This week was our last full week before our level 1 exam therefore we spent a lot of our time in Happy Valley.
This is where the instructors teach beginners that have never touched skis before, how to ski. Therefore, it was a bit more slow-paced than the previous week but much more in depth. We learnt how to deal with challenges that instructors may face with different students and how to adapt to different teaching strategies.
I really am enjoying learning the best ways to teach beginners how to ski, as you can make learning really fun and interactive. Through taking us all back to the basics it has helped us all improve our own skiing too. By doing activities more slow paced it highlights areas of our own weaknesses that our instructor, Darren, has helped us to identify and work on. This is important as we need to be able to demonstrate accurately and effectively to our future clients. I’ve been working on bending my hips more as I’m too hippy haha!
On Thursday it was Aussie Day??,. The hostel nearby was throwing a big outdoor jump and rail course with music to celebrate. Some of us went to the supermarket bought some drinks and went to watch! It was crazy seeing a skier doing a backflip over a big jump in person! I’m not sure I’ll ever have the confidence to try that one… however there were far too many snowboarders. Which only meant one thing – us skiers had to get involved. The jump we were standing next too had soooo much soft powder underneath it looked like an attractive option therefore we carried our skis up and had a go! No backflips or 180/360’s… we’re definitely not there yet, just doing the jump was enough for us. We had around 5 goes, it was totally awesome, something I’ve never done before but would definitely do again! We didn’t land most but it’s definitely the taking part that counts, plus, who falls the best is usually the most interesting to watch?.
After, we all got pizza and a beer nearby then headed back to have a little get together at our apartment! It was the first we’ve had so far, which was nice as I’ve not spoken to everyone yet so a good way to meet more people on the course.
The next night it was the Friday, where we all get taken out to a restaurant for a meal. Normally we head out after, which after Aussie Day, let’s just say we were feeling a little fragile. We ended up going back to our apartments and having a nice chilled one in our hot tubs after a long week! We’ve got to make the most of them whilst we’re here, looking out at the amazing views of course! Nothing beats it!
On Sundays it’s usually pretty quiet so I went skiing with my roomie for some extra practice before our level 1. The visibility was really clear and bright blue skies so it was the perfect weather on a Sunday afternoon ?. Excited for next week!