Dallon's Blog: The End and The Beginning

I apologize for my blogging neglect once again. My excuse this time is that I simply didn't have much to say. But alas, my time in Jindabyne has come to an end and thus begins a new adventure for me that will hopefully be ripe with blogging material for all 3 of you to enjoy!

First though, I will give an eulogy to little Jindabyne. Since I arrived in Jindabyne I had not once traveled beyond it's borders other than the 15 minute drive to Perisher. All of Australia that my eyes had seen was contained in this tiny town and road to the ski resort. But, Jindabybe is such, that I was quite content with this containment. It's a very tiny town with a LOT of people there. People from all over the world migrate there every fall to staff the positions at Perisher and Thredbo ski resorts. Creating a melting pot of young diversity. In Layman's terms...it was fun! I met loads of people with similar passions for skiing, mountains, and travel. Watching the Olympics was particularly enjoyable as every night no less than 6 nations would be represented on our couches cheering for their countries and against the others. (though the horribly biased Australian coverage made this experience slightly less than ideal for those of non-aussie decent) Americans, Brits, Aussies, Canucks, Argies, Slovenians, Dutch, and more were commonly cheering for their countrymen. Other than the Olympiad, Jindabyne offered little in the way of entertainment. The main attractions being 4 small pubs. You can imagine then, a town with close to 40,000 young people, the amount of business these small establishments were receiving. The effects were seen and heard nightly. Personally I have a strong opinion of those who are under the influence, and I was almost daily affronted by some manner of drunken idiotry. This was my least favorite part... But still almost daily we'd get together with friends from all nations for dinner, or a movie, or for fun and interesting conversation. A sports center offered trampoline aerials coaching. A bistro offered $10 steak nights ( a very good deal). The town itself offered nice parks by the lake with free gas grills. Despite the extreme rurality of the place, seldom did I feel want of something to do. I have really grown quite fond of the place and the people there that are now my friends.

Life at the ski resort was much less relaxed. I find it hard to describe in words what it was like working at Perisher. To put it into perspective, you must realize that most of the people visiting Perisher and taking ski lessons, have never seen snow before. The snow literally only falls on the very top of the highest mountains which very few Australians actually live near. The wonderful world of snowy winter is very foreign to 99% of the population. So the common sense that those of us accustomed to winter and snow inherently possess, is not to be found in our guests at Perisher. Everything from driving on a road with a little bit of slush on it, to waiting in a lift line, are tasks of great disconcern, confusion, chaos, and terror for them. So, being their instructor entails a much greater effort and much lower expectations. Things that seem common sense to me, are as foreign as a Slovakian film about a dooneri chef with Cambodian sub-titles is to them! Add this chaos with a class size of ten people or more, and you have a recipe for a ski instructors worse nightmare. Trying to keep track of, keep safe, and actually teach 9 four olds all while avoiding the hundreds of punters on the hill that have no idea what they are doing, was enough to drive several of my co-workers to the brink of insanity. I barely made it to the end. In fact, despite the odds against me, I even managed to have some fun! I will say this, being a ski instructor anywhere else in the world...will seem like a walk in the park from here on out! And I can't wait, to go for a walk in the park!

As I said though, that time has now ended. I have left Jindabyne (and only now in the midst of the huge city of Sydney have I realized how tiny it was) and started my travels. Of which I will do my best to share with you. So come back oft to find out where I have gone next! Mom, don't worry, I'll tell you where I'm going!