Tumble and fall

I had my first white christmas here in Switzerland yesterday. Petra and I left home just before 6am and headed to Andermatt (2 hrs away by train) with our snowboarding gear. I didn't really know what to expect, but I was excited all the same!

The weather was just absolutely perfect! Blue skies and lots of snow up on the mountains. So technically that's why I say I had a white christmas this year :-) The beginner slopes weren't open as there hasn't been that much snow lower on the mountains. So up we went...somewhere up there!! :-)

My first struggle was getting on a t-bar lift!!! It is extremely frustrating and after several attempts and several stackings...I was eventually paired with this older man on skiis. Incidentally this man had spent some time in Perth. I thought I heard him say he spent 13 years there, but as he spoke to me in broken english, I thought maybe I had heard him wrong! I almost fell off the t-bar a few times, but thankfully regained my balance and didn't fall down the side of the mountain :-) So when I got to the top, it was time to board down...

Let me first say that yesterday was my third time snowboarding in my whole life!!! First time I spent half a day on the 'magic carpet'. Second time I spent half a day on a slope which was no greater than 5 degrees I reckon!!! hehe...And I learnt there how to control my board. By the end of yesterday Petra said to me that I just came down a Red run and then a Black run!!! Wow!! First I learn to crawl, then I learn to run....and maybe in the next few weeks I will learn to walk!!!

Today my body aches all over. At least I got a whole-body work out!! :-) I have nasty bruises on my knees, sore butt, sore abs, sore arms and legs, stiff neck....yeh....it feels great!!!!!!! Thankfully as we reached the slopes early yesterday, there weren't that many people. I am sure that I was such a nuisance on the slopes as I would drive, then fall and tumble every so often! Luckily there was plenty of space and the experts could dodge me easily! :-)

The only way to learn is to pick yourself up and keep going. I guess that can be true of life in general as well. There were times where I fell and I just took my time to ready myself again. There were times where I just felt like sitting there on the snow taking in the awesome scenery. But, since Petra was very patiently waiting for me (always down a bit further), I had to keep it moving :-)

There was one point where I fell, and then I took a look at where I had to go next, and I just screamed like a girl! It was sooooo friggin steep!!! That was very scary (but not as scary as some other slopes I had to go down later on!!). But when you're up on that mountain, there's no turning back and the only way is down!!! So, what the heck...you just have to take a deep breath and take the plunge!! And then it's not really that bad :-)

Eventually I made it down to a crossroads. Petra said if we went left, it would take us back down to the t-bar and the other way...well we didn't know where that would take us, but it had chair lifts at the end of it. She asked me which way I wanted to go. There was no way that I wanted to go up on the t-bar again for the day so I said...ok, let's go the other way!!!

Unbeknownst to either of us, it was a black run!!! But you know, I made it down in one piece and survived to tell the story :-) There was one slope which was quite narrow and quite icy. I started coming down the slope and naturally stacked it halfway. I kept trying to pick myself up but it didn't work. I was afraid that people would come flying down the slope and I would cause them an accident!!! So I kept looking behind me and sliding down on my butt at the same time!! Thankfully no-one came flying down!!!

Another slope I ended up sliding down on my butt for most of the way. I thought...well, that works too! ;-) hehe...And then around that corner the run looked quite good and not too difficult. But I was coming down too fast and I had a pretty nasty fall which resulted in knocking the wind out of myself. It was scary as there was no-one around and I just had to sit there and try to regain my breathing. But then I was alright, picked myself up and had a pretty good run the rest of the way...until I fell again :-)

So yesterday, I stacked it heaps, face-planted a few times, knocked the wind out of myself, got stuck in snow (there was a nice lady skiier who came and rescued me :-)) and survived a red and black run :-) The weather was just perfect and the slopes weren't that full!! So all in all it was a great Christmas day on the mountains!!!

On the mountain train ride back I thought I heard some Aussie accents. I listened a bit more and then I said to Petra, an aussie can always tell an aussie accent. And then the girl next to us started laughing and said...'yeh, because it's so awful!'. And so I started chatting to them. A girl, her parents and her grandmother. The parents had lived in Cambridge for 12months and was going to stay another year before heading back to Brisbane. They were a funny bunch :-) I was just so happy to hear some aussie accents on Christmas day. Brought me that much closer to home :-)

To top things off, on the normal train ride back to Luzern, Petra and I were in a carriage with this girl who started playing her ukelele and singing as well. It was so nice as the both of us were almost passed out on the train and was just nice to relax and hear some music :-)

I got home and took a nice hot bath. It was superb! Then our friends Cynthia and Lena came over for dinner, and it was great to end the day :-) And then I just crashed out and slept like a log!!! It was a Merry Christmas indeed!! :-)