SKI WEEK

I'm back and recooperated from one of the best weeks of my life, recooperated being the key word as it took almost as long to do that as the actual fun lasted. BUT it was WELL worth it! Oh my goodness was it a good time! So let me tell you.....
There were 18 inbounds there, 15 from Slovakia and 3 from the Czech Republic. This was super cool because we haven't seen the Czech kids since the beginning of September (even though they are in the same district as us). We all arrived around 6 on the Sunday, although Mariely and I ended up getting there a couple of hours early because we went skiing that day with Mariely's host fam (my next fam). Now before I left I was horrified at the thought of having to ski an extra day with just the host family because I mean, I thought I would get in more than enough skiing in the six days that followed, but it turned out to be a really good thing. Mariely and I had a head start on the rest of the exchangers because we already knew our way around the slopes a bit AND I had an extra day to break in my boots. So it meant one less day of agony during the week. But anyways, we arrived and all sat down to supper together at the hotel. The hotel wasn't anything glamorous, but you kind of come to expect that in Slovakia, especially when you're at a Rotary Sanctioned event. But it was good, and slightly better than the accomodations in Kosice. There were three bunks to a room and it had the whole woody, cottage feel going. Which just added to the overall feel of the week. There were some wonderful communal showers with 99 cent curtains holding on by one hook which meant it might as well not have been there, but the water ran clear AND was warm so no compaints there.
The consisted of skiing, pain, more skiing, and a little bit more pain, even more skiing and whole lot of laughing. The rotary club of Liptosky Mikulas was in charge of the week and they did a fantastic job. It was the first time I had met a lot of them and yet I still felt like they genuinely cared about my well being. Since they live in a ski town most of them were our instructors for the week too. It was amazing having some whose been skiing for over 40 years give you some tips and show you the slopes. They were really helpful and only laughed at me and my acrobats coming down the hill occassionally. My ski instructor was Lubor and he was hilarious. He didn't say much because he spoke Czech I'm learning Slovak but just how he looked at us made us laugh. I would be whining and grumbling about how tired and soar I am and he would just look at me, shake his head, and point down the hill. If it wasn't for him I'm not gonna lie I probably would have stopped skiing around 11 each day. But he made us go until 12 and then AGAIN after lunch. So I got A LOT of skiing in. But I think that was the Rotarians goal. We'd all be back at the hotel around 4, too exhausted to stand, or yell, or get into any trouble, so we just sat and talked. And that's how the week went. Wake up early, ski ski ski, lunch (which was some good greasy, deep fried goodness on the hill), ski ski ski some more, and then back to the hotel.
Wednesday was the only day that was a little different. After lunch (we skiied in the morning) we took a bus to the "city" of about 30 000 to go to Tatralandia, the caves, and out for supper. As it turned out the caves were closed which was a bummer but Tatralandia was super fun. It's this giant aquapark with all kinds of waterslides and hot, warm, and cold pools. And lets just say after several days of skiing our hearts out the hot tub felt really good. That night we went out for pizza as a group and I had tuna pizza. Yes I put tuna on my pizza and it was actually quite delicious. The Slovaks put anything and everything on pizza...corn, potatoes, brocoli and they use ketchup as tomatoe sauce. Its rather strange but I've come to like it. I really love all the slovak food and to be honest when I think of american food I dont even want it anymore. It kind of seems unappetizing. But maybe thats a good thing, that way when I come home I won't grow another four pant sizes.
On the final night we had a carnival and closing ceremonies. The Rotarians set up an obstacle course and we broke into teams. We all had masks on and the boys in the group (being oh so special) decided it would be funny to wear their tight, spandex, short shorts outside when it was about 1 degree. I have to admit it was quite entertaining, just glad I wasn't the one doing it. But my team got first place in the carnival and we won a slovak keychain and a magnet which was pretty cool. It was a lot of fun and we did some sledding afterwards. Now that is the best place to do tobogganing, down a ski hill. Man can you pick up speed!

And then, just like that, the week was finished. When I think back, it's not even that we did all that much, so I'm not too sure what made it such a blast, but it was. I think it's just having all the exchange students together, speaking english, and not having to worry about anything at all (not that I have to worry about much over here anyways). But it was kind of like a vacation from my holiday. Just an all around fantastic time.

Today was my last day of school before my epic travels begin. This weekend is Easter, which should be interesting and I'm doing some trips with my host family. Tommorrow I'm going to Poland to visit a UNESCO site. It's this giant salt mine which has been carved into a giant underground palace. It looks really cool and I'm really excited about it. Then on Friday I want to go to Bratislava to do some shopping and visit some friends and now I'm allowed to take the train by myself HOORAY! so I should be able to. Saturday there's a possibility I might go water rafting on the river and Sunday is a trip somewhere with the host fam. Monday I've been told by my host mother that we are going away because she dislikes the easter traditions in Slovakia (they involve hitting the girls) so we are going to hide from everyone. So we will see what happens! But I have a pretty action packed weekend and then after all that wednesday I'm heading out to Germany for THREE WEEKS! Which I am more than a little excited about. It will be so nice to see the family again and to see Germany again! I can't wait! So that's what I have in store over the next couple of days.

Happy Easter! Eat lots of chocolate for me!

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