Wow so blogging once a month might have been a little ambitious, I’m not sure where December and January disappeared to so you might have to bear with me on this blogging malarkey!
To pick up where I left off from the last blog post feels quite the mammoth task, when you move somewhere new especially for a season it feels like a lot happens in a small space of time, especially when you are getting used to a new way of life, different culture and meeting lots of new people.
Before we get into the festivities after a few weeks skiing and getting the season started I managed to have a very stupid fall (yes if you’ve been following along on our socials then youll know this is injury number one haha), on a green run may I add (for any non-skiers, runs are coloured on their difficulty and green is easy), I managed to twist my knee and although thought I was okay initially, swelling the next day landed me getting it checked in A&E (or the Emergency Room as they say here). A few doctors (that seemed as unsure about my knee as me) an x-ray, CT scan and a very emotionally unstable couple of days it would seem I have a small tear in my meniscus and need a few weeks rest with physio! Bye bye Skiing…
It might sound trivial to others but not being able ski was a tough stint, not only is it amazing and what I came here to do but it’s also a great time to meet and get to know people and a big chunk of the social life here. So, to say I was a little bit of a negative Nancy for a while, is an understatement.
Tied in with not getting out on the hill, although I don’t worry too much about travelling I’ve done lots on my own, so it doesn’t faze me but moving to a new location was kinda daunting and I was scared being in my 30’s I would find it harder to make friends! However I was very lucky that I had a friend from home already at this resort, so he has been a rock to lean on during the hard times a great intro to people. Fear not I have not only adopted his friends but made some other great pals along the way!
Christmas… wow this feels forever ago!
I take Christmas and the festive period very seriously back home so I was a little anxious that it would feel underwhelming here however it did not disappoint.
My house mate asked me one afternoon in December if I wanted to go get a Christmas tree for the house, naturally I said yes and Christmas tree shopping here was elite! we set off into the woods with a saw, 2 dogs and a pony! The cutest walk to chop down our chosen tree!
We also had a pre Christmas day with the crew as some people were heading home or working on Christmas day, everyone brought a different dish to the table and it was an epic turkey feast!
I also still worked over Christmas but the days that I work just fell very well that I was off on most of the main Crimbo days, the little donut house I’m working at really ramped up over Christmas and was super busy, this means time goes fast and tips get plentiful so no complaints here!
My Christmas day was up there with one of my fave days, I got myself back on a pair of skiis and had a morning ski with the gals followed by homemade cini buns (cant claim to be the baker it was all my friend Teagan!) The rest of the day followed with good people, plenty of yummy food, festive boozing and board games… followed by a night in the pub, cuz what else is there to do when you’ve spent all day drinking and eating!
The days between Christmas and new year as they are at home…a bit of a blurr. Plenty of margaritas, beers and very little work!
Over the last couple of months I have also started teaching art classes, it's a new string to the VGW bow and I am absolutely loving it! It helps my students are amazing and it's been so rewarding to see their progress.
2024
Well did the new year throw me some spanners or what! NYD was the most beautiful blue bird day so naturally we went skiing, I had another stupid fall, mostly due to my knee being weak. The torn meniscus was now more torn? (no idea if this is how it works haha but the doctor wagged his finger to skiing for a while) After wailing into the snow for a while and being determined I was going to ski myself down I caved, let my friend call patrol and came down in the toboggan.. the shame!
We went from this...
To this....
January was a mixed bag of emotions not being able to ski again was tough, I had a few bouts of home sickness which is a funny one, it doesn’t always mean you want to head home and doesn’t take away from the amazing things you are getting to experience when travelling but to push through these days sometimes feels bloody hard! There’s always that knee jerk reaction to just want to go home. (I am aware all this is very relative, I’m not saying by any stretch I’m running a tough life atm, I know I’m very privileged to get to experience life in other countries but this is capturing my feels at the time and that living aboard isn’t all sunshine, skiing and rainbows).
January also brough our first proper Canadian cold snap, and my god it was cold. -30 is not a temperature I wanna be hanging out in on the reg! The inside of your nose freezes and it hurts if you breath in through your mouth! Popping to the shop is a mammoth task to defrost the car, to layer up, so basically if you can its best to bunker in at home!
Well this has been quite the round up and I haven’t even begun on the food ratings yet, cause lets face it when you move somewhere new the food is one of the best/most interesting parts, right?
Thanks so much for reading and hope everyone’s enjoying the updates (although few and far between!) if there’s anything you want to hear about let me know in the comments!
Loved reading this!!!!! feel like i am with you in a small way. Stay safe V! Keep in touch. Thomas wants to visit you and the snow.xx