I am not dead.  I am very much alive and enjoying the final days of my working holiday at Panorama Resort...  When I have the time and inclination I shall be doing a major update of my site :)

Kia ora,

It’s been an age since I’ve updated my blog. This goes to show that wherever you are in the world, away from home, it is so easy to get caught up in everyday living and forget to take time out to reflect on and share your experiences. Actually, it just probably reveals that I ‘m an extremely blogger!

Today it is white outside, breaking the snow drought that has been in effect since, well, pretty much the beginning of January. The bus ride to work has been a little depressing in the past couple of weeks as much of the road has brown grass and bare rock face and the mountain streams are starting to flow – all of this reminds me that the end of the season is rapidly approaching, and that I need to be making plans for the summer. Conversely, the end of the season also means a trip home to see you all! I’ll be back for a couple of weeks, from April 9, for my sister’s wedding (which I’m really looking forward to) so it will be lovely to catch up with all those exciting things that I’m sure will have happened in my absence.

These past five months have been an amazing time. I have really enjoyed my time in Invermere; the snowboarding, my first flatting experience, volunteering at the library; I certainly feel ‘at home’ here.

My flat consists of myself and two other girls: Phil and Michaela. Originally we had me, Phil, and a couple, Al and Kate; but Al and Kate moved to mountain accommodation a month ago because of work schedules and transportation issues. We all get on quite well together, but what makes things a bit more special is the fact that we live in a housing development with other similar-aged and like-minded Panorama staff as neighbours. There’s a real sense of community: the flats share resources like internet connections and computers, and we pop over to the each other’s houses for drinks or to watch sports, etc. It’s not a wild party place but we do have quite a few get-togethers (this is by way of an explanation for any Facebook photos you may have seen!).

My best mate here is Pablo. He lives next door and we spend quite a bit of time chilling, watching comedy DVDs or playing Wii at each other’s houses. Pablo is Chilean, and he has introduced me to ‘Chilean Hotdogs’, Piscola, a smattering of Spanish and desire to visit Chile. A Chilean hotdog is packed with tomato, mashed avocado, mayo, ketchup and mustard; and Piscola, considered the iconic Chilean cocktail, is a drink made of Pisco (a Chilean/Peruvian grape liquor) mixed with cola. I now know one or two phrases in Spanish, and, looking through some of Pablo’s photos and a book lent to me, I see that Chile is quite a picturesque country with loads of beautiful geographic features and would be well worth the visit. I’m sure I’d have a rocking time!

Pablo is a good snowboarder, too. He and Luis (also from Chile) cajoled me up the Toby Chair lift and the Mile One Quad the other day. This marked a huge milestone for me, the first day off the magic carpeted bunny slope and on to the real mountainside. It took all my courage to get up there, and in many respects it was the idea of chairlift that was more daunting than getting down the slopes. I do not exit the lift gracefully – I prepare to disembark, flop to one side and skid belly-down the tiny slope at the end of the lift. Once I’ve pulled myself up, waved regally to the lift attendant who is pissing himself with laughter, I get out of the way of any oncoming skiers. Riding down is a great feeling of achievement though, and makes the hundreds of dollars I spent on boots and bindings for the snowboard seem worth it.

Every Tuesday I volunteer at the Invermere Public Library. The staff seem to like me, and there was talk of a paid position over summer. Sadly, this didn’t eventuate, but over the next week or two I will be doing some paid relief work, which will be a nice bit of extra income. The library has a small permanent staff of three – Ginny, Leah and Liz – who manage day to day services and programmes. Volunteers come to shelve and sort the books; though I hijack the counter and do interloans, too. There is also Kitty, the library pug, who features prominently in most of the library’s publicity. She waddles around, purring and cow-eying everybody in the hope of some treats.

The community really supports the library. Just a few nights ago the library ran a Lego night, which was a huge success. It drew a crowd of parents and children who engaged in Lego based activities such as building model cars and racing them, seeing what they could create with the 62 pieces of Lego given them, and building Lego scenes from their favourite books. There have been a couple of other recent events, like a session with local children’s singer Oso Simple and, when I first arrived in Invermere, the Friends of the Library ran a silent auction that raised a good sum for the library. All this is great for putting things into perspective: Invermere Library may not have access to as many databases or the other ‘flashy’ resources that a large, city-based library system has but it has heart and does an awesome job serving the community.

Anyhow --- that about sums it up. Quite an epistle today! I gotta dash or else I’ll be late for my stint in the library.

Take care and keep in touch,

Sam.

Most of you probably know that I did a coffee making course before leaving for Canada . Those who worked with me know that I really supported (a) local business by purchasing and preparing coffee at Aladdin’s kebab shop in Tawa. My new financial 'sinkhole' is Gerry’s Gelato. Gerry, the owner of the coffee shop, is just a couple of years older than me; he parties with the Pano seasonal staff, and also happens to be the mayor of Invermere! Gerry is kind enough to let me buy and make my own coffee, and he has shown me how to make a leaf pattern while pouring milk into an espresso. It’s quite an art, and I have only had one or two 'successes' so far.

Kia ora from Invermere,

It's been snowing out.  Snow makes for warmer days; when it's brilliantly blue it can get well below minus 10.  This is all a.o.k provided you dress for it.  And it's vital you do.   The other day I left the house without gloves, it felt warm in the sun when I stepped out but I quickly returned, however, as my hands became numb after less than half a block.  That said, the icy cold does make you feel alive.  Invermere is a beautiful town and I had a grand time taking photos of the frozen lake and the deer grazing in someone's back yard.

The house I'm living is a pretty swanky.  It's part of a newish complex of townhouses.  We have 3 bedrooms, the bathroom and the laundry on the top floor; a large, open plan living area, kitchen and balcony with barbequeue on the second level; and below that, the foyer and garage. 

My housemates are a good bunch.  On our first night we had a barbequeue with some of our Panorama colleagues who share the same complex.   We are all of a similar age and temperament.  From what we've heard, they put the younger and rowdier ones on the hill to keep an eye on them.   In light of this, my original disappointment at not being on the mountain has disappeared.

I don't have regular internet access yet.  A group of us are going to get it hooked up soon.  There is free wireless at the local library, a 10 minute walk away.  I've expressed an interest in volunteering at the library once I have my work schedule sorted.  That should be fun.

Over  here in Canada there has been a huge push to vaccinate the public against H1N1.  The H1N1 vaccine is free to all Canadians, and the regular flu vaccine, as in New Zealand, is available to those who meet certain criterion.  There was a free clinic here on Wednesday offering both the vaccines so I checked it out.   I  got the H1N1 vaccine and when, out of curiosity, I enquired about the regular vaccine, the kind lady gave me that as well - even though I didn't meet the criterion.

Not too much else to report.  My job starts on the 9th of  December so I'm trying to live frugally, which is not too easy here...Anyhow, enough jibber jabber.

It's been a while...My time in Vancouver is coming to an end; on Tuesday I fly to Calgary and from there I shuttle to Invermere.

My accommodation in Ivermere is not on the hill as I had originally hoped.  It is in the town, one block from downtown amenitie.  Panorama HR say there are advantages to town living and they are probably right.  At least I get my own room and twin bed.

There will be four of us living in the house.  Two of us are guys and the other two girls.  Two of us are Kiwis and the other two are Aussies.  My roomies will be arriving in Vancouver over next couple of days.  I look forward to meeting them!

During the past couple of weeks I have picked up four days of work (general grunt stuff) and I've been developing muscles in places I didn't know I had places!  On the days I worked I had to get up at 4.45am and make my way down to the offices of 'Labour Unlimited'.  There I would wait for about 3-4 hours before finding out whether I had work.  I've been pretty fortunate as there has been a job for me every time.

My first job was a killer eight hours of shovelling, raking cutting and duct taping.  I was so spent and blistered, had stabbed myself multiple times with a craft knife, and felt as if I had been riding a long horse trek.  Then I got two 4 hour swamping shifts.  Swamping involves unloading trucks and, depending on the load, this job can be a breeze or a hard slog.  It's fairly tedious either way.  My last job, on Tuesday, was pulling up tiles from a large pet store in Richmond.  I was wielding a mechanised shovel/cutter for about 7 hours getting even more blisters, and arms buzzing from the vibrations.  I've called working quits for now as I don't want to be completely spent before heading to Panorama. 

One of the highlights of the past week has been attending the 'Eastside Culture Crawl' with Robin.  The Crawl is a 3 day fine arts event held in Strathcona.  It features 300 local artists, and during the 3 days many of the artists open their home studios to the hoardes of Vancouverites doing the Crawl.  There's some amazing art out there.  My favourite studio was one where the sculptor made furniture out of helicopter and areoplane parts.  So cool.  And having a friend like Robin, who's so well connected with the arts community, means I get an insider's scoop on the Vancouver art scene.  Not only that, Robin is a great friend who shows wonderful hospitality.  I'm thankful for the turn of events that brought us together the last time I was here.

Anyhow, gotta run.  More in the not too distant future.

It’s been almost a week since I landed in Vancouver, and so far I’ve packed a fair whack in.

My first three nights were spent in hostels. Hostel number one, the Samesun, was in a great downtown location but had small dorms with shoddy, wobbly, ladder-less bunk beds (I got the top!); loud, boozy inmates (mainly Aussies); intermittent wireless; and their idea of a free breakfast was toast and coffee. Hostel number two, HI Downtown, was paradise situated on a leafy side street; spacious dorms; considerate inmates; reasonably consistent WIFI; and a free breakfast of bagels, muffins, cereals and fruit.

Accommodation is very expensive in Vancouver. It is also getting increasingly hard to find as the city prepares to host the winter Olympics. Currently I board with a woman and her 27 year old son, and for the same price of the hostel I get my own room and three meals a day. Sure, it is quite a distance from downtown but the public transport here, which has integrated ticketing, is very good! I’m just a couple of blocks from the new Canada Line – a flashy, automatic light rail built especially for the games (very fast, and very regular) – and half a block from a bus that takes me downtown. Tickets usually cost 2.50CAD but a 73.00 pass lets me ride any time as much as I like for a month.

I haven’t got a job yet but I have only just applied for my SIN (Social Insurance) number. Legit employers won’t take you without your SIN. Once the SIN has come through I might check out Labour Link, which does day by day employment. I have been warned, however, that this is usually done by the homeless and down-and-outers, and that the pay is not great. On the plus side, it is work that doesn’t require commitment and may be just what I need to finance the fun things that one can do around here.

So far I’ve caught up with Nathan and Bronwyn, some friends from New Zealand, and reconnected with Robin and Chris, some people I met on Granville Island last time I was here. Robin, a stalwart of the Vancouver Arts Club, has taken me out to lunch and tomorrow night we’re going to Urban Improv a theatresports show in which her friend and renowned comic, Ian Boothby, performs.

Much of my year has been about getting to Canada this November. There's been a whole of lot preparation: getting visas to Canada and the U.S., getting a seasonal job at a resort, resigning, packing, tidying, ... Conversely, there's been whole lot of inactivity, long periods spent playing the waiting game - a game I'm getting better at, but still cannot master!

Over the past couple of weeks the pace has picked up, however.  I've finished work, my bedroom has been packed into banana boxes, and my suitcases are almost ready to roll.

My itinerary, for those who are curious, is as follows:

Sunday 1 November

• Leave Wellington 3.00pm, AirNZ flight -> AKL
• Leave AKL 7.30pm, AirNZ flight -> San Fran (arrive 10.45am)
• Leave San Fran 7.30pm, United Airlines -> Vancouver (arrive 9.59pm)

I time travel, losing a day as I go.

When I arrive, my first month will be spent in Vancouver (unemployed at this stage) before I head to Panorama in December.

I hope to keep you all updated with my journeys through blog, video and email.  So don't be strangers.  Keep in touch.

For those of you who couldn't enlarge it on the front page.


A recent technical glitch has provided the perfect excuse to revamp Samway.  I've had a ball mucking about with different components and modules and all the hoo-ha that goes with my content management system.  Anyhoo... this ahould result in a better, 'more usefuller' website to communicate the adventures of my big OE.

And boy is it approaching fast, eh?  Come Novemeber 1 I'll be winging my way to Vancouver, Canada, where I'll be spending about a month before my job begins at Panorama Mountain Resort.    It appears they've just launched their Winter website, so do take a peak (oh, pun so intended!).

Origninally I was going to be a clerk in Lusti's Cappuccino bar, however I need to be back in NZ for my little sister's wedding and, unfortunately, the timing means I'm unable to fill this role.  But the good folks at Panorama found me another job:  I will be as a room attendant.  It will be 4 days on 3 days off, leaving me with a nice long weekend to ski, use the resort facilities, or explore further afield.   Awesome.