new beginnings

It's official. I am a career woman! I started my new job yesterday and I have to say that being happy about going to work makes a world of difference.

I was nervous at the beginning of the day, but slipped right into it. I was teamed up with a colleague who use to do my job and he showed me a lot. By the end of the day I was uploading to the wire all by myself!

The programs that I've learned so far are relatively easy to use. The real challenge will come tomorrow when I have my Avid training. My confidence is way up though and I know that I can do this job and anything they ask me to.

It's a different world for me now. I like going to work and it doesn't even really feel like work. The day flies by and before I know it, it's time to go home!

I'm still, of course, in the honeymoon stage here, and who knows what the future will bring... but for now, I'm loving it. From now on there are no more annoying people calling me and no more dealing with the public, which is a first for me!

Anyway, just wanted to drop a quickie to let you all know that things are going really well. I feel like it's the beginning of the rest of my life!

a new job

I've been seriously ignoring this blog since I left Korea last year. It's disappointing since I was so stubborn about it while I was there. I imagined it would be similar here in England, but I have let myself, and you dear reader, down. So, I will apologise again, I'm sorry.

I guess I just haven't felt like I've been doing anything terribly interesting. Of course, I do things, but it's more like living life than anything to write home about.

I do have some big news though.

I applied and interviewed for a job way back in January but was only number two after the interviews were done. When they called me to tell me I didn't get it, (weird I didn't just get an email) I could hear the disappointment in the interviewers voice. He told me they were going with someone who had more "experience" - to me this meant that the other person knew how to edit with Avid where I only know Final Cut (thanks a lot ConU)... Anyway, he asked me if it would be okay to keep my details on file and to ring me if anything came up. Of course I said yes, but thought that was just something that employers say.

About a week after the interview I rang him back and asked him how I could get in to do some work experience (unpaid internship type work). He told me that was a brilliant idea and that he'd be in touch. A week or so passed and he called me back just to tell me that he was still checking it all out but that the guy he needed to talk to had been and was still on holiday. A few more weeks passed and I emailed him, he replied with "do you know how to use a video camera?" So I told him that I'd used a Sony PD 150/170 at school and was comfortable with a camera (still or video) in my hands. I didn't hear back from him for another week - in this biz people are busy, so I didn't push too much.

Finally about a month ago he emailed me to see when I'd be able to come in on a trial shift as a video journalist. We arranged that April 16th would be the day. Then he rang me the day I was leaving for Switzerland to ask me to go in on the weekend, but, of course, I would be away. He was okay with it and told me that we'd talk more before the trial shift.

I had a message on my mobile from him about a week and a half ago and thought that he wanted to arrange another shift or something. When I called him back he said, "the job you applied for is available". I replied "what do I need to do?" and he said, "say yes or no".

I was blown away! It was not what I was expecting AT ALL. Anyway, all that to say that starting in a week I am the new media co-ordinator at the Press Association.

I don't have an actual job description for you, but basically I'll be logging, archiving, and editing video. The video journalists (VJ) come in with their tape and I have to get it out to buyers - TV stations mostly, I think. The company is the UK's version of CP or Reuters, so it's a pretty big deal in the media world and the perfect first step in my career. There will be opportunity for me to get experience as a VJ, as well as learning other aspects of the business. There might be some writing that I can get involved in too. Anyway, it's perfect and of all the jobs that I've applied to in the UK, I wanted this one the most, so WOOHOO!!!

That's the big news of late... there are little things here and there, and again, I promise to write more often... please don't forget about me, dear reader, I haven't forgotten about you. :)

La Suisse!

We left London on Friday evening. The ferry from Dover landed in Calais at around midnight. After a night of driving clear across the north of France we finally arrived in Champery, Switzerland at around noon.

Being Canadian, it might surprise some of you to know that a) I have never seen the Rocky Mountains and b) I had never skied before. So, you can imagine (if you've seen them) the awe that came over me when I spied the Alps for the first time.

We came around a bend and there they were, looming above everything else, with Lac Leman sitting serenely below - if only pictures out car windows were any good... oh well, next time!

We climbed up, and up, and up, until we (had there been any at the time) were in the clouds. Luckily, the weather was brilliant. Having driven through the night we sat on the balcony of our 100-year-old farmhouse and cracked open the beers. It was such a beautiful day that we could have been tanning in our bikinis.

Our farmhouse.

The view from our balcony.

At dusk.

The view to the south of our chalet (called the Gallerie).

At dusk.

The next day the weather was great again, which was good, since it was the first time I was going to ski. I booked a lesson the night before with the Swiss Ski School... it was set for 10:30, but we got there 15 minutes early - or so we thought! We were meant to change the clocks forward one hour for daylight savings that morning! So we were actually 45 minutes late! oops!

It was fine though and the instructor brought me and my bud A down to what he called "the nursery". It didn't look like a nursery at first but after an hour of learning how to snow plow I was zooming down the itty bitty hill. The only problem I had was with the mini lift, which kept grabbing my leg and dragging me (on my ass) halfway up the hill! If only there had been video cameras!

By the end off the two hour lesson I was deemed a natural and felt like one too.

The Telepherique up the hills...

and we thought we were already in the clouds!

The rest of the skiing throughout the week (another four days of it) went pretty well. I think I pushed myself and there were some points where I really wasn't comfortable, but I made it down the hill anyway. I only walked down one bit and that was on my first day... I just got into a place I couldn't get myself out of!

Zooming down the hill!

On Friday, the real challenge came when we skied to France for lunch in Avoriaz. Yes! That's right, I SKIED TO FRANCE!!! I had a spot of trouble when we were over there... got on a lift that brought us up and up and up and up and I got freaked out by out... getting down again wasn't easy on me (and I did something to my groin ;) but I did it!

Setting off for France...

Ski bunny Liz on the border of Switzerland and France (in the background).

I was knackered at the end of the day, but a long shower and getting in bed at 9 helped. the next day we got in the car at 6 AM and hit the road to get back to London in time for dinner.

What I saw of Switzerland was beautiful. The mountains, the sky, the snow, the people, everything was fantastic. And I've discovered a love and a talent for a new sport, which is the best part. Champery, watch out, I'll be back!