Jesus Christ!

Jesus was born in summer, not in freakin' Decmber. The story of Jesus' birth speaks of the shepherds in the fields with their sheep. Now I am sure it didn't get quite as cold in Jerusalem as it does here in Alberta (-46 the other week!) But still, I wouldn't go out in this-> wearing nothing but a dead sheep.

They moved it to coincide with the Germanic/Pagan festival of Yule and/or the Roman winter solstice festival. Yule-Tide Greetings is a derivation of the Nordic term jultid which translates directly as Yule-time. Sure I actively look out for correlations between the two languages to justify the usefulness of me learning Swedish in the first place, but I thought this one was pretty spot on.

Now I'm going to go take a shower for talking about religious subject matter. Bleh.

Our first staff pond hockey game was awesome. I expected to be liken to Bambi on ice but I actually managed to stay on my feet most of the time (one feet-in-the-air stack was obligatory). I am now getting sucked into Canadian culture and loving hockey. I have borrowed myself a pair of skates and try to get down to the pond to practice my skills whenever I can; roping unsuspecting locals along to give me some tips. I am getting the hang of hockey stops (you'd hope so considering it's a tool I use in teaching skiing), switching, skating backwards, plough stops and even throwing in the occasional spin.

What I didn't enjoy was the temperature on our big day. We went out on the ice in the evening with the temperature sitting around a snot-frosting minus 35. I had to hold my big toe in front of the heater for a solid 5 minutes before I could feel it again after about 20 minutes on the ice. Ouch.

It's amazing how much more seriously Canadians take Christmas than we do. Christmas isn't just one or two days of family meals and a few presents... they set aside weeks of drinking and general festivities. I always wondered why they would labour those nasty parades every year in Perth and now I see it. They are trying to spread the Christmas love they have here- the time and money people put into this time of year is retarded.

Australians are a little more money-minded it would seem. The National Retailer's Association of Australia has announced that sales are way down from previous years and predicts that most consumers down under are holding off for the Boxing Day sales. "Screw Christmas," says Australia "let's wait a couple of days and get more stuff for less!" Damn right.

While I am family and friendless for Christmas I am looking forward to having a few friends come up and visit shortly afterwards so we can sort out some solid snowboarding, ice skating and get champagne-messy on New Years Eve. Yeah.

Oh and speaking of Jesus, tools and Australia; here's a picture of Russell Crowe. Jesus Christ, what a tool.

Funky AND Functional

Back in my younger days I dabbled in playing the guitar. Inspired by my friend Miles, I played around with Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, The Pixies and even the obligatory dose of Led Zeppelin. Over time I managed to build up quite a collection of guitars. Two nylon acoustics, three steel string acoustics, two 12 string acoustics and, thanks to mamma's trip to Turkey, a Saz. I was so proud of my little collection; one that reached its apex c. 2002. Since then however, as a result of moving, selling, robberies and gifts; my collection is down to just 3 guitars gathering dust in my mothers storage. I dreamt of decorating my walls with guitar racks to show off my collection. Polishing them and keeping them in showroom condition. An idea I have always considered to be both funky AND functional.

The Jam

I have been riding the same board and boots for 4 seasons now. That is far beyond the reasonable lifetime for any piece of snowboard equipment.

A combination of shipping charges and excess luggage charges put me off lugging my beast for a 5th season.

So far I've only put 3 days on it and I am still working out the kinks in my stance and riding style, but I love my new board.

Had a nice little wipe-out today. Bataleon's Triple Base Tech means I can get some sweet butters and nice float in the powder; but holding a carved edge? Let's just say I'm glad I was wearing a helmet.

I knew temperatures here would get pretty freaky, but I didn't expect them to get this harsh this early in the season. Last season in Sweden, a hungover day, lots of wind and pretty cold left me with some mild windburnt frostbite. A big part of my chin died and fell off. Painful and ugly, I was lucky it didn't scar. Today I went for a few runs, dressed about as heavily as I could able and I started to get that same sensation on the exposed part of my face. Probably because it was far colder today. Somewhere between -25 and -27 degrees. It was sunny and quite still so I thought I'd be ok. I went for one run after lunch and thought; "Screw this, I'm headed in"

The weather forecast for sunshine tomorrow afternoon is for -45 degrees with a windchill factor bringing the effective temperature down to -59 degrees. After today, I am going to be more selective about the days I head up the hill this season. Besides, so far Sunshine has had more snowfall this year than we got in Perisher all season. They'll be plenty more days to shred the nar'.

Canada eh?

I spent the better part of a year here back in 06/07. I went from east to west and I saw just about every season. I went snowboarding in Whistler, canoeing in Ontario, from drum circles in Montreal to the surgeon's table in Vancouver. Canada has given me mixed experiences in the past but before I made the full switch into Swedishness, I thought I'd better give it one last chance.

A combination of the US economic situation (which has meant the number of international working visas they are giving out has dropped by about 90%) and the Winter Olympics in Whistler (which has meant the number of instructors hired there dropped by over half) has made the snowboard instructor market here in Canada incredibly tight.

This means that I set my sights on other forms of employment and wound back the clock about a year and a half. After weeks of research and a series of internet interviews I landed myself a personal trainer's position at a gym in Canmore, AB. Canmore is about an hour west of Calgary and not too far from a couple of decent sized ski resorts. Approximately 30 mins from Sunshine Village and a little over an hour from Lake Louise. Most seasonal workers live in the next town over; Banff- but the lack of a decent gym and the quieter lifestyle in Canmore has made this
place my home for the time being.


The view here is amazing. I knew this before I came, having looked around at the street view on Google Maps. Actually being here, surrounded by the snow-covered peaks however.. is quite different altogether. Canmore is one of the towns along the Bow river; a stretch of land with massive peaks as far as the eye can see. Right out of the windows of my gym you can see the Three Sisters; so named as after certain snowfalls, they look like three nuns - apparently. I'm not the most religious guy in the world you know.

So far, this have been pretty good. Slowly settling in and enjoying work. I am being challenged all the time and get along well with the people I work with. Our first staff party is just over a week away. We're going to play 5-a-side ice hockey on the pond in town. Unsuccessful attempts on goal have a Jager shot penalty. Amazingly enough my boss is more excited than I am. Wish me luck.