Although I haven’t started work yet, the ski season has commenced with two lifts open at my new work place. Since I’d never been to it before, I went up with some friends to have a look around. As soon as we got on the bus we got nervous.
“O my god. It’s been so long. I’m sure I’m horrible.” My friend said, brand new snowboard boots in hand. We sit on the bus and she looks around frantically,her eyes can’t settle on anything. This is a girl I met only two weeks ago, but one I know will be a good friend. In my eyes she’s so confident, always has something to talk about, to anyone. But I’ve also seen her side that’s just as insecure as I can be. Right now she was speaking for both of us, but where I kept things locked up inside, listening to my over excited heartbeat, she couldn’t stop talking about it.
This is the first season I’m going to do some instructing myself. It’s only teaching the basics to three to five year-olds, but I’ll be on my ski’s in uniform a lot more than I used to. The first run of the season was disastrous. I felt like a new-born Bambi, making my way down with jelly legs, arms and poles all over the place. My confidence dropped to zero. Run after run it got better though, slowly climbing up the ladder of confidence again. The only part complaining were my burning legs and my foot that was squished in my boot.
The next day was icy and not a whole lot of fun. My foot kept complaining and therefore I made a trip to the workshop. After seeing the bootfitter it felt much better. Day three on ski’s was totally awesome! The snow was pretty good, even though we were basically skiing the same run all the time. With sunshine and uncrowded slopes it was skier heaven. We ignored our whinging legs and kept going. The views from the slopes are stunning, looking out all the way to lake Wakatipu and the other ski field at the Remarkables.
I hope I can start working soon, get to know the other staff, and learn. I’m seriously nervous, but having been to the mountain, also very keen to keep going. I’ll miss my job and colleagues from Australia, but there is a new challenge waiting for me. Who knows what this season will bring? All I know is, it’s had an amazing start!
