Germany

So I finally got around to writing a decent post and I can barely remember what I had to say.

I'll just write things as they come to me I guess.

• We got up bloody early on Saturday (4am) to get here.
• It took 15 hours of 8 trains.
• Tom ate (ew) 3 pizzas for dinner on travel day.
  
• There are lots of wind farms in Germany!
• The German landscape is just like Austria but flat.
• Mona and a few other of Tom's friends met us at the train station.
  
• Mona's house is really nice.
• Mona is also really nice.
• We started teaching the Germans rugby.
• They are really good dancers. We went to watch them rehearse a formation routine and it was so so impressive.
• We have much more computer access here so I'm online a lot more often.
• I'm going to try to get a job tutoring 'abi' (like hsc) kids English.
• Mona has a younger brother who plays the guitar.
• Mona's English is really good and she's been really helpful translating for me.
• I miss skiing.
• Tom is a lazy bum who reckons 11am is far too early to be up.
• We've been together for a year as of yesterday.
• Tom and I are cooking dinner tonight.
• We're going out to 'Tanz in den Mai' tomorrow night which is like a big festival thingie.

I can't really think of much else right now. I wish I'd gotten around to posting sooner.

xox Amanda

Deutschland!

Just a quick note to say that we've arrived safely in Barsinghausen. Will write a longer post later about the trip etc. But so far everyone's been really nice and we'll start looking for jobs soon.

Oh, and the running statistic is that it takes 4 German boys to get me to ground in a tackle. (We're teaching them rugby). Hopefully they'll improve.

me again

So, after Tom's lame attempt at human communication I have arrived to actually let you know whats happening.

Still lots of lame boring domestic stuff to work out before we leave. Our train ticket arrived in the mail today which was a nice relief. We got paid and I emptied my bank account this morning (1, 060€!) and we're about to give our instructors' uniforms back.

Dum dee dum.
xox

P.S. Oh, and they made Facebook chat? It's a little sickening but surprisingly useful. Grr.

tom says

Hi.

mooooving

So, we almost have everything under control. Worked for what was probably my last day of the season on Saturday - I was a 13 year old boy's birthday present which was pretty cool. He came from Israel with his parents for his birthday and got lift pass, ski rental, and me for 2h. He had never skiied before and he was pretty bad...he looked a bit like a baby giraffe with legs everywhere which was amusing. But he had a lot of fun which was great.

Tom and I calculated exactly how much food to buy for the week (hopefully he doesn't get too hungry now) and we're doing all the silly things like buying presents for Germans, packing, cleaning, fixing our skis, etc.

We leave bloody early on Saturday morning from the Zell am See train station and we arrive in Barsinghausen (near Hannover) at 10 that night. To get the cheapest tickets possible we have 8 changeovers...a bit impractical but at least we'll see lots of random German towns?

xx Amanda

too lazy to title

Finished my group for the week this morning - they were really great and we had a lot of fun. Plus a 20€ tip is always nice. It was beautiful and sunny too. Took the Gotamas out yesterday and they was niiiiiiiiiiice. Suddenly I'm much much much better at off-piste :) They just float through the powder, it was great.

Starting to make the arrangements for Germany. Plus tons of food in the fridge to finish off - finally Tom is useful.

Tom says hi. (Someone yell at him to post once in a while, please).

xox
Amanda

my Austrian kid

Snowing on the glacier today - hurray!
Fingers crossed for deep powder later in the week to take out the Gotamas on their maiden run.

My group this week is great - considering that it's really low season so I have a combined adult/child/intermediate/beginner group, it's going great. I have an English couple with their 7 year old daughter, and a 5 and a half year old Austrian boy who is the sweetest thing ever. He completely understands that my German is a work in progress so he speaks nice and slowly and simply with me and never loses his patience when I ask him to repeat himself. He is always cheerful, well behaved, and does what he's asked. I seriously want to adopt this kid. It's great practice for my German and he's a lot of fun.

Trying to use up all the groceries so we don't have to chuck too much when we head to Hannover.

xox
Amanda

heat

Not much time to spend on this post, sorry.

It's been really warm here lately - I am currently wearing shorts. After skiing all day it's kinda cool to come back to summertime in the village.

Intersport had a massive sale last week so Tom and I bought powder skis (to share), 2 helmets, runners for me and some assorted socks n stuff for a whopping 278€. (Very, very cheap for what we got.) The skis were originally priced at 800€ on their own.

Since it's the end of season the work is really running thin - we are spending lots of time in the shop and only half days-ish on the slopes. Gorgeous and warm out though.

About another 2 weeks here and then we're off to Germany!

xox
Amanda

kellerratte and rat-woman

It's been a fairly interesting week in Kaprun. While fabulous to be living back down in the town, we are working our arses off since pretty much everyone else has gone back to their countries of origin and left us instructing and doing shop work every day. Ski mit uns finished their season so Tom has been working for us on privates this week. We prepared 200 sets of skis poles and boots for the imminent arrival of English school-groups. I've been taught by my (UGH) 'boss' how to check skis, wax them, grind them, set bindings, etc etc. With both of us working it's at 14€/h so it's worth it, but it does mean we sleep well at the end of the day. Usually at 8 or 9 o'clock when we crash. With most of the other instructors gone it doesn't leave us much else to do anyway so we just sleep, eat, and work. Finally payed off the rent from living up on the Maiskogel so we are in the black :)

My foray into demoing skis didn't go so well - the cheaper skis I tried were better than mine but not great and I've found great ones for a whopping 1100€. So the search continues...

The German is slowly getting better - had 2 conversations yesterday with strangers that went alright. It's annoying that I seem to be better with strangers than with friends who try to practice with me. Less nervous maybe? Dunno.

For those who asked, the post address is still the same. (c/o Skischule Oberschneider) Letters, photos, chocolate, and cash are always well appreciated. Thanks to Sarah (and Mum) for a fabulous package including a huge amount of Dairy Milk which I have thus far successfully hidden from the boy...muahahaha. (I'm not so much a bitch as just trying to have a tiny bit before he demolishes it like anything else I leave in sight).

My Esprit group for the week is already over - I had seven 5-9y.o. boys which were a bit of a handful. Thankfully I can still out-ski them.

Love always
Amanda