Il fine del viaggio (the end of the trip)

The days have just got better and better as the week has progressed, and today was another crystal clear day out on the slopes.  Despite the heavy fall of snow we had earlier in the week, quite a bit has melted around the base of the slopes and has become icy in patches, but out on the piste conditions are still near perfect.

Testament to the progress of our skiers this week, the Beginner’s Bowl was empty of our pupils as they all headed off to new challenging parts of the mountain.  Bassil, Jacob and Suzy were off skiing black runs (Mrs. Carroll balked at those, although she has been keeping up with everything else they have skied), while Omar was snow boarding down some other black runs (Miss Hunter balked at those, although in fairness she has been having trouble with her boots and lack of feeling in her toes); pretty much all the group have been at least on a blue run and nearly everyone has been down a red run.  Considering we had several children who had not even seen snow before, and a large number who had never skied before, that’s some progress. 

It was another great day on the slopes, but several of the instructors commented on how tired our students were, and some took the option his afternoon to follow in the steps of Jacob and Mr. Suter by visiting the viewing platform at the top of the mountain.  Several were dropped off at base camp in the morning as tiredness kicked in, but there were still 16 who insisted on going out for a final hour’s free ski after lessons had finished.

It was Layan’s birthday today, and so as an extra treat this evening we had a special cake delivered to the hotel and we celebrated with that and hot chocolate.  We had the skiing awards last night, but tonight we had our own in house awards for special stand out moments for the week:

Best Tree Hugger – Jacob

Biggest Drama Queen – Georgie G

Photographer Of The Week – Nadia

Best Male Artist – Findlay

Sloth Of The Week – Rami

Biggest Posers/Duck Lip Club/Best Shoppers – Alia, Christina, Lynn, Myrna, Civene, Zeina, Mrs. Carroll, Miss Hunter

Best Linguist – Martina, Mrs. Annoni, Chloe

Best Female Artist – Noura

Most Impressive Wipeout – Aboudi, Eoghan and PJ

Best Icicle Impression – Aboudi

Blackberry Award for Most Calls – Yulia

Most Questions Asked – Suzi and Khaled H

Most Gloves Lost – Munisa

Messiest Room – Noura, Loulia, Ayra and Carina

The Mafia Award – The Josephs

Best Injury – Jessica

Biggest Slice of Pizza Eaten – Georgia L

Speed King – Omar

Most Improved Snowboarders – Richard, Dylan, Jessica and Khalid K

Most Improved Skiers – Hala, Lucy, Zoe and Stefan

Most Miles Walked on Mountain – Troy and Mr. Suter

Skier of the Week – Bassil

Best Disco Outfit – Ami and Ridha

Perseverence Award – Salman

Most Unfair Person – Mr. Whitaker

Most Vomit Cleaned Up – Mrs. Suter

So what a marvellous week we have all had.  The children have been a credit to themselves, their parents and the school.  They have pushed on when they didn’t want to, or thought they couldn’t, and achieved far more than they thought they could.  They should be proud of what they have managed this week.

So that’s it.  A big thank you to Mr. Whitaker for all his hard work and efforts in organising the trip; to Mrs. Suter for her ministrations to the sick and injured; Mrs. Annoni for her linguistics; Miss Hunter and Mrs. Carroll for their herding and cajoling; Mr. Suter for his blog entries.  The children are now in bed; the staff are sitting down together for the first time this week.  We’ve had a fabulous time, but we are looking forward to handing over on Monday – don’t be late!

We’re checking out of here tomorrow, and going off to Aosta for a bit of sightseeing and shopping before heading off to the airport in Geneva.

Arrivederci!

Parents: just a quick note.  We keep getting notes from parents asking for more photos of their children on the blog.  Internet here is a bit intermittent, which doesn't allow us to post up as many pictures as we would like.  Hopefully, you have seen your child at least once, but when we get back we will collate Mr. Whitaker's and Mr. Suter's photos from the trip (many of which you have seen this week) and get copies of them to you.