Yesterday we all started our level two ski lessons. S is in a kids' class and is doing very well. Today E was skiing on his own and was forced over a series of jumps when he went down an unfamiliar trail. He was pretty rattled. S said, "Oh yeah. My class went over those!" The adult class was divided into three parts. R's and my instructor refers to them as, "Good, medium, and you." E is medium, and really R should be, too. She suspects age discrimination, but there is no hope of changing. She looks on the bright side - that she can keep me company and encourage me. There's not a lot of positive feedback coming from our instructor, Fritz (name changed to protect him in case he is having a bad week.)
Here are some quotes from Fritz:
- "Someone fell off the T-bar on the way up. Don't fall off the T-bar anymore."
- "Some of you did well that time, but most, no."
- "How many languages do you speak?" Again and again.
- "Madame, no!"
- "You have a bad side."
- "Where is everyone?"
- "If you turn, you will be okay."
- "Lean your hip into the mountain, but lean away from the mountain."
- "You have a very bad hip."
- "That was no good, anybody."
- closed eyes and slow head shake
I can say a few good things about Fritz. He comes down the mountain last, so he can pick us up off the ground. He has at least forty years of teaching experience, probably more. And he is not going to give his students a false sense of security. I told E that he might have to promise me a Transformer to go tomorrow.
T started again this morning about how he did not want to go skiing. But he did go, and I dropped him off at class. He kept asking, "Where's Daddy? I want Daddy to bring me!" I guess Daddy doesn't tell him he'll get used to his helmet strap and leave him looking forlorn with tears in his eyes. Although I was mean, it all worked out. When we came to pick him up he was going perfectly down the baby slope and had a huge smile on his face. Tomorrow his class goes to the button lift. We have our fingers crossed.
After class we grabbed lunch, as usual, before it was time for T to meet up with the kids club. They had all come to the slopes to pick up the ski class kids and do some more sledding. I can't even describe how much L loved it. She was screaming, "Wheeeeeee!" the whole way down. At the bottom she leaned back in the saucer and giggled and giggled. Later they were brought back to the hotel. T walked holding hands with another little boy and L rode on a sled with another little girl. It was adorable.
I walked back to the hotel and instantly fell asleep until dinner time. I'm embarrassed to say I might have caught something. I have a fever and chills. R didn't feel well when we first got here, and still isn't 100% so I could have just caught it from her. Or I pushed myself too hard after all that pneumonia since I only started to feel bad at the end of class. R is more of a sport than I am. She stayed with E and S to ski more and to ice skate.
This is a little late going up because R, S, and E were going to go night sledging and then write about it. Sledging is pretty dangerous. It involves sitting on a sled and hurtling down a 3 mile long icy track of hairpin turns and not much in the way of a shoulder with nothing but your feet to slow and turn you. The most common injury seems to be a broken collar bone. But a trip was being organized by our hotel, so they were up for it. But E noticed that no other kids seemed to be going. Then at dinner he overheard the people at the table next to our saying that the hotel wouldn't allow any of its employees to do the sledging because it is much too dangerous. Also, night sledging is the worst because of poor visibility and drunks. E decided no way. He is going to look into it some more and see if day sledging might be safe enough.
No comments:
Post a Comment