Skiing and Sauna- Pt. 2

Its cold.  I wear long underwear all the time now.  The only time I ever even thought about wearing it back home was the one or two days when we actually had snow to play in.  I wear a pair of wool socks over a regular pair of socks with well insulated winter boots I bought here and my feet still freeze when sitting in my room.  Im not a fan.  I find it even harder to understand what the girls are doing, how they are not doing laundry every few days or not freezing.  I have to layer so many shirts and jackets I always have a ton of laundry to do.  I am lucky I have so many shirts that Im able to go a little while before I have to wash though.  I guess the girls just dont sweat as much or dont worry about stinking and just wear the same shirts several times before washing.  I try to wear everything from the third layer up more than once, but I think the first and second layer would start to stink pretty fast if I did that.  Oh well, who knows.

We have been pretty busy during the days we have work, and then on our days off there hasnt been too much going on.  I always say Im gonna actually try to get out and do something, but its always just too cold to go wandering in the city for me.  The last two weekends have been pretty fun, though.  Two weekends ago we all went to Claudi's house for the sauna and to ski/snowboard.  The sauna went much better for me this time.  I knew what to expect and it wasn't quite as awkward even though two of Claudi's cousins came with Matthias and me.  This time there was also snow on the ground, so after coming out of the sauna, instead of cooling off in the water we just dove into the snow and made snow angels.  I didnt eat as much before we went, and I think that was probably the difference and why I didnt feel sick this time.  I went back for the second round and would have gone back for the third, but I had gotten so comfortable under a huge blanket inside a warm room I didnt feel like going back out in the cold.  Katja and Matthias both said something or asked me how I was feeling at some point though.  I was fine. 

We spent the night at Claudis and then the next day Raele, Maretta, Sni, and I went skiing/snowboarding with Claudis dad.  Everyone tried snowboarding but me.  I dont think they had another snowboard anyways, but I wanted to see how well I could ski, if at all, so it worked out well.  I have been skiing only one other time with our youth group at some point during high school.  However, I remember the hotel and the place at the ski lodge where you can eat, drink, and get warm more than I do actually skiing.  I remember that I didnt go back the second day, choosing instead to stay in the warm hotel.  So, I figured this would be a good chance for me to see what I could do.  We drove maybe 20 or 30 minutes to a nearby town and the ski lift.  I wish I had taken pictures, but I didnt want to carry my camera around all day or have it broken because I knew I was going to fall a good bit.  Where we went was just a little building where you could buy a ticket for the lift, the lift, and then a place to ski down.  It was nothing like the huge ski places I had seen before, although there were a good number of people.  All of us were learning how to either ski or snowboard so Claudis dad just had us walk a little under halfway up the mountain so we could practice away from the crowd and where the slope was gentler.  He told me how the skis should be to turn and stop and to watch how other people were doing it and then pretty much left me to figure it out.  I think that was definitely the best for me.  Sni had snowboarded last year on a trip they took with the church, so she was just trying to remember how she had done it before.  The other girls spent the entire time trying to learn and walking back up the hill after snowboarding/falling down.  After about three or four times skiing/falling down the hill and then walking back up, I was getting tired.  I also felt like I was doing more walking than skiing,  so I decided to try my luck going up the lift and on the steeper part down to the bottom.  I could have used more practice runs, but I really was getting tired of walking back up the hill so I figured what the heck.  Claudis dad came with me to show me how to swipe your ticket and then got a guy that works there to help me on the lift.  It was a thing that came around and you put it behind your legs and it kind of pulled you up the mountain as you  held on.  You couldntwasnt that fast.  Several times I ended up way far off the normal path because I was not very good at turning back to my right once I started going so fast.  I was able to turn left pretty good, but I always felt that if I tried to turn right at that speed I was going to lose control and wipe out, which I did do a few times.  Most of the time though I ended up way off the path and got into deeper snow and snow that had more bumps in it which was even worse for me ha.  The deep snow would slow me down though so I could turn back to the right and ski back to where everyone else was without falling, so that was good.  After several attempts I finally made it the entire mountain without falling.  I realized I just had to not get spooked going down the steep part and saw that I would slow down on the bottom part even if I wasn't totally sure how to stop myself while going so fast.  It was definitely an adrenaline rush.  And after that I was feeling pretty good about myself.  Sni had started using the lift too but the other girls were still walking up the hill to learn.  So, anyways I went back and got in line for the lift.  By this point I felt like an old pro with the whole process and felt pretty relaxed as I started up the lift by myself.  I got about 3/4 of the way up and it all happened so fast, I really am not sure how I managed to do it, but I somehow fell while riding the lift up.  I think I tried leaning back/sitting a little too much instead of staying forward on my knees and feet, and the bars that were pulling me up went back with me until I had fallen under them.  In a kind of reaction I reached for them to support myself but instead of the line being firm I was able to pull it to the ground with me.  From there I held on for a while, being dragged on my side up the hill.  I had no idea what I should do.  I thought about just letting go and skiing down from there, but then I looked back and decided the next person back was too close and I wouldnt have enough time to move out of their way if I let go.  So I decided to just hang on until the top and hope for the best.  It wasn't going too fast or anything, it was just kind of embarrassing ha.  I guess the lift controller saw me though, and the lift stopped long enough for me to stand up and ski over to the mountain out of the way of the others on the lift.  Two guys behind the girl that was directly behind me rode by and the lift and we all shared a laugh.  I said "whoops".  And then skied down the mountain.  I found it pretty amusing and kind of ridiculous that I was able to fall on the lift so I skied over to the girls and shared my story.  I was also trying to wait for Sni to come down so we could ride together the next time, and hopefully avoid another such disaster.  Claudi's dad had told me to always ask someone to ride with me so they could help me with the lift and I think because it was maybe more balanced with two people riding.  I finally found Sni and we went to the lift line together.  As we were waiting I shared my story and as soon as I finished it was our time to get on.  To be fair, it was a little difficult because she had a snowboard and I had skis, but we had barely gotten on before we both wiped out in front of everyone in line.  Sni somehow got ahead of me with the lift so she went on alone and I skied back to the start and came with the next set of bars.  I ended up going down the mountain twice without falling at all which I felt was pretty good.  I felt super drained after a few runs and towards the end had no adrenaline left.  It was a lot of fun though and I think we are planning to go back again in a week or two. 

This past weekend we were in Dresden for a planning weekend for a youth weekend in June.  It was good to be with other people other than just the girls and I found the meeting/planning very interesting and helpful.  We started from literally nothing and came up with the theme for the weekend, the title, a ranking of bands we want to have, and started working on the worship services and small groups we want to have.  I had always wondered how exactly the weekends at camp Sumatanga or even the summer camps were planned, and I think I now have seen the process and would be able to do that or help if ever called to do so.  One other thing, we had raclettes one night which is something my family does from time to time after my oldest brother Zac had discovered them in France.  However, here in Germany we cooked more than just the cheese, like we usually do at home.  We cooked all different kinds of meats and made omelets and all kinds of vegetables with them as well as the usual cheese and potatoes.  Its a lot of fun and something different if youve never tried them before, Id recommend it for a family dinner.