Typical Seasonaire Things

Sorry for not posting for a while, it has been rather manic. This week we have three Indian families, totaling 18 people, 12 children, 13 vegetarians, some who however eat chicken. It's a total nightmare. They asked me this evening to contact my manager and get the company to buy some hairdryers for the chalet. I mean really?! This is not a hotel! Bloomin' ridiculous. I did actually want to cry earlier their requests were just that frustrating, especially whilst i was trying to set up for dinner and they kept interrupting.

Anyway enough of my rant! I have decided to write about a few typical seasonaire things. I know it's a bit of a non specific topic, but here we go.

- The first couple of weeks, for our chalet at least, it was very common to finish service and then go to the pub and drink demi peche or grand peche. This drink is beer with peach syrup. I personally never ever drink beer under normal circumstances, however, a half pint of Amstel with peche is possibly the most refreshing drink after a hard afternoon boarding or stressful dinner service. And at 2euros for a demi its a right bargain for us seasonaires!

- Burn out. This happens after the first couple of weeks of jamming in boarding, skiing, work, late nights, drink and early mornings. You do not realise how much of a trance you are in until you look back and see that you actually resembled a zombie. At one point this season i was actually turning a lovely shade of grey due to burning the candle at both ends.

- Ski/Board related purchases. These tend to happen towards the middle/end of the season, when tips and wages have been saved in order to purchase such items. For example, i have recently purchased a Roxy Ollie Pop snowboard with gold bindings for a very reasonable rate. A friend had a lesson with an ESF instructor, and it happened that his sister competes fro France and is given boards all the time and i managed to wangle a board that is RRP at £400 without bindings for 250 euros with bindings. Nataleon one of our chefs has recently acquired a new pair of skis, and Tina a chalet host has treated herself to some ski boots. The purchase of ski related items is just a natural part of being a seasonaire. Jack one of our chefs splashed out on a pair of park gloves for 150 euros or something about that price.

- Pulling holiday makers. This is a slightly more shameful topic that i shall briefly touch upon. It happens. We all get drunk and chat to many random people and as the vast majority of people in the pubs and club are holidaymakers its an easy thing to happen. Also there is that feeling of anonymity that makes it feel more exciting, you're likely to never meet this person again. For example, i met a rather lovely Irish investment banker from London who must have been about 6ft8 because my head did not even reach his shoulders, it was mental. It is fantastic who you can meet on a night out here and the temptation to take advantage of it just happens.

-Horrible hands. The less pleasant side of working in the snowy mountains. Whether you're chef or chalet host or ski host, we all have pretty minging hands. This is due to chemicals, dry air, tons of washing up and (for chefs mostly) accidental slip ups with the knives.

Well i hope that this was informative! It's time for me to get some sleep, we have early breakfasts all week. I am sure you can imagine the joy i experienced when the guests asked for this! Goodnight folks :)

First whole day with guests

So I was left yesterday to finish the whole chalet by myself, this was a task and a half! But i managed it.
Our guests arrived about 2.30pm, they're all really nice, we have two families, a couple and a group of youths i suppose you would say.
the first thing to go "wrong" was the couple weren't too impressed that there were children in the chalet, but it is a family chalet so there's nothing we could do. they weren't too happy at the idea of kids eating at the table with them either, but they went out for a walk before we could ask if it was alright to do it. In the end we made the decision to have everyone eat together on the first night for the announcements.
Service.... well it was interesting, Ollie dear of him had never cooked in the kitchen before! The soup was too runny apparently, and the chicken and leek pie was difficult to dish up quickly, i ended up dishing up the pie which was served in tea cups! And yes i managed to drop one and smash it, needless to say a cheer went up! it was totally embarrassing.
The lemon tart went wrong as the pastry fell apart! So all in all it was a stressful evening but it went well and all the gusts enjoyed what they had.

I did promise some photos so here they are :)

 The slide out toilet!

The view from my bedroom window

The Balcony

 My lovely clean living area!

Honesty bar

 Lots of snow on the balcony! Got to clear it off by tomorrow lunch for the picnic!