My first time snowboarding (or the story of my butt)

Most anyone who has ever stood on a snowboard before can probably guess how this story ends. A few of you have already shared your own experience in the matter with me.

So on day 1 Julia and I took a lesson on the bunny hill from Paul, who studies commerce at the University of Queensland. The lesson went better than expected in that I had a lot of fun, but was expecting to hate it. I could actually get down the hill without falling and was bored of it by the end of the day even though I was way off from mastering any of the techniques, which of course means that on day 2 we wanted to go down the green slope.

Here's me after Dave managed to get me up on the board:

Of course I was already sore from day 1 and drifting down a 6K slope on your heel side the whole way is super exhausting. And Max decided I need to go on my toe side to take a break because I was doing fine on the heel side.

Here's a photo of Max and I taking a break, waiting for everyone to gather:


And of course the first time I try going toe side I don't lift the back of the board up high enough, catch snow on it and fall flat on my tailbone! That's when I realized that I have not experienced real physical pain for a long, long, long time. I have literally not been able to sit since! Walking hurts, bending down hurts, sittings hurts :(. Is this what it's like to be old?

Taking a break on my knees sometime farther down the slope:


There have been plenty of jokes at my butt's expense this weekend, but at least we all get a good laugh out of it. And I have not lost my determination. One way or another I will conquer the slopes! But only after my butt heals...

Merry Christmas!

So Canada ended up being uncivilized after all, hence the silence :). In Mont Tremblan there was only a small internet cafe with three computer that spoke French and had only Internet Explorer (I said uncivilized!). I couldn't even figure out how to type a question mark on their weird keyboard, had to have J chat one to me.

Diving w/o headlights - just the brights; just crossed the border back into civilized country; stay tuned for photos and my snowboarding stories...

Best Christmas wishes!

Are we there yet?

Been in the car since 10am, driving through complete whiteness and unfortunately I was not smart enough to charge my iPod and my laptop last night. The iPod has been dead for hours now. And these are the last minutes of entertainment that I have left. Feels like we're on a never ending highway. Are we there yet?

Hanging to my last threads of sanity...

Last Monday - at the holiday party

Sisters:


With two co-workers. Gotta love SB:

And we keep going

Party was a success, went to bed at 2am and just got up at 9am to try to beat the snow to Canada. Not sure what the internet situation is there (Canada's a civilized country, right?) or whether I'll even make it out alive... it'll be my first time snowboarding... who wants to bet that in a few hours time I'll give up and go to the lodge to drink hot chocolate?

Blogging from the Metro-North Railroad

Alright K, you asked for it... so I figured its about time to resurrect this... at least for my 3 week vacation.

But actually, this story started one week ago when my cousin Юля (Julia) arrived in NYC. (Photos to come...)

And now Julia and I are on the train to the ever exciting little town in Connecticut where we're stopping over for a Russian celebration of the 50th birthday of a family friend. But that's just a rest stop on our way to Mont Tremblant.

Puddles

imagine a puddle waking up one morning and thinking, "This is an interesting world I find myself in - an interesting hole I find myself in - fits me rather neatly, doesn't it? In fact it fits me staggeringly well, must have been made to have me in it!" This is such a powerful idea that as the sun rises in the sky and the air heats up and as, gradually, the puddle gets smaller and smaller, it's still frantically hanging on to the notion that everything's going to be all right, because this world was meant to have him in it, was built to have him in it; so the moment he disappears catches him rather by surprise.

- Douglas Adams, Is There an Artificial God?

Graduation photos

This is me pretending to be a zombie. I've posted graduation photos here, enjoy!

Bubbles the cat

Just playing with my new camera and disturbing my cat while she's trying to sleep. (She goes to sleep at 10pm.)

Living and learning

Here's something new I learned yesterday: