New Year

Once upon a time, new year use to be a festive occasion. As one grows old, such festive occasion turns into a burden.

When one is Twenty-something, one wakes up and hopes for love.
When one is Thirty-something, one wakes up and hopes for marriage.
When one is Forty-something, one wakes up and hopes for success.
When one is Fifty-something, one wakes up and hopes for wealth.
When one is Sixty-something, one wakes up and hopes for satisfaction.
When one is Seventy-something, one wakes up and hopes for health.
When one is Eighty-something, one only hopes to wake up.

Life would be so much better in reverse. From old age, one gradually turns younger and wrinkle free. One's five senses becomes sharper, memory becomes better. From a responsible individual one becomes more carefree, as schooling becomes easier. The facts and rules of the world simplify, as one eventually becomes a baby and return to the mother's womb.

Les Arcs Ski Trip

So I worked right until 9pm on 23rd December, came home and threw all my ski gears together before going off early on 24th to Les Arcs, France. This is the first time I was not solely responsible in the organisation of the trip, and was able to relax and literally enjoy the ride :D Mr JJ Lew did a splendid job with the holiday logistics and we slowly proceeded towards our ski chalet. It was a very cute apartment at the edge of Les Arcs resort, with a little balcony and cooking facilities on the ground floor and room to sleep5 on the floor above.

As we arrived at 9pm on Xmas eve, we ventured towards town in hope to find an accommodating restaurant for the evening. French food is sooo yummy~~for 15 euros we had a three course meal with melted cheese for starters, tender steak avec le frites for main course, and home made vanilla ice cream-stuffed profiterole with intense chocolate sauce for dessert! Yum yum!! We also had a fondue and raclette feast! For those we are unfamiliar with Raclette, it is basically a piece of top quality cheese placed on a hot plate being melted and eaten..Spectators Yifei and Jimmy to the event both felt uncomfortably full after watching JJ, Fred and Annie battle through the mounts of cheese and consume at least 2kg in one single meal.
fondue mania


Though tempting, we were good and cooked in our apartments for the rest of the week. The supermarket stocked top quality products, despite its location 2000m above sea level it ironically contained fresher materials compared to supermarkets in London where I live. It was back to the student budgeting days as we cooked away every evening, forming a product line making sandwiches for lunch the next day.

Enough about food, the actual skiing part was brilliant too!! Les Arcs is such a beginner friendly resort!! I spend most of my time zooming down blue and red slopes gaining the adrenaline rush by the minute. I think I fell a total of 3 times this week on the slopes~~very confidence boosting :D:D:D My intermediate skiing instructor was sooo cute and young at heart! He taught us how to spin 360 degrees on our skis, how to parallel turn and break effectively in different snow conditions. He also took us on lots of different routes showing us the breath-taking views of the mountain ranges; following off piste rabbit and fox tracks at the spur of the incident~~In terms of information gathering, this has definitely been the most productive week I had during my very limited skiing career!
skiing above the clouds


There’s also a milka cow! He/she dishing chocolate on the ‘milka run’ down the mountains to children! I sighted this purple and white cow on my first day afternoon, having tempted to chase after the cow I got lost in the mountain with no map!! =_=;; Luckily with my very limited French and navigation skills I found my way back to Les Arcs 1800. Everyone else managed to take a photo with the cow except me L Despite my attempt to wait on the milka track for 20 minutes one afternoon pretending to be helpless and hungry~~so unfair!!!
milka cow!


We also visited an ice grotto at the top of the mountain. Despite the resort being packed full of people the grotto itself was eerily quiet. With a circus theme there was ice carvings of clowns, lions jumping through hoops, elephants, seals~~sooo cute :D



It’s been such a welcoming break…now I have to go back to work on Tuesday. I guess it’s all about…work hard and play harder!