Tuesday, January 26, 2010

So I've been home sick the past two days. It's funny because I was sick just after I moved in with my last host family. But it's really okay because I'm not super sick or anything, just a case of the sniffles and coughs. I think more than anything I burned myself out. Normally I rely on having the weekend to catch up sleep wise and rest but I didn't have that last weekend (in fact I had quite the opposite as I only got ten hours of sleep ALL weekend) or this weekend so I guess I just kind of crashed. I enjoy it here though because since I don't do anything in school I can stay home and rest guilt free! It's wonderful! I slept virtually all day yesterday and today for that matter and now I'm feeling a whole lot better. All recharged for this weekend. I'm off to Kosice on Friday, a major city in Slovakia in the East. I've been told it's quite different in the East compared to the West. I guess there are a lot of gypsies or Roma people over there and it is quite a bit more poor. So we will see. I haven't had a chance to go to the East yet as it's not a part of the country everyone is overly proud of but Kosice is supposed to be a pretty fantastic city. Needless to say I'm looking forward to it!

Last week at school was pretty interesting. There was an english competition again so kids from all over Zilina came to compete. There were several categories; listening, oral, reading, and writing so overall I would say it was pretty intense. But what was funny was that the person who was supposed to read for the listening exercise didn't show up so I had to fill in for them. It was really funny having to read these random articles out loud for some of my classmates. And now one of the English teachers love me. She kept going on and on about how beautiful my accent is and how much she liked my pronounciation. It was really cute. I also had to help out with one of the english conversation classes for the oldest class this week. That was also interesting. I had to what they call 'roleplay'. It essentially means I get a slip a paper with a role I have to fulfill and one of the students gets a different role and then we have to have a spontaneous conversation about that topic. It was actually a lot of fun. One of the scenarios was I was the mom and the student was the child and they were trying to convince me to buy them a cell phone. It was really hard not to burst out laughing though becuase here I was pretending to be a mother, while they are begging me in a really cute slovak accent to buy them a phone. And it didn't help that half of them were my friends.
And I made a little discovery on Friday last week. In case you were unaware apparently Canadians raise Caribou for meat, milk, and cheese and live in a land of snow and ice. Somebody somewhere along the way had to do a project on Canada for English class and it was hanging on the wall and I was looking at it and that is one of the things it said. It was quite humoring to be honest. And yes sadly I have found that is one of the things Canada seems to be known for around the world. When people find out I am from canada they all assume one or all of the following: 1. We all ski. 2. There are bears everywhere. 3. We live under three meters of snow. 4. It's ridiculously cold. 5. It has really beautiful nature (which is true). So I guess it's not all bad, especially compared to what they think about the Americans.

Oh yeah and guess what????? This is week 23 and do you know what that means? No you probably don't but I'm gonna tell you! IT MEANS IM HALF WAY DONE MY EXCHANGE! I can hardly believe I have been here five months now! The time really has flown by and believe it or not now I'm starting to have trouble imagining returning home. I know I can't quite believe I just said that either, what with all the homesickness and everything but it's true. The Rotarians really do know what they are talking about with the whole sin curve graph thing. Don't get me wrong, I totally still miss my friends and family but it's a a little different now. Life in Slovakia has become normalized. Everything that was once soooo incrediably different is just part of my everyday life now. I've even stopped noticing how different some of it is because I've become accustomed to it all. Now from time to time I find myself taken aback by the beauty of something and then I think 'WOW. Paige you lucky little bum! You are in Slovakia!' because I'd forgotten I was in a faraway land. It's almost like I've got two homes now. It's a strange but nice feeling, to be able to belong to two completely different worlds. And if I'm starting to feel this now then I can only imagine what it'll be like in four or five months when I actually do have to think about returning to Canada. But let's not get too carried away. There are still five whole months left to be filled with uncanny ridiculously amazing adventure all of which will be documented right here! :)

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Raca...ooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

I knew there was a reason I remembered not liking skiing. I had started to convince myself that it wasn't all that bad but the instant I put those rigid boots on it all came flooding back. I remember now. I don't like skiing because it causes me a lot of bloody pain! Fortunately for me (but at this point Im not all that convinced it's fortunate)my brain seems to block out those painful memories so I find myself doing it again and again. Can you tell me why we do things like that to our bodies? Squish our feet into these rigid, leaning, calf squeezing hunks of plastic and then strap them to long pieces of titanium which only severely limit our mobility. Why? Why? WHY? Now don't get me wrong it really is an awesome feeling to go whizzing down the hill at high speeds, the sun at your back, and the snow sparkling all around you. And admittedly you get a really good work out. I think every muscle in my body hurts today and if you saw me hobbling up the stairs you might mistake me for 100 year old lady. But I'm still not entirely convinced that whole 'whizzing' thing is for me. It's a little too scary for a control freak like myself; to let your body go flying, with no way of stopping, your heart beating in your ears and your stomach in your throat, and what really gets me is the inability to move my feet to save myself because they are trapped in those contraptions.

Well, I went skiing this weekend for the first time in Slovakia and the (fifth time in my life) with my outdoorsy, ski loving, extraordinarily athletic host family. We went and stayed in the apartment they own which is literally on the ski hill. Once again I was star struck with the beauty of it all. And I do genuinely like staying there with them. It's kind of like camping if you know what that is like. You get to eat what you want, be really dirty (there isn't really a proper shower), sleep when you want, and where long underwear all the time. Plus they have a lot of family friends there so I got to get to know some of them. It feels like it's own little ski community. And it's nice to be a part of that. The only problem is I have to work on the whole 'loving skiing with every essence of my being part' if I ever really want to fit in. But I'm coming around. Day two was significantly better than day one so logically it can only get better from here. I believe I'll be able to enjoy it alot more once my legs stop screaming at me for putting them through such torture and I think I'll reach that point rather quickly. It's going to be an awful steep learning curve you see, as I think this is what I will be doing virtually every weekend. So I look forward to the days when I can relax a little and begin to give in to the whole experience. Until then I'll just grin and bear it. Wish me luck!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Now I know that when the Slovak's say you're going for a walk really what they mean is you're hiking up a mountain. And when they say you need good shoes, they mean you need all terrain hiking equipment. Yup. I climbed yet another mountain this weekend. I think I need to start keeping tabs on this or something. I mean at this rate by the end of my exchange I could have climbed mount everest or something! Okay maybe not. but still.

This weekend I participated in something called Chalupart. Now I know to all of you that just seems like a really strange arrangement of letters but in Slovak it really does make a certain amount of sense. Translated it means 'cottager' which doesn't exist in the english language but we don't really do the whole cottage thing like the Slovaks and so i guess we just dont feel the need to dedicate an entire word to the process. This chalupart was put on by an organization called Nadacia Krajina Harmonie (Peaceful, harmonious, Country or something like that) which is a local organization which goal is to create opportunities for people with disabilities and and people from the community to come together and learn from each other. Chalupart is one of those opportunities and is pretty much when a bunch of volunteers and people with special needs gather at a cottage for an entire weekend and have a good time. So as you probably could have guessed I was pretty psyched about the whole idea. I mean the whole integration of people with disabilities is kind of right up my alley and I've been looking to volunteer with a foundation just like this one for the past couple of months. So all in all I was pretty pleased with myself for having figured this all out but I must admit I wasn't entirely sure (as usual) what I was getting myself into. And this time I really did get myself into something. This is how it went down...

We all met at the bus stop. We being myself, about seven other volunteers, and seven high functioning disabled adults. Our destination was Dlhe Pole, a tiny little village about thirty minutes outside of Zilina. I was told we would take the bus here and then it would be a thirty minute walk from the bus stop to the cottage. What I didn't know however was that we would be hiking (NOT walking) FORTY minutes, UPhill, in CALF deep snow. And since I didn't know this I didn't came sporting my fashionable but most definately not climbing suitable UGGS. Yes, not only did I climb a mountain this weekend but I climbed it in slippers. Several pit stops, five wipe outs, and some soaking wet pants later, I made it to the top. And what did I find at the top? Not a beautiful hotel, not a cute little house. No I wouldn't even have called it a sweet little cabin. It was more of a quaint little shack. A one hundred year old shack without running water and heat to be exact. So me in my Uggs, tight jeans, straightened hair, and make-uped face felt like a complete idiot. But I got over it, made my way inside, did my best to feel at home.
Having extraordinarily limited space in the cottage we were forced to spend the majority of our time outside. Which was alright with me. We had a gas having snow ball fights, throwing eachother in snowbanks and of course hiking. And when we got tired of that we all made our way inside where we made a GIANT pot of porridge and sat around the fire drinking tea and playing board games. It really was nice once I adjusted to the whole 'roughing it' thing. But man were we roughing it. I soon discovered there's only so much one can do before you just have to surrender to the elements. By the time day two rolled around I blended right in with everyone else: fuzzy teeth, greasy hair, dirty clothes, and deodorant au natural. And come day three you don't even want to know what I looked like. But we all smelled together so for some reason that made it all okay.
Although I didn't have the opportunity to shower I did get to try the sauna. yes the shack had no running water but it had a sauna. Slovak priorities are strange sometimes. And was that an experience and a half! Oh boy. When I refer to saunaI really I should be calling it something else because the Slovaks (actually I think its a european thing but that doesnt really matter) do it a whole lot different than we do. Their sauna-ing experience had two BIG differences. 1. you do it in the nude and 2. you are required to jump into a bath of ice water afterwards. So there I was, sweet, innocent Paige, haven't been naked in front of my own mom since I was six years old; completely exposed, in a steamy pine box with five other people of both genders. I won't write out what was running through my head at that moment because I think you might find it somewhat inappropriate but I think you get the idea. And then, as if I wasn't already a million miles out of my comfort zone, everyone around me promptly gets up and heads out. I follow of course, not wanting to be the only moron left behind, and where do I find them heading? OUTSIDE!! All I see is a line of four naked bums heading for the door, jumping into a big pool of ice cold water. As confused as I was I decided to follow because really what did I have to lose? I was already standing outside in the snow buck naked. So I hopped on in, dunked my head, struggled for air because I was so freakin cold and returned to the sauna. We then proceeded to do this two more times because the Slovaks say its good for your health. Now if you ask me that doesn't make much sense coming from the people, who a month ago told me I caught my cold from playing outside but who am I to say they're wrong?
All in all it was really fantastic weekend. A really crazy experience but something I'll never ever forget. I met a lot of fantastic people, befriended some unbelievably kind disabled adults, and saw some absolutely stunning nature. Would I do it all over again if I had the chance? You bet! And guess what? I get to! Nardacia organizes these chaluparts once a month and you can be sure I'll be going as many more times as i possibly can. They also invited me to drop by the centre whenever I have time so i think I'm going to start going every monday after school for a couple of hours to get to know what kinds of things they have going. I'm super excited to get to see the attitudes of another country towards people with special needs and to have the opportunity to have an inside look at such a neat organization. I'll be sure to keep you posted!

p

Thursday, January 14, 2010

moved in

So week number one in my new host home has flown by! I was super happy to back in school and back to my routine. I like it when my life is somewhat predictable...there's something soothing in that. But anyways...my new host family! They are fantastic and so far it feels like a good fit. Here's the lowdown: I have a host mom named Dagwar (strange name I know, but we call her dada for short), a host dad named Martin, and a host brother, matej (or matko for short). My host bro is eleven so there's a kid in the house! It makes me so happy to have at least one little person running around the house again! Admittedly one is not much compared to seven but it's better than nothing!
I now live in a suburb of Zilina called Budatin. It is a really nice neighborhood and was developed only in the last couple of years or so by the looks of things. My street is actually built right on a hill. If you look down the road at my neighbors homes (I live at the top of the hill) it's a steep decline down before you hit the bottom of a mini mountain. It's really beautiful out here and quite secluded. So that's another thing I appreciate, not living so much IN the city. The neighbors houses are still ridiculously close to ours but there isn't nearly as much traffic and the air almost smells fresh, so i guess you could say its kinda like living in the country.
My first week has gone relatively smoothly. There hasn't been too much to adapt to, since this family is quite similar to my last. We live in a decent sized house, I have my own room, both my parents work (my mom is an oncologist and my dad a gynecologist so from the looks of things they are pretty well to do), and they are really active. The major adjustment has been the bus. Ugh. Now, since I live outside the city I have to take 2 buses to get to school, (but luckily it's just one bus to the centre). SO this is how my morning commute goes: ten minute walk to bus stop one. three minute wait for the bus in the cold, wet, and sometimes miserable weather. Ten minute bus ride to the centre. Two minute walk to bus stop number two. Ten to twenty minute wait for next bus in the once again less than enjoyable weather. Twenty minute bus ride to bus stop three. Ten minute walk to school. Yup its a bit of a hike and I definitely haven't mastered it yet. Oh how I miss my car!!!! And to make matters even more challenging, the bus from budatin only runs once an hour after 11 am so you really have to be sure you dont miss it or else you are stuck. Because of this I have encountered my fair share of challenges when it comes to public transport. On my first day for instance, I managed to miss my first bus which consequently caused me to miss my second bus on the way to school and then on the way home from school I missed my stop to get off and had to walk back. i guess i just have a knack for missing the bus.
The other adjustment I haven't made quite yet but I know I will have to make is my family loves to ski. And when i say loves to ski, I mean LOVES to ski. My host brother and sister (who is the us right now on exchange) are both professional skiers you may say. My bro just finished competing in the European downhill championships and my sister has medals covering her room, so by the looks of it they are pretty good at what they do too! So since my host sibling is skiing virtually every weekend my host family purchased a little apartment in Raca is what I have refered to in other blog posts. So I will be spending alot of time here and presumably be getting quite good at skiing. Which couldn't hurt I guess.

This week has actually flown by because I have been exceptionally busy. I had two english lessons this week which went really well and I also found a studio which offers drop in dance classes. So I went with mariely to BELLY DANCING! Yes that's right, Paige, the girl who can't even move her hips in a full circle is going to do belly dancing. But it was actually really fun so I think I will go back. They also offer yoga so I think im going to give that a shot as well. Plus I've actually had some homework to do and I had bridge club somewhere in there, couple visits to the library, and a rotary meeting. so life is good.

Now one last funny story to share before i finish with my rambling. Today in Phys-ed we had two presenters come in to teach us about self defense. It was actually really hilarious. They would show us a move and then we would get down on the mats and try and do it ourselves. We being Mariely and I and all the boys in our class because the other girls were to wimpy to give it a shot. Now you need to know this self defense wasn't just if someone comes up to you and starts punching you. oh no. it was more like if someone was mauling and beating you to the ground or something. So it entailed me laying on my back and then mariely laying on top of me. We wrapping our legs around eachother and manoevering our arms in strange ways until I found my head and arm sandwiched between Mariely's thighs. It was at this point, that Mariely and the instructor thought it would be convenient to ask me how to say 'thighs' in English. I was like what? What are you pointing at? I'm sorry I'm a little pre occupied here at the moment--what with being choked and all". Eventually I figured out what they were asking and we were able to continue. As strange as this position sounds it wasn's a fluke. This was what we were going for. Once you get someone in this position you are actually able to knock them out in under 15 seconds becuase when you squeeze your legs together you cut the blood supply of to the brain rather efficiently. (look what you can learn in a day in Slovak school!)And let me tell you I felt how it works. You get dizzy in a manner of seconds. So watch out world! Paige can choke you with her thighs! The instructor was really nice and he offered for mariely and I to come in to the studio sometime for a free lesson and I think mariely and i might actually take him up on that. surprisingly enough. I mean what the heck. I'm in Slovakia, it's something I would never do in Canada for one reason or another so why not give it a shot now that I have the time.

okay enough typing for me and enough reading for you. phew!

bye bye

p

Saturday, January 9, 2010



foreign adventures

Today was a really good day. Lots of fun was had. Lots of laughs and smiles shared. Mariely and I met our newfound friends, Andre (from Brasil) and Peng (from China) in town for some cooking adventures. All together we were really a multicultural group: China, Mexico, Brasil, and Canada. It's actually quite funny how all the foreigners seem to find eachother. Mariely and I were just having tea the other day when these two walked in and the instant we saw them we knew they weren't from Slovakia (the dark eyes, hair, and skin, is kind of a give away as %99 of Slovakia's population is Slovak and the remaining %1 are hungarian or ukranian. Let's just say it's not a very colorful country.) ANYWAYS....we got to talking and naturally we had a lot in common so a friendship was born. Andre is 19 and has been here for eight months already volunteering with a local organization that works with people with special needs (and hopefully I will get to volunteer here too...but thats another story) and Peng is 23 and has been here two years on and off working as an intern in an electronics company.
We decided (the four of us) that we should have an international night where we could each cook a dish unique to our countries. Tonight was dubbed the special night so we all met in the centre to hit up the grocery store. Who knew cooking a foreign dish could be such an adventure! Apparently Slovakia doesn't have a wide range of ingredients. We spent close to two hours roaming the aisles looking for cilantro (which just simply doesn't seem to exist in Slovakia), tortillas (the next best thing turned out to be crepes), and goood beef (which is near impossible to find). After we had purchased all the ingredients, or Slovak substitutes for the ingredients we needed we headed off to Peng's small student loft to cook. Now when I say small, student loft, you need to understand that is being kind. It was this tiny little attic suite where you pretty much sleep in the same place you eat, but regardless it would do the trick just fine. Or so we thought haha. This is when the adventures ensued...
I was going to attempt to make brownies but when I took a look at his oven I decided it would not be a wise choice to use it for more than one reason A) he had never used it before B) it was disgustingly dirty, with years and years of heaven knows what caked on to it and C) it was so old it was made in Czechoslovakia and that is never a good sign. So not knowing what else to do with my already mixed together brownie batter I put it in a microwavable dish and put it in the microwave. And guess what? It worked!!!! They actually turned out to be rather delicious surprise surprise. And then there was Mariely, representing Mexico, who tried to make guacamole from scratch. Unfortunately our cooking supplies was rather limited to we ended up taking turns mashing the avocados with a fork in a tooo small bowl but eventually we got it down to the right consistency. Then when it came to the spices we had to improvise a little bit. Tossing in a dash of salt, some chili, and some coriander. We ended up with coriander because we were looking for cilantro but we couldn't find any and so we decided Oregano was close enough but we couldn't find that either so we figured coriander was kind of close to Oregano. So the original aim kind of got lost in the translation but it ended up tasting pretty fantastic and thats all that matters really. So thats the appetizer and the desert. The main dish was created by Peng and was much less entertaining. As it turns out he is quite a talented chef so not too much went wrong and it was reaaaaaalllllllyyy delicious. It was noodles boiled and then fried tossed with vegetables and some meat. wonderful! especially after having eaten potatoes and pork for four months. The brasilian bought a really yummy melon to share....it had a really strange name that I can't remember but it was tasty as well.
Once all was prepared we sat down around the tiny table and dug in, or at least did our best to dig in because we were eating with chop sticks. I soon discovered I am not very good at the whole chopstick thing but it was really funny trying to get those noodles to stay on the stick long enough for me to slurp them up!

After our multi cultural feast we sat around and talked about a gazillion different things from the weather to Slovakia to food and it was really nice and interesting! I learned alot! For one I never realized just how cold Canada is! We looked up the average temperature of Brazil, Mexico, China, and Canada, and Edmonton was by far the coldest. When they saw that it got down to -40 they all couldn't even believe it, it was really cute actually. I also saw some really fantastic pictures of China and it made me want to visit there some day. Just another place to add to my list; which is getting rather lengthy.
Having gotten carried away talking mariely and I missed our bus at 830 which then meant we had to wait for our next one at 1030 which ended up being alright because we had a lot of fun talking and sharing stories. eventually we made our way to the bus stop to head on home and we even turned up 15 minutes early for our bus to make sure we didn't miss it (because it was the last one) and guess what? WE MISSED It!!!! I still can't believe it. The bus pulled in to pick us up, opened it's doors, Mariely pretty much had her foot on the step and I turned to say goodbye when beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep the doors closed and the bus drove off! I mean I really don't udnerstand how the bus driver didn't see that we were getting on the bus. I think we made it pretty clear what with mariely and Andre having to essentially jump backwards to avoid the doors from squishing them. All of this would have been fine, i've missed the bus on more than one occasion but this was the last bus. crap. In the end after re-reading the bus schedule too many times in hopes that it would change, we called a cab and it took us home.
And now here I am sitting in the kitchen with the music blarring (mariely and my host parents are out of town until later) dancing and helping Mariely prepare meat for TACOS! tomorrow. What a day.

ps. I SWITCH HOST HOMES TOMORROW OFFICIALLY! and then back to school on Monday....... :(

Monday, January 4, 2010

Changing host homes

So I have been here four months now and that means that its time for a change. I am officially switching host homes in one week but I have pretty much switched now. My current host family is on a ski trip in Austria for the next week and I couldn't go with them for one reason or another so I am bunking with Mariely and coincidentally my second host family. I have half of my stuff here now and then at the end of the week I will be going to get all of my stuff and officially move in. I'm pretty excited for the change but it really is sad to leave my old family behind and all that is familiar to me AGAIN! But I know that I will make do and in the end it is probably for the best. It will just be tough making it through this next week as it is kind of difficult being only partially moved in for the time being, but come next week I will be all settled in and back to my normal routine of school and other such things. Hooray! I cannot wait! I am such a routinized being....really.

p

Sylvester! New Year!

Hi all!

So I had a fantastic new year! As I mentioned before I spent New Year or Sylvester po slovensky, in Raca a small ski town just outside of Zilina. As usual I didn't really know what I was getting myself into. I didn't really know where this place was, what it was, nor did I know what I would be doing there. All I knew was that I needed good shoes, warm clothes, and a disco outfit. Wow. My imagination went wild thinking of all the things I could be doing but never did I think I would find myself hoofing all my things up a ski hill! But that is precisely where I found myself. Unfortunately no one told me I would have to bring all that I brought with me UP a SKI hill....so I packed a little on the heavy side (plus I didn't know what I would be doing so I had to be prepared for anything!). But it pays off being a girl in Slovakia because my big bro drove me and he got to carry my super heavy bag up the hill.
So this is how it went down. We arrive there, and I have no idea where I am. We pile out of the car, and proceed to walk down the road, into the snow, and when I look up I see a full fledge ski hill before me, skiers flying down the hill towards me. We then proceed to climb the hill with not a word to me as to where we are headed, how far up we have to go, or why on earth we are climbing a ski hill in the first place! I mean never have I ever heard of anyone doing such a thing....but this is Slovakia and I guess in Slovakia that's how they do things. Since this day I've climbed three ski hills. As it turns out, my next host parents cabin is literally in the middle of the ski hill. After some huffing and puffing and a mini smoke break for my brother, we made it to the cabin. And once we got there it really was worth the climb. It was so beautiful from up there and so cool! I love it there! My 2nd host family owns an apartment in this villa called blueberry 'cucoriedka' in slovak, and they LOVE to ski. They are really close friends with all the others who own apartments in this building and so they go there almost every weekend to ski and just be. It was really neat being there though. It's almost like a whole different culture. Kind of like when you go to the rodeo and all you can see are cowboys everywhere and everything is country country country. Well here everything was ski ski ski and a little snowboard. THese families love to ski! And they can do it all the time because when they step out their door they are on the ski hill! So I look forward to being able to spend more time here with this family and getting some good practice in skiing. You never know, by the time I come home I may be a pro at skiing. Maybe but I think its highly unlikely.

Anyways, now you have the background. I got to spend New Years here with my soon to be host family and mariely. It was a blast! There was party in the evening with dancing and food and lots of people and kids and fire works and champagne. The Slovak people celebrate just like the canadians do. Not much was different aside from being in the mountains! It was lots of fun and we stayed up really late and danced our booties off. Good times were had.

Also because it is the holidays, my host mom took me for a hike on Sunday. Jan 2nd I think it was. And oh man is my mom full of energy! I swear she is the one who is 18 and I am the one who is 40 something. I mean she could beat me at a boxing match anyday.
So yet again I didn't really know what we were going to be doing but I was prepared with good walking shoes, lots of layers, and a camera with full battery. I was ready to climb a moutnain. At least I thought. We started out following a simple paved path zig zaging our way up the mountain side and I thought to myself "oh this is nice. I can do this. no problem. An hour and a half of this will be delightful". Then BAM. The real hill started. The path got steeper and steeper and more and more jagged but it was still zig zagging so I couldn't complain too much. Then the path split. Now we could of have continued on the steep but not exhausting path or we could take the shortcut STRAIGHT up the mountain. Guess which one we took? Yup. The shortcut. "Oh shoot oh shoot oh shoot!" "You can do this Paige, deep breaths, deep breaths Paige". So there we went up, up, and up some more. After 45 minutes of hiking up a steep incline we reached a road and I thought "Oh thank the lord I made it to the top!". But guess what?! It wasn't the top! I wimpered as we turned the corner to find.... A GIANT ski hill, a ski hill which I had the privelege scaling in big heavy boots in the freezing cold after scaling half a mountain. fun fun fun. You see though, I've gotten good at playing sherades. On the inside I was dying but on the outside I was my happy chipper self. Gritting my teeth, smiling to my host mom, saying oh look! How beautiful! All the while chanting inside my head "please can this just be over....please, please, please!!!!" BUT I made it! and looking back, probably because I can't remember the pain I was in, i would say it was worth it. There was chocolate and tea to be had at the top and I must admit going down is not nearly as difficult as the way up. In fact it was kind of fun or rather funny. We got little plastic bags and sat on them and used them as sleds down the hill. You can only imagine how hilarious I looked. But hey it worked and it meant I didn't have to walk so I wasn't complaining.

So those are my new year adventures! I'm sure there are plenty more to come in 2010.

Paige