The highlight of the weekend was Oliver and I going skiing on Saturday. Rain was in the forecast for Tashkent so I thought it would be snowing up at the resort. It certainly was and as we pulled out of our driveway at 6:45 AM, a light rain was coming down. When we started the climb to Amirsoy, it turned to snow and it was a challenge to make it to the resort. I grew up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and am used to winter driving so we made it with no problems. There was sand from a truck the night before and it kept patches of the road clear, especially on the steep inclines. We were the first day visitors to the resorts and at that time in the morning, it probably had snowed about 4 inches. The snow continued until about 11:00 AM. I would guess between 6 and 8 inches fell. It was wet, dense snow and not the dry powder that skiers dream of. It made it difficult, technical skiing. Each run felt like moguls with piles of thick snow interspersed with trails of skiers and snowboarders.
It got better as more people panked down the snow and I actually got to practice my form and turns instead of just trying to stay up. I stayed on the lower runs, only going up to the middle station of the gondola. The combination of steepness and bumps would have risked injury for me. It was also a thick fog that cut down vision which further complicated things. I made it through the day with only falling three times. Oliver is a much better skier than me, but the fog and deep snow slowed him and his friends down enough so we could spend most of the day together! He is turning into a mature young man and I am very proud of him. We had a good laugh on the way up with the snowy roads. It was also good to have lunch with friends Simon and Luc.
On Sunday morning I played doubles tennis with the usual gang. I then played Kralovec family Yandex taxi taking Oliver to the dentist and then to a friend’s party. I had to do some chores around the house and then started preparing for a busy week of school in the evening.
Saturday was also an exciting day for my hometown of Iron River, Michigan. Nick Baumgartner and his partner won Olympic gold in the Snowboard Cross Mixed Doubles. The race was so exciting as he surprisingly won the finals for the men and then Lindsey Jacobellis came through and won the women’s final. It is so nice for him to win his first gold at age 40 after a long, successful career. We were screaming as snowboard cross is such a crazy sport! I loved the conversation with his family back in Iron River after the victory. He is “bringing gold back to Iron River and the Upper Peninsula” and he gave a shout-out to our high school, West Iron County Wykons! NBC Olympic host Mike Tirico had to explain that the Wykon is our school mascot.
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