Witty Witness Bits and bytes on our daily lives

Back to Belgium

Yesterday before 9:00 we had to be out of our rooms. But our ski-pass was still valid the whole day. Naturally - like the first day - we still wanted to go out on the slopes. So that's exactly what we did. We dressed up, took our luggage out of our room, handled everything and went out on the slopes. Then at around 16:00 we stopped after yet another day on perfect slopes. More importantly there were very few other people on the slopes since most had either decided not to go skiing the last day or had already left. It really was HEAVEN.

I then changed into my regular clothes in the same garage we changed in the first day. I brought my rental gear back to the shop, and we went for some drinks in Paddy's and in the cosy café with the friendly owners next door.

Then at 19:30 our bus would leave for Belgium. The bus trip back to Belgium was absolutely lovely, we all had about 4 seats per person at our disposal so I slept a lot better than I did when coming to France. Too bad I had already seen both the movies they played on the bus (Hitch and The Green Mile). We arrived this morning around 07:45. Anneke brought me home and I crashed in my bed.

The one but last day

Today we had no lessons anymore so we didn't have to get back down in time for our lessons at 13:00. So we were able to go a little further up the mountains and into the other ski areas. Weather was very nice again, just like yesterday. But the slopes were a bit icy here and there. But we still had a lot of fun. Snowboarding just goes better and better. I really feel more and more confident on my board.

Tonight we have our goodbye party, it'll be a hectic evening. We have to pack too, because we have to be out of our chalet by 9:00. We ARE going to snowboard though, we'll find someplace to change, just like we did the day of our arrival. Too bad it's almost over. Well I certainly did love it so I'll be doing it again as soon as I can.

Also I just received an e-mail that my boss at the students job has become father tuesday! So awesome .

Anyways, time to go, I'm hungry. I'll finish this post with some more pictures (too lazy to tag them though, will do that later on).

Awesome weather

As awful as the weather was yesterday, as lovely it was today. The visibility was really good, the sun was shining. The slopes were perfect.

In the lesson today we stayed off the marked slopes the whole time and went to fool around in the deep snow. Much more tiring, but a lot of fun nontheless. As it was the last lesson today we I got my "diploma" today. I skipped the beginners level . The levels are marked from 0 to 3 and I got 1. An has 2. So I think that's pretty good for my first week of snowboarding. Thanks SnowboardingForNewbies!

We have two more days of snowboarding to go, so I can do some more practising. I love it by the way. The end being neigh is making me a bit sad .

After the lesson we went to the SkiKot barbecue, but since it was planned at one o' clock and we had our lesson then we kind of had to eat alone, which was a shame.

Moving up in ranks

Since I was a bit annoyed yesterday that we were still practising on the same slope I had a little chat with my teacher when I saw him on one of the green slopes higher up. He said it was too hard for most "debutants" to get to those slopes. But he said he was going to send me along with another group. That was a very good idea, I feel like I'm really making much better progress in this new group. Today we did some carving and jumping, I loved the carving, the feeling you get when doing it is really nice!

After the lesson we went for a drink in one of the bars and when I got out I found my board was gone :S. Luckily I knew another girl from my class uses the same style of board but a bit smaller and setup for regular stance. We sorted that accidental switch out when we passed by each other by coincidence. So I'm all geared up for tomorrow again.

Muscle pains have miraculously disappeared, maybe that swim or the stretching I did yesterday really did their work.

Day Three

Day three, I got up and all my muscles were aching. Learning to snowboard really drives your body to the limit... The lesson was pretty annoying today, the ski-teacher always takes us to this run full of little children learning to ski. The lift on that run is way too crowdy. I have a feeling I'd be better of practising my turns on my own on a deserted run with shorter wait times.

Yesterday we had another party together with some other Belgian people. We had a very nice time, but we stayed up a bit too late and we were feeling it this morning. So tonight we're gonna have a quiet night.

We went for a swim earlier, I suppose that should be good for our muscles. And a good nights sleep will hopefully do wonders.

Day One On Location

Allright. Since we had our ski-passes (8 days) we went snowboarding on the FIRST day. For me of course that was more like playing in a kinder garden, since it was the first time on a board for me. Yesterday afternoon might have been a bit annoying seeing as we had to wait verrrrrry long till we were allowed to enter our apartment. But we had a nice evening. Skikot showed us what they're made of. Fun! We had our first party (and some free drinks in return for our waiting time).

Today we had our first lessons - first time ever when it comes to snowboarding for me - and I did okay I think. We had to do some falling leaf and stuff like that. I already saw all that in the Snowboarding for Newbies clips so I kinda had the basics down already (although I must say... in real life it's harder than the clips make it appear... ). So the teacher showed me how to do C-turns and I started practicing those. Heelside C-turns worked fine but toeside was a lot harder, I needed to work more on my confidence when it comes to toeside edge. But that's what I did after the lessons - lessons were from 13:00 till 15:00. While practicing on my own I kinda figured out how I needed to do them so tomorrow I'll probably be able to show my teacher my toeside AND heelside C-turns so I can go on to some of the harder work... Hopefully.

At 17:00 we went jeneversledding. Free jenever combined with some sleds to come down the deserted slopes. What more can we wish for?? Of course activities like that need some cool people around as well. And yes there are some cool people around. We're a happy bunch. Very nice .