Tall and friendly, Josh is always up for a good laugh. He’s visited Canada previously, and is currently in the process of switching from skis to snowboard – a brave man! A keen fan of Wednesday night chicken wings, Josh isn’t that hard to persuade to head down to the pub for a brew. Josh is best known for his prodigious appetite and his easy sense of huour ("Champagne powder, eh?"). He's into his music and has been known to boogie in his top hat on the dance floor. Josh used to work at TPG with Jae, and is similarly doing night audit this season at Big White.

A five minute update

The last week has passed before I can register. It's been busy, and the dodgy net connection around here hasn't helped. Apparently we've put in an application for ADSL, but the mountain's sole supplier is Telus and they're currently suffering from industrial relations problems so rumour is that we'll be lucky to be connected by Christmas.

So, onto a quick update:
Life
Yes mum, I'm alive. I'm trying to eat well. I'm learning to live under 5 layers of clothing plus heavy jacket. I'm taking my vitamins. I'm eating my vegetables (or at least quaffing a daily dose of V8 vegetable juice every morning). I'm getting my exercise. And yes, I'm keeping odd hours and probably spending too many evenings watching the big screen on the pub couch. But it's nice here. Still very much staff dominated, but I'm learning names and smiling a lot and probably over-tipping people. Part of the learning process?

Work
Work here is busier than I though it would be, and unfortunately has sucked up most of my good skiing time. The ticket office tends to open at 8am and, after I've finished counting my float and closing up my till, my shifts tend to run past the time the last chair closes. The people I work with are fun though, with a good smattering from all places. In a team of 12, Tim and I are the only guys (other than my boss, Steve) working in tickets. No gender bias.

Since I arrived here on the 27th (Sunday) I've had 3.5 days to myself. In that time I've managed to get about 10 hours on snow. I worked Friday, Saturday and Sunday - with Monday and Tuesday off. I guess I can't complain about the work, it's paying the rent.

Monday afternoon was spent on snow (thank goodness our building has a hot and cool tub!) and Tuesday (today) I went into our local township to do some personal shopping. The morning passed too fast, lunch I met up with Trish, and then a made scramble to finish off purchasing a digital camera and a bottle of alcohol (for cooking and medicinal purposes of couse!).

The next 2 weeks should be okay, I'll be able to train myself up before the Christmas rush. Apparently things go completely crazy around here on December 16. Can't hardly wait. Winter break Canada here we come!

I'm hoping for more ski time once the night skiing shifts come in. A win either way.

The apartment
All is well in paradise. Jae and Josh are always good for a laugh and Dave keeps us pretty entertained with his stories. No complaints as yet about noise or expense. The J-unit is holding back and the J-factor is still working up to it, but it's just a matter of time. Right guys?

I've been jotting down stray thoughts and I've a few stored digital photos stored, so hoping that I'll be able to put some more insight and reflection into the next update.