Adventures, holiday and the like

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Yay free internet! Rubbish space bar though... can't have it all I suppose :-(

Time to re-cap what happened to me in the 10 days I had free;

First things first, I sent the group of and after reassuring them I wouldn't see the ski instructors till feb bumped into one nearly straight away in town! (Sorry Maddy) Was tucked up happily in bed when I got summoned down to the bar in the hotel for drinks. Only a few spritzers I should add. Was too busy trying to deciper the zillertal dialect to drink heavily. And the cheek, one of the lift guys (not scary jumper man) told me whilst clearly battered that I don't know when to stop drinking. How very rude! Must be the hockey girl in me...hoooooo!! Spent sunday doing not very much at all and then mon into innsbruck to meet Derby Mark. I should point out at this point that Mark is a friend from uni, in fact friends with my ex but this is apparently of no consequence to austrians who were determined he was my other half. More later...

So after kaffee und kuchen we headed to the hostel and met one of the other 'Resort Managers'. After a very nice dinner it was back to the irish bar. Monday night special: Zipfer & Tequila €3.50- how can one say no? But I decided i shouldn't desert my old friend Williams Birne Schnaps and a Jäger managed to sneak it's way in too. After some decidedly blokey talk, I hooked derby up with a young slip of an austrian by doing the age old 'my mate fancies you'! Works every time. Despite my efforts she was too young aparently. So after a very garlicky kebab, bed time!

Tues was spent eating and drinking again then off to Mayrhofen. After a quick turn around I took a sceptical Derby to the Yeti bar. Well it would be rude not to! He soon learnt that the 'schirm' is clearly the best place to be. More free drinks and some schnaps we started talking to a family who were there on hol. After explaining that Mark is not my boyfriend (hence his roving eye) we were chatting to their son. A 17 year old giant. Well I exagerate but looked older than 17. He was most upset when I told him he should have visited the week before when my group were here! Wednesday was pretty much the same, back to the yeti! But we followed it up with a trip into Mayrhofen town to the scotland yard bar and then a club/disco. Lots of english people and yet again ran into one of our ski instructors the girls had had their eye on. Bit of a Leo DiCaprio alike. Anyway, I had a bit of a dance which was fun.

Thurs I went skiing solo! Well Derby and Patrick (german guy) were there too. V. icy so my wonderful snowplowing skills just didn't suffice I'm afraid. Still had a few good blue runs. So I was ready for some serious apres ski!

Four schnaps in an hour is my record I believe! Mark unfortunately wasn't there as he was ill. I thought (being the sympathetic person I am) he was just being a wimpy boy. They just can't stand pain like us women! Until that is I got a call from the hotel saying he was in an ambulance and they were going to hospital! Argh, what's the protocol? So after a fun ambulance ride we got to the hospital. No, they didn't know what was wrong so he got kept in over night. In conclusion it was a stomach bug as I also suffered though not as bad. Friday was a write off as i felt rubbish so just stayed in bed (after €75 taxi ride... rip off!) while mark sampled the delights of the hospital another night. Derby, you are a shocking patient!! I was meant to go see a friend that eve and sat but thought

stomach bug + south african friend + lots of alcohol = pain and illness!

so gave it a miss.

Sunday I did trek and I mean trek to Graz to visit an erasmus friend i met in Italy. Whilst she had an exam I enjoyed the virtues of a real city! Wow I love civilisation!! I mean rural austria is pretty but sometimes I just want pollution and shops! Ungrateful, moi?It was cool to catch up even though it did take 6 hours to get there. Next time you come to me!

So... I am in Piesendorf now. Got loads of teachers coming to inspect the resorts today hence why i have a car till thursday. Driving in Austria isn't too bad... biggest problem so far is getting on little motorway slips but I'll crack it! Got a busy few days ahead but looking forward to new snowfall and some more skiing. More beginners- will I never learn how to parallel turn?!! But the ski instructor I've met seems nice and a little closer in age which is always a bonus!

Right, need to get off and do some work now! More surveying where ski schools are and the like. Oh what a life.

Ciao, Tchüß... xx

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