Living Underwater

Living room camping.

Last Friday I woke up early, around 6am so that I could get ready in time for the 7am bus and get a quick ski I'm before work. That plan was promptly dismissed when I felt icy cold water engulf my foot as I got out of bed! What a wake up call.. I ran round the house yelling so that the other might salvage some of their possessions that were on the floor. Nightmare! But we all pulled together and got all our stuff off of the floor, my room was worse affected as water was flooding through the sauna ceiling (next to my room.) Loads of my clothes were soaked and my carpets were under 2inches of water which messed up the walls and more of my stuff. So I panic called my landlord at 6:15 to tell him what happened.

He came round pretty quick and called all the right people to start sorting out our house. He said the basement floor would be inhabitable for about 4 days and the sauna had to be completely gutted. However the problem was a frozen pipe that had burst which is relatively common out here so that would be fixed asap. In the meantime we had to live in the front room on the sofa beds. But the bloke was very upfront and generous with us, he's going to try and financially reimburse us because he didn't want to charge us rent for a house we can't live in, so we may get some compensation yet.

-we don't have an alien disease in our house.. it's to help get rid of the moisture downstairs.

Adapting on the job.

The skill of being flexible and able to adapt is probably the most useful and transferable skill I have learnt from my travels and work experience this year! Couple of examples I can give are things like keeping kids happy: it's like a fun interrogation! You ask them questions and when you find something they like and you know about you're onto a winner. Whether it's super heros, cars, films, video games. You can use all to have fun with them and create new games that they'd enjoy and engage with more. We have our default techniques and analages but if you can adapt that it works way better, and I love coming up with new games. 

Or maybe you've been told they're a certain level. For example a client may come and say they're a level 3 not knowing that a level 3 is expected to be able to turn consistently. So you have to assess them yourself on the first run, and re plan your lesson on the fly. I love it!

Skiing?!

Seeing as I have so many ski instructor friends it's only natural that we teacher each other! So last Sunday when me and my house mate Tom both had a day of we switched equipment! I had a really enjoyable day, skiing was surprisingly fun and I picked it up pretty quick. And Tom was exactly the same, by the end we were both ripping it down the slopes. The only thing was that I looked like a snowboarder on skis and he looked like a skier on a snowboar.. our outfits suddenly looked really goofy! We skied all day and at the end we even went up with the group of instructors who just finished work. They all knew I was a boarder so were looking forward to seeing what I was capable of, and I impressed them! Locker room chat revolved around getting my skiing level one qualification too this year after many of the instructors praised my ability level and encouraged me to do it.. only thing is that once i get that ski qualification I might be stuck on skis all season!

I get paid to ski powder all day! Then taught the cutest girl EVER

Pow day! Finally getting some snow coming in and I was lucky enough to ride it! I was working but I was in the fortunate position of teaching SnowBirds (kids aged 3-5) who only get 1 hour lessons. Which meant I was booked all day but there was only 1 kid to teach! I spent the morning riding around with other instructors and my friends who were off work and played around in the fresh snow. It feels like you're floating, weightless, gliding down a mountain.
And then when it came to my lesson I had an absolute sweetie. She was 4 and loved frozen so much she had a Disney themed jacket, and just wanted to play with all the foam obstacles we have on the nursery slopes! She gave them all names and of course Mr. bobbles the dinosaur had to be friends with Mr Bubbles the dolphin. We kept making up stories and it kept her entertained and distracted from the cold and I could trick her into learning!
Best. Job. Ever

Moving back in followed by a staff party!

Finally dried out our house yesterday.. Definitely enjoyed a bed after so much time on a sofa bed! Carpets are fixed, of course it's still rough round the edges and there is no sauna, at least I have my own room back!

It was also the 90's themed staff party last night, everyone's outfits were great - I'm sure the local thrift stores got plenty of customers. I know that's where I went to get my look!

Right now I thought I was working but ended up having my shift changed, so didn't quite make the most of last night now knowing I could have slept in! Nevermind though, because I'm sitting here with frozen peas on my ankle after twisting it on the dance floor.. I can hardly walk. So it's going to be a rest day again I think.

Love to all my familly xxx see you in the next one!