European Skiing Adventures

Dobry Den! 

I can now say that I have been skiing in Europe and I didn't break anything!  This past weekend (March 15-17), I joined the International Student Club to go skiing in the Jeseníky mountains right here in Czech Republic!  

At 6:45 in the morning we met at Hlavní Nádraží (the main train station).  There was a much smaller group of us than on the Prague trip which was really nice!  There were 16 of us exchange students and 4 Czech student leaders.  Our train left at 7:20 a.m. and we were on our way to the picturesque village of Branná where we would spend the next couple of days!  

The train station

When we arrived to Branná, we did not waste any time!  After dropping our suitcases off at the lodge, eating a quick lunch, and throwing our ski clothes on, we headed to the slopes!  Our first day was the teaching day because most of us were beginners.  I have been skiing several times, but that was 10 years ago, so I didn't think I would remember how to ski!  So, our instruction took place on this slope on the side that had no ski lift.  We had to walk up the hill each time...talk about exhausting! Our first lesson was how to put on the skis   This turned out to be pretty humorous because people kept sliding down the hill, sliding into each other, and falling over.  They had not taught us how to stop at this point, so once someone started sliding down, they just kept on sliding!  Between walking up the hill numerous times and laughing so hard, I got a pretty good workout in!  Thankfully, what people told me was true: skiing is like learning how to ride a bike, once you learn, you never forget! 

Later that night, Scarlett and I decided to head to one of the only restaurants in town.  This restaurant became our hang out spot and helped provided many laughs and sweet memories.  We ate there 3 times during our 2 night stay and had the same waiter every time, bless his heart.  He was such a good sport for putting up with our ignorance and loudness.  The menu was all in Czech and German.  Luckily, they had wifi and after 15 minutes of trying to log on, we finally connected and started translating the entire menu!  Well apparently the sight of two American girls translating the menu on their phone is a pretty funny one.  Our waiter was laughing at us and then I turned around and another guy was looking over my shoulder just cracking up!  We finally decided on something only to find out they didn't have it.  We picked something else really quick and successfully ordered.  

Shortly after ordering, Joris (from the Netherlands) and Valentine (from Croatia) came to join us!  Joris was really excited when he saw the "special" menu that they had which looked like this: 

Notice the meal on the right.  25 korun = a little over $1

Scarlett and I had seen this earlier and it translated to something like "pork knee".  The phrase in parentheses translated to "only cell", which clearly did not translate correctly.  One guy from our trip who was leaving when we got there, warned us that it was just bone and fat.  That explained why it was so cheap!  We informed Joris of this, but he went ahead and ordered it thinking that since it was so cheap, if it was no good then he could just order something else.  After quite a while, the food finally came.  The waiter kind of snickered when he handed Joris the pork knee.  That was kind of strange, but he had been laughing at us all night so we didn't think much of it.  The pork knee was huge!  Joris was really excited about it and even more excited to find out when he cut into it, that it was mostly all meat!  To make it even better, the meat was super good!  Joris was just thrilled that it was so delicious, such a huge portion, and so cheap!  He kept going on and on about it and even took a picture with it.  

Probably half way through the meal, we start thinking that there is no way that this pork knee can be only 25 korun.  Earlier when we were translating the part in parentheses "pouze celé", my first thought was "oh, maybe that means per pound!"  This was a silly quick assumption though, because 1) they do not use pounds here and 2) Czech words rarely resemble English words.  Then, Valentina, who can understand much more Czech than we can, looked at it and figured out that it said "only whole".  Joris' demeanor did a 180 as he started realizing that it might not be only 25 korun.  His meal started to not taste as it did when he thought it was 25 korun.  The rest of us are hysterically laughing at this point.  We still weren't for sure that it was going to be more than 25 korun, but it was starting to make much more sense that it had to be more than that.  Joris asked for the bill and the waiter brought it.  He thought it was an okay price until he realized that it was only his check.  Turns out, the pork knee was 25 korun per kilogram and the thing weighed 1.3 kilograms (a little less than 3 pounds) and, therefore, cost him somewhere around 320 korun (about $16).  Us girls felt bad for him, of course, but we could not stop laughing at the whole situation.  Our waiter spoke a little bit of English so we attempted to explain our mistake and why we were laughing so hard.  Needless to say, he thought it was pretty funny also, especially since he profited from it.  :) Luckily, Joris was able to take some of the meat home to eat as leftovers.  I think we laughed the entire 5 minute walk back to the cottage and then for a good 15 minutes later as we told everyone else the story.  Later that night, we learned how to play a few different Czech games which was really fun!  

I think the above story was just the beginning of our silly mistakes for this weekend.  There were two parts of the cottage.  One side held 14 people and the other held 6.  There were 4 Czech leaders of the trip and Scarlett and I volunteered to stay with them.  This was a really good choice because our side of the cottage was nicer and more cozy!  At the end of the first day they asked us, "Did you shower and use hot water?"  "Yes."  "Oh, well you can't do that because it takes 3 hours for the water to heat up again."  Next, they asked us, "Did you turn on the heater?"  "Yes, our room was freezing."  "Oh, well we aren't allowed to turn on the heaters because it is too expensive."  

We weren't doing so well in winning the approval of the Czech students.  

The next morning, Scarlett and I thought we were the last ones to leave so we took the key with us.  We made the hike (probably 10-15 minute walk) to the ski slopes in our too small ski boots that are super awkward to walk in all the while carrying our skis and poles.  We get to the ski shack and are waiting to get our helmets/be the annoying people who ask for different sized boots.  About as soon as we get there, Eva, one of the Czech leaders, asks us if we took the key with us.  Thinking that yes was going  to be the right answer, we told her that we had taken it!  "Well, Martin was still in there and he needs the key."  Ahhh another Scarlett and Megan American mistake.  

The 2nd day of real skiing went really well!  It was so nice to use the ski lift instead of walking up the hill!  I felt really comfortable on the slopes and had so much fun reliving my skiing days.  There were beautiful views from the lift and on top of the mountain.  

We could see the entire little village from the lift!

Scarlett and I! 

We could ski from 9-4 and we pretty much skied for that whole time with a couple breaks thrown in there!  Afterward, we celebrated by going back to the restaurant and enjoying 2 cups each of the best hot chocolate ever.  The hot chocolate in Europe is usually what we call REAL hot chocolate.  I am so spoiled and will never be able to go back to our powder hot chocolate that we have in the States.  We ate dinner and then headed back and hung out with our roommates, the Czech leaders.  

This is what Czech people look like ;) 

We then received the best Czech lesson since being here:  watching The Big Bang Theory with Czech subtitles!  We paused every 5 minutes or so for a Czech lesson.  We learned really important phrases such as, "Jo" (Ya), "ťuk ťuk" (Knock, knock), and "sklapni" (shut up).  We also had a lesson on Czech animal noises.  Apparently their animals speak Czech because they do not make the same noises as American animals! ;) 

Sunday was another full day of skiing!  Some of the boys the night before were saying they were going to wear suits while skiing/snowboarding today.  We thought they were joking.  They weren't.  They really snowboarded/skied in suits, as shown below.  

We were pretty tired at this point and the snow was melting so the slopes were pretty icy.  We took several long breaks this day.  Then, to make our trip complete, Scarlett could not find her ski pass after one of our breaks.  We looked around and could not find it.  Thankfully, they let her borrow another one, but she had to give it back when she was finished.  Later, I saw a lady pick up a ski pass and turn it in.  The nice Scottish guy who was working there earlier was not there, so I didn't know how to go ask about the ticket.  Luckily, I walked over there and was looking around and another worker held up the ski ticket and I smiled and shook my head yes!  The lost ticket was found!  

Even with all the silly mistakes and mishaps during this trip, it was probably my most fun weekend here yet!  Plus, I only fell twice.  The first time was because I was about to hit a child and was forced to go the far right where there were many mogules and did not quite stick the landing.  It was quite exciting though!  The second time was when we were on the tram ride back to the dorm and I was being stubborn and refused to hold on to the rails.  I was determined to ride the whole way home without falling, but a short ways from our stop, I fell over.   I had to give us one more thing to laugh about on our lovely trip. ;) 

I will probably add more to this post later.  These were just the highlights of the trip!  I wanted to write something at least about this trip before I leave for my next one tomorrow morning!  These weeks seriously FLY by.  I am loving every minute though!  

Čau for now!