Spring Break...Part 2

I'm alive!! Its a good thing, given that I was throwing myself down mountains all weekend with flat things strapped to my feet. Yep, that's right, skiing. Thursday morning I was back on the road out of Trutnov, headed towards Pec Pod Snezkou. There, I joined my first host family again. They have already been so generous and kind, I am so lucky to be able to be a part of that family. For an hour and a half in the morning, I was introduced to my instructor and fitted for boots, skiis, and poles. In a little open area off of the bunny slope, I learned the basics of putting on the skiis, going downhill, and stopping. Then, I hit the bunny slope, surrounded by lots of little kids and supervising parents. After a quick lesson on stopping, it was lunch time. In the afternoon, I learned some basic turning and had more practicing. IN the late afternoon, I rested and watched Harry Potter with Misa. Dinner was at the hotel, and I spent the evening with Katka and some of her friends. Friday morning, I learned more turning, and had more stopping practice. Stopping was not one of my strong points, as I found out when I ran into random Czechs at the bottom of the little slope. That afternoon, we moved to a slightly bigger slope and worked at higher speeds and steeper slopes. I also worked more on getting up when I fell. Dinner was also at the hotel and I spent the evening with the family in the cocktail bar, where all us kids had our refreshing virgin mojitos, even Misa. Saturday was my big day. I was all suited up and ready to go at 9:00, when I caught the ski bus with my instructor. we went to a Blue slope (the easiest of the colors) and ran down it for most of the morning. Right before lunch, we also went down a red slope, the medium difficulty. After a quick lunch of Mexican food (yum), we went back to the blue slope for a few hours. To reward ourselves for hard work, my teacher suggested ice cream, and I agreed. Unfortunately, the cafe was halfway down another red slope, I though I was going to punge to the bottom the entire way. I went at a snail's pace, much to the frustration of people wizzing past me. Boy was I happy to be at the bottom a little while later. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching more movies with Misa and nursing my sore limbs. 6 hours of skiing left me in a bit of pain.... I went to sleep early that night, after dinner and tea at the hotel. Sunday was a laid back day. I went swimming with Katka, Misa, and Karel (my host sisters and dad), then had breakfast, packed, and read a while. After lunch, I waited on Karel to finish up some work, then we returned to Trutnov and I had a nice evening relaxing with my current host family.