Après-Megeve

The time has passed rather quickly. It's already been over 5 months since I left for Europe. It seems like a long time to see a lot but there's so many things I've been thinking of doing still. There's only a few more weeks left here in Megeve, it all finishes up around April 20th.

A few places have been thrown around from travel talks with friends, Asia: Thailand, China, Japan; South America: Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Chile. I really want to make it to Cuba, a trip very few Americans can say they've done. But all those places are a far trip away from the vast array of opportunities I have so close to me here in Europe. I think this summer might go something like this...

Head to San Sebastian, Spain to meet up with Sabrina Harper who's at culinary school there. Make a few stops along the way to Covilhã, Portugal to visit Anna Hardaloupas who's been teaching there. Get a glimpse of Porto and Lisbon from there. That should take me to the middle, end of May, at which time Morocco would be next after a flight out of Madrid on EasyJet. The staff here at Stanford want to make that a place for a bit of a reunion and everyone so far seems to be on board with that.

By now, the start of summer will be just around the corner. Chancee will be finishing up her masters over in NY and will be going to Croatia to visit the family. I've got to try to convince her that driving all across Europe for the rest of the summer is the best idea. She's coming to Megeve in just a few days, Feb 20th, so I've been preparing my persuasive essay as of late. My host from Vienna, Darko, grew up just outside of Split in Croatia and he's said there's many hidden treasures to be found in the country.

From Croatia I'd want to head back to Slovenia as the 24hrs I spent there back in Oct just wasn't quite enough time. An eastern European tour from there, driving down through Bosnia, Serbia, Macedonia on the way to Greece to catch some sun on the beaches there. Then shoot back up heading through Bulgaria and Romania. From there I'm not sure which way to head. Do I go further east and go towards Moldova, Ukraine, then Belarus or go back west a bit to Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic, the last two places I've visited already for a bit. Going the bit more western route, it would be a bit closer to visit Poland. After either of those routes the same Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia route would be up on the itinerary.

Of course, all of these plans don't encompass the idea of traveling around Europe and refereeing soccer tournaments. That's a whole different set of travel plans. Possibly something to do another year. There's many more years to come exploring the vast world. I've even been looking at a trip to catch a glimpse of the Aurora Australis from Antarctica rather than NZ or AUS. Click on the image to see a real un-edited photo of it!!

Waiting to get into the swing of things

Over at Sylvana we're still waiting for our first guests to arrive on Thursday. It's only going to be 2 of them and they won't even be eating here the first two nights. All the other chalets have guests now. The Rond Point is full up, loaded with kids and vegetarians with about 4 different menus for the chef to have to deal with over there. The others, L'Etrier and the Clochettes next door have just a small group of people to deal with.

There's still a few more things needed to get sorted out so that every thing is ready for the first group of guests that arrive on Sunday. We're looking forward to getting into a steady rhythm for the daily routine. We've been all scattered about, being sent to the other chalets to get things up and running for them.

Friday's are our day's off for the whole company. We're going all try and head to the slopes for some much desired skiing and boarding. I know I need as much as I can get as I'll be soon guiding the guests around.

First day of skiing

Today was our first day of skiing. We headed off to the slopes around 10am and I was there until 3:30 in the afternoon. The day started off quite slowly with 4 falls in a matter of about 300m right from the start. No one I was with knew I had only skied for about 5hrs back in HS. We made our way over to the second set of lifts to the red "olympique" run. The pistes are rated from the very easy green, easy blue, difficult red, to the very difficult black. Olympique was a red rated piste. I arrived to the top of the Rochebrune peak at 1754m and knew this wasn't the time to give it a go. I took the lift right back down.

After getting to some more level snow I finally met up with Sumo. He's one of the ski instructors from ESI that works closely with Stanford Skiing and the guests. A few of us spent the rest of the day taking lessons from him. By the end of the day I almost felt like I could go and takle that olympique run. I didn't however, a few more days on the green and blue slopes.

Come Stay in Megeve

For those of you wanting to come to stay in the French Alps this ski season, look no further. While I'm working in Megeve, I'll be allowed visitors 1-2 (maybe 3) at a time. There is a list of particulars from the company on the do's and don'ts.

I'll be at the Sylvana location for the season (address in contact details). I have a room to myself. It's very small and space on the floor is available. There is also a chance that space could be available with some of the other workers. If you're lucky there might even be an open room (not likely though).

If you want to visit, let me know the possible dates so that I can put it on the visitor calendar and send the details.

Work and Borat's Mom in London

After two months traveling around Europe I headed back to London for a month before I leave for France on the 9th of Dec. I had to get back early to attend an interview to receive my National Insurance Number. Everything seems to have went well and hopefully it should be on its way. The next issue now is to figure out how to get my EHIC card (European Health Insurance Card) so I can travel in the EU and be able to get medical care if needed. I need the NI number to get the EHIC card supposedly.

I spent just over a week walking into places, calling around, looking for a live in job at a pub. I ended up finally getting a call back from a recruiter who knew of a position available at a pub in NW London near the Hampstead tub stop on the Northern Line. I had a tril shift on Tuesday the 16, and started full time on Saturday. The name of the place is The Old Bull and Bush. It was renovated in what some might know as a typical Lincoln Park yuppie renovation. It used to be an old style place as it dates back to 1721, one of the oldest pubs here in England.

During last week I had heard that there was going to be a group of three women coming into the restaurant to have lunch. Some flowers arrived and they were addressed to Mrs. Baron. Turns out this is the same Baron Cohen from the well known British Actor/Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, better known as Borat. I happened to miss here that day as it was my day off but again today she had a group of 12 friends in for one of their birthday parties and I had the opportunity to speak with her.

Work is calling me back once again. I much preferred the 3 months off with traveling to having to work again. I hope the time in France will be a little less hectic than it is now. I'm earning quite a bit though because I just don't have time to spend anyting so that's a positive.