A Sunny Ski Week

Skiing is a huge thing in Switzerland. With the Alps all around us, most people learn to ski when they are 3 years old.  Skiing is so big that they get a ski break (1-2 weeks) off from school to take advantage of the slopes all around them.  So off to the mountains I went with Mama C and the kids.  We stayed with a family friend in Falera, Switzerland. It is absolutely beautiful and a perfect week in the mountains by my standards.  It was about nearly 50 degrees every day and there were few clouds in the sky.  This meant that I was able to go some amazing hikes and runs (yes you read that right). I got some sun on my face and attempted to reintroduce the sun to my legs as well.  It can be described at nothing other than glorious!

Mama C was extremely generous and offered to pay for me to have a private ski lesson.  So made the reservations and was asked what level I was at.  I promptly responded with "beginner."  She looked at me confused and clarified that I meant beginner (remember how everyone learns to ski when they are 3?).  I confirmed.  The nice lady told me to meet my instructor at the Pony Slope. "You know where the kids ski?"  I laughed to myself and said yes.

I was off to the lesson on Wednesday morning.  I walked out of the rental place with my skis and within 15 seconds fell backwards. Skis and poles flew and the man from the rental shop looked at me trying not to laugh and asked if I was ok.  I quickly gathered myself, nodded, and moved quickly away from the scene.  I was off to a great start.

I headed to the PonySlope to start my lesson with a bruised hiney and, in all honesty, not feeling very confident.  I was having flashbacks to screaming and tumbling down the mountain a few weeks prior.

I met my instructor.  She decided to clarify that I was a beginning and once I confirmed we started.  We had the slope to ourselves for the first hour, and then the kids came with their parents.  I could do nothing other than laugh at the current situation.  I was learning out to snowplow surrounded by kids with the average age of 5.  Parents stared confused and I smiled as my instructor held my poles up the t-bar.

The lesson ended and I was feeling good.  I didn't fall and I was turning like it was second nature.  I spent some time alone on the slope and then headed back to the house for lunch.  I wish my story ended there, but because I was feel like so good they gave me their lift pass and I headed to a blue slope (blue is the easiest here).  P (the 9 year old boy) came up with me. 

The blue slope was not so easy and I was not so confident once I left the kids' slope.  No matter how much I knew what I was supposed to do, without the confidence the idea of gaining speed was too much for me to handle.  I told P to snowboard down without me. I gave it a try but ended up walking down holding my skis.  While I now know the technique to turn and stop, I can't say that I will picking up the sport any time soon.

**I have run into some computer problems and have limited access to a computer at the moment so I am a bit late on any updates/pictures and will be for a couple weeks probably.

Halfway to Nowhere

I have reached my halfway mark. I have been working for 6 months and I have 6 more months to go! Things are going well really well! I have an awesome group of friends and some great travel plans coming up. I am heading out to the mountains for the next week with he family which sounds awful but I think I am ready to embrace a week of isolation with he family( but I will let you know next week how it actually goes!).

What are we going to do next? This question has infiltrated my fellow au pairs' and my regular conversations.  Most of us saw this as a way to travel, attempt to learn a language, and live abroad. (Oh yes and take care of other people's children?) But most of all, as a way to put off being a part of the regular grown-up workforce.  I tried the desk job in DC and it wasn't a great fit. So what's next?

As you have deducted from the title of my blog, I have no idea.  I don't think I am done living abroad but I would like to find a way to incorporate living abroad with actually doing something related to what I want to do professionally. I have also started having he grad school conversation with people again and I know I can't keep outing that off. I have some undergrad classes I need to take before I can apply. And there is the GMAT and GRE to study for. Needless to say it is all just a bit overwhelming.

So that has become an important aspect of deciding what to do next. I have looked into some volunteer abroad programs for the fall. Another opportunity has arisen with the family. They might move to Paris this summer and would love for me to stay. So I am now considering because as you know I fell in love with Paris! So if I stay I have told myself that I will take the classes I need online in he fall and then study I. The spring and apply to start grad school in he stall of 2013.

That is a two year plan with a lit of the plan missing, like he jobs and a but of reality missing by if here is one hint I can guarantee is hat I am having a blast right now and the 2year plan I just laid out will change 10 more times (at least)!!!!

Getting a PhD in Awesome!

To be honest I have been trying to draft an email that will capture the countless hilarious stories and just amazing-ness of the weekend but I have been failing all week. So instead I will share some stories and you too can earn your PhD in awesome!

It was a weekend filled with laughs, drinks, fondue, and soooo many fails and bails!  Now, I have really never skied before. I am not even sure that I have been in a reasonable proximity to skiing since I tried snowboarding when I was 14.  My friend Rachel's brother, who also resides in Switzerland, rented a hut in the mountains so we could all go skiing and just enjoy a lovely weekend away! There were about 35 of us at the height of the weekend, four aupairs and 30 people with PhDs or in the process of getting one! Rachel, Nicole, Anna, and I headed off for a weekend of adult conversations, beautiful views, and skiing. 

1. Rachel is (not) an excellent teacher. (To be completely fair I may have been a difficult student.)   I have NEVER touched skis in my life and in order to get up to hut we had to take a t-bar up the mountain and then ski down a bit to get to where we needed to be. I was terrified.  I asked Rachel for more specific instructions on how to put skis on than "Ok put your skis on."  I proceeded to the t-bar where a mean Swiss man yelled at me in German.  I assume he was telling me to move faster and after missing t-bar chance, he grabbed me and a bar and put me on it and up the mountain I went.  Without any knowledge of what I was doing, I successfully made it up the t-bar on my first try on skis.  Little did I know, getting back down the mountain would be much scarier! 

2.  Don't try to catch the last t-bar up and do not try to hold on with your hands.   Fortunately, I made it up because I was scared and refused to move any part of my body until my truly graceful dismount at the top.  However, my dear friend Nicole did not.  She had to catch a snow-plow like ride a couple hours later. We greeted her at the door with a much needed glass of wine. 

3. The mountains are gorgeous. I know this in theory but the views that surrounded us were just unbelievable. So learning to appreciate the cold and snow, just another step towards your PhD.

4. This is a short video of my second attempt. I am the small black blog that falls at the end.  The fall was much more graceful and I didn't scream the whole time, so it was definitely an improvement! My lack of ability to turn, brings me back to Rachel's teaching abilities.  My instructions were, "turn." And when I continues to not turn, my instructions were "TURN, Why aren't you turning???" In the end, I could turn one direction but never switch directions, which is how you can slow yourself down. 

5. Rachel does have what we can call "motivating skills."  I was not so much enjoying the walk up the hill to ski down for 10 seconds and fall so I lent my poles to someone so that they could ski and I had an excuse not to ski. As it it turns out, this was not a good enough excuse as apparently, like a child, I need to earn my poles as the children do.  So up the hill I went without my safety net of poles.  However, the result was the same, I started going to fast and bailed yet again!

I am the person in black that falls at the end!

6. Having adult conversations with people other than aupairs.  So my social circle is pretty small and while we try to avoid the topic of children and housework, we often times do find ourselves talking about.  This weekend was a reminder than we are all capable of having real adult conversations! 

7.  Apparently, skiing is like riding a bike...but when you haven't learned to ride, it is a difficult to begin.  

Photo courtesy of Olin and Nikki

8. Going up the mountain is easier than going down.  Now I can't say I am any better a skier than I was a week ago. I thought my motivation for learning to ski was that I would have to ski down the mountain so I put a lot into it on Saturday and was out there more than I wasn't However, Sunday I felt a bit defeated watching the three olds ski by me and decided the hut in the mountains was very pleasant place to hang out. I had also decided I would be walking down the mountain instead of skiing so the need to perfect my skill was lost.  

After several hours of trying to use all

the letters in bananagrams! 

Anna skied down with my skis so 

I could walk down! My hero!

Leaving on Sunday night

Making it down the mountain (walking) after a weekend of skiing without a bruise (at least a visible one) or a broken bone makes one memorable weekend in the Alps and each of us non-PhDs receiving a PhD in awesome for just being awesome!

*Title of blog is courtesy of Rachel's (on the left) mind after a few glasses of wine.