Koo the babysitter - What is going on??

14/7/2010
This week has been pretty interesting, its our first week on the snow school Rosta. When I say our I mean the snow sports careers guys.
In the last 3 days on Rosta I have taught twice in one of the days. Two 2 hour kids beginner lessons. I had 5 kids in the first lesson, then 4 in the next and my gosh it was tough. The first one felt like a bit of a disaster, I forgot parts of the beginner progression, and just didnt feel like I entertained the kids as well as they should have been. In my first lesson my group management was all over the show, at certain points I was scared shitless that I lost kids. It was really stressful. I didnt feel like I did a good job and was hoping I wouldn’t get another lesson after, but like London buses 2 came at once and I had my second kids lesson. But almost instantly I was thinking about what I did wrong in my last lesson and it was definitely much better! All in all I was pretty disappointed with myself when it came to my teaching, and it got me thinking about whether I am actually going to take this forward. The whole point of this trip is to discover whether I want to take snowboarding teaching further, based on my first day I wasn’t too sure but it needs more time, and i need more experience.
The other 2 days were spent taking care of kids in the yeti centre – pretty much baby sitting 4-6 year olds. Kind of gutting really because the other guys on the snow sports careers course were all getting teaching lessons. In one respect the supervisor might think he is taking care of me because supervising kids, means on my timesheet I can charge in more time at my teaching rate, where if i was on teaching lineup I run the risk of not having a lesson to teach hence I cant charge in time @ my teaching rate, but money hasnt ever been the main priority in coming out here, if I was money orientated I would still be sat at my desk at Accenture its more about getting as much experience and getting a solid understanding on how to teach snowboarding. In terms of work there is a pecking order where lessons are prioritised amongst staff based on qualifications, full time/part time, years at the snow school and I completely understand this and i completely respect that if there isnt work because we are low on this pecking order thats fine, its just a kick in the nuts when im the one who's "put in the corner" with the kids. I dont want to sound like I am moaning because I am not, when it comes down to it over here, I keep my mouth shut and do what I am told, I am just writing what I am thinking and feeling about the whole situation. I have now completely level setted my expectations that when I am on Rosta I will either get minimum pay with no teaching hours, or I will be at the kids centre that way I avoid disappointment when it happens and I get on with it and focus on the CASI 3 training. If I get teaching hours it will be a bonus for sure.
After today I felt a little let down and gutted. I have put in all this time at the snow school before we were even on Rosta just going in and shadowing, and just being a presence in the snow school, and all that ground work trying to get myself in the circle seems to have got me nowhere. All the politics and inner circles and cliques within the snowschool is such bull shit. The environment pisses me off to be honest. The end of the days are interesting as people are going on about how they've done really well, loads of private (commission based) lessons, or loads of hours teaching and Im there telling them I've been at the Kids Centre and shovelling and you see the smirk on people faces. I definately dont let it bother me I have totally accepted that I paid my way into this snow school and that I am very much at the bottom of the preverbial food chain, lets just say I expect this it in the Corporate world at Accenture for sure, but never did I expect it here. Its interesting. I am on Rosta tomorrow = lets see how it goes.
In terms of other things, I attended staff night out until midnight, had I known I would be taking care of kids all day and not teaching snowboarding I would have stayed out until much later as it was an absolutely raging night. The music was incredible, dirty bass, breaks, drum and bass, loads of mashups..I was throwing it down, absolutely loved it to pieces. I went out with Tony and Toby and it started slow, but we were in full force by 11. A bunch from the snow school were there, but I left before all the crazyiness happened.
Some other good news is training is starting next Monday for level 3 with Robert Gordon. I got my boots warranted finally! I have a brand new pair of painful Ride RFL, $650 NZD boots I got for $50 thanks to Ride Warranty. The breaking in process has been so painful today but hopefully they pack out in time for training. My Ride DH2 is being delivered too!!!!! So I should be all ready for training next week. Dont mind starting training on the Never Summer and fall back on the DH if things get tough but we’ll see how it goes.
People, lets pray, for good weather, snow, snowboarding lessons and all my equipment working!
Peace and love all