slacker...

Okay, so it seems I'm getting slacker and slacker at writing, but that's not really the case! I've been quite busy lately... picking up extra shifts, and being ill (it takes up a lot of time you know?!)

So the last 2 weeks or so I have managed to catch some nasty virus that has been going around - and when you live in Staff Accommodation, you can pretty much guarantee that you're going to get sick! So I was down with a flu thingy, and then it got to my tonsils, which made them unhappy. The antibootics I'm on has made them slightly happier, but I'm taking it easy until i know I'm 100% okay!

Apart from that, lots else has been going on! My friends Heather and Will have finally found a flat (which is a huge achievement here - accommodation is like hens teeth...). They move in on March 1st, and it's a nice big place, so I now have a place to stay in town if living at the Rimrock gets to me - living and working in the same place seems convenient, but I can go days at a time without even making it outside... it can start to drive you a little mad.

I never made it up to Sunshine the other week (due to being ill... grrr) so I'm going out riding with Will this Tuesday - I can't wait - it's been faaaaar too long since I was up the hill (like nearly 3 weeks!) and we've had a big dumping of fresh snow in the last 7 days, so it should be good powder riding! Although it's been incredibly mild today (like +3 or so) so everything is going slushy already... hopefully it's cold enough up at the hill to keep the snow fresh!

On Monday I hit my 2 month mark working at the Rimrock, which means it's only 2 months to go until my time in Banff is up - it's going so fast, and I'm starting to get the feeling I'm not really going to want to leave at the end of it all! The last week has involved a lot of the original 'crew' from the Samesun Hostel heading home - have said goodbye to Seth, Kaz, Hannah and (rumour has it...) Chook... it won't be the same without them! But as people leave, new people arrive - we've had 2 newbies start at work... Kathleen and Marc - both Canadians (Ontario and Ottawa respectively) and they're awesome people. Marc is the craziest guy I've ever met - it's hard to work with him though, cos I'm constantly in tears from laughing!

And I've done it - I finally joined the gym - after 2 months of being an inactive sloth, I have jumped on the treadmill (both literally and metophorically!) and joined the Rimrock gym... it needed to be done (as my jeans from home are no longer in use... they are sitting at the bottom of my drawer, waiting for me...). Once again, due to the illness, I haven't been as much as I like, but we're trying to get a Primrose squash round-robin going... although I'm pretty sure Taki is going to beat us all cos she actually knows how to play. Oh well, it's always good to be humiliated!

The Primrose crew is very multi-cultural... but we have been discovering, that although we all speak english... none of us seem to be able to communicate...
A prime example is Steve and I. He's Canadian, I'm Kiwi... but apparently hedges and hidges are 2 different things... I'm not sure how we got on to the topic (we talk about some random things sometimes) but I said something about a hedge (you know, the planty, shrubby thing that grow between your house and your neighbours...) but apparently I say hidge.... and now he just loves to try and mimic my accent. Ever (aka EvAH) is another word that everyone (not just the canadians) likes to take the piss for!

And my name is a whole different story... when I say Pip, people hear Perp... if they don't get it after 2 tries, I just let them call me Perp.... not to mention what my name apparently means in French, which I'm not even going to repeat.... but all the French-Canadians I meet always laugh and ask if I know what it means... YES, I do, and I don't really need to be reminded!

well, my time on the internet is running up a big bill, so I had best go - new photos up on Flickr too, and I'll try not to be such a slacker in writing - promise an update soon!

xxx Pip / Perp

wow-wow-wee-wow

wow-wow-wee-wow, it's been a while!

Time here is flying - and i'm not entirely sure where it's disappearing to! It's February, and it's unseasonably warm in Banff - today we're on a happy high of plus 5, which is bizzare - it's like summer outside!

After my last post saying work has calmed down, I take it back. The hotel is still relatively quiet, but I've been picking up shifts left, right and centre - I now work for 4 of 5 departments within food and beverage in the hotel! I worked in Eden as a hostess on Saturday night - it's our super fancy 5diamond french restaurant (one of only 10 five diamond restaurants in Alberta)... so the tips from that will hopefully keep me afloat for a little bit!

While I'm on shop talk - we've finally hired 2 new hostesses (well, one hostess and one host) for the primrose - which means I should get my "weekends" back! They're both crazy canadians and good fun!

The hill has been pretty icy lately (due to no new snow) so I haven't been up for about a week and a half... my snowboard is feeling a bit neglected. But my friend Will has hooked me up with a 1/2 price lift ticket for SUnshine (one of the other hills here), so I'm heading up there on Thursday... and it's meant to snow for the next 3 days, so hopefully I'll have some fresh powder to play in!

Yesterday was Superbowl Sunday (which means pretty much nothing to me...) so I went to the pub for the obligitory 1/2 hour to watch a game I can't say I'll ever really get in to. I'm battling a cold at the moment, so it was my excuse for a quick escape!

I hope all of you back home have a happy Waitangi Day - I'm working a split shift so will have no time to celebrate... and being that there are only 2 kiwis in the hotel (and only about 6 in the whole of Banff) I don't think we'll be living up to the Aussie's standards - they all get pretty crazy on Australia Day!

I'll post again soon - when I've done something exciting worth telling you about!

Also have loaded a whole bunch of new photos onto my flickr site (http://www.flickr.com/photos/48847309@N00/) so check them out!