Ski adventure #1

I woke up with my arms in pain, my nose congested, and my throat burning--typical I would say...
I slept for a good 12 hours today, because I can. I'm surprised that my legs are perfectly fine,while my arms are sore. I think I caught a cold, but it seems to be minor so far. Overall, the ski trip turned out to be okay with few setbacks. Even though I was apathetic the whole day due to the lack of sleep, I now have a better appreciation and liking for "snow sports". I wondered why I couldn't have grown up with these sports. I imagined myself attending college in the North and recreate weekly, while hanging out with a gang of hobo snowboarders to throw fits about tourists. (Oh the influence of media)

So, here's a review of how I spent 2005 Christmas Day.

7:45- My mom woke me up from my 4 hours of slumber. I dragged myself out of bed and wondered why I have to go through this. My parents didn't tell me much about the trip except for "we're going skiing...in Michigan. It's 3 hours away". I found out in the morning that we're not spending the night as originally planned, and instead of it being a "family vacation", it was an "azn mob skiing day"(ie. our neighbors consisting of 25 Asians ) I was too tired to argue or complain, so I got into the car and slept.

11:15-We arrived at Swiss Alley in Jones, Michigan. The sky has been gloomy since morning, and it started to snow once we got there.. It wasn't very cold thankfully, so I only wore a Tshirt under my jacket as I changed into my ski gear. The mob congested inside the lodge and waited for our instructor to show up. Once he arrived, he lead us to the ski rental building where he explained to us the proper way to put on the bulky shoes. Those shoes actually gave me bruises after the trip, but part of it was probably that I got the wrong size and was too lazy to exchange.

We walked outside to the "Ski School" area where the lesson began. We started getting use to moving ,turning, sliding with one ski, then two. After an hour or so, the mob populated the beginner's area to practice on the hill with "the rope". I've never seem the towing system before, so it appeared to be pretty neat. It took awhile before we actually got to try out the rope. Because, well, we were the Asian mob. The adults were pretty ADD and weren't all listening to what the instructor was saying. They were randomly falling, sliding, and laughing like idiots. I could tell that all the "kids" were getting impatient and annoyed;so was the instructor.
Finally after spending an hour listening to him, we were free to roam by ourselves. I took the tow to the very top of the hill and was ready to attempt my very first ski-down-the-hill. I was nervous at the speed I was going as I stepped off, and I haven't really learned how to stop either. But the feeling was enjoyably refreshing, and I made it down without crash into anything/anyone or hurting myself.

2:30-As I skied down the hill more and more, the speed seemed to have gotten slower and slower. (marginal utility I guess) I was getting bored already, and I wondered if this was all that we're doing for the rest of the day. The adults decided to take a break and eat in the cafeteria. I ate a little bit of what my parents brought and laid my head down to rest for awhile.

3:30- My dad and I headed out to the intermediate hill by the rental building along with some others who were also looking for more adventure. The hill was definitely a lot steeper and longer. We got to use poles now(I really don't know why they don't allow them on the beginner's hill),but they were pretty useless. Oddly, I wasn't very nervous about going down, perhaps I had confidence in my so called skiing skills even though I still sucked at stopping. I stepped off with my dad, and he wiped out 5 seconds later. I laughed and went around him, stopping safely at the base.
Score.

It took a long time to get back to the top with the lift going slow and the occasional stops because people keep--- it made things less fun and the process tedious. I spent a lot of time taking pictures and observing others: there were a lot of snowboarders present, some pretty good and others just lame. I really wanted to try out snowboarding, and probably would have if we had stayed for another day. =
After 3 runs of the hill, I got bored again.
So I think I'm reasonably good at skiing now, why not advance? The next step was the 2nd intermediate hill next to the first one. It looked steeper by comparison but smoother. I took the lonely ride up the hill, staring at the back of some guy and his 2 sons in front of me.(to this point, my dad hasn't succeeded in going down the first hill without falling, so he gave up and went back to the beginner's hill). The top offered a nice view of the entire area. To the left I could see the "terrain park", which offered man-made hills/obstacles for tricks and other things. I actually thought about trying them out, but that would probably be pushing my luck too far. For the time being, I stuck with intermediate.
I crept up to the edge of the hill and looked down. This should be fun...

to be continued.
(because I'm really too lazy to finish this in one sitting)