B vs Ski

30/01/2017

So 2017 has hit and I've decided to get back on the travel blog hype after a couple of years out*. I call this chapter "B vs Ski" it took me a long time so please appreciate it.

So after spending the past 7 months working hard as an Animator in Tenerife (and another 3 overstaying my welcome, not working hard, but having a lovely time) I have gone for the polar opposite (literally) and decided to give a ski season a shot. I have been placed in a tiny resort in Peisey, for anyone who has no idea where that is...it's in the French alps and that's all I can tell you because I have no idea where it is.

So I am now apparently a "seasonaire" (god, I hate that phrase). So naturally I've just got here and I've already been out. Some things will never change though, you find the drunkest, weirdest, most abnormal person in the bar and they'll magnet themselves over to me.  I get the good old French geezer who is the first of the list and he plonks himself on my lap (I genuinely think he thought I was part of the chair). First thing he tells me is he doesn't speak English...great. So I try my best to conversate/reject him. After a few minutes realise I've just been speaking Spanish and I can no longer remember any French. Luckily for me "No Ooo lala avec moi" worked fine.

My job is as a chalet host, so I pretty much cook and clean for people who come to my chalet on holiday and for anyone who knows me knows I am terrible at both of those things. But when I was mooching around in Tenerife I worked with my two best mates there who also happen to be really good chefs* and I apparently learnt quite a lot when I was washing dishes about food prep and presentation, and so far my colleagues seem quite impressed. I wonder how long it is until they realise that I've lived for the past 2 years on beans on toast, pasta and take outs.

Why come work a ski season when I don't know how to ski or snowboard and you hate the cold? That is a very good question because I really don't know. I am looking forwards to the challenge though. I'm getting some lessons, equipment and a lift pass sorted this week and I am bracing myself for some bruises and aching bones. The funny thing is people keep forgetting I'm a complete newbie to this and I just don't understand what they're on about half the time (lobster pots? piste? 1800/1600?) . I'm sure it's all extremely basic for anyone who has even looked at a pair of skis before but for me it's all snowman jargon.



*you can read my other blogs here and here, though this time  I'm aiming for more consistency

*anyone who would like to visit their restaurant (it's wicked, though I'm sure that the dishes aren't as clean anymore ;) )