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