Staff Christmas Party and Our first trip up the Mountain!

Aaron and I had a day off together on Wednesday and we finally decided to brave it up the mountain! We walked from Staff Accom to the Silver Platter (the run that is for kids that we have been practising on), we caught the Pomers up to the top. Pomers are interesting.. skiiers tuck the little plug between their legs where as snowboarders have to put it under their arm so for 5mins you're hanging on for dear life and your forearms burn an your quads burn from keeping your legs bent and trying not to fall over! I will have to get a photo of Aaron or I on it for you. Then we snowboarded down the Magic Carpet which is another beginner run then we caught the Mile One Quad chair lift up to Show Off and Horse Shoe. I didn't fall off =) These are supposed to be the 'easier' runs... We went down Show Off first and it was so steep! I went down the whole way braking.. I know there is a term for it but it is when you dig your heels in so you dont go fast. Definitely a beginner. There were skiiers zooming passed me and people in the chair lift going over me. SO intimidating! When we FINALLY got to the bottom I had had enough but Aaron wanted to go again. So we went down Horseshoe this time which we needed to go down to connect back to the Silver Platter to go home. This was just as steep and had heaps of bumps in it so people could do jumps and tricks. So I fell over lots.. super fun.. NOT!

I fell over seven times in total and winded myself twice.. I had to stop and rest a few times because my thighs were on fire from squating and pushing my heels in the whole way down. Definitely booking in for some lessons. Just need the confidence because whenever I pick up speed I freak out then fall over. Or whenever I try to go onto my toes I fall backwards which made up for the majority of my stacks.. Aaron fell over twice... damn him.. I think we might stick to the Silver Platter a bit longer..

We had our Staff Christmas Party that night in the Great Hall and we got a free buffet meal and two free drinks! The them was 'Ugly Sweater' but do you think we could find any ugly sweaters at the second hand store??? NO! So I bought Aaron an I Santa hats and tree skirts!!! So unattractive but it was in the spirit! We had roast pork, beef and turkey with some salads, mash and yummy desserts to choose from. Quite a good feast. They gave away heaps of prizes including two Heli Ski rides!!! Which is where you go up in a helicopter and they drop you of at the top of the mountain and you board/ski down! Crazy hey?! I am kind of glad I didnt win that one..

Work is going good. Aaron is really busy as the snow has picked up again as it got a bit warm and even got to 2 degrees! He has been staying back an hour here and there and even got called in on his weekend (Thursday) to do a full day.. Not happy..

My work has been amazingly quiet. I have had five shifts so far and have been sent home early from all except one! It is supposed to pick up during the week though because it is getting closer to Christmas so we will see. I served my first table last night! And I got a $15 tip yeehar!

We are both working Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.. I wonder if we get paid extra?? Aaron works 7am-3pm and me 4:30pm-10pm so we will see each other for the tiny gap in between our shifts because we are both asleep when we start/finish. Oh well..

Working at Wildfire

Aaron in his Maintenance uniform

Finally started work! It has been a long 3 weeks of waiting!

 I am the hostess so I greet the guests when they walk in the restaurant, grab some menus and show them to their seat. I then "Mis En Place" the table depending on if there are kids or not (taking away wine glasses, getting crayons and colouring in paper) then I introduce them to their server. I screwed up a few times because I am supposed to seat guests in particular sections of the restaurant and I kept getting the sections wrong so not all servers were getting tables... woops! But I got it by the end of the night. I thought it was crazy busy last night as we had just under 20 tables come in through the night but the girls were saying that is quiet and it will be crazy around Christmas time... Great! I am freaking out slightly...

The training for Wildfire was great! We did menu tasting and my favourite was the rack of ribs. The meat just slid off the bone it was AMAZING! They also have haddock which tastes like snapper, rainbow ravioli, risotto, lamb shank (also delicious!), salmon salad and much much more! We also did wine tasting as we are trying to upsell the wines and recommend the best one to compliment the guest's meal. So we tried 16 wines! Which included Cabernet Sauvignon from McLaren Vale (SA), Chardonnay Viognier, Syrah Malbec, Wishing tree Shiraz from Margaret River (WA), No Time Old VInes Garnacha from Spain, Valpolicella Ripasso, Fontella Ghianti, Wine by Joe Pinot Noir, Schug Chardonnay, Wine by Joe Pinot Gris and Canaletto Prosecco. Pretty lucky hey!!



Me in my Wildfire outfit

 I have been working 4pm-10pm which is pretty crap as Aaron works 7am-3pm so we literally pass each other on the road as he comes home and I go to work. And I am asleep when he leaves and he is asleep when I get home. So I have asked the boss if I can have daytime shifts. I have the next three days off so that is good. Aaron and I can finally have dinner together! I am working on Thursday during the day serving!! The manager Scott said he is impressed with my wotk (why wouldnt he be?!) so he is going to have me try serving yippee! Then I am working 5pm-11pm on Friday, Saturday & Sunday.
I also attended a two half day orientation for Panorama which involved a lot of team building exercises like taking your boots off and grabbing some elses and finding that person... Nightmare!! There was like 100 of us and it wasnt very well thought out.. Took forever just to find a matching boot because someone else was looking for the same boot!

We tooked a lot about safety and a guy from maintenance told us of how he had been in an avalanche in the back country and only his fingers were sticking out of the snow. Crazy! No back country for me!!!! I havent even been up on the slopes yet! Am going to go to the ski school and ask if I can book in a lesson..



My Spaghetti Squash concoction



We also talked A LOT about Occupational Health and Safety which was a tad boring but the procedures need to be known.

Aaron and I went down to Invermere a few days ago and stumbled across a shop called Grants. It was amazing! They had grass-fed chemical free meats! We bought some Elk sausage and it was SO dark!! Almost the colour of dark chocolate! I cooked it up last night and made sausage stuffed peppers (capsicum) and they were pretty awesome. Elk tastes like beef and lamb mixed together so pretty tasty!

We also bought some spaghetti squash which they dont have back home and it is like a pumpkin that you stick in the oven and it turns all stringy and you use a fork and empty out the pumpkin and it looks like spaghetti! So we had that for tea two nights ago with a marinara sauce. Yummo!

The elk sausage stuffed into capsicum

Local ice hockey in Invermere

3rd December 2010 Aaron and I went to our first ice hockey game. Columbia Valley Rockies (our team) verse Revelstoke Grizzlies. It was crazy!! I lost count of how many fights there were?! The game is split into 20min thirds and the clock is always stopping like AFL. It is weird watching ice hockey compared to field hockey because they can kick the puk with their skates and they can catch it and put it down on the ground! And SO physical!!! The Rockies ended up losing by I think 7-2.

The game started at 7:30pm so Aaron and I went into town on the 5:15 bus to grab some dinner. We were going to go to Peppi's Pizzeria but could not find it! I asked a local where it was but he believed it was shut and invited us to his local Legion's club, which is the same as an RSL (a club for all the Veterans). His name was Ray and he introduced us to his wife, Anne, who I had met at the Quality Bakery a few days earlier. I love the people here they are so friendly! So they signed us both in and it was only $12.50 for buffet of garlic bread, lasagne, salad and tiramisu. Bargain! And they also had free popcorn as a starter!!  Aaron and I were the youngest by about 20 years and it was so nice and local. We bought some tickets in the meat tray raffle and the 50/50 raffle. We also played some keno and won $15 woohoo! Aaron used it to try some beer (Caribou and Kookanee - the local brew) He liked Kookanee better. Everyone kept coming up and talking to us and asking if we were enjoying ourselves and where we were working in Pano.

We missed out on the Tiramisu because the ice hockey was about to start. So we gave our raffle tickets to Ray and Anne and thanked them for inviting us in. I have to find out if they won anything...

I had my orientation on the 2nd and 3rd which finally got me out of my room! It was very interesting. We met the Senior Management Team and the CEO, Rick Jensen, who was so funny and passionate. One of the Managers told us about his experience in an avalanche where he was buried in so much snow that only his fingertips were sticking out! SCARY! He was in the back country so I wont be heading that way. I still have to get on the mountain as I am still on the baby run off to the side... A few more rounds and I will be up on the green run (the easiest of them all) however it is still massive and steep considering it is only a green slope! And I am nervous for the chair lift.. I will probably fall off!

I finally have word on my job!!!! I have training Wednesday the 8th December 9-5 and Thursday 9th from 2-10. Not looking forward to the walk home at that hour! We will be covering a whole range of things such as wine tasting, menu tasting (you beauty!), setting up the restaurant, learning the cash register system and lots lots more! Cant wait. I will most likely work all of the weekend after that as Wildfire will be opening. I will have to get photos of Aaron and I in uniform and post them up for you to see :)

Aaron and I also found an ATM where we can withdraw money from!!! It is right here on the mountain so that is a massive relief!

The Kings of Neon party was great by the way. Aaron doesnt remember the end of the night.. Naughty naughty.. Below is a picture of the people Aaron and I share our Loft with. From left: Aaron, Joe (ring in), Blucky, Brianne, Jonathon, Johanna, Tobias, Bluey, Kirk (another ring in) and me!

Snowboarding - Take 2

My day in Invermere was very long! We caught the bus at 7:40 and started with breakfast at Huckleberries. It is so like the movies with the lady in her apron and big frizzy hair bringing the coffee out with her strong accent. I had eggs benedict and the hollandaise sauce was see through and kinda gross but I still devoured it. We managed to chill out there until 10:30 then we made our way up the hill into 'Downtown' which is pretty much one street with everything on it. We made our way down the left side towards the end of the street where Quality Bakery is which is AMAZING! We had lunch there and a nice little treat as well :)

Olivia booked a hair appointment at Bliss so Jane and I made our way to Valley Foods and they bought some meat. We then went to Sobeys and tried to be as slow as possible as the bus was 3 hours away.. Sobeys is where you gt the best deal on fruit and vegies. Olivia met us there and thankfully we bumped into Dwayne and Scott who took us to Pano in their car. Long day!!!

We are also having issues with withdrawing money which is becoming a massive pain in the arse! We have contacted TIO and are waiting for a reply. We have thought of a work around which is transferring money to NAB and then doing an international transfer to our Canadian account. Pain! TIO doesnt do international transfers so we are on a tight budget while we wait for the transfers to go through..

We also had a feast that night when our new roomies arrived (Bluey and Blucky - from Aus, Brianne from Ontario and Johanna ANOTHER SWEDE!) I managed to find 2kg of pork ribs for $10!!!! We had roast vegies and potato salad too. YUM YUM!

Aaron and I went for our second snowboard today with Dane. I managed to stay up for the majority of the time which was exciting!! We hiked further up the Silver Platter this time and I was knackered by the top! We had to rest for a bit before we started! We did three trips down the mountain and that took us an hour. Aaron only fell over about twice but I got one on camera!!!! And I lost count again but it was less than last time! YAY! Massive improvement for a second go. I am working on my turns now as I can stop without falling YIPPEE!

We have a Kings of Neon party downstairs tonight so all us 'loft crew' having matching head pieces and glow sticks. Its going to be awesome!!