JW in NZ

Wow! It seems like only yesterday that I wrote something here but clearly, it wasn't. Quite a lot seems to have happened since I wrote anything so this might be long. Or incomplete.

Stayed in the youth hostel for 7 nights in the end (if you pay for 6, you get a 7th free), and shared a room with 3 Oz guys who were extremely friendly.

Didn't have too much luck looking for accommodation at first but eventually looked around a couple of places that the mountain had recommended. Have taken a room with an Irish family (and more recently a Scottish snowboard instructor, who also works at Seymour), which I find quite amusing. The house is quite enormous. They built it a couple of years ago with little expense spared. I have a large, double en-suite room which is fairly seperate from the rest of the house. The rent is $700 per month which includes some food. Will put some photos here soon.

Nearly all of the staff up at Seymour are locals. The only exceptions to speak of are some instructors. I think there are around 70 instructors, which is a lot more than I was expecting, though only around 20 are full time, and maybe 7 or 8 are from overseas. I'm really pleased that the atmosphere amongst not only staff but particularly instructors is extremely friendly. That's not to say that there isn't a small (very light hearted) ski/board rivalry though!

I had a shadow lesson when I first got up the mountain one morning which though very useful, was quite scary. The instructor, Kevin, asked at one point if I wanted to teach something which alarmed me. I was spared in the end by chaos on the rope tow and running meaning we ran out of time. Wasn't expecting at that stage to be given my first lesson that afternoon! It actually went really well, as have all my lessons. Am waking up each morning looking forward to getting to work.

The Oz guys that I got to know in the hostel since found a flat of their own and invited me over for chrismas dinner, which was really nice. I stayed over and we all went up to Seymour the next day. Sadly I had to work, so I didn't get to ski with them much, but afterwards we went down with a girl from rentals and some of her friends to her house, just near the base of the mountain. She has a big outdoor spa, which was incredible. After half an hour or so, I got out and rolled around in the snow before getting back in. Couldn't really have been a better thing.

The night after I moved into my house, was the first social for the ski school which was brilliant, except for leaving my rucksack in the boot of the car in which I got a lift there. It had my passport, newly aquired house key, and ski stuff, amongst other things which was problematic to say the least! Late as it was by the time I realised, I decided that I'd go back to stay with a fellow instructor, since I couldn't bear the thought of turning up at my new home having lost the key. I couldn't even phone them to say I wasn't coming home since their number was also in my bag. Got my rucksack back the next day after some hard work by my supervisors. Bought them some chocolates and felt exceptionally stupid.

Am wondering if my house key will last until April as I recently left it in my trousers and put them in the washing machine!

Kids are so funny! Got it completely wrong about being scared; turns out adults are far harder to deal with. So I request that any adults going for ski lessons do their best to behave like kids. Simple.

I was sat next to perhaps the youngest guy in one of my groups on the chairlift and asked him as we were going over pretty much the steepest pitch in the area if we should go down it. He said that we'd have to go very slowly, but I said that I think the slope pretty much forces you to go quite fast. He reckoned that if we went in the snake we would probably be ok! His faith in the snake was really pretty funny.

Saw a girl (not in a lesson) take a pretty nasty fall, loosing both skis, so I picked one of them up and carried it over, asked if she was ok, at which point she stood up and screamed, pointing at me, "I hate you!" It was so unexpected I nearly laughed, but then realised that by this time her father was stood right behind me!

Have found that bribes work really well with kids, as does turning things into competitions. It only seems to become problematic when you realise that you've already eaten the prize that you promised them!

We have a coded door lock on our instructor room (room with seats, DVD player, hot chocolate machine, equipment storage, etc.), and I haven't had a group yet that hasn't desperately tried to get the code. One thing thats surprised me is that nearly all of the kids I've had have been extremely considerate and caring to each other which is really nice.

I've arranged recipirocal ski/board lessons with a couple of snowboard instructors which should be interesting. Have already been out skiing a couple of times with a Swiss snowboard instructor, who after only a few runs was really good, despite claiming to have not been on skis since she was 12.

For New Years eve, the family I live with had quite a few friends over, including the general manager for the whole mountain and others involved. Turns out that nearly everyone there including the people I live with saw me take my group over some jumps (without too many successful landings!). Think I need to avert a reputation for that kind of thing..

Today has been my first day off since the 19th, and its already gone midnight. I'm teaching in the morning so am off to bed now. I'm going to be extremely fit and strong at the end of the season - I've already lifted the world's heaviest man, several times!

We now have a 3.5m base of snow and the conditions have been the best I've seen. The problem with having so much snow though is that I've only seen the city once from the mountain, which was at night skiing (the mountain opens until 10pm every night). The view was absolutely amazing.