Wednesday 27 December 2006

A lovely white christmas

Christmas has come and gone already as the days seem to melt into eachother in the VAil valley. I havnt been able to go skiing in the last few days, as I cant rent from my shop at the moment thatnks to the millions of tourists at this time of year. We are being run off our feet this week, but its okay, cause it means the hours go quickly. I am one of the people the managers always ask to stay longer as the place gets over-run with customers. I give them any number of bad jokes as they pass through, which keeps me amused at least. My fellow bad joke tellers Rick and the other Tim (both Aussies) do the same, and the rest either look at us funny, or in the case of the South Americans, say "I don't get it..."

Christmas eve was pleasant, as Cole and I went into Vail to where a bunch of South Africans (or Saffers as the Aussies call us) and Argentinians were having a dinner party, which was nice. Then at the end of the night the Argie girls started dancing, and the bad news is that they aree good at it and have the rythm with their spanish music, while Cole, Stu and I just looked like idiots, but at least I made a girl who was crying and missing home laugh by acting the fool for a while. Then the long bus home, as I took the very drunk Cole to the bus stop before we missed the last one, and he fell into a snow drift, which amused me to no end!!

Christmas was excellent, as at first I just worked, but then everyone from my work had a big party at Kiley's house, which I brought Cole to. The food was exceptional, and it was great to be in that happt atmosphear, with about 25 people from all over the world there. Most memorable was Jack spilling red wine on Rick's pants, and then about three guys trying to wipe it off, and then pouring white wine on it finally. I was in complete histerics as Rick pulled any number of faces during this process. The evening was a great success I felt, and turned out as well as I could have hope for a christmas away from home to be. As Dave (funny Aussie bloke) said before we left for Kiley's house "Tonight I plan to get drunk and talk loudly!"

So all in all some good times, as it was nice to be more sociablke again, and for Cole to get to meet some more people and have fun, as he has nobody our age at his work. Now Im off home to get some sleep finally as there is lots of work to be done, and a new year beckoning. I might just phone home and find out what 2007 feels like befor I decide whether I will try it out, as Im not quite done with 2006 yet.

Thursday 21 December 2006

Let it snow

Snowing agian and conditions are superb at the moment. Its been great fun here the last few days, as I had two days off and skiied both Vail and Beaver Creek, and am happy to say I remember how to ski as if I never stopped :) Today cole and I did all the Birds of Prey runs in Beaver Creek which are famous for being very difficult and we handeld them like pros. We are the shit!

Cole and I tried out the hot tub at our house, which was heavenly and we had two friends Ange and Helen over for drinks which was nice to be more sociable. Cole has found a cider called Hardcore cider that he has fallen in love with, but I am still in search of a good beer as Budweiser was very average. Phat Tyre and Blue Ribbon are quite good but still not a decent replacement for a cold Hansa draght.

Last night I went out to Sandbar with a bunch of people from work as it was Jack's birthday and that was good fun to finally hit a bar. Cole got bounced and went home as they are strict about the age here. He was seriously pissed off and kept mumbeling that he is going into 4th year university and they wont let him drink!!

Have really started to enjoy my time here, and the skiing is great. I am missing the people from home though, and monday is my first christmas away from home, which will be weird.

Wednesday 13 December 2006

Americana

This is an ongoing list of American things I have had/done/been over here. So watch this space as I will continue to update it!!

Burger King, Domino's Pizza, McDonalds, Butterfinger (a chocolate), Dr. Pepper, Wal Mart, K Mart, Starbucks, Safeway, City Market, Movie in a traditional american theatre, Budweiser, Fat Tire (beer), Pebst Blue Ribbon (beer), Birds of Prey (Famous double diamond runs in Beaver Creek), Caramello (a chocolate), Gatorade, Hershy's Bar (chocolate), Pizza Hut, Minute Maid (similar to Fanta), 3 Musketeers (a chocolate), Keg Stand!, Frapaccino, Bagel, Paddy's Bar, Bob's Place (bar), Cayote Cafe (Bar), Subway, Loaded Joe's, Sandbar, 8150, Long Island Ice Tea, Root Beer, Beef jerky, Denny's, The Tap room

Monday 11 December 2006

Short notes from the Vail valley

Today it is snowing :) yay! Altghough it delayed my bus this morning and my boss was not impressed that I was 20 min late. But, yay the first snow since I arrived and heaps of it. Its still coming down in bucket loads. Im off to orientation tonight, I have no idea what I am being orientated on, but I know that I get my ski pass at the end! So tomorrow afternoon after work I will finally hit the slops with avengence.

Cole is much happier now, so its nice being here even though it can be lonely in parts when there is nothing to do. jack and Jerry the old guys we live with are nice old farts and I chatted to them for hours while waiting for Cole to come home. They are surprisingly less ignorant than most other Americans. Jerry taught me a bit more about NFL, and was amazed at how much i already knew. He wanted to know about cricket, but teaching cricket to an American is the equivilant of banging your head against a wall repeatedly.

Counting Crows played here on saturday night, but unfortunatly I couldn't go, because 50 dollars for a ticket if just far too much at this stage, but fun that they were so close. Also as I arrived last week there was a skiing world cup event being held at Beaver Creek, with Bode Miller, Herman Maier and all the best guys taking part. Sadly I don't see any of them or any of the event, as I was looking for a house and a job at that time. Cool that they were here though. Irritatingly Stomp are in Cape Town this december, adn i am her, and then they are coming here in March!!! So they will be here a couple of weeks after I leave. Thats just cruel to taunt me like that.

The Aussies I work with are really cool and most are from Melbourne and are cricket mad. Sadly none of them are rugby fans and all play Aussie rules or rugby league. We were told the number we must call if we are being sexually harrased at work, and I asked if that included abusive remarks about your country's cricket team, but apparently not so the Aussies will continue their evil sledging of the mighty Proteas.

Saturday 9 December 2006

Dollar bills

For things to get better they must fist get worse. On wednesday I lost my job, which is actually a stupid phrase because I know exactly where it is so its not lost, but I was unemployed and homeless again. The reason being that it takes about a month for the social security card and number to arrive and "company policy" is that I cant work without a number.

However accomodation was soon sorted out and Cold still has his job at the store. We were going to move in with these rwo Argentinian girls calles Rosadia and Sofia, but they couldn't get the house. Cole and I now live with these two old men. They has a spare room that has an on-suite bathroom that we are renting from them. The nice thing is that we can use their washing machine and tumble dryer, but the house is quite far away and we have to get up before the sun to catch buses to work. The one guy owns the house is busy moving out and selling it and his wife is in their new house in New Mexico. I havnt met the other guy yet coz we spend so little time there.

Then I got a new job and started on friday working at Beaver Creek Sports, which is a rentals shop right by the base of the slopes. Is much better than the old job, so Cole is jealous. I work with a whole lot of people doing the same thing as me, almost all of them are Australians. There is also one guy called Nik from Norway who is quite funny. There are about 15 Aussies altogether in their circle of friends, and most work with me. I am certified and have my name tag that says who I am and that Im from Cape Town, SA. The Americans love asking me and the Aussies about our countries. I fitted boots for an oldish lady yesterday who asked where I was from and told me that I "Have the cutest accent!" and "You must get girlfriends just by talking and with that curly hair."

After my first day they rest of the staff invited me to go with them to watch "Borat" which I did and it was great. Cole had to work late with the boring old people at his shop and went home and slept. He really isnt good at this spontanious unorganised travelling and complains alot. He will be a bit bettera nd happier now we are more settled. I am the social co-ordinator because Cole has been grumpy and hasnt really talked to anyone. I organiused the Argentinians and made friends with thema nd now I have lots more thanks to my new job, then Aussies are great. Cole says he could never travell with Mel, because he has decided that he needs things planned and carefully organised.

I should hopefully get my ski pass on Monday or Tuesday and then the fun really begins. Cole just got his and went snowboarding this morning the lucky bugger. I am on a break and will return to work shortly for the afternoon session, as I am learning quickly and they wnt me there at alot for now because I am nearly able to do everything.

Money is very low after paying for the first month's rent, but at least I have a job now. Life is much better here now and should start to be really good soon. :) yay.

Tuesday 5 December 2006

America the adventure begins...

A brief rundown of what has happened so far

Day 1: Landed at Jo-burg airport to discover Goolam Raja collecting hundreds of cricket bags at the baggage claim. Obviously the Proteas had returend after their win in P.E. (the last proper sport I saw before leaving). I took this as a good sign but soon found myself waiting by the BA check in for an hour and a half before Cole arrived. Oblivious to me his flight had been delayed and I had a moment fear that I was off without my partner in crime. Amazingly we found Fran Thring on our flight also headed to the Sates. For those who don't know Fran was a close friend of Mel's at Howick and has just finished her BA at Rhodes. We survived the two long flights and landed in Denver after a good 40 hours or so of travel.

Day 2: In Denver the three of us caught two buses and walked a few blocks before finding the youth hostel. You pay for what you get and we payed very little. An ugly establishment, but it was warm and we were buggered.

Day 3: We said good-bye to Fran, but found a cheerful Kiwi called Dyaln at the hostel who went with us to the Grayhound station and was on his way to Aspen. Public transport is so beyond the comprehension of South Africans, but here it is wonderful and is safe, efficient and always on time! Finally Vail and the travels and worries are over or so we thought... We hadn't tsken into account that it was a saturday! So the human resorces department in Vail was closed for the weekend and the wheels came off our well designed plan. We took several buses all over the place and found the human resources department in Beaver Creek was open yay. Beaver Creek is a resort next door to Vail and almost next door. They could pretty much be classified as one giant place as opposed to two. There they offered us jobs as lift opperators which was great money and good hours with accomodation for staff at a good price. However our delight was foiled as they saw out visas are only until Feb and they need people throught to April. Shit! So finally we settled that we would ahve to saty at the Roost Lodge for the night. It is the cheapest hotel where everybody starts, but is still very expensive. So we found two Argentinians checking in and shared a room with them to minimize our costs.

Day 4: Sunday and the made job hunt begins again at the crack of dawn. We went to every ski rental shop in Vail and Beaver Creek and then a few in Avon. I lost count but there were about 33 shops we tried at and filled out about six application all saying come back on either tues or wed to find out if we got the job or not. Then at the last store in Avon we were hired on the spot YAY! A job at Sports Authority, which is a giant store almost identical to Sportsmans warehouse in SA. Plus there is a rental section where we will be working for 1o dollars an hour plus a kind of comission for every set of skis we send out. We stayed in the same room at the Rosst still with Fabrisio and Melissia the Arentinians.

Day 5: Monday and we start work at 7am to get accainted with the store an begin our training. We are working for free at we need training to become rental technichians and need to learn how to adjust and fit the different kinds of skis and snowboards. This is much harder than it looks. We mostly wax returned equipment and slowly learn. A Burger King for lunch (first food in a day as eating wasnt a priority. We discover that we must take three tests to become certified. The accomodation hunt continues in vain. Another night at the Roost, this time just the two of us in a room (ouch thats expensive 48 dollars each).

Day 6: Thats today Cole went off to work and I had to take a bus to Gleenwood Springs to apply for my social security number, as that will allow me to work and I cant be paid without one. An our and a bit by bus and then a long cue. Then the dicovery that although the office is better it is rather like home affairs and it will take about 3o days to get my card, and they wont give me the number until then. But the receipt should be enough for me to start work. A whole day wasted as I only got back to Vail at 4.

Summary: Lots of South Africans, Australians, New Zealanders, Argentinians and Brazilians in Vail. All looking for jons and most without housing. The Argentinians struggle to understand Cole, but understand me perfectly, so obviously I speak better than him and have a better accent hehe. Most people like our accent here, weird! The search continues. I must apologise for the newsy style of this post, but didnt have a lot of funny stuff to say and lots of news. Its stressful here right now, and havnt had any fun yet, but hopfully next week will be great. Once the accomadation is sorted out then this place will be fantastic.