Since I am officially on knee rest and in need of something stationary to do, I thought I should write about all the fun I had yesterday in Oberhof skiing with my friends. I hadn't been skiing in at least eight or nine years, but I was surprised that I remembered the main concepts of skiing so I didn't have to re-learn so much as just remember! I spent the whole day laughing at myself and the hilarious downfalls of others.
I think skiing is sort of in my blood. Everyone in my family is a born water and snow skier. We even pride ourselves on being able to water ski on anything that floats when we are out on the water in Louisiana. It's great fun, but since I have been out of practice (and a little out of shape) for so long, I was worried it wouldn't come back to me quickly. After a couple of messy trail runs I was back at it and having a blast. And the weather was perfect, we had gotten nearly six inches of snow the night before so we had a really nice fresh layer of snow to work with.
Oberhof was interesting because it's where lots of professional winter sports team train. This was evident when there was no practice or beginner hills. You were lifted to the top of the hill and then given a small area of steady downhill, and then before you know it you're going straight on downhill. It was crazy! Talk about learn by doing.
As fun as it was to be back on skis, I was not smartly dressed. I don't own snow pants, or water-proof gloves, and I didn't wear thick socks (what was I thinking?!), so most of the day I was chilled to the bone and my legs were wet with snow. I was wearing leggings under my jeans, which helped, but it wasn't necessarily warm. At first, I would fall down because I was still working on gracefully stopping or turning, or I would fall down if I felt like people were coming up behind me too quickly and I didn't want them to collide into me... so my pants were getting pretty wet with snow from the get-go. It didn't help that on my first run down I skied straight into a giant pile of snow. Now, in the South, I would have had all sorts of people come over to help me up, but in Germany, not so much. I was basically sitting in snow for at least two or three minutes trying to get back up on my skis.
One time I fell and another lady fell within ten feet of me and we just sat there laughing together while people sped past us. It's kind of awesome to share a funny moment like that with a total stranger. It was also really funny when I was down and there were little kids expertly passing me like tiny professionals.
Finally, I decided that falling down was no longer an option so I was getting better at my turns and stops. Before I knew it I was getting down the hill with no hiccups. It was just so great to be back on skis. I loved having the opportunity to spend the day outside with friends surrounding by scenery so beautiful that it didn't look real. I was in awe all day long.
The ski lift was also a huge source of my entertainment. The lift never stopped, so you had to be ready to sit when it came around the corner and also to get off quickly when it reached the top of the mountain. Getting on and off was easy for skiers, but most of my friends were on snowboards, and when you are using the lift only one foot is attached to your board. This made getting off quickly and gracefully pretty difficult, so most of them would tumble or completely barrel off the lift and then scramble to get out of the way for the next skiers or snowboarders to come tumbling off the lift. It was seriously the funniest thing.
Later in the day we had a bunch of friends join us and a few of them had full-face ski masks on, so they would be like "Hey Bethany!" and strike up a conversation with me and all the while I had no clue who they were. It was so funny at the bottom of the mountain when the group got back together for drinks and they took off their masks I would think "Ohhhh... that's who that was!" I wish I had invested in a face mask, too, because MY GOODNESS it was cold.
As expected, I am terribly sore and a little bruised today. On my last ski down, I fell forward and hyperextended my knee, so I'm trying to stay down today while that heals up. It was all so worth it, though! I can't wait to go again. I would seriously go everyday if it weren't so expensive!
But now I am looking at a little bit down time until I fly home at the end of March! My winter semester is over and finals are finished, thank goodness. Now I'm putting finishing touches on my trip to Italy with three good friends of mine! That's in just ten short days now. I also want to learn as much Italian as I can, since everyone who's been to Italy stresses how helpful it is there.
Then after Italy I will have another few weeks of downtime before meeting mom in Spain and then going to Lagos, Portugal for her Spring break. The pictures of Lagos are just insanely beautiful, and as much as I love the snow and hills of Thuringia, I can't wait to see blue skies and feel some sunshine!
So that's all I've got, thanks for reading!
Bethany
"Traveling is like flirting with life. It's like saying 'I would stay and love you, but I have to go; this is my station.'"
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