whew. I have just gotten back from my ski trip in Austria. Honestly I really don't even know how to describe it. It was so much fun. It was absolutely one of the prettiest places I have ever been. It def helped that it had snowed a ton both before we arrived and while we were there. So the views were awesome. I'll give you the low down of the week.
So we had a 24 hour bus journey to get there. Well what was supposed to be a 24 hour bus journey. We took off around 2.30 in the afternoon. We woofed it down to Dover where we were going to catch the ferry across to France. Once we got to France it was already 1 in the morning and snowing. It snowed for the duration of our journey, through Belgium, Germany, and Austria. When we got back it was already around 8. We had some tea, showered and then went to down to check it out and have some beers. Well a few hours, beers, and shots later we finally came in at 2 a.m. only to have to get up at quarter to 7 for breakfast.
The next morning we had breakfast, made packed lunches and then went to the ski shop to get our skis and boots. Well it would be in stretch to say I looked like shit. I looked way beyond it. Mostly my problem was that I was dehydrated. So after getting fitted for my boots. I asked if I could run to the closet grocery store to get some water. Gary Bishop (the main man) told me to wait till I got my ski's, but then when he came over he told me I looked terrible and to go get some water. I got directions to the closest grocery store and bolted own the street only to find it was closed on Sundays. So I popped into McDonalds instead, shocking I know, yes. As I walked in I saw two guys already at the counter giving their order. They looked me up and down and smiled. I smiled back wondering why on earth they were taking a liking to me when I clearly looked like crap and had on huge ski pants and ski jacket. Then I realized as the guy stuttered and nearly fell over that they were wasted. They stood next to me as I placed my order and got even more excited when they realized I was American. I tried to hand the guy my money and get out of there as fast as I could. As I was walking out I heard someone say "Miss" I turned to see one of the guys pulling the sole rose in the vase on the table. He got to his feet and pushed the rose towards me. I tried to decline, but he kept insisting. The guy behind the counter quickly realized what was going on and starting yelling at the man to put the rose back (that’s what I am guessing since it was in German) The man kept ignoring him and insisted I take the rose. I was so close to declining but seeing that it was Valentines Day only the day before I could not resist. I took the rose and suddenly felt much better walking back to get my skis. I got many questioning looks from the kids walking back to the shop but it did not erase my smile. I got back in line to get my ski's and when I got to the top, the man giving them to me started flirting with me. I handed him the paper which said my weight and height and ski experience. He looked at it and said ahhh.
Creepy ski guy: "Hello"
Me: "uhh hi"
CSG: ''you have a very nice height and weight range.''
Me: ''uh thanks.'' (just so you know the range was like 5'5-'5'10 and then like 120-150 so it was almost every girls height and weight range there.)
CGS: ''New boots huh?''
Me: ''um yes, you just gave them to me about 10 minutes ago.''
CGS: ''New ski's?''
Me: ''I'm assuming your talking about the ones you just handed me?''
CGS: ''New boyfriend?''
Me: forced smile. ''hehe.'' I couldn't even get a haha out. It was def a hehe very forced and then I quickly walked out of there as fast as I could.
So after our long morning the beginners were dropped off to go skiing at a different place then the rest of the group. We took the Horn all the way up the mountain and since we had never skied before we were taking a ski lift down from the restaurant at the top to a flatter part of the mountain. I am actually terrified of things that keep moving when you are supposed to get off of them. The pressure to get off so quickly really freaks me out and I am terrible at it. Well on the first lift down we had to take them by ourselves and put our skis across our laps. As we got close to the bottom I start trying to lift the bar above my head so I can get off. I quickly start freaking out when I realize it won't come up. The guy is telling me to lift it and I just tell him that I can't. I am getting closer and closer and really starting to panic. When finally the guy stops the lift. He walks over to my chair lift and says:....
‘‘You might want to take your feet of the bottom of the bar.'' (The foot rest was attached to the bar that went across my body, so I was preventing it from going up.) Feeling incredibly stupid I mumbled thanks and walked off to find my group only the be hit in the back of the legs about 4 times while trying to get out of the way of the chair lift that had started moving again. The rest of the day went smoothly besides being the only one who could not stand up from the ground with skis on. I found everything pretty easy. We had lunch in the restaurant at the top of the mountain and did some more skiing down baby slopes in the afternoon. As I was getting on the ski lift to go back up the mountain at the end of the day, I noticed it was the same guy that had helped me off the lift. When it came to my turn he stopped the machine again. Helped me on the chair lift, pulled down my safety bar and then started the machine up again. I never felt so useless in my entire life. The worst part about it was he did it all with a smile, chuckling under his breath. We had our tea and then went back into town for some quiet beers. We had a much quieter night then the night before thank god.
The next day was pretty much the same. We headed back to the place we went the day before with Nikki our instructor. We got to do some bigger hills but still nothing special. That night we went curling. It had started snowing earlier in the day and had continued through the night. While we were there, we decided curling was boring and we went in for some mulled wine as the kids through snowballs at one another. We were only there for about 45 minutes. There was Karaoke going on that night at the bar and so we headed over to where it was going on. Even though I kept going on about how much I loved karaoke I refused to sing and instead took videos and pictures of all the others making fools of themselves.
The next day it was snowing a ton. Most of the slopes were closed and you could hardly see in front of you when you were skiing. We went up the mountain for lunch and were absolutely soaked. I being didn’t feel well at all so I decided to hang out in the restaurant and sleep while they skied the rest of the afternoon. I decided to have a very relaxing evening in the hotel with the Godfather (Gary Bishop, the man in charge) and I hung out with the kids because they weren’t allowed to go out late that night. I am so glad I did because all the other teachers ending up going back to karaoke and staying till around two in the morning.
By this time in the week we all had nicknames. Mostly because everyone was obsessed with the walkie talkies and wanted to use them. My name was princess because I was very bad at carrying my skis so people kept offering to carry them. I didn’t agree with this name because it is not like I asked them to carry my skis, they simply offered and it would have just been stupid of me to turn that offer down. The other names were Rubber Ducky, Brokeback, and Midnight something, and so on. I was actually never rewarded a walkie talkie so it didn’t really matter. Another instructor took us this day and we were able to do much more skiing because we were not forced to stay in our instructors tracks. It was good because it actually forced you to learn. That night we went bowling Austrian style. It was very traditional bowling where the pins were on a string, the bowling balls were much smaller, and there was a string at the top where you had to roll it under. There were three teams and everyone rolled once and you added up the score. After each game the teams would nominate someone to come up and take a shot of Jägermeister. You had to stand on a chair with your hands on your back and put the cap of the shot on your nose or far head. You then had to drink it down without using your hands. Gary wanted a volunteer to show the kids how you were supposed to do it and who do you think he choose…..me. He made me stand up on the chair and remove the gum in my mouth. (So American, he always says) Well shockingly enough I could not do it. I stupidly tilted my head all the way back but since the bottle was still in my teeth I could not swallow. I kept trying to use my hands but I was not allowed. Brutal. I finally managed, but it was not pretty. After bowling many different ways, not touching the floor (your teammates had to hold you up, with the opposite member of sex through their legs and yours. (I was also picked for this demonstration.) We were finally ready to go home. We went back to the hotel to have a few beers and then headed to bed.
The next day was blue skis and it was awesome out. I skied with my group in the morning but I decided to leave them in the afternoon to ski with three other teachers. Team Seds we called ourselves (that’s just because one of them is a qualified instructor and his last name is Seddon.) I skied down the entire mountain!! I also had my first falls..which turned into about 5. Then some idiot man skied right into me. I’m not gonna like it was painful, but I think the rest of team Seds was much angrier than I was. I had to give myself little pep talks on some of the hills because they were terrifying, but then the others would just start chanting…Cunes, Cunes, Cunes…and I would go down. It was a lot of fun. That night we went back to the hotel for about two minutes and then went to Apri Ski. So basically we did not shower or anything we just went straight to the bar for our last night. By this point I was pretty much addicted to Weis Beer, the local beer. We hung out with all the kids and decided to blow of dinner and stay and drink. That was probably the worst idea we ever had. We ended up getting bombed…eating some food…and then passing out around 11. We had to get up early again the next day to pack and have our last ski down the mountain.
The next day was fun..we got to see the a race track and skied down the entire mountain twice. On our last ride down we stopped at a restaurant along the way to have a hot chocolate. Then we wet back and showered and had a long 24 hour bus ride home. It was an awesome trip. I honestly wish you could have all been there with me! Anyway back to busy Barney life. 5 weeks and then its Easter break!! Miss you guys.
No comments:
Post a Comment