Oops

(Imperial Bowl!!)

Ooops haven't blogged in awhile...Kinda forgot about it with so much going on these past two weeks. Lately my lessons have been pretty good. I had one student for about a week and he was visually impaired which was a new experience for me. It took some getting used to but I really enjoyed the lessons. He had a pretty short attention span and thoroughly enjoyed giving me a heart attack. The lesson was challenging and took some getting used to in order to figure out what rewards worked for him. My last day with him was so fun, my brother and mom had just gotten in the night before so Chris decided to be my volunteer for the lesson which I think really opened his eyes to what kind of work I was doing. The next day momma and I spent a girls day shopping and catching up on everything which was amazing! I skied that afternoon with my brother and did a few black diamonds which was a nice change of pace from my usual lessons. That night Kevin came over to the condo for dinner and a game of Farkle with the fam which was so much fun. It is really nice because Kevin fits into the group really well and has fun with it. My brother however hauls ass down the mountain so keeping up with him is ridiculously difficult but so much fun. Kevin and Adam joined us for a few runs which was fun. The next day (Christmas) Kevin, Adam, Chris and I skied all day together which was AWESOME. We went up to the Imperial Bowl which is double black terrain and hiked up to the top of the peak which was expert only terrain. This scared the bejeezers out of me but I am so glad I did it. I felt so good about my skiing afterwards and had such a blast. That night the boys ad Charley came over for Christmas dinner. We all scrunched into the living room and ate together then played Apples to Apples which I really enjoyed. The fam left yesterday which was a bummer because I really enjoyed having them here and spending time. I love my family so much and when we are all together its so nice. My last two days of lessons have been great my student is so much fun and such a jokester which is awesome. He skies blues which makes for a fun day. Tomorrows lesson is a different boy but he is a sweetie and great skier. Can't wait for more lessons!

xoxo

-L

All types of great folks

Hiya!

Alright so lets fill ya in on the last few days...Recently we had a group come that was from Africa which is crazy and super cool. My girl was from Kenya and had an awesome story. She was different from the rest of her school group in that they were living in a more civilized area however Doris actually lives in a mud and grass hut with her tribe. I honestly don't think I could do it justice if I tried to spell out her tribe name so just imagine =). Anyways Doris was the apparently the first girl from her tribe to be allowed out of the group to be educated. In her tribe they believe women are something you own. Women don't have a say and can't do anything without permission from the men. Somehow she was given permission to be out and about learning. She hopes to be a doctor someday after university. She is currently the equivalent of a high school sophomore. All of this I didn't know until later which would have been nice. She was my first lesson that I was the lead instructor and I had a volunteer with me. My volunteer was great, he had taught skiing for about 15 years before he got a virus that ended up getting his legs amputated. If you know me at all you would know that I was just chatting away to Doris telling her about gliding on one ski and two and turning stopping etc etc. She nodded and tried her best but her efforts never came out as I explained and I couldn't figure it out for the life of me. Later that morning I overheard one of the assistants to their group saying her incredible story and mentioning that she is just learning English. This would have been a LITTLE nice to know before we started the lesson. Once we figured it out she was great at follow the leader. She progressed nicely and seemed to really enjoy herself on the slopes.

On Tuesday I had a day off which was MUCH needed after 8 days of working. I spent the morning relaxing with Bethany (Adams girlfriend) watching a movie. Then I headed out to the slopes to snowboard for a few hours to expend some energy. This seemed like a great idea...until my binding broke. Now let me tell you this binding breaking sitch must have looked really cool if you were on the lift above me. My foot came out of my board and I did a rather graceful 360 down the mountain and the BOOM I blew snow everywhere. The mountain safety guy came over to see if I was alright and I was fine minus being at the TOP of the mountain with a broken board and a loooong hike down. This guy was awesome and offered me a ride down, little did I know it was from the ski patrol sled...awesome. I was pretty nervous my boss or coworkers would see me on the sled and be pissed/upset thinking I was hurt. The ride down was awesome, ski patrol was incredibly friendly and were a fun sled ride down the mountain. Hopefully this will be the last time I am on one of those sleds or need their assistance. That night we had a clinic to learn sign language which I was dreading but actually turned out to be really cool. I learned and retained a lot which surprised me. I can now say all the essentials for a lesson via sign language.

My next day was spent with a visually impaired client (VI). She was a total sweet heart and incredibly cautious almost to a fault. She was making great turns and has awesome speed control and stopping however she didn't want to go down the hill faster than walking speed. She explained that previous instructors really made her uncomfortable by pushing her to ski too fast so I tried my best to be patient and practice skiing backwards while we had a girl talk session skiing down. Even though each run took roughly 30 minutes I was more happy that she felt safe a secure on the mountain otherwise her experience with us wouldn't have been fun.

Today I was an awesome day since I got a surprise day off. I was supposed to drive to Denver to drop off clients but they ended up canceling one of the vans trips so I got the day off besides having to do the end of trip van checks. This morning I made Strawberry jam since I despise the grape jelly we have in our current collection. It came out delishhh and all over my nice newish shirt (bummer dude). After this I went out to watch the Poor Boyz productions team filming some guys being crazy and doing jumps off our ropes course on their skis. It was pretty awesome to watch them bust out these crazy moves. After that Kevin and I went down to town because he wants to find me a Christmas present but can't figure out what to get me. It wasn't very successful since pointing out presents I want is super awkward... =) After that we went and ate our lunches and people watched til we met Charley on the bus headed to the Dew Tour for some free schwag (sp?). The Dew Tour was cool with lots of bro bras and free stickers galore! I got a cool free bandana and some bright orange shoe laces. After this we went to the "adopt the interns" dinner at the Sullivans. I had no idea they made houses this big...literally the BIGGEST mansion I have ever seen in my life. They made us a delicious dinner and a ton of appetizers while we decorated their 30 ft tall tree. It was such a nice time and I really enjoyed talking to Don Sullivan about his life working for GM and traveling all over. He has lived some crazy places and has such a passion for it. After that we headed home with full tummies and a bag left overs YUM!! Tomorrow we get a tour of Keystone Mountain should be a great day!

xoxo

-L

Ski Spec exhaustion

( Chris [left] and Eddie[right] )

Ski Spec has been the most tiring thing I have done in a loooong time, holy moly! I am going into my 6th day of work on an 8 day stint and I am pooped out. I have loved all of Ski Spec and teaching Eddie how to mono ski while learning a lot myself. We were accompanied for the second part of the week by Chris Devlin Young who is basically a paralympic badass. He has been in the sport for over 20 years so he kinda knows what he is talking about. Yesterday night it snowed a ton (14 inches). Lots of snow is great except when it is my week to shovel and would y look at that folks it is my week...greeaaaat. As if my back isn't sore enough from a long week of fun now I get to shovel a bunch of snow in the morning before work. Today I had a lesson with a mono ski again but my participant was about 12 years old. Poor guy was not used to the cold weather and it was pretty chilly and windy out today. After just about every run we needed to go inside and warm up so that he could hold up his outriggers. He was a trooper and made it through the day which was great. He came with a youth at risk group from his school. They come out to Breck 9 times this season and learn how to ski/board. The week has been so much to take in but I have really enjoyed it. I finallh feel lik eI am in the right place at the right time and with all the right people. It feels pretty dang great!

Night,

xoxo

-L

Ski Spectacular

So I am in my second day of ski spectacular which is a huuuuge program we do in Breckenridge at the Beaver Run Resort. This program invites the wounded warrior program to come out and ski or board. All of the people we are working with are previous soldiers or their family who want to learn to ski and snowboard. A lot of our lessons are adaptive lessons for amputees or paralyzed soldiers who have been previously hurt in war. My current student is a guy named Eddie who has all of his limbs but was injured and is now a T7. He is paralyzed from just above is belly button all the way down to his toes. Eddie has an awesome attitude and is a really great guy. He is from Arizona where his wife and 2 yr old daughter live. He has been working his butt off trying to get his mono skiing down so that he can move up to more difficult runs. I am doing some instructing myself but mainly a lot of getting him on and off the lift and picking him up when he falls down which has been quite a bit since he is still learning. The head instructor for our group is a guy named Kevin who is the US paralympic ski racing coach. Kevin is an awesome guy and really cool to work with. He has been trying to talk Eddie into being a racer for them but first he needs to learn how to race. The setup the racers get is pretty awesome because everything and I mean EVERYTHING is paid for...housing, food, gear, etc it sounds legit! I have really been enjoying my time so far and hope that I stay with this group the rest of the week. I was told last night that I was going to be leading a lesson out of our ski office (separate from ski spec) with a young man with autism and it scared the bejeezers out of me. Here I thought we weren't teaching until February and I'm already on a lesson..WHAT THA??!?! Either way it was super cool that they put me on the lesson so last night I studied up and did my homework on working with this population. This morning I grabbed my gear from up the hill and skied down in the powder which was awfully difficult. I was stoked on powder until my skis decided to super suck and not go anywhere so I got stuck and it was a long haul. Once I got to the office I was told I was moved off the lesson and my boss told me I needed to haul ass back up the hill with my 30 pounds of gear to make it to a staff meeting. It was a nightmare to get up there...ugh! Anyways I got that all sorted out and we were good to go except I couldn't find my student today for a good while then we couldn't find his ski and well it was just a mess.... Once we got that sorted we hit the hill and he kicked but making TONS of progress! After today I am soo pooped out and ridiculously tired I don't know how I will do this everyday but I can honestly say even though the days are long and I don't get paid....I friken love my job!!!

miss you all!!

xoxo

-Leah

I love my job!!

So it's official I love my job!! Wednesday we learned how to bucket people and also tether them in the sit down ski's. This was a beast to figure out because the person is essentially teeter-tottering trying to stay balanced while you allow them to ski forward til you can get tension in the tether. It takes time to figure out but we spent all day loading and unloading people and tethering down the mountain.

The best part of yesterday was that KADEP one of our groups we work with was coming in to get themselves fitted for the ski's. At first I was really nervous because it was our first group and I didn't know how to talk to them or act and I was afraid I would say something stupid. I did my first wheel chair transfer yesterday and that went well. We got my participant Sue fitted in a ski and ready to go. Sue was so beyond excited to be up in the mountains and on the slopes again. Before her accident she was a kick ass tele skier and cross country skier so she was missing the snow.

Today we actually went on the mountain with Sue and that was a totally new and exciting experience. She hardly ever stopped smiling which was awesome, she had such a great attitude. The hardest part about working with Sue was that she was cognitively on point. She knew everything that was going on and what she wanted or needed but her issue was that she couldn't get the words from her head to her mouth. She mostly made sounds that you could kind of tell what words they were but when we didn't understand which was most of the time she would get so frustrated. I can't even imagine what it would be like to know exactly what I wanted to do and not be able to actually say it to the person. We finally decided to write out the alphabet on a piece of paper and she would spell out for us what she was trying to say. This was great because our conversation got away from only yes/no questions to actually hearing about her life more and her love for skiing. Today was so fun and kind of tiring but I can't even explain how awesome it feels to see someone like Sue grinning for 5 hours straight. Knowing that I got to be a part of such a great experience is just so rewarding. The good news was that I felt really confident on the lesson. Sarah the lead instructor allowed me to take the lead on loads and unloads every once in awhile and I didn't mess them up so that was great. I really enjoyed working with Sarah she is around my age and has an awesome personality and is so easy to get along with. Overall I absolutely LOVED today and had such a great time that I can't wait to get back on the mountain with whoever comes our way and shoot down the mountain.

Meetups

Tonight I dragged Charley my partner in crime these days to a meetup event which turned out really cool. Meetups is an online social group of people with special interests. They are categorized by area and then by interest. The group I joined was for newcomers to the Breck area in order to find new people with similar interests. Tonight was "girls night in" so about 15 of us went to Alex's (the organizer) house to have a fun spa night. Charley and I enjoyed the time spent with other people away from our intern group. As much as we love them, 12 people living and working together 24/7 can get to be a bit much and it's only the first month of being here! YIKES. I heard about this through my mom and figured whatever I will listen to her every once in awhile. Once I found one I told Charley about it and crossed my fingers she would come with me because I didn't want to head out on my own, especially since I had NO IDEA where this was and I am ridiculously bad with directions. My travel partners in the past can account for that. I can't tell you how nice it was to be in an actual house and not our cabin. The change of scenery was awesome and the conversation was great. We talked about travel, friends, family, food etc. I got my eyebrows waxed which was VERRRRY necessary considering the lighting here is a joke. Picture this, Me standing in the bathroom mirror eyes squinted trying to find the stray hairs with m headlamp on....can you say super geek or what?!

Today on the mountain was a lot of talking time which always kills me since I have the attention span of a goldfish and by about 5 minutes I'm tuned out in la la land. We worked on bamboo pole techniques which we had done before. In the afternoon we worked on how to get on and off the lift with the ski legs. The ski legs are essentially like a walker on the mountain with ski's on the bottom to help people stay standing when they can bear weight but don't quite have the motor control to stay stable.

Kevin tethered me on the ski legs and led me down the mountain which wasn't too scary. Then we switched and I tethered Adam down the mountain. I really like hanging out with these two, they are so fun and we are all just goofy together. We're like the three muskateers here, we take our lunch together, go to town, pair up etc. It woks out well since Kevin and Adam room together and Kevin and I are a couple the three of us can just hang out and it's no pressure and all just fun times.

(Me and Kevin)

Well I'm pooped out and tired so off to bed I go!
Miss you all
xoxo
-L

A little Thanksgiving vacation

It's weird how the last week or so I have been dying for time off to just chill out and enjoy the area but now that I have 4 days off I am bored out of my gourd...Don't get me wrong the time off is wonderful but I don't quite know what to do with myself now that I don't have to report to the ski office every morning and spend the entire day there.
Today I was pretty stoked to have gotten on the mountain for a half day. I was able to rent a board and boots for cheap and jump on the bunny hill. I was pretty nervous since I haven't been snowboarding in aaages but I managed alright. I have never been able to ride toe side without eating it hard and wanting to quit. Luckily I think all this ski talk has helped me understand edges a little and surprisingly it helped my snowboarding tremendously! I stayed on the baby hill for a good majority of the day since Gene always says don't head up the hill until you have the fundamentals down. Fundamentals took me a good 2 hours and then I decided to brave the big girl chair...I jumped into line and tried to look like I knew what I was doing. Anyone who thought I knew what I was doing was HORRIBLY mistaken haha. I was totally surprised that I made it off the lift without crashing and burning but all's good in the hood. I headed down the mountain and was linking turns the entire way, I could not even believe it. I was literally grinning, no joke kid in a candy shop mondo grin. At one point when I was going down the hill an entire chair of guys were yelling stupid things at me and I got so nervous I couldn't remember how to do anything, I kiiiinda panicked haha but no worries folks I recovered. After my awesome day on the hill I headed back up to the cabin where I had forgotten what a ridiculous hike it was to get back up. Charley, Chris and I are in the middle of a good chick flick of The Devil Wears Prada and then I'm off to bed!
Hope you're all well!
xoxo
-L

Cold days in CO!

Alright 13 below last night...FREEZING!!! Besides it being so dang cold things are good! Yesterday we were on the mountain all day in this freezing cold. We practiced the Bi-ski stuff. We practiced moving around with our ski's on pushing them and turning them without people and then with people in them. We practiced loading them on the chair lift and off the chair lift. It was pretty fun and it kinda felt like driving a racecar...AWESOME =) After lunch we started actually putting people in the chairs which is kinda scary. This is mainly because if you accidentally dump them they are strapped in and can't get out of it so they are stuck lying down on the snow til you get to them. My biggest worry was accidentally dumping my person into the pit in front of the chair lift. When my turn came I was pretty nervous especially because I was steering Brian (a 6'3"ish guy) around with the help of Tim (who is smaller than me..) Between the two of us it was interesting especially when it came to getting the chair of the lift. As it turned out I ended up dumping Brian off the lift and then managed to get hit by the lift myself...honestly a very funny sight had it not been us!
Last night was pretty dang cold and walking down to town this morning was still freezing, I thought my ears where going to crack off like icicles. Today we are heading to Jaime's house for Thanksgiving with all the other loners who are left here. There's only 5 of us left here so it's a bit more quiet which is nice. I'm looking forward to my 4 days off here so relax, catch up on sleep and hopefully get on a snowboard. Off to cook our portion of the Thanksgiving dinner!

Miss you all
xoxo
-L

busy busy busy

I have been quite busy lately with all of our work stuff. On Thursday we went out with Jen one of the full time staff and she did a day specific to working with kids. This was pretty cool learning about the difference between and adults posture and a child's posture. Adults are able to separate movement between the top and bottom of their body. Children however turn all in one movement. When you ask them to look to the left their whole body turns left rather than their torso and head turning separate from their hips and legs. This reminds me a lot of when I was first learning how to drive. As I merged onto the highway I would look over my shoulder to see if their was a car coming in my lane but this would almost always end up turning the wheel with the movement...not safe haha. Now as a more experienced driver I am able to look for cars without turning the wheel as well just as a more experienced skier would be able to make a C shaped turn without rotating their entire body. This was really challenging to get sorted out. Jen had us pair up and try to get our "student" to "pour the cocoa out of their boots creating a shift in weight that doesn't carry all of their body in the turn. We did one run where our student was deaf and talking to them telling them how to do it wouldn't work. This looked like a bad game of charades on my part because I don't know sign and neither does my partner so I was just trying to show with my hands and arms how the turning was supposed to look. My attempt was not very good and my poor student just about went off the edge because I couldn't communicate that they needed more edge on the snow.

Friday morning consisted of more lectures for a few hours. We learned more about the sit skis and fitting them. We took turns fitting each other in the 4+ different types of sit skis we had. This seems like the bajillionth time we have done sit ski stuff but it had been very educational. After this part was done we had lunch and then headed up on the mountain to do a "free ski" day. This consisted of the instructors meeting up with us on the mountain and getting paired off into groups. My group was my roomie Amy and I with a girl named Ashley. We spent the afternoon hittin' the slopes and getting feedback. Ashley watched us go down the mountain and gave us pointers. I was exhausted by the end of the day, there were so many things I needed to work on it was a bit overwhelming. Trying to stay out of the "back seat" of my skis, getting my shins to the front of my skis, arms forward, arms up, relax, athletic stance etc etc the list went on for days. At one point she told me to pretend I was riding a horse so I wouldn't keep my legs so close together while I skid. No kidding I think I looked like a crazy person swooping down the slopes in what I'm guessing looked like someone who peed their pants or something. It was awkward and horrible but she made me do it the whole way down on top of everything else I had to think about. NOT MY FAVE....anyhoo after this awkward moments filled day we went back to the ski office and had a BBQ with everyone to mix and mingle. I am realizing that the BOEC is very much like a family. They take care of us interns so much and really value us a lot. It feels really nice to know that they think we know what we are doing (even when we are all confused and lost). I recently found out that over 100 people applied for this internship and I was lucky enough to get 1 of 12 spots. I had no idea how prestigious it was to work for the BOEC. I also learned that the BOEC is the #1 adaptive ski program in the world. As I hear these I wonder how in the world did I end up here doing this? How did I get to lucky to have gotten such an awesome job with awesome people??

Speaking of awesome people, I feel like I have really gotten more comfortable here with our intern group. I have gotten really close with a few of the interns and am becoming closer with the others. One intern Kevin is from Holland and he and I get along really well. We are super silly and goofy which makes working with him fun and easy. Not to mention he is helping my mom plan her trip this summer to Holland. His roommate Adam is also pretty awesome, his sense of humor cracks me up. Between the 3 of us it's constant jokes and laughing which is awesome. Yesterday Amy, Charley and I went to Walmart to get a few things we needed. This was Charleys first trip to Walmart so obviously we needed a picture of her in front, ULTIMATE TOURIST =) I sort of made her do it but I'm sure it will be on her Facebook in no time! Last night we all got dressed up in goofy outfits for our roommate Wendy's 24th birthday. The boys were all in dresses that looked just stunning and the girls all had on funny outfits as well. After our family style dinner we changed and headed downtown Breck for some drinks and dancing. I had so much fun dancing m butt off at Salt Creek. At one point a group of us were having a dance of in the middle of the dance floor. All the best moves came out like The Sprinkler, the basketball shooter, the funky chicken...ALL THE BEST MOVES! Today we had the morning off which worked out great since we were all in need of sleep, showers and food (no way would we make it for our usual 7:30am meeting time). This afternoon we had a seating clinic with a professional wheelchair fitter named Joe. Joe was a wealth of knowledge and had all kinds of tips. He also brought with him a multi gold medalist adaptive mono ski champ who gave us personal anecdotes about the perfect fitting mono ski seat. This part was interesting learning about how to accommodate for different things such as shortened ham string muscles or tband issues. All of this is factored in to their seat fitting because it essentially is their ski boot and if it doesn't fit them well it can throw off their entire day of skiing. After this was over we headed home for burgers and movies. Kevin and I ended up hanging out just typing on our computers and chit chatting, I also managed to find a good Jodi Picoult book that I am loving. Kevin decided that he is going to get me to learn dutch by the end of our 6 months here. First step is going to be a dutch book that he plans on sitting with me and teaching me to read...this should be interesting!
Hope you are all well, miss you mucho,
xoxo
<3 L

Such an awesome day!

Today got me so so sooo excited for the work I am learning to do. We spent all of today on the mountain with Jeff one of the head guys at BOEC. He taught us first to ski without poles which I have never done before but it felt great. The funny thing was it kind of reminds me of the feeling of skinny dipping, you feel so naked out on the slopes! After this we learned to do synchro with our student. Charlie and I stayed together as partners all day and she is an awesome partner. I love working with her and hearing her wonderful UK accent of course =)

(My partner in crime today Charlie!)

Synchro essentially is turning at the same time as your student to that you are shadowing them exactly, this also helps to keep rogue skiers from flying down the mountain out of control and crashing into them. After synchro we learned to use the bamboo pole technique. This uses 2 people in addition to the student. We put a bamboo pole across the front of us and use this to control their speed and teach them the feeling of turning.

(To the right is a picture of some of the interns doing the bamboo pole technique, the middle person would be the "student")

After this technique we used something called a Tip Retention Device or " Edgie Wedgie" this essentially keeps the tips of the skis from separating so that they are able to put themselves in a snowplow position without crossing the tips and tumbling down the mountain. When my turn came I actually found it to be very helpful, it encouraged me to keep semi-equal pressure on both feet as I turned rather than picking up my inside foot which is my usual tendency. After the Edgie Wedgie experience we stopped at the bottom of the hill to talk, one thing Jeff mentioned was never let someone in an edgie wedgie start slipping backwards because there's no stopping them til they hit a full blown splits. Jacob, poor guy was in the edgie wedgie and got a little turned around...i.e backwards and it was too funny watching him slip backwards away from the lifts and into 3 feet of powder on the side. We all died laughing it was great!

(Poor Jacob after sliding down the hill in his edgie wedgie...too funny :] )

Our next learning objective was to be able to use the teathers in combination with the edgie wedgie. We hooked webbing into carribeaners and clipped it to our "student". This technique is hard, you need to have a soft touch when pulling back on the reins or turning left/right so as not to tip them over or yank them out of their boots. This took a little getting used to but I absolutely loved it. I left today feeling like I really learned a lot and that I would be able to get on a lesson and feel pretty dang confident about it all.

(Here Jacob is guiding Adam using the teathering technique while Kevin synchros behind them to keep the rogue skiers out of the way)

Here is a pic of the lift on our way to work such a pretty and snowy sight!

xoxo

-L

HOLY WHITE OUT!!

I have never shoveled so much snow in my life holy shiza! I have had shoveling duty for the last 5 days and have had snow to shovel every single morning. I suppose this is a good thing since that means more base to ski on which is amazing! Today on the slopes it was snowing all day so it was a bit chilly but no biggie really. When we got home however it turned into a full blown whiteout which was my first and my god it was insane! Walking the 100 ft back to my intern cabin I could hardly open my eyes to walk it was soo windy and snowy.

Yesterday started out awesome, we got our 3 mountain passes and then got to ski all day, yes that's right, I WAS SKIING ALL DAY :) jealous much muahaha. We talked about proper form and how to hold our poles, balance, edging etc etc. Today was just about the same except a bit more information about how to get started with people who are new to skiing. We learned about how to get kids comfortable on skis, the feel of snow, sliding, and just having your foot stiffly attached to the ski. It was a little slow but I know it is worth it. I got pretty frustrated today trying to figure out which of the 50 million things i needed to be focusing on as I went down the hill. As many of you know I can hardly focus on one thing let alone 5 different things at one time while flying down a mountain...operation DISASTER. I managed fine when I got it down to one or two things to focus on at a time. As annoying as it was to be going so slowly it got me super excited for what's to come. I will be on lessons teaching in only 3 weeks which is really soon. The worst part of the day was that I have a mondo blister on my foot from my new shiny boots which super sucks! It started yesterday from a little fuzz ball on my sock and turned into a full blown disaster today.

After skiing today we went to learn about transfer training. This essentially is learning how to transfer someone from their wheelchair to their bed or from a sofa to their chair etc. This was pretty challenging especially when I had to transfer Chris who is pretty dang tall, probably 6'4". I managed to get him up with a lot of struggling but then when it came to getting him back to the wheelchair I couldn't see a damn thing. I was literally staring straight into his chest or armpit or something I honestly couldn't tell. When you do a transfer you are all up in their personal bubble which can be awkward so this seemed impossible. I managed to land him into the chair but it definitely wasn't graceful at all. When we switched places and he had to transfer me it was just about as awkward. I'm pretty sure if anyone was watching it looked like that awkward dancing you do in 7th grade; arms outstreched so you don't have to touch, butt out and looking opposite directions...super awkward.

(Bassically what it looked like...)

Either way with lots of practice we managed to figure ourselves out and have a successful transfer. The last bit we learned was transferring someone to the toilet...now lets talk awkward!!! I decided to opt out until the time came I absolutely had to figure it out.

On that wonderful note...I'm outta here =)

xoxo

-L

New Boots!!

(Love! Love! Love!)

First and foremost the best part of my day happened this evening when I got custom fit ski boots that fit like a dream =). As you can see in the picture they are so so pretty and I love them! This is great timing because tomorrow we get our all mountain passes and get to ski all day so I can wear my shiny new kicks on the slopes. Besides this wonderful news today was a busy and tiring day to say the least...

We got to sleep in a little and had to get to work at 9. We spent the whole day on the ropes course learning how to do emergency evacs and also how to get people across the elements who are in wheelchairs. YES I said wheelchairs! They get to go across the ropes course as well, it is soo cool! I am so stoked on how there really isn't a NO in the BOEC vocabulary. Everyone is capable of participating in one way or another. The saying here is adapt and overcome which is great. We also use a saying on the ropes course called "challenge by choice". This enables the participant to push themselves to a point that feels comfortable and no matter where they are on the course we can get them back to the platform of back down to solid ground. It snowed almost all day today which is great but sucks because that means I have to shovel in the morning and I was freezing my butt off this morning because I didn't have enough layers. After our lunch break I managed to get on another 3 layers of pants and another 3 layers of jacket and I was set for the rest of the day. On the course I pushed myself to keep volunteering to try the different rescues even though they scared the bejeezers out of me. This took all day and was absolutely EXHAUSTING. Needless to say I am pooped out and tired...

Off to bed soon!

xoxo

-L

supa dupa maaaan!

(The scene of the crime)

Alright so I knew this was going to happen eventually but holy moly did I do it in style...Here's what happened. A group of us were on our way down the hill to catch a bus to Silverthorne outlets (about 10 miles away) to get some clothes we were all missing. I was rushing down the hill to catch the bus and found myself fling through the air, coffee in my left hand, body bag of a purse in my right and quickly flat on my stomach in the middle of the street. It was too funny, I literally slipped backwards caught my balance forward then slipped again and flew a good foot or two into the street. I was cracking up lying in the street for a good few seconds, I can't believe my super man skills had already kicked in and its only week 2. Luckily no broken bones or bruises really just looking like a dum dum in the street.

Silverthorne was successful I found snow boots that actually fit me. I brought 3 pairs of shoes with me and now that I'm up here nothing fits me. 2 of my 3 boots aren't fitting properly and all I have are my running shoes which are definitely NOT waterproof, epic fail on my part. After coming back to Breck I made a trip to SureFoot where they are working on fitting me in boots and giving me a super deal. Hopefully these boots will feel great considering the ones I'm borrowing for the time being aren't comfy at all and feel pretty awful. Considering that I will be in them for 5-6 hours a day they need to fit well.

Yesterday was a pretty awesome day, it started at 5:40 am when I had to do m shoveling before getting ready for work. We went to the ski office and did presentations and games for about an hour and a half then got into the lectures about the gear and the people we will be fitting the gear to. Although this was a little long winded I learned a lot. We learned about Mono skis and Bi skis which are the sit down skis for our clients who cannot walk. The Bi ski has two ski's directly under a bucket seat that with the help of an instructor the person can ski down the hill just like all of us. The Mono ski has one ski under the bucket seat and allows the more active and mobile participant to function independently skiing all over the mountain. We talked about fitting people into the skis and making sure they are comfortable and working well for them because the seat is essentially their version of a ski boot. Jeff one of the full time guys in charge also explained loading people on and off the lift which seems ridiculously intimidating but apparently we will be loading and unloading each other on the mono and bi skis 30+ times before we even start with a participant. The even more exciting and scary part is that I will be learning how to ski in both of these types of skis. The good thing is that I will then be comfortable talking to a participant about the ski and their fears having done it myself. I can just imagine bombing down the mountain in a ski I CANNOT control haha.

(Above is the mono ski for the more independent skier)

(Above is the Bi-ski)

Tonight we meet Doc PJ our "resident" doctor to get flu shots and pizza...If you ask me the pizza is a ploy to get us to do the shots. Needless to say I am NOT excited about it.

Miss you all!

xoxo

-Leah

DONUTS!!

(Basically my attempt at snow shoveling in a nutshell)

I don't know what it is about this place but they sure do love giving us donuts. They all keep saying we will get the BOEC intern 40 which is NOT good considering how hard I worked to to get my body in shape before this. There is a gym in town but its a good 35 minute walk to get there and thats no fun. Every meeting in this place seems to start with cookies or donuts which is going to be a big problem. Considering how much I love food you can only imagine how hard it is to turn down a donut...NOT GUNNA HAPPEN =) Once the donut scarfing was done we learned about the different perks of working for the BOEC which is awesome! We then saw a ton more gear up at the admin office and met everyone who works up there. I am excited to have met the development director Marci. She does all the fund raising for us generating approximately $600,000 to keep us going strong as a non-profit. After the admin office business we headed back to the intern cabin for a lunch break.

After lunch we had a not so pleasant experience...we learned how to snake a toilet. For those of you who don't know what that is...it's basically like a SUPER DUPER plunger for the mondo bombs that get dropped. Needless to say it was HORRIBLE but apparently this is part of the job (this must have been in the fine print somewhere because I was NOT warned about it). Then after that wonderful lesson in snaking toilets we cleaned out the vans, shoveled the walkway a bit and looked at participant paperwork to familiarize ourselves with all of it. Speaking of shoveling it's been snowing here like crazy which means lots of shoveling for us. The way it works for us interns is that we get a week on and a week off of shoveling and this is my week on. All shoveling must be done BEFORE we go to work each day. Let me tell you tomorrow is going to suck...I have to be at work at 7 am which means instead of waking up at 6 like normal i have to get up at 5:30 am to shovel. Again, the damn fine print I should have read.

In other news I'm super excited about Monday because we get to jump on the mountain and finally start skiing in this beautiful place!

Today we also headed down to the supermarket to get all of our "freshies". We get $90 bucks a week to buy all our fresh food for the 12 of us to survive on. As we were heading down we found out that all the power was out up at our cabin because apparently someone hit a telephone pole...not so bueno. After shopping we set out to get back up the hill but had to put chains on. I was pretty stoked that I applied my new skills and put them on without any problems! I was soo dirty and gross after but I felt pretty accomplished knowing I could do it. Luckily we made it up the hill just fine and unloaded a TON of groceries.

Alright off to eat dinner and workout!

xoxo

-L

exhausted but feeling awesome!

(The Denver Children's Hospital)

Yesterday we left at 6am for a 2 hour drive to Denver. Let me tell you...6am is dark and COLD holy moly. I found out that apparently I am not a morning person...I made soft boiled eggs for breakfast and when I went to crack it i managed to smear it ALL over the counter, my new sweatshirt and my arm. AWESOME. Once I cleaned that up I managed to do yet another stupid thing. I went grab my hot yummy cup of tea up and spilled it all over myself, SO FRIKEN HOT, not a good feeling at all. Once I decided to write off the entire morning as an epic fail I made it to the car and found a comfy spot. Halfway down the mountain we switched drivers, I decided I was going to take control of this massive yacht. Started off great when I couldn't get the van out of park...Brian so kindly pointed out that the van wasn't actually on yet..."Way to go dum dum". OK finally on the road and this van can haul A**. The majority of the drive was a series of hills up and down and turns all over the place but coming into Denver was pretty scary. There were so many lanes of traffic merging into one area I thought I was going to pee my pants.

Whewww we made it to the Denver Food Bank of the Rockies. The food bank was an awesome experience. I was put in distribution where I loaded up pallets with different groups orders. I was like a kid in a candy shop standing in a wherehouse of food. This was like heaven except I couldn't eat anything...such a tease! The people were really cool, there were lots of different people out there helping. After the food bank we went to the Children's Hospital of Denver. I was a bit skiddish at the hospital being that I just don't like hospitals for a reason many of you probably already know. Tim gave a presentation on Traumatic Brain Injury's (TBI). His presentation was really interesting, he talked about all the different things that can constitute TBI and I can think of a few friends who have have a few too many concussions and should start being a little smarter about the stupid things they attempt. We did a few group games to help pass some of our waiting time before the presentation on Cleft Lip and Cleft Pallet. The presentation was very interesting but also quite sad. Many of the parents can find out while their child is still in the womb that they have cleft lip or pallet. I think that this would be so difficult to find out that your baby hasn't even entered the world yet and is already going to struggle. Luckily we learned that reconstructive surgery can do SO SO much for them and some you can't even tell they had a cleft lip or pallet. When we left the hospital it was snowing in Denver like crazy which means lots and lots of snow for Breck! From here we were invited to Tim's parents house in Littleton, CO. Tim's mom made the most DELISH chili and cinnamon rolls an plenty of appetizers. The food was so good and after we got all filled up we were off to our last meeting of the day at the Children's Hospital's satellite office. Here we learned about kids with sensory processing disorder's. This can also be things like ADHD, or children who don't like anyone touching them, the only eat 5 foods at age 7 etc etc. They just have a hard time taking in things around them and understanding them.

Finally we were done for the day and on to Kristin's house ( a BOEC volunteer). Her house is absolutely amazing. She was s sweet and had beer and wine ready for us after this REALLY long day. We all found a spot to crash and watched The Bourne Ultimatum, awesome movie! Kristin made us breakfast in the morning with the help of another volunteer. After cleaning up we were on our way, back on the road. Today we went to the King Adult Day Enrichment Program (KADEP). This was the first chance in awhile that I have worked with people with disabilities and I was a little nervous. At first I just stood around awkwardly not really sure of how to start conversation or what to say. The coordinator Michelle got each of us signed up for a different activity. I was stoked, Charley and I got picked to do bowling. Charley is from the UK and so much fun. I love hanging out with her in the group, I think I just have a thing for foreigners, they are awesome people! Anyhoo Charley and I went with two other volunteers from the program and took a few people bowling. Adaptive bowling was pretty cool, they set the ball on top of a metal device that looks kind of like a wave. They line it up on the lane and then we place the ball on the device for them. The participant sets the ball up in whatever direction they want and off it goes. A lot of them are great bowlers and probably good have kicked my butt if I had played. I really enjoyed talking with everyone. They are all so open about their injuries or accident. Two guys were comparing coma lengths and cracking up over who had been in one longer. Now any other day my jaw would be on the floor because that just seems crazy but for them it is a fact of life. I talked with one man named Dennis who had been hit by a woman who had stolen a car. The irony of it was that he was 3 blocks form his house and on his way to drop off baby items to a charity. How things work out like that I just don't know but he still has a great outlook and was so nice to talk with. Another man I met was Ryan who is now 25 but was hit by a truck at age 6. They all talk about what they were like before their accident and what they can do now. Many were told that they wouldn't ever walk again but quite a few are working towards walking again. Becca another intern in my group was telling me about learned helplessness where patients have been stuck in bed for so long with bed sores that when it comes time to actually get out of bed when they are healed they don't want to try.

This whole two day experience has been sooo incredibly exhausting but well worth it. I have a feeling that this 6 month internship is going to follow the same pattern...Exhausted but smiling because I have made someone else smile. I am already seeing in these 2 days what an impact this experience is going to make. I can't wait!

Ciao for now!

xoxo

-L

Long days

(My view...not to shabby)

Today was filled with lectures about the ski office and all the procedures that come with it. While they are important, man was it hard to remember it all and pay attention the whole time from 7:30am to 4pm. Today was my day to give a disability presentation. The disability I was assigned was Multiple Sclerosis (MS), lucky for me two of the interns were very familiar with this disease and helped me so so much. I gave my presentation and visualization exercise without much of a hang up. Even though I was suuuper nervous to present...as usual, I managed to make it through. Today I also realized that the two shoes that I had packed for Breck don't fit me...awesome...NOT! My hiking shoes were too tight, only on one foot...super awkward. My snow boots fit me in Monterey but apparently Colorado makes me shrink a ton and my feet don't fit at all in the Sorel boots I bought. They were so uncomfortable I was literally contemplating walking around in just my socks. Meeting the ski office staff was slightly intimidating, Gene the director has quite a strong personality and is a bit scary. I think that was his plan though, to make us shake in our boots a little. Mission Accomplished.

Tonight as there will be every week we had a "cleaning party" and then staff meeting. The cleaning party was just wonderful. I stupidly opted for the bathroom portion of this cleaning which wasn't horrible until I managed to splash toilet water on myself...so foul...horrible in fact haha. After cleaning and meeting a few of us put together dinner. I have really enjoyed this group aspect because we all kind of pitch in what we can. Some cook, others clean and we all graze throughout the whole meal. Tonight we made nachos which were DELISH and guacamole rice and then Kevin and I cooked bacon and garlic green beans. It was all so yummy!! I have a funny feeling that I am going to be the size of a house by the end of these 6 months.

Speaking of being the size of a house...I went on a run today to try and combat my fatty eating habits. Holy moly is running here hard! First of all from our cabin you can only go down hill which means you obviously must make it UP the massive hill. Down felt great, the cold air on my cheeks was refreshing but coming up the hill was a whole other beast. I thought I was going to induce an asthma attack of sorts from trying to make it up the hill. Great news though folks I am alive and well...and breathing =D

Tomorrow we leave for Denver for an overnight trip to see a few of our clients. We are leaving at 6:00am tomorrow!! I am quickly realizing that it is going to be some early mornings here in Breck. We get to meet the cleft pallet kids, working with the MS group and a few others. We are also heading to the Colorado Food Bank to donate some of our time in exchange for the food that all of us interns are gorging ourselves on daily. I am looking forward to tomorrow's visits just because it will take us to a new scene but I am really hoping that I don't have to drive the 2 hour drive in the MONDO YACHT!!

Welp, I am off to go pack for Denver, miss you all!

xoxo

-L

p.s. My mailing address if anyone is interested...

C/O Leah Parsons

P.O. Box 3155

Breckenridge, CO 80424

gunna be a big kid now!

(The yachts we drive, YIKES!)

Alright I'm kinda excited because I have finally figured out some of the big kids things I should have known by now, at least about cars... At the BOEC we drive MONDO 15 passenger vans that have the turning radius of a yacht (I'm not kidding this thing is ridiculous). Today Jamie taught us how to do all of our car stuff. We cranked the spare tire out form under the van, jacked it up and took of the "flat" tire. Each van has about 2-3 people working on it at once. When we started out our day it was gorgeous out, sunny and beautiful but over the course of the morning the snow clouds arrived which is great news...except when all I have on is jeans and a light fleece jacket. As Becca (another intern) and I started taking off bolts and switching the tires it started dumping down snow. I was freezing old, both Becca and I couldn't feel our hands as we tried to turn the bolts on without cracking off our frozen fingers. After realizing we put the tire on backwards, the bolts tightened wrong and the car jacket back down to the ground we finally got it together and working. SUCCESS FINALLY!! The group took our hour long lunch to skuttle back to our cabin down the road and have a feeding frenzy as well as thaw out. By the time we came back outside and I had put on 5 more layers it was sunny again, wonderful now I look like the Michelin Man and I'm sweating bullets. After a few more instructions the group headed down the hill to town to practice parking, driving, backing up...all the usual stuff you do. As we guided each other into parking spots my turn was coming up. I literally felt like I was going to pee my pants I was so nervous. I really hadn't expected to be so nervous. I have had no problems driving La Fonda but then again that's California not "Breckenfridge" where the roads are steep, the chains are massive, the ice covers ever square foot of road and your driving a friggin yacht. Note to self: you signed up for this...now did you think it all through?? Anyhoo I managed to park the beast and back it up and parallel park so I am officially a big kid now. I even checked out, windshield wiper fluid, put on chains, locked in a wheelchair in the ADA van and made it up the big ole hill to work. AWESOME DAY =) Tomorrow I give my presentation on MS, I'm the first intern to present so fingers crossed this goes well! Off to make dinner and catch up on my skyping!

xoxo

-L

And so it begins...

(Amy and I overlooking Breck)

A little background before I jump right into the last week or so...In September I was offered a position as an intern at Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center (BOEC). The BOEC is an awesome nonprofit organization that provides numerous different adventures for people who are seeking a great experience outdoors. Their courses range from backpacking to huts in the Colorado Rockies, ropes courses, team building exercises, adaptive physical activities (skiing, kayaking, snowboarding, ropes courses etc) Basically a legit organization filled with some very passionate people. When I applied for the internship I didn't really know what I was getting into. I applied because I had no plan. Summer was coming to a close and I didn't know what was next for me. After my interview I got more and more excited about the program and about a week later received a phone call from Erin our intern coordinator saying I had been offered the job. I was STOKED! My advisors had all said it was a great internship to get and would be a great experience for me. I packed up my house in San Luis Obispo and La Fonda the big black Honda was ready to hit the road.

I moved home for about a month where I lived with my mom...yikes! Moving back in took some adjusting but turned out awesome. My mom and I are incredibly close and although it took about a week to get used to being in the same house again, I loved spending the time with her and Tom. I love home...Everything is so familiar and comfortable. I especially enjoyed being able to reconnect with high school friends and also managed to get my butt kicked daily by a friend of mine at his new gym. I wasn't totally sold in this new workout regimen but I figured I wasn't going to hear the end of it if I didn't sack up and at least try it. The program is called Cross Fit mixing strength and conditioning, weights and sprinting for endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility and agility. The workouts were awesome and really pushed me to challenge myself, after the first week I would point out that I could push harder, run faster, lift more because you are up against your own stop watch. Being competitive in nature I was hooked! Cross Fit got me in incredible shape, my body transformed big time and in only 3-4 weeks. I couldn't believe the results.

Midway through my time at home I made a trip to SLO to see friends and have a fun night out. I managed to drag my friend Tommy with me so I didn't have to drive alone and so he could have a fun distraction from what seemed to be a packed schedule at home. Being in SLO reminded me of how much I love my friends and that town. Being with all of them again just reminded me of how lucky I am to have such awesome and fun people in my life. I managed to see just about everyone while I was there and had a fun night out. I showed Tommy around town, took him to all my favorite food places since my life revolves around food and the next meal =). High Street sandos, Firestone fries and Laguna grill burgers made for a delicious trip and some much needed workouts when I got home. Speaking of home...I forgot to mention that I got a job working at the Halloween Store...I know, I'm not proud but the people I met were great and I got to see so many people dress up in some weird costumes that maaaybe they shouldn't be wearing but how do you say to someone...THAT LOOKS AWFUL without hurting their feelings??

Anyhoo Halloween rolled around and I was sitting and jumping on my bags in an attempt to get every last bit of my things into 2 duffels for a 6 month stay in Breck...I don't pack light. Oddly enough my mom and Tom were on the same flight as me to Denver so we all boarded the plane ad off we went. I was mostly silent on the flight, being that when I get nervous/anxious I tend to shut down a little and become quiet... I know weird concept for me... As we flew into Denver I got some incredible views of the Rockies iced with fresh powder. As I looked out the window I thought "oh crap, what have I gotten myself into?? This is going to be a long cold winter and this California girl just might not be able to hang". Two of the other interns, Amy and Jacob (both from Madison Wisconsin), picked me up from the Denver airport. We headed for Winter Park, CO where Amy's family has a condo. Let me tell you this condo was GORGEOUS!!! We unpacked the car and all oooh'd and ahhh'd over the scenery and wonderful condo. All 3 of us were pooped so we popped in Madagascar the movie and I was out in about 10 minutes time. Two hours later I finally woke up from my nap and we headed out to a pizza place called Hernando's which let me tell you is my new fave place!! We had the most delish pesto/chicken/bell pep pizza of my life. The unique thing about Hernando's was their honey on the tables. Apparently you dip your crust in it and my gosh was that the BEST idea ever. NOM NOM NOM!! =)

The next day we headed up to Breck to meet the rest of the intern group and start our first day of training. The group of 12 interns + Erin the intern coordinator packed into "the old cabin" for the day/night. The old cabin looked out over the resevoir partially covered in ice, a pretty great view. This cabin has only the essentials, no electricity besides overhead lighting, no beds, no bathroom but this makes for a unique experience. We did team building games, ice breakers and autobiographies. We cooked dinner together and enjoyed the warmth of the wood burning stove while we exchanged random funny stories and tid bits about our lives at home. Next we moved into the Griffith Lodge where they can sleep 30+ people in bunk beds. The lodge is gorgeous and has all the wonderful things modern life offers, bathrooms, showers, electricity etc. Somewhere in the middle of the week we all headed out to the high ropes course after learning the "lock 1, lock 2" safety protocols. The ropes course was AWESOME! There were 2 levels so the 12 of us were all over the place. Some bits were more challenging than others making me feel like a lousy trapeze artist fumbling all over the place. Others we familiar from my experience at Poly Escapes and Chumash Challenge. It has become very clear in the group that I am a bit out of place. On Thursday/Friday the group hiked up the Frances cabin, one of the huts in the summit county system. The views were breathtaking, the conversation was great and the stars were beyond words. I haven't seen stars like this in ages and it reminded me of what first brought my love for for the outdoors. That wonderful feeling of silence in the middle of the woods, the silence that allows real thoughts to rush in and the little worries of paperwork, phone calls, emails and assignments to skitter away til I have to come back to reality. I think the entire group enjoys this wonderful feeling of serenity.

As the week has gone on I have come to realize that this group of people all have incredible experiences outdoors including rafting, climbing, hiking, snowshoeing, kayaking etc. This blonde, sorority, make up wearing, California girl is a bit like a square peg in a round hole...I don't quite fit. It has its frustrating moments in that it seems the stereotype is all I am with some but I know that eventually if given time they will see that I'm not just that, I have a lot more to offer if given the chance. I am so looking forward to meeting our clients and being able to put smiles on their face. These 6 months are going to be filled with some VERY long days and cold mornings walking down to the ski office 15 minutes away but I think it will all be worth it in the end. I miss California like crazy...Skype has become my new best friend. Well now that I have written a novel I think I should stop...Hopefully I will find the time to keep this kind of relevant but as always you can reach me by phone, email, Facebook and Skype. Miss you all so so much!!

xoxo

-L