the job search picks up speed

Today I wandered around Banff looking for jobs. I have an interview tomorrow with the Banff Lodging Co., which is the parent company of any number of Banff area establishments.

I'm staying at Hostelling International, now. I have to say, it's way nicer than SameSun. The place was renovated recently, I understand. In any case, it has plenty of sitting areas with toasty fireplaces. My room is in a dorm, but by some twist of fate I wound up with it all to myself last night. Hopefully, my luck will hold out again tonight. Even if it doesn't, I have the big double bed. Booyah!

The pub at the hostel held a jam last night. I mosied on down for it. Felt a bit awkward for the first little bit, seeing as I was all by myself, but I sat down on a bench and soon enough I was chatting with the people sitting around me. Let me see... there was a guy from Ireland who was just passing through on his vacation, a girl from France, and (of course) a whole load of Aussie's.

The guy from Ireland said to me, "You know what they say about Aussies, right? They're like dog shit: they get everywhere."

"What'd he just say?" asked Jessie, an Australian, of course.

"You're like dog shit."

"Oh." Then he told me I reminded him of a girl back home named Katie who worked in a coal mine, and offered to buy me a drink.

You will all no doubt be amazed to hear that I did not drink even one alcoholic beverage all night.

Tonight, I was thinking I might catch a movie in Banff. Yes, I am indeed a party animal.

Not sure if I mentioned my ski adventures in my last post... So here goes. I spent a whole lotta money (ouch) and went out to Sunshine. The weather wasn't exactly ideal, and it's been a while since I last skied, so I was a bit nervous. On the gondola up the mountain I sat with two people from Ontario. The girl was vacationing, I gathered, and the guy (who had a degree in Journalism) was working at the Fairmont Banff. He told me it wasn't as much fun as he had thought it would be, that he spent most of his time with guests, who he wasn't allowed to socialize with, and that there were an awful lot of middle-aged philipino ladies woking there. That being said, they're hiring servers for positions starting in January. I may as well at least drop a resume off.

So, right! Skiing: It was windy and snowy. I lost my gloves god only knows where, and wound up having to buy another pair (more money down the drain... ouch). I wiped out once, on my first time down the slope, but only once. At one point I found myself on the top of the mountain unable to see anything, the snow was so heavy. The one thing I COULD see was a sign with a double black diamond. I was like, oh great, now I'm going to die. But the lift guy came out of his little ski hut and pointed out the direction of an intermediate slope. I had to take it on faith, though, since I couldn't see the signs through the snow. Obviously, since I'm writing this I survived the ordeal. It was fun. I'll do it again, definately, but under better weather conditions preferably.

I miss my family and friends.