In honor of the Olympics, this seems like a good time to reflect on some of the things we excel at. As a side note, my brother-in-law Jonas Lenherr will be competing in the Olympics on the Swiss Ski Cross team! The race is February 21, which will be nighttime February 20 in the USA! Husband Sam is in Korea to cheer him on. I'm in bed at home drinking wine. So we all contribute in our own way.
So here are some things I’m good at: understanding subway maps, traveling alone, reading and writing, and speaking enough Spanish to convince Zara I spoke Italian in Milan (to be fair, she speaks neither). I’m also definitely one of the top students in my eight-person German class. Just sayin’.
Here are some things I’m less good at: all athletic activities.
Unfortunately for me, athleticism is a high-value commodity in Switzerland, especially where we live. What the Engadin valley lacks in yoga studios, cafes, restaurants (not counting St. Moritz because we can’t afford that), and friends, it more than makes up for in big snowy mountains and frozen lakes. Which means winter here is all about downhill and cross-country skiing (and probably also ice climbing but that is nowhere near my radar).
I follow lots of aspirational Instagram accounts, where cool, tanned girls backcountry ski and live in vans and rock climb and trail run. But the only way to actually get better at any athletic activity is to just do them. You can’t really study it or gain the ability through osmosis while looking at photos of others. You just have to do the thing.
So trying I am. Definitely trying.
Sam and I put down some big Swiss money and I am now the proud owner of my very own classic cross-country skis and boots. Today I went out on a little expedition, where I fell three times, twice when I was barely moving and just thinking about not falling down in front of people. On the one vague downhill, I tried to do the pizza thing with my skis but ended up crouching down and kind of skiing but with my butt on the snow. Eventually I just took the skis off and walked. I know I will be sore all over tomorrow.
Downhill skiing is going better. The last time I went with Sam and his uncle I didn’t fall at all! Was I the slowest on the mountain? Oh, most definitely. Do I sing to myself when it gets steep to keep calm? Possibly.
The time before that I fell only once, and when I fell I somehow kicked myself in the butt with my own ski. That hurt for a few days.
The time before that time, I went by myself and did really well all day and didn’t fall at all. I even picked up the ski pole of a guy who did fall and kind of threw it at him because I don’t have the ability to ski right up to someone without maybe crashing into them. And then on my way down to the bus I remembered what Sam told me, that when the slope forked to make sure to keep right, otherwise I’d end up further away from home than I wanted to be. So I took the first right I saw. And skied onto a hiking trail. I had to hike back up through powder to the actual ski run. It wasn't ideal.
I can’t judge myself based on the people around me. Everyone here basically skied out of the womb. But it’s still not a great feeling to get passed by everyone on the mountain while never passing anyone yourself. It’s also a bummer to kick yourself in the ass with your own ski.
Still, when I said to Sam that I’m always the worst skier on the piste, he told me that that just means everyone else who is worse than me just stays home. So really, I’m just the worst of the people who chose to ski. But I’m the best skier out of everyone who didn't ski at all!
Speaking of skills, Napoleon Dynamite was on one of the English channels here today and I realized for the first time that the movie is set in Idaho! A place I’ve been! When I saw it back in high school, as a New Yorker I just saw the movie’s location as “weird, nameless, America.” The Idaho/Iowa/Ohio conundrum we face. But that movie has some beautiful scenery! I never imagined when I saw it at the Angelica Theater in Manhattan that I would one day be anywhere near where Napoleon grew up.
Now for some views:
