last working day

27/2/15

Today was my last working day at the Chalet.  My last morning meeting, last day of cleaning (until I got home!) my last day of cooking.  As luck would have it I was on breakfast that morning, so by 7:30 I was in the kitchen setting up and by 8 am everyone; including us vollies was in the dinning room enjoying breakfast.

After cleaning up and packing away breakfast, I headed over to Spycher for my last offical morning meeting.  As it was my last working day, us vollies and Jen were doing our final evaluations in the morning before, vollies and interns headed over to Stockli to do our final deep cleaning.  Evaluations took the better part of the morning and before we knew it it was time for lunch.

After Lunch we grabbed all our cleaning supplies and cleaned Stockli.  I have to admit the amount of alcohol /wine bottles we found was impressive! Once we have finished it was as if we had never stayed there at all.

I left at 4 pm to do evening reception.  My last time sitting in the shop looking at all the things I could buy...

After dinner, evening program was


Started on the Vollie book (Every other season said in the book don't leave it to the last night,.... what did we do!?)

moving out of stockli

26/2/15

Our last night in Stockli was unexciting and over too quickly.  My alarm went off and I was up and dressed and in Reception at 8 am.  For the last time I dropped things on the floor early in the morning and woke up Danielle and Sarah in the room below me.

It was only Rachael, Sarah and I working today, everyone else was off to pack and move things across to Stockli.  Even after finishing all guest services jobs, as it turns out, Rachael and I were the first ones to successfully move all our things across to the Attic.

Moving in to the attic!

We spent the afternoon setting up and organising our gear in the attic.  With all of us back in one room again, it was crowded, with lots of gear!

We had Minestrone and Pinwheels (scrolls) for dinner with chocolate cake for dessert.  I was in charge of the pinwheels.  I made a mix of cheese, cheese and tomato, mince meat and Vegemite scrolls!  Victoria and I were the only ones to eat the Vegemite ones...

We spent the night celebrating in the attic (being mindful of the noise of course!).  Cheese, wine, cider, pom bears, pass the parcel (thankyou Danielle) and Rachael and I's movie featured!

 

the ski-venture

25/2/15

Mel and Rachael's Ski-Venture.

Today turned out to be a beautiful, sunny, clear and really fun day.  Rachael and I caught a lift with the ski shuttle at nine am down to Oey, from which we caught the gondola up to the top of Silleren.  From the top of Silleren we skied down to Giles, and caught the gondola back up to Hahnenmoos. From the top of Hahnenmoos we  skied down to Metschmaad and then down further to Metsch.  From Metsch we caught the new gondola down to Rothenbach, and then the bus out to Lenk.

  

Skiing down to Metsch and the Gondola down to Rothenbach

 

Rachael and I 

   

Lenk and the Gondola up

Rachael and I skied down a blue run initially from the top Leiterli to the second gondola station, Stoss.  From there we caught the gondola back up to the top and skied half way down the run.  Then Rachael decided she was hungry so we stopped on the side of the run and ate our lunch!

  

The view from our lunch spot!

After we finished our lunch. (we didn't get run over!) we skied down a red run right to the bottom of Lenk.  My first red run!!  I didn't fall over whilst skiing the run either! I only fell over when we stopped to take a photo next to the red pole to prove I did it!  (On a side note, it is not a good idea to throw your phone down a ski run, even if you are only throwing it 2 m to someone else to take a picture... it ends up down the hill).  

 

Rachael and I headed back to Silleren after we had skied down to the bottom of Lenk.  It took us over 30 mins to get back up the mountain to Metsch where we were able to ski down to Giles. There we caught the bus to Berglager.  At the gondola station we saw Ana and Danielle; they were running the Silleren Hike and Sled day with our guests.  Rachael and I said hi and then caught the gondola back up to the top.  From there we skied down the sled run, passing our guests at the same time, back down to the second gondola station.  Passing Ana and Danielle again, we continued 'skiing' (it was a very very flat, sometimes uphill run) down all the way to Oey, where we arrived at 3:10.  Migue picked us and some guests up at 3:30, there's nothing like seeing the guests and knowing that your lift is coming!

After spending the afternoon packing and cleaning, dinner was Cottage Pie and we didn't have to clean up! Instead we went back to Stockli and celebrated our last night there.  

an inside outdoor bbq

24/2/15

Oh the weather outside is frightful, (definately)

And the fire is so delightful, (we didn't have a fire)

And since we've no place to go (we did)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow (please stop snowing!)

Oh it doesn't show signs of stopping (so true!)

And I've bought some corn for popping (I wish)

The lights are turned way down low (it was so white outside you couldn't see anything)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow (Please please stop!!)

It was so snowy and foggy outside this morning that we decided to change the initial plans around.  We were supposed to be going on the Engstligenalp Hike day, instead we stayed at the Chalet and had a movie and snow fun day. We set the guests up with 101 Dalmatians on the projector in the Conference Room and then in the front yard with the igloo building things.

We had an indoor snow BBQ at 12 pm in the dinning room.  Bratwurst, rolls, salad, and Toblerone were all served from the dinning room table and we ate inside.  It was still really snowy and foggy outside but we headed up to Engstligen anyways.  Migue drove us to the bottom of the gondola in two separate groups, we didn't all fit in the van! I took the first group and Charlotte took the second.

It was so white on the top of Engstligen you couldn't see about 5 metres in front of your face.  It made snowtubing interesting!

 

At dinner, we swapped onto guest services.  We cleaned up after Alpine Mac (yay scrubbing dishes), whilst the guest services team swapped onto program and ran Swiss night.

After dinner we had wine and cheese night in Stockli.  Sarah did everyones make up, Migue wouldn't let us do his though!  It was the last time we would see Mara, as she was going on holiday to Finland.  She wrote us this poem to say thank you and good bye:

“I would like to thank you all,

who live within the Stöckli’s walls,

for this amazing winter season –

you are truly the greatest reason,

for my smiles and all the fun,

and so I’ll miss you when you’re gon’.

I hope your time here was great,

and I must say I cannot wait,

to meet you all again someday,

to sing and joke and just be gay.

Off you go, my dearest gals,

I hope we’ll always stay as pals.

Don’t forget the Chalet’s magic –

that would simply be too tragic.

Travel safely back to home,

whether it’s in Perth or Rome.

Now I must say näkemiin,

‘cause come next morning I won’t be seen.

Thank you, Gracias, Merci, Kiitos & Goodbye, Hasta Luego, Auf Wiedersehen, Näkemiin.”

snowshoeing

23/2/15

Danielle and I were on breakfast this morning.  Bright and early we were in the kitchen setting out breakfast for our guests.  We cleaned up in record time, finishing a minute after nine, and heading straight to the Opening Ceremony.  I was in charge of the Australian flag, and putting it into the flog.

After we finished opening ceremony, there was morning meeting and then as usual jobs! After staff lunch, Sarah and I had a 'Cripples Day Out' to the Recycling Centre with Migue.  We even put Sarah in the recycling to try and get a new one! She didn't find it as funny as we did!

 

 

 After the Recycling Centre we had a break until 4 when we had to cook dinner,  Schooley's least favorite meal - Sweet and Sour Chicken.  Charlotte and I were on evening program, the Magic Tree Snowshoe Hike! We took 16 girls and three leaders on the hike to the Magic Tree, with snowshoes! It was the first time I got to wear snowshoes as well, and let me tell you it's not as easy as it looks! The weather wasn't being very nice in that it was quite foggy and it was snowing whilst we were trying to walk! 

world thinking day

22/2/15

World Thinking is celebrated on the 22nd of February,  and is Lord and Lady Baden-Powell's Birthday.  It is there day where we think about our sister Girl Guides and Girl Scouts around the world, the meaning of Guiding and the global impact we are / could be having.

Happy Thinking Day Everyone!!

I was able to sleep in this morning until 8:30 because I wasn't on breakfast or reception! I am fine after yesterdays fall just a bit stiff!  We had lots of jobs to do today and we spent most of the day being busy cleaning and resetting rooms.  Sarah named the wheelchair lifter after herself after morning meeting, as it wasn't named and as Danielle said "She's the only one who has ever used it!

 

 We had a break until two once we finished cleaning up from lunch, and then it was Snow patrol time with Migue.  At 3 pm it was Sunday Sugar time! Made by Sarah.  She made Chocolate Chip Cookies, and counted it as her traditional dish from her country.  We adapted her Staff Challenge so she had a hope in finishing it!

   

Dinner was Spaghetti Bolognese with Salad.  For some reason Sarah got really into it...!
 

 

After dinner Sarah S. and I ran a tour for our new Guests.

fighting with hahnenmoos

21/2/15


This morning I was up and out by 8 am.  I was heading out skiing for the day by myself.  I walked, carrying my skis down to Oey, and from there caught the gondola up to the top of Silleren.  I skiied for about an hour and a half with no problems.  However that changed one run when I came down from Hahnenmoos heading to Giles.  I decided to pick a fight with the mountain.  I was unable to turn fast enough as I came up on the side of the run, and I plowed into the ice wall created when the run is pisted.  It was pretty spectacular and would have been really impressive if caught on film! But as with most fights people pick with mountains, I lost.  I lost one ski which remained on the run, on pole which went further down the mountain off the side of the run, one ski stayed on my foot and my other pole decided to join in the fight and punch me in the lip.  I subsequently have a lovely bruised and split lip.  Apart from that I was ok (this is why I bought a  helmet!!).  I managed to get up and get my gear back together, and as you know, once your on a run the only way down is in a stretcher or to ski down, so I managed to get to the bottom, but then decided to call it a day.  I headed back to Oey on the gondola and then walked up the hill (slowly and slightly painfully) to Our Chalet.

I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the couch watching movies and with a heat pack on my hip! I'm fine though, just going to have some lovely bruises and a nice fat lip for a couple of days! And it definitely hasn't put me off skiing!

Here are some of the pictures skiing I took before my fall:

 

 

A bridge and the freshly piste run I got to ski on

movie premiere

20/2/15

Today Charlotte, Danielle and I were on breakfast.  We were on a mission to beat the record of 9:20 am, of earliest time of finishing cleaning up with all the people we have had this week.  We managed to be completely finished by 9.18 am, still beating the record!!

Morning meeting and then duties for the day... I vacuumed and cleaned.  I have a new love for vacuuming and listening to music with headphones at the same time.

This afternoon after lunch, we hosted an early World Thinking Day Celebration, in the form of a Q&A session where we answered the World Centre questions that people asked us by using the #AskAWorldCentre.  We endeavoured to answer as many question as possible, in particular questions about working, visiting or  having adventures at the World Centres.  Each World Centre was involved during an hour long slot.  Here are some of the questions we were asked:

What is needed to be a Volunteer?

  

Our 'yes' answer and Victoria answering questions 

 

How far is it from Sangam and Our Chalet?    What's your favorite thing to do on the mountain?

I didn't have to cook dinner as I was on evening reception.  I had lots of visitors as it was most of the Scouts and Guides last night with us before heading howe to the UK.  Dinner was Chicken Carbonara and pasta.

To finish the evening, Rachael and I premiered our movie to everyone in Stockli!  Which I will try and post a link to when we upload it to youtube! or when I figure out how to upload videos!!