Harry Gets a Job

View from the top at the Patscherkofel ski resort, see across the valley a ribbon of snow at Muttereralm.

      Well the mountains may still look like the top photo, and rides on the lift may still look like the photo below, but ski season has begun here in Austria! This means so has my job!

Riding the lift at Patscherkofel :(

     On 100% man-made snow, I've spent the last week teaching seven little kids the basics of skiing. Along with my co-instructor, we took these kids from holding our hands while learning to snowplow (like this) on Monday, to holding a short slalom race today complete with gates, bibs, medals, and prize gummy bears! Gummy bears were key to achieving this progress, along with snowball fights, frozen smiles, and schnitzel.

Trying to look like a knowledgeable ski guy. 

This week of teaching has taught me a few things, and brought a few others to mind:

• My German has improved a ton this week, speaking all day to little kids who don't speak English, and who laugh at my accent.
• I've also been able to learn some Lithuanian, and am practicing Romanian for the next lessons. Looking forward to expanding my collection of these little cards. 
  
• I've been reminded of how satisfying it can be to teach kids a new skill, and see how stoked they are when they figure it out. Our measure of success was having to chase little skiers down and remove them from the magic carpet line when their parents arrived. I'm thankful that I can make that my job for the next few months. 
• I learned that skiing for two hours in the snowplow position does wonders for your knees.
• On my bike ride home from the bus stop today -- wait this deserves its own point: I achieved my goal this week of biking around town with my ski gear on and skis strapped to my pack. Ever since I saw a video of a pro-snowboarder in Innsbruck hopping on his bike with his board and riding to the lift, this has been the dream, it just seems so... cool. 
• So on that ride today, it hit me that I'm actually living in Innsbruck. I'm riding my bike home from work everyday, coming from my Austrian job! I'm riding my bike home from work everyday, heading to my Austrian apartment! And on the way, I'm passing places that are now familiar, and imagining that "that guy who wears all red and bikes past everyday with his skis" will soon become familiar to other residents of our neighbourhood. Christi and I have Austrian friends, I have work friends! Heck, we have a tube of horseradish in our fridge! If that doesn't mean we live here, I don't know what does. We've been in Europe four months now, and they've been a great four months, but it does feels good to be settling in.

Bonus! Check out this sweet Christmas cookie.

-Harry