01.12.09 Yes! Opened my advent calendar. I was so happy it got packed with the rest of my stuff. See, not very essential. But who can feel satisfied counting down to Christmas without little chocolate pieces to munch on every day?!
02.12.09 Nothing like being thrown in the deep end! We have about 80 different types of staff staying with us at the moment for ‘Training Week’. This includes Managers, Chefs, Commi chefs, Sous Chefs, Reps, Ski Technicians and Office Staff. As we are the largest SkiPlan/Rocket Ski/ Equity hotel around, (many companies intertwined so if one fails, the others still stand) we can accommodate for all. Lucky us. We get to serve all the hotel Managers food and clean their bedrooms. I tell you, the General Assistants that are arriving next week have no idea. When they do arrive us pro’s won’t have to do all the training again at least.
5.12.09 Urgh. Not been feeling too well. Stomach cramps, loss of apetite, nausea, and generally lethargic. Pretty bad seeing as I’m becoming known as ‘the one who’s always ill’. To be fair, I do think I have a bug, I just need antibiotics to kick it. And I don’t have any. The doctors costs 40 Euros minimum just for a consultation. Apparently it’s best to go to hospital and claim back the costs on insurance, but it doesn’t feel enough of an emergency to turn up at the hospital.
10.12.09 The new people are here!! Nice and varied. Hmmm, a little divide with newbies and oldies I think. Even still, it’s nice to have a few extra hands to help around the hotel, and new people to talk to! I’m sure they just feel a little intimidated coming into a group that have already bonded, maybe they just need a little time to settle in.
11.12.09 Woah! I was almost just re-housed into the most cramped and depressing room of the hotel. Ok, a little exaggeration on my behalf….
There are 2 girls’ rooms in the hotel and I nearly was put in the worst of them. Karen, the owner, was more than happy to move me rooms when I asked though, I was so glad one of the new girls offered to move in exchange. Room 315 it is!
12.12.09 Well the new and first guests of the season have arrived! And so it begins. Still a bit ill, better than before, perhaps over the worst if I’m lucky. I’ve been taking rehydration sachets, Dad’s orders. They’ve helped I think, but still may need some tablets to finish it off.
13.12.09 So I ended up going to the hospital today. It’s far too bad to leave and hope for the best. I have ‘Gastro Interitus’. Nasty thing. I picked up some rehydration sachets and Gaviscon from the Pharmacy (11 Euros!), and both taste disgusting. I’ve also been isolated, last year some GA’s caught the infection and 5 were off on change-over day. I don’t think the boss is wanting that again so precautions have been taken. I have 48 hours off work, but oh what to do. It’s so boring, especially sat in a room with no internet or DVDs to watch. I’ve played chess on my laptop about 8 times now and still can’t win…. I think I’m going to go crazy.
I’ve literally just munched my way through ALL the chocolate that my Mum and Nan sent to me earlier this week. Urgh, calorie overload.
14.12.09 Breakfast, Dinner and Tea in bed, I quite like being waited on hand and foot, although I’ve never been so bored. I’m not improving at Chess either….
16.12.09 Yes, up and at ‘em as they say! I’m back working baby. Today wasn’t so bad, they took it easy on me as I’m still ‘in recovery’ (last night I was very much in need of Paracetemol that I didn’t have). This evening, rather than in the hotel restaurant, I served food to guests in the small Chalet that the Hotel owns. It was good, I wouldn’t mind working there again actually.
Some people are off out tonight, fancy dress themed birthday. Not feeling too fantastic so staying in, don’t want to push it. But now I feel like a recluse. Hmmm, we still have 4 months to go out….My 60s/70s fancy dress that my Dad insisted I get won’t go to waste, I’ll make sure of it!
19.12.09 Change-over day. And I was on breakfast too. Not good. I worked from 7.30AM until 1.45AM. Ok I had a break for a total of 6 hours, but it was still a 12/13 hour shift. Especially when change-over involves a complete strip down of the hotel, complete scrub down, deep clean and remake of rooms ASAP. Energy draining, it was so tiring, and then because of the snow in England (unbelievable…) there were delays with the guests due to the lack of salt at airports. They didn’t arrive until 11.30ish, and we had to do 2 buffet style services which lasted 2 hours. At least we weren’t on the dinner service for the late arrivals at 2AM. Then I might have just quit.
20.12.09 Ski Passes! Finally! After 3 weeks and 2 days of cleaning for 73p and hour, we finally have what we really came for. Never mind last night, I’m just happy to be kitted, fitted and able to ski. Some that have been out this morning say the snow conditions aren’t very good, but with the forecast for Boxing Day, I’m sure it’ll improve immensely within the next week. Bring on the snow!
21.12.09 I skied today!! Went up with 2 boarders… even though I feel like a traitor I loved it. Well, my feet/shins hurt which made it impossible to enjoy 100% (I don’t think my boots were tight enough, might just have to push past the pain) but it was great to finally get out. It’s also snowing heavily now, powder day tomorrow?!
22.12.09 Snow, snow and more snow! You should see it fall, as our chef said ‘it’s like rain, only snow’. It’s unbelievable to see, and this is what they tell you to wait for. Hopefully that’s the last we’ll see of the grass and rocks before the end of the season. Didn’t go out today though, instead went to a wi-fi bar and had a hot chocolate. The chances of white-outs were very likely. Tomorrow is my day off, and what better than a fresh dump of snow to encourage you onto the piste. I’m excited! I’m just hoping for good visibility.
23.12.09 Went out for a couple of hours today and was planning to go back out this afternoon but I’m in pain! Hopefully I’ll go out again tomorrow, maybe just do a few hours at a time for now. Then soon my feet won’t hurt and I’ll be out all day! I’ll just chill out for the rest of my day off I think, I can feel the burn in my thighs too, climbing up all the hotel stairs didn’t prepare me as much as I thought it would! Even though there is 48 up to my room….. yep I counted.
24.12.09 First time out in ages tonight; didn’t get back until 4 in the morning! Had a really good night which was a nice surprise, we went to our local bar, LaGrotte, which had a live band playing. It was a much better Christmas Eve than I expected it to be. When we got back though, the guests next door came and knocked on our door complaining about noise levels….
25.12.09 Merry Christmas! Not feeling very festive today. I really miss my family, I’m actually jealous that they all get to see each other today and spend the day lazing about the house in PJ’s eating chocolate. Instead I have to work with no family of friends to share the day with. We did get a Christmas dinner though, however not the usual. No pigs in blankets but hot dogs, which was a first… Karen and Nick bought us all Chocolate presents though and it’s fair to say, at this moment in time, that’s the last thing I need!
26.12.09 Change-over number 2. Fairly smooth altogether. I was on breakfast again but as there were no delays with planes etc. I managed to finish by 10.30PM. Compared to last week I’d consider that a success! Just spoke to my Mum and the family have got together to play our yearly Monopoly game. At least I have a good excuse for not winning the trophy this year.
28.12.09 Not been out skiing for 4 days now!! Unfortunately my hours haven’t been the best lately but today I was planning to go out and get on my new, longer skis and continue to break in my boots. I got all kitted up after work and then looked out the window, rain. I waited for half an hour and still no change so I planned my day off tomorrow, got undressed and looked out the window, snow! Not a happy bunny. Feel really guilty for not getting back into my ski gear and going out.
29.12.09 Fantastic skiing today! Absolutely loved it! Went up by myself intending to find people after lunch but to be honest, I didn’t mind being by myself, I was loving it far too much to get off the mountain and meet them! This morning though I couldn’t find my skis, which wasn’t a great start. There are so many of the same length and brand that I had to try my boot with as many as I could before I went out (smart thinking, I’m surprised I didn’t go out and find I had the wrong ones with me!). Luckily I remembered the barcode on my skis but my boots didn’t fit them either. Thankfully there was someone in the boot room that could fix that problem. I’m guessing the same thing happened to someone else yesterday and they used my skis, changing the length of boot size so they could use them. What a great day skiing though! My skis were the right length, (I knew the others were too short!) and my boots weren’t as painful as they have been. Even snow conditions were better than I’ve skied here before. I was out for 4 hours until my legs felt too tired, and I could feel myself making mistakes. I’m so happy right now. J I’m on a ski high! Bring on my next day off!
31.12.09 Went out skiing again today. It was a bit slushy but it’s better than not getting out at all. My calves are aching, and my knee joints! Going out tonight but have a 7.30AM start tomorrow so will be coming back early. We’ve been told if we’re late or turn up drunk we’ll be working through until after dinner service. Best set that alarm.





