Ok, wow, it's been a very, very, very long time since I updated this blog, or wrote to anyone. I'm sorry, kinda. What I mean is, I'm sorry that I wasn't able to let people know what all is going on. But the reason for that, well, I'm not so sorry that it was impossible for me to write to you all. Let me explain. Brace yourselves, sit down in your computer-desk chair. This past week, from last Saturday to last Thursday I went downhill snowskiing in the Austrian Alps!!!!!!!!!! Absolutely amazing! For me it was the skiing experience of a lifetime. Let me try to paint you a picture of what it all was like. I'll start with the lift tickets. Now, you must have a lift ticket to get carried up the mountain (yes, mountain). I am only used to a lift ticket that you clip onto your clothing and forget about. But here, they have a much nicer system. Each lift ticket is magnetically charged. So you ski up to the turnstyle, maneuver your ticket close to the reader (it looks like those shoplifting sensors at the doors of big stores) and it lets you through. Now, that's all well and good. But the best part is that you can put that ticket anywhere (like in a small pocket in your glove) and it will work through the fabric. You don't even have to get it out, just hold your glove by the reader and ski through. So that was the first neat thing. Next comes the gondolas. To get up the first half of the mountain you ride inside these gondolas. It comes around the corner, and you slide the ends of your skiis into slots that hold them outside the cabin. Then you step in through the little door with your ski poles. You can fit up to six people, three to a side, in each cabin. But we usually just fit five in, because it can get a little tight with all those people. You ride for about fifteen minutes and then step out of the gondola and grab your skiis at the other end of the line.
But this is only halfway up the mountain. You can choose to ski down from here, or ski to the other main lift that takes you the rest of the way up to the top of the mountain. Now, this lift is not the gondola type, but the chairlift type. You ski up to the line, and a chair comes around behind you and scoops you up. This is the type of lift I am used to from skiing in Indiana. But I had never seen a chair lift that was so large! This chairlift could carry six people per chair. And it came with ski rests! You pulled a metal bar down from above your head and rested your skiis on the ski rest. It was very nice. And last, but not least, was a clear plastic bubble that could also be pulled down over the chairlift. If the weather was nasty, or the wind was blowing, you could seal it all out on the way up the mountain, and ride in perfect peace.
But that's not what you wanted to hear about. Those are just some of the neat amenities that were offered. Now on to the real skiing.
At the very top of our mountain you could look all around, in every direction. And in every direction you could see mountains that were higher than us. Gorgeous, giant, snow-capped, craggy, majestic mountains. I don't know for sure just what it is, but every time I see mountains I am amazed and impressed by their majesty. And to think that our God made them. He is so much more majestic, so much grander, so awesome.
The mountain was covered with pine trees. It was a beautiful contrast to see the shining white snow and the dark green fir trees. But there was something that I'm still curious about. There were many, many pine trees there that had no needles on them. It is, according to my friends, an evergreen tree that is not evergreen. They didn't know the English name for them, but thought maybe it was spruce? I'd sure like to know, if anyone has any experience with pine trees that drop their needles in the winter.
On the first day of skiing the snow was okay, a little thick maybe. In the morning it was a little blustery, but afternoon brought a brilliant blue sky and excellent skiing on the lower half of the mountain. I've never had so much fun skiing in my life! That first day also brought my first skiing mistake. In an area that had some thick snow, I fell and twisted my left knee/ankle. It hurt quite a bit for about a minute, and then I was able to stand up. Fortunately the boot kept my ankle from twisting too far. My knee had definitely been twisted farther around than it was used to going. But after about a minute I was able to get up and keep skiing. I just had to be a little gentle when skiing on my left side.
I was able to keep skiing all the rest of that day without any problem. But on the bus ride to where we were staying, and while sitting that evening, my knee got really stiff. That seemed to confirm to me that it was just sore, and that the best thing for it would be to keep working it out by skiing on it. I was able to borrow a knee brace from one of the other guys for our second day of skiing, and it was a big help.
So we stayed at a retreat center run by a church in a small town about 30 mountain minutes from the ski resort. I say mountain minutes because it must take longer to drive anywhere in the mountains that it does on the flat lands of my upbringing. Each morning we took a bus at nine o'clock to the skiing mountain.
On the second day, skiing conditions were perfect. The ski was a deep, gorgeous blue. The mountains surrounding us were crystal clear. The snow was just right - not too slushy, not too icy, just perfect. I was able to ski just fine and totally forget about my knee, again proving to me that it just needed to be worked out. We were nearing the end of the day when I made my second skiing mistake. This one was much better than my first one though.
Ok, so I'm skiing down the mountain. I decide try a run I had only gone on one time before, on our first day of skiing. It's a very easy run, just a straightaway out on a slight incline, then a 180 degree turnaround and back in the direction you came from. Now, all the time this run is heading down. So if you looked at the run from a point off of the mountain, it would look like a V on it's side. You would ski down the upper part of the V, then turn around and ski down the lower part.
So I'm cruising down the upper part of the V, trying to keep my speed up. This particular run isn't very steep, so if you don't keep up your speed you might end up poling along. Well, I remembered that there was a shortcut right where the two legs of the V-on-it's-side come together. If you take the shortcut, it can add to your speed. Well, in the interest of speed I decided to take it. I came right up to where it should be, slewed around and shot over the edge onto the shortcut. Except for one small problem. I had turned too soon! So when I shot over the edge onto what should have been the shortcut, I actually came over the side, bounced off of the shortcut trail, and fell off of it! I ended up twisting my right knee in the same way as my left one, except not as badly.
But, again, it just needed to be skiied off, and I was able to finish out the rest of the week without any more injuries. Right now my right knee is fine most of the time, and my left knee just needs a little more time. It's still sore and a little weak, but I'm sure it's healing fine. I was able to ski the best I think I've ever skiied in my life on this mountain, even doing an Alpine Black Diamond run a couple/three times. (Black diamonds are the hardest designation in skiing). My skiing improved, and now what all my instructors in the States were trying to teach me makes so much more sense.
One of the funniest things about skiing in the Alps is the weather. While it is cold enough to maintain snow, the sun is out every day. Several people got sunburns, and I was soaked with sweat for the first few days until I was able to figure out a layering system that was light enough to cool off in.
But the best part about the skiing trip, as incredible as it was, was not the skiing. This week was being run as a skiing camp, inviting both students who did and who didn't know about Jesus to come. Each evening we would play a couple games, have a few songs, then have a short time of teaching/informing. Wednesday night, the last night that we stayed there, one of the students asked Jesus into his heart! It was amazing to see God working in this way. And it was so wonderful to welcome a new brother.
Those are some highlights from the ski trip. I'd also like to share a highlight from before the ski trip. The night before we left we ate supper at a restaurant here in Prague. Jeff, the Impact team leader, knows the restaurant very well, and he got our menus for us from the little holder. I did not know how surprised and happy I would be to open the menu and read it in English! I didn't think the language barrier was really bothering me. But it brought me way too much happiness to be able to open the menu and read what all they were offering. We don't eat out very much, when when we do it's kinda frustrating to partly guess what all you are ordering. Culture shock.
The weather on the ski trip was absolutely gorgeous. When we returned to Praha, it followed us here, at least for Friday. I felt like a whole new person in a whole new city with the added warmth. It was up to about 10 degrees C, which is about 50 degrees F. Our usual temperature is 0 degrees C, 32 F. So you can imagine how much nicer it felt. This morning it started to get colder again. I'm hoping that was a fluke, and it warms up again. It's really nice to be in a warm Prague.
Tonight they will be holding what I think is the World Championship for hacky-sack here in Prague. As I was walking to the tram a man asked me where the Metro Station was. I took him there, and it turns out he was looking for an ATM to get out the registration fee to enter the hacky-sack tournament. For three years now, if I understood correctly, the World Champion has been a certain resident of Prague. It only costs 50 crowns to watch, and I think it's being held right by my house. So, I'm planning to go watch tonight. It may be something that God is doing, connecting with people. At the very least I can pick up some hacky-sack moves!
Well, that's a lot of the news from this end of the world. It's always good to hear from you all, even when I can't respond as fast as I'd like.
In His Time,
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