Guess who is an instructor now?

I Passed!

On Monday I received my certificate says that I have passed my level 1 snowboarding! The whole day was spent on the slopes where I was constantly being assessed on my riding, and then on my teaching. Now we were comfortable with the theory and teaching adults, we had to adapt it to a children's lesson. Which meant we had to pretend to be 9 years old with each other! It was hilarious and so difficult to manage so.. we did our jobs as actors!

After our course was had 2 hours free skiing on the mountain which was amazing, we all got to relax and spend sometime together - it was the first time I've ever just gone out with a group of friend who all snowboard to shred. It was awesome, we were all cruising down the mountain popping tricks and having fun! We then headed to the t-bar for drinks and got our results cards. All in all a really fun day!

The next day we had off to sort out paper work and such, sign our contracts and get our snazzy new kit! The thing I have been waiting for!

Before we start teaching for real we were given some shifts shadowing, so that we could see how experienced instructors conduct their lessons and learn a thing or two from them. But when I arrived one of the snowboard instructors was a no show- so I was landed with my very first student! 

He was 4 years old and called William and we had an hour session which was so much fun! We played lots of games and chatted about helicopters cars and animals like tigers and improved his snowboarding at the same time! Seeing his little face light up in a big smile was amazing, I had to hold his hands the whole way through but he loved it. And couldn't understand why people decided to ski.. everyone should be snowboarders!

After I was finished I got to shadow some more lessons of people coming towards the end of the beginner progression - starting to turn and really explore the slopes. The biggest thing I learnt was how to build someone up to riding their very first chairlift! This wasn't covered at all during training so I was really glad to see how to do it. 

Now I have a couple days off to enjoy riding with the familly over Christmas! Magical, hope everyone is in the festive spirit and have a lovely time xxx

Week 3 round up

This week involves: trained to teach, being reborn into adulthood and 2/3 of my instructor course!

Start of the week was similar to the previous week: out on the snow at 10am everyday to do our instructor training, this time with a new instructor. Adam from Coventry is another level 3 rider and is the person who will be our evaluator during weekend course, so he really knows his stuff. He began getting us familiar with the QuickRide progression system (how to teach never-evers) and reinforcing all the points Josh had made concerning our riding and the core competancies and skills of snowboarding.

On Thursday we had the morning to do on snow orientation with the snow school and all our future collègues and bosses etc, and the daily routine when being an instructor. Now i feel a bit more ready and welcomed to my new place of work! I'm sure once I pass my course (TOMORROW!) and get the snazzy new branded uniform I will really believe what an amazing place I am in and how awesome the next few months will be!

(Friday was a day off - my birthday! Where I became an adult (again) in Canada so to celebrate I headed to the top of the mountain to grab a beer, and even received a free bday brownie! Good day!)

Speaking of getting qualified, I am currently on the CASI level 1 instructor course with the other interns. I'm so happy to have had 2 weeks to get to terms with the new teaching style and improve my riding! I feel prepared for my final day and all the extra reading material had helped consolidate the knowledge too. Today we started to teach each other, and I was thinking I had it all sorted but as soon as you step up to lead, your younger gets tied! I know so much and I want to share it all with my students that it just gets over complicated really quick! I have to learn to dial it down to simplify the movements and ensure the new students understand it all and aren't bombarded with too much info.

It's a challenging balance but even to teach in imaginary classes has got me so excited to become an instructor. I believe i can do it, and I will love it! Tomorrow we specifically get introduced to teaching children which should be fun and get our results!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! I will start to post more regularly this next week hopefully, it's been a whirlwind recently, it will get busy soon but I'm looking forward to finding a routine.

Love to all my familly xxx see you tomorrow!

Week 2 round up!

During my second week I've done a lot! Wifi installed, snowboard improved, national insurance number acquired and even taught my first student. So let's go through last week:

Monday

Trip to Crambrook, the nearest 'large' town to get our social insurance number (SIN). We got up early and met our instructor Josh to catch the 'hospital' bus, a service that runs to the town from Invermere healthcare centre for people who need better facilities. A short drive in this country is at least 2 hours, which was the length of our trip. Caught up on some sleep and did some reading up on my snowboard instructor course. When we got into town we had to find the Service Canada to get our SIN. Josh dropped us off there and then told us to rendezvous at the local mall. Now Crambrook basically one big high way with loads of restaurants and a large selection of shops. Which should be easy to navigate right? Nope. Not in a foot of snow, we ended up asking directions from locals and shop owners to make sure we were going the right way! Taking a detour through a pawn shop that was one of the only pawns shops in Canada to be licensed to sell guns, and a pretty sweet snowboard shop we made it to the incredibly underwhelming mall.

A series of shops interlinked with an indoor corridor classified as a mall, we had a lot of time to kill until our bus home so we busied or selves exploring the various shops including Canadian tire (where you can buy ANYTHING) a computer store where I played the new lego Star Wars (insanely fun and next level lego game- recommend) and I slightly damaged a toy store with an airway hoverboard. I was like a little kid tearing round the shop, it was so fun!

My friend Michael aka Moose in Canadian tire.. Harry is helping with the antlers.

Tuesday 

Orientation day for all new employees of the resort and ski school! Full day of lectures in with all of my colleagues at the resort. We were taught about what it means to be a Panorama employee. What the logo and slogan and branding mean to the resort. As an exercise the CEO of the mountain resort who is also the chairman of the North American ski society got people to stand up and introduce themselves- the reward was a free branded baseball cap so guess who stood up first..

Nice cap huh? It was really interesting to gain a proper insight into the resort and get a feel for who the directors are and the regulations and employee expectations. They have a 5 point system we can use to make sure clients get an awesome experience - for example the 10' rule where if some comes that close you should greet them and ask them if you can help out. Other talks included what to do in an emergency on the mountain lead by the ski patrol director, and how to stay safe riding which was interesting. They also highlighted that our suggestions help push the resort forward and is one of the factors that contributed to Pano becoming 2016 best North American ski resort by the Times. So it's truly a great place to be.

The afternoon was a special introduction for the instructors, the best department! There were some cool introduction activities and then straight into all the technical stuff and how we get paid. Such as the tier system for private lessons: you get rewarded for bringing custom the the 'Ski and ride centre' (snow school rebranded for extra coolness) and ever 20 or so hours you get mean that your hourly rate increases by around £5-10 each time! And this rôles on from season to season. Which is super cool and a big incentive to stick around!

 The interns! Off and on the mountain.

Wednesday/Thursday

Back on the slopes for more training with Josh - the final days before opening day where we finally would get easier terrain to work on! For all our training so far we shared it with ski racers from around the world, on shody slopes with less snow and more rocks than you'd like! On a positive note we have improved dramatically thanks to this. Further more we finally installed wifi on Thursday, we have connection to home now! Feeling reconnected but it was nice to concentrate on learning how to live independently and get to know my house mates for a week first.

Friday

Opening day! Fortunately the boarders had a day off so we got up early and hit the slopes as one of the first people up the mountain! I took up my GoPro and we went all the way up to the summit and tried as many runs as we could. I got some decent footage for a rookie photographer- it's hard to ride with a selfie stick! It was incredibly enjoyable to just relax and ski the mountain how I wanted to and I managed to get some good shots, in particular when we decided to do a little off piste they had sectioned off for the public. Check it out:

Wipe out!

Love to all my familly xxx see you tomorrow! 

Relearning

Throughout our training so far we have been ironing out the kinks in our riding and learning the new techniques and ways of riding that compliment the Canadian way of teaching. It's all about chasing the good feelings, pushing against your boots, the rhythmic carving turns and most importantly having a mobile central positsion. These are all key terms I have to become familiar with for my exam in 2weeks time!

So we have just been cruising down the slopes, dodging ski teams and improving our riding. I even got the go pro out! The video isn't great because I had the angle all wrong, but some nice screen shots:

Yesterday we did loads of drills with only one foot attached to the board! It's how we start to teach beginners but that is so different to my beginner experience! It was actually quite fun and surprisingly challenging to do- I'm so used to having both feet in.

Today was especially good. We practised flat 360 spins, going down the mountain spinning which I so fun. And then we played 'Top Gun' where you pair up and have to follow each other down the mountain like fighter pilots, mimicking your partners path. It's great to see how other people ride and pick up on things they do that you can imitate. For example my partner is very good and changing his edge early in the turn so I had to copy him and do the same. I promise it's more fun than it sounds!

It was snowing all day today and is forecast to stay the same over the weekend so come Tuesday after our trip to Crambrook on Monday - we should have more slopes to go down with our those gods damn lunatics that call themselves downhill national ski teams.

Love to all my familly xxx see you tomorrow! 

Look at the mountain

Today I'm going to take you up the mountain with me! Today we were perfecting our carving and positioning on the board, and we are going to be given reading material tomorrow! The conditions weren't great again but I skied okay. My new mitts are super warm and are perfect for when I had to scrape snow cannon ice that was plastered to my goggles. I had a go at filming today:

Take a look- I even had a go at editing the footage! It's pretty cool to be able to even do this!

Plus today is the first time ever I bought and cooked my own meal, it didn't even end in disaster. 

Ps. My portable chess set is a popular piece of kit - especially when there's no wifi!

Love to all my familly xxx see you tomorrow!

First day back on the board

Only a quick drop in but I had my first day out on the slopes today and I am beat! I'm really feeling the 4 hours we had up there. There was only 1 run open which we shared with 100 others from ski teams flying down the slope doing slaloms. Plus the snow wasn't great, ice everywhere.

So you could say we were thrown in at the deep end, but I learnt a lot! All about perfecting our balance and carving turns. We also got a quick introduction to client safety and satisfaction which is not exactly what Josh said (our instructor) because it sounded nicer. However I really enjoyed being out on the slopes, ready to have a great season.

Sorry this post was so rushed - we need to get back and cook food and head to bed - back out tomorrow! Hooefully I'll get some footage this time too!

The Lake

Double blog! Exciting! But it's just to say that I went down to the lake today and it was gorgeous. The clear water was like one massive mirror stretching out for miles, reflecting the sunlight and clouds beautifully. Needed to capture some shots so I did my best with my ipad! Take a look! You might even be able to see some Canadian geese out there too

Passing the time

We have been left to our own devices so far! There is snow but just not enough to get on the piste! Yesterday we spent the day on the village to sort out lift passes and things but we didn't get very far! There's very few people around and some confusion about what is going on. We aren't staff members yet so we have to get special Winter Sports Company (WSP) passes for the first 3 weeks and then transfer to staff passes. Which means we have to go and see different departments and things which got messy.
On the upside I got to meet a couple new people who work in the village. We stayed in the Picnic cafe so long to use the wifi and eat that I now know some of the waitresses and their friends who do house keeping in the village. And they're all Australian! This area of British Colombia is a popular destination for Aussies it seems, they're everywhere. We also tried out the hot pools and had a very relaxed day.

Sunday night we got fooled into an all you can eat pizza restaurant. I say fooled because we all got really full, really quick.. but we made up for it in free lollipops afterwards. I enjoyed because the greys cup final was showing on the bar, which is Canadian American Football I think. Ottawa vs Calgary and the waitresses managed to explain to me the difference in Canadian rules, and once we got talking turns out one of them will be working with us on the mountain! Everyone is so interesting here, they work so many jobs and come from all over the world. Running multiple jobs or alternative careers during the summer is how you survive in this town and how you get to live in such a beautiful area. I'm figuring out if I have what it takes!

Last night we had a family meal of steak stir fry noodles and we discovered my housemate Michael may as well be a chef. It was lovely! At least I have someone to help me cook if it does go terribly wrong when I start cooking for myself. Yesterday was also fairly productive. I've set up my canadaian bank account with CIBC (the closest bank to my house) and we have set up a PO box so now I can receive mail. It's such a small town no one has post boxes or delivery here.

I'm trying my hardest to keep you guys informed about what's going on but it's really hard when we have such slow days! Love to all my familly xxx Until next time!

Induction to the resort

Saturday morning we got a lift up the hill from our boss Wil, so that we could all have the Panorama resort introduction and explain what they do here. Like where the kiddie ski day care centre is, pick up/drop off zones, nice cafes, looking at the hot tubs and getting all the inside intructor knowledge of the place.

They explained to us briefly how the year will go. It looks like we are going to be super busy which is great for me - I need the work! This year Panorama won a 'best resort' award which means bookings have been through the roof. Every holiday will be busy and we should expect to work Christmas! The instructors here are so enterprising, they all run jobs alongside instructing and have different jobs in the summer too. Our landlord is also a senior instructor, and a painter and employs instructors from the school all the time. I keep chatting to the staff around to see what jobs are going - I even hard that they do summer camps! Maybe that's something I should keep my eyes on.. at the moment though the best one I've seen for part time work is the local A&W, look!

It all incredibly beautiful with deep green trees engulfed in snow, in rows climbing up the mountain. The rocky cliffs look stunning when the sun hits them just right, to such an extent that every now and again we all just stop and admire the view. However there isn't enough snow to get on the mountain yet, so we start riding on Wednesday. Which means we were left to our own devices in town (Invermere) which is a nice little town, but it is dead. Because it's still preseason there's no one about! Shops open late and closer early and there is no one about! I can't wait till the season starts so Town picks up and we can start working!

First Night in Invermere

Rocked up at the rack shack (my house for the next 5 months!) with my 5 sound roommates today. We all have queen beds and a big kitchen, living room and even a sauna!! It's going to be an epic season.

But we had to sort out rooms. The fairest way we could think of was an endurance challenge. Last man standing in a sub zero lake 10 mins from the house chooses first.. and then the next last person etc..

We are also so competitive and stubborn that everyone lasted over 10 mins waist deep in the lake, the final 3 went to around 20 mins, risking hypothermia and losing toes for bragging rights and the best room. It was hilarious and so dumb. My feet were solid blocks of ice for a good 30mins afterwards and I had no feeling in my legs. What are we doing with our lives. It was a good laugh though and our land lord thought it was pretty funny too.

Now we've had some warm food and a complimentary cup of tea from the local takeaway so who took pity on us. Now we're going back home for sauna, beers and card games. What a night!

Vancouver

I'm currently at the travel lodge tonight before our trip to Calgary and panaorama tomorrow. I'm am absolutely knackered. Met so many new people today and it was a long day of travelling, and meeting so many new people. I've manned to my stay up till 9:30pm Canada time (6am Uk) to try and change my body clock but we'll see. Just been out in the freezing wind and rain to a nice grill restaurant with live NFL with some of the other interns. But my highlight today was the pikey bloke who was a row in front of us got kicked off our flight by police 5 mins before take off. Which made us 1.5 hours late. He was definitely on something.. just had a wrong feel about him and I think everyone was relieved to see him leave. But he managed to slip Matt - another intern his business card. Turns out he's called Charm Soda and has a great facebook page. We almost got in trouble for joking around about the predicament, but it was an exciting start to the trip for sure!

Here We Go Again!

Airport Blog!

My favourite. I love sitting down on the peripheral of a crowded airport, sipping over priced hot chocolate, writing about my next adventure!

I've just gotten all tried and sweaty lugging my massive suitcase and snowboard around, but now it's all sent off to magically reappear in Canada I can start getting hyped for my trip and start to meet my new snowboarding compadres. I've stocked up on food and water and even found the correct adapter, so I'm all set for my trip. It's going to be a long day! The destination however, makes it all worthwhile. 5 months in Canada, here I come!