The Job Hunt on the Mountain

Day 5

Because we're not moving into our new place until 1 December, we've had to find some cheap accomodation to tie us over until then. During the house hunt we came across a guy called Dave who happens to manage the 3 local hotels in Fernie. Dave, a fellow Aussie (are there any Canadians in Fernie?) has hooked us up with a room above the local pub, the "Royal Hotel" for a very reasonable weekly rate. The room is on the grotty side of things, and I'm not brave enough to wear bare feet in the common kitchen and lounge area for fear of what might attach to my feet. But its home for the next 10 days and has free wifi, so who can complain!

Having secured the accomodation, our next task was to find a job. We printed our resumes at the local job centre and put on the charm for the day ahead. We've decided we'd love to work on the mountain, which is about 5 minutes drive from the town itself. So, we walked to the "Hitching Spot" and waited for 5 minutes with our thumbs out until a car came and picked us up. All the locals are incredibly friendly and although I had a mental flash of "Ivan Milat", its all very safe and secure. However, unfortunately British Columbia has now made hitch hiking illegal so we're not quite sure how it will pan out for the rest of the season, but we'll work it out.

The mountain doesn't open for skiing until 5 December. Although there's a fair amount of snow by our standards, we've been told this is nothing compared to what it should be. Fernie is known for its deep powder snow and judging by the last few days where it has been "Pukeing" snow pretty much non-stop (a Canadian term) we're in for a cracker of a season!

So we got out of the car on the mountain which is still quite empty given the 5 December start date, trying to find someone to give our resume to. It was a bit of a ghost town up there. Top marks for Wes who has the complete dedication for job hunting and oozes charm and charisma at every opportunity while keeping his smile. On the other hand, I have now worked out that my shoes are not water proof and so I trekked around the hill with wet socks in sub zero temperatures. Needless to say my temperament didn't quite match wes'.

During the hunt we ran into a girl in a work uniform leaving the Lizard Creek Lodge (a 4.5 star hotel on the mountain) so we asked her if there were any positions available up there. And indeed there were. In fact, her boss DOuglas was interviewing as we spoke so she recommended we continue up the hill and do our best. So we hightailed it to the entrance to the Lizard Creek, introduced ourselves to Douglas and both did an impromptue interview for the Front Desk positions while he was sitting at the front desk. During my interview a family actually arrived to check in at he hotel and the dad confused me for an employee. While Douglas was sorting out the payment, the customer asked me what was happening in Fernie over the weekend. I mentioned the one and only thing that I knew about Fernie, that the Fernie Ice Hockey Team, the "Ghostriders" were playing that night, and he was impressed, as was Douglas. The same thing happened to Wes during his interview. Nothing like doing the job during the interview! The interview questions were pretty standard, but quite hilarious at the same time. I was asked "how did you hear about us". I tried not to say "we didn't hear about you, we just ran into a chick down the street" and instead said that my parents had stayed there before and I've heard its a fantastic place to work. Ha! Wes was asked what professional skills he'd like to improve as the front desk person. As far as I can tell, Wes knows how the answer the phone, so I don't think there's a hell of a lot of professional skills to learn there. I think Douglas realised we're the most overqualified people for the front desk but would still love a job. So we'll see what happens.

As a bit of a change of pace, last night we went to see the Ghostriders ice hockey. How fantastic! The arena is pretty tiny but there'a great atmosphere with people banging on the plastic as the players bash into the sides. The best part were the fights. Incredible!! In the final five minutes the arena went silent - 2 players had pulled off their helmets and gloves and were circling each other in the middle of the rink, sizing each other up and ready to go in for the kill. Both teams were just standing still and watching. So were the referees! Suddenly they pounced and the 2 players were belting the crap out of each other with blows to the head and everything. THe crowd was going wild! The referees went in to break it up and I'm pretty sure they were getting in on the action as well. It was the funniest thing I've seen and Wes and I loved it! Fernie won 6-1, what a smashing. Go the Ghostriders!!!

Now its the weekend and the snow is still falling. We're having a lazy day in our room in the pub after a non-stop week.

I'm not sure if anyone reads this. But hello to everyone that does!

Cheers

Claire