Hallo und Grüße aus Österreich!

We have been here for one month now and we are still wondering where is our homesickness?!

During this week Tanja and Tiia were in Patcherkofel.

Tiia taught to Tanja how things are working in the office. Unfortunately peak season is going to abate gradually. Because of that this week has been kind of quiet. Luckily our boss Michael said that there are coming more customers next week.

At the beginning of the week Mandi was helping with the kids in Nordkette. However there wasn’t much to do so she started to do a task which Michael has given to us. We have to search travel agencies from Scandinavia where skischool could market itself for next season.

Here you can see one of the most popular sightseeings in Innsbruck. It’s called Goldenes Dachl (The golden roof). It’s located near by our apartment. The Goldenes Dachl was built for the memory of the second marriage of emperor Maximilian I. The reason was that Maximilian wanted to abrogate the rumors about the weak financial position. The roof is 16 meters wide and it’s made of 2657 coppertiles.

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Mandis family were here for a winter holiday. Mandi and they spent time together. They were skiing, shopping, looking around the city and eating in nice restaurants.

Auf Wiedersehen,

Tiia, Mandi and Tanja

Guten Tag!

Mandi and Tanja were working at Nordkette and it was a little bit different kind of week this week. There were groups from kindergardens. Kids were 3-6 years old, so it was harder to communicate with them because they speak only German.

On Monday we picked children up from the kindergarden in the morning. Mandi was staying with the group and went to the cable car by bus with them. Tanja took children’s equipment to the mountain with Michael.

Mandi and Tanja helped beginners on the slopes, helped to get up and taught to do a “pizza”.

Tiia continued working in the office at Patcherkofel. She did her first bookings by herself. There has been some busy days on the slopes, so she had to take care of the office alone. Tiia likes the job because it’s suitably challenging. Customers are mainly adults and they can speak English.

We joined the sledding safari again. Customers are mostly British and they always enjoy the sledding a lot.

Our workmates mentioned about a spa called Olympisches Dorf  in Innsbruck. We decided to go there on Saturday. It was a nice place but we were surprised of one thing. Sauna is not included in price, normal ticket costs 5,50€ but if you want to go to the sauna it costs 9,90€. It is foregone conclusion that sauna is part of spa services in Finland. There were a lot of people, especially families with kids.

Today, on Sunday, Tiia and Tanja went to the city to see sightseens during Mandi was skiing. Tiia and Tanja visited in churches, park and mountain walking route. We still can’t believe how much possibilities to do and see here are in Innsbruck.

Spring is on the way and here in the city it’s very warm weather. And the first flowers are already appeared.

We really enjoy our time here!

– Mandi, Tanja and Tiia

Hello!

Our second week in Innsbruck is in the end. This week went fast and we got in touch with work. Things are getting clear little by little.

During this week, Tanja has been in Nordkette and Tiia and Mandi have been in Patcherkofel.

In Nordkette, there was a big school-group from local school. Tanja helped skischool instructors with the beginners. On thursday she was doing also officeworks.

In Patcherkofel, Mandi worked with the group of the beginners on the slopes. Tiia worked this week in the office and started to learn how to book skilessons etc.

Every Wednesday night skischool offers possibility to go moonlight sledding safari. Its for adults and older kids. Safari is in Kühtai mountain which is an hour away from city of Innsbruck. Safaris price (25€/15€) includes transfer, rental of toboggan, hot drink at the mountain hut and guide service.

This week we took part of it. It was great experience and all the customers enjoyed it.

Tällä viikolla meille tuli selväksi, että Itävallassa on todella tiukka lainsäädäntö koskien työelämää. Työskentelymme hiihtokoulussa oltiin pantu merkille ja epäilykset laittomasta työskentelystä olivat heränneet sosiaalivirastossa. Sekä hiihtokoulun johtajat ja me jouduimme epämiellyttävään tilanteeseen tiistaina. Meidät kutsuttiin virastolle kuultavaksi. Viranomaiset halusivat tietää täällä olomme todellisen syyn ja varmistaa, että kyse on koulutukseemme kuuluvasta työssäoppimis-jaksosta, eikä virallisesta työsuhteesta. Palkaton työharjoittelu on Itävallassa täysin vieras käsite ja siksi asia herätti täällä kummastusta. Asiat ovat onneksemme nyt kuitenkin kunnossa ja saamme jatkaa harjoitteluamme täällä kuten ennenkin.

Päivät täällä kuluvat nopeasti ja kaupunki alkaa olemaan pikkuhiljaa tuttu. Joka päivä oppii kuitenkin jotain uutta, niin työssä, kuin vapaa-ajallakin.

Parhain terveisin,

Tiia, Mandi ja Tanja

Hello!

We have been here for six days and here are some first feelings.

We arrived at Innsbruck on Sunday evening and our boss Michael picked us up from the airport. He kindly welcomed us and took us to our apartment.

Our apartment is located in the Old town. We live in the old house, on the fourth floor. We absolutely love to live here because all services are behind the corner. The owner of the apartment is very nice young woman. She has told us everything about Innsbruck and Austria.  And if we have any questions or we need something is always very easy to contact her.

There are three places where we are working: mountains Patscherkofel and Nordkette and the small office in the city.

Michael picked us up on Monday morning and we went to the mountain, Patscherkofel. There is a ski school where we are working. We met our workmates there and looked around the area. There were a lot of kids at the ski school this week and everybody were so busy to tell us advices. That’s why we are still a little bit lost what to do.

During this week we have worked lot of with the kids. We have taught basic skiing skills to them and helped them with the lift. We have also done paperworks in the office. Here you can see our working clothes:

Kokonaisuudessaan meillä on hyvät fiilikset täällä olosta. Työ vaikuttaa kivalta ja meidät on otettu todella hyvin vastaan. Meitä pyydettiin myös tiistaina mukaan juhlimaan Itävaltalaisia karnevaaleja. Niitä juhlitaan aina viisi viikkoa ennen pääsiäistä ja silloin ihmiset pukeutuvat naamiasasuihin ja lähtevät kaupungille juhlimaan. Hiihtokoulussa pukeuduttiin tänävuonna Minions-asuihin. On todella ihanaa huomata, että työkaverimme haluavat tutustua meihin ja viettää aikaa yhdessä myöskin vapaa-ajalla.

Odotamme kovasti, että pääsemme työhön vielä paremmin sisään.

Saa nähdä mitä tulevat viikot tuovat tullessaan!

Parhain terveisin,

Tiia, Mandi ja Tanja