11/21/14 - Daily Grind

I am back to the daily grind!  For me, during the winter, that means teaching ski school at Vail during the day and working support staff at the Red Lion restaurant at night.  I had my first ski school lesson of the season yesterday and it was such an awesome day!  We didn't have enough students on Saturday for me to get a class and I was thankful.  I was actually nervous for teaching my first class for two reasons.  First I thought I might have forgotten all the fun games that we use for learning over the summer.  And second I was worried that my expectations for how much fun I was going to have teaching were too high after such a successful season last year.  Luckily, I was wrong on both counts!  I remembered all my favorite and most effective drills for teaching the kids and I had so much fun!  Teaching skiing might be my dream job.  I haven't had a single bad day at work yet, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that this steak of good fortune will continue.  I have yet to find a place to live for the winter, which is concerning, but I am seriously considering living in a tent in the national forest in order to save rent and avoid living with wild or pot-smoking roommates.  If I can handle the cold for the entire winter I should be able to save up enough money to spend the entire summer travelling and climbing once again!  +James Schafer, +Lee Mebel, anyone else want to spend next summer climbing around Asia?  On a final note, I have to say that the way my life has changed over the course of the last year and a half has been so much better than I could ever have imagined.  Going from being miserable every hour of every day spent at work to being so happy to wake up every morning and teach and ski is something I thank God for every night!