The Banff Chronicle w/c 15th October 2007

I've not been able to upload new pictures to facebook or my blog the last few days, because although I get free wireless here at the hostel, it's a bit on the slow and unreliable side. I'll do my best to get pictures up here today and the rest on facebook as soon as I can.

Here's what I've been up to:

The first night I was here I went out with my new BFFs: Kate (Aussie, from Perth), James (Aussie, from somewhere near Canberra) and Chris (English, from Woking!). We went on a pub crawl and they didn't mind one bit that I wasn't drinking, in fact, James wasn't drinking either, thought that was because he was broke. Still, we had a great night and ended up back at my hostel bar till around 1.30am (I'm a dirty stopout!)

Next evening we met up again where I persuaded everyone to come up to the hot springs, and we stayed till 10pm getting very warm, while the air around us got very cold. It was excellent.

Wednesday morning I had my job interviews for Sunshine Village at their hiring clinic (along with basically the entire transient population of Banff). You have an initial screening interview where they decide what sort of positions you'd be suitable for and then pass you on to the supervisors of those departments for more specific questions. I had 3 interviews, one for Food & Beverage Server, one for the Ski School and one for Guest Services. I got the one I wanted, which was Guest Services, which basically involves working for the ticket office doing ticket sales and season passes, that sort of thing. I asked for part-time, so I'll be working there weekends and I plan to supplement the rest of the time with 2-3 nights working in a restaurant/bar in town, giving me the weekdays to learn to ski. I've been provisionally offered something at a restaurant called Saltlik, which looks nice, but I'm going to have another look around tomorrow to see what else is out there.

So job is kinda sorted, but still have somewhere to live to find. Accommodation is a nightmare to find here - I know people who are sharing double beds with near-strangers for an extortionate rent in order to get something - so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my lead from back home - my friend Cindy's brother-in-law who's living and working out here - comes off. I'm meeting him on Sunday to discuss. If that falls through, I'm a bit buggered!

Today the groovy gang and I headed out to Lake Louise and Johnston's Canyon for a day trip. Annoyingly, despite a beautiful blue sky this morning, by the time we arrived at Lake Louise the cloud had come down so I couldn't see much more of it that I could when I want there with Darrell a few weeks ago. Still amazing though, and at least this time we had snow so we could all get a bit excited!* Chris got a bit over-excited in fact, and decided to go for a paddle in the glacial waters. They were 'pretty cold' apparently.

Hostel life is a mixed bag. I quite like the social element - even though it's a bit 'party party party' for my tastes - and it's so easy to meet people you feel like you have a ready made group of friends, which is handy when you're alone in a strange place. We've all pretty much been doing the same things - going for jobs at Sunshine or in town, looking for accommodation - which has lent a certain camaraderie to proceedings. But I'm struggling with sharing a bedroom with 5 other girls, lovely though they all are. I've had no more than a handful of hours sleep since I've been here, because someone is always coming in late and/or drunk, trying to open doors and bags quietly and falling over when trying to climb into their bunks. Sometimes it's me. And there's always people wandering up and down the corridors talking loudly at 4am, while I lie there, imagining sticking something very sharp into their eyeballs. I feel can't really relax, hate communal bathrooms and am mistrustful of other people's washing up in the communal kitchen. Oh and pretty much everyone is so much younger than me I feel like an old mother hen at times (though it's nice when I get carded in the bars and everyone so far has been amazed at how old I am - Chris demanded to see my driving licence and still maintains it's a clever forgery. Bless him.) And as if to prove my point, it's Friday night and I'm sat in my bunk playing on the internet because everyone else is out on a pub crawl and I couldn't face it tonight. I'm just so tired from not really sleeping, I thought I'd sit this one out.

So that's me so far. Banff is really really beautiful and I literally can't stop taking pictures of the surrounding mountains, because I almost can't believe they're real. I'm excited to be living here, looking forward to starting work and learning to ski (oh I get a free ski pass with my new job - did I mention that?) and have met some lovely people. But I get lonely and homesick too at times, so it's nice to hear from home if you have a moment?

*Snow = skiing/snowboarding = jobs starting = money