My First Ski Experience

In life, there are many first encounters. From our birth onward, our parents lovingly noted when we had our milestones: first steps, first laugh, first tooth, etc. These many firsts were a result of our persistence and perseverance. As we grow older, we encounter more profound, fun and sometimes painful firsts: first love, first hearbreak, first kiss, first job, first paycheck.

A happy but exhausted me during our break.

I had my first ski experience on the first week of the first month of the new year 2012. Together with family and friends, we set off to the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) to get a taste of snow and all the fun it could bring. I decided to try skiing for the first time. I had a dreadful feeling when I tried on my ski shoes because the fit isn't good. Putting them on was really weird but as you get used to it, you realize and begin to understand why the ski shoes are like that. They are so designed to protect your foot and your ankles from injury. But it was REALLY difficult to walk with them on.

Learning how to ski using the carousel.

Since I did not do any training or exercise before the ski trip, I really had a hard time when I had my ski lessons because I kept falling down. The falling down part is easy, since you just need to land on your butt and back (big laugh). The difficult part is getting back up on your feet. Being big and having no exercise, well you can just imagine what happened. I felt sorry for my poor ski instructor since he had to use up a lot of energy just to pull me up. :D But despite the numerous falls, I managed to stand up (with help of course) and continue with the lesson. The children who took the same course fared better than me. I guess that is always the case. Children learn faster than adults.

I cannot count the number of times I fell during the duration of the ski lesson. But I remember that I managed to be on my skis three times. During that short span of time, I managed to learn how to glide, how to walk on my skis and turn, ski down the kiddie slope and how to brake. A very helpful advice that my friend gave me: do not look down on your skis but straight ahead. I gave up when we transfered to the beginner's skilift (which moves faster) and I was delaying everyone because I keep falling down.

Maybe next time, we can go skiing again and I will be ready by then. I already know what to expect and it will be more fun if I can really ski.

Tweet