A Ski Trip to Remember

I've always thought people who could ski were so cool. I love the weather, the mountains, the chance for a fashion statement lol - the whole aesthetic is cool. I remember in school there were always a couple students who deemed skiing as their thing and would always come back with those little lift tags on their jackets and I was kinda jealous not gonna lie. I still think skiing is so cool, but I've also come to realize this past month that it is certainly not my thing and I'm a little sad about that.

Czech secondary schools (high schools) generally all have a ski trip worked into their curriculum that's required for their P.E. courses. It's expected they take a formal course and learn how to actually ski or snowboard, but chances are they've already learned with their family or friends from a really young age. Czechs LOVE the mountains. They're always downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, ice skating, you name it out in the "country side" during any free time they may find. It's probably every single weekend December-February that one of my coworkers is "off to the mountains". So I've heard SO much about these trips and when I was invited to join my 1st graders (freshman) on their annual trip, it was a no brainer. It kinda felt like a rite of passage that I had to experience before I could officially say I lived in

the Czech Republic. The closer it got to the actual trip the more I started to realize what I actually signed up for haha. I was going to spend 6 days in the Špičák mountains with 40 young girls who barely speak English (in class at least) and 4 teachers, one of which being my mentor. Not to mention the fact that I agreed to 5 days of skiing - which I have never done before. Ever. So who was going to teach me in English and hold my hand? Was I gonna die on the slopes? How difficult were these slopes? literally where was I gonna sleep? I knew nothing.

Ok I say I knew nothing, which is true, but it's only okay because my mentor is incredible and seems to solve all my problems before they even reach me. So she managed to contact enough people so that I could borrow all my ski gear and clothes from friends of hers instead of rent my own, and organized me to drive and room with her instead of with the whole busload of students. Thank god.

So we arrived and the nerves started to kick in, but I just told myself to go for it and you'll be fine. It can't be that hard right?? I'll spare all the details but like I was so bad. Day 1 was scary. I fell immediately and I didn't (and still don't) really understand how to move with skis on, it's just not intuitive and my body doesn't like the feeling at all haha. I went down the bunny slope maybe twice before all the students decided it was time for the bigger hill and of course I had to follow because I couldn't be lame lol. And plus my mentor was really the only one who could formally teach me and she had to go to the bigger slope...obviously because she was there to teach the students....not the foreign adult tagging along. So basically Day 1 was a little traumatic but I made progress haha. First time going down I definitely should've had more training because I had no concept of how to stop or move in the curves so I literally just went straight down and stopped myself by fully wiping out. Many times actually. But after a solid 15 falls I made it down without falling and considered that a success haha. I definitely left Day 1 feeling scared that I had to do this for another 4 full days but kinda knew I had no other option and tried not to lean into the fear haha.

Day 2 I woke up and my body quite literally said, you do not deserve to ski today. I had a fever, nausea, threw up overnight, and the most extreme body aches I've ever experienced. It was definitely a mix of muscle soreness but also just every muscle felt like it was decomposing haha. I felt pretty embarrassed I couldn't even survive a day, but I had to stay back in the hotel or else I genuinely would have broken a bone on the slopes. I really couldn't get out of bed all day and felt so feverish and nauseous. Day 3 was still bad, but slowly improving. I still could not fathom exerting the energy to ski even a little, knowing how much it took out of me on Day 1. So I stayed back and thank god I did because I forced myself to go on a walk and literally could not make it more than 5 minutes before I turned around because I thought I was going to faint or something. I seriously have no idea what hit me, maybe a random virus, or some type of overexertion after the crazy first day. Whatever it was decided to cure itself the next night and I decided to get myself up and dressed for Day 4. Skiing went MUCH better this day haha. Well, not great. But better. I was still super exhausted from whatever hit me, so I took more breaks, but was really out there all day and building up my confidence. This day my mentor was definitely still with me most of the time, but some students would find it fun to help me and go up the lift which I really appreciated and made it much more enjoyable for me too. Day 5 was our last day and we were only there for half the time, so maybe 3 hours, and I finally realized how someone could actually have fun doing this. The sky was blue and I finally felt independent. Still stressed don't get me wrong, like skiing is not an effortless enjoyable thing for me lol, but I think I could see how someone may think otherwise??

Of course the skiing was an integral part of this...ski trip. BUT these trips also have a reputation far beyond the slopes and involve intense socializing during all other hours. This is something I was definitely nervous for considering most of the other teachers didn't speak

English and my 1st graders are still super shy and insecure about their English. But I have to say it really really helped me develop some relationships with all the girls. During the break time we had around meals or after dinner a group of girls would come up to me and be so nervous but ask me to play a card game or something and would struggle to explain the rules but tried none the less. Not being in the classroom allowed me to take more of a casual approach and I could feel the girls doing the same, as some were more talkative here than I'd ever seen in school. I learned many different Czech card games, Czech/English scrabble, some Harry Potter game they love?? and a couple other "Czech Mountain Games" haha. Sometimes I felt like a bit of a burden as I was the only one forcing people to speak English and I could tell it added a level of stress to the vacation it should've been for many. I'm just glad they all tried and genuinely wanted me there. Some of the girls really came out of their shell on the slopes too teaching me and cheering for me which was kinda fun to switch the roles of teacher/student for a bit!

I spent a good amount of time with the students which was great, but also found myself with the 4 other teachers quite a bit more. There was a teachers table at all the meals, different meetings to do the organization part of the trip, and I shared a room with my mentor and another teacher. All of that was great, as of course I want to develop those relationships and all, but the language barrier was more prevalent than I've faced since being in the Czech Republic. Not in like a bad or limiting way, but more in a way of feeling like a burden and definitely some awkwardness. The first day or two my mentor was working hard to translate the convos and jokes to me which again, was so kind of her and I know she can sympathize with how I'm feeling. I mean just imagine being at a table with a bunch of friends reminiscing on stories and telling jokes, but not speaking a word of their language. Like do you laugh when everyone else laughs? Do you go on your phone or does that look rude? Do you stare at the wall lol? I wanted to still be a part of it and not just go be alone so I stayed for the first couple occasions but later in the week I felt okay dismissing myself a bit early or trying a game with some students. Like I said, my mentor was great, and really trying hard to include me, but that also made me feel a bit guilty when I know she wants to enjoy her time too but kinda babysitting me in a way by being the only person to easily communicate with me. I've been in these situations a million times since being here, it's just something you get over being one of the only English speakers in a small town and working at a high school haha. Of course people speak Czech around me ALL the time and most of the time it's no big deal to just be there - I've actually embraced the bit of silence I feel when everyone else around me is talking. I kinda get to me in my own world. But a 6 day trip with little to no outlet made that barrier much more evident for me and I felt like my presence was more complicating than other times if that makes sense.

Also, I know things have drastically evolved in the past few weeks, and it's been a bit since the actual trip, but the COVID situation on this ski trip was wild in my opinion. I'll try to limit the rant, but I felt so hopeless and so out of any sort of control during the trip when it came to COVID. It started off with everyone having to take a rapid test before getting on the bus, but when I was encouraged to take the test wrong to ensure a negative test, I knew there was some agenda behind the scenes. I was picked up separately from the bus of students, and the tests were "mysteriously forgotten" or something like that so I actually never tested before going! Just gotta believe that I wasn't the only one who had that mysteriously happen...Once we got to the hotel there was no masks anywhere, really felt like COVID didn't exist. Students were slowly developing symptoms and everyone literally ignored it until a fever it. That was only time someone would test and even in that case, they could still go around the hotel, be around their roommates and all. About 2 days in there was a positive case and that's when I knew everyone here would probably get it lol. The literal cook was serving pasta with his bare hands and coughing like ew I can feel the pain I went through just thinking about it. Teachers were so obviously ill with something, like loosing voices and coughing but would literally never admit to the symptoms. Somehow everyone just knew it wasn't covid but would refuse to test... When I wasn't feeling well of course I tested myself and after many negative tests I still felt more comfortable staying in my room for most of the time, but other students who had symptoms weren't encouraged to any of that and could just continue going about everything normally. I think I was witness similar mindsets in school, but I always have an escape when I go back to my clean and isolated apartment. This week, I had no escape.

Once we all came back from the trip, there were too many positive cases and everyone who went had to quarantine for 5 days before returning to school. Then people suddenly decided to get tested, with of course more positive cases coming back. We even heard that there was a chance one of the teachers knew he was positive before the trip but wanted to come so badly that he didn't tell anyone. This is just one painful example of how I've seen covid treated here. Everyone just prioritized this ski vacation over every single persons' health.

So an interesting ski trip to say the least, but I'm really happy I went and really proud of myself that I survived. Of course it had some levels of stress with language barriers, ski itself, and COVID, but despite all of that I felt like I had a real taste of what Czechs do in their free time. They always go to the mountains and I finally could understand why - they were absolutely stunning and if I had some more time to get over the hard part, maybe I could've been a more effortless skier haha!