|
A day in the Life of Alex Nylon, 2004 NZ 13 week Rookie now working at Keystone
6:45 AM Alarm goes off, press snooze button.
7:00 Alarm goes off again, roll out of bed, shave, shower and eat breakfast. Out the door by 7:25 and run for the bus.
7:30 Catch employee bus to River Run Ski School, have a bit of banter with other instructors and find out what went on the night before. Some of my mates looking a little worse for wear, a bit too much alcohol the night before.
7:45 Arrive at River Run, head for the locker room, grab skis, boots, poles and uniform. Nip into Starbacks for a quick coffee and then off to ski school.
8:00 Sign in at ski school and get on the clock. Help kids put ski boots on, find them right size ski and poles, put my own boots on and get ready to hit the slopes.
10:00 Assigned a class, 7 children, all level 1 (never skied before). “Could be a long day.” Anyway, the sun is shining and it’s a beautiful day. Catch the gondola to the top of the mountain and let the learning begin.
10:15 “Make a Pizza (Wedge stop).” “Now French Fries (Parallel skis).” Students pick up skiing pretty quickly and end up having a really fun morning. I look at my watch again and it’s lunch time already.
11:45 Lunch time. Eat at the top of mountain for free! Bonus! I think I will go for a Caesar salad. “Ha Ha.” I don’t think so, way too healthy for me, my goal of pizza and fries. Probably the most difficult part of my day, trying to balance 7 children students’ lunches and mine, on one try and carry up a flight of stairs.
12:30 PM Back on the mountain and I think the children could be ready for their first ride on the chairlift. I was lying earlier, getting 7 students safely on the chairlift is definitely the most difficult part of my day.
1:30 Hot chocolate break, a well needed rest for the kids as well as me.
2:00 Last hour of the lesson, ski down to the bottom of the mountain for the students to get picked up by their parents.
3:00 Pick up time is a nightmare. 200 children and their parents all searching around for each other. “Argh!” Talk to each students parents, tell them how they skied what level they should be in next time they come back to ski school.
3:30 All children/students picked up and finished for the day. $20 worth of tip, and all in all another great day at the office, if you can call it that whether you are teaching adults or children, watching students improve due to your instruction is very rewarding and one day at ski school is never the same as another.
4:00 Off to the pub to catch the end of happy hour. $2.00 beer. Can’t complain.
5:30 Leave pub after spending majority of tip and catch the bus home.
6:00 Get home, get changed and head to another pub for “Pie Night”. $5.00 gets you pie, chips and a cold beer.
11:00 End of staying too long and drink too much as usual. Eventually leave and head for bed.
12:00 Crash out and look forward to doing it all again tomorrow.
|
