The fact that there are no new posts isn’t because nothing’s happening with me. Quite the opposite, so much is going on that I haven’t had time to write a coherent post to put up here. January started (as it does every year, anyway) with the New Year, in a different setting than planned, but just as cool. As soon as all the alcohol from the New Year’s Eve party (and a few accompanying events) wore off, we went skiing. First up, Korbielow near the Slovak border. On the way, we took the opportunity to visit the family in Czestochowa.
Skiing in Korbielow and the first degeneracy
When team no. 2 reached the city famous for Jasna Gora, we set off together to conquer the mountains. We got to Korbielow pretty late and the degeneracy started immediately 😛 (okay, not immediately… first we did a little rearranging in the rooms). First thing the next morning (meaning just after 1 PM), it was time to sort out the skis. This time there was no problem finding boots for my feet (though they weren’t the most comfortable). We skied as a whole gang for a while, and then it was just me and Tomek left on the slope, since the professionals went up a mountain that would give them the right thrills. We were on the Cypisek slope long enough that I even managed to ski under artificial lighting (for the first time in my life). Generally, in terms of the hill, I liked it; it was definitely more fun skiing there than in Zakopane. I just had to unbuckle my boots after every run because they were really pinching me.
Spiked tea and wordplay
By a strange coincidence, my skiing got a lot better after Tomek and I had some spiked tea. I didn’t get my fill of skiing on the first day, so full of downhill enthusiasm for the next day, I headed into the evening degeneracy :-), this time combined with mental exertion… Scrabble. The words invented in this game and the justifications for them were worthy of Professor Miodek (the famous Polish linguist).
A giant ice rink instead of a slope
The degeneracy ended around 3 AM and even then the rain worried me. My worry turned out to be justified, because in the morning it turned out everything around us was one giant ice rink, and where it wasn’t sprinkled with sand or salt, it was impossible to walk, let alone ski. The ski slope turned into a slanted ice rink, and since I was without the influence of oral substances that improve one’s opinion of their own skills, I gave up on skiing. As a matter of fact, the slopes turned out to be much harder that day than the day before. I could focus on taking pictures, because given my capabilities, I had been slacking off. I left Korbielow without a sense of skiing fulfillment.
