Two weeks free from school, so what was it I had done? I worked hard, tears did fall, beads of sweat did run, and blood was boiling. I'm talking cross country and regular skiing. Cold, up in the mountains, sun burning, legs moving, body screaming, hella fun skiing. Need I say more, well of course.....
A week in the Alps, February 9-13, and a day trip to Germany's highest point, Zugspitze.
I accompanied the trip with Grimma's church youth group, my host mother Sabine, and my host sister Judith. 22 people ski and snowboard almost every year. I was given a quick course and sent on my way to pitifully fall all over the place. I was offered and given help countless times. How could I say no? The group I was with was incredibly friendly and helpful. We also spend a day snowshoeing in the mountains. I met great people, saw some amazing views, had some embarrassing moments; I tried, survived, and accomplished!
A funny moment only you can know: The lift was what took so much of my energy away. Getting on and staying on this lift WAS the hardest part for me. At one point, I slipped out of the pulley system and was sent skiing a short distance backward. A poor young girl was getting on the lift as I skied my hind parts directly into her face sending her falling into a woman waiting behind her. Whoops.... *excruciating awkward laugh*
A shortstop home on Friday 13 where I was hit with a wave of fatigue. The type of exhaustion that leaves me unable to open doors, grasp objects, and other functions critical in typical living. In other words, all I could do was lay and lie. Oh, so still I did. By Saturday 12pm, I was back in the car heading to the Czech Republic.
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| GOT TO HAVE THE RIGHT GEAR! |
I spent an unforgettable week with my host family in the Riesengeburger mountains in the Czech Republic. We were in a cute Czech home next to a river. From the 14-20th, we cross country skied, sledded, swam, and hiked. I had a wonderful time! A short description of my time:
Sunday, I was taught by my host dad the correct form for "Langlauf," or cross country skiing.
Monday, I took a break along with both my host sisters and their cousin. We accompanied my host father on a 14k hike that day. I also drank from my first Quelle using a dirty cup that was placed next to it and cleaning the cup in the stream. It was the coldest, most refreshing drink ever!
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| A COLD WINTERS DAY |
Tuesday I spent a lot of my time walking. If I wasn't walking, then I was falling from the cross country ski, but none the less I always got up and kept going!
Wednesday, we took a lift to a peak and rode a 6k sledding track back down to the base of the mountain. I rode with my host mom, unintentionally picking the fastest sled, and my host mom doesn't actually "love" sledding. We were zooming pretty much out of control. Falling about 5 times in our total 6k ride. Oh, so painfully embarrassing because, in the end, my host mom couldn't take anymore, and she asked me to ride with Frank, a host uncle. Who, in my opinion, was the best with control; he even literally skied behind me the last two days. None the less it was an extremely thrilling, adrenaline rush, fun day. 'Cause after sledding we went to the pool. Making this day argumentatively my favorite!
Thursday was a better ski day for me. I had slightly improved. As mentioned above, Frank had ridden behind me. Hard to explain: much like how a young child would learn to ski, but with an older teenager instead. He put his ski's on each side of mine, and with ski sticks held out in front of us, we skied down hills together, up a hill, I could do....with a few slips here and there. I felt just like a little child. Frank, Stephen, and Sabine helped me so much through the week.
Friday was probably, no, definitely was my best day. I walked the least amount and actually made it down some hills by myself without assistance. The only one of few times I did walk was the last kilometer because I fell with Frank one too many times going down. I felt too bad continuing with letting him help me. I didn't want to be a burden and especially tire him out or injure him. But I enjoyed this ski day the best. The trail we were on was the nicest, and the weather was perfect the whole week, but this day had a sort of radiance. That night we also went tubing on a track which was a lot of good fun.
Each day was extremely exhausting. Every day I tried hard and continued. Another moment only you can know: Barbra, a host aunt, in an effort to get me to ski without leaning forward, wanted me to ski a slightly downhill track to my host uncle Frank. All my family turned to watch in anticipation as I skied perfectly, standing straight down the hill until I was met with the breaking part. I panicked, screaming, "Ich kann nicht, Ich kann nicht!" and pitifully tumbled over onto my tummy. I burst into genuine laughter as my host family joined in. The laughter died down, and all turned away. I sat up and turned my back to them, still silently laughing until the giggles turned to genuine silent tears. Judith gave me tissue after coming to help me from the ground. I was both happy to have made it down and sad to have fallen. I was actually unaware of how I should have felt at that moment. Proud with the accomplishment or embarrassed by the failure?
From that heavy moment, it was a truly amazing week. I had fun, played games, ate great food, had good laughs, and tried something so new! If I had a choice, would I do it again? Hell yeah! I'd be a thousand times better too; 'cause a thousand times better is all I'm going to expect and except! Who wants to see who's coming with me?
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