Hi again!
I guess I've been on something of a blog hiatus for a while... oops! I didn't think I had anything too terribly interesting to say, but a stern talking-to from a grandmother who never admits wrongdoing on the part of her grandchildren has left no doubt in my mind that I need to write more. So here I am, to tell you the story of my life.
I guess I should start with my return to Ostrava after Christmas. The trip was rather uneventful (unless you count the absolute horror of trying to lug a 50 pound suitcase through a tiny train door), but the first few days over here were crazy. It seems our boys club really missed Deb and me, so they kept us out until ridiculous hours of the night for the first few days. Being our ever-so-responsible selves as usual, we didn't even bother putting up a fight. As it turns out, however, 7 am bed times and 5 pm wake-ups do not a jet-lag cure make. The first few days of school were exceptionally painful and exhausting, but I think I've found myself a somewhat regular sleep schedule now. Not a moment too soon.
Although Ostrava left its residents with a totally green Christmas, it has been snowing just about every day for the past week. All this white stuff gave the boys a seemingly insatiable desire to go the mountains and strap on their snowboards. So, on Friday afternoon we hopped a train and off we went! As soon as we checked into the hotel, the boys, Deb, and Martina donned their snow gear and hit the slopes. I, a determined non-skier, hung out in our nice, warm, cozy room until they were done. When they got back, we hit the hotel restaurant and bar for a delightful meal and more than enough drinks to make us a little bit silly. When the bar closed, we took some drinks back to our room and continued the festivities.
A couple of hours of wine, beer, and spirits later, somebody (I don't remember who), somehow, thought it would be a good idea to go out and play in the snow... sure, why not? Soooo... on went the snow pants, jackets, hats, and gloves and out into the winter night we headed! A couple of snowboards also found their way onto the hill with us so, naturally, snowboard-toboganning ensued. It seemed like a good idea at the time... then Drew and I crashed into a metal pole and the giant bruise/welt on my left arm is making me think that maybe, just maybe, it wasn't the smartest endeavour.
After the crash, I decided to leave the snowboard-tobogganning to the others, and opted instead to lay flat on my back in the snow and stare up at the heavens. Best. Idea. Ever. It was snowing heavily, and a flurry of gigantic, fluffy white snowflakes on a backdrop of pitch-black sky made it seem as though I was living in a snowglobe with an endless supply of falling glitter. Either that, or the stars had decided to leave the sky and come down to Earth for a visit. Whichever way you look at it, it was absolutely amazing. Unfortunately for you, I can't upload mental images to a blog - if I could, you would be mesmerized, too. I lay there, staring up at the sky, until my teeth started chattering and I thought it might be a good time to retreat into the warmth of our room.
We all went back inside and, responsibility be damned, continued to drink. On Saturday morning we got up with difficulty, had breakfast, then got ready to hit the slopes again. While everyone was out skiing, I spent the day drinking tea, reading, and writing. I think they all thought I was really bored, but an entire day of bumming around and not needing to think at all was my idea of perfection.
By four o'clock we were all pretty dead so we did the only logical thing - hit up the sauna. Of course, this being Europe, we saw much more of each other than we had originally set out to this weekend, but what can you do? A little nudity never hurt anyone ;)
What hurt was the "correct" way of enjoying this sauna. That is, sit in a 90 degree room for fifteen minutes, sweating profusely, then immediately dump a bucket of freezing water on your head when you walk out! It's for crazies, I tell you, crazies.
After all that adventure, it felt like the weekend should be over, but it wasn't! Hooray!! On Sunday, we had a nice relaxing day involving ice cream, badminton, and a duck for dinner! Win-win-win.
I hope this will assuage the blog cravings for a while. I do have a week off coming up soon, so I'll hopefully have something interesting to report after that!
Ciao!
Steph :)
I guess I've been on something of a blog hiatus for a while... oops! I didn't think I had anything too terribly interesting to say, but a stern talking-to from a grandmother who never admits wrongdoing on the part of her grandchildren has left no doubt in my mind that I need to write more. So here I am, to tell you the story of my life.
I guess I should start with my return to Ostrava after Christmas. The trip was rather uneventful (unless you count the absolute horror of trying to lug a 50 pound suitcase through a tiny train door), but the first few days over here were crazy. It seems our boys club really missed Deb and me, so they kept us out until ridiculous hours of the night for the first few days. Being our ever-so-responsible selves as usual, we didn't even bother putting up a fight. As it turns out, however, 7 am bed times and 5 pm wake-ups do not a jet-lag cure make. The first few days of school were exceptionally painful and exhausting, but I think I've found myself a somewhat regular sleep schedule now. Not a moment too soon.
Although Ostrava left its residents with a totally green Christmas, it has been snowing just about every day for the past week. All this white stuff gave the boys a seemingly insatiable desire to go the mountains and strap on their snowboards. So, on Friday afternoon we hopped a train and off we went! As soon as we checked into the hotel, the boys, Deb, and Martina donned their snow gear and hit the slopes. I, a determined non-skier, hung out in our nice, warm, cozy room until they were done. When they got back, we hit the hotel restaurant and bar for a delightful meal and more than enough drinks to make us a little bit silly. When the bar closed, we took some drinks back to our room and continued the festivities.
A couple of hours of wine, beer, and spirits later, somebody (I don't remember who), somehow, thought it would be a good idea to go out and play in the snow... sure, why not? Soooo... on went the snow pants, jackets, hats, and gloves and out into the winter night we headed! A couple of snowboards also found their way onto the hill with us so, naturally, snowboard-toboganning ensued. It seemed like a good idea at the time... then Drew and I crashed into a metal pole and the giant bruise/welt on my left arm is making me think that maybe, just maybe, it wasn't the smartest endeavour.
After the crash, I decided to leave the snowboard-tobogganning to the others, and opted instead to lay flat on my back in the snow and stare up at the heavens. Best. Idea. Ever. It was snowing heavily, and a flurry of gigantic, fluffy white snowflakes on a backdrop of pitch-black sky made it seem as though I was living in a snowglobe with an endless supply of falling glitter. Either that, or the stars had decided to leave the sky and come down to Earth for a visit. Whichever way you look at it, it was absolutely amazing. Unfortunately for you, I can't upload mental images to a blog - if I could, you would be mesmerized, too. I lay there, staring up at the sky, until my teeth started chattering and I thought it might be a good time to retreat into the warmth of our room.
We all went back inside and, responsibility be damned, continued to drink. On Saturday morning we got up with difficulty, had breakfast, then got ready to hit the slopes again. While everyone was out skiing, I spent the day drinking tea, reading, and writing. I think they all thought I was really bored, but an entire day of bumming around and not needing to think at all was my idea of perfection.
By four o'clock we were all pretty dead so we did the only logical thing - hit up the sauna. Of course, this being Europe, we saw much more of each other than we had originally set out to this weekend, but what can you do? A little nudity never hurt anyone ;)
What hurt was the "correct" way of enjoying this sauna. That is, sit in a 90 degree room for fifteen minutes, sweating profusely, then immediately dump a bucket of freezing water on your head when you walk out! It's for crazies, I tell you, crazies.
After all that adventure, it felt like the weekend should be over, but it wasn't! Hooray!! On Sunday, we had a nice relaxing day involving ice cream, badminton, and a duck for dinner! Win-win-win.
I hope this will assuage the blog cravings for a while. I do have a week off coming up soon, so I'll hopefully have something interesting to report after that!
Ciao!
Steph :)
Wow! Ski getaway, spa, snowball fight, "star" gazing, badmington, ice cream, and duck! Could you possibly squeeze any more into a single weekend! Amazing (much better than my weekend, which involved scrubbing toilets and washing floors, bleah)!
ReplyDeleteThanks for a lovely Monday morning read :)
P.s. Did you take turns randomly popping up and exclaiming "Naked Time" at the sauna?
So happy to hear what a wonderful time you are having. Sorry that I didn't do my duty as a parent and warn you about that whole poles and trees thing on ski slopes. Joking aside, phew!, that could have ended much worse than it did. Keep up keeping us posted.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Pops.