HAYLEY'S STOMPING GROUND

Current Events!

Hayley — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 16:18:22 +0000

So i had a whirlwind adventure working in St-Donat, then i took a little trip with my parents and their friends to Le Massif to prepare myself for my adventure to France! Yes France! So here’s a little update from Euro-Hayley! (pictures of all these things will go up on my Face eventually!)
I’m sitting in this mall-like thing in Courchevel, France at 1850 metres. The drive up from Moutier (base town) was in the dark but the number of switchbacks we did (at 80km/h!) indicated intense altitude. The first day was full of headaches and nosebleeds, but my body adapted and I’m even starting to breathe easier. I did get ridiculously drunk last night because i’m a lightweight to begin with, plus the altitude didn’t help my cause! We did a bit of riding today so i got to sweat out the booze on the slopes, but unfortunately a big storm blew up and we decided to call it a day instead of taking the risk of riding white-out conditions. It’s scary when you get to the top and you can’t see shit and the light is flat, not to mention the avalanche warning is up to 3 ( out of 5) so they ‘don’t recommend’ skiing hors piste. Holy shit! I’ve never really had vertigo in my life, but i can now say that it is an uncomfortable feeling. I’ve also never been afraid to ride a chairlift, but there are a couple that I avoid because they’re just too high and too sketchy. They close and open chairs and gondolas depending on the weather, so one minute the jumbo-gondola is safe to ride and the next it’s too windy and they shut it down (dad i took pictures of the winch for the jumbo-gondo because it’s just so huge- 120 people can fit!) So we took it easy today, but tomorrow will be intense powder because the snow hasn’t stopped all day! Pretty sweet for spring skiing! We bought 9 days of skiing in all three valleys, and i was surprised that it wasn’t more expensive! definitely couldn’t get 9 days at Whistler for that price, and it cool part is that we haven’t even made it over to the farthest valley!!
So I’m staying with Christian at his step-dad’s best friend’s apartment, which is sweet because it’s so close to the slope ie. across the street! That makes things a lot easier and cheaper! Courchevel is a rich rich rich rich spot, (i’m currently drinking a can of pop that was 3 euros, but i wanted a WI-Fi access code so i had to get something) so i feel a little out of place, but it’s always fun to pretend for a bit lol. I keep trying to get on a chairlift with prince William, but the english spring break just ended so i think i’m out of luck One of Christian’s brit friends works at a pub and he said that Ginger spice was there, and she ended up pouring a couple beers for them! She’s my favorite!! It certainly is a (rich) skiers paradise!
Tomorrow the storm is supposed to let up so we can see something and actually shred, because the snow conditions are unbelievable for the end of march! But for now, it’s just too dangerous and not worth taking the risk to ride. We still have quite a few more days of riding so i’m not too upset.

Oh, and i’ll have to give Paris another shot, because i only experienced the airport, metro and train station where i didn’t know that you had to pay for the bathroom, and the attendant lady told me off ( like she had never seen a tourist before in her life). yeah funny story, but i didn’t think it was funny at the time. But i’ve been told my a lot of french ppls here that Parisians are assholes but the rest of france is cool… so far i believe them, but i will give the city another shot when we have a day to explore it at the end of our trip. For now, i’m loving the delicious cappappappacinos and the wine and the cheese. We bought a bottle of red for 25 euros which would go for about 150 in Canada. Oh and i had my first real Ractlette experience…..i dont’ think i’ve eaten that much cheese in one sitting in my life! Oh man!

Okay, i’ll try to get my St-Donat pictures up so i can put up pictures from the Massif trip so i can then put up some france pictures!

lots of love
xoxoxoxx

My Adventure to St-Donat has begun

Hayley — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 01:24:42 +0000

Bonjour!

It has been over a week since I arrived in St-Donat and I pretty much hit the ground running! After the intense pre-camp (do not confuse this with training camp) I have been busy teaching snowboarding 6 days a week and doing apres-ski animation 3-4 nights a week. I spend all day at the mountain, then I come to the Manoir to eat dinner with the kids, then it’s off to activities! We rotate through various games, tubing, broomball and snowshoeing to make sure that all the kids get to try all the activities. It’s fun when you get a good group of kids who want to participate, because the games can get pretty intense! After one run with my lesson group on Saturday morning, I have the rest of the weekend off! Last weekend I was able to hitch a ride with a friend back to the Capital so I could get a bunch of crap that I forgot and this weekend I think we might celebrate my birthday with some riding, and then maybe some drinking. I dunno, I haven’t decided yet All the people I work with are super cool, nice and welcoming! I have received pep talks from almost everyone because they’ve all been the new guy at some point so they understand my stress! The French is coming along, but I still don’t feel at ease with the language. I am definitely learning, but the language barrier is still very present and it is frustrating when I can’t find the words. After a long day I find it difficult to converse casually and my french turns more to frenglish because I am so slow to remember vocab.

But aside from the general frustrations of starting a new job in a second language, I don’t think I need to worry as much as a do, because I think it will turn out to be an eventful winter!

Wish List

Hayley — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:32:40 +0000

I have now put my Christmas/wish list on my blog (in the LINKS list), so family and friends can get inspired for Christmas! I know it’s frustrating when people don’t tell you what they want, because when they’re not completely satisfied with their gift and you feel bad because they’re not happy, but you’re also pissed because they could have told you what they really wanted beforehand instead of denying you a long list to choose from in an attempt to avoid looking greedy and materialistic. I want to get everyone exactly what they want so I get it right the first time, and also to save them the trip through the crowds back to the store to get what they really wanted!

Reel Rock Tour

Hayley — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:26:21 +0000

I went to the Reel Rock Film Tour tonight, which was a screening of 2 episodes of First Ascent, a climbing series airing on some new National Geographic channel and then the new film by Big Up Productions called Progression. It was certainly a sweaty palmed kind of night since one of the First Ascent episodes featured a kid who was free soloing thousand foot walls without breaking a sweat…or so it seemed! Progression was a good mix of sport climbing, free soloing, bouldering and big wall endurance climbing, making it a great film for newer climbers who want to explore the sport but also great for motivating seasoned climbers to push their own limits and comfort zones! Chris ’shirt’s off’ Sharma shows off his guns on Jumbo Love (5.15b) at Clark Mountain, CA, making the one finger pockets on the huge overhang look easy.

It was a great way to spend a Monday evening and because of the huge turn out for the screening we raised over 1300$ for the Rock Climbing Ottawa Gatineau Access Coalition! This group is working toward preserving and facilitating access to climbing areas in Gatineau Park and the Valley, and they are looking to fund school programs in the future in order to encourage youth to get active and climb!

NEW new Apartment

Hayley — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:59:07 +0000

Since that last roommate turned out to be a bad apple, I moved out in May and moved in with a friend from first year. After four years of bad apartments, this one is by far the best one! It’s clean and bright and livable, and I’m actually living with someone I know and like so that is sweet. I don’t know how long I am going to stay in Ottawa, but moving sucks, so I need to make some decisions. For now, here are some pictures of the apartment! Oh, and here is a link to some pictures from the summer at the cottage, including the demolition of Aunt Judy’s and Uncle Mikey’s cottage...I can’t seem to load the thanksgiving pictures, but i’m working on it.

New Year, Newish Apartment

Hayley — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:53:16 +0000

So I got a new roommate who is pretty cool, and together we’ve managed to transform the apartment in to a livable space. I don’t have before and after pics, but that would have been nice for comparison. The paint has also brought some uniformity to the place, and made it cleaner looking. It’s not finished yet, but a work in progress. Istill have to paint the common room and then clean up the trim paint. We still need to get more plants, but otherwise, the place is nice. It doesn’t smell like cat pee anymore! ( Cloudy was not responsible for the smell, it was Pablo.)

Prezzies!

Hayley — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:38:32 +0000

So for Christmas, I got a jacket (that didn’t fit) and we went searching for some boots at Freeport, but we didn’t find what I wanted. And since i was feeling rather ill, we didn’t shop as much as I would have if I was well.

So, after we returned the jacket and some fruitless searching, I returned to Ottawa in the new year and continued my search. In the end, this is what I found. Formalish coat, and fun boots!

Show

Hayley — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 04:43:42 +0000

I went to a show with Jenna on the weekend, and the main band was the Idlers, from out east. They were fantastic and I wanted everyone to know! Check ‘em oot

Good site

Hayley — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 04:24:29 +0000

I received an email telling me about this site www.storyofstuff.com so i checked it out, and it’s a 20 min clip about where our stuff comes from and where it goes, and it’s really quite shocking because we’re given a lot of staggering figures about our crippled planet. It really makes you think twice about what you consume and how big your ecological footprint would be!

Pumpkin Carving!

Hayley — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 02:48:07 +0000

So i entered a pumpkin carving contest at work, thinking i could put my unused artistic side to some use. Well i succeeded in winning the prize of 100 bucks! Sweet eh! Here are some pics!