I have explained the daily routine here, and that certainly has not changed much, but there are a few facets of it that I want to mention.

As far as the who, I have spent increasing amount of time with Nadieh, who as I mentioned before is a very laid-back, easygoing kind of person. A good person to have as a flatmate. When a flood of new teachers came in, I was forced to move out of room 13 and into another which, while not miserable by any means, was a bit annoying, since Nadieh and I still spent all our time in 13 and Berry came there for meals as well. So we took matters into our own hands and moved every ski teacher in the building around (which was a long complex 4 day process with a gazillion moving parts) until everyone was established, happy, comfortable, and we had the setup we wanted. Which was the three of us (and one other who never shows her face) in room 13. This allows us: a good communal place for meals and hanging out, a place to watch movies (which Nadieh and I do a lot), full balcony access with great views of the town and mountains, and simplicity.

The day of moving itself was an amusing one, as we left it until a Saturday (the day we have free) and so spent the whole day getting life organized. This involved a massive To Do list with over 30 items that was drawn up at 8am. It included moving all of Berry's stuff from his old room, my stuff from my old room, cleaning the whole apartment (no easy feat believe me), going on a massive grocery run (also a big deal since we normally live hand to mouth), bringing all our garbage to the hotel that runs this dorm, getting fresh linens, making and consuming 7 meals (a challenge I know; included 2nd breakfast, elevensies, tea time, and Dessert with a capital D. It was, remember a Saturday). The To Do list also included several cups of coffee and a few movies. It was a delightful day, utterly pointless in the best possible way. It was hectic and fun and left us all exhausted and feeling incredibly accomplished for no particular reason. Nadieh also cut my hair, which was about a mile long and is now very short. It is actually one of the best haircuts I have ever had, free, from someone who had never cut hair but had had plenty of coffee, and was done with the tiny scissors on my Swiss Army knife, while we watched a movie. Impressive, no? Even more so are the results...

The day ended up with a vain attempt to vaccuum up all the excessive amounts of hair scattered around the newly clean apartment. My foot got sucked into the vaccuum. Enough said.

As far as the actual day to day life here, I want to give a couple highlights.

The Fliegerlieder (the flying song):
This is actually quite a famous song (look it up please) in Austria, and it is played on the loudspeakers every day at the Ski School at the end of each ski class. We stand in a circle (10-50 kinder and 5 or 6 teachers) and sing and dance to the song. The kids either love it and rock out, or break into tears (no middle ground). The teachers rock out, at least I do, and Gisella has a blast, standing in the center of the circle showing everyone how it's done. The lyrics are (in german): I fly like a kite (flying motion with arms), I'm strong like a tiger (show muscles in time with music), I'm big like a Giraffe (reach for the sky), Oh oh oh (fall to the ground), I jump like a kangaroo (jump three times, not so easy in giant ski boots), I swim in the river (swimming motion, duh), I take my friends by the hand and sing "It's a nice day!" La la la la. It is totally, utterly awesome, exuberant, bright, and fun. Especially after a stressful morning of lifting up screaming children and untangling their skis (yes, skis can get very tangled), dancing in the sun is pretty amusing. And it's easy to make fun of yourself in front of a bunch of Austrians who you don't know, will never meet again, and who are paying you anyway.

The Snow (or lack thereof):
Since I arrived (after a snowstorm), there has been not one drop of snow. It is a disaster. The piste is about 20 feet wide and the snow is universally slush. The brown grass and green leaves and grey rock of the mountain is far too visible and the town is almost completely free of snow. The days are hot, sunny, and clear. It could be summer. Wonderful, but terrible. People vacillate infuriatingly between loving the sun (nothing better than a leisurely drink outside on the patio of the ski school in the sunshine) and mourning and cursing the lack of snow. People, snow-loving people, are seriously upset. Mind you, it is not as bad for us (we aren't paying much money to be here, and are here long enough to be guaranteed snow someday) but the tourists who have paid an arm and a leg to come here are, to say the least, slightly miffed.

Food.
We eat damn well, for a few kids who are budgeting. I have already mentioned Berry's cooking ability (he whips up things like omelettes and chicken satay without even breaking a sweat). Me and Nadieh, meanwhile, have used the same limited ingredients to create a whole range of delicious delights which are all named and patented for when we open our amazing restaurant. These include (of course) P-Gnocchi-O, but also Bono Pasta (made while watching U2's Rattle and Hum), Red Hot Chili Mochas (made while watching the Chili Pepper's Live at Slane Castle), and a variety of other exciting dishes. We always eat a 4-course lunch, something like pate on toast, followed by grilled cheese, followed by tortellini in pesto, followed by milk rolls with jam and nutella. All from the budget section of SPAR (infinitely better than Thorpe's Tesco Express). We also make our own ice tea, which is very economical and sooooo delicious.

Music.
Besides the endless re-watching of U2 and Red Hot Chili Pepper's videos, there is also the endless techno music that Berry blasts on his huge speakers 24/7 (really, he did it at 4am once...ugh...), and there is great live music at the local place Musikafe. One of the shows features a performer called Pete Hoven (brilliantly clever, nay?) who everyone says is one of the biggest rock stars in Austria (cool?...) and who actually puts on an incredible show, just him and his guitar and a beautiful voice and great sense of rhythm and some awesome Bob Marley covers. There is also the music that is constantly blaring on the speakers at the ski school. This ranges widely and depends entirely on which hotel manager is running the restaurant at which point. Sometimes it is Austrian folk tunes, sometimes old classics (my favorite), and sometimes it is a bizarre (and, in my opinion, not very kid friendly) mix of Gorillaz and Outkast and Amy Winehouse. I love to imagine the kids getting back from Ski School and singing to their parents: "Take me back to Rehab I said No, no no."

Language
One of the infuriating and endlessly confusing things about working here is the various languages spoken. Ok so I speak English, which very few children but lots of the adults here speak and anyone whose Dutch speaks perfect Dutch, English and German. So my German is improving and that is very useful too. But Dutch is crucial with all the Dutch people on holiday here, and all the little kids who only speak Netherlandish or Hollandish (same as Dutch). And then there is another Ski Teacher named Jose who I speak Spanish with but who infuriatingly talks to me in Spanish at really inconvenient moments when I am really trying to function in German. And there are plenty of French kids too, which is truly useless and not easy. It just goes in circles and no one seems to speak all of these various lenguas, I mean idiomas, languages, tongues, spraches. Whatever.