Hey guys, it’s Judith here.
It has been a few weeks between drinks in terms of blog entries, however we like to make the anticipation for our readers as intense as possible. And not to mention, we have settled in here which means that we are fairly chilled and not much happens on a daily basis. Plus, I’m in bed by 8:30pm most nights as I’m too tired to do anything!
Anyway. Where do I start?
Work life. Let’s start there. So as you probably know, Gary is a lift operator and I am a ticket seller/validator and we have had a little bit of excitement happen in the past few weeks. Gary received a PROMOTION, and is now LEAD HAND of the top of the Creekside Gondola. This is extremely exciting as he will now be earning $11 an hour instead of $10…
No really, it is such a great achievement as not many first year workers here at Whistler receive Lead Hand positions. He has formed such a good relationship with his supervisor “Beaver” that Beaver now calls him “Gary”. And they also skull jugs of beer together at staff parties.. I’ll tell you more about that later.
As for me in ticket sales, our department have so many incentives and prizes and I won a pair of Smith goggles for selling the most multi-day lift tickets in a certain time frame. For me, this was extremely exciting because I never win anything and I think it is a really positive reflection on Whistler Blackcomb for rewarding their staff members. This also helps to stay motivated to go to work and to actually have fun each day.
Before coming to Whistler, the thought of working here on a “working holiday” was really anticipated to be a piece of cake. The actual work itself isn’t all that hard however the mountain is incredibly strict with punctuality and providing amazing service to every guest that we come in contact with. Gary and I check our alarms ten times when we go to bed to make sure they’re set correctly so we get up in time the next morning! Also, Gary’s role is very physical as he is placing people’s skis and boards in and out of the gondola for ten hours of the day. It’s a bonus that I work at Creekside full time (about a 5 minute bus ride from our place) because Gary comes and sees me each morning and brings me a hot chocolate. So cute, right?
A massive adjustment for us has been our income. In the first fortnight in which we had to start paying rent, I was in shock. Our rent comes out of our account before our pay goes in which works out well so we don’t have to remember to pay it. However, they need to leave a minimum of $150 in our account, regardless if we have worked enough to cover rent. This happened to me a couple of fortnights ago. It was such a shock because that’s how much I’d earn in one day’s work back at home, and this was me getting paid $150 for the FORTNIGHT! But you know what? We just manage. Everyone here is in the same position and we just need to budget each week.
The lead up to Christmas was pretty big in terms of celebrations and drinking… Remember how I told you about Gary and Beaver skulling jugs of beer? Well that was at the lifty Christmas Party where I ended up having to go into the male toilets to fetch Gary and take him home because he was vomiting. Myself and our friends have decided that there are many facets of Gary including “Silly Gary” and Sensitive Gary”. Silly Gary was at the Christmas Party and Sensitive Gaz comes out every now and then when he talks about his emotions. Everyone just loves Gary. But what about Judith?
Judith came out and about one Wednesday night, the night of the CREEKSIDE MASSIVE – basically a drinkfest with all those who work at Creekside plus anyone else who wanted to go. It was held at Dusty’s – the one and only pub in Creekside. Pre drinks took place at our next door neighbour’s place and Judith foolishly joined in a game of Beer Pong, and as a consequence of losing, had to do a beer bong. This was the beginning of a rough night for Judith. After arriving at Dusty’s at about 7pm, the beer and shots flowed. By 10pm, Judith was fast asleep in her bed after giving the Dusty’s toilet a pounding with her vomit.
Gary can recall seeing Judith about to be sick in the main area at the pub and followed her into the toilet. He remained in the cubicle with Judith whilst she was terribly sick and after Judith said she was okay to go home, they left. The bus ride home is one that Gary will never forget. Judith wasn’t done with vomiting and ended up throwing up into Gary’s cupped hand before someone kindly gave Judith their KFC bucket to vomit into.
By two days later, most of the crew from Creekside (including managers) knew about that girl named Judith and her drunken antics. And I can’t forget to mention that Judith now has boyfriend of the year. I was told by someone I didn’t know that she had heard a rumour about someone throwing up into her boyfriend’s hands on the bus… I told her this was definitely no rumour and was 100% true. You can’t get away with ANYTHING in Whistler!
The past week has been a blast here because Gary’s oldest brother Dave, his wife Kim and their three kids – Sophie, Tom and Charlie – paid a visit to Whistler. We have had a lot of fun with them, going out to dinners and babysitting the kids and just enjoying some family time at Christmas.
We spent Christmas Eve having an amazing three course meal with the Grays plus wine and cocktails. We then went our separate ways and on our way out of their hotel, the 11:00pm Christmas Eve church service was about to start. If you know me, you would know that I attend church every Christmas, regardless of where I am or what my plans may be. So I convinced Gary that we should just stay for the mass and get it over with rather than having to wake early the next morning.
So we stayed for the church service that went for longer than the usual 50 minutes or so, armed with a shopping bag of wine, beer and Christmas presents. Being at church with Gary was seriously like taking a 3 year old. He complained about something every five minutes and then couldn’t believe that I had fallen asleep for a couple of minutes. At one point, Gary and I were in hysterics, having one of those moments where you just shouldn’t laugh, but you do anyway. It was definitely an experience I’d like to remember for a long time, it makes me laugh just writing about it. Anyway, I thought it was really nice to attend a church service, even if Gaz didn’t agree.
Christmas Day was spent relaxing, before heading to the shops to splurge on food for our upcoming dinner. When we were in the supermarket, we looked outside and it was snowing! Hooray for snow on Christmas Day – it was so exciting. Our pork, roast vegetables and cauli/broccoli bake was probably the best food we’d eaten since being away from home. Soccer Dad Brad and Sarah (Megabite) came over with their dinner and we had a really nice night before combining with the other Baby Kickers for more food, drinks and Secret Santa gifts. It has also been really nice to Skype with our parents and siblings during the week of Christmas as well as a lot of my friends who have constantly been there to chat to especially in times of need.
We were ridiculously spoilt by our parents and my friends who sent amazing packages over for Christmas consisting of clothes, jewelry, Vegemite, chocolate, photos and many other things. Thanks guys!
We had been told by people that NYE was probably the worst night to be had in Whistler because everywhere is so packed and not to mention way too expensive. Some of our local places that we normally get in to for free, were charging $95+ for a ticket and put simply, we could not afford that. That’s like half of our fortnightly wage! We went to Dusty’s as it was free entry before 9pm – and no, Judith wasn’t home by 10pm this time.
We arrived at Dusty’s and thankfully, we barely had to line up. One of our friends Bexc, had to wait in line for 3 hours! Our new year was brought in with an absolute bang. We both had one of the best New Year celebrations we’ve ever experienced. With all members of our Whistler family there with us, it was such a fun night. Those who have Facebook have probably seen my album from the night but here are a few photos..
So 2014 is here and we are both so excited about what this year has to bring! We can’t believe we have already been away from home for two months, and we can no longer say we have “six months to go in Whistler”, as it’s down to four! The weeks really do fly by however we are excited to make the most of each opportunity here in Whistler before setting off to Europe. Speaking of Europe, special mention to one of my best friends Vee who has booked her Europe Contiki Tour. This means that we will be seeing each other in about seven months in Spain along with both of our parents. Exciting times ahead!
Happy New Year everyone, here’s to a year of travel and fun adventures!
xxx
(Thanks Kylie!)
gary and judith abroad 