Adventures of a snowy kind…

Wow with this being my 28^th post from the USA I realize you are either sick of reading my long posts, or are so entwined in my American adventure you eagerly await the next one…I’m hoping it is the latter!

No, I do not wear these when I am typing my blog...but they're cute!

My last post left you in a spin after a wonderful California vacation and a visit from the cop…Now I will start with my American winter adventures…

Tamara and I at Bayshore Mall, WI

‘Tis the season to be jolly, to skate and sled and of course ski! I have attempted all three of these in the course of one month! I love, love, love ice skating! It is really fun, although the first 5 minutes brought back memories of skating in Durban ice rink as a little child…and falling over a lot! (Thanks Dad, haha) After a few supportive words from my friends I went out and really started to enjoy myself, I may not be the best, but I have fun while doing! 

Rieke, Nadine, Lauris and I skating at the Pettit center

There is an indoor rink, and an outdoor rink (downtown) I have to say I definitely prefer the outdoor rink though…I think being outside skating while snowflakes are falling is just so magical! (You can see I’m not from a snowy country!) 

Skating outside at Red Arrow, downtown Milwaukee, WI

We also went skating (as in roller blading and rollerskating in an indoor rink, which had funky music and disco lights!) I felt like a superstar! There were some kids (okay teenagers) that were dancing around and break dancing on skates, I was a little intimidated! Considering the fact that I was just happy I never killed myself dancing around while moving around on what I consider to be "death on wheels" no my big goal in life, but props to them! I wish going to post a pic of us actually skating, but thought this one was better because you can see all the girls from the different countries...can you guess without looking?

Germany, Germany, Germany, France, SA
Colombia,  SA, Brazil, Germany and SA (yes, we are ALWAYS outnumbered by Germans :)

The sledding was relatively tame as we only had a baby hill to sled down… although when you get 10 au pairs together it’s never tame! Amanda (my host mom) made a comment that she would love to see us all out together, as we all speak different languages, constantly look like 5 year olds trying everything for the first time…and of course there is the incessant picture taking!

Tamara, Nadine and I ... yes, we went down on the hill like that :)

This brings us to skiing… so Fernanda, Yardley and I went out on the Saturday fully intending to go skiing at 10 the next morning. Well, after getting home at 3 we decided an extra hour of sleep was worth losing an hour of skiing for. We met two nice guys out that night, they asked us if we wanted to join them for some coffee sometime on Sunday, we told them if they wanted they could join us in our first skiing experience, as we had no time for coffee. They decided (not sure if they heard the part where we said we have never skied before) to join us. We all arrived at Crystal Ridge at 11 the next morning; I must tell you for those who have never skied before, getting ready to ski is just as complicated as actually skiing! 

Marco, Ross, Yardy, Fernanda and I getting ready to ski...

There are certain layers you have to put on to keep warm, special ski boots you have to wear, poles you have to find and of course your skis! The next step is trying to attach your skis to the ski boots you are wearing (which bear in mind look like moon boots!) You do this by putting the toe of the boot into the front slot then pushing down really hard with your heel (as if you’re trying to kick start a motorbike) This idiot could not do it…then one of the clever guys figured out it was the wrong size…light bulb moment. (It also made me wonder how long we would have been trying to get it right, if the guys weren’t there to help!) 

Okay now I'm just playing around..

Pretty much the only thing I remember about the ski session was “PIZZA WEDGE” (which is apparently how you stop…yeah right!) But after practicing on the bunny hill, Fernanda and I advanced to the big hill (green circle I think it’s called, the next one is a blue square, then a black diamond…if I’m not mistaken) Which had a ski lift, it was really exciting! I managed to not fall going down the hill at all, but the funny thing about skiing is you can fall anywhere! So there were 4 of us just standing around chatting and all of a sudden, 3 of our skis ended up entwined and I ended up on the floor! So the one guy instead of rushing to help us all, asks for a camera and starts taking pictures…Thanks for the memories!

Ski Stack...

My first ski experience *recorded*