The Big Apple

Our decision to come to Canada came at a cost - missing a family holiday around the states. We were fortunate enough to get some time off work over last few days and were able to join them in New York! Despite a flight cancellation and a bag that didn't arrive, our trip was incredible! We really enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the city-that-never-sleeps, shopping, great food, fabulous Christmas lights, quality family time and lots of good laughs. It was surprisingly warm during our stay, so there will be no white Christmas for the yanks this year.

Spending my birthday in the big apple, watching Peter Pan on Broadway, the festive open air bus tour, and revisiting the understated Thai restaurant, Pearls, were just a few highlights! We were in the heart of the NY chaos with our hotel situated on Times Square, super convenient for accessing all the major city attractions. This was Meg's first visit to the United States and proved to be a great appetizer for the American road trip we are planning post ski season.

It is surprisingly difficult to travel from Canada with even local flights being really expensive. We were not able to get a direct flight to New York and the trip was somewhat reminiscent of 'the great trek'. While the perceived glamour of international travel has proved to be an illusion, we are soaking up the experiences that come with it and ultimately satisfying our objectives of living life differently for a while. Back in Whistler, we are looking forward to our turkey feast and fresh snow that is long overdue!

Happy holidays everyone! Have a blessed Christmas.

Andy

Pretty Christmas lights

Michelle, Nicky and Meg

The New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden

Ferry to Staten Island

Bus tour around the city

At the top of the Rockefeller Centre

Hungry perhaps?

Absolute madness at the Apple store

The Hamann family enjoying a quick coffee

Life in the mountains - part 4

The Luge World Cup (spot the athlete!)

Off to watch a local Ice Hockey game..

Life in the mountains - part 3

Bren and Sam arrived last Tuesday, and we're eager to hit the slopes...

Team ski - waiting for the first bus of the day

Sam and Meg after they collided and took a tumble!

Life in the mountains - part 2

December is here and a white Christmas (the thought of which is just glorious!) speedily approaches. Yeh, its strange not to be able to enjoy the sunny December holidays with our families in SA, but we trust Whistler will put on a good show!

Andy's family are coming to the US in a week or two, and we are hoping to meet up with them in New York for a few days. Its tricky to get time off so close to Christmas, so there are negotiations currently taking place with our respective bosses! If we get the thumbs up, then we will be there over Andy's birthday, yes!

The Luge World Cup is taking place at the Whistler Sliding Centre on 9&10 December, and this past week all the Nations have been training at the track. They chose a bad week for us to be assisting out on the track, as it's forecasted to be bitterly cold! At 10am today, it was a chilly -10C'! The crystal blue skies are misleading.

Brendon and Sam arrive tomorrow evening, which is very exciting! It will be great to have some good friends here with us. Andy is off for 3 days this week, so he will showing them the ropes, while his wife brings home the bacon! ;)

We have really been enjoying the mountain - every trip up the mountain leaves us on a bit of high! I am still pretty wary, and am sticking to the green and blue runs for now. Poor Andy has to wait for me at the bottom on each run, where he reminds me to relax my body and stop sticking my bum out! We took the Peak to Peak Gondola for the first time the other day (see pic below) - it is the longest and highest mountain-to-mountain journey in the world. It links the two mountains, Whistler and Blackcomb, which makes the skiing experience just that much better.

The Peak to Peak Gondola views...

Life in the mountains - part 1

The base of the Whistler mountain

This is the best transport by far!

Another pretty village scene

OC2, the retail store where Meg works

The mountain is open

Having been in Whistler for a little over three weeks now, we thought we would reflect on a few highs and lows of life thus far...

Highlights:
~ Hitting the newly opened ski runs - shredding the 'pow'
~ Our first pay cheque - we are very happy to be able to buy more than just pasta at the grocery store, and we can finally start to sample some of the local brews! Living in Whistler on the ZAR is tough! Less junk food from now..
~ The interesting conversations that we have had with people from all over the world
~ Learning where you can eat cheap and get a discount
~ Our first Canadian church experience – “Church on the Mountain”
~ Trying every coffee shop in the village - Starbucks is certainly overrated and the cosy local coffee houses provide the best prices, festivity and sweet goodies.
~ Being able to walk the streets on your own without a care in the world!
~ Realizing that working here, is not really ‘work’
~ Sharing this amazing experience with each other…

Lowlights:
~ Having to live with the heater on permanently – it turns your skin to biltong (speaking of which… mmm)
~ Trying to explain the political environment in SA
~ Getting stuck in a blizzard at the top of the mountain
~ Having to walk up a REALLY steep, slushy, slippery hill to get to work (now that the slopes are open, we can take the gondola up yay)

All in all, life is pretty sweet right now and things are simple but there are of course a few things that we miss from home..
~ Our familia and friends
~ Being able to speak to someone and they understand you the first time!
~ Woolies rusks, and biltong
~ The warmth of the African Sun!

But there is still much fun to be had in the coming months and much to look forward to..
~ Fresh powder riding at least 3 times a week
~ Starting to plan our post season travels
~ Fresh powder..
~ The Kegels arriving in 10 days!
~ Fresh powder......

Our first few days on the mountain

A 'blue-bird' day

Heading into the blizzard

Coolrunnings

Today I got to go down the track in a Bobsled! With a professional pilot at the helm, we got up to 125 km/hour, and completed 2/3 of the full Olympic track. It felt much like a roller coaster! I had freaky flashbacks of Coolrunnings .. !! You get knocked around quite a lot in the sled, so it's key to concentrate on keeping your back straight (although gravity defies this with up to 5 G's on the final corner) and your neck stiff.

Our back yard

This area is really beautiful with many trails and lakes. Lost Lake is close to our house, and an awesome place to go if you want to get out. People are very active here, and everyone is obsessed about being 'green'. These trails will soon be turned in Cross Country Skiing tracks. Here are some pics of our back yard...

Meg's Skeleton Experience

It's not everyday in the office that you get the opportunity to go head first down an Olympic Ice Track on a Skeleton sled! I got up to 96km per hour!!!

One of my jobs is going to be working at the Whistler Sliding Centre, which forms part of the Olympic Park and is where the bobsleigh, luge and skeleton disciplines were held. It's quite surreal working in such a top class facility...

The track in pristine condition. It's maintained by hand, and is one of the fastest tracks in the world (well there are only 16 of them..)

Meg coming into the out run. No style haha! I hit the walls a few times at the end!

Feeling a bit dazed

The track crew with a sled

So for a general update...

Andy got the finance job with the company that runs the slopes, which is great. He was not too keen that the job is 8-5pm, and doesn't pay amazingly, but it comes with amazing benefits. We both get free ski passes, which is about $3600 saving, and other awesome discounts in the town and the list goes on. He starts training on Monday.

I had an interview yesterday with a lady from the Fairmont hotel, which is one of the best hotels in the resort. She wants me to work in one of the retail stores in town. It's very upmarket, and the clothes are similar to Country Road (yes, I am obsessed I know!). So that will be challenging, but a good change from dealing with athletes. So I am going to take it! It's better than a lot of jobs out there... Like dish washing!

It's expensive to live here though, so need to get earning properly ASAP, but it's coming :)
The slopes should open next week, so we are excited to ski and snowboard. We are currently on the hunt for cheap gear, so will just see how it goes.

Whistler Village

The Olympic Square

The main village square

A good view of one of the two major mountains in the area

This is where we will be staying for 6 months! It backs out onto a golf course, and we are hoping to be able to ski into our back yard, just sayin :)