Haven't blogged in ages. I have got the flu, which means I am trying to rest up and I have plenty of spare time for the first time in ages. Yesterday was Tuesday, which meant a long day for me. Morning at the primary school, afternoon at the High school and then some tutoring to finish it off. By the time I got home, I was shaking like a leaf, I quickly came down with a temperature, my eyes were watering and I felt miserable. I had a cuppa, read some of my Bible, had a shower, crashed, and slept for an hour. When I woke up I had lost my voice completely (which I have partially regained this morning) and was using a lot of sign language. Sarah can understand Sign language pretty well, but everyone else only knows a few, so Sarah was my interpreter. I am working back at the school tomorrow, so I hope my voice improves.

My Aunty took us kids to the snow a couple of weeks ago, and taught us to ski. I was very slow, but didn't fall over much. Sarah was a better skier, much faster, but she fell over regularly. It was a beautiful day. We arrived at about 10:00, and caught the chairlift up to the nursery slopes. As I had my skis on for the first time at the chairlift, I had no idea how to stop myself, and therefore mad a complete mess of getting on. I ended up getting separated from everyone else and going up the chairlift by myself. I am kind of glad that I did, because although I have only been on a chairlift once before, I love riding on them. I love the feeling of being so high up and flying along, and looking at the scenery. The dismount off the lift was about as bad as getting on. With the help of one of the attendants I eventually was able to right myself and go in search of Aunty Jane, her friend Heidi, and my siblings. After being reunited we made our way to the nursery slopes. Standing at the top, I couldn’t help feeling relieved that it wasn’t nearly as steep as I thought it would be. The feeling of relief didn’t last too long, we pushed off down the slope, and all of a sudden I was no longer self propelled! My skis had a mind of their own and I had no idea how to stop! I managed to turn to the right so I was parallel to the slope and throw myself over. After returning to the upright position, with the help of Heidi, I was off again. Although the first run down was a disaster, and I was on the verge of tears, the second run wasn’t so bad. I felt a little envious of the 5 year olds who whizzed past os on their skis as we waited our turn to get on the conveyer belt back to the top of the slope. The third run was almost easy and by the fourth run, I knew I would never want the day to end. After 4 or 5 runs each, we somewhat reluctantly left the slope to head to our lessons. Aunty Jane and Heidi went skiing by themselves while we had our lessons. The lesson took about 2 hours, and by the end of them I was much more confident. After playing on the nursery slopes a bit longer with Heidi and Aunty Jane, we took some pictures and decided to test our skills on the slope back down the village.
“We’ll do Wombats ramble once too see how we go, and then we’ll do it again to head back home.” Was Aunty Jane's decree.
Well, doing it twice sounded good. I had no idea that I would end up doing 5 or 6 times before we left. The first time my legs ached by the time I was at the bottom, from snowploughing. I was basically braking all the way down. I fell for the last time that day on that run. I was about to crash into some trees, and all I could think about was the blokes who had been killed the weekend before from crashing into trees. I knew I wasn’t going fast enough to kill myself, but in a split second I decided that throwing myself over was still the better option. The second time down was great, and by the time I had completed the 5 or 6 runs down, I was reluctant to part with my skis. It was a great day.