I may or may not have mentioned this in the past, but I regularly eat lunch with the managers of my department. It's not a strategic suck-up thing, it's more of a force of habit. When I was in co-op I was occasionally the only student in the whole company, and so when it was lunch time, I would sit and eat with my supervisor. So it just happened naturally. It's also more about convenient timing (they just happen to eat lunch at the same time I do).
Anyway, we were eating lunch today, chatting and laughing as usual (these ladies crack me up all the time...we're the noisiest table in the cafeteria). There was a sort of lull in the conversation, and I decided to embark on a new topic.
"So...I'm going to Europe in May."
"WHAT?" was the general reaction. Then Renata made a note of how casually I just dropped this information into the conversation, as though I were saying, "I'm going out for coffee." I guess I didn't realize how big of a deal this is. But yeah, I suppose I did say it with about as much enthusiasm and excitement as a girl who was going to the mall. Okay, maybe even less than that.
But the fact is, I really am extremely excited about this trip. My last European conquest was concentrated in France. This time I'm taking on the UK and Denmark. I know what you're thinking...Denmark?? But my plan of attack for this continent has consistently been focused on places where I know someone who's there. In this case, it's my cousin who's working in London for a couple of years and my friend who's studying in Copenhagen. Things haven't been completely finalized yet, but I'm already counting down the days when I'll be jetting off over the Atlantic yet again. The logistical planning has been going on for a couple of weeks now, timing everything so that every available moment is being effectively used to experience these countries. Maybe I'll even have a free minute to get a coffee. Or a Danish. (ha ha)
"This could be the end of everything, so why don't we go somewhere only we know"
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Eine Kleine Nacht...Skiing
It has been around twelve years since I went skiing at night. Yesterday, I left work early, got home, picked up my skis and my parents and headed up to Horseshoe Valley. We got there around 5:00 so we checked in, got something to eat, then headed to the room. I let my dinner settle for a minute, then strapped on my gear and headed to the hill.
Okay, so it was a little frosty outside, and I could really only handle about an hour and a half before my toes felt like they had curled up and died, but it was so worth it. The world was quiet and crispy, the snow made the cool swooshy sound as I glided down the hill, and it was so nice and DARK, with all the twinkly stars overhead.
That was great until I went back to the hill this morning. It was the most perfect day for skiing. Sunny and not too cold at all. My parents took off to find the casino, and I spent four great hours swooshing again. Well, the day wasn't entirely perfect (there were a MILLION children running around, screaming, falling all over the place), but it was very close. I think I was able to improve my technique a little, but I'm still wary of anything beyond a blue square. The sad thing was that I saw someone wrapped around a tree. I didn't see the person exactly, just an arm and a hand. There was a narrow gap between one of the chair lifts and a grove of trees. If you didn't stop or turn in time, it was possible to overshoot the lift line-up and end up in the bush. By the time I got there, there was a small crowd, and the ski patrol with a stretcher attached to the snowmobile was already on the scene. There's a small downhill before you reach the trees, and they were crouched down, gingerly removing a ski. I decided not to gawk and went up the lift. When I came back down, the snow patrol were still in the midst of extricating the person from the tree. I went on the lift again and decided to go down another trail to an alternate chair lift.
So aside from the casualty, the day was very nice. My parents came back for me and we all headed to the casino (not too bad, considering it is in the middle of nowhere). My mother couldn't handle the smoke so we just contributed $10 to a slot machine and headed home.
My face is rosy from the windburn, and I love it.
"They will see us waving from such great heights, come down now, they'll say"
Okay, so it was a little frosty outside, and I could really only handle about an hour and a half before my toes felt like they had curled up and died, but it was so worth it. The world was quiet and crispy, the snow made the cool swooshy sound as I glided down the hill, and it was so nice and DARK, with all the twinkly stars overhead.
That was great until I went back to the hill this morning. It was the most perfect day for skiing. Sunny and not too cold at all. My parents took off to find the casino, and I spent four great hours swooshing again. Well, the day wasn't entirely perfect (there were a MILLION children running around, screaming, falling all over the place), but it was very close. I think I was able to improve my technique a little, but I'm still wary of anything beyond a blue square. The sad thing was that I saw someone wrapped around a tree. I didn't see the person exactly, just an arm and a hand. There was a narrow gap between one of the chair lifts and a grove of trees. If you didn't stop or turn in time, it was possible to overshoot the lift line-up and end up in the bush. By the time I got there, there was a small crowd, and the ski patrol with a stretcher attached to the snowmobile was already on the scene. There's a small downhill before you reach the trees, and they were crouched down, gingerly removing a ski. I decided not to gawk and went up the lift. When I came back down, the snow patrol were still in the midst of extricating the person from the tree. I went on the lift again and decided to go down another trail to an alternate chair lift.
So aside from the casualty, the day was very nice. My parents came back for me and we all headed to the casino (not too bad, considering it is in the middle of nowhere). My mother couldn't handle the smoke so we just contributed $10 to a slot machine and headed home.
My face is rosy from the windburn, and I love it.
"They will see us waving from such great heights, come down now, they'll say"