I was fondled by an old lady...

I guess I haven't written on this for a while... woops.

WELL! To those of you who don't know.. I'm home from France. A little early.. but it's alright. Working at Club Correze was quite the experience, I'm glad it happened, but it sucks they dicked us around so much in the end.

If anyone who worked at Correze is reading this; thank you. The staff was the only reason it was awesome.. and the kids, some of them were fantastic.

Being home is a little strange, getting sick of hearing "how was france?" "good to be home?". There are about 300 different answers to those questions, all of which apply. I'm glad to be home because I get to drive my car again. I'm sad to be away because I miss the 20 or so people that I met on my trip. I'm glad to be home because my mom rules at cooking. I'm sad to be home because I miss the freedom of travelling. The list of things go on. Really I'm not happy or sad, just the same, moving on with life.

I'm definitely looking forward to the future, moving in with Eric in Victoria! It's all very exciting! Stoked to go back to school too... I miss using my brain.. I think it's atrophyed.

Today I was fondled by an old lady at the chilliwack exhibition. Made my day.

Does anyone still love me?!?!?

I have suddenly come to the realization that noone has e-mailed me in quite some time, and I have yet to receive a letter from anyone that isnt my parents. Robyn if you are reading this you are excluded and I have sent out my reply.

Anyways, I know everyone must have tons going on; I wish you would all write me to tell me about it though!! Basically I am ranting because I paid for internet and facebook doesnt work. Lame.

This past week has been rather eventful, a bunch of us [and by that I mean everyone who works here] went down to the lake and drank the other night; and apparently we arent allowed to do that, so our boss threw a FIT and we got a major bollocking, so two people left. Two other guys last week also quit, so now were down to about 12 of us I think, and more new people are coming.... wonder how long theyll last. This place is crazy that way; people leave at random. Ah well, weve got a new group here this week and the kids are hilarious. British kids crack me up.

I dont really know what else to write about; this place is like its own little world... there really isnt a way to convey this experience through blogging. I guess its life changing in a way.... Today I peeled potatoes for three hours hahahahahaha.

I miss Manning; I miss the Tercel; I miss Canadians, especially you whoever is reading this; I miss ketchup {IMPOSSIBLE to find ketchup here]; and I miss site 20.

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

French keyboards SUCK

I will first start by apologizing for my poor typing... this keyboard is WEIRD. VERY weird.

Alright, so Helen and I made it to work... it was hard, as Italian trains were involved, but we managed to get here with only minor incident. Our trip was amazing... we met rad people and had some pretty ridiculous experiences.

Work thus far is challenging and I think its going to be a crazy summer. There are only 12 of us staff members here so far, and everyone seems really awesome, even though theyre English [sorry Pete and Claude I had to throw that in there]. Its sweet because everyone is really active, so I already found a running partner and a climbing partner who just happens to have an extra harness... sweet. I dont know how much climbing there is around here, but apparently there are a few sport routes around.

Anyway, right now were doing staff training and setting up the centre, so there are no children here yet, but our first group arrives on Saturday: I am terrified. Basically Im going to be responsible for teaching either biking, archery, climbing [theres a little bouldering hut], fencing, rifle shooting, or orienteering... I think maybe some other activities as well. I dont know if youve noticed... but half of those I dont know how to do. Good.

Here is a typical day here at the centre, Im using yesterday as an example:

Get up at 7 and go for a short run.. [we dont have to do this... i just like to], have breakfast at 8:15ish... then do site work until lunch, like painting or raking grass or something. Anyway, after lunch we did fencing {which was really cool because we were taught by one of the best female fencers in France]. Then we went on the bike route to practice, i got lost twice, then some more random stuff until dinner. After dinner we usually have some free time to do chores or whatnot... but yesterday we got to go fencing at the fencing club; and it was the coolest thing ever. You get plugged in so when you get a point it beeps!!! yay!! [i JUST found the exclamation point]. Anyway fencing is cool... but she made us go against people who actually KNEW what they were doing... lets just say my loss was comical. By this time it was about midnight and i was EXHAUSTED.

When the centre actually opens; Ill be teaching three activities per day... so basically its scary.

Anyways, the centre doesnt have internet, and its hard to come into town to use it; so I probably wont be emailing much for the rest of the summer. Please continue to send me emails, but if im slow to reply youll know why.

If you want, you can send me letters instead!!! Mail is my favourite thing in the world, and if you write me Ill write back promptly, so please send me mail!!

The Address is

Club Correze
Les Gardes
19250 Meymac, France

Italian trains... shudder....

So here's the deal with Italian trains: they're awful.

We have EURAIL passes, which are good for italy and some other countries... that means normally you just get on the train.. and then they stamp your EURAIL pass. But SOMETIMES you have to reserve seats on a train.. you know... if its a sleeper train or something.. makes sense.. for overnight trains you want to get a bed and stuff.. but usually during the day its fine. SO we went to the lady and asked "Do we need reservations from Ancona to Firenze (florence)" she says "no" we say "Grazie" she says "Prego".

Sure enough, because we're in Italy, teh train arrives late, so we miss our connector. No worries we say, there's another one leaving in 30 minutes. So we get on the train and think "thank GOD this one is air conditioned" and have a seat. Well then the lady comes and goes on this HUGE rant about how you need reservations FOR ALL THE TRAINS IN ITALY. and we were like "NO WE DONT!" and she made us pay a fucking fine.. PLUS the stupid reservation fee.
SO basically, EURAIL pays for your fare... but there's a compulsory fee to pay for any train that's good.

Tomorrow, helen and I get to take an 18 hour journey through italy and into france. That'll be reseravtion fees up the wazoo. What's really amusing.. is that right now we're south of Meymac (the town we're giong to) and the train goes up to PARIS (WAY the fuck north of where we're going) and then two more trains and a BUS down to where we haev to go. HILARIOUS. good thing that's the best route we coudl take. hahaha. the only reason we're doing it that way though is because otherwise we have to take 3 italian trains, and surely we'll miss ALL the connectors.

ITALIAN TRAINS ARE THE BANE OF MY EXISTENCE.

Other than that we're doing SPLENDIDLY!

(note: this post was originally written as an e-mail to Trevor.. but I thought it was amusing and decided to post it... way to save time Erika.. way to save time.)

Random update from Dubrovnik

So I haven't updated in a while I guess... I don't really remember when... ummm... TONS of stuff has happened!!!! I'll just include the highlights:

-Belgrade was somewhat uneventful, except for we met this randomer named Greg.. he's from Niagara Falls

-We went to Sarajevo.. and it's SUCH a rad place, the city is beautiful, cobble-stone streets and amazing lush hills surrounding it, but soo many shelled out buildings.. went on this tour there and heard a guy who was part of of the war talk about building the tunnel that basically kept everyone in Sarajevo alive during the siege, it was really touching. We also went to Mostar, another town in Bosnia, which has the most beautiful river Ive ever seen. Amazing.

(some RANDOM guy just came up and yelled YOU ARE NUMBER ONE!!!,... oh gawd..)

Anyways... back to what I was writing.... we learned tons of stuff about Sarajevo and I fell in love with that place.

We met up with Greg again in Sarajevo... along with a bunch of other people: Melanie from Edmonton, Melissa from Massachusetts, Jeremy from Georgia, and Jessie, Mike, and Brandon from Calgary... and now we're all travelling together. That makes nine.. in case you weren't counting. So anyways the nine of us took a bus to Dubrovnik with a stop in Mostar and we were greeted by a whole bunch of crazy old ladies when we got off the bus saying "NINE PEOPLE MY HOUSE MY HOUSE!!" it was the greatest greeting EVER. We already felt at home. So basically to make a long story short.. nine people got into a Yaris and a Fiat and we're now staying at a random old ladie's house in Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik is the most amazing city of my LIFE. ALL we've done for the past two days is swim in the gorgeous Adriatic sea in nice warm water. It's been completely awesome.

Last night we went skinny dipping at this little beach we found the day before. We swam into a cave and the little animals in the water make your skin glow..(Dynoflagellates I think theyre called... well we called them THE FLAG... but thats another story. Anyways it was the most beautiful thing ever... and one of the coolest experiences of my life.

Time to go!!! Internet is expensive here!

It's back to just the two Canadians...

Yesterday we had to say goodbye to Pete and Claude... it was tragic. The one downfall of travelling is saying goodbye to the people you meet, knowing that they live INSANELY far away from you. Argh... those guys were friggen awesome too... that was one of the funnest weeks of my whole life. Helen and I decided to leave work a few days early and to visit them in London... so I guess we'll see them again in a few months. Still though... it was a sad night.

Anyways, so now that we've parted ways with the boys, Helen and I are back on our own in Serbia. It was the scariest train ride of my whole life getting here. Crazy people were lifting up the seats and barging into our room all night... and the train would just RANDOMLY stop in the middle of nowhere, not even at a platform! I dont understand!!! hahaha. The best part though was when the border guard goes "where are you going?" "Belgrade..." "WHY?!" "umm... travel?" "ooh..." and looked at us as if we were CRAZY. I guess it's off the beaten path though.. because it doesn't seem as though too many backpackers come to Belgrade.

This city is so strange... there's garbage EVERYWHERE on the country side.. (Romania too) it seems as though they have a large garbage disposal problem here... it's strange. On the train we passed people living in the most deplorable conditions... I mean living in pure shit. It was sad. There seems to be a HUGE difference between the poor and the rich here.. no middle ground. Our hostel is in the centre of town.. and it's really busy and seems pretty fun. It's dirty and loud and smelly, but it's definitely got a different atmosphere. I'm looking forward to Bosnia, we're going there in 2 days.

and then I ran into a BMW...

Budapest, Hungary:

Getting here: 12 hour train ride... no PROBLEM right? wrong. Oh so wrong. We got our own little room thing, with one bench on each side. (We being me, Helen, Claude, and Pete... Claude and Pete are our new british friends that were travelling with now). Anyways, of COURSE we got the one with the broken heater... my goodness... it must have been about 40 degrees celsius in there, and we were supposed to SLEEP. We put all our backpacks on the floor so that we could all lie down.. and we died.. from heat stroke. We all have a new saying now: "I hate you with the heat of a thousand polish train carriages".. hahaha. In the morning, when we crossed the Hungarian border, Helen and I found out our tickets were only good for Poland and Slovakia... not Hungary... so we ended up having to bribe the ticket man with 40 Euros that we got from Pete... thank God for him or we would have been booted off the train in some shit town midde of nowhere Hungary... good. good. Anyways, the guys were with are pure hilarity... the most vulgar people ive EVER met, but good hearted none-the-less.

The city: Budapest is amazing... SUCH a beautiful city, and the most amazing bike lanes for bikers!! I love it! There are about 5 parks and we got here near May day so there were outdoor concerts and all sorts of fun free things to do. Good times. Compared to krakow though it is a little bit more expensive. The architecture here is so cool, the parliament is psycho beautiful and is just on the side of the river, that runs right through the city and separates Buda from Pest. Im fully impressed and glad we came here.

Crazy Hostel Night: On the website for our hostel, it says that its a big party scene, with a DJ until 3am sort of deal. Well, if by "big party scene" you mean the four of us and Chobby the bar tender giving us free shots... and by "DJ" you mean Chobby with winamp... you got it. Hahaha it was amazing, we were the only people here, and Chobby gave us random free shots.. and we drank absynth.. which was BAD BAD news. Bad news. I couldnt see straight, or really FUNCTION. The phone booth really got the worst end of the deal though.. oooh boy...

Bike Rentals: Today Helen and I rented a couple of bikes and took for the hills. All was going swell for a while.. went up a good hill with a beautiful view at the top... went down some fun hills (although the excessively large bike with no suspension was a little scary)... and then we got lost... just kept riding until we figured out where we were. We figured out the only way to get back to the hostel was to ride through the city... so we tried ridin with the cars... and well thats when I hit the curb with my pedal and crashed into a BMW... pushed its mirror all the way back... and then rode away and hid until he drove away hahahahaha. Ooooh dear.

So thats the story thus far... tomorrow were going to Debrecen (also in Hungary) and we dont really have a place to sleep... well see how THAT goes.

Unforgetable, Unimaginable, Unacceptable

Visited Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps today... there isn't much I can type that would convey ANY sort of emotion about it, so I'm not going to write anything about it... if you want to know then you can ask. I don't even think anyone reads this... whatever.

In other news, I can't seem to put up any photos with these computers... so it will have to wait. Oh well... Krakow is craaazy cool, there are two awesome french Canadians at this hostel that I hung out with for most of the night... chatting and drinking freakishly large Heinekens. I'm in love. I am currently listening to the most amazing Snow Patrol song... I'm in love again. Speaking of love: Kebab. Did I explain Kebab? WELL! It's basially shaved meat off of a GIANT rotating slab of meat... with two types of delicious sauce all mixed with letuce, tomato, cucumber, and onions, and cheese in a toasted pita type thing... it's amazing. It's 1am and I'm super tired... it's time for bed.

Frustrations!

So Im sitting here in Krakow, Poland (COOLEST PLACE ON EARTH!) attempting to add photos to this blog and it just will NOT work... so I'll add them to my facebook instead... and I'll try to find a better way to get them on here... Any ideas?? Argh.

Excerpts from my travel journal...

Yesterday was wicked. SOLID day to say the least. We first had a delicious breakfast, then made our way to the S-bahn and took that to the meeting point for the new berlin free bike tour, which was AMAZING. I am thoroughly impressed. Our tour guide was not onlz hot, but reallz cool and entertaining. The historz was interesting, the sites were beautiful and we met some rad people, including three guzs from england. After the bike tour we hung out with the brits for most of the day and prettz much ust chilled out. Then we went on a PUB CRAWL. Now, let me tell you, whoever invented the pub crawl is a GENIUS. For nine euros we got info four or five bars (I forget...) got a free keg, and free vodka shots, poured DIRECTLZ into my mouth. good. We met some REALLY wicked people, (tom, arthur, alex.. you guys rule). and tons of other random brits. Tom, helen and I then attempted to navigate Berlin at 2am.. needless to say I was slightlz intoxicated... I dont really remember a lot about the walk home..other than we looked at a map and i bought a pretzel from a crazy pretzel lady... successful evening to saz the least.

KEBAP!!!

Gooooood food in Berlin guys. Let me tell you! We had Kebap for dinner... and its this ridiculously cheap (like $3.50ish) thing thats similar to a pita.. only with shaved meat and veggies in it and oh man.. I was in HEAVEN. And this thing is big.. I mean I was full after only one. We then feasted on delicious delicious ice cream. One thing that was disappointing however.. is that Haagen Das ice cream isnt cheaper here!!! Everything else delicious is cheaper.. but no.. not the ice cream.

So yeah.. were in Berlin. It was a helish 14 hour train ride from Sion (suisse) with a 3 hour layover in the skeeziest train station ive ever seen (this girl stood there puking, all over the floor.. sick) from 1am till 4am.. then two more train transfers... gawd. That was awful. This city however is awesome, its so dirty and the people dress like the biggest psychos of my life.. but I guess it makes sense consideing half of them were stuck in the communist half of the city less than 20 years ago. The Berlin wall is cool, although highly defiled by lame tourists who write things that they think are inspirational on it.. but are really just lame.

Sion, in Switzerland, was so awesome.. we hung out with our friend Baptiste again and had a cookout on a beach with his friends.. and then trudged home, in teh pitch black, with no lights... slightly inebreviated... over a dam.. and edging along a cliff. For those of you who know me, youll know about my severe lack of night vision.. anyway it was fun because I made baptiste hold my hand the whole way hahaha came out with a few bruises but nothign major.

well.. enough about me, EMAIL ME!!!! I feel really unloved because i only get e-mails from my parents.

baptistes car is called a PUNTO. I love it.

We live in a beautiful world my friends!!!

HELLO!!!

IM FINALLY UPDATING!!! It's been a while... everyone's probably given up on even checking my blog.. THATS how long its been... oh well!

I can't write long because this is costing me a small fortune.. but I'll update from the beginning:

I spent two days waiting for Helen in Heathrow airport.. it was AWFUL. I wanted to die. I couldn't go in to London either because it would have cost me an arm and a leg to store a backpack and take the stupid underground. I now hate england. I then spent two nights in other airports.. Stansted and Geneva with Helen waiting for our friends to contact us so we could go hang out with them in Geneva.. which is in switzerland.. just so you know..

Our friend Baptiste met us in Geneve and we hung out there for a couple of days.. we also found Robyn and surprised her in a hospital... she's in good spirits and has HILARIOUS stories from her Turkey disaster.

We then took a train to Chamonix.. which is where I am now.. and ti was the most amazing train ride through the Swiss Alpes... so beautiful. Chamonix is insanely expensive but I don't even care.. it's so cool here. There isn't much to do though.. since skiing is out of the question.. so we're going to take off pretty soon to go stay with Baptiste in Sion.. then we're off to Berlin!

E-mail me and stay in touch ok!??!?! I miss you guys!!!

I hate packing!!!

So last night Helen and I started taking all the pictures down from our room... it's so freaking depressing. I HATE moving/packing.. it's the worst thing ever. I've come to really like my room at manning... and my bed is SO comfy.. WAY comfier than my home bed.. this is bullshit.. maybe i'll just steal the manning bed. "Hey Erika... where you going with that bed?" "uh... nowhere.. .just uhh... thought i'd strap it to my car and drive around staff housing"... Ah so many manning memories.. (that was some sweet alliteration if I've ever seen it) ANYWAYS... I have ridiculous amounts of energy right now because I rode my bike home from the ski hill today to practice for the quadrathlon.. I'm starting to get rather stoked for that! Chris Martin was at the hill today.. oh dear... he didnt' bring up the new years fiasco so that was good, so far: not akward at all! Today at work, I put a ski pole handle in as my shifter, MAN I'm productive... they really must love paying me..

well speaking of the tercel, i should go make sure helen didnt' crash it.

"You gonna eat that stapler?"

Dedicated to Trevor....

Touring in what has to be the closest thing to heaven...

Monday and Tuesday were nothing short of amazing. Elise, Kevin, Jamie, Jackie and I toured up Fat Dog (trail that leads to the alpine meadows) and over to the same ridge that has the three brothers mountain. We camped on the ridge and then skiid over to the next ridge and down the following day. The weather and snow conditions were absolutely perfect, and we watched an awesome sunset from a snowcouch that we built. Man... what a sweet couple of days... definitely one of the coolest experiences of the season. I'll throw some photos on as soon as possible.

In other news, it was Helen's 20th birthday last week.. and there were a couple of parties in her honour... highlights included Steve getting shot down by Helen after kissing her (!!!!), ruling at the wobble board, attempting to get Helen some balls to kiss a boy (we're children really...), and watching Titanic with a cute Aussie boy (we're also gay...). Definitely a good weekend. I'm going to miss this place when the season's over, the work's been pretty lame, but the people have been truly awesome... oh no.. i'm getting sentimental... better end this entry now

Bear Trap Challenge

I'm standing at the start gate, looking down onto the backbowl, picturing the line I'm going to take... my legs feel funny and my heart is beating fast. It's raining out but noone really cares because the snow is soft and sugary, wicked for teleing. Jamie waves down at the bottom, time to go... I jump off the first mogul, oh crap, lost my balance... make a couple of crappy looking alpine turns... oh well. I bust out a couple of nice tele turns and everyone cheers, I hear Jamie down at the bottom, and Wayne and Ian off to the side. I let out a scream and laugh as I jump off another mogul and land in a lunge. I get to the bottom with a huge grin on my face and everyone is cheering me on. What a rush. Next person down is Justin, he reaches the bottom grinning and laughing as much as I am. We decide this is the greatest day ever. As each person comes down we all cheer and hope for some sweet crashes. Last person down.. it's pissing rain... we're soaking wet... should we keep skiing? Yes. It's way too sweet a day to quit. Rip up Big Spruce with new friend Cory... good times all around.

Later on in the bar there's free beer and nachos, the atmosphere is laid back and everyone's having a great time and remembering funny parts of the race. We drink and eat and win sweet prizes, everyone's stoked and hugging. Thanks to everyone who came out and made it one of the best days of the season despite the weather.

On a scale of one to perfect: Bear Trap Challenge

Reasons I had a shit weekend...

1) My grandma died, that was shit.
2) It rained, and it rained hard.
3) Because of the rain, Streak the Streak was postponed.
4) Because of the rain, there are no customers, therefore the ski hill is closed, therefore no hours.
5) Because of the rain, my room got water all over the floor.
6) I told a boy I like him, and well that just went to hell... I blame the rain.
7) The snow is melting.
8) I want to die.

Good things that happened: I found my fleece vest in a drawer, and I slept a lot.

Reasons I had a wicked day...

1) I woke up, and I wasn't as sore from climbing as I had anticipated
2) I got a sweet snowmobile ride to the top of the orange and then up the hike, and the view was amazing... great way to start out a day
3) I had a super easy lesson
4) Kevin did the flying camel about 3 times today
5) I got to drive the company trucks in the parking lot
6) I got free cookies
7) It was sunny outside all day
8) I sat around a lot today
9) Not only did Kevin do the flying camel, but he did it calling the cat ravens ---> funniest thing I've ever seen
10) Most importantly: I got a sweet goggle tan

weekend away from The Park

Went climbing with Trevor this afternoon, it was fantastic. I feel so good right now, the endorphins are making me super happy :D!!! lol. I really miss climbing every week, it kills me that I'm so bad at it now. GRRR. After all that hard work getting decent at it, and now BAM! Every move feels like I'm pulling a huge weight up along with my body, my hands get all peely and sore, my feet swell and hurt... argh. I'm looking forward to Victoria this fall, I plan on getting a membership to the climbing gym there and rocking that all year long :D. Hopefully this summer I can get in some outdoor stuff....

Time for the long-haul back to the park for another crazy week...

More Winter Photos! :D

Here we are (Joleen, Ryan and I) working hard as usual.... laying around and riding :)

Here we have me looking fabulous sporting a hot headband and long-johns, Joleen attempting (and failing) at setting up a fence, a trip out to Kimchi, and a delicious Cake n' Sauce, courtesy of HUNK OF MAN PAN!!!

Job Posting

Looking for personal assistant to high-maintenance ski instructor. Applicants must be cunning linguists who have excellent blogging wit and mad typing skillz. Some massage experience not necessary but definitely an asset. Applicants must be in physical prime and willing to go through rigorous training. Room and board provided, start date is September 2007, in Victoria. Please attach resume to the "comments" section on this blog.

Serious applicants only. Must be 19 or over, and eligible to work in Canada.

Here are some fun manning pictures :D

somewhere between poland lake and the orange chair...

Last night Brett and I attempted to camp at Poland Lake. Sadly, we're useless, and ended up camping in some random spot under a tree somewhere between poland lake and the orange chair. All in all it was a successful evening, we managed not to get too much snow inside the tent, and we didn't break the stove (which was very generously lent to us by Kevin). Brett however did almost set himself on fire, and by the time we got into our sleeping bags, we were too cold to do anything other than lay there and bask in warmth. I think in my tired ramblings I might have suggested we make out... but nothing happened so maybe that was a dream? oh dear...

Anyway, in the morning, Brett rode a shovel down the orange streak (quite a steep run) and I had a positively GLORIOUS run back down to the daylodge, where french toast awaited. I also got majorly made fun of for getting lost... and I got asked by at least ten people whether I "practiced safe sex". Boy do I love manning park.

The whole experience however did lead me to realize how much I love snow though. I think I would be the happiest person alive if it snowed all year. There's NO feeling like skiing through powder, it's so surreal. yaaaaaaaaaaaayyy!!

On another positive note: some guy at Whistler found my backpack that was stolen a while ago! Now I get my SIN card and my citizenship card back!!! YAAY!!! (Could I HAVE better luck???)

THat's all for now, camping photos will be posted soon.

Valentines day = the pits... thank God for snow!

Today is Valentines Day. The most hated of days... I always end up feeling like garbage on Valentines day, and today was no exception. I hate boys. It did snow for MOST of the day however, and all the trees have snow on them and it's FLUFFY AND BEAUTIFUL. Joleen and I skated home again, and the endorphins from the exercise are rushing through me -- I feel fantastic.

Jess, Brett, Me, and Elise skating down last week... good times were had by all, especially Brett, who had the most epic bails I have ever seen.

Over the weekend I went to a little gathering for Nicole's birthday party. I have to say it was FANTASTIC to see my UCFV friends again, they've been oh so neglected by me :(. SORRY!!!

Here are a few photos:

It was definitely a fabulous night.

I had a sweet weekend actually, went to the movies.. saw old friends again.. Also: GOT NEW TELE SKIS!! OWW OWW!!!! PARTY!!!!

AAAAAAAAnyway... it's time to go crochet some toques... (party at manning!)

Possible Excitement??

Possibly working in Europe this summer? VERY exciting. Apparently it'll take SEVEN MONTHS before I can get a new social insuance number however... (WHO STEALS THAT!?!) so hopefully it still work out... I applied for a position at Fat Tire Bike Tours Berlin... how SWEET would that be? We're also going to apply at some campgrounds and hostels... IM STOKED!!

Erika's outlook on life at the moment: stoked.

WE NEED MORE SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (It still hasn't come :( )

pray for snow!!!

I forgot to tell everyone to PRAY FOR SNOW!!!!!!!!!!

RAIN!?!?!

RED IS THE COLOUR OF ME BEING ANGRY BECAUSE IT'S RAINING.

That's right everyone, you read properly, it's raining, at Manning Park. The rain is melting all my beautiful beautiful snow. And the worst of it all, is that it's not even SUPPOSED to stop being warm ALL WEEK. I hate global frikken warming with a burning passion and this whole entry is going to be a huge rant about its RAINING and I can't even handle myself it's so warm outside.

GHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!

Someone PLEASE tell me its going to be cold and snowing next week.. please... before I go crazy. :(

strange happenings in the tercel

Last night I drove from Manning to Chilliwack, the idea was to leave manning around 4 and get to chilliwack sometime around five. However, I'm absent minded (Joleen if you're reading this... it only proves your point about my mad rushing) and I forgot my wallet. I drove half an hour without my wallet..then turned around to go get it. Anyways, getting to the point.. by the time I got past hope, the sun was just setting below the mountains, and everything in front of me was just a silhouette in front of a gold and orange sky. Mount Cheam just had a glimmer of orange light still hitting the face. It was one of the most beautiful drives I've ever seen. So I'm driving with this amazing view in front of me, music playing loud so I couldn't hear the engine or the road... and I got this amazing feeling like I wasn't even there. I got completely lost in the moment... and i felt like I could just drive forever, totally in peace. I don't know if anyone's ever read the book 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower', but in the book the main character says 'I feel infinite'... and I never truly understood what it meant, but that's how that drive felt: infinite.

Maybe the hole in my catalytic converter has been leaking a few too many fumes into my car....

Is two chocolate bars in one day a little much?

I realized that I eat a lot of chocolate. This week, I ate at least one chocolate bar per day, and today I ate two. And this isn't even counting all the chocolate I eat AFTER I leave the ski hill. That's a lot of money to spend on chocolate. I mean $1.25 per day doesn't seem like much.. but it adds up. I could sponsor a starving kid in Africa for that much... but instead I eat Mars bars... (well lately its been Mars... sometimes it's Kitkat or twiz). The funny part is that healthwise I feel fine about it. I went siate skiing twice this week, and ski touring (see last entry)... so I don't feel like I'm going to get fat or anything. I think next week I'm going to try laying off the chocolate bars. It's going to be hard... hopefully the week isn't too stressful... or I might break.

Speaking of skate skiing, Joleen skid down from the hill with me and Elise (patroller) one night.. and it was great. It was nice to ski down with other people instead of by myself. I'm stoked too, because last night I skated the same route as Kevin...(Kevin skis a lot..) AND he was IMPRESSED> WOO!! hahaha... I live a sad existence.

Anywho, I'm off to go into town, always the most painful part of the week....

Snowmobile rides and touring... life is beautiful.

So the past two days have been ridiculously amazing.

Yesterday I shovelled... all day. I shovelled pit toilets, I shovelled decks, I shovelled a warehouse... I shovelled until I could shovel no more. My reward for shovelling: three snowmobile rides. That's right. THREE. I don't know how anyone else feels about snowmobile rides, but they're pretty much the greatest reward ever

As another reward for shovelling in the rain all day (did i mention it RAINED AT MANNING!? travesty..) Joleen and I got a bottle of vodka and had ourselves a little party at site 33. Mark came along as well, and I swear went completely insane. The evening included an indoor water fight and strip poker (to marks dismay, Joleen and I cheated and he lost miserably). I should also mention that site 33 has no heat, and this morning it was colder in there than outside. Way to go staff housing...

Today was another epic day in the park. It was warm and sunny, and Jackie and I went for a little tour on a ridge off the orange chair. Words can't describe how awesome that was, so I won't write much more about it, other than it was epic.

Helen: you were shmamered and hysterical last night, don't try to deny it. Pirate hooker.

Blogging is for chumps

So I guess I've entered the world of bloggers... after countless hours of mocking blogs and people who blog, I am blogging. What is the world coming to???

I'm really not sure what to write about... let's see, perhaps I should give a little bit of info about myself...

My name is Erika, I live at Manning Park, and I get paid (though not very much) to ski. I like snow, wind, and bluebird powder days. Oh and trees, I really like trees. Ummmmm... I also might have some sort of photo disorder.. I take an excessive number of photos, especially photos of myself and Helen (my roommate).

That's pretty much it I guess... other than I'm single and boys are the bane of my existence.

Today I've done absolutely nothing, because I forgot my wallet at manning, so I have no money. Helen says I should write about how cool she is, but I think she's a pirate hooker.. so I'm not going to do that. My mom just told me that she's going to take me out for sushi later, and that's pretty much the most exciting thing that's going to happen today.

Well, I'm going to try to figure out how to work this website and make this blog look cool. To whoever is reading this, I promise later entries will be slightly more entertaining :D. Don't forget to comment!!